American artist Elizabeth Peyton is one of the outstanding painters of her generation, a painter known for her intimate figurative portraits of youthful, romantic people, ranging from friends, to historical figures, to music world celebrities. Her work is intensely personal, but the subject becomes an intimate of both audience and artist. Peyton's ability to draw the viewer in is a result of her own fascination and curiosity about the figures she chooses. They are stylish in a timeless way and are at moments in their lives when they stand for their own ideals of independence, beauty, and artistry. Her manner is to paint small, devotional images in an "awkward, self-effacing way with an offhand intensity." Compiled by Peyton herself, the book chronicles ten years of inspiration, her works in many media, and her exhibitions, revealing the evolution of this exceptional artist who has been highly influential, in the words of the New York Times, in bringing "a return to beauty in art, a resurgence of figurative work, and a revival of painting."
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
It's fitting that Peyton's first major show was in room 828 of Manhattan's fabled Chelsea Hotel, whose residents have included everyone from Thomas Wolfe to Sid Vicious. Her portraits—whether of Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke, Prince Harry or her friends—seem to emerge from the same timeless, eternal bohemia that the hotel exemplifies. The portraits recorded in this lavish volume—small, and painted with an offhand casualness that doesn't quite conceal a formidable technique—are idealized and emotional rather than "warts and all" realistic. Her Kurt Cobain more closely resembles a Renaissance cherub (by way of Walter Keane) than the ravaged child of his videos and photographs; her young Queen Elizabeth is creamy and serene, with none of the real subject's characteristic wariness. But Peyton's art is about emotional truth and visual intensity. If the book has a fault it is a certain sameness and repetition: Peyton's work hasn't developed all that much since the Chelsea Hotel show of 1993, and what in a gallery might surprise and refresh becomes, over the course of 200 pages, cloying. Peyton's achievement is, nonetheless, impressive: she has helped return the painted portrait to the mainstream discourse of American art. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Elizabeth Peyton was born in Danbury, Connecticut and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work is regularly exhibited at galleries around the world, and is in the collections of some of the world's finest museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Matthew Higgs is Director of White Columns in New York and a regular contributor to Frieze and Artforum. Steve Lafreniere is a regular contributor to Index and Artforum.
Matthew Higgs is Director of White Columns in New York and a regular contributor to Frieze and Artforum. Steve Lafreniere is a regular contributor to Index and Artforum.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a beautiful book, but I like her new book better. The new one has photos in the front of the book that enable you to see the originals. This one has some great paintings that are not in the new one, so still worth getting. This one has captions of the subject next to the plate whereas you have to look the info up in the back in the new one.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Reich Claude
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A wonderful book that traces Elizabeth Peyton's career back to the early nineties when she started making works on paper depicting celebrities or historical figures in an intimate style up to 2005 with recent oil paintings, mostly on board, of friends or unknown, always capturing what is human and intimate in her models, whether famous or not. The quality of the reproductions shows what a great colorist she is and even gives a sense of the thickness of her brushstrokes and of the glowing effect the small jewell-like oil paintings have. So far, the definitive book on this great portraitist, with many excerpts of articles written by critics from the Village Voice to the NY Times and also an interesting interview of Craig, one of her favourite models.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
mindless trash.
Elizabeth Peyton is proof you don't need talent to make it as an artist. she herself cannot explain what her art is about without mumbling like an idiot and storming off. Read more
Published on October 12, 2007 by William Reich
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
The book is lovely: full high gloss photographs of her work, including sketches and paintings. I am completely pleased with my copy of this book!
Published on September 14, 2007 by Estelle Cook
5.0 out of 5 stars
vanity fair
betsy's portraits are simple and alive, a nice mix of pop art, lucian freud and renaissance art with a touch of hello maganize. is that possible? awesome.
Published on July 13, 2007 by Cesar R. F. Azevedo
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "must-have"...
Wonderful illustrations! A great learning experience for the potential portrait painter. Peyton captures the essence of her subjects in a decorative and non-academic manner. Read more
Published on April 9, 2007 by Frances A. Soboeiro
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gift
I bought a print for my cousin for her birthday and decided to get her this book to go along with the picture. My cousin loved the book.
Published on January 3, 2007 by Judith R. Talbot
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