Customer Reviews

Life's Pleasures: The Ashcan Artists' Brush with Leisure, 1895-1925

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Relatively few primers offer in-depth details on the Ashcan artists: a school of early 20th-century American artists whose work centered around New York City life. Here the underworld of the City was often displayed - and LIFE'S PLEASURES is the first book to explore the lighter side of the Ashcan artists' works, featuring leisure scenes in cafes, bars and parks and movies. You'll recognize the artists' names ' Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, John Sloan - and the essays offer further insights on New York culture and artistic sentiment, making LIFE'S PLEASURES a top pick for both New York and college-level art libraries.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

We are finally recognizing the importance of the Ashcan Artists to American and world art. This book should be in everybodys' library who likes art, particularly American Art.

"Life's Pleasure: The Ashcan Brush with Leisure" is a wonderful reminder of the Ashcan artists show at the Detroit Institute of Art. Beautifully written and illustrated, "Life's Pleasure" comes highly recommended, especially if you cannot get to the exhibition to see in real life what is rendered by the presses.

While this book is well illustrated ,it has many fine full page reproductions it has many painters of minor importance to the Ash Can school.Gifford Beal looks like an uninspired Dufy..Jerome Myers ,Edward Manigault I can do without. It is interesting to see some of the early work( of the later abstract art) of Arthur B Davies and Alfred Maurer.Few books on these artists discuss the techniques they used. The focus is on subject matter. Something that docents and guides are always talking about when you hear them in the gallery. Maurice Prendergast ,seems a gentler soul than the others,he fits here where he doesn't in other studies of the group.A uniting factor I think is the fluid brushwork of the Ash Can Painters. In the case of Bellows and Sloan composition and unity of the artist brush/touch were hard fought.Doezema's "Representing Woman" essay is a bit superficial Sloan and Bellows had complicated feelings about woman. Dolly was often in his pictures as he wanted to show her as central to his art and life.There is an in depth discussion of the groups use of frames.This is a good companion book for the show at Detroit's Institute of Art. You will get more out of seeing the show then what is in this book. I am satisfied that I will be able to see Sloan's "New York" at the Smart Museum of the University of Chicago.Life's Pleasures still has the dark palette of these painters. Their interest in color is something that is only hinted at in the biography of Sloan.It is this limited palette that may have led Maurer and Davies to become all out abstract artist.My fault isn't with the book it is the focus of the exhibit.We are seeing more art shows nowadays that seek approval for a hungry subject matter public , in the Fifties there were many shows that sought to expand the awareness the public have of the visual principles of first rate artists. Katherine Kuh for one was instrumental in putting on shows of Leger,Rothko . With helpful commentary that showed that she knew what it was all about. But! I am glad to see a revival of interest in publications of this important school of American Art. Because of the poor scholarship in this book you will find this book on the remainder shelf. It is now available in hardback for fifteen dollars.Half of the Amazon price listed here.