The Power of Display: A History of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art

Book Description

Art historians, traditionally, have implicitly accepted the autonomy of the artwork and ignored what Mary Anne Staniszewski calls "the power of display." In this groundbreaking examination of installation design as an aesthetic medium and cultural practice, Staniszewski offers the first history of exhibitions at the most powerful and influential modern art museum--The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Focusing on over two hundred photographs of the visually rich but overlooked history of exhibitions, Staniszewski documents and deciphers an essential chapter of twentieth-century art and culture and provides a historical and theoretical framework for a primary area of contemporary aesthetic practice--installation-based art.

Staniszewski treats installations as creations that manifest values, ideologies, politics, and of course aesthetics. Incorporating analysis of display techniques used in department stores, natural history museums, non-Western art galleries, and the international avant-gardes' exhibitions of the first half of the century, she makes visible both the explicit and covert meanings found in exhibitions. Some of the questions she addresses are: What sorts of viewers do different types of installations "create"? How do exhibition designs affect the meanings and receptions of specific objects, images, artifacts, and buildings when they are displayed? How do installations shape the viewer's experience of the cultural ritual of a museum visit? How does an amnesia regarding exhibition design affect art history, the art world, and collective cultural memories?

Among the artists, designers, architects, and curators whose installations the author features are Dennis Adams, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Herbert Bayer, RenÃ© d'Harnoncourt, Ray and Charles Eames, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Philip Johnson, Frederick Kiesler, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, El Lissitzky, Adrian Piper, Lilly Reich, William Rubin, Paul Rudolph, Edward Steichen, Giuseppe Terragni, and Kirk Varnedoe.

Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z (Guggenheim Museum Publications)

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Guggenheim redux

Guggenheim Museum Collection: A to Z (Guggenheim Museum Publications)

Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810969300

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C is for Cézanne (and Chagall, Cornell, collaboration, and cultural activism) in the revised, redesigned handbook of the Guggenheim Museum's New York collection. The format is unorthodox: it's a little encyclopedia on topics from action (illustrated by de Kooning's 1955 Composition and 300 words by high-IQ critic Dore Ashton) to Gilberto Zorio (with a photo of the Italian artist's star-and-javelin sculpture and two helpful paragraphs by Guggenheim contemporary art curator Nancy Spector explaining what stars and javelins symbolize in his work). The reproductions are smallish but mostly eye-delighting, capturing at a glance, for instance, Picasso's leap from his first Paris painting Le Moulin de la Galette (done at 19 in 1900), vibrant in a Manet-meets-Munch way, to his still-startling cubist breakthroughs. Even the book's superb wraparound cover is a work of art: the Guggenheim by night, lit up by Dan Flavin's neon sculptures in exuberant surfer hues.

The entries range from more traditional thumbnail descriptions of artists and objects in the celebrated collection to some fairly arcane sections devoted to concepts like the fourth dimension (illustrated by a Braque cubist painting). The formidable art theorist Rosalind Krauss writes an entry on informe, elucidating French philosopher Bataille's principle of "formlessness": "Although Bataille's analogue for the informe was the crushed spider or the blob of spittle, and though Miró's detour from painting took the form of working with trash, Giacometti's example of formlessness cannily assumed a highly polished, even geometrically simple set of shapes." If you're up on art, you're intrigued; if Krauss confuses you, don't panic--simply turn to the accessible entry on Giacometti, which is more straightforwardly biographical.

I'm not sure an alphabetical listing is the best way to put the Guggenheim's awesome 20th-century masterworks in the clearest possible context. But this handbook is concise, lively, handsome, and a bit perverse. --Victoria Ellison

Book Description

Revised, expanded, and completely redesigned, this new edition of the Guggenheim Museum's popular guide to its New York collection is a beautifully produced volume, not only a handy overview of the museum's holdings but a concise, engaging primer on 20th-century art. Organized alphabetically, the book consists of entries on individual artists (ranging in date from Camille Pissarro to Matthew Barney) as well as definitions of key terms and concepts of modern art from ìAction “to ìInstallation. “Reflecting the exciting recent growth in the Guggenheim's permanent collection, this 2001 edition includes new entries on such artists as Francesco Clemente, Ann Hamilton, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Cindy Sherman, among others. The text is by the museum's curators as well as prominent authors and scholars including Dore Ashton, Rosalind Krauss, and Brian Wallis.

