A comprehensive retrospective illustrates the artist's life and prolific career as reflected in his works and includes 350 full-color images, many previously unpublished.

The Art of Peter Max

Arts & Photography

Charles A. Riley II

Peter Max

Individual Artists

Harry N. Abrams

A panorama of the arts scene in Jazz Age France draws on letters, diaries, journals, photo albums, and private archives, in a visual exploration that includes unpublished paintings by Picasso and Léger, previously unknown works by e. e. cummings and John Dos Passos, and more. 15,000 first printing.

The Jazz Age in France

Photography & Video

This group of essays and interviews offers a wide-ranging interdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of contemporary art and thought through the lens of a trend toward asceticism that Charles A. Riley II views as "a fundamental component of the psychological and ethical dimensions of the artistic and philosophical life." The views, practices, and works of artists like Brice Marden, Peter Halley, Jasper Johns, and Agnes Martin, composers including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Tan Dun, and writers such as Walter Abish and Seamus Heaney are intermingled with those of choreographers such as Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham, stage directors including Robert Wilson, and architects including I. M. Pei, among many others. Besides exploring the relationship between artists' life and work, Riley considers broader cultural issues such as the role of Classicism in contemporary art, the interaction of Western and Asian traditions, the rise of spirituality as a theme, and the paradox of asceticism, which implies a denial of the senses but in art involves an appeal to the senses. In the end, this suite of interrelated essays addresses in a fascinating and accessible way what Riley calls "one of the most vital (and misunderstood) creative forces in contemporary art, architecture, music, dance, literature and philosophy: the pursuit of perfection."

The Saints of Modern Art: The Ascetic Ideal in Contemporary Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Dance, Literature, and Philosophy

History & Criticism

University Press of New England

Modernism, a much-contested term, generally signifies the efforts of a group of late 19th-century European painters, writers, musicians, and philosophers who consciously broke with traditional ways of creating art. But what does one do with aristocratic lineage, with backgrounds steeped in tradition, when one wants to be known as a modern painter or thinker? How does this seeming contradiction in the life manifest itself in the work itself? Charles A. Riley II grapples with such questions, challenging the way we view Modernism in this accessible look at the role of the aristocrat not as a patron, but as an artist. Reinserting aristocrats in the account of Modernism yields a rich store of unforgettable characters. They run the gamut from the wild exuberance of Franz Liszt and George Sand to the cold snobbery of Frederic Chopin, from the rough excesses of slumming with Francis Bacon to the affected high tone of castle life with the (false) Count Balthus. Group portraits of interconnected intellectual lives emerge as Riley explores the historical encounters linking the work of these often overlooked leaders of the avant-garde. He shows that while some relied on wealth and station to nurture a Classical "retro" ideal of art, others used art and philosophy to lash back at the archaic ideals of nobility

Aristocracy and the Modern Imagination

New England Pub. Co.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Charles A. Riley II. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Charles A. Riley II

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Charles A. Riley II. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Art of Peter Max

The Jazz Age in France

The Saints of Modern Art: The Ascetic Ideal in Contemporary Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Dance, Literature, and Philosophy

Aristocracy and the Modern Imagination