Arnold Skolnick (–2022)

Following a similar format to the other books in this series, Art of the Southwest provides a particularly interesting collection of images. As with the other books a brief introduction is followed by the plates, each full page, and occasionally accompanied by a relevant literary quotation.

The artists represented include: Marsden Hartley, Sheldon Parsons, Walter Ufer, Ernest I Blumenschein, Edward Hopper, E Martin Hennings, Oscar E Berninghaus, Andrew Dasburg, Maynard Dixon, Georgia O'Keefe, Victor Higgins, John Marin, George Bellow, Thomas Hart Benson, William Midgette, Max Ernst, Philip Pearlstein and many others. All images are in colour, there are approaching 100 in total. Great value in a little package.… (más)

Following the same formula as other books in this series, the juxtaposition of a full page picture image of a painting occasionally accompanied by literary quote, this provides an interesting collection. The pictures included here date from the mid-nineteenth century to 1990, and include many familiar names: Milton Avery, George Bellows, Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Stephen Etnier, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Alex Katz, Rockwell Kent, Georgia O'Keeffe, Fairfield Porter, Maurice Prendergast, Neil Welliver, the Wyeths and many more; often several examples. The selection included here is different from the later published (2006) Paintings of Maine.… (más)

The introduction considers what it is about California, the light, the landscape and flora that attracts the artist. It very briefly discusses the artistic growth of the area along with its social and economic development.

However the real attraction of this modest, by art book standards, publication is the sheer diversity of the work, the contrast as each page reveals a new aspect; occasionally a familiar image but more often something new. From these pictures, presented roughly in chronological order, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, one gets an image of the rapid growth of the area, and the richness of the environment and of course the variety of work that it has inspired. The images, over seventy in total, are presented in full colour, one to a page, occasionally with a literary quote on the facing page from the likes of Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac and many others. They include oils and watercolours. The book concludes with some very brief biographies of the artists included, just three or four lines each; and details of some selected California museums.

The lists of artists includes: Albert Bierstadt, George Inness, Chile Hassam, Elmer Wachtel, Granville Redmond, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Edward Ruscha, George Bellows, David Hockney and David Park to mention just a few.… (más)