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THE POWER OF ART

A HUMAN HISTORY OF ART: FROM BABYLON TO NEW YORK CITY

Interesting, and supported by beautiful illustrations, but not much more than the sum of its parts.

The director of the National Gallery of Ireland argues that innovative artistic expression reflects the character of the cities that drive it.

Campbell covers a huge expanse of territory as she explores the nexus of culture, cities, and artists. In this wide-ranging book, she examines 15 cities at the moment in time when they generated intense creativity. Some, such as Florence during the Renaissance, are familiar subjects in art history. Others, such as Kyoto in the 11th century and the western African kingdom of Benin from 1500 to 1700, may be new to many readers. Campbell’s chapter titles identify a quality she sees as central to each city and its art during the given period—e.g., faith in 10th century BCE Jerusalem, self-belief in ancient Rome, freedom in pre–World War I Vienna. The author notes that artistic flowerings were made possible by economic booms enabling artists and patrons to escape the daily grind and consider the sublime. In some cases, it was the state or church, usually driven by a legacy-minded leader, that paid for artistic projects. In others, such as New York during the years between 1929 and 1970, artistic rebellion was made possible by the rise of wealthy, philanthropic individuals. Campbell includes one particularly surprising example: Pyongyang, North Korea, in the second half of the 20th century. Pointing to the neo-socialist architecture and ubiquitous images of the ruling Kim dynasty that exemplify art as a form of control, she reminds us that art can have a dark side as well as an aesthetic quality. Campbell explains all this with measured authority but does not offer an overarching theory about cities and art. The book is more like a series of essays than a coherent whole.

Interesting, and supported by beautiful illustrations, but not much more than the sum of its parts.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2024

ISBN: 9781639365494

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Pegasus

Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023

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A WEALTH OF PIGEONS

A CARTOON COLLECTION

A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.

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The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.

Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.

A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Celadon Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020

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DIDION AND BABITZ

A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.

A study of two writers uncomfortably entwined.

After Eve Babitz (1943-2021) died, her biographer Anolik came upon a letter from Babitz to Joan Didion (1934-2021) that startled her. Filled with “rage, despair, impatience, contempt,” it read like a “lovers’ quarrel.” “Eve was talking to Joan the way you talk to someone who’s burrowed deep under your skin, whose skin you’re trying to burrow deep under.” That surprise discovery suggested a “complicated alliance” between the two. In sometimes breathless prose, with sly asides to the “Reader,” Anolik draws on more than 100 interviews with Babitz and many other sources to follow both women’s lives, tumultuous loves, and aspirations before and after they met in Los Angeles in 1967, sometimes straining to prove their significance to one another. “Joan and Eve weren’t each other’s opposite selves so much as each other’s shadow selves,” she asserts. “Eve was what Joan both feared becoming and longed to become: an inspired amateur.” At the same time, “Joan was what Eve feared becoming and desired to become: a fierce professional.” Didion had just won acclaim for Slouching Towards Bethlehem when Babitz, newly arrived from New York, began socializing with her and her husband, John Gregory Dunne. The reticent Didion and the sensual, energetic Babitz could not have been more different, and Anolik clearly prefers Babitz. “I’m crazy for Eve,” she admits, “love her with a fan’s unreasoning abandon. Besides, Joan is somebody I naturally root against: I respect her work rather than like it; find her persona—part princess, part wet blanket—tough going.” Their relationship—hardly a friendship—fell apart in 1974 when Didion and Dunne were assigned to edit Babitz’s autobiographical novel, Eve’s Hollywood. Babitz, resentful of Didion’s attitude and intrusion, “fired” her, pursuing her writing career on her own. Didion soared to literary fame; not, alas, Babitz.

A cheeky, gossipy dual biography.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9781668065488

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

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