Piet Mondrian

Customer Reviews:

DYSSYMETRICALS.......2006-06-04

"It is proper to the way of living," the author Jean Paul Richter once noticed, "that one is polite also against himself".

However, Mondrian painted manically compulsively out of a fear against the chaos of the world daily. Although it did not feed him, he could not quit this activity; he continued to work, got pneumonia in that cold New York winter [slaving away in the unheated studio for three days non-stop] and died before he could finish his "Victory Broadway Boogie Woogie" painting. A tribute to the city of New York which on the other hand almost let him starve, the money at least did not reach for having the heating on.

Nevertheless he loved this town full of jazz, dance and boogie-woogie (he liked to dance there). His paintings are telling a tribute to this pulsating, dynamic Big Apple.

Burst from the desert of the Dutch landscape, saved in the liver Paris, escaping the racial world of the Nazis - like many other artists did. While however painters like Max Beckmann were getting a university-chair offered in New York, this luck did not fall to Mondrian.

With an astonishing optimistic colour joy he managed to compensate the real sadness. His last work, "Broadway Boogie Woogie" almost works like a city centre Map: Horizontally numbered the Avenues streets -- only the slash of Broadway breaking out of this grid is missing vertical.

One is filled with consternation occasionally, out of which suffering art can arise.

Mondrian may have been assessed compulsion neurotically. However, if he could set such harmonious works against this hell, he is a winner, not a looser.

His compositions against the chaos of the world are fascinating forever. The effort had to be done - though it has been a hard life for Mondrian...

The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

Acquired taste
I Love Bernie Rhodenbarr
The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian
Too complicated
Bernie Straightens Out the Curves and the Frames

The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian (Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries)
Lawrence Block
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Series | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Mystery & Thriller Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0060731435
Release Date: 2005-07-26

Amazon.com

If the only side of Lawrence Block you know is the dark and gloomy Matt Scudder books, such as the noir classic When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, then you might be surprised to hear that he's also one of the most delightfully droll writers in the mystery business.

"I hurried uptown and changed into chinos and a short-sleeved shirt that would have been an Alligator except that the embroidered device on the breast was not that reptile but a bird in flight. I guess it was supposed to be a swallow, either winging its way back to Capistrano or not quite making a summer, because the brand name was Swallowtail. It had never quite caught on and I can understand why." That's Bernie Rhodenbarr, used book dealer and gentleman burglar, making a literary fashion statement in this latest return to print of one of Block's best books about him.

As with the other entries in this admirable series--The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar in the Library, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart, The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, Burglars Can't Be Choosers--Block manages to be very amusing, moderately suspenseful, and impressively erudite all at the same time. The plot is a complicated tangle of double-cross and deceit surrounding the theft of a valuable painting and two murders. Mondrian isn't the only artist being framed here: Bernie has to use all of his skills--as burglar, lover, and art expert--to prove his (relative) innocence. --Dick Adler

Book Description

It's not that used bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr believes the less legal of his two professions is particularly ethical. (It is, however, a rush, and he is very good at it.) He just thinks it's unfair to face a prison term for his legitimate activities. After appraising the worth of a rich man's library -- conveniently leaving his fingerprints everywhere in the process -- Bernie finds he's the cops' prime suspect when his client is murdered.

Someone has framed Bernie Rhodenbarr better than they do it at the Whitney. And if he wants to get out of this corner he's been masterfully painted into, he'll have to get to the bottom of a rather artful -- if multiply murderous -- scam.

Download Description

Customer Reviews:

Acquired taste.......2007-07-30

Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries are an acquired taste. If you like pulp fiction with plain old escapism, these are the books for you.

I Love Bernie Rhodenbarr.......2005-12-06

I just LOVE Bernie (the burglar) Rhodenbarr. He is so rodent-like -- an aptly named character. His dialogue with gay gal-pal, Caroline, is inspiring to all who appreciate sustained wit. I also adore the oafish policeman who insists on pronouncing Mondrian "Moon-drain." I laughed all through this goofy mystery.

I give any and all of Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries my highest recommendation.

The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian.......2004-10-13

"The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian" is the fifth of the Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries by Lawrence Block, who also writes the Matt Scudder novels. Gordon Onderdonk hires Bernie to appraise his book collection. Onderdonk resides in The Charlemagne, a very upscale co-op. While there Bernie notices a painting on Onderdonk's wall by the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian. Archie, Carolyn's cat, is catnapped, and the ransom is a Mondrian hanging on exhibit in the Hewlitt Museum. Bernie decides that the painting on Onderdonk's wall will do and plans to take it. When he gets there, the painting is missing and later Bernie is framed for Onderdonk's murder. He is later framed for the murder of a small time artist. He must prove his innocence and does it in Nero Wolfe style by gathering all the suspects together to give the solutions to all the crimes. This was my 7th Bernie Rhodenbarr novel, and my least favorite to date. The plot was complex and some of the aspects were hard to believe. Don't start the series with this one. This one is for true fans of Bernie Rhodenbarr.

