Picasso and American Art
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Architecture
Picasso and American Art Details
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. This work is a marvelous, carefully-researched study of Picasso's influence on some of the most significant American artists of the 20th century. Fitzgerald moves chronologically, from the earliest Americans who engaged cubism in the teens (Max Weber, Mardsen Hartley, Man Ray, Stuart Davis), through the modernist investigations of Arshile Gorky, Willem De Kooning and Jackson Pollack, and winds up with Roy Lichtenstien's pop-art and Jasper Johns' postmodern responses to Picasso. Fitzgerald takes great pains to triangulate exhibition specifics with the work and words of each artist to document the precise nature and extent of the influence in each case. And because the story of Picasso's influence is intertwined with the gradual acceptance of modern art in America, the book also touches on events leading to the foundation of MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as their development during the decades during and after WWII. The essays here are excellent, filled with rich detail and sustained consideration of each artist; and despite the sophistication of the analysis, Fitzgerald avoids overly-technical or hyper-academic prose, which will make the book accessible to more than just art historians and cultural critics. There is a generous supply of images presented with the text, and they are as successful as Fitzgerald's prose in illuminating the complexities of Picasso's influence on these artists. Both as an exhibition guide and a coffee table book, this volume is outstanding and will appeal to those looking to learn more about these artists or who simply wish have a handsome volume to look at and display.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Read more From Booklist Although "Pablo Picasso never set foot in America," the protean artist had a profound impact on American art. In this groundbreaking and exhaustively researched study, FitzGerald takes measure of Picasso's influence, serving up a feast of juicy art-world tales of fervent advocacy and outright hostility. As the unbelievably prolific Picasso changed styles as readily as the mythological beings that inspired him changed shapes, American critics and artists scrambled to keep pace. From the small Picasso still life Max Weber brought to New York in 1909 to Picasso's first exhibit two years later in Alfred Stieglitz's now legendary gallery to major museum exhibitions, the story of Picasso's art in America sheds new light on the evolution of modern American art. And the reproductions are many and sumptuous as FitzGerald parlays the acumen of his commentary into shrewd pairings of awe--inspiring Picassos with powerful works by Max Weber himself, Stuart Davis, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Jasper Johns. FitzGerald's revelations remind us that Picasso remains a force to be reckoned with. Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Read more See all Editorial Reviews
Reviews
The exhibition "Picasso and American Art" was very much criticized because of its tendency to mixing everything that counts in modern American art (or rather, in New York art) and linking it somewhat arbitrarily to Picasso, which, in a way, is stating the obvious.Now what remains of it is this beautiful book, very well documented and which shows us some works of rarely seen artists alongside others, much more famous ones. The text is lively and informative.
