MONSTROUS
Willem de Kooning (1904 - 1997) was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and moved to New York as a stowaway in 1926 and became a art of the Abstract Expressionism movement along with Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Philip Guston, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Adolph Gottlieb. His output over his long productive career was enormous - even in the period when he was so poor that he had to paint with black household enamel on canvas. This book is a fine catalogue for the MOMA Retrospective that has impressed museum visitors with the fecundity of his talent. The curator for the exhibit is John Elderwood who states that his goal in presenting this mammoth retrospective was to 'reveal the extent and depth of Willem de Kooning's artistic achievement in as concise a manner as is compatible with so prolific and long-lived artist.' The exhibition as well as the catalogue book presents the works chronologically, no mean feat when many of the works bear no date. The concept s sound as it shows de Kooning's growth from figuration and representation in general to abstraction. Yet no matter how abstract his paintings became (as for example in 'Excavation, 1950') the artist maintained an obsession with painting women. Granted many of his Women paintings seem to have little to do with the corporal realization of the full figure, but these women stand as sentinels of development throughout the artist's life. The reproductions of de Kooning's works, whether painting, drawing or sculpture, are superb and give the reader an overwhelming sense of the artist's vast resources of creativity. Woven though the book are explanations and commentaries about each phase of de Kooning's life and work that illuminate his art as no other book has been able. Willem de Kooning said 'There's no way of looking at a work of art by itself. It's not self evident. It needs a history, it needs a lot of talking about...it is a part of a whole man's life.' And probably no other retrospective (exhibition and book) understands those thoughts better and accomplishes the artist's concepts as well as this.
~ Grady Harp, 2020
STONED IDEAS
Stone: A Legacy and Inspiration for Art is a photographic journey through the traditional processes of extracting stone, showing the beauty of the material, and the way it is used today in contemporary sculpture.
Stone: A Legacy and Inspiration for Art offers an introduction to the traditional techniques of stone carving and reviews methods of extraction that are dying out. The authors traveled worldwide learning, interviewing and photographing these unique processes. The photographs in this book show the stunning results. The book then goes on to look at the work of crafts people today in contemporary stone sculpture.
This beautiful, visually stimulating book, explores the delights of contemporary stone sculpture and stone carving. Stone is a major resource and inspiration for artists, craft-workers, and scholars in many areas, and also has huge attraction for a wider public, given its high visual impact, dramatic footage and timely re-evaluation of often hidden professions. The book portrays the beauty of stone and the relevance of deeper investigation into its existence in general and, more specifically, contemporary sculpture.
~ SHARONE QUINSTIEN, 2020