Product Description

Julian Schnabel (b. 1951) is regarded throughout the world as one of the most important artists of our time. Yet, remarkably, there has never been-until now-a book that addresses the extraordinary range of his entire creative output. This lavishly produced volume presents many artworks that have never before been exhibited, published, or even seen, filling a major gap in the history of contemporary art.

More than 300 of Schnabel's works-paintings, photographs, sculptures, and film stills spanning a career of nearly 40 years-are reproduced here, along with texts drawn from the artist's interviews, essays, and notes. From the broken-plate paintings of the 1980s that brought him fame, to the recent, massively scaled Big Girls series, the artist's work is set in the context of his overall sensibility, becoming part of an ongoing pictorial diary of a life. Rather than a retrospective look at Schnabel's work, the book provides readers with a view of life and art as they collide. Julian Schnabel is certain to be welcomed as one of the season's most significant art publications.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #703948 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Amazon.com Review
Julian Schnabel burst on the neo-expressionist art scene of the early 1980s with huge, arresting paintings on collaged shards of smashed plates. A swaggering and contentious figure whose art no longer occupies center stage, he is probably best known today as a successful filmmaker. All the more reason, perhaps, for him to shore up his reputation by co-designing a mammoth book of his life and art. Julian Schnabel dispenses with commentary, except for the artist's own brief, broad-brushed introduction. Even the titles of his works are relegated to the illustrated index, which--despite Schnabel's proclivity for unconventional surfaces--omits any mention of media. Nearly 400 full-color reproductions trace Schnabel's output from 1976 to the present, interspersed with photographs of the artist, his family, and off-camera moments from the making of Before Night Falls, his film about the gay Cuban writer Reynaldo Arenas. Of course, all the famous Schnabel preoccupations are on full view, from the persistent references to Catholic ritual to the phallic imagery and the invocations of his wife Olantz. The newest mega-series, "Big Girl Paintings"--each face featuring a horizontal swipe of paint in lieu of eyes—-seems a hollow echo of the lively portraits of friends and family from the 1980s and 1990s. But die-hard Schnabel devotees will adore this lavish volume, which accompanies an international traveling exhibition that opens in January 2004 at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany. (U.S. venues have not been announced.) —Cathy Curtis

About the Author
Julian Schnabel's paintings, sculptures, and works on paper have been the subject of major retrospective exhibitions here and abroad, and his art can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; Tate Gallery in London; and other key museums in Paris, Tokyo, and elsewhere. Schnabel is the writer/director of the feature films Basquiat (1996) and Before Night Falls (2001).

Customer Reviews

Brush strokes and raw painted color come alive
Julian Schnabel is an extraordinary 368-page "coffee table" artbook featuring and showcasing the dramatic works of American artist Julian Schnabel flawlessly reproduced in vivid color. Brush strokes and raw painted color come alive with simple yet bold form, producing imagery that stays firmly in one's mind, in this superb presentation devoted entirely to Schnabel's art itself as beyond two pages of introduction there is no text present at all, save for (at the end of the book), a "Selected Exhibition History"; a "Selected Bibliography"; an comprehensive "Artwork Index" listing the titles of the artwork comprising this quite exceptional and highly recommended compendium.

A good introduction to Schnabel's work
If you can find it, get a copy of "CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Excerpts from Life" instead. That book has many of the same works featured, along with much more of the artist's text, -which is funny, insightful, self-deprecating and honest.

This book will give the reader an idea of Schnabel's oeuvre, but does little to put it into context. There are dozens of his portrait paintings, most utilizing his signature plate style, which show an arresting sensitivity for his subjects along with a noted concern for formal aspects of painting. For those who dismiss Schnabel, I would say look again, and this time try to see. For those who worship him as the greatest living American painter, I would say this is grossly overstated and they need to get out and see more painting.

Art speaks of its time, and in this way Schnabel's work performs vivisection on America in the 1980's. Much of where we are now; politically, economically, socially and so forth, began in that decade.

As a painter, I love Schnabel's surfaces, even when I don't love (or even like) the paintings themselves. To be sure, his work is not for the uninitiated. It takes a developed palette to process much of it, and quite frankly most people who look at art have no idea what they are looking at to begin with. Just as opera may be difficult at first, so too abstract painting in general frightens and enrages many who seek comfort and reassurance from art, and who want it to come to them instead of approaching it themselves. Disagree if you will with his aesthetic, even his ability, but do not discount the man's intelligence.

Specifically to those critics who equate the intensity/complexity of one's effort with the quality of a work, all I can say is this is a false measure of art. One has but to bring up a discussion of French Mannerism to underscore the point that more time spent on a painting does not necessarily make it better.

Formal issues aside, as with most art if people will open themselves to the work without preconception about what Art "is" I think they will find something in at least some of Schnabel's work. This massive volume is a good way to get to know his work.

The essense of art
This is a fantastic book that provides a comprehensive review of Schnabel's work. It is also a great display in the livingroom