It’s not too early to think about summer reading; I’ve come across two new books about American artists that seem noteworthy.
The first, Romare Bearden, American Modernist, was reviewed in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal by Jonathan Lopez, an editor-at-large at Art and Antiques. The book is a collection of essays, not really a biography; it brings together 14 papers originally given at a symposium at the National Gallery of Art in Washington during the 2003 Bearden retrospective, and was edited by Ruth Fine and Jacqueline Francis. But as Lopez wrote:
Employing a variety of methodological approaches–biographical, sociological, formalist, iconographic–they produce a composite portrait of a complex man who forged an unconventional path to artistic success. The book provides a useful introduction to Bearden’s work, although his own writings, which are extensive and insightful, remain an indispensable resource.
The second book is a traditional biography — Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter by Patricia Albers (who also wrote a biography of Tina Modotti). An amusing choice of title, actually, because although Mitchell did make her way in the tough, masculine art world of the 1950s (As a New York art dealer once reputedly said to her, “Gee, Joan, if only you were French and male and dead”) to become a painter, she is just as well known for her unladylike carousing with the hard-drinking guys like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
The book arrives in stores May 3, and I have not yet seen a review. But Publisher’s Weekly describes it this way:
In this first biography of renowned abstract expressionist painter Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), Albers …vividly chronicles the artist’s tortuous journey from her wealthy upbringing in Chicago to her defiant student days at Smith College, and as a young painter at the Art Institute of Chicago when “the wisdom of the day held that women couldn’t really paint.” … Albers deftly balances Mitchell’s often difficult temperament (some found her “cranky and contentious”; she was an insomniac and alcoholic) with her artistic vision. … Vibrantly written and carefully researched, including numerous interviews with Mitchell’s former husband, Barney Rosset (former owner of Grove Press), friends, lovers, and colleagues, Albers constructs a fluid, energetic narrative of Mitchell’s complicated life and work.
Both Bearden and Mitchell are well-regarded nowadays but, on a comparable basis with their peers, prices for their works have not soared as high as the work seems to warrant. The book on Mitchell may help, as it’s written for a wider audience than the Bearden book. Then again, the latter has been reviewed in the WSJ, which art-buyers read. We’ll just have to see.