Recommended Databases
SMFA Print Periodicals
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AfterallPrint issues available at the SMFA Library
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Modern paintersPrint issues available at the SMFA Library
SMFA Online Periodicals
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Modern paintersOnline issues
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AfterallOnline issues
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WatercolorOnline issues
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Industrial paint & powderOnline issues
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The pastel journalOnline issues
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Watercolor artistOnline issues
Want to browse the stacks? Look at these call numbers
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ND195 - 196.2 |
20th and 21st century painting |
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ND1480 - 1490 |
Color theory |
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ND196.A2 |
Abstract painting |
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ND1500 - 1625 |
Painting materials and techniques |
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ND237 - 1100 |
Painting by country/region |
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ND1700 - 2495 |
Watercolor painting |
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ND1280 |
Figure painting |
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ND1300 - 1329 |
Portrait painting |
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ND1340 - 1367 |
Landscape painting |
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ND1390 |
Still life painting |
Featured Painting Titles
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ANOTHER WORLD : the transcendental painting group
Founded in Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, in 1938, at a time when social realism reigned in American art, the Transcendental Painting Group (TPG) sought to promote abstract art that pursued enlightenment and spiritual illumination. The nine original members of the Transcendental Painting Group were Emil Bisttram, Robert Gribbroek, Lawren Harris, Raymond Jonson, William Lumpkins, Florence Miller Pierce, Agnes Pelton, Horace Towner Pierce and Stuart Walker. They were later joined by Ed Garman. Despite the quality of their works, these Southwest artists have been neglected in most surveys of American art, their paintings rarely exhibited outside of New Mexico. Faced with the double disadvantage of being an openly spiritual movement from the wrong side of the Mississippi, the TPG has remained a secret mostly known only to cognoscenti. Another World: The Transcendental Painting Group aims to address this slight, claiming the group's artists as crucial contributors to an alternative through-line in 20th-century abstraction, one with renewed relevance today. This volume provides a broad perspective on the group's work, positioning it within the history of modern painting and 20th-century American art. Essays examine the TPG in light of their international artistic peers; their involvement with esoteric thought and Theosophy; the group's sources in the culture and landscape of the American Southwest; and the experience of its two female members.
Call Number: SMFA Library: ND212.5.T7 A58 2021 -
Black American Portraits
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A celebratory visual chronicle of the many ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves Spanning over two centuries from around 1800 to the present day, Black American Portraitschronicles the ways in which Black Americans have used portraiture to envision themselves in their own eyes. Remembering Two Centuries of Black American Art, curated by David C. Driskell at LACMA 45 years ago, this book is a companion to the exhibition of the same name that reframes portraiture to center Black American subjects, sitters and spaces. This selection of approximately 140 works from LACMA's permanent collection highlights emancipation, scenes from the Harlem Renaissance, portraits from the Civil Rights and Black Power eras, multiculturalism of the 1990s and the spirit of Black Lives Matter. Countering a visual culture that often demonizes Blackness and fetishizes the spectacle of Black pain, these images center love, abundance, family, community and exuberance. Black American Portraitsdepicts Black figures in a range of mediums such as painting, drawing, prints, photography, sculpture, mixed media and time-based media. In addition to work by artists of African descent, Black American Portraitsincludes several works by artists of other backgrounds who have exemplified a thoughtfulness about, sensitivity toward and commitment to Black artists, communities, histories and subjects. Artists include: Alvin Baltrop, Edward Biberman, Bisa Butler, Jordan Casteel, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Bruce Davidson, Stan Douglas, rafa esparza, Shepard Fairey, Charles Gaines, Sargent Claude Johnson, Deana Lawson, Kerry James Marshall, Alice Neel, Lorraine O'Grady, Catherine Opie, Amy Sherald, Ming Smith, Henry Taylor, Tourmaline, Mickalene Thomas, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Charles White, Kehinde Wiley and Deborah Willis.
Call Number: SMFA: N7593 .B533 2023 -
David Remfry: Watercolour
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This book is the first full-length monograph devoted to David Remfry's watercolours, accompanying an exhibition at the new London galleries of the Royal Watercolour Society.
