Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective of Sculpture and Drawing, 1958-2000 [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Smith (Author), Robert Storr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2003

Lee Bontecou became widely known early in the 1960s for her welded steel sculptures into which various fabrics, metals and found objects were incorporated. By the mid-1960s she began to experiment with plastics, epoxy and other synthetic materials to create moulded rather than assembled forms. As her work evolved, it increasingly made reference to naturalistic phenomena, evoking biological life - an interest that was also manifest in her earliest cast sculptures of birds and animals. This monograph is a major survey of Bontecou's work and provides an opportunity to re-evaluate the career of the artist.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the 1960s, the American artist Lee Bontecou was heralded as one of the most important young artists of her time. Painstakingly crafted from castoffs--Army surplus and canvas conveyor belts from a neighboring laundry--her wall reliefs evoked a fearsome sci-fi world of black holes and bared teeth, a mysterious doom-filled terrain no one had ever seen before. In the mid-'70s, however, Bontecou disappeared from the art scene, declining to take part in exhibitions. Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective revisits five decades of this extraordinary artist's work. The texts include Elizabeth A.T. Smith's overview of Bontecou's career, Robert Storr's nuanced analysis of the cultural context of the work, Donna De Salvo's remarks about the otherworldly drawings, and a pivotal essay from 1965 by the sculptor Donald Judd. Especially intriguing is Mona Hadler's brief discussion of Bontecou's personal interests (insect life, model airplanes) and political beliefs. No one has much to say about the critically disparaged vacuum-formed plastic sculptures of fish and flowers from the 1970s. But Bontecou's intricate drawings and recent series of suspended sculptures, which Smith describes as "something between a helicopter and an insect," continue to explore a natural realm that combines delicacy and menace. Lee Bontecou, which contains 175 full-color illustrations, accompanies an exhibition of the same title at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles through Jan. 11, 2004, which travels to Chicago and New York. --Cathy Curtis

From Publishers Weekly

One of the most acclaimed figures in the New York art world during the 1960s, Lee Bontecou dropped out the galley scene in the mid-1970s, choosing, instead, to work on her sculptures alone. This catalogue, which is timed to coordinate with major exhibitions of Bontecou's work in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, aims to reassert the reclusive woman's place in art history-and succeeds. The catalogue's full-color plates cover all of Bontecou's career, from the welded-steel and canvas boxes that made her name in the 1960s to the intricate porcelain and wire sculptures that comprise her latest series. Bontecou's work is deeply organic-many of the sculptures resemble catfish or seagulls or flowers. As early as 1971, one critic dubbed her a "strange naturalist." Other interpretations of her work can be found in this book's five essay-length monographs. In the first, "All Freedom in Every Sense," curator Smith provides a career biography of the artist. Storr's "Seek and Hide" attempts "to situate her sculpture within a context that was contiguous with but outside the American mainstream." Judd's monograph argues that Bontecou's work derives its force from its rejection of solipsism, skepticism and irony. As the first comprehensive book on Bontecou, this catalogue has great scholarly importance. And the traveling exhibition should generate press coverage, such as Calvin Tompkin's profile the August issue of the New Yorker, which may make this book popular with a wider audience as well. 175 color illustrations.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; illustrated edition edition (September 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810946181
• ISBN-13: 978-0810946187
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #794,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars re: the photographic record, March 3, 2004

By 

D. K. Edwards (Sierra Madre, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective of Sculpture and Drawing, 1958-2000 (Hardcover)

I just studied both the book and the exhibition in Chicago. The works are wonderful first hand. The book is a nice supplement in some ways, the quality of the prints is good on the surface, and there are some contextual pictures of studio environment etc. But the book is enormously disappointing in one very important way: Most of the photographs of works in the first section are taken from only one angle, head on, and lit evenly so they give *no* idea of the geometry and depth of the works. The actual works have very dramatic physical depth, but the photographs make them look as flat as paintings. It's great that there is at least an inventory presented here, unfortunately, this book missed the rare opportunity to definitively fill the need for a photographic record of Bontecou's major works. It would have been greatly improved with multiple angles or more informative lighting for the works that demand it. You still have to see an exhibition to really have any idea what her works are like.

Regrettably, Amazon guidelines do not allow me to provide the URLs to Bontecou's own press release response to Storr's statements (search for "bontecou" on ereleases.com headlines).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dazzlellipsisphere, May 19, 2009

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billytombs.com (california) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective (Paperback)

This book on Bontecou's work is amazing.
It allows the work to speak for itself with large, color images and Bontecou's work defies definition... And triggers the imagination. If the cover intrigues you the book will dazzle.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bontecou leads the way., September 10, 2008

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Chance A. Dunlap - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective (Paperback)

Lee Bontecou is a force. Her sculptural prowess is nearly unmatched. this work has some of the best critical essays I have ever read, and the bountiful photographs are most excellent.