i always knew, barbara chase-riboud
i am very slowly reading my way through this one because i am finding it so riveting and compelling, and i want to really take in all that’s being shared. beyond the insights into her life as both a person and artist along with some jaw-dropping revelations (jacqueline kennedy onassis helped her publish sally hemings, for example, and was a close friend), what i perhaps love the most is the structure chase-riboud has chosen to tell her stories. told through letters she’d written to her mother over decades, she divulges details, insights, and stories about her personal, creative, and professional lives. introductions at the start of each chapter serve as personal narratives, offering readers a deeper, more contextual understanding of the people, places, events, and experiences chase-riboud is referring to in each letter. even though the letters were written to her mother, reading this often feels as though i’m learning about the lives of both barbara and her mother; her mother’s presence is so palpable through chase-riboud’s words that i often forget i’m reading only one side of the conversation. as much as this is a book about the artist’s life and work, it’s also about family, offering a tender, illuminating, beautiful look at the relationship between a daughter and her mother.
in describing the book herself, chase-riboud says: “this is not autobiography, nor biography, nor memoir nor fiction but a strange hybrid mixture of disparate and even contradictory narratives out of which portraits of the two of us emerge, separate yet united and indivisible.”
fifty days at illiam, cy twombly
my family gifted me this one for my 40th birthday last december, at the conclusion of our visit to the philadelphia museum of art, where several of the works from fifty days at illiam are on view as part of the museum’s permanent tribute to the artist. while there are others by twombly that i love, this series of paintings is among my absolute favorites of his. i distinctly remember my first time seeing them; i was still relatively new to visiting museums and seeing fine art in person, as this was one aspect of arts & culture i was not exposed to growing up. however, the first time i encountered these works at pma years ago, i remember having to sit down to take them all in. there’s an emotional weight to them that i found intense but also quite liberating in its expression. very…mars type of energy (if you’re an astrology nerd, then you know what i mean), which makes sense because these paintings are about the trojan war. these are paintings that made me yearn to paint big and messy and with abandon when i first encountered them, and every time i see them in person, i walk away with this feeling of emotional expansiveness that helps me be a bit more fearless in the studio. this book is about those paintings, twombly’s process of painting them, and includes shots of his studio in italy where they were created. i find a lot of books on twombly to be dry, if i’m being honest, but this one intrigues me in a way i’ve enjoyed.
louise bourgeois: an unfolding portrait, moma
this one definitely is on the pricier side, but i snatched it up because of a conversation i had with one of my gallerists back in the spring. i was sharing about my desire to start making my own artbooks, starting with some of my sketchbooks and art journals, and she responded by sharing images of some of her favorite prints and books by bourgeois. i’ve been traveling through a rabbit hole of bourgeois’ print work and books ever since, finding inspiration and gathering ideas along the way. this book has only fueled my interest in exploring print and bookmaking as well as helped me develop a wider awareness of and deep affinity for bourgeois’ non sculptural work i didn’t have previously.
publisher’s description: “louise bourgeois: an unfolding portrait explores the prints and books of the celebrated sculptor. this little-known body of work is vast in scope―numbering some 1,200 individual compositions―and highly significant within her larger practice. these works encompass the same themes and motifs that occupied bourgeois throughout her career, and they are explored here within the context of related sculptures, drawings, and early paintings. this investigation sheds light on bourgeois’ creative process overall, most vividly through the evolving print states and variants that led to her final compositions; seeing these sequences unfold is akin to looking over the artist’s shoulder as she worked.
published in conjunction with an exhibition at the museum of modern art, this catalog presents more than 270 prints and books, organized thematically, and includes an essay that traces bourgeois’ involvement with these mediums within the broader developments of her life and career. it also emphasizes the collaborative relationships that were so fundamental to these endeavors. included are interviews with bourgeois’ longtime assistant, a printer she worked with side-by-side at her home/studio on 20th street in new york, and the publisher who, in the last decade of her life, encouraged her to experiment with innovative prints that broke the traditional boundaries of the medium. the volume is rounded out with a chronology and bibliography that focuses on prints and illustrated books while also providing general background on bourgeois’ life and art.”
louise bourgeois: the spider and the tapestries
another—albeit much smaller— book about louise bourgeois work that has served as an introduction to other aspects of her creative practice: her writing. as the title suggests, this small book pairs her spider motif with her tapestry and needlepoint work. it highlights how her family’s tapestry restoration business informed her own practice. her writings touch on themes of repair, restoration, and the relationship between her and her mother and provide an intimate context to the works featured in the book. there are also some archival images and papers. it’s less than 100 pages and feels more like a journal than a traditional art book. well worth having.
emma amos: color odyssey
i’m admittedly very new to amos’ work. what drew me in and pushed me to learn more about her life and practice? her use of color in her paintings and fabric works. they are so rich, and the way she pairs colors together challenges me to try out colors i work to avoid and find new pairings i haven’t experimented with before. Also? her weavings and other fabric works look so much like paintings to me and i really love how she paired paint with fabric in her work as well. a favorite amos work of mine is runners with cheetah, 1983, which is featured in the book.
making their mark: art by women in the shah garg collection
this book—a comprehensive look at works by women artists in the collection of komal shah and gaurav— is packed from beginning to end. it spans decades, featuring works by 136 artists working in a variety of mediums, and includes interviews between artists and essays by the editors and other scholars. perhaps my favorite pieces of content are the writings by artists about the artists who inspire them. my first few passes through this book left me feeling a bit overwhelmed visually due to sensory overload and, honestly, just pure awe; i was completely blown away by the variety, strength, and power of the works featured. i can only peruse or read through this one in small chunks; there’s just so much to digest that it makes my head spin a bit. there’s much to savor and learn; i’ve found new artists to study and am deeply inspired as i consider what ways my own work and practice can continue to evolve and what fresh ideas might surface in the process. this book is definitely a must-have, in my opinion.