Call Number: SMFA: ND497.R35 A4 2022 -
Diane Burko : Seeing Climate Change : August 28 - December 12, 2021
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Painter, photographer and climate activist Diane Burko has long been a prominent advocate in addressing climate change. While continuing to engage the traditions of landscape painting, her increasingly abstract and large-scale images are layered with visual and scientific information about the urgent challenges posed to the planet. This volume presents Burko's large-scale paintings and serial groupings, including her never-before-exhibited, 56-foot-long World Map series, which addresses glacier and coral reef changes across the globe. Also featured are Burko's videos and Lenticulars, which employ melting and flowing imagery to express the concept of climate change over time. The book features more than 120 color illustrations; a new statement by the artist on the evolving nature of her studio practice; essays by each of the curators, distinguished art historians Mary D. Garrard and Norma Broude; and an essay by the environmental author and activist Bill McKibben.
Contents
Call Number: SMFA Library: ND237.B898 A4 2021 -
Faith Ringgold
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"Over the course of six decades, American artist, author, and activist Faith Ringgold (b. 1930) has worked in a variety of media and modes--from quilts and paintings to performance and children's books--to depict the beauty and complexity of the African American experience. Faith Ringgold includes two essays by author and scholar Michele Wallace, an interview with the artist, and photographs of all 71 works included in the Glenstone exhibition."--Glenstone.org.
Call Number: SMFA Library: N6537.R55 A4 2022 -
Flying Woman: the Paintings of Katherine Bradford
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The first major survey of artist Katherine Bradford, renowned for her wholly personal paintings of swimmers, bathers, and superheroes. Known for her vibrant palette and eccentric compositions, Katherine Bradford came to prominence late in life, when her unique style of painting finally garnered critical acclaim in the art world. The artist's paintings are populated by a wide-ranging cast of characters--from swimmers to superheroes to, most recently, mothers--who anchor and connect her work across time and media. Her figures, who often defy society's expectations of women (and other gender norms), thus serve as surrogates for a mother, painter, and lesbian coming of age at the turn of the twenty-first century. Featuring more than twenty years of her work, Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford considers the artist's many themes, her ongoing exploration of different painterly modes, and her lifelong fascination with color.
Call Number: SMFA: ND237.B7825 A4 2022 -
Helen Frankenthaler
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Kunsthalle Krems and Museum Folkwang are presenting the painterly work of Helen Frankenthaler the great abstract expressionist and outstanding artist of the 20th century. Frankenthaler lived and worked in the epicenter of the New York School and created her groundbreaking abstract soak-stain pictures in the early 1950s, in succession of Jackson Pollock's Drip Paintings. It is considered a bridgehead between Action Painting and Color Field painting. The focus of the publication are the painterly constellations on the medias canvas and paper. Over 70 works on paper - from the late 1940s to the early 2000s - are juxtaposed with an exclusive selection of paintings from the individual phases of Frankenthaler's artistic oeuvre. Frankenthaler's work is barely represented in European museums and collections and has seldom been shown extensively in German-speaking countries. The majority of the works depicted in the catalogue come from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation in New York, supplemented by private collections and institutions.
Call Number: SMFA: ND237.F675 A4 2022 -
Inspired by Country
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The Gerd and Helga Plewig Collection of Bark Paintings from Northern Australia with works mainly from the 1950s to 1970s is presently considered the best collection of its kind outside of Australia. It includes works from the Kimberley, Wadeye, the Tiwi Islands, Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt by artists like Yirawala, Mawalan Marika and Mungurrawuy Yunupingu. Painting on bark is part of a continuing artistic tradition of Australian Aboriginal people intimately related to long-established practices of body decoration, rock painting and the manufacture and decoration of various objects in sacred and secular spheres. It is thought to have been practiced for centuries, but has only been known to European researchers and collectors since the early 19th century. Bark painting relates to the time of creation which underlies the present and determines the future.