Too complicated.......2003-07-14

Don't get me wrong. I love the burglar series. But this one was a bit too complicated to enjoy. When I read a Rhodenbarr book, I don't want to have to think too hard, but this one has too many twists and too many paintings to keep track of. The story starts out nice enough, with a kidnapped cat and a ransom call (in a Nazi voice) requesting a Mondrian painting. Unfortunately, the catnapping story loses steam and after awhile, I think Lawrence Block almost forgot it, then suddenly tried to wrap a bow around it. Bernie reveals the twisted details in the end, but he doesn't sufficiently explain how he solves the mystery. He rounds up the suspects into one room for the showdown, and the suspect list includes characters heretofore unseen. I wish all the suspects could have been introduced to the reader before hand, so we had a fighting chance to figure out the mystery ourselves.

Bernie Straightens Out the Curves and the Frames.......2003-05-11

Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing valuables. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian is the fifth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza and The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Although, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams comes next in the series.

Book dealer Bernie has been hired by a wealthy collector to come to his apartment to value his book collection. Bernie is happy to do this for two reasons. He gets paid more for his time than he does by selling books in his store, and, more importantly, because it gets him into one of the highest security apartment buildings in New York City at a time when a wealthy stamp collector is away in West Virginia. After the appraisal is completed, Bernie sneaks up the fire exit to burgle another apartment and comes away with some choice and salable items. Just when everything seems perfect, Bernie finds himself inexplicably wanted for murder. Soon every cop in New York is looking for him. Even Ray Kirschmann's paid-for help may not save him this time!

This story has some of the most offbeat and unexpected situations in it of any that I remember in detective fiction. Each element seems to be so outlandish that you cannot help but smile. In essence, the book is a spoof of the whole detective fiction genre, and it works as humor very well. For example, a cat is kidnapped by someone demanding a quarter-million dollar ransom and cat whiskers are delivered to prove that the cat is being held. Bernie meets someone unexpectedly in one of his burglaries and you will be totally amazed by what comes next. Bernie is confronted with three seemingly impossible thefts and his ultimate methods to secure the goods will keep you chuckling for hours. Bernie conferences with his attorney while running up and down hills after his old attorney succumbs in an unusual manner to the Grim Reaper. The complications among lovers, ex-lovers and potential lovers remind me of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Here's the fly in the pigment in this hilarious tale. If you know nothing about art, the story works perfectly and you will remember it for years as one of the best detective books you have read. If you totally suspend your disbelief about art, it also works well. If you know about art and insist on accuracy in details, you will know that the story's resolution does not work. It is full of more holes than most Swiss cheese. If you find yourself in one of the first two categories, you will think of this as a five-star book. If you think of it in the last category, you will think it is hopelessly flawed. My grading reflects a balance between those views. Decide in advance how you want to read the book.

The theme of this book focuses on the seemingly insignificant differences between what is genuine and what is not. Mostly, the differences lie in the mind, rather than in reality. A good question to ask yourself after reading this book is where nongenuine, but well-done, substitutes should be used in preference to what is scarce, expensive and genuine.

Book Description

Just before World War II, Piet Mondrian fled from Paris to London and later to New York, where he lived until his death in 1944. Upon his arrival in Manhattan, the artist began reworking seventeen of the paintings he brought with him, many of which had already been finished and exhibited. He changed lines and added blocks and bars of color to give them what he called "more boogie-woogie."

In this groundbreaking book, Harry Cooper, an authority on Mondrian's art, and Ron Spronk, an expert on the technical examination of paintings, investigate the artist's so- called transatlantic paintings and his unusual working method during this period. Their collaboration offers an intimate look into the studio of one of the greatest modern artists and establishes a new model for the integration of art history, theory, and technical analysis.

The book begins with two essays by Cooper that discuss the critical reception of Mondrian's work, the place of the transatlantic paintings in the evolution of his art, and the particular significance of their dates and titles. Spronk's essay presents technical discoveries based on the authors' original research, reproducing and interpreting many new X-radiographs, photomicrographs, and photographs taken under ultraviolet and infrared light. The catalogue features such major paintings as Place de la Concorde (1938-43) from the Dallas Museum of Art and No. 12 (1936-42) from the National Gallery of Canada. Each work is discussed in a comprehensive entry accompanied by a dazzling array of illustrations that take the reader under the surface of the painting to reveal its genesis.

