Ana Finel Honigman

This book is filled with overviews and introductions to 50 famous cult artists from the 20th century through into the 21st. These 50 notable modern artists are celebrated in this book. From iconic artists such as Frida Kahlo and Marcel Ducamp to the radical activists such as Guerrilla Girls. These artists featured use a wide range of mediums to create their work, including performance, sculpture, painting and graffitti (to name a few). Each artists has this in common: their individuality and their ability to inspire, antagonise and delight their audiences and the people around them.

The 50 artists featured: Dan Attoe, Balthus, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jospeh Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Leigh Bowery, Chris Burden, Sophie Calle, Chapman Brothers, Judy Chicago, Joseph Cornell, Molly Crabapple, Salvador Dali, Niki de Saint Phalle, Marcel Duchamp, El Anatsui, James Ensor, H. R. Giger, Gilbert & George, Guerrilla Girls, Nan Goldin, Jenny Holzer, Donna Huanca, Dorothy Iannone, Frida Kahlo, Allan Kaprow, Mike Kelley, Yves Klein, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Kazimir Malevich, Christian Marclay, Ana Mendieta, Alice Neel, Herman Nitsch, Yoko Ono, Orlan, Genesis P-orridge, Carol Rama, Faith Ringgold, Mark Rothko, Mark Ryden, Carolee Schneemann, Yinka Shonibare, Malick Sidibe, Stelarc, Florine Stettheimer, Kara Walker, and David Wojnarowicz.

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I think that this book is a great introduction to these 50 brilliant artists, many of whom I knew of beforehand and some that I sadly didn’t before I read this book. This book brilliantly introduces these 50 artists and their work in a simple easy to understand manner. The way that Honigman has written about these artists can be easily understood by people with different levels of art knowledge, from younger readers getting into art and wanting to discover more artists to older artists that want a simple reference to artists or to find more artists similar to ones they already know.

From reading this book I discovered more artists that I hadn’t heard of, or had only heard of by name, that I liked the work of. When reading I wanted to find out more about many of the artists featured.

So I think that this book is a great stepping point in doing research about artists, art movements, times in history and it’s relation to art, etc. Especially as it gives you a enough information without bombarding and overloading you with too much.

The only thing I would have liked was many some examples of the artists works alongside the information about the artist. I think that It would have been nice to have had that visual alongside the information to give you a better idea of their work. I did like the illustrations in this book, I thought that they were a very nice touch, but I would have liked examples of the artists work as well. Especially as this is a book about artists and their work you do expect some visual representation of their work even if it’s only one or two images. Saying this, it doesn’t detract from the information and you can do further research yourself I just think that it would just make it more accessible to a wider audience.… (más)