Artist Biographies and Memoirs |
Although I studied fiction in college, as I've grown older, this is the genre of reading that I most enjoy. I'm keeping a list here because when I come to this page, I can recall the ones I've read.
de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan -- This book took ten years to make and won the Pulitzer Prize. When I'm in a book store, I'll ask if anyone knows of an artist biography as good as the one on de Kooning. This biography has given me tremendous feeling for de Kooning paintings. His last ones are the most haunting and beautiful of all.
Hold Still by Sally Mann -- Her dive into memory, family, motherhood, connection to the South, sudden fame alongside her continuous courageous and ambitious growth as an artist haunts me as does her photography.
Frida by Hayden Herrera -- Hayden's research is exhaustive and underscores the complexity of who Frida was. Frida fascinates because with every new exhibit and as I mature, I keep seeing her differently. Recently at the Brooklyn Museum, the photos taken of by her lover Nickolas Murray and her father, made me see understand her differently.
Life with Picasso by Francoise Gilot -- This book made me laugh out loud. Gilot is an extraordinary artist still working today in her 90s. She was with Picasso for 10 years, and they had two children, Paloma and Claude. She was the only woman who ever left Picasso and managed to thrive. With two young children, this was no easy feat. She is a force of nature and full of dry humor. She also wrote Matisse and Picasso: A Friendship in Art.
A Working Artist's Life by Robert Kipniss -- I did not know much about his art and got this book at a book fair. It was plainly written and captured grow up in a difficult family. It was a touching to spend an afternoon with this artist.
Vanished Spendors: A Memoir by Balthus -- There is a poetic yearning and nostalgia relating to youth that many people do not understand about his work.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway -- Over the years, I have read several Hemingway biographies. I am fascinated by what memories remain toward the end of life. Here is Paris when he is a young man. I find it touching and very human as he was.
Isak Dineson by Judith Thurman -- Meryl Strep played her in Out of Africa.
de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan -- This book took ten years to make and won the Pulitzer Prize. When I'm in a book store, I'll ask if anyone knows of an artist biography as good as the one on de Kooning. This biography has given me tremendous feeling for de Kooning paintings. His last ones are the most haunting and beautiful of all.
Hold Still by Sally Mann -- Her dive into memory, family, motherhood, connection to the South, sudden fame alongside her continuous courageous and ambitious growth as an artist haunts me as does her photography.
Frida by Hayden Herrera -- Hayden's research is exhaustive and underscores the complexity of who Frida was. Frida fascinates because with every new exhibit and as I mature, I keep seeing her differently. Recently at the Brooklyn Museum, the photos taken of by her lover Nickolas Murray and her father, made me see understand her differently.
Life with Picasso by Francoise Gilot -- This book made me laugh out loud. Gilot is an extraordinary artist still working today in her 90s. She was with Picasso for 10 years, and they had two children, Paloma and Claude. She was the only woman who ever left Picasso and managed to thrive. With two young children, this was no easy feat. She is a force of nature and full of dry humor. She also wrote Matisse and Picasso: A Friendship in Art.
A Working Artist's Life by Robert Kipniss -- I did not know much about his art and got this book at a book fair. It was plainly written and captured grow up in a difficult family. It was a touching to spend an afternoon with this artist.
Vanished Spendors: A Memoir by Balthus -- There is a poetic yearning and nostalgia relating to youth that many people do not understand about his work.
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway -- Over the years, I have read several Hemingway biographies. I am fascinated by what memories remain toward the end of life. Here is Paris when he is a young man. I find it touching and very human as he was.
Isak Dineson by Judith Thurman -- Meryl Strep played her in Out of Africa.