Eric Fischl: Beach Paintings [Hardcover]

Eric Fischl (Author), A.M. Homes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2009

This beautifully designed volume of 200 of Eric Fischl’s beach-inspired works is a celebration of life at the beach by one of the most significant American painters of nudes and figurative works today. This collection of the artist’s beach paintings—the first book to bring together this exceptional body of work—unites paintings, photographs, watercolors, charcoals, and more in a sumptuous volume that is an ode to beach culture and a book to treasure long after summer ends. With a short story by critically acclaimed American novelist A. M. Homes, this book is a remarkable pairing of painterly aesthetic and literary style.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dive into this book to marvel at Fischl’s swathes of sun-washed color, the way the casual bend of a torso suggest a figure by Degas; then, at midpoint, stop and read the shrewdly observant A.M. Homes short story…” ~O, The Oprah Magazine

About the Author

Represented by Mary Boone Gallery, Eric Fischl has exhibited with major institutions and galleries, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and MoCA, among many others. Fischl lives and works in New York City and Sag Harbor. A. M. Homes is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer. Her books include Music for Torching, The End of Alice, This Book Will Save Your Life, and The Safety of Objects, among others.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847831833
• ISBN-13: 978-0847831838
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 1.2 x 10.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Summers and other times at the beach, August 17, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eric Fischl: Beach Paintings (Hardcover)

Eric Fischl is unafraid to share his process of painting, of gathering imagery, and of manner of presentation of his impetus to paint his stories, so it is not unexpected that this generous display of paintings, all centered around people at the beach, is so successful. In this collection, which spans many years in the artist's career, are sketches, quick draws, finished paintings, photographic collages meant to serve a s stimuli for future paintings, and a few word by the artist about his view of these works. In addition to Fischl's up front celebration of techique and topic he includes a fine little short story by writer AM Homes, best-known for her controversial novels and unusual stories, most notably The End of Alice (1996), a novel about a convicted child molester and murderer and the author of the novels This Book Will Save Your Life (2006), Music for Torching (1999), In a Country of Mothers (1993), and Jack (1989), and the story collections The Safety of Objects (1990) and Things You Should Know (2002),who has interviewed and written about Fischl in other venues. They seem very compatible, sharing the same fascination for the flawed human being.

It is not a surprise, then, that this volume of 200 some odd paintings, sketches, drawings, and photographs includes paintings of nudes (often overweight or anorexic nudes!) who seem to wander across his paintings without a care, and images of early pubescent teenagers shown discovering the differences between male and female. The book is elegantly presented on the best of paper and the reproductions of Fischl's works are as fine as in any publication available. Some readers may find all of the images about one subject - the beach- too repetitive, but take the time to observe the gradual changes in Fischl's style over the years and spend time with the stories he suggests and this will become a favorite art book in your library. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 10

5.0 out of 5 stars Lavish and beautifully produced, July 14, 2011

By 

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Eric Fischl: Beach Paintings (Hardcover)

As the title indicates, this is a collection of Fischl's beach paintings, at a rough count around 200 works. These range from very simple quick sketches through more detailed works and to a number of fully and highly finished paintings. Many of the images are reproduced to a large size, making good use of the large landscape page format.

Apart for a short story by A M Homes there is very little text here; a single page biography, lists of solo and group exhibitions and lists private collectors and public collections, and a list of the works illustrated in the book along with details (the plates carry no details) is all that is on offer. but this in no way diminishes the value of the book, the works speak for themselves, it soon becomes apparent that certain familiar images recur throughout Fischl's paintings, and the thirty six photo montages shown are self explanatory when viewed together with the paintings, no further explanation is needed.

What it amounts to is a superb collection of the artist's work on a single theme, and having such a range from rough sketches to finished painting is very informative. This is a lavish and beautifully produced book, filled with works of great vitality showing the diversity of the human figure, often nude and often in its most unflattering form, yet they are all works of great beauty.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Greatest Beach Hits, August 21, 2009

By 

W. Rosen "chickendog" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Eric Fischl: Beach Paintings (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of beach themed paintings by Eric Fischl. Men, women, water, sand...the title pretty much sums it up. If you like beach related paintings then this will be enjoyable but I found it too monotonous. Instead I would recommend Eric Fischl: 1970-2007 which provides a broader range of paintings to show a more in-depth view of the artist. That said, the production and printing of the book are good, I found the narrow topic lost my interest rather quickly.