Call Number: SMFA: ND1101 .I57 2022 -
Joan Semmel: Skin in the Game
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"This publication, the first comprehensive catalogue of Joan Semmel's work, will trace the artist's career from early abstract-expressionist paintings through her movement-defining feminist art and activism and, finally, to the vital and monumental work that she is making today of her own mature body. This book gives readers the opportunity to experience almost fifty-five years of Semmel's extraordinary work, including forty of her paintings, as well as a selection of her rarely seen drawings, collages, and photographs. In the face of persistent censorship and in defiance of deep-rooted sexism and ageism, Joan Semmel (b. 1932) relentlessly makes paintings that reflect the ongoing struggle for women's equal representation, power to make decisions about their own bodies and sexuality, and empowerment through the self. At a moment when sex and body positivity have become international movements, it's critical to celebrate Semmel's pivotal and under-recognized role in bringing these ideas forward. Though Semmel is one of the most important feminist painters, and her work has consistently gained visibility within that context, she remains relatively unacknowledged for her impact on representational painting in the United States. The authors will consider Semmel in both feminist and figurative painting frameworks-a long-held desire of the artist-specifically in relation to Semmel's forward-thinking approach to painting the nude body. Throughout her career, Semmel has always been ahead of the curve-today, at 87 years old, she is making vital work that continues to challenge the traditions of figurative painting"-- Provided by publisher.
Call Number: SMFA Library: ND237.S437 A4 2021 -
Kyosai
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The Japanese artist Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), a student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, has been described as Japan's first political cartoonist; indeed, the satirical edge to his paintings often placed him on the wrong side of the law. The politically turbulent times in which Kyosai lived are reflected in his images, in which skeletons, demons and ghosts rub shoulders with classically rendered ukiyo-e courtesans. Among his works are his depictions of animals - crows, frogs and elephants, among many others - which often stand in for political figures of the day.
Call Number: SMFA Library: ND1059.K3 A4 2022 -
Manoucher Yektai
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With decadent colors, loose brushstrokes and heavy-handed impasto, the paintings of the Iranian American artist Manoucher Yektai (1921-2019) fuse Eastern and Western traditions, synthesizing a unique blend of abstraction and figuration that owes as much to Franz Kline as it does to Cézanne and the poetry of Rumi. Influenced by his early life in Iran and his visits to Paris, and by the New York School, Yektai is recognized as one of the few Abstract Expressionists who also continued working in the still-life genre. An accomplished poet, he approached the act of painting with the melodic sensibility of his own free-verse poems. This fully illustrated monograph, featuring essays by Robert Slifkin, Fereshteh Daftari, Media Farzin and Biddle Duke, as well as a conversation between Hadi Fallahpisheh and Tahereh Fallahzadeh, charts the artist's output over the course of the late 1950s to the early 2000s, spotlighting his novel consideration of form, color and space. Exhibition: Karma, New York, USA (30.09. - 13.11.2021).
Call Number: SMFA : ND237.Y44 A4 2022 -
Mika Tajima
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Mika Tajima is a comprehensive catalogue of artist Mika Tajima's work spanning from 2003-2021. The sculptures, paintings, videos and installations of New York-based artist Mika Tajima (born 1975) explore the embodied experience of ortho-architectonic control and computational life. From architectural systems to ergonomic design to psychographic data, Tajima's works operate in the space between the immaterial and the tangible to create heightened encounters that target the senses and emotions of the viewer, underlining the dynamics of control and agency. Her practice materializes techniques developed to shape the physicality, productivity, and desires of the human subject. This hardcover catalogue includes full-color reproductions of Tajima's work at the 2019 Okayama Art Summit; her early performances with Charles Atlas, Judith Butler, and New Humans; and exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Palais de Tokyo, and Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, among other international venues. Mika Tajima also includes an introduction by independent curator Mika Yoshitake, an interview with the artist, and a critical text written by Professor T'ai Smith analyzing the conceptual underpinnings of Tajima's work
Call Number: SMFA Library: N6537.T3556 M553 2022 -
My Mother Country
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The collection of Joëlle and Pierre Clément includes Australian painters whose work draws on Aboriginal culture and traditions. This catalog by Kunsthaus Zug features 80 works by 50 artists from the collection, as well as paintings by Emily Kame Kngwarreye. The image and text contributions allow for an in-depth examination of the color-intensive, supposedly abstract painting and shed light on the diverse artistic positions as well as the different peoples and regions of Central Australia. With their "dot paintings," the painters translate their millennia-old culture between traditional mythology and postcolonial reality into fascinating images created for international viewers. The publication brings together 50 painters, including established names such as Kathleen Petyarre and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, as well as lesser-known positions. One focus is on the works of EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE (1910-1996).
