Peter Gourfain

A critical review of Peter Gourfain's career and his politically charged art. Though he showed minimalist sculpture in the 1960s, since the 1980s his work - in terracotta reliefs, cast bronzes, woodcarvings, prints and paintings - has become figurative, expressionist, personal and socially engaged.

American Night, the final volume of an unprecedented trilogy, brings Alan Wald's multigenerational history of Communist writers to a poignant climax. Using new research to explore the intimate lives of novelists, poets, and critics during the Cold War, Wa

This book begins with an abbreviated background on the origins and development of European Modernism. This is followed by attention to a transitional phase moving art's center from Paris to New York. Next is examination of various phases of Contemporary Art as it evolved in this country. The coverage is broad - inclusive of Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American and Caucasian artists of both sexes and of every age group. The story is told against a background of socio-political events/affairs. There is a wealth of information augmented by selected visual matter that is listed with links for e-readers, greatly enhancing the portability of this art book. This feature allows readers to browse further and to learn via textual matter and visual/audio tapes. Targeted audiences include college students, artists, and general readers.

Public sculpture is a major draw in today’s cities, and nowhere is this more the case than in New York. In the Big Apple, urban art has become synonymous with the municipal “brand,” highlighting the metropolis as vibrant, creative, tolerant, orderly, and above all, safe. Sculpture in Gotham tells the story of how the City of New York came to be committed to public art patronage beginning in the mid-1960s. In that era of political turbulence, cultural activists and city officials for a time shifted away from traditional monuments, joining forces to sponsor ambitious sculptural projects as an instrument for urban revitalization. Focusing on specific people, agencies and organizations, and both temporary and permanent projects, from the 1960s forward, Michele H. Bogart reveals the changing forms and meanings of municipal public art. Sculpture in Gotham illustrates how such shifts came about at a time when art theories and styles were morphing markedly, and when municipalities were reeling from racial unrest, economic decline, and countercultural challenges—to culture as well as the state. While sculptural installations on New York City property took time and were not without controversy, Gotham’s processes and policies produced notable results, providing precedents and lessons for cities the world over.

This book undertakes a critical reappraisal of Minimalism through an examination of three key painters: Robert Mangold, David Novros, and Jo Baer. By establishing their substantive engagements with Minimalist discourse, as well as their often overlooked artistic exchanges with their sculptor peers, it demonstrates that painting crucially informed the movement’s development, serving not only as an object of critique but also as a crucible for its most central tenets. It also poses broader disciplinary implications as it historicizes and challenges Minimalism’s "death of painting" critiques that have been so influential to theories of modernism and postmodernism in the visual arts.