Customer Reviews:

Guggenheim redux.......2007-09-12

A good introduction to the collection of one of the most interesting museums in NY, this book lists in an alphabetic order the majority of the artists represented in the collection, giving a short biography and illustrating at least one work with a concise explanation of it. It also begins with a history of the building and of the collection, which gives a good insight on some of the most active art patrons of the XXth century.

As it is often difficult to get a glimpse of these works (most of them are rarely displayed), this guide is worth keeping in one's library.

Brice Marden Drawings (Whitney Museum of American Art Books)

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for marden fans

Brice Marden Drawings (Whitney Museum of American Art Books)
Janie C. Lee
Manufacturer: Whitney Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0810968282

Customer Reviews:

for marden fans.......2004-10-14

Good drawing books, but you probably have to be a marden fan. if you are, come on in, you'll like it. the book itself is nicely done.

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Lavish, Beautifully Done Book

The Art of Rockefeller Center
Christine Roussel
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393060829

Book Description

The definitive full-color art guide to a New York City landmark visited by 75 million people each year.

From the beginning John D. Rockefeller incorporated art into his plans for Rockefeller Center in New York City, commissioning pieces meant to inspire the viewer with idealism, work ethics, and religion. Over one hundred major works embellish the twenty-two acre complex, making the center the world's largest indoor/outdoor urban museum. The artists include such noted figures as Gaston Lachaise, Lee Lowrie, Paul Manship, Carl Milles, Isamu Noguchi, Diego Rivera, and William Zorach. This book is the first comprehensive review of their work.

Each chapter investigates a single building, illustrated with both historic and dramatic new photographs. Also included are explanations of the themes, myths, and allegories. The book provides a color-coded map of the buildings in the center and a biographical index of the contributing artists. The Art of Rockefeller Center is a treat for the art lover and anyone who has ever marveled at this great American icon. 230 color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Lavish, Beautifully Done Book.......2006-01-25

Built in the middle of the depression, Rockefeller Center became a part of and a symbol of America. The buildings of Rockefeller Center were not designed as the steel and glass monoliths of today. Art from some of the best artists of the day was incorporated into virtually all aspects of the building. The most famous is the statue of Prometheus delivering fire to the mortals of the earth amidst the waters of the Plaza. But there is much much more. There are the bas-relief stone carvings on the facade, there are murals, statues, even specially designed patterns for the carpets.

This book is the first comprehensive study of the art in the center. It is a large format, beautifully printed edition of the art as it is now, and in many cases historical photographs of the artists as it was being produced in the 1930's.

Ms. Roussel is the Archivist of Rockefeller center. To produce the book she had unprecedented access to the records and files of the center.

Average customer rating:

chock full of good stuff

Moma Highlights

Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0870704907
Release Date: 2005-01-15

Amazon.com

One expects any museum to produce greatest hits package type books along with the t-shirts, postcards, and boxer shorts that make a gift shop the driving engine of any decent museum. And if you thought this surely must be one of these kind of books, you'd not be faulted for that. However, the newly-expanded and revised version of this book (which is slightly less White Male-centric than its predecessor) is something of a classic when it comes to writing about modern art in a way that's both accessible and informative. Not to say that it's a masterpiece of art history, but it is a rather marvelous look at 350 major works from the Museum of Modern Art's considerably deep collection. One wishes many of these items could be on permanent display, but of course MOMA would have to be 50 times its size to showcase all of its holdings. You'll find a huge variety of disciplines, including video and multimedia works, design and painting, spanning pretty much the entire gamut of art, making it a model gift for the art lover in your circle of friends. --Mike McGonigal

Book Description

In this updated, expanded, and superbly produced handbook, The Museum of Modern Art presents its own selection of the most significant artworks in its collection. Few institutions approach the richness of The Museum of Modern Art's holdings in painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, illustrated books, architectural models and drawings, graphic and industrial design, photography, film, video, and multimedia installations. In this volume, some 350 highlights--23 of which are new to this edition--from the Museum's six curatorial departments, are interwoven to present a sumptuous and broadly chronological overview that takes readers from Post-Impressionism to contemporary art. Every work that was executed in color is reproduced in MoMA Highlights in vibrant hues, and each is accompanied by a brief commentary. Updated and revised, this book is the definitive guide to the broad scope of MoMA's collection. Also updated and expanded, The Museum of Modern Art recently reopened on November 20, 2004 in its newly designed building by architect Yoshio Taniguchi. Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, MoMA is dedicated to being the foremost museum of modern art in the world. The ultimate purpose of the Museum declared at its founding, is to acquire the best modern works of art in all visual mediums.