Call Number: SMFA: ND1101 .M96 2022 -
The New Oil Painting
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"A guide to the materials and safe practices that will take your oil painting practice to new heights--whether you are just starting out, or have been painting for years"-- Provided by publisher.
Oil painting is a timeless yet endlessly adventurous medium, but many painters feel daunted by the variety of materials or the thought of using dangerous solvents. Brooks walks you through oil painting fundamentals: the nature and history of pigments, which materials you actually need, and how to eliminate harmful solvents from your work and replace them with safer, more environmentally friendly substitutes. -- adapted from back cover
Call Number: SMFA Library: TP935 .B85 2021 -
Psychic Wounds
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"Psychic Wounds: On Art & Trauma examines over 60 international artists whose memory of historical trauma has provided them with a unique power to generate works of art. Although there have been important examples of art that address wounding, scarring, and healing throughout the 20th century, the proliferation of violent imagery since World War II has led to new kinds of artworks that marshal consciousness of traumatic events and their cultural processing. These developments in art practice run parallel with the emergence of 'trauma studies' in the mid-1980s, which confront the repercussions of psychoanalysis, the Holocaust, global conflict, sexual violence, and race and gender discrimination"--Gavin Delahunty, exhibition website.
Call Number: SMFA: N6490 .P79 2021 -
Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium
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"[Volume] explores the resurgence of figurative painting in the past two decades through works by ten leading artists: Michael Armitage, Cecily Brown, Nicole Eisenman, Sanya Kantarovsky, Tala Madani, Ryan Mosley, Christina Quarles, Daniel Richter, Dana Schutz, and Tschabalala Self. With essays by Iwona Blazwick, Lydia Yee and Daniel Culpan, this publication examines the political and aesthetic implications of their work, alongside more than fifty colour illustrations and contributions from each artist, offering insights into their ideas and working processes"--publisher's description.
Call Number: SMFA: ND196.4.F54 R33 2020 -
Salman Toor: No Ordinary Love
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"Toor's evocative, tenderly executed paintings begin to pluck at your heartstrings almost as soon as you see them." -Roberta Smith, New York Times Known for his moody figurative works that combine academic technique with a quick, sketchlike style, Salman Toor's paintings depict intimate scenes in the imagined lives of young, queer men residing between New York City and South Asia. As Baltimore Museum of art curator Asma Naeem describes in her introduction, "his paintings resonate as journal-like entries that record moments of kinship, bonding, playfulness, lust, loneliness, rejection--pastel-inflected, gossamer-covered flights of the imagination with wispy Brown boys that mine the complexities of being an immigrant, queer and human." This monograph, produced in conjunction with the artist's first retrospective exhibition, collects Toor's most essential works alongside significant new texts, by exhibition curator Naeem and painter Evan Moffitt, that examine the works for both their formal innovations and their influences. Also included is an original new short story by author Hanya Yanigahara, illustrated by Toor's paintings. Lavishly designed by Topos Graphics, No Ordinary Love is an exquisite introduction to a powerful young talent. Salman Toor was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1983 and currently lives and works in New York. He studied painting and drawing at Ohio Wesleyan University and received his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Salman Toor: How Will I Know, the artist's first institutional solo exhibition, was recently presented at the Whitney Museum (2020-21).
