The world's most well known works of art are both instantly familiar and profoundly mysterious. What has made these images so popular, and how did they come into existence? The Private Life of a Masterpiece answers these questions by delving into the secrets of iconic works of art dating from 1501 to 1950. Piecing together a trail of clues, it examines each work from conception through completion to afterlife, detailing how the commission came about, the preparation undertaken by the artist, the way the work was executed, how the finished work was received, and its influence on other artists. We learn, for example, that Leonardo devised a new form of perspective when painting the Mona Lisa, and that four centuries later Picasso was detained for stealing the portrait from the Louvre; that Goya painted The Third of May 1808 as a criticism of the monarchy but nonetheless offered it to the king as a gift; that Van Gogh's Sunflowers owes much to improvements in the postal system; that Munch's The Scream was influenced by the Incas; and that Jackson Pollock's paintings were promoted by the CIA. Along the way, we also learn about each artist's life, including the struggles with family, lovers, patrons, and critics. The works featured in this book met with a variety of reactions when first unveiled, and the author details them all, from admiration and respect to horror and contempt. Now readers can judge for themselves. Beautifully illustrated and lucidly written, The Private Life of a Masterpiece offers an innovative and compelling introduction to the extraordinary stories contained in the history of art. It will enthrall all those who wish to know more about this fascinating subject.

The Private Life of a Masterpiece: Uncovering the Forgotten Secrets and Hidden Life Histories of Iconic Works of Art

Arts & Photography

Bohm-Duchen, Monica

Painting

University of California Press

By following the trail of clues through each masterpiece this book explores the life of the artist and the masterpiece from its conception through to its unveiling and afterlife. The focus is mainly on "David" by Michelangelo and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. The book covers a broad range of themes: the process by which a work was made - who commissioned it, the people involved in making it; the historic context; the reception of the work when unveiled; the theft of artworks; and the restoration of damaged works; dramatic discoveries, such as some of Rembrandt's works, which were painted over when out of fashion in previous centuries.

The Private Life of a Masterpiece

University of California Pre

A richly illustrated, comprehensive, and accessible account of the art of World War II
Art and the Second World War is the first book in English to provide a comprehensive and detailed international overview of the complex and often disturbing relationship between war and the fine arts during this crucial period of modern history. This generously illustrated volume starts by examining the art produced in reaction to the Spanish Civil War (often viewed as "the first battle of World War II"), and then looks at painting, sculpture, prints, and drawing in each of the major combatant nations, including Japan and China. Breathtaking in scope, this scholarly yet accessible publication places wartime art within its broader cultural, political, and military contexts while never losing sight of the power and significance of the individual image and the individual artist.
Monica Bohm-Duchen's thought-provoking analysis ranges from iconic paintings such as Picasso's Guernica to unfamiliar works by little-known artists. She reinstates war art by major artists as an integral part of their oeuvres and examines neglected topics such as the art produced in the Japanese-American and British internment camps, by victims of the Holocaust, and in response to the dropping of the atom bomb in 1945. In so doing, Bohm-Duchen addresses a host of fundamental issues, including the relationship between art and propaganda and between art and atrocity, and the role of gender, religion, and censorship, both external and internal.
Art and the Second World War offers an unparalleled comparative perspective that will appeal to anyone interested in art history, military history, or political and cultural studies.

Art and the Second World War

History & Criticism

Princeton University Press

A lively and comprehensive examination of the prodigious output of Chagall.

Chagall A&I (Art and Ideas)

Phaidon Press

-- Wide variety of styles discussed to help readers know what to look or listen for to enhance their enjoyment
-- Puts the arts in historical context

Understanding Modern Art (An Usborne Introduction)

Cook, Janet

EDC Pub.]

Book by Bohm-Duchen, Monica, Kitaj, R. B.

Rubies and Rebels: Jewish Female Identity in Contemporary British Art

Kitaj, R.B.

Lund Humphries Pub Ltd

The theme of Walls and Windows encompasses a wide range of subject matter: mannequins in shop windows, fragments of torn posters, shop fronts, urban building sites. Despite their diversity, the photographs in this collection display some of the central preoccupations of Dorothy Bohm's work: an acute sense of observation for the detail of everyday life; a fascination with surfaces and reflections, and an eye for painterly textures; a subtle, often witty exploration of spatial ambiguity; and the ability to capture the moment, to encapsulate in a single image the mood of a place.

Walls & Windows: Colour Photography by Dorothy Bohm

HAWORTH-BOOTH, Mark

Individual Artists

Born in Warsaw in 1911 into a working-class Jewish family, Josef Herman arrived in Britain (via Belgium) in 1940, settling first in Glasgow and then in the South Welsh mining village of Ystradgynlais. By the early 1950s, known mainly for his images of Welsh miners, he had established himself as a major figure in contemporary British art and his work featured prominently in the 1951 Festival of Britain. By the end of the decade, examples of his work had entered virtually every important public collection in the UK. Further public recognition came in 1981, when he was awarded an OBE, and in 1990, when he was elected a Royal Academician.Herman was no follower of fashion, however, and throughout his long life remained true to his conviction that art and morality should never be far apart, that technique, though important, should always be subservient to subject-matter, and that working men and women - whether in Poland, Wales, Burgundy, Suffolk or Mexico - embody a profound and universal human archetype. This monograph is the first book to look at all aspects and phases of Herman's career in equal detail, and to place his life and work in a broader cultural context. Generously illustrated, it includes images both familiar and unfamiliar, some of them - as the result of the author's extensive researches - reproduced for the very first time. It aims both to introduce this important artist to a new public, and to reveal a creative spirit of far greater diversity and complexity than even Herman's longstanding admirers will have suspected.

The Art and Life of Josef Herman: In Labour My Spirit Finds Itself

Lund Humphries

Dorothy Bohm is widely considered one of the doyennes of British photography. To date, however, there has not been a major retrospective of her career and oeuvre, which span six decades (from the 1940s to the present day) and several continents. This situation is to be changed by an exhibition of some 250 of her photographs at Manchester Art Gallery in 2010. The accompanying book, the most detailed and comprehensive to date, is also the first publication of its kind. Lavishly illustrated with numerous full-page reproductions of the photographs displayed at the exhibition, as well as others not exhibited, the book contains three substantial essays, which cover Bohm's life, her work within the history of photography and visual culture, and her status as a female photographer. The work concludes with an extensive and easy-to-use index of thumbnail reproductions of her work.

A World Observed 1940-2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm

FORD, COLIN

Jeffrey, Ian

Philip Wilson Publishers

Understanding Modern Art

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