From Publishers Weekly
Brice Marden's art is deceptively austere. Within the seemingly narrow color range of his paintings and drawings, he orchestrates remarkable thematic variations of color, light, scale and mood. His monochromatic gray palette of the 1960s, expressing a ``vocabulary of ambiguities,'' gave way to limpid motions and a neoclassical exploration of color-and-light relationships. Kertess, a curator at New York City's Whitney Museum, links the elemental grace of Marden's more recent works to this American artist's summer sojourns on Hydra, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. In Marden's organic, cellular structures, Kertess sees the influence of Chinese calligraphy and Marden's trips to the Far East. Illustrated with 158 plates (133 in color), this handsome monograph follows Marden's metamorphosis from a pure abstractionist to an artist seeking to objectify the spiritual, as he does in his Annunciation series and in the Elements, which are symbolic paintings rooted in medieval alchemy.
Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This liberally illustrated retrospective look at Marden's work provides the first comprehensive visual overview of his creative output from the 1950s through the 1980s. In a brief accompanying essay, Kertess, formerly Marden's art dealer and now with the Whitney Museum of American Art, gives a tantalizing glimpse into the life and works of the artist. Unfortunately, discussions of the works illustrated in the book are not cited by page or plate number, making quick reference difficult. Still, the extensive bibliography and detailed list of exhibitions make this a useful research tool. Recommended for large collections on U.S. or contemporary art. --Martin R. Kalfatovic, Natl. Museum of American Art/Natl. Portrait Gallery Lib., Smithsonian Inst., Washington,
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
