Customer Reviews

Reading Abstract Expressionism: Context and Critique

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Within the group of books written about abstract expressionism, there are no others which put together a compendium of writings, history and opinions in the way that "Reading Abstract Expressionism" does, both in volume and in manner. Following a timeline of publications - decade by decade - from the 40s through the 90s, Landau has gathered what could be called the ultimate collection of articles that inform, discuss and educate the reader on this breakthrough form of art.

Specific chapters are culled from various publications (newspaper and magazine articles and interviews) and each has a copious number of accompanying notes. I give special consideration of those which not only give opinion and/or delve into the thought processes of the artists but add the bonus of relating their histories, influences and personal opinions in regards to their works. The result is an encyclopedia of sorts, a fly-on-the-wall reference guide to the bigger names of this genre - and the authors who have made a career from writing about them.

Had this volume added accompanying pictures - even in black and white - to the articles, it would easily be 5 stars, but sadly there are but a handful of pictures near the front and many of the artists written about are not included. This is a misstep in an otherwise fantastic walk through decades of work.

While those with short attention spans may find this book to be somewhat tedious, I relished the long view and the "secret" information it divulged and savored it over many months. Landau has provided (what could be considered) days at a library in compressed form; a manual, a near-bible for those intensely interested in the art form that gave us true modernism. I highly recommend this book and will continue to revisit it in the future.