Biographies: Books About Art and Artists

"Inspire a Friend with a Book about Art"

Here are some of the best current titlesabout art and artists, for yourself, or a friend. Click on any title for more information or reviews.

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Dreaming With His Eyes Open : A Life of Diego Rivera
by Patrick Marnham, Diego Rivera
Knopf
Hardcover - 320 pages
 

The mysterious life of the famous Mexican muralist is gradually unveiled in the pages of this dark and fascinating biography. His twisted path from the realm of decrepit slavery and magnificent monuments, through his travels in Europe, and his triumph of recognition in the world of art, his unbelievable life is documented in every bizarre detail. Spellbinding.

Mark Rothko : A Biography

by James E. B. Breslin
Univ of Chicago Pr (Trd)
Paperback - 700 pages , Reprint edition
 

Mark Rothkow's life experiences shed new light on the America of the early 1900's, which he entered as an immigrant from Russia at the age of 10. This young Jewish boy overcame many challenges, including his ignorance of English, as he elevated his abstract impressionist talents. "I became a painter because I wanted to raise painting to the level of poignancy of music and poetry," he said.

Hogarth : A Life and a World

by Jennifer S. Uglow, Jenny Uglow
Farrar Straus & Giroux
Hardcover - 576 pages, 1 Ed edition
 

Relive a vanished time and world in this colorful journey through 18th Century England, where Hogarth's moral themes both documented, and helped to shape, the changes that swept the society he traveled through.

Standing in the Sun

by Anthony Bailey
Harpercollins
Hardcover - 478 pages
 

Joseph Mallord William Turner was the son of a Convent Garden barber, and a woman who died in Bethlehem mental hospital. His inborn talent was shaped in part by the tragedies which befell him in life, even as he struggled to hide those experiences, and ignore their effects on him. He went on to become "Britain's greatest and most mysterious artist."

Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art

by Phoebe Hoban
Viking Pr
Hardcover - 400 pages
 

Jean-Michael Basquiat was at once loved, and pitied, for his tortured life among the outcasts of New York. His works belie his existence in a world filled with all the challenges faced by any struggling artist, complicated by his inability to escape the drugs that dominated him, and eventually led to his death in 1988. His art legacy is a moving testament to the times he lived in.

Amazing Grace : A Life of Beauford Delaney

by David Adams Leeming
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade)
Hardcover - 256 pages
 

After escaping him southern homeland, Beauford Delaney lived his life among the artistic clutures of New York, Boston, and Paris, but couldn't escape the psychological problems brought on by his youthful experiences. Learn about the inborn talents and tortured life of this expatriate southerner, adrift in a broader world.

N.C. Wyeth : A Biography

by David Michaelis, N. C. Wyeth
Knopf
Hardcover - 560 pages , 1 Ed edition
 

The fabulous illustrations of your favorite childhood books, including Robinson Crusoe, The Last of the Mohicans, and Treasure Island, were part of Wyeth's great contribution to our world. This is a beautiful and nostalgic collection of some of his most memorable works.

The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908

by Hilary Spurling
Knopf
Hardcover - 528 pages
 

Matisse captured the hearts and imaginations of the world with his dazzling use of color and light, illustrating the scenes of his life and times. The countrysides and coastlines, the parks and people of France were his subjects, and he gave them full measure of his devotion. This is the best biography to date of this icon of the art world.

Ben Shahn : An Artist's Life

by Howard Greenfeld, Ben Shahn
Random House
Hardcover - 416 pages , 1 edition
 

Ben Shahn was a story-telling artist of the kind so popular in the early 20th century, when uneducated, illiterate, immigrant and working-class people had few other media with which to communicate their shared tragedies. Shahn was their story-teller and the social conscience of their times, documenting the Great Depression, hunger, and desperation, as well as the rise of labor unions and the New Deal. Author Howard Greenfield skillfully documents the times and the complicated life of the artist.

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