Prestel

David Smith; cubes and anarchy.

Eliel (curator of modern art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art) presents this survey of mid-century American sculptor David Smith's work as a companion piece to LACMA's 2010 retrospective exhibition. She features 150 illustrations, including paintings, sketches, and photographs, as well as both contemporary and period photography of his sculptures. Four accompanying essays reflect on Smith's artistic process and relationship with other artists of his time such as Kandinsky, De Kooning and Pollock; his identity as part of the working class and the infusion of that self-image into his medium and work in general; the primacy of geometry and simplicity in his work, which was then influenced by abstraction, texture and movement; and the extension of his principles and aesthetic to other media such as paint and photography. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Fritz Scholder; Indian/not Indian. (reprint, 2008)

This book was first published in 2008 in conjunction with an exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and at the George Gustav Heye Center in New York City. The directors of both institutions provide prefatory material regarding the extraordinary life and brilliant career of painter, printmaker, and sculptor Fritz Scholder (1937-2005). Following are six more detailed essays further examining Scholder and the movement he spearheaded that brought about a new kind of Indian art — searching, expressionistic, fully in tune with contemporary issues and contemporary art. This book offers a full presentation of hundreds of images, along with explication. It is important to a wide readership of scholars, artists, and general readers with an interest in American art as well as Native American culture, identity, and expression. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)