This is the catalogue for an exhibition that opens at the Harvard University Art Museums in April 2001 and then travels to the Dallas Museum of Art.

Customer Reviews:

review of the transatlantic paintings.......2001-09-07

An excellent exhibition catalog that focuses on a narrow body of works by Mondrian; namely, paintings that Mondrian brought with him on his flight from World War II in Europe to New York City, and that he either finished in New York or re-worked completely, thus the name "transatlantic paintings." These works are largely a response to the vibrant city life Mondrian enjoyed in New York, seeing the city as an embodiment of his utopian ideas of life in the future for all mankind. Part of this response included Mondrian's embracing of a musical fusion of blues and jazz music called boogie-woogie.
The photographs are made with the most advanced technology available, and give new insights into Mondrian's working methods, chronicaling his many revisions with x-ray and ultraviolet photography, among other techniques. Extreme close-ups are provided of small details that are otherwise impossible to see with the naked eye.
This book is not for the casual reader looking for biographical or career retrospective information on Mondrain, as its focus is too narrow, but is designed for those interested in the final period of Mondrian's career, and those interested in the conservation and restoration of paintings.

Mondrian Cameo (Great Modern Masters Series)

Average customer rating:

THIS IS A BOOK TO STUDY !
Mondrian (GREAT Modern Masters Series)

Mondrian Cameo (Great Modern Masters Series)
Jose Maria Faerna
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0810946874

Customer Reviews:

THIS IS A BOOK TO STUDY !.......2002-09-11

Reading this is a must for any artist .

What can I say but I was told to read this and am so glad I was. Some of the best advise I ever got .

TO read the book and what is in it !

Mondrian (GREAT Modern Masters Series).......2000-03-28

This would be biography of Mondrian provides quite a bit of insight into the artist himself. A attention keeping book, this one gives insight to one of the great abstract expressionists.

Average customer rating:

Mondrian and Neo-Plasticism in America
Nancy J. Troy , and Piet Mondrian
Manufacturer: Arthur Schwartz Sales Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0894670115

The New Art--The New Life: The Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian (Documents of Twentieth-Century Art)

Average customer rating:

Review of Mondrian's collected writings

The New Art--The New Life: The Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian (Documents of Twentieth-Century Art)
Piet Mondrian , and Harry Holtzman
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0306805081

Customer Reviews:

Review of Mondrian's collected writings.......2000-04-27

Piet Mondrian, one of the great minds of modern art, left voluminous writings to both explain and defend his abstract style of painting. This book assembles his published essays, from his first "The New Plastic in Painting" (1917), through his other contributions to De Stijl magazine, and his posthumously published sketchbook notes.

This book is not for the casual reader, or for someone just beginning to explore Mondrian's ideas and work. Mondrian's writing style is at times lucid and straightforward, at others repetive and oblique, and this adds up to a dense read that requires much focus to appreciate. Mondrian's major contributions to modern art are all outlined in verbal form here, from the basics of Neo-Plasticism that he utilized throughout his mature style, to ideas that were so fantastic that they were not practical, such as his desire to make all his paintings in the space where they were to be displayed.

The book itself is quite lengthy: at 400 pages, this is not a quick read. While illustrations of Mondrian's paintings are included, they are not part of the overall page count, so the 400 pages are solid text. Each essay begins with a commentary that is quite helpful is placing that particular writing within its proper context, and the introductory essays by Holtzman and James are informative.

Overall, a great book chronicaling the development of one of the landmark styles of modern art, and the utopian, visionary thoughts of the man who dedicated his life to the world he had created, and to the hope that future generations would incorporate his idealistic beliefs into everyday life.

Average customer rating:

a good balance of reading vs. seeing

Mondrian
John Milner
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Mondrian, Piet | ( M-O ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Complete Mondrian

Natural Reality and Abstract Reality: An Essay in Trialogue Form/1919-1920

The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910-1934

Mark Rothko

Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography

ASIN: 0714831670

Customer Reviews:

a good balance of reading vs. seeing.......2000-08-09

Mondrian's work is, in my opinion, best appreciated in context. He didn't simply arrive at perpendicular lines as form overnight, and this book demonstrates how Mondrian evolved as an artist over time. The text is highly readable, never too lofty, and quite fascinating at times. Those who are not entirely familiar with Mondrian's career or who want insight into his vision as an artist would do best to consult this text and its many color plates.

