Carter Ratcliff

Tom Blackwell is primarily known for his work in Photorealism, a stylistic movement noted for its ardent embrace of photographic source material. In 1969, he began a series of brashly beautiful motorcycle paintings that established him as one of the founders and foremost artists of the movement. In conjunction with his Photorealist paintings, Blackwell has produced a related body of work that is allegorical in its perspective. Combining photo-derived images, he addresses themes such as the passage of time, the fragility of nature, and the continuity that weaves through human history. The paintings, rich in symbolism and interpretive possibilities, fascinate and impress viewers with the breadth of Blackwell's abilities. Blackwell, born in Chicago in 1938, has deftly captured the vibrancy and visual excitement of urban street life for the past four decades and has had solo exhibitions across the United States and abroad. Tom Blackwell: The Complete Paintings, 1970-2014 is a comprehensive study of the artist's work as well as his artistic development and process, and includes a compilation of his early paintings through to his most recent works.

“Fascinating and lucid . . . a stunningly illustrated and illuminating life of a singular painter.” — Sue Roe, Wall Street Journal “Not just another art history book, no title in recent memory recalls with such exactitude the style of an era that, in retrospect, has become increasingly golden. . . . The book and its prose shimmer.” — New York Times “Never before have Sargent’s talents been so gloriously displayed as they are here. Quite simply, this Abbeville edition is a stunner, a book as satisfyingly extravagant as a Sargent portrait.” — Christian Science Monitor “The spontaneity, elegance, and grace that characterize Sargent’s work are everywhere evident on these large, luminous pages. . . . A visual delight, well written.” — Art and Antiques The classic monograph on a much-loved artist—reissued in a spectacular oversize format In the early work of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), Henry James saw “the slightly ‘uncanny’ spectacle of a talent which on the threshold of its career has nothing more to learn.” Sargent’s talent, nay, genius was indeed uncanny, sustained with equal intensity through his famed society portraits, like the scandalous Madame X; his full-size showpieces, like The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit; his thousands of watercolours executed en plein air from Venice to Corfu to Maine to Montana; and his ambitious mural decorations for the public monuments of Boston. In Carter Ratcliff, Sargent has found a biographer and critic nearly his match in style and subtlety. Ratcliff expertly evokes the expatriate American milieu into which the artist was born, and offers penetrating insights into every phase of his career, every aspect of his work. Now, for the first time, this landmark monograph is offered in a special oversize format, with all of its 310 illustrations reproduced in stunning full colour, many at full-page size, allowing the reader to appreciate the master’s every brushstroke. This new edition of John Singer Sargent will be a treasured reference for artists and an unalloyed delight for art lovers.

I am indebted first to Thomas B. Hess and James Fitzsimmons, the editors of Artnews and Art International, who encouraged me to publish the essays and reviews that led, years later, to this book. I am equally grateful for the encouragement I have received from Elizabeth C. Baker, the editor of Art in America.

Alex Katz has found his audience. It s not the first time. Over seven decades, the artist has developed his vision with determination as the tides of avant-garde and academic fashion ebbed and flowed. His first audience was other painters (including de Kooning and Philip Guston), and today, still, he is perhaps best understood by other artists: those who appreciate how difficult it is to make something so simple, so well. Working in a representational style while his classmates celebrated Abstract Expressionism, eschewing slick surfaces for a pared-down view while his peers went glossy with Pop, Katz cleaved to one vision, a few locations, and subjects. Katz s endurance and commitment to developing an original American style is explored in depth, from his boyhood influences to an artistic circle that included John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, Lois Dodd, Kenneth Koch, Frank O Hara, Fairfield Porter, Yvonne Rainer, Larry Rivers, and Paul Taylor. Sketches, works on paper, and archival material selected by the artist s son, the poet Vincent Katz, give a fuller picture of the painter and his world. The more than 250 paintings reproduced at an unprecedented scale will be the most comprehensive collection available in a single publication.

I am indebted first to Thomas B. Hess and James Fitzsimmons, the editors of Artnews and Art International, who encouraged me to publish the essays and reviews that led, years later, to this book. I am equally grateful for the encouragement I have received from Elizabeth C. Baker, the editor of Art in America.

Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Carter Ratcliff's Tequila Mockingbird is a sexy, urbane, hilarious tale crossed with a fast-paced, camp, social comedy, with a touch of thriller, told in the unforgettable voice of fashion model Fiona Mays. Irresistible, loving, smart, and funny, Fiona is prey to "racing thoughts" that have a way of turning her flaws into virtues and virtues into flaws. It is from these reversals her story flows, as Fiona discovers that her supermodel best friend Brenda Rawlings is receiving death threats from Sergei Propokoff, the Russian oligarch she's been dating. The beautiful princess Brenda must be saved from Sergei the ogre and—the crucial point—this rescue is up to Fiona and Fiona alone. As Fiona tries to focus on her mission, Tequila Mockingbird takes us on a tour of New York hot spots, from scenes set in the worlds of high fashion and high art to the nightlife of lower Manhattan and a Brighton Beach mob hangout, with continuous returns to the Upper East Side home of Brenda's "stunning presence," of which Fiona relates: "…the moment I see her I start to get in sync. Not that she tries to be overwhelming or anything. It's just that she's way better looking than just about anyone else who was ever born. And so sweet. Kind of weirdly flawless, meaning she has this aura that draws you in. Whatever is happening, it's all about her, and that feels OK." But this first novel by a distinguished art critic and contemporary poet is, first and last, Fiona's unique and engaging voice as she reminisces, explains, complains, cajoles, seduces, and, most of all, jokes around—and deep into her personality we follow. And as it tells us who she is, her words conjure up spectacular images of the glamorous and often treacherous world where she lives and precariously flourishes. Secretly the book ends up a love story between the reader and the amazing Fiona!

This book celebrates the art, friendship, and unparalleled creativity of this revered and subversive milieu, illuminating unities and tensions, playfulness and glamour, and a startling authenticity of collaboration. From 1936 to 1975, New York artists and writers socialized, lived with, and collaborated with each other on an unprecedented scale, resulting in an effusive body of work that produced one of the most significant movements in American arts and letters and until now has only been seen in fragments. Revered as the last avant-garde, this group (often associated with post-Abstract Expressionism and the early development of Pop Art) includes artists such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Alex Katz, Jasper Johns, and Larry Rivers, and writers Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, and Ted Berrigan, to name a few. This important volume comprehensively collects for the first time their collaborations, paintings, drawings, poetry, letters, art reviews, photographs, dialogues, manifestos, and memories. It features never-before-published material, rare ephemera, and first-hand accounts from the eyewitnesses to this moment when New York reasserted itself as the centre of the art world.

Alex Katz is a towering figure in contemporary painting, a key New York-based artist since the early 1960s. Katz is best known for his distinct portraits of sophisticated, irresistible women, masterfully painted using precise, broad areas of colour Alex Katz first emerged on the New York art scene during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism and before the birth of Pop art, but always worked independently of these movements. Katz is best known for his distinctive portraits of sophisticated, irresistible women, masterfully painted using precise, broad areas of colour. Alongside these unmistakably ‘Katzian’ female portraits are pictures of men, groups, landscapes and interiors, rendered in paint on canvas or metal cut-outs as well as drawing and collage. All attest to the artist’s attention to detail, economy of means and consummate technique. Larger-than-life paintings such as The Black Dress (1960), Blue Umbrella (1972), Red Coat (1982) and White Visor (2003) have entered the collective consciousness as the epitome of a particular, late twentieth-century feminine ideal. A major touring retrospective was organized by New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986, and Katz has exhibited widely all over the world. His works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; and the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, among many others. A leading world expert on Katz, distinguished New York art critic Carter Ratcliff writes the definitive, comprehensive Survey, following Katz’s work from the 1950s to the present. In the Interview New York-based curator and critic Robert Storr discusses in detail with the artist his practice and technique in the context of a changing art world. Curator Iwona Blazwick enters in her Focus the silent world of Sylvia (1962-63), a classic Katz portrait that resonates with the urban landscape occupied by both artist and sitter. For Artist’s Choice Katz has selected nine works by New York School Poets, all of whom share a particular, often personal connection to his work. Artist’s Writings range from an early text from 1959 on Katz’s dislike of the term ‘academy’ to a recent text that reflects on his beginnings as an artist. Key interviews with some of the of the twentieth century’s most prestigious art figures – including critic David Sylvester and artists Francesco Clemente, Jane Freilicher and Richard Prince – are also included.

An immaculately produced volume, Donald Sultan is a detailed examination of the artist’s distinguished thirty-year career and captures the essence of an innovative spirit whose work continues to evolve and inspire. In the electrified atmosphere of New York’s downtown art renaissance of the 1980s, when graffiti and post-modern figuration were filling gallery walls and art magazines, Donald Sultan (b. 1951) developed a strikingly different style using simple iconography and a complex technique. His gouged and spackled paintings of lemons, tulips, and vases were abstract, familiar, erotic, and captured enthusiastic critical attention immediately. Influenced by artists from Sasetta to Warhol, Sultan chose still life as the vehicle for advancing his mission to "haul painting into the 21st century." Today, Sultan’s work can be found in more than forty-five American museums, including MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art.