Artistic Murder Mysteries.

One of my favourite literary genres is murder mysteries. They are one of my great guilty pleasures. I especially enjoy it when murder mysteries cross over into my other interests and have an artistic bent. One of the best writers in this vein is Iain Pears with his Jonathan Argyll series. Jonathan Argyll is an art dealer living in Rome with his girlfriend Flavia di Stefano. Flavia di Stefano is an investigator in Rome’s art theft squad. She is the brains in the investigation part, while Jonathan is a clumsy and unsuccessful art dealer, but a brilliant art historian, who can’t resist sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong. The series is funny and well researched, and has intriguing characters.

Pears is also known for the novel An Instance of the Fingerpost, which is an historical murder mystery set in Oxford in the 1660s. A young woman is accused of the murder of a fellow of New College named Robert Grove. We hear about the events of the murder from four witnesses. Each witness tells their version of what happened, and only one reveals the truth. Pears captures the times beautifully; set during the reign of Charles the second it is full of intrigue, hidden plots, religious and political ferment.

Pears has also written The Discovery of Painting, which was published by Yale University Press.

Used books.

I love used book store and I often find books that contain unexpected information. Two books that are at first glance unrelated yet seem to slide over into one another in an interesting way are Picasso’s Women, by Roy Macgregor-Hastie, and Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre’ Breton, by Mark Polizzotti. Picasso’s Women is the story of the many women in Picasso’s life; it is an informative and interesting account of the personal life of Picasso. I especially find his relationship with Dora Maar of interest, as she was in many ways his most equal creative muse.

Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre’ Breton, is the story of the so-called pope of the Surrealists, who was quite possibly one of the most tedious people ever to walk the earth. That aside, it is a book worth reading, and tells the story of a time when artists were still untainted by the commercial machine of the modern art world, and were driven by a passion for ideas and creative exploration.

Of course Picasso and Breton are discussed in both books, but for me the pleasant surprise is the information pertaining to one of the leaders of the Dada movement, Tristan Tzara. He is a major figure in both books, as a friend of Picasso and as a friend and eventual enemy of Breton. Tzara is someone I would like to read more about. He seems to have been an interesting personality, and seems to have possessed the sense of humour that Breton sadly seems to have lacked. I actually find the Dada movement more interesting than the heavy-handed surrealist movement, and I often wonder if Dada’s influence is more influential today than surrealism’s. A chain of artists from Duchamp, Rauschenberg, to KiKi Smith, seem to stem from Dada rather than surrealism. The Dictionary of Art and Artists: “Dada aimed to destroy art as an aesthetic cult and replace it by anti-art and non-art. They rejected the artifact and replaced it with the ready-made object and collage, in which arbitrariness, rather than creative order, dictated the final form.”

Magazines.

I have several magazine subscriptions, and two magazines arrived today. The way each magazine arrived says a lot about each issue. The first magazine to arrive was Canadian Art, a magazine I used to hate but now like very much. The publishers of this magazine have lately realized that Canadian art magazines don’t have to be as dry and boring as toast, and that Canadian art can be written about in an interesting and entertaining way. It is designed a bit like ARTnews and a bit like Art In America. Anyway, Canadian Art arrived this morning via the regular mail delivery – i.e., the mailman brought it to our door.

The second magazine to arrive was ARTFORUM, a magazine I like very much, and if I ever get a jail sentence long enough, will eventually read cover to cover. It is massive, square in format, lavishly illustrated with ads, and (when I wade my way through the first half of the magazine and find them) full of interesting articles. I always think of Clement Greenberg when I pick it up (but that’s a topic for a later, much longer post). Anyway, ARTFORUM arrived later in the day, and a Canada Post truck pulled up and a weary and bent man carried the massive package to the door. I’m not sure if the gesture he made as he walked away was a wave – I’ve never seen it done that way before.

Anyway, I’m delighted to have some new art magazines to read and look at; both are worth the subscription price, and will offer me years of informative entertainment.

KiKi’s Paris.

One of my favourite books that can be found in many used book stores is a photo book called KiKi’s Paris, by Billy Kluver and Julie Martin, and published by Abrams in 1989. It is a collection of very personal snapshots taken by members and hangers on of the School of Paris. It covers the years 1900-1940, and the main personality in the book is the famous model, singer, artist, and muse KiKi Du Montparnasse.

“For KiKi’s Paris, the authors have chosen from thousands of photographs of the time and interviewed artists and models who were in Montparnasse in the 1920’s. Many of the photographs in the book are by well known artists, among them Man Ray, Berenice Abbott, Andre Kertesz, and Jean Cocteau; others have not been published or seen since the twenties.”