Customer Reviews:

chock full of good stuff.......2007-02-19

i thought this book was very much an enjoyable and fun book to look through. it amazed me how much material was put in it, considering on appearances it looks like a little publication. i thought that the art plates were beautiful and the colors well repeated. i am absulutely thrilled that i bought this book and would not hesitate to buy it for a friend for an occation

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A celebration of Lee Krasner
Wonderful Book

Lee Krasner
Robert Hobbs
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810963957

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At nearly every stage of her 15-year marriage to the universally recognized Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner was quicker to respond to stylistic innovations in the art world than her husband. Pollock either didn't catch on to the art-world developments that surrounded him or incorporated changes much later than Krasner did. Some critics read Krasner's dynamic painting style as evidence of her superiority as an artist, but others saw her porousness as a problem, and Pollock's comparative insularity as one key to his uniqueness. In Lee Krasner, Robert Hobbs gracefully analyzes the many forces--of personality, education, and cultural and political milieu--that shaped Krasner's 60-year devotion to art; in the process, he elucidates the many reasons her "artistically constructed self remains provisional."

B.H. Friedman, Pollock's first biographer, introduces the book with a gripping series of intimate, you-are-there diary entries from the long years of his friendship with the two artists. Then Hobbs weaves biography and critical interpretation to develop the main text of the book. The reproductions of Krasner's drawings and paintings (97 in color) are excellent, giving a fair picture of her long career, and there are more than a score of black-and-white archival photos of Krasner and the other early abstract expressionists. The book has a few odd omissions though, such as any reference to Mark Tobey, whose "white writing" paintings and others are so closely related stylistically to Krasner's work of the 1940s. Still, this is the respectful but objective book Krasner's vigorous work and forceful personality deserve. It sheds sympathetic light on her lifelong, intellectually rigorous, artistic questing. --Peggy Moorman

Customer Reviews:

A celebration of Lee Krasner.......2001-05-12

Robert Hobbs' book on Lee Krasner is an excellent introduction to the life and work of this important artist. My first experience of Lee Krasner came through the film "Pollock," a biographical drama about Krasner's husband and fellow artist, Jackson Pollock. I was so impressed by Marcia Gay Harden's passionate portrayal of Krasner in the film that I sought out more information about Krasner, and found Hobbs' book.

This book is filled with full-color reproductions of many of Krasner's paintings. She brought something truly special to the abstract expressionist movement. Her work seems to evoke both the technological energy of an urban environment, as well as primal biological power.

The book also has many wonderful photographs of Krasner at many stages in her life. In his text, Hobbs discusses such subjects as the influence of Krasner's Russian Jewish heritage upon her work. This is a visually striking and thought-provoking book. My suggestion? Read the book, and see the movie "Pollock."

Wonderful Book.......2000-05-14

This is a great book about Lee Krasner's life and work. Many survey books leave her out so she may be unknown to some people. This book has great color plates and a lot of text which is nice. There are also nice photographs of her. It is a wonderful book for anyone who appreciates art.

Museum of Modern Art New York the History and the Collection

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*An absolute must for all modern art lovers*
a must have!
an excellent companion to the world's finest museum

Museum of Modern Art New York the History and the Collection

Manufacturer: Museum of Modern Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0870704680

Amazon.com

To choose 1,000 works to represent a museum whose total collection exceeds 100,000--now that's curating. Imagine the restraint required to compile a catalog of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York--the first museum exclusively dedicated to art of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first to recognize modern-art disciplines (photography, film, industrial design, installation). The collection is carefully and tastefully represented in this 600-page tome. Multiple frontispieces representing each of the museum's departments welcome the reader, followed by a thorough and illustrated introduction to the museum's directors, exhibitions, donors, acquisitions, and architecture.

Then comes the good stuff: 1,000 works from the museum's six curatorial departments: Painting and Sculpture, Drawings, Prints and Illustrated Books, Architecture and Design, Photography, and Film and Video, each section introduced by an essay explaining the development of the particular collection. Clear, large, color illustrations of Cezanne's The Bather, Munch's Madonna, Wyeth's Christina's World, and sculpture by Oldenburg, Serra, Morris, and Beuys leave a reader gasping, "They have that?"

First published in 1984, the book was reprinted in 1997 by Abradale, Abrams's more affordable imprint. While the huge catalog is now less expensive, keep in mind that its content has not been revised since its first edition. Regardless, it's a valuable testament to the quality and scope of one of the world's greatest art collections. It's hard not to want to see all of the works that didn't make it into the catalog.

