Customer Reviews

Janet Fish: Paintings

5 star:		(6)
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Vincent Katz illustrates his discussion in the development of Fish's style and areas of exploration with colour plates of her work large enough to be seen and enjoyed. Janet Fish works in monumental size and the large page format of this book - while hardly close to the sizes of her canvases - helps the viewer visualize these pieces closer to context. I would have enjoyed more input from the artist in the form of discussion about her techinical approachs to such large surface area, or her colour response toward light. However, I was very satisfied with this particular book and would recommend it, especially to someone with a beginning interest in the work of Janet Fish.

A true treasure of a book; the author's text is informative, cogent, and connective; connecting Fish to other artists of her time and before her time. I had not been a true Fish fan before I read this book, because sometimes my (bad) eyes cannot take in all that she can squeeze into one painting. The information gleaned from reading the text and looking at the reproductions being talked about has widened my appreciation of her, and also awakened me more to the influences of the Abstract Expressionists and other non-objective painters of the Fifties by showing me how much their emphasis on design permeates her very realistic work. Once again, I see that design (composition) rules, whether the work is realistic or abstract or totally non-objective.

If you want to take in art history painlessly, want to grow as a painter yourself, read and study and absorb this book.

This book is beautiful, amazing and insightful! The art images fill the pages with color and I could look at them for hours. The imformation at the beginning of the book is insightful and helped me to realize what a major American artist Janet Fish is.

A beautiful book! Of all my artist books, I believe this is now my favorite.

I have been a fan for awhile and was a bit set back by the price.( But then Amazon helps immensely here!) I treated myself. What a treasure this book is! It also contains 4 foldouts that highlight and exemplify her juicy, painterly reflective style of work. Each page is more awesome than the next. A real winner!

Such a beautiful book! Having had the pleasure of attending a Janet Fish show and seeing her paintings in person, I was pleased to find some of the same feeling of delight in these pages. The work is, of course, representational; yet it is also a primer on abstraction and patterning and an advanced class in color and line, all at once. Here we find still life that is never still, fairly writhing across the canvas, and, therefore, the page. A book for artists and viewers, and very satisfying for both.