Thursday, July 7, 2016

Thursday's Three on Art

Today, Thursday's Three spotlights a trio of art or art-related books recently published or forthcoming.

✭ Austin, Texas-based fiction writer Dominic Smith is the author of the raved-about, best-selling The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, April 2016), a book I've recently added to my reading table. The novel is set in Amsterdam in 1631, when Sara de Vos becomes the first woman to enter the Guild of St. Luke as a master painter; New York City in 1957, where an art history grad student becomes involved in the forging of the only known surviving de Vos painting, which is in the hands of a descendant of the work's original owner; and Sydney, Australia, in 2000, to which both the original and forged paintings are en route to an exhibition whose curator is the former student.


Cover Art

On Smith's interactive Web page for the book, he cites the art research he had to do and the art experts he consulted with to get his fabricated story right.

Smith is the author of three other novels, including The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre (Atria Books, reprint 2007).


Dominic Smith on FaceBook and Twitter

✭ The Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonne (HENI Publishing, June 2016) has been published. Comprising five cloth-bound volumes in a slipcase, the catalogue, edited by Bacon expert Martin Harrison, presents in three volumes each of Bacon's 584 paintings, 100 of which are shown for the first time, as well as two additional volumes presenting considerable supporting material, including sketches and photographs, a chronology, a bibliography, and an index. The volumes run to 1,538 pages in total; they contain approximately 800 illustrations. The catalogue took 10 years to complete.




Francis Bacon Website

Estate of Francis Bacon

✭ American artist Spencer Finch is the subject of The Brain is Wider Than the Sky (Prestel/DelMonico Books, May 2016), a look at 20 years of the artist's work addressing light, color, and the nature of perception. The book includes a conversation with Finch about his subject matter, inspirations, and creative process, and descriptions of each artwork.


Cover Art

This monograph, edited by Susan Cross, curator of visual arts, MASS MoCA, and with contributions from Mark Godfrey, senior curator of international art, Tate London; and James Rondeau, curator, Department of Modern/Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago, may be available though James Cohen Gallery, New York City, and Lisson Gallery, both of which represent Finch. 

Prestel Publishing Page for Spencer Finch Book

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