Call Number: SMFA: N6496 .B35 B35 2022 -
Sonia Delaunay
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A handsome, affordable introduction to the modernist polymath who charted the rhythms of color across textiles, illustration, painting and more Sonia Delaunay was a true pioneer of modernist abstraction; breaking with the figurative vocabulary that subordinated color to subject matter, she placed dynamic color interaction at the core of her vision, whether expressed through painting, book illustration or costume and textile design. Drawing inspiration from both traditional Russian crafts and the modern frenetic metropolis, Delaunay's work reflects the drastic changes ushered in by industrialization. Through her polyvalent practice, Delaunay helped construct the new modern woman that she herself embodied: equal parts avant-gardist, creative entrepreneur and businesswoman. This richly illustrated catalog showcases the range of Delaunay's work as it unfolded over 60 years, from abstract paintings and works on paper to textile design, garments, fashion photography, books and carpets--even a brightly colored sports car. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) migrated to Paris in 1906 and became a key figure in the city's avant-garde scene. During these early years, her paintings underwent a formal shift influenced by the vivid colors of Fauvism. She soon met her husband, fellow artist Robert Delaunay, and the couple pioneered a fusion of Cubism and Neo-Impressionism that they termed Simultanism, which denotes abstract painting that uses color in a manner comparable to the use of sound and rhythm in music. In 1964, Delaunay became the first living woman artist to have a retrospective at the Louvre.
Call Number: SMFA: N6853.D44 A4 2022 -
The Space Between: the Modern in Korean Art
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Featuring over 130 artworks--some previously unpublished--this richly illustrated volume is essential for understanding modern art in Korea and how it evolved to meet the contemporary global context In The Space Between, a generative period in Korean art between the traditional and the contemporary is illuminated comprehensively for the first time. After the centuries-long Joseon dynasty came 35 uninterrupted years of the Japanese colonial period (1910-45) followed by the Korean War (1950-53). During this tumultuous time, Korean artists grappled with issues such as identity and nationalism and experimented with a broad range of media. The book is organized into five categories: "The Modern Encounter"-- foreign influences enter the country in a significant way in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; "The Modern Response"--how foreign methods are accepted or rejected; "The Pageantry of the New Woman (Sinyeoseong) Movement"--modern women's attitudes; "The Modern Momentum"--advances in using foreign styles; and "Evolving into the Contemporary"--a glimpse into the contemporary. Most notable during this period are the introductions of photography, sculpture and oils, which arrived via Japan and came to define modern art in Korea. At the same time, traditional ink painting reinvented itself: works grew larger in scale while keeping traditional landscape motifs with alterations in the use of color and composition. Artists of modern ink believed that theirs was the true future of modern art, unsullied by elements found in the West. By the end of the Korean War, the magnified status of the US made way for access to American abstract art and, indirectly, European informel. For nearly a decade, abstract expressionist and informel styles dominated Korean art. The volume concludes in the 1960s, setting the stage for contemporary art in Korea.
Call Number: SMFA: N582.L7 A8 2022 -
Still Life: Timeless Beauty
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They fascinate us today as they did 500 years ago: elaborate compositions of exotic fruits or platters with oysters, floral arrangements and skulls, exquisitely decorated musical instruments and scientific instruments. Magical things testify to exuberant wealth and hedonism as well as to the enlightened curiosity and religious fervour of the Baroque era. This lavishly illustrated book that even features a pictorial glossary sets the stage for the internationally renowned collection of still lifes housed in Dresden's Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery). Focusing on the dazzling masterpieces of Dutch and Flemish painting, this book examines the genre in all its diverse facets. What meaning, what content, and what function did still lifes have, what allegories and symbols are concealed in their coded messages? How did the artists take the game of optical illusion to extremes? More than 70 still lifes from the Dresden collection by painters such as Cornelis de Heem, Abraham Mignon, Rachel Ruysch, and Frans Snyders provide a unique insight into the golden age of this magical genre.
Call Number: SMFA -
Tomoo Gokita: Get Down
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Recent experiments in color, from a Japanese painter known for his grayscale palette Japanese artist Tomoo Gokita (born 1969) is known for his monochromatic and grayscale figurative paintings. This latest body of work, made during lockdown, consists of bright, pastel-colored large-scale paintings portraying pinup models, female wrestlers and familial portraiture alongside mundane symbols embedded in our current reality.
