David Ebony – författare

Larry Poons (b. 1937) shot to fame while still in his twenties, on the strength of his “dot paintings,” in which dots or ellipses were meticulously arranged on brightly coloured fields, creating a rhythmic, pulsating effect. But within a few years, Poons first loosened the hard-edged precision of the dot paintings and then abandoned them entirely for an organic mode of abstraction based on vertical drips of flung paint. This marked the beginning of an uncompromising five-decade evolution that has finally led the artist back to a more intimate mode of painting with brushes — and his own hands. At every stage, Poons's career has compelled the attention of critics and, in particular, other artists.This handsome volume, the first full-length biocritical monograph on Poons, reproduces more than 140 of his most important works in full colour, some as spectacular gatefolds. The incisive text — a collaboration between four leading critics and historians — traces the development of the artist’s extraordinary career. Larry Poons is a necessary addition to the library of anyone with an interest in American art.

The first book devoted to the enigmatic and thought-provoking drawings and watercolours of Carmen Cicero — in a handsome oversize format.Carmen Cicero (b. 1926) is now in the midst of his seventh decade at the cutting edge of contemporary art. His works of the 1950s — collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and other major museums — combined the gestures of Abstract Expressionism with the complex emergent forms of Surrealist automatism. In the 1960s, Cicero was one of the first members of the American avant-garde to return to figuration, pursuing, through the 1960s and 1970s, a style he called “figurative expressionism.” This evolved into his more recent “visionary” mode, in which he depicts, with a startling clarity, mysterious scenes animated by multiple contradictory feelings — unfulfilled desires, jealousy, despair, and isolation — as well as a generous dose of humour. Throughout his entire artistic evolution, drawing and watercolour have remained central to Cicero’s practice, allowing him to body forth his fertile imaginings with a vivid immediacy. This oversize volume presents a generous selection of drawings and watercolours from every stage of Cicero’s career; it is printed on a quality uncoated stock that recalls the artist’s favoured Arches watercolour paper, and many of the drawings are reproduced at actual size. An essay by the noted critic David Ebony brings out the humour, pathos, and consummate skill of Cicero’s art, and a full apparatus — including an artist’s statement, chronology, and bibliography — further add to the value of this work, which will be an essential addition to any library of American art.

The first monograph on American artist Morton Kaish, whose light-filled paintings bridge the traditional and the experimental.Morton Kaish (b. 1927) has long been known as a “painter’s painter.” His work has been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and numerous other leading institutions, and he has served as a teacher and mentor to generations of American artists. His work, which bridges the abstract and the representational, the traditional and the experimental, is marked by a ceaseless exploration of light and colour that has led one critic to liken him to “a latter-day Bonnard.” Throughout his eight-decade career, Kaish has worked in series, returning to the same theme again and again and always finding something new; his series range from The Irish Chair, depicting wildflowers heaped on a wooden chair, to America, showing weathered doorways bearing a palimpsest of patriotic imagery.This oversize monograph presents exceptional reproductions of a generous selection of Kaish’s works, arranged by series and including his formally innovative prints and drawings as well as his paintings. A text by the noted critic David Ebony, an interview with the artist, and an illustrated chronology lend new insight into Kaish’s life and work. A foreword by Annette Blaugrund, former director of the National Academy of Design, explores how the artist’s studios—including the one he shared for some fifty years with his wife, the celebrated sculptor Luise Kaish—have influenced his work.