Product Description

This comprehensive and authoritative book illustrates art from the 1940's and stresses the individuality of the artists in relation to their political, social, and cultural contexts. The book focuses on the meaning of the major works and innovations. It features nearly 600 illustrations (approximately half in color) representing art since 1940, both in Europe and America. It explores the full range of periods, artists, and movements: New York in the Forties; Calder, Hofmann, Gorky, Motherwell, De Kooning; Existentialism (Pollock, Newman, Rothko, David Smith); The New European Masters of the Late Forties (Dubuffet, Giacometti, Bacon), plus so much more. For anyone interested in Postwar Art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110414 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

From Library Journal
Fineberg (art history, Univ. of Illinois) asserts that the "implicit underlying subject matter of modern art is always the personality of the artist in its encounter with the world." Such explicit, forceful expressions seldom find their way into major survey texts, which more often try to balance points of view and hedge bets. Yet Fineberg has not let any theory of contemporary art constrain the organization of his book. In a system that at first seems chaotic, he lets what is most important filter up, whether it be an individual artist, a movement, a critic's theory, a style, or a medium. The result is a rich mixture of essentially separate essays that allows the reader to choose how to use the book. Unfortunately, for all his innovations, Fineberg repeats some of the common mistakes of this type of book: Barely ten percent of the artists on the contents pages are women; photography is given scant attention; and architecture, that bastion of the the individual artist, is divorced from the "fine arts." Still, Fineberg should be lauded for his provocative and inspiring assessments (whether or not one agrees with his thesis), and his eminently readable and engaging text should become a new standard of the form. For all art collections.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
For Fineberg, the story of art since 1940 is the story of exceptional individuals profoundly engaged in interpreting existence. Art is a "mode of thought," the result of creative personalities formulating visual metaphors. Not to say that there hasn't been an evolution of aesthetics, styles, and philosophies over the past 55 years--surely few eras in art history have been more frenetically self-transforming--but even as he describes movements and schools, Fineberg links them firmly to specific artists. His book, then, is a series of astute biographical profiles linked by illuminating discussions of such inspirations as myths and existential introspection on the one hand, and social commentary and irony on the other. Not only does Fineberg analyze artists such as Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, David Smith, James Rosenquist, Jasper Johns, Romare Bearden, Christo, Martin Puryear, Alice Aycock, and Elizabeth Murray, but he also responds to their art from the heart, thus imbuing this survey with a distinctive intensity. Donna Seaman

From the Publisher
Exceptionally comprehensive and authoritative, this extensively illustrated survey of art since 1940 stresses the individuality of the artists in relation to their political, social, and cultural contexts, and focuses on the meaning of the major works and innovations.

Customer Reviews

a must for every art student
art since 1940 is a well researched and methodically presented book on contemorary art and art makers. the introduction and opening chapters deal with movements such as surrealism and are a very good lead up into the art after 1940. the author has dealt with various movements and expanded on specific artists from each of these phases in art. one does feel however that the portions on certain artists were sketchier than others, especially with regards to the visual material provided. also the book could have been planned better in terms of the placement of photographs along with the corresponding text. All in all, however, as an art student, I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who ever wondered what all that 'thrown about paint'in jackson pollock's work was all about. The life history of the artists was well researched and wasnt superficial like a lot of books on art and provided a valuable insight into the art work itself.

excellent!
I purchased this book for my Contemporary Art class. It's chock full of great information, and lots of excellent quality samples of art throughout. Worth getting if you're interested in 'educating' yourself in the vernacular of art -- both modernism and contemporary.

Illuminating Book
I used this book when I was a student and have referred to it multiple times since I graduated. Simply said, I love it. It presents the work of artists of the major movements in a clear way, without the jargon that is so common in other art books. I would recommend it for anyone interested in modern and contemporary art or anyone who has been to a museum of modern art and not understood what they are looking at. It is also a great affirmation to all of us working in creative fields that there are actual people producing this work, and Fineberg beautifully illuminates these personalities.