Marla Prather

Robert Mangold: Beyond the Line celebrates the vision of an artist who has earned a distinguished place in the grand tradition of abstract painting.

Marking a forthcoming exhibition at the prestigious Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, New York, this book tracks Mangold's artistic roots and development and documents the varied series he has made during the last eight years. It also marks his important window commission for the new Federal courthouse in Buffalo, slated for completion in 2010, show more and designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox as part of the U.S. General Services Administration Design Excellence Program.
Insightful essays and an in-depth interview with the artist afford an intimate look into Mangold's creative process, from the austere geometric paintings of the 1970s to his recent work on windows and the vibrant Ring Images he is creating today.
Luxuriously packaged, each volume contains a woodcut reproduced by offset lithography, initialed and dated by the artist in the print, suitable for framing and made especially for, and available only with, this book. show less

Catalogo mostra, PRATHER Marla (a cura di), Alexander Calder 1898-1976, Wshington, National Gallery Of Art, 29.3.1998 - 12.7.1998, San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, 4.9.1998 - 1.12.1998Riassunto: The early work of any artist is often startling, and Alexander Calder's is particularly so. We think of Calder's sculpture as the epitome of crisp, Modernist forms--sometimes moving gently, as the mobiles and stabiles do. And we think of his paintings as filled with abstracted, biomorphic shapes. show more But the 1998 Calder retrospective showed that this American in Paris between the world wars began as a specialist in smoky nocturnes. This book, the catalog of that exhibition, carries Calder past all that, to 1930, when he was "shocked" into complete abstraction, as he said, by a visit to the studio of Piet Mondrian. The rest of the book details the development of an oeuvre, including bent-wire toys, carnival figures, and circus acrobats, that made Calder among the best-loved of 20th-century artists. It contains pictures of Calder and his beautiful wife Luisa, at home and in the studio in Connecticut and France, and 267 full-color plates of Calder's drawings, sculptures, and paintings. The chronology is interspersed with the chapter essays, which can be somewhat confusing, at first, for readers who like to jump to the back of the book looking for the time line. It is well worth it to slow down for Marla Prather's readable, instructive text, which is filled with quotes from Calder and his contemporaries, and for Alexander S.C. Rower's remarkable chronology, which includes even the Calders' 1972 "New York Times" advertisement calling for the impeachment of Richard M. Nixon. With great economy, Rower covers every event of importance, in Calder's art and in his life. "--Peggy Moorman" show less

A lavishly produced package, this large book includes color plates of all major aspects of Gauguin's workpaintings, ceramics, woodcuts, watercolors. Text is largely Gauguin's own writing on his life and work, with other selections by contemporaries and critics. There is a detailed chronology and an introduction stressing Gauguin's purposeful creation of the mythology of his own life. Much of this source material is available in other places, such as Gauguin's letters and in Noa Noa , but show more nowhere else can it be found assembled so beautifully. Recommended for art libraries and general collections where budget allows. Hara Seltzer, NYPL
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. show less

Ellsworth Kelly is one of the most important living American painters and sculptors. His career is closely tied to the abstract style of "hard-edge" painting in the Sixties, with color field painting and the Minimalist school. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques that emphasize the simplicity of form, frequently enhanced by bright colors. Alongside his geometrical paintings, Kelly is famous for his beautiful drawings of plants, flowers, and leaves, which were shown together with show more Matisse’s plant drawings at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2002. His book of drawings and watercolors is appearing to coincide with a large museum show that starts at Graphische Sammlung, Munich, in fall 2011 and which will travel on to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in spring 2012. Two texts by the curators (Michael Semff, Munich, and Marla Prather, New York) describe the plant drawings in the context of Ellsworth Kelly’s oeuvre as a whole. show less