Product Description

American artist Elizabeth Peyton is one of the outstanding painters of her generation, a painter known for her intimate figurative portraits of youthful, romantic people, ranging from friends, to historical figures, to music world celebrities. Her work is intensely personal, but the subject becomes an intimate of both audience and artist. Peyton's ability to draw the viewer in is a result of her own fascination and curiosity about the figures she chooses. They are stylish in a timeless way and are at moments in their lives when they stand for their own ideals of independence, beauty, and artistry. Her manner is to paint small, devotional images in an "awkward, self-effacing way with an offhand intensity." Compiled by Peyton herself, the book chronicles ten years of inspiration, her works in many media, and her exhibitions, revealing the evolution of this exceptional artist who has been highly influential, in the words of the New York Times, in bringing "a return to beauty in art, a resurgence of figurative work, and a revival of painting."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91411 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Released on: 2005-11-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

From Publishers Weekly
It's fitting that Peyton's first major show was in room 828 of Manhattan's fabled Chelsea Hotel, whose residents have included everyone from Thomas Wolfe to Sid Vicious. Her portraits—whether of Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke, Prince Harry or her friends—seem to emerge from the same timeless, eternal bohemia that the hotel exemplifies. The portraits recorded in this lavish volume—small, and painted with an offhand casualness that doesn't quite conceal a formidable technique—are idealized and emotional rather than "warts and all" realistic. Her Kurt Cobain more closely resembles a Renaissance cherub (by way of Walter Keane) than the ravaged child of his videos and photographs; her young Queen Elizabeth is creamy and serene, with none of the real subject's characteristic wariness. But Peyton's art is about emotional truth and visual intensity. If the book has a fault it is a certain sameness and repetition: Peyton's work hasn't developed all that much since the Chelsea Hotel show of 1993, and what in a gallery might surprise and refresh becomes, over the course of 200 pages, cloying. Peyton's achievement is, nonetheless, impressive: she has helped return the painted portrait to the mainstream discourse of American art. (Nov.)
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About the Author
Elizabeth Peyton was born in Danbury, Connecticut and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work is regularly exhibited at galleries around the world, and is in the collections of some of the world's finest museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Matthew Higgs is Director of White Columns in New York and a regular contributor to Frieze and Artforum. Steve Lafreniere is a regular contributor to Index and Artforum.

Customer Reviews

Splendid - well worth acquiring
This is a book which really lets the pictures speak for themselves. The introduction by Matthew Higgs can be read in a matter of minutes, and while interesting it does not give a lot away. Scattered throughout the book there are a few extracts from catalogues and other sources which provide just a little more information, but clearly Ms Peyton wants her pictures to speak for themselves; and this book certainly allows them to do just that.

Illustrated in full-colour throughout (with just one or two exceptions) with examples of the artists work on almost every one of its 260 plus pages, with most of the images full-page or thereabouts, it covers work produce from around 1990 to 2005. The book concludes with a short fairy tale by Dave Hickey; a brief Conversation with the Artist; Biography; Bibliography; and a List of Works.

What comes across very strongly is the artist's clear preference for slim young men as subject matter, usually romantic creatures ranging from her own friends to the famous both past and present, the latter usually music celebrities, but also including a certain young Royal. What is also very apparent is Peyton's remarkable ability to capture with such seeming ease the essence of her subject. With complete economy she is able to portray her mysterious young men convincingly and with a strong allure, one cannot but admire her facility. A splendid book very well worth acquiring.

mindless trash.
Elizabeth Peyton is proof you don't need talent to make it as an artist. she herself cannot explain what her art is about without mumbling like an idiot and storming off. her work pushes no boundaries and exist only for the suckers who buy it.

Beautiful
The book is lovely: full high gloss photographs of her work, including sketches and paintings. I am completely pleased with my copy of this book!