Objects of Desire. The Modern Still Life.

Margit Rowell

ISBN 10: 1853321680 / ISBN 13: 9781853321689

Published by Museum of Modern Art, New York, U.S.A., 1998

About this Item

Paperback. 28x24cm. 231 pages. 1.2KG. Flat spine. Clean & tight. No inscriptions. Flat pages. Dispatched ROYAL MAIL FIRST CLASS with TRACKING next working day or sooner securely boxed in cardboard. ref tk5. Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life by Margit Rowell.

Seller Inventory # 032902

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Objects of Desire. The Modern Still Life.
• Publisher: Museum of Modern Art, New York, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1853321680
• ISBN 13: 9781853321689
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: Hayward Gallery Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 1.2 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

An incisive exploration of the still life genre as artists have rediscovered and reshaped it in the 20th century, "Objects of Desire" proves that despite the century's hostility toward older aesthetic conventions, avant-garde artists of many schools have made of the still life a vital opportunity for invention. From Matisse, Picasso, and Braque to the Dadaists, Surrealists, and Pop artists and finally to contemporary creators like Cindy Sherman and Charles Ray, the still life has hardly led a stolid, stable, or staunch existence. Originally a subject reserved for painting, the genre has progressively invaded the arena of sculpture, its themes reinvented in the provocative assemblages called "readymades," its forms recast continuously into the present. Published to accompany a major 1997 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, "Objects of Desire" traces a radical rethinking of the genre in terms of subject matter and formal invention.

From Library Journal

This catalog presents the first show by the Museum of Modern Art to consider the full sweep of 20th-century artists' still lifes, one of the lasting genres of the Western tradition. After a historical introduction and a consideration of the inescapable influence of Cezanne's later works, Rowell, chief curator in the Department of Drawings, convincingly argues that the show's disparate works demonstrate a "progressive development" rather than a "radical subversion and destruction of earlier traditions." Nonetheless, the more than 130 pieces in the survey?opening with Picasso's proto-Cubist "Pitcher, Bowl, and Lemon" (1907); proceeding through Dada objects, Surrealist allegories, and Pop icons; and concluding with mostly sculptural works from the 1990s?will indicate to many readers nothing less than the eradication of the very meaning of "still life." This is perhaps the show's great accomplishment: using a "minor" genre to frame nothing less than the full progression of 20th-century art, with all its tangents and tensions. Moreover, the book provides access to works from many of the world's greatest collections and a very readable text. Highly recommended for most libraries.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.