READ ABOUT ART, DON’T JUST LOOK AT IT
December 17th, 2010
We just got in some great books for the Holiday from Book Soup. Included in this selection are Houdini: Art and Magic and Yves Klein: With The Void, Full Powers. If you’re even sort of into Houdini, you’ll drool over Houdini: Art and Magic. It showcases a selection of his personal effects, included pages from his journal, and performance props and photographs, all part of a traveling exhibit about the man himself. In addition to great historical imagery, interviews with novelist E. L. Doctorow, magician Teller, and contemporary artists Raymond Pettibon and Matthew Barney add to the wealth of information on Houdini and his influence from the late 19th century to the present.
Yves Klein: With The Void, Full Powers, of course drenched in International Klein Blue (even the edges of the pages have been painted), is a collection of images and essays not only about Klein, but also about the artistic movements and history he worked within, influenced, and helped to start. I like to give Klein’s work a hard time, because so much of the best known pieces involved naked chicks who’ve had to roll around in the, uh, liquid (paint) he created, but this book does a good job of showing Klein’s theoretical and aesthetic expansion. Turns out, Klein was way more than just blue- and boob-obsessed.
Entry Filed under: NEW ARRIVALS, Show Me
Leave a Comment
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed