Lisa Yuskavage: Small Paintings 1993-2004 [Hardcover]

Tamara Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2004

Both admired and censured for the in-your-face eroticism of her paintings of women, Lisa Yuskavage has emerged from the 1990s as one of the most important figurative artists working today. Called the premier bad-girl artist by "The New York Times and lauded in "The New Yorker as an extravagantly deft painter

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's rare for an artist barely over 40 to get his or her own catalogue of "small" paintings, let alone the large ones. And that the accompanying essay is by Slums of Beverly Hills writer-director Jenkins (rather than an art historian) testifies to name recognition beyond the art world. What Yuskavage is famous for is her paintings of young white women with exaggeratedly shaped and sized breasts, in various stages and poses of self-examination. As Jenkins writes, "[i]n this strange psychosexual universe, female figures stand alone, baring their breasts in fields of peachy pink, lemon yellow or minty blue." The paintings have struck a chord in a youth, size- and celebrity-enhancement–obsessed culture comparable only to the success of grim portraitist John Currin. Many of the 140 full-color illustrations are full-size reproductions, allowing a chilling intimacy with the work's exploration of narcissism, self-doubt and blank, inarticulate desire.
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Review

"The engine of Yuskavage's art is plainly her own sexual anxiety, which provides a surprisingly rich source of inspiration."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810949571
• ISBN-13: 978-0810949577
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Glimpse at the Seeds of the Mind of Lisa Yuskavage, December 11, 2004

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lisa Yuskavage: Small Paintings 1993-2004 (Hardcover)

For an Artist Monograph this book is very well done. The reproductions of paintings are excellent and are the actual size of the small paintings. The commentary by Tamara Jenkins is comfortably readable and informative. The pros and cons of this volume are really dependent on your views of Lisa Yuskavage's art.

Yuskavage paints cartoon like women with huge breasts, impossibly small waists, and googly eyes. Her message is fairly clear: she is presenting the female figure as the sex symbol and mindless Barbie Doll which in any other artist's hands would have feminists up in arms. But since these well-crafted but pungent tongue-in-cheek portraits are painted by a woman, that makes it all an insider's joke.

Lisa Yuskavage and John Currin are the two most well known artists working in this Pop Movement distorted realism that pokes fun at the old Vargas girls and pinups. That is working for them: they both sell their works well. It is just that these works are one-note songs and they produce ennui after the first quick viewing. This book at least lets us see the initial ideas of an artist who knows what she is doing - and making a lot of money doing it! Grady Harp, December 2004

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars optic heaven, December 21, 2004

By 

Santos L. Halper (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lisa Yuskavage: Small Paintings 1993-2004 (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful volume on an emerging artist whom I find very entertaining. Lisa Yuskavage's work is represented here in dozens of color images - very nice in quality and size. Yes, her work features women with impossibly huge breasts almost without exception - if that's not a subject you care to see depicted over and over then this may not be the book for you. Beyond her buxom subjects, however, these paintings also display a very sly sense of humor and a mastery of her medium. Yuskavage's sense of color is stunning; it's easy to get lost looking at the frothy pastel swirls of foliage and human form - I feel like I'm treating my optic nerves to an ice cream sundae.

If you've seen a little of her work and are looking for more (as I was) this is a terrific book - and at this price you can't go wrong.

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding, February 18, 2011

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reading guy "reader" (dc) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lisa Yuskavage: Small Paintings 1993-2004 (Hardcover)

This book is really well produced - it is oversized, well bound, visually stunning, great commentary and background. highly recommended for fans of postmodern figuartive art and high/low art and pin-up art.