Product Description

This text presents an overview of the most influential and best-loved American artists and their works. It covers three centuries, ranging from Puritan portraits and the American Impressionists through to the videos and digital works of today's conceptual artists. The book is shown in an A-Z format, and seeks to encourage readers to contemplate the connections between art, American history and popular culture. Each artist is represented by a colour plate of a significant work, accompanied by text placing the artist in the context of contemporary movements and preceding traditions. The book also includes a glossary of artistic terms and movements, and a directory of museums and public collections across the United States and abroad with holdings of American art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272960 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 520 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Accessibility is the code word for Phaidon's new 500-page dictionary of American art. Valuing images over words, the longest text is the book's introduction, which, printed in large, bold face hardly fills one page. But it does describe its mission well: "Each artist is represented by a full-page colour plate of a significant work, accompanied by an informative and engaging text that places the artist in the context of contemporary movements and preceding traditions ..."-- concise and informative. By arranging the artists alphabetically the editors set up some odd and amusing juxtapositions. For example, the suited subject of an Alice Neel painting appears to speak and gesticulate excitedly about the over-stacked cornucopia of Louise Nevelson's crates found on the opposing page. The caption over each work includes four artists' names in bold print that function as hyper-links of a sort, allowing readers to skip, for example, from Willem de Kooning's Woman I to Jean Michel Basquiat's Skull to Alfred Maurer's cubist-like painting Woman with Curlers. This way, with each visit to the to The American Art Book, readers can discover and follow countless narratives throughout the three centuries of American art.

Filled with large, expertly reproduced images, The American Art Book is, like its cousins The Photography Book and The 20th Century Art Book, a high-quality and surprisingly inexpensive volume that would be a worthy addition to any art-lover's library. -- Loren E. Baldwin, Amazon.com

Review
"'Embracing everything from Folk Art to Pop Art, this is a lavish glimpse not only into American art, but into the history of the country as well.' (The Times) 'Well-produced and broad in its selection, ranging from Pollock and Sargent to Anna (Grandma) Moses, it is a highly comprehensive and thought-provoking publication.' (Good Book Guide) 'An A-to-Z anthology of 500 works, avoids the obvious, evoking each artist's best-known work with accessible alternates.' (US News & World Report, 5 July 1999) 'The alphabetical format lends itself to surprising and stimulating visual juxtapositions.' (Folk Art, Summer 1999) 'Even the most casual art lovers will find inspiration and illumination...Browsing through the myriad styles, movements, and mediums of the book arouses a continual sense of serendipity. (The Christian Science Monitor, 1 July 1999) 'The American Art Book doesn't rely only on the 'greats' or even the traditional category of 'high' art. Images from outsiders, popular culture and lesser-known artists of color are included on an equal footing.' (Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch, 15 September 1999) 'Paging through The American Art Book is like spending time alone in the storage room of the world's best museum of American art.' (Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch, 15 September 1999) 'While it is indeed a reference to notable American artists, it is the vivid color plates that take center stage.' (Seattle, Washington, Times, 16 December 1999)"

Customer Reviews

Hours of wonder and delight!
An alphabetical, stunning tour of art, history, ideas and cultures of the United States---it's been my treasure 'box' for a month now.

It's withstood the battering it's gotten , as it's been carted from room to room, beautifully. The quality of the reproduced art is stunning and the short history of each piece and its artist has given me much to link and think about. It's only drawback is print so small it requires effort to read---but then, that has led to a finer absorption of this cornucopia for me.

I've returned to buy copies for friends undergoing medical procedures on both sides of the Atlantic, as I think The American Book of Art will help anyone focus on it's awesomeness rather than on their own troubles.

Mighty moving and entertaining book; worth far more than it's price!