Gail Levin (1)Besprekingen

If you are a fan of Hopper's work, this is a must have. This thing is chocked full of nicely printed plates. Organized in an easy to follow fashion. Love it.

I love Hopper's paintings - the captured details, the incite. However, I could not get through this book. The writing was so dry and at about 800 pages, the book is a bit intimidating. Or maybe I just didn't want to accept that he seemed not to be a pleasant person who had clear issues with women.

of course lee krasner is perhaps best known as the wife of Jackson Pollock. the biography show how your work is as good as any artist of that time period. Lee was one of the pioneers of abstract expressionism. she was very much in love with jackson and work hard to get his work seen and to be valued. however she also work as hard for her own work. Pollock was a huge supporter of her work. the book shows the sexism of the art world that existed in her life. yet while feminism helped to bring her work to public attention, she wanted to be seen as a artist that happened to be a woman. excellent read

A very nice study and biography of one of my favorite painters, Edward Hopper (1882-1967). I'd read a couple of other books on Hopper, but this one is more thoughtfully organized and has the advantage of complete access to the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, to which Hopper's widow had bequeathed his entire inventory that remained at the time of his death. I hadn't known that when Hopper studied at the New York School of Art, that one of his classmates, and a friend, was another of my favorite artists, Rockwell Kent.

Hopper's style matured throughout his life, but it didn't particularly alter, so the author grouped the paintings by genre. I'm not knowledgeable enough about art to say just why Hopper appeals to me so, but this author (along with others) made a couple of points that I found myself nodding in agreement to. "Recording the drama of sunlight was a lifelong interest". Hopper's best paintings have always fascinated me in how the light plays upon the subjects; one can tell this was an area of deep fascination for the artist. "Summertime" is a prime example, as is Hopper's iconic "Nighthawks".

And the author makes the point that Hopper's people are often studies in isolated contemplation, even when paired with a partner who is studying the contemplative subject. "Office at Night" is a strong example, and vibrant with a sexual tension unusual in Hopper's work. This is the most useful Hopper book I have seen so far.

The American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is renowned for his haunting paintings and unmistakeable distinctive style. Gail Levin, a scholar of Hopper's life and work offers a tribute to the artist in this small book. It juxtaposes excerpts from works of fiction that mention Hopper's work with the paintings themselves.

The prose comes from works by several novelists, including Lawrence Block, Joyce Carol Oates, William Faulkner, John Updike, and Lawrence Sanders -- by no accident, works of the noir mode are well represented. In some cases, the spare prose is evocative of the mood of Hopper's paintings, but in others, a painting by Hopper is simply mentioned in passing. Among the reprinted paintings, a few get particular attention. Notably, details of Nighthawks, his most famous work, are found on 9 pages, but each draws attention to a distinct feature by portraying a different aspect of the painting. Interestingly, the well-known Room in New York is shown with two entirely incongruent interpretations of its mood and content by different art critics. Clearly, one's view of an art work mainly reflects a person's own mood and perspective.

This small book may serve to bring Hopper's work to the attention of readers familiar with the excerpted writers. Hopefully, they will be led to seek out collections of his paintings, such as Levin herself has published.

Becoming Judy Chicago by Gail Levin is a thorough look at the artist's life and career to date. It begins like most comprehensive biographies with a chapter on her parents' story and then continues, in detail, throughout Judy Chicago's life. However, it is the in-depth coverage of Judy Chicago's artistic process that most interested me.

Gail Levin has researched this book to the ends of the earth. I've seldom read a more thoroughly researched biography. Gail Levin has interviewed everyone involved in Judy Chicago's life and work, whether they were ultimately for or against Chicago. She has also read all of the reviews, and I do mean all of them. Her bibliography is exhaustive.

All of this research has paid off handsomely. We are treated to an in-depth look at how Judy Chicago came up with her projects, predominately The Dinner Party, and at how Chicago's ideas took shape through interaction with a large team of women and some men to produce one of the iconic artworks of the twentieth century.

CJ was fortunate enough to see The Dinner Party when it was shown at the SFMOMA and he remains impressed with it to this day. CJ usually cannot stand anything painted after Cezanne. I'm planning on taking it in at the Brooklyn Museum of Art next time we are in New York.

I was struck with how passionate the response was to The Dinner Party. According to Gail Levin, The Dinner Party made money for the exhibitors just about everywhere it was shown. CJ reports that he had to wait in line 90 minutes to see it. This was one of the shorter waits according to Levin. The people who saw it often reported it as a life-changing event. Many of the women who saw The Dinner Party went on to work with Judy Chicago on the Birth project and the Holocaust project.

The critics were just a passionate if not as appreciative. Gail Levin quotes many of them in Becoming Judy Chicago. Their reaction is so vitriolic that the reader can't help but wonder why? Twenty years after its first viewing The Dinner Party can still provoke a strong reaction, but the critics Levin quotes react like Chicago was trying to bring about the downfall of mankind. I found this part of the book to be the most interesting. It very clearly illustrates the sexist bias in the art world that existed as late as the 1980's and continues to largely influence the art market today.

I do not believe this book is for everyone. Gail Levin does keep the pace moving and Chicago's life is interesting enough to make the reader want to know more. But the book is an exhaustive biography, nothing is left out. This usually makes for a bit of a long read in my experience. Be willing to skip some parts to get to the stuff you really enjoy is my advice. There is a great deal in Becoming Judy Chicago that the reader will find enlightening and rewarding.

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The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection