Product Description

Robert Mangold is a pre-eminent figure in post-war painting. His large, gently curving paintings are among the most majestically beautiful abstract works of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In contrast to the sober austerity of his Minimalist peers, with whom he is often associated, Mangold uses unusual, subtle colours and soft, hand-drawn geometries, endowing his large-scale paintings with a unique sensibility and presence.

This is the first major monograph on one of most significant contemporary painters working today and is a timely retrospective on his work, made in close association with the artist himself. Mangold’s work is celebrated in this important book by some of contemporary art’s most prestigious writers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145841 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Publisher
Robert Mangold is a pre-eminent figure in post-war painting. His large, gently curving paintings are among the most majestically beautiful abstract works of the late 20th century. In contrast to the sober austerity of his minimalist peers, with whom he is often associated, Mangold uses unusual, subtle colours and soft, hand-drawn geometries, endowing his large-scale paintings with a unique sensibility and presence. This is a monograph on one of most significant contemporary painters working today and is a timely retrospective on his work, made in close association with the artist himself. Mangold's work is celebrated in this book by some of contemporary art's most prestigious writers, among them Robert Storr, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

About the Author
Richard Shiff is an art historian and the Effie Marie Cain Regent Chair in Art and Director of the Center for the Study of Modernism at the University of Texas at Austin. His publications include essays on Willem de Kooning (for the retrospective initiated by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.) and on Richard Serra (for the Drawing Center, New York). A theoretician of the practices of the artist, the critic and the historian, Shiff is a regular contributor to the journal Artforum. Robert Storr Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York, and formerly Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. His writings have appeared in such publications as Artforum, The Village Voice, Art in America and Parkett. Storr is the author of numerous monographs, including Philip Guston (1986) and Louise Bourgeois (1997). Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and the art critic for The Nation. His books include Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post Historical Perspective and Encounters and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present, which won the Book Critics Circle Award. Nancy Princenthal is a noted American art critic whose writings have appeared in Art in America, Parkett and Artforum, among other journals. She has a regular column in the Print Collector's Newsletter on artists' books. She has written extensively on contemporary artists, among them Vija Celmins and Roni Horn. Sylvia Plimack Mangold is a painter and the wife of Robert Mangold. Her softly illusionistic landscapes explore new possibilities for realist painting. She studied fine art at Cooper Union, New York and then Yale University, where she met Robert Mangold in 1961.

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous survey of a great artist
This is a wonderful book--easily the best book on Robert Mangold available. Beautiful color images of paintings from across Mangold's career (up to 1999), along with images of Mangold's drawings and preparatory studies, make this worth the price alone. But there's also a fascinating set of essays (by Richard Schiff, Robert Storr and Arthur C. Danto), an entertaining interview between Robert Mangold and his wife, artist Sylvia Plimack Mangold, a comprehensive bibliography and chronology (often including images of gallery catalogues, promotional materials and such) and an interesting set of images of the work of other artists somehow related to Mangold. (Not much on Mangold's prints, alas, but this was evidently written before the appearance of the limited edition catalogue raisonne of the prints.) Mangold is one of the best abstract artists of our time, and this is a book that does him justice.

The book is beautifully designed too: clean, attractive layout inside and a simple cloth cover inlaid with a printed paper reproduction of one of Mangold's paintings, all protected by a mylar jacket. I know a paperback edition is promised for Fall '04, but unless it has updates or new material, the hardback is worth the extra money just for the sumptuous presentation.

Book Nitty-Gritty Regarding the Hardback Edition
An impressive book from Phaidon. Large format, square hardcover with a sewn binding, bound in nubby cloth with an inset color image. Clear plastic dustjacket.

4.5 pounds. 335 pp with over 150 illustrations, most of them large, almost all of them in color. Texts by four authors, interview, statements by the artist. 12 pp of footnotes, a 26 p Chronology, 6 p Bibliography, list of Mangold works, index.

A comprehensive, beautiful book!