Miles Davis: The Collected Artwork - Hardcover

Gutterman, Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1608872238 ISBN 13: 9781608872237

Publisher: Insight Editions, 2013

Synopsis

One of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, Miles Davis was a man of many talents. Around 1980, he turned to sketching and painting to keep his mind occupied with something when he wasn't playing music. This hobby quickly turned into a serious passion, and Davis approached it with the same obsessive creativity he applied to music. The result is an impressive archive of unique and evocative visual work showcasing the varied skills of this legendary artist. Throughout the 1980s, Davis studied regularly with New York painter Jo Gelbard, developing a distinct graphic style. Incorporating bright colors and geometric shapes, his art is reminiscent of work by Pablo Picasso as well as African tribal art, the historical influences he cited during occasional interviews on the subject. Author Scott Gutterman sat down with Miles Davis himself before his death in 1991 and the artist’s own commentary accompanies this remarkable showcase of his work. Sadly, very few of his pieces were exhibited during Miles Davis’s lifetime. Over the last two decades, the Estate of Miles Davis has worked with gallery owners and private parties to assemble a comprehensive collection of the musician’s artwork. Many celebrities are among the most adamant collectors, including Quincy Jones, who offers a foreword to the book. This long-overdue celebration is a treasure for art lovers as well as music aficionados who will appreciate the window into the life of this creative genius.

About this title

About the Author:

Scott Gutterman writes about music and art for Vogue, Artforum, The New Yorker, GQ, and other publications. He is the deputy director of the Neue Galerie New York. He lives in New York City.

Quincy Jones is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. He lives in Los Angeles.

Cheryl Davis is Miles Davis' daughter. She lives in Henderson, NV.

From Booklist:

Attentive followers of jazz master Miles Davis will know that his visual art appeared on an album cover now and then when album covers mattered. But few are aware of the extent of Davis’ commitment to sketching and painting. Beginning in 1980, when he was 54, until his death in 1991, Davis made art as much a part of his life as music, bringing to it the same inner-directed quest for fresh expression. Not that one can’t detect elements of inspiration in this gorgeous volume of sharp and saturated colorplates, namely Davis’ responses to Kandinsky, Basquiat, Picasso, and African tribal art. His subjects include highly stylized and powerful female figures, funky characters he called his “robots,” and totempole faces. A bold and skilled colorist, Davis kept everything in motion in his vibrant, dynamic, lushly textured compositions. Reflections by Davis’ nephew and band member Vince Wilburn Jr. and two of Davis’ children and a 1991 interview with music and art writer Scott Gutterman round out this exhilarating volume of dazzling and affecting testimony to Davis’ many-faceted creativity. --Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: Insight Editions
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1608872238
• ISBN 13: 9781608872237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 204