Thomas Chimes (b. 1921) is one of Philadelphia’s most important living artists. Tracing the stylistic evolution of Chimes’s idiosyncratic art, this handsome book presents a long-overdue survey of his remarkable five-decade career: canvases combining landscape imagery with symbols such as crucifixes (late 1950s–60s); mixed-media constructions set within finely crafted metal boxes (late 1960s–early 1970s); his best-known works, a series of 48 intimate sepia-toned panel portraits of 19th- and 20th-century writers and artists that are placed within oversized wood frames (1973–78); and the enigmatic“white paintings” of the past two decades. The book reveals how Chimes has found inspiration in the writings of Antonin Artaud, James Joyce, and especially Alfred Jarry, the iconoclastic playwright and novelist whose invented “’Pataphysics”––the “science of imaginary solutions”––has provided the artist with a seemingly inexhaustible font of imagery. Taylor explores the links between Chimes’s work and that of contemporaries such as Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, and Nancy Spero, as well as important predecessors like Vincent van Gogh, Marcel Duchamp, and fellow Philadelphian Thomas Eakins.

Thomas Chimes: Adventures in 'Pataphysics

Arts & Photography

Taylor, Michael R.

History & Criticism

Yale University Press

In his early thirties, Marcel Duchamp (18871968) convinced everyone that he had abandoned making art in favor of playing chess. But from 1946 to 1966, he was secretly at work in his studio on West 14th Street in New York City. There he produced his final masterpiece: Étant donnés: 1º la chute d'eau, 2º le gaz d’éclairage, composed of a battered wood door through which one views a prone, nude female, holding aloft an antique gas lamp against a landscape of trees, waterfall, and sky. Unveiled as a permanent installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in July 1969, the year after Duchamp’s death, it startled the art world with its explicit eroticism and voyeurism, as well as its trompe l’oeil realism. Since its public debut, Étant donnés has been recognized as one of the most important and enigmatic works of the 20th century.
Published to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the original installation of Étant donnés and to accompany the first major exhibition on the artwork and its studies, this richly illustrated book presents a wealth of new research and documents that draw upon previously unpublished works of art and materials. The catalogue also examines the critical and artistic reception of Étant donnés, as evidenced by the subsequent work of Les Levine, Hannah Wilke, Robert Gober, Marcel Dzama, Ray Johnson, and other artists who have engaged with Duchamp’s provocative and challenging tableau-construction.

Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés

Product Description 
A close look at Man Ray’s interwar portraiture, as well as the friendships between the photographer and his subjects: the international avant garde in Paris\nShortly after his arrival in Paris in July 1921, Man Ray (1890–1976)—the pseudonym of Emmanuel Radnitzky—embarked on a sustained campaign to document the city’s international avant-garde in a series of remarkable portraits that established his reputation as one of the leading photographers of his era. Man Ray’s subjects included cultural luminaries such as Berenice Abbott, André Breton, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Duchamp, Ernest Hemingway, Miriam Hopkins, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Lee Miller, Méret Oppenheim, Pablo Picasso, Alice Prin (Kiki de Montparnasse), Elsa Schiaparelli, Erik Satie, and Gertrude Stein. As this lavishly illustrated publication demonstrates, Man Ray’s portraits went beyond recording the mere outward appearance of the person depicted and aimed instead to capture the essence of his sitters as creative individuals, as well as the collective nature and character of 
Les Années folles (the crazy years) of Paris between the two world wars, when the city became famous the world over as a powerful and evocative symbol of artistic freedom and daring experimentation.\nAbout the Author 
Michael R. Taylor is chief curator and deputy director for art and education at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Man Ray: The Paris Years

Photography & Video

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Produced to accompany the exhibition Jacques Lipchitz and Philadelphia that will be held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from June 27 to August 22, 2004, this publication examines the special relationship between the city of Philadelphia and Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), one of the most acclaimed and innovative sculptors of the twentieth century. The artist's involvement with the city spanned more than 50 years, beginning in 1922, when he was commissioned to execute bas-reliefs for The Barnes Foundation building in nearby Merion, and culminating in 1976, when Lipchitz's monumental sculpture Government of the People was posthumously unveiled near City Hall. During the last three decades of his life, following his move to the United States in 1941, Lipchitz was a frequent visitor to Philadelphia, where he received major commissions for public sculpture, was twice honoured by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and had an important retrospective exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Ar

Jacques Lipchitz and Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Perhaps the best-known artist of the international Surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí (19041989) transformed his dreams and personal obsessions into some of the most original and arresting images of the 20th century. While the Surrealist works from his early years are widely known and admired, Dalí’s controversial late worksoften inspired by science and religionhave been given a different reception. In this important book, experts provide a revisionist account of the last five decades of the artist’s career.The Dalí Renaissance explores a wide range of topics from this period, including the artist’s fascination with religion and popular culture, his "Nuclear Mysticism" lecture tour of the midwestern United States, and his influence on film, photography, design, and fashion. Based on an international symposium held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the volume also features an enlightening discussion between two of Dalí’s former companions, Ultra Violet and Amanda Lear, that provides a glimpse into his personal life and working methods.

The Dalí Renaissance: New Perspectives on His Life and Art After 1940: An International Symposium

Individual Artists

In his early thirties, Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) convinced everyone that he had abandoned making art in favor of playing chess. But from 1946 to 1966, he was secretly at work in his studio on West 14th Street in New York City. There he produced his final masterpiece: Étant donnés: 1º la chute d'eau, 2º le gaz d?éclairage, composed of a battered wood door through which one views a prone, nude female, holding aloft an antique gas lamp against a landscape of trees, waterfall, and sky. Unveiled as a permanent installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in July 1969, the year after Duchamp?s death, it startled the art world with its explicit eroticism and voyeurism, as well as its trompe l?oeil realism. Since its public debut, Étant donnés has been recognized as one of the most important and enigmatic works of the 20th century. Published to commemorate t

Marcel Duchamp: Etant Donnes

Philadelphia Museum of Art/Retail

Thomas Chimes: Adventures in Pataphysics

Snake Oil 101 is a helpful handbook using unique perspectives and insights to explain things like Destiny, Belief and Faith, Free will, Hope and Love.

Snake Oil 101: Selling the Divine the World's 2nd Oldest Profession

Religion & Spirituality

BookSurge Publishing

One of Us/The Adventures of Al O'heem: What if God Was One of Us?

Literature & Fiction

Short Stories & Anthologies

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

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

Books by Taylor, Michael R.

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

Thomas Chimes: Adventures in 'Pataphysics

Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés

Man Ray: The Paris Years

Jacques Lipchitz and Philadelphia

The Dalí Renaissance: New Perspectives on His Life and Art After 1940: An International Symposium

Marcel Duchamp: Etant Donnes

Thomas Chimes: Adventures in 'Pataphysics

Thomas Chimes: Adventures in Pataphysics

Snake Oil 101: Selling the Divine the World's 2nd Oldest Profession

One of Us/The Adventures of Al O'heem: What if God Was One of Us?