Amazon.com Review
Bernard Gutman (1896-1936) immigrated to the United States from Germany at the age of 23. The financial security of marrying into a wealthy family allowed him to concentrate on his interest in art. Because he had no need to sell his work, it was not often viewed in public spaces and remained primarily in his family's possession. Recent popular discovery of his work has earned him a place in the history of 20th-century American painting and printmaking. His portraits are serene and impressionistic, while his landscapes and genre scenes have the boldness and energy of postimpressionism. No matter what the subject of his paintings, his masterful use of rich, saturated color is mesmerizing. The book is elegantly designed and the illustrations are reproduced as large as possible without compromising the clarity of the colors, and the engaging text will lead you through Gutman's life and work.
From Publishers Weekly
German-born Gutmann (1869-1936) emigrated to the U.S. at 23 and established a solid reputation with his work as a graphic artist and teacher and for his colorful landscapes, genre scenes, still lifes and portraits. After his death he was forgotten, however; because he had married into a wealthy family and had no pressing need to sell his paintings, most of them remained out of the public eye. In this richly illustrated monograph, North, a professor of art history at Montgomery College in Maryland, presents a straightforward account of the artist's relatively uneventful life, which, except for occasional trips abroad, was spent in Lynchburg, Va., New York and Connecticut. The excitement is in the paintings?luminous canvases glowing with brilliant impressionist colors applied in bold post-impressionist brush strokes or directly from the tube. Although a somber element crept into the later works, when Gutmann was deeply affected by the stock market crash of 1929, the rise of Nazism in Germany and illness in his family, most of the paintings are sunny creations that, in the impressionist tradition, have immediate appeal because of their sparkling, sensuous colors and their cheerful evocation of everyday life. This beautifully produced book with superb color reproductions should reestablish Gutmann's reputation.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
