David Anfam Knihy

The first major American publication on this important contemporary sculptor. Anish Kapoor is one of a highly inventive generation of sculptors who emerged in London in the early 1980s. Since then he has created a remarkable body of work that blends a modernist sense of pure materiality with a fascination for the manipulation of form and the perception of space. This book—the first major American publication on Kapoor's work—surveys his work since 1979, with a focus on sculptures and installations made since the early 1990s. With more than ninety color images of these ambitious and complex works, three original essays, an extended interview with Kapoor, and selections from his sketchbooks, this book confirms Anish Kapoor's place as one of the most remarkable sculptors working today. Kapoor's work has evolved into an abstract and perceptually complex elaboration of the sculptural object as at once monumental and evanescent, physical and ethereal—as in his famous Cloud Gate (2004) in Chicago's Millennium Park. The works in Anish Kapoor include such striking works as Past, Present, Future (2006), 1000 Names (1979-1980) and When I Am Pregnant (1992). This book, which accompanies an exhibition at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art, offers American readers a long-overdue opportunity to consider the extraordinary clarity, subtlety, and power of Kapoor's art.

An exclusive look at the late work of one of the most influential and enigmatic painters, whose late-career paintings are virtually unknown to the public and many are published here for the first time. číst celé

Accompanying an exhibition at BASTIAN, London, this striking publication presents works by the German-born American artist Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), produced at the end of the Second World War and immediately afterwards.

Traces the history of Abstract Expressionism, and examines its political implications and the cultural context in which it developed

This carefully culled portfolio of 14 paintings, meticulously reproduced and documented, spans 60 years--from the time of the master's arrival in America to the late 80s. Readers will find rare examples of de Kooning's earliest works juxtaposed with a cityscape from the 1950s, canvases from the important period of his arrival in Easthampton, and abstract landscapes of the 70s and 80s. David Anfam's essay traces de Kooning's intriguing relationship to water, invoking the work of Heraclitus, Yeats, Melville and Frost in conjuring the sense of fluidity that characterized both his urban and rural work. Anfam also puzzles over the enigma of a man who lived perpetually beside the ocean--the book opens with a photograph of him striding across the beach in Easthampton in 1968--but never learned to swim.

An astute, beautifully illustrated examination of the recently restored touchstone of modern art Jackson Pollock’s major early work Mural (1943) was commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim for the entrance hall of her East 61st Street New York residence. Mural-sized, though not actually a mural—the work is painted on a six-meter-long canvas, not directly onto the wall—this vast, frieze-like panorama would be hugely influential in twentieth-century American art. In Jackson Pollock's Mural: Energy Made Visible, David Anfam explores the painting and its impact by way of the different themes it incorporates, including the imagery of action and process, the big picture, the “gothic,” the body, dance, and Romanticism, relating them to art historical precedents, Abstract Expressionism, Pollock’s psychology, and the context of American art and culture in the pre- and postwar years. This analysis is accompanied by reproductions of Pollock’s work as well as imagery from the period that sheds light on the artist’s development. Gifted to the University of Iowa Museum of Art in 1948, Mural has rarely traveled, and it is now the focus of a traveling exhibition curated by Anfam. This accompanying volume offers crucial analysis and historical background on one of Pollock’s most significant works.

Stefan Gierowski is a prominent representative of contemporary avant-garde painting, described as a classic of Polish modernity.0Skira is proud to present his first international monograph in conjunction with the Foundation Stefan Gierowski. The monograph features essays by David Anfam (writer, curator and leading authority on American modern art), Michel Gauthier (curator at the Centre Pompidou, Paris) and Stach Szablowski (independent curator, art critic and columnist)

Max Beckmann (1884-1950) moved to the United States in the late summer of 1947. He would spend the last three years of his life far away from Europe, years that signified a liberating, intense new start for him. The vastness of the foreign continent, its coasts, the atmosphere of its „wild“ landscapes, and its big cities all formed a palpable source of inspiration for Beckmann, who had never before had this type of physical experience of space. Working with incredible energy and productivity, Beckmann produced numerous major works in these few short years. From today's perspective, Beckmann's independence is all the more impressive when seen in relation to the development of abstract art that was taking place in America at the same time. Beckmann retained his link to representationalism and its metaphorical themes, yet still managed to assert himself as a European painter of international status. (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2984-0) Other publications are available in the Art to Hear series (German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2986-4; English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-2987-1)Exhibition schedule: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, October 7, 2011-November 8, 2012

Enjoy the beauty and variety of the American experience through the work of these great artists. With stunning full-color plates, additional black-and-white illustrations, and concise, authoritative text, these unique, beautifully produced studies present the life, work and achievements of America's greatest painters, architects and photographers.

Seit dem Spätsommer 1947 lebte Max Beckmann (1884-1950) in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Weit entfernt von Europa sollte er seine letzten Lebens- und Schaffensjahre verbringen, die einen befreienden, intensiven Neuanfang bedeuteten. Zu einer Inspirationsquelle Beckmanns wurden die nie zuvor erlebte räumliche Weite des fremden Kontinents, seine Küsten und die Atmosphäre seiner 'wilden' Landschaften ebenso wie die Welt der Metropolen. Mit einer unglaublichen Energie und Produktivität schuf der Künstler in dieser kurzen Zeit zahlreiche Hauptwerke. Beckmanns eigenständige Bildsprache erscheint aus heutiger Sicht umso eindrucksvoller, je mehr man sie in Relation zur gleichzeitigen Entwicklung der Abstraktion in der amerikanischen Kunst betrachtet: Beckmann bleibt dem Figürlichen und seiner metaphorischen Thematik verbunden und behauptet sich als europäischer Maler von internationalem Rang. (Englische Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-2985-7) Begleitend erscheinen auch Bände in der Reihe Kunst zum Hören (deutsche Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-2986-4; englische Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-2987-1)Ausstellung: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main 7.10.2011-8.1.2012