Customer Reviews:

*An absolute must for all modern art lovers*.......2003-02-19

Fabulous art collections by the modern masters - complete with many descriptions of the pieces. Papers used are great to touch, pictures are lovely to see and a great binding with dust jacket. A wonderful treat to add to your library. Buy it, you won't regret it!

a must have!.......2000-07-22

this is a collectable book that will always be returned to whether to browse or find information. the quality of the paper makes the pictures perfect and a great joy to look through..

this is a true account of modern art in its brightest forms..it is wonderful to see this publication when so many contemporary art books fail in quality.

an excellent companion to the world's finest museum.......1999-06-19

There are no greater storehouses of modern art in the world than MOMA in New York, a treasure house of many of the greatest works of the century. Any place you can find Dali, Magritte, Pollock, Picasso and Warhol rubbing shoulders is fine by me so this book is a real delight. For those of you who love the work of the 20th century, this is a must. For those of you who don't get it, get a life and get this book.

American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age

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America's own design style.
Wonderful book!
A COFFEE TABLE BOOK--With CONTENT!

American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age
Stewart J. Johnson
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810942089

Book Description

In the years between the world wars, a pioneer group of designers, architects, and artists-including Norman Bel Geddes, Donald Deskey, Paul Frankl, Raymond Loewy, Gilbert Rohde, Eliel Saarinen, Walter Dorwin Teague, and Russel Wright-forged a new design aesthetic that was unmistakably American and undeniably modern.

This book, the companion volume to an exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts and opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, showcases more than 125 of the most influential works by these and other legendary designers. From chairs, dinnerware, and textiles to lamps, cocktail sets, and clocks, these strikingly innovative objects made stylish modern design accessible to a broad audience-and are much sought after by collectors today.

The introductory essay ranges from the role of museums and department stores in promoting modern design to the obsession with streamlining to the origins of planned obsolescence. This extraordinary book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in American design.

170 illustrations, 140 in full color, 9 3/4 x 9 3/4"

J. STEWART JOHNSON, the consultant for design and architecture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Modern Art, has curated exhibitions on Alvar Aalto, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Marcel Breuer, among many others.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkMay 15, 200 0-Jan. 2001

Customer Reviews:

America's own design style........2002-05-26

This is a beautifully designed and printed book based on the exhibition `American Modern' at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 172 illustrations (142 are large color photos mostly one to a page) focus on objects rather than the wider visual aspects of streamline design such as architecture, transport, engineering. I like the idea of everyday items being used, here you can study, for instance, Lurelle Guild's 1937 Electrolux vacuum cleaner, Norman Bel Geddes' 1940 Patriot radio, Russel Wright's 1937 American Modern dinnerware or the stunning candleholders Wilbert Orme designed in 1938, there are four shown in four separate arrangements and I would really like to have a set!

Author Stewart Johnson explains, in an essay at the start of the book, how a small group of American designers, several of them emigres from Europe, abandoned the ornamentation of Art Deco in favor of simple clean lines, using new materials and manufacturing techniques. Furniture designer Paul Frankl was one of this group and he became an active promoter of the new style. He tied it all down to six characteristics
1 Simplicity.
2 Plain surfaces.
3 Unbroken lines.
4 Accentuation of structural necessity.
5 Dramatisation of the intrinsic beauty of materials.
6 Elimination of meaningless and distracting motives of the past.
Johnson adds one other point that Frankl would not have mentioned at the time: Streamlining. This was the idea that made the style American.

The back of the book has several pages of designer biographies, a useful glossary (Aluminum to Vitrolite and I now know what Monel Metal is) bibliography and index. Joe Coscia Jr, of the Metropolitan's photo studio, should be congratulated on his wonderful photography of the exhibits, they leap right off the page.

As this book only covers objects you might want to read about other areas of Streamline design, have a look at `The Machine Age in America' by Richard Guy Wilson, Dianne Pilgrim and Dickran Tashjian. I think this can be considered the standard work on the subject. Another book that I like is Martin Greif's `Depression Modern: Thirties Style in America', it has some excellent architectural (especially interior) photos that I have not seen in other books. Want to know more? Scan over my Listmania: 'Streamline' books selection.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Wonderful book!.......2001-07-07

I saw the exhibition at The Met and this book captures the objects perfectly! It also serves as a great reference to the greatest period in American industrial design: 1925 to 1940.

A COFFEE TABLE BOOK--With CONTENT!.......2000-05-16

This is a great book for anyone interested in or appreciative of modern design and aesthetics. The book itself is beautiful, and all the color reproductions inside are sleek, clean, and inspiring. The author has the works divided by interesting categories such as "Streamlined," "Geometries," and "Penthouse," groupings that really help illuminate different design tendencies during this period. A beautiful publication!