Average customer rating:

Mondrian: The Art of Destruction
Carel Blotkamp
Manufacturer: Reaktion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Criticism | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1861891008

Book Description

This book on Mondrian, one of the great pioneers of abstract art, analyzes the interrelation between his paintings and his theories on art and life as expressed in public writings and (largely unpublished) letters. Mondrian's art was not based on reasoning or calculation – on the contrary, intuition was central to his concept of the artistic process – but he always felt a strong urge to position his art in a wider cultural and philosophical context. Crucial to Mondrian's thought was the Theosophical notion of evolution, which required the destruction of the old to make room for the new, in life, in society and in art.Mondrian: The Art of Destruction concentrates on the paintings, the artist's major achievement, examining the influences that shaped his art: Fauvism and Cubism c.1910, the work of Bart van der Leck, De Stijl and the Parisian art world during the 1920s. Mondrian appears not as an isolated figure, but as an artist who took a keen interest in the world around him, a veritable avant-garde painter who saw his role as a creator of a new, modern culture.

Mondrian: On the Humanity of Abstract Painting

Average customer rating:

review of On the Humanity of Abstract Painting

Mondrian: On the Humanity of Abstract Painting
Meyer Schapiro
Manufacturer: George Braziller
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0807613703

Customer Reviews:

review of On the Humanity of Abstract Painting.......2000-06-06

This is actually two essays written at different times and compiled into book form. The first, written by Schapiro in 1960, gives the book its title, and is a basic defense of abstraction in general, having little to do specifically with Mondrian or his work.

The second, much longer essay "Mondrian: Order and Randomness in Abstract Painting," was written in 1978, and concentrates on a few specific works by Mondrian. This is again written as a justification, but focused on the importance of Mondrian. Schapiro draws useful comparisons between Mondrian's work and other paintings by important modern masters, such as Degas and Picasso.

Customer Reviews:

Mondrian explains his esthetic.......2004-05-23

- or tries to. This brief book is a socratic conversation between three speakers: Mondrian's representative of the new, an agent of the old, and the naif in need of explanations.

The translator's notes quote Mondrian, in some other context, as saying that "writers are the worst criminals." Mondrian goes on to prove that in the example his own writing. The tone is strident and authorative. The line of development, however, has no apparent basis in logical reasoning. To my eye, it is barely comprehensible. (The two brief 'stream of consciousness' pieces at the end border on gibberish.)

As near as I can tell, Mondrian uses this book to predict some Edenic future where the arts have mostly passed away as separate activities. Instead, artistic expression would be fully integrated into the acts and artifacts of daily life. (OK, I'll go along with that.) He further insists that individual personality would be excised from art, replaced by self-working laws of esthetics and balance, somehow defined by the 'spirit of the times'. This writing dates from the era (1919-1920) when Bauhaus thinking was being developed and deployed, so I'm not surprised to hear Mondrian echo what was being said elsewhere.

What left me baffled, however, was a pair of assertions. First was that the new kind of vision was developing in the world, with historical inevitability, the vision that Mondrian attempted to explain. Second was that only a new kind of man (women were not named) would be able to share in this sensibility. It seemed that an esthetic that did not yet exist would be expressed only by a species that did not yet exist. Huh?

I did not pick this book up to be swayed by its logic or commentary. If I had, I would have been disappointed. Instead, I wanted to see the words actually set down by one of the twentieth century's influential thinkers, and I succeeded in that.

'Natural Reality' is fascinating as a historical document and as an exercise in rhetoric. Just don't expect to learn much about art from it.

Trialogue review.......2000-06-16

Subtitled "While Strolling from the Country to the City," this trialogue presents Mondrian's idealistic theories regarding art and life as a narrative occurring in real time rather than as a manifesto. The participants are identified only as "Y," a layman; "X", a naturalistic painter, and "Z," an abstract-real painter, obviously Mondrian himself. Taking place at six sites in the countryside at night while observing various natural and manmade phenomena, the trio discuss the relationship between art and life, and naturalistic vs. abstract art, finally ending in the studio of Z. The discussion is a re-working of Mondrian's ideas already presented in the previous essays "The New Plastic in Painting" (1917) and "Dialogue on the New Plastic" (1919).

Mondrian's clever use of the conversational format serves a dual purpose - it is his attempt to convince the world at large, represented by the layman and the naturalistic painter, of the necessity for the new in art (specifically Mondrian's own); and presents in written form the contrast of opposites so necessary in Mondrian's painting, the pairing of the naturalistic art (the "tragic") with abstraction (the "universal").

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books