Customer Reviews

New Art City

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are seriously interested in the cutting edge art scene of New York City between the late 1930s to the early 1970s this is a book to buy and read.

However, I do think many general readers will find the prose of Jed Perl over the top, with his constant use of phrases that sound heavy but are light on meaning, e.g., "contextualized romanticism" and "improvisational conceptualist." I also recognize that "dialectics" was a major catchword of this art era (and of Marx) but its frequent use in this book is taken to an annoying extreme.

Mr. Perl certainly possesses an arsenal of knowledge and strong opinions which he machine guns out in this book on art at mid-century in the Big Apple. Its many forms of art, key artists, and related places--like the Cedar Tavern, Hofmann's school, and Black Mountain College--are all covered.

Jed Perl is a is a cultivated guide; no surprise given his critical credentials. Like any good critic Perl is concerned to evaluate his various subjects, and while we may disagree with his opinions, he does not avoid any of the well known, or many of the lesser known figures, in the mid-twentieth century New York art world. Indeed Fairfield Porter, for me at least, a lesser figure, receives as much attention as Warhol, and that much more sympathetic. Perl never loses contact with his context, the city of New York, or with the insitutions and individuals that add to the total of the art scene. So we have the galleries and the museums, and the menand women that ran them, crtical writing by individuals ranging from the poet Frank O'Hara, to the artists themselves, to, of course, Greenberg and Rosenberg, finally shaping the discourse of the times. And grounding much of the discussion are the philosophical positions adopted by critics and artists. All of this is presented in well written, simple language. Perl is to be congratulated on producing a first-class survey of one of the most exciting periods in twentieth century culture.

Hard to believe that a book as profoundly well conceived and written as this would get published today. There is none of the usual condescension into lurid gossip or salacious anecdotes to lure sales that you might expect of a book of this type, just the clear articulate expression of one intelligent man's conception of mid-century New York art, expressed for the pleasure of those readers capable of appreciating it. Bravo to both author and publisher.

This book was an OK read, not a bad book, but nothing spectacular either. The writing seemed to drone on without any real punch and it never did foster any real excitement for the evolving story of New York as the center of the art world. The book misses a great opportunity to do something significant with an interesting subject. It mostly felt like a narrative of events punctuated by passages of overwrought artspeak. The word "dialectic" was used much too many times.

When I finished the book I'm not sure what I read. The only new insights that I developed from the book came from the discussion about Fairfield Porter.

The book suffers from being published at about the same time as the much more captivating Stevens & Swans' "De Kooning: An American Master" which covers much of the same ground but is a more interesting read.

If you are looking for an answer to the question of why the art world shifted from Paris to New York in the Fifties this book is for you! This is the way history should be written. Jed Perl puts you right in the middle of the city. The people, the artwork, the pulse of New York City is all there between these pages. Open the first page and be prepared to immerse yourself in a great work of non fiction.

I am trying to get thru this book. Yes, he did his research, it shows, but he can sum things up in half the pages. I love the parts in the book when he takes the time out to write a little bio on the artist of the time, Pollack, Smith. etc.

However, I do think many people that pick up the book to read will find the writing style of Jed Perl redundant and annoying, he loves to use the phrases and concepts of "contextualized romanticism" and "improvisational conceptualist" to the point that enough is enough

If you are an expert or very well read in mid century you might enjoy this book, I am struggling to finish it.

Plenty of art books have been written about New York; but NEW ART CITY: MANHATTAN AT MID-CENTURY is a cut above them all, offering a fine panoramic view of 20th century New York art and culture by an influential art critic of our times. From the artist's studio to coffeehouses, bohemian neighborhoods around the city, and changing attitudes on traditional versus modern art, the pulse and soul of the Manhattan art community is captured in an exciting expose of the undercurrents of its influences.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch