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Rating: 
Summary: Grace Hartigan a painter's world
Review: Not only gorgeous to look at, but a definitive work on this artist. Includes fine color reproductions, not only of her work as an abstract expressionist in the 1950's, but work of the next 35 years. We see the early works that brought her fame and those that followed. Hartigan's favorite statement made, originally by Marilyn Monroe, "Fame may go by - and so long, I've had you." becomes the chapter title "Fame May Go By: the 1960s." The early work evolved into less popular paintings, heavy with symbolism. The reader is led through the years. We see her working process. Constantly painting, she didn't hesitate to use an historical painting as a point of departure. Her paintings, and their sources are shown side-by-side, whether the source be a classic by Caravaggio or a photo Hartigan had a photographer take of a group in bizarre costumes as for a wedding. Illustrations (mostly color, some black and white) show the evolution of the painter as she left fame behind, but continued as an artist who answered only to herself, refusing to bow to popular demands. It's always interesting, in looking at the work of an acknowledged artist, to learn about the life, too. We're party to her wild younger years and love affairs - including name artists - and to her final enduring marriage, a great love that brought happiness, contentment, ending only with her husband's death after a very long illness. For an artist this book is a source of encouragement, for an art lover it is a work of art in itself.
Rating:
Summary: Grace Hartigan a painter's world
Review: Not only gorgeous to look at, but a definitive work on this artist. Includes fine color reproductions, not only of her work as an abstract expressionist in the 1950's, but work of the next 35 years. We see the early works that brought her fame and those that followed. Hartigan's favorite statement made, originally by Marilyn Monroe, "Fame may go by - and so long, I've had you." becomes the chapter title "Fame May Go By: the 1960s." The early work evolved into less popular paintings, heavy with symbolism. The reader is led through the years. We see her working process. Constantly painting, she didn't hesitate to use an historical painting as a point of departure. Her paintings, and their sources are shown side-by-side, whether the source be a classic by Caravaggio or a photo Hartigan had a photographer take of a group in bizarre costumes as for a wedding. Illustrations (mostly color, some black and white) show the evolution of the painter as she left fame behind, but continued as an artist who answered only to herself, refusing to bow to popular demands. It's always interesting, in looking at the work of an acknowledged artist, to learn about the life, too. We're party to her wild younger years and love affairs - including name artists - and to her final enduring marriage, a great love that brought happiness, contentment, ending only with her husband's death after a very long illness. For an artist this book is a source of encouragement, for an art lover it is a work of art in itself.
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