Objects of Design: The Museum of Modern Art

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Objects of Design from The Museum of Modern Art

Objects of Design: The Museum of Modern Art
Bevin Cline , Tina di Carlo , Christian Larsen , Luisa Lorch , Christopher Mount , Peter Reed , Peter Behrens , and Isamu Noguchi
Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870706969
Release Date: 2003-09-02

Book Description

Showcasing selected works from The Museum of Modern Art's superlative architecture and design collection, Objects of Design features a wide variety of industrial and domestic artifacts by great designers of the modern period, from early masters such as Hector Guimard, Frank Lloyd Wright and Josef Hoffmann to contemporary practitioners including Droog Design, Ettore Sottsas, Gaetano Pesce, Hella Jongerius and others. Some of the objects represent turn-of-the-century designs of the Vienna Secession, Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts movement; others are Bauhaus and de Stijl explorations; still others show Charles and Ray Eames and other American designers of the second half of the 20th century; representations of the Italian design revolutions; and contemporary manifestations of familiar genres using radical new materials and techniques of manufacture. The book's 360 color plates not only reveal the range of aesthetic viewpoints in design since the late 19th century but together trace the historical development of the Museum's celebrated design collection. In the introductory essay, Paola Antonelli, Curator, Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art, explores the history of modern design as well as the story of the museum's collection and its influence on the history of modern and contemporary design itself.

Customer Reviews:

Objects of Design from The Museum of Modern Art.......2004-04-18

MoMA canonized modern design as it did 20th-century art, and this anthology of pictures and expert texts highlights a collection of 3,708 objects that range in size from microchips to a helicopter. About a tenth of those are illustrated in nine thematic sections. Many are icons, but there are a few surprises, especially among recent acquisitions, where the inventive use of materials supplants functional beauty. Paola Antonelli, MoMA Curator of Architecture and Design, describes the collection as presenting a history of ideas and realizing a part of Alfred Barr's dream of a unity of the arts. She explains how the old selection criteria of truth and beauty have changed while retaining some of their old authority. It's comforting to know that relativism does not yet extend to firearms, making MoMA's collection a gun-free zone. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

Modigliani: Beyond the Myth (Published in Association with the Jewish Museum, New York)

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A good catalogue for a good exhibition
Modigliani's fine arts

Modigliani: Beyond the Myth (Published in Association with the Jewish Museum, New York)

Manufacturer: Jewish Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 030010264X

Book Description

Amedeo Modigliani (1884--1920) is one of the greatest-and most misunderstood-artists of the twentieth century. His incisive portraits, erotically charged nudes, beautiful drawings, and primitivistic sculpture have been admired for decades. Modigliani's work, however, has typically been examined in the limited context of his so-called "bohemian," anti-intellectual lifestyle. This groundbreaking book revises this approach toward Modigliani's art, presenting a convincing revisionist examination of the unique historical, social, religious, and cultural significance of his oeuvre. Modigliani: Beyond the Myth looks at the artist and his art from a variety of important perspectives: his proud heritage as a Sephardic Jew, whose spirituality embraced non-Western, classical, and Christian iconography while retaining his own ethnic identity; his critical engagement with the dialogues of the most radical of his avant-garde contemporaries (Picasso, Chaim Soutine, Henri Matisse, and Brancusi); the influence of tribal art and Judaism on his portraiture; the representation of the female nude in his works from a feminist cultural perspective; and the remarkable reception of his work in Italy during his lifetime. Lavishly illustrated and including a detailed chronology of his life, this fascinating book situates Modigliani anew in the history of twentieth-century art. BACKCOVER:

Customer Reviews:

A good catalogue for a good exhibition.......2007-04-09

There have been many publications on Modigliani lately and also many exhibitions (in Paris, London, NY). This particular book, which is the catalogue for a show at the Brooklyn Museum, is, in my opinion, the most original one in that it attempts to study the artist setting aside all the rest (that is "the myth"). The beautiful reproductions enable the reader to see what a revolutionary portraitist Modigliani was, even sometimes minimalist (to use a fashionable word). The provenance of the works show that he did have early admirers, and not only among his peers or dealers.

Modigliani's fine arts.......2006-03-09

I bought this book preparing a visit of an exhibition on paintings as well as my paission in arts, i.e. painting.
The book is full of pics and enough text about Amadeo.
Amadeo's paitings are really great...

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