A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World [Hardcover]

Marcia Tucker (Author), Liza Lou (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2008

This engrossing memoir brings to vivid life the behind-the-scenes struggles of Marcia Tucker, the first woman to be hired as a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. Tucker came of age in the 1960s, and this spirited account of her life draws the reader directly into the burgeoning feminist movement and the excitement of the New York art world during that time. Her own new ways of thinking led her to take principled stands that have changed the way art museums consider contemporary art. As curator of painting and sculpture at the Whitney, she organized major exhibitions of the work of Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, and Richard Tuttle, among others. As founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art, she organized and curated groundbreaking exhibitions that often focused on the nexus of art and politics. The book highlights Tucker's commitment to forging a new system when the prevailing one proved too narrow for her expansive vision.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this insightful and well-crafted memoir, long-time contemporary art curator Tucker (1945-2006) gives readers a backstage account of forty years on the New York and national art scene. A passionate art student, Tucker's career began when she put down the paint brush and dedicated herself to tracking down contemporary art; before long, she would become the first woman curator of The Whitney Museum, before founding and directing The New Museum. Her curatorial history is both humble and sophisticated ("it's one thing to want to create something, another to spend your life interpreting what someone else has made"), as well as vivid, charming and honest, revealing in direct language her reasons for exhibiting Bill Bollinger's giant boulder, pulled whole from the WTC excavation site, or storming out of a class-and her PhD program-after a professor referred to Nancy Graves's realistic, life-size camel sculptures as "novelty art." Aside from meeting some of the most famous artists of our time, from Marcel Duchamp to Bob Dylan, Tucker's personal story involves a tragic family life and years as a starving artist, related poignantly but without pandering. Deftly edited by close friend and artist Lou, this is an arresting tour of a life devoted to new art, with a perfectly charming guide.
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Review

"Offers some much-needed inspiration [and] ample evidence of Tucker's take-no-prisoners attitude and passion for "difficult" art."--New York Times Book Review

"A remarkable piece of writing. . . . [Tucker] has composed a literary monument to her heroic life in art, as moving as it is entertaining."--Artforum

"A candid, entertaining, and illuminating account of the 1960s art world. . . . A perfect antidote to this bloated, spectacle-heavy moment."--Bookforum

Marcia Tucker's courage, conviction and chutzpah are inspiration for those of us who seek to lead meaningful professional lives."--Museum

"A vivid, candid, self-critical and moving account of Tucker's life. . . . Novice curators should find it inspiring."--The Art Book

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520257006
• ISBN-13: 978-0520257009
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #950,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A woman who couldn't be stopped...thank goodness!, May 15, 2009

By 

las cosas (Ajijic-San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World (Hardcover)

I stayed up most of the night reading this book the day it arrived at our house, and the next day my partner did the same. If you are a woman professional in your 60s interested in the arts, I bet you will have the same response. I assume just about everyone else will enjoy this book also.

With none of the proper credentials in a time when a woman, even with those credentials, could expect little from the patrician New York art world, Tucker simply forged ahead, determined to follow her own interests and with a flair for developing friends and mentors with the money and power to enable her to realize her vision. As John Baldessari quips, only Marcia when fired by one major museum [the Whitney] would respond by starting her own museum.

To thine own self be true has become a hackneyed phrase. Marcia in this always amusing memoir reminds us that this need not be true. A passion for a subject and a determination to pursue that passion despite not knowing where it will lead provides the basis for the memoir and her life. The book ends as she dies of cancer at a relatively young age, but even this ending is not particularly sad. She led a full and challenging life right to the end. How many of us can really say that?

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life in/as art, December 9, 2008

By 

Dinah (Hoboken, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World (Hardcover)

Brilliant. Philosophical and personal, touching, funny, sexy, eye-opening, compelling. Anyone interested in women, or in art, or in women in art will find a treasure here. If you didn't know Marcia, you will after reading this extraordinary memoir. If you did, as I did, you'll be reminded once again how much you miss her.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absorbing memoir, December 1, 2008

By 

D. K. Evans "mad about much" (Mission Viejo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Short Life of Trouble: Forty Years in the New York Art World (Hardcover)

I tend to be an escapist in literature and rarely venture into non-fiction, so I was surprised by how engaging this book was for me. I was fascinated by the personal depiction of a very exciting time period--especially in the art world and in the early struggles of feminism. Most of all I was delighted to experience this vibrant, gutsy, indomitable personality. Recommended definitely!