Best of
Visual-Art

1998

In the Shadow of the American Dream: The Diaries of David Wojnarowicz


David Wojnarowicz - 1998
    It tells the story of Wojnarowicz's creative birth, from publishing his first photographs and writing what would become The Waterfront Journals to completing his tour de force, Close to the Knives, at the height of his fame. In the Shadow of the American Dream is finally a record of the private Wojnarowicz, falling in love, exploring erotic possibilities on the Hudson River piers, becoming overwhelmed by the demands of survival, and searching for the pleasure and freedom he believed one could live on.

Dog Dogs


Elliott Erwitt - 1998
    According to him, it just happened that way. And that one day, when he was looking through his boxes of photographs, he realized that somehow or other dogs had crept into a fair proportion of them. Not that they were dog portraits. More just photographs with dogs in. Pictures of poodles taken at dog shows, of Airedales fetching sticks in the park, of crowds of dogs larking around together, of Highland Terriers jumping in the air for joy - and hundreds of images of dogs walking, being carried, sitting on hearthrugs, beaches, riverbanks, sofas, park benches.DogDogs is a delightful object presenting the largest selection ever published of Erwitt's dog photographs. Any dog-lover's dream title, it contains 500 pictures, all of them printed full-bleed and in arresting duotone. Also included is a captivating essay by P G Wodehouse, who was an admirer of Erwitt's work and a keen dog-owner himself. As he says, ' ... what superb photographs these are. It does one good to look at them. There is not one sitter in his gallery who does not melt the heart.'

Mark Rothko


Jeffrey S. Weiss - 1998
    The catalogue for the first major American retrospective of the work of Mark Rothko in 20 years--scheduled to open at the National Gallery in May--this richly illustrated book reproduces 100 of Rothko's paintings, prints, and drawings in full color, and features commentaries by many noted art experts.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Prima's Official Strategy Guide


Elizabeth M. Hollinger - 1998
    Detailed maps of every city and dungeon Strategies for defeating all the enemies Locations of all Heart Containers and Gold Skulltulas Solutions for all puzzles Bonus items revealed All hidden items revealed

John Singer Sargent: The Early Portraits; Complete Paintings: Volume I


Richard Ormond - 1998
    This volume catalogues portraits by Sargent from 1874, when he began his training in Paris, and covers pictures painted while he was establishing his reputation in Paris, during his early years in England, and on his first professional visit to America in 1887. The entire catalogue raisonne will bring together nearly 600 portraits, some 1,600 subject pictures and landscapes, and three mural cycles.The early portraits in this book range from private images of Sargent's family and friends to studies of writers and fellow artists and formal portraits of Parisian celebrities and patrons in France, England and America. These include his most controversial work, Madame Gautreau, and studies of some of the major artistic figures of the day: Claude Monet, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ellen Terry in her role as Lady Macbeth.Each work is catalogued in depth, with a biographical account of the sitter, a discussion of the contemporary context of the painting, and a detailed provenance, exhibition history, and bibliography. Almost all of the paintings are shown, mostly in color, including some that have never been reproduced before. The fruit of some sixteen years of research, this valuable reference provides a broad and comprehensive view of Sargent's art.

Kiki Smith


Helaine Posner - 1998
    Born in 1954, she created in the 1980s individual artworks and stunning installations, in mediums ranging from paper and glass to cast bronze, that used anatomy as a starting point for a broad exploration of the cultural, political, and social meanings of the human body. In the 1990s, having emerged as a leading artist of her generation, she extended her inquiry to the natural world. Direct and accessible, populist in the best sense, Smith's work engages the viewer in a sometimes viscerally disturbing way.Helaine Posner uncovers the origins of Smith's work and proposes an interpretive framework that locates it within the artistic traditions that have nourished Smith. David Frankel's interview provides new insight into Smiths artistic thought. As the first monographic survey of her career, Kiki Smith is an essential reference in contemporary art.

Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringgold's French Collection and Other Story Quilts


Ann Gibson - 1998
    Since the facts don't do that too often, I decided to make it up. . . . That is the real power and joy of being an artist. We can make it come true. Or look true."—Faith Ringgold, in a 1992 interviewThis catalog is the first book-length publication devoted to the exquisite story quilts of contemporary artist Faith Ringgold. Combining painted images, handwritten texts, and quilting techniques, Ringgold weaves together modernist painting; feminist critique; postmodernist strategies of appropriation, parody, and montage; and personal memoir in a remarkable synthesis that takes on European modernism, African American folk art, and the "black aesthetic" of the 1960s and 1970s. The catalog accompanies an exhibition of The French Collection and The American Collection, a series of story quilts Ringgold has produced since 1990. Catalog essays include an examination of Ringgold's stylistic development through the 1960s and 1970s, an exploration of the social and political aspects of the story quilts, and a recollection by the artist's daughter, writer Michele Wallace.Ringgold has adapted the tradition of the American slave quilt to create a world in which African Americans and women dominate, where history is not only questioned but also reinvented. The titles of the quilts in Ringgold's French Collection and American Collection suggest her subject range and daring: Jo Baker's Birthday Party; Dinner at Gertrude Stein's; A Portrait of Aunt Jemima; Tubman, Douglass, and Truth: Wanted Dead or Alive are examples. Faith Ringgold's broad audience of admirers (her books for children have won Caldecott and New York Times book illustration honors) will welcome Dancing at the Louvre. Finally there is a book that displays her artistic achievements and provides a full discussion of her importance within contemporary art.

De Chirico: The Metaphysical Period, 1888-1919


Paolo Baldacci - 1998
    Paolo Baldacci's long-awaited monograph follows de Chirico and his work from his birth through his student years in Paris to his return to Italy. Baldacci details the development of de Chirico's mature style and reveals the many biographical elements of his paintings. 250 color and 150 b&w illustrations.

Aubrey Beardsley


Stephen Calloway - 1998
    This book, which accompanies a major centenary exhibition on Beardsley, tells the story of his brief, hectic life and uncovers the roots of his genius in the racy artistic and literary culture of 1890s London.Beardsley's startling drawings, prints, bookbindings, and posters are reproduced here from original drawings and from rare early editions of his work. Portraits and photographs of his friends and contemporaries, among them Oscar Wilde, James McNeill Whistler, Edward Burne-Jones, Max Beerbohm, and W. B. Yeats, bring his story to life. The authoritative text is the first to fully explore Beardsley's diverse influences, which range from ancient Greek vase paintings to erotic Japanese ukiyo-e prints.The book concludes with a look at Beardsley's artistic legacy and the legend that has grown around him. It demonstrates why his drawings, with their subtle symbolism, highly charged eroticism, sensuous ornamentalism, and self-conscious decadence, have a renewed resonance in our own turn-of-the-century world.

Untitled Passages by Henri Michaux


Raymond Bellour - 1998
    An exploration of every aspect of the art of the celebrated Belgian/French writer and artist Henri Michaux.