Karen Wilkin – författare

A figurative realist in the heyday of abstract expres- sionism, Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) painted himself, his family, and friends in New York City, in Southampton, Long Island, and on an island off the Maine coast, all depicting a relaxed and comfortable world that seemed to mirror his own affluent, well- connected existence. With virtually all of the artist's previous publications now out of print, this much- anticipated volume is an important addition to the literature on this great American master. Porter graduated from Harvard in 1928 and then studied at the Art Students League in New York with Thomas Hart Benton. Along with months in Maine, Porter lived in New York and from 1948 on, in Southampton where he purchased a large, late Federal-style house for his own expanding family. Porter painted several artist friends, including Elaine de Kooning, Larry Rivers, and Jane Freilicher. He was also close to the modern poets John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler.With a carefully curated selection of the artist's best works, John Wilmerding, a specialist in American art, gives full consideration to Porter's expressive compositions and a color palette influenced by his coastal surroundings. Karen Wilkin discusses Porter's influences and pictorial creativity. Distinguished poet J. D. McClatchy writes a reflection on one of Porter's paintings.

This is the sixth volume in Lund Humphries’ series of monographs on British sculptor Anthony Caro and the first publication to focus on his use of stainless steel as a distinct body of work.Caro employed stainless steel extensively, from intimately scaled TableSculptures to extremely large works, over many decades, and in his mature works, Caro's exploration and interrogation of this material became increasingly important. Karen Wilkin analyses Caro’s use of stainless steel in the context of the development of modernist constructed sculpture, pioneered in the UK by Caro and in the US by David Smith, a friend and admired predecessor, from whom Caro inherited most of the stainless steel he first employed, following Smith's untimely death in 1965.  Karen Wilkin's text represents a much-needed overview of Caro's late career and a vital expansion of our understanding of 20th-century and early 21st-century modernist sculpture.

Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) was an acclaimed Abstract Expressionist and one of the most influential art teachers of the 20th century. While his paintings have been the subject of many exhibitions and publications, his works on paper are comparatively little known, despite how central they were to his artistic practice and to the evolution of his style and technique. This is the first full-length book devoted to Hofmann’s works on paper, presenting a valuable new perspective from which to appreciate the achievements of this giant of postwar art. More than fifty examples from across his long career and from many genres—including self-portraits, figural studies, interiors, landscapes, and abstractions—are all attractively illustrated in color. In addition, works in different stages of finish, from rough sketches to polished pieces, offer an intimate glimpse into Hofmann’s methods and creative process. Distributed for MOCA JacksonvilleExhibition Schedule:Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL(01/28/17–05/14/17)Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME(06/16/17–09/10/17)

A celebration of a brilliant young artist's tragically short career, this revealing look at Bruno Fonseca's life, unorthodox training, and startlingly diverse paintings, drawings, and sculpture not only casts light on his own impressive work but also offers unusually acute insight into the creative process. The son of a sculptor and a painter mother, Bruno Fonseca grew up in an art-filled Manhattan household and started creating his own art in early childhood. By the age of 18, he had started a rigorous course of study with Augusto Torres in Manhattan, where he maintained a studio until his death at age 36 in 1994. Alan Jenkins's perceptive musings about the young artist's accomplishments capture Bruno's quirky charm and summon up the complexity of his relationships with family, friends, and the history of art. Karen Wilkin investigates Fonseca's throwback approach to the study of art, based on painstakingly learned ways of seeing and creating that relate more to the 19th-century Academy than to today's conceptualizing, career-chasing art schools.Isabel Fonseca's deeply touching memoir of her brother's childhood and last days brings to life his irresistible spirit and quicksilver intelligence.