Viva Picasso.

I love used book stores, and I have spent many a pleasant hour wandering through the stacks in search of a great find. One of my greatest finds is Viva Picasso: A Centennial Celebration, by the photographer David Douglas Duncan. It is a book of photographs taken by Duncan during the late 1950s and 1960s and it is surprising in its intimacy, showing Picasso at home with friends and family. My favorite photos are those that show Picasso at work in his studio surrounded by a lifetime of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and what can best be described as wreckage. It is interesting for me to see an artist’s working environment. I especially like to see what is important to an artist. Some like clean ordered spaces, others prefer chaos; some have only recent work around them, and others like Picasso need their history around them like some sort of personal talisman. In many ways the artist’s personality and temperament is laid bare by their choices in working environments.

Sean Scully: By David Carrier

Sean Scully is an artist whose work I have lately come to admire. Thames & Hudson have published several books on Sully’s work and I believe this one is a fine introduction to the work of this Irish- American painter. It has 200 illustrations, 190 are in colour.

“This book is the first fully illustrated monograph to present an account of the artist’s life and career to date, from his childhood in 1950s London, via New York and Barcelona, to the present day in Munich. Lavish reproductions of his major works illustrate the text, while photographs taken by Scully on his travels show some of the forms that inspire them. Photographs of Scully at work in his studio demonstrate stage by stage how he creates his pictures, from blank canvas to finished work.”

Chiaroscuro. By Troy Little.

Troy Little has a great new graphic novel that was released two weeks ago. Chiaroscuro: Patchwork Book 1, is the story of Steven Patch who is “living an introspective life of a twenty something artist: drinking too much and complaining about his situation and doing nothing to improve it.” He has a single blank canvas that he never works on.

It is part comedy, part mystery, and part ghost story. It is a beautifully drawn book and tells an interesting story that ends in mystery while setting up a what I hope will be book two in the series. I really enjoyed this story; my only complaint is I wish I didn’t have to wait for book two. Chiaroscuro is published by IDW Publishing.

Vanity Fair.

The December 2007 issue of the magazine Vanity Fair has several-art related articles that might be of interest to artists or anyone interested in the arts.

There is an excerpt from book three of John Richardson’s epic biography of Picasso. I have been waiting for this volume to come out for some time. The first two volumes are fantastic, and possibly the most in-depth biography of Picasso available. The upcoming volume is called A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years 1917- 1932 and will be published this month by Alfred A. Knopf.

There are also articles about China’s exploding contemporary art market, the artist Richard Prince, and the French collector Francois Pinault. And just to make things even more eclectic there is a one-page question and answer with Jasper Johns at the end of the magazine.

It is an entertaining issue from one of my favourite magazines.

Simon Schama.

I always get excited when I hear that Simon Schama has a new book coming out. He is one of the most entertaining and readable writers of art history that I know of. His books are always hard to put down.

His latest book, Simon Schama’s Power of Art, is the companion book to a BBC program of the same name. The book is a collection of essays about eight artists whose work has deeply touched him. They are Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko. Schama picks a moment in each artist’s career and tells the story about the creation of an artwork that was important to the making or breaking of their reputations during their lifetimes.

I personally found the essays on Bernini, Turner, and Rothko the most enlightening. They are artists I am familiar with but I have not read much about. The essay on Rothko really changed my mind about this artist, and I would like to read more about his life and art.

Rembrandt’s Eyes is another Schama book I highly recommend. It is a very detailed biography of the artist. What I found especially interesting is that it contains a section that is essentially a complete biography of Peter Paul Rubens. It presents the idea that Rembrandt was driven to emulate and surpass the fame of Rubens, and that this desire led to Rembrandt’s eventual bankruptcy.

Private View.

Every now and then I find a book that I really love. Private View: The Lively World Of British Art, is one of those books, the kind I often pick up and look through again and again. The book was published in 1965, and Bryan Robertson, John Russell, and Lord Snowdon are the three main contributors. I especially like the photos Snowdon took of artists working in their studios.

Many important British artists are in the book: Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Caro, Francis Bacon, Patrick Heron, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney are among the more familiar names for me.

But there are a number of others I was less familiar with who’s work really interested me, such as Alan Davie, Ceri Richards, Victor Pasmore, and Roger Hilton.

Though published in 1965 it can still be found in used book stores; a good place to check out would be the Bookman on Queen Street in Charlottetown or Abebooks.com