Call Number: SMFA: ND1059.G64 A4 2022 -
Truck Art Project
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Mobile murals by some of Spain's most renowned contemporary artists This volume chronicles a public art project in Spain that features monumental murals painted on the sides of industrial trucks, confronting issues of scale and budget and transforming passersby into involuntary and fleeting spectators. Commissioned artists include Suso33, Abraham Lacalle, Okuda San Miguel and Felipe Pantone.
Call Number: SMFA: ND2785 .T78 2022 -
Vitamin D3: Today's Best in Contemporary Drawing
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"Over the past 50 years, drawing has been elevated from a supporting role to a primary medium, ranking alongside painting as a central art form. Since the publication of Vitamin D (2005) and D2 (2013), contemporary artists have continued to explore drawing's possibilities - from intimate to large-scale works, in a diversity of mark-making processes and materials. Vitamin D3 showcases more than 100 such artists, nominated by more than 70 international art experts. The more than 70 nominators include: Iwona Blazwick, Louisa Buck, Mark Coetzee, Thelma Golden, Laura Hoptman, Geeta Kapur, Pablo Leon de la Barra, Christine Macel, Kate Macfarlane, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Zoe Whitley. The more than 100 artists include: Miriam Cahn, Robert Crumb, Tom Friedman, Tania Kovats, Claudette Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Otobong Nkanga, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Deanna Petherbridge, Christina Quarles, Qiu Zhijie, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Wael Shawky, Emma Talbot, and Johanna Unzueta"--Publisher's description
Call Number: SMFA: NC96 .V583 2021 -
Women Painting Women
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Replete with complexities, abjection, beauty and joy, Women Painting Women offers new ways to imagine the portrayal of women, from Alice Neel to Jordan Casteel A thematic exploration of nearly 50 female artists who choose women as subject matter in their works, Women Painting Women includes nearly 50 portraits that span the 1960s to the present. International in scope, the book recognizes female perspectives that have been underrepresented in the history of postwar figuration. Painting is the focus, as traditionally it has been a privileged medium for portraiture, particularly for white male artists. The artists here use painting and women as subject matter and as vehicles for change. They range from early trailblazers such as Emma Amos and Alice Neel to emerging artists such as Jordan Casteel, Somaya Critchlow and Apolonia Sokol. All place women--their bodies, gestures and individuality--at the forefront. The pivotal narrative in Women Painting Women is how the artists included use the conventional portrait of a woman as a catalyst to tell another story outside of male interpretations of the female body. They conceive new ways to activate and elaborate on the portrayal of women by exploring themes of the Body, Nature Personified, Selfhood and Color as Portrait. Replete with complexities, realness, abjection, beauty, complications, everydayness and joy, the portraits in this volume make way for women artists to share the stage with their male counterparts in defining the image of woman and how it has evolved. Artists include: Rita Ackermann, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Emma Amos, María Berrío, Louise Bonnet, Lisa Brice, Joan Brown, Jordan Casteel, Somaya Critchlow, Kim Dingle, Marlene Dumas, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Nicole Eisenman, Tracey Emin, Natalie Frank, Hope Gangloff, Eunice Golden, Jenna Gribbon, Alex Heilbron, Ania Hobson, Luchita Hurtado, Chantal Joffe, Hayv Kahraman, Maria Lassnig, Christiane Lyons, Danielle Mckinney, Marilyn Minter, Alice Neel, Elizabeth Peyton, Paula Rego, Faith Ringgold, Deborah Roberts, Susan Rothenberg, Jenny Saville, Dana Schutz, Joan Semmel, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Arpita Singh, Sylvia Sleigh, Apolonia Sokol, May Stevens, Claire Tabouret, Mickalene Thomas, Nicola Tyson and Lisa Yuskavage.
Call Number: SMFA : N8354 .W664 A4 2022
SMFA Library
Subject headings are applied, by librarians, to each book in the Tufts Libraries catalog. They broadly describe what a given title is about.
Click on a subject heading below to see a list of all titles on that topic: