This was NOT a stellar month for reading. I bought some books at the Dollar Store – and didn’t stop there – I downloaded free books too. So, I feel as if I got sucked into some kind of a void and was reading just to do something. So, I vow in June, I am going to read things that will make me think, teach me, and inspire me.  Here are the books I read in May (and if I wasn’t keeping track of them on Book Reads, I might not have remembered them!

SLEEP TIGHT by Rachel Abbott:  This is a page turner, about a woman that is missing along with her children. However, the investigator recognizes the name of the missing women from prior investigations. This is written by an English author and contained a fair amount of British slang that took some getting used to. There are a few twists and turns that I didn’t anticipate, but it was just okay. It was worth the price, a free download, complete with a few typos!

ONE LAST GREAT WICKEDNESS by David Stansfield:  I read this while on an art retreat, no internet and no television. So – I stayed up reading this until 2A!  At times I found the book very good, at times I felt it was contrived. The main character’s father committed suicide when he was thirteen. Now finding family letters, he begins investigating his family’s past, and learns things he never suspected. In fact, he discovers an almost parallel universe. The ending was surprising, but somewhat oontrived.

LONG GONE by Alafair Burke  It started out promising with Alice Humphrey landing a dream job in a gallery in New York. She is  the daughter of a privileged family, she has a chance encounter with Drew Campbell. Campbell claims to represent a wealthy anonymous patron of the arts who wants to open a gallery, and Campbell believes that Alice, given her background, would be the perfect person to manage it. Sounding a little too good to be true, she finds Drew murdered in the gallery – and Alice is the primary suspect. She begins to believe she has been set up. I read this in one sitting – it is a little improbable, with characters making somewhat silly choices. In fact, I knew she was being set up long before it dawned on her!

THE WIDOW’S DAUGHTER by Nicholas Edlin:  Peter Sokol is an artist in San Diego, but he was a doctor in World War II stationed in New Zealand. The book shifts in time from WWII to California during Viet Nam. What happened in New Zealand is revealed bit by bit. This was a piece of history I was unaware of. I found it interesting!

THE FAMILY FANG by Kevin Wilson:  The first two sentences hooked me – “The parents called it art. Their children called is mischief”.  This is the story performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang – who are totally dedicated to their art. Their two children – known as cihild A and B (Annie and Buster) unwillingly become part of their art. To get away Annie becomes an actress, Buster an author. But, they are forced to return home.  his book isn’t for everybody, but I liked it and enjoyed my time reading it. I felt like I was reading a Wes Anderson movie.  In fact, the reviews on Good Reads are somewhat entertaining, they go from hating and not understanding it – to sublime! There are several good points made about that age old question “What is Art?”

Any surprising finds for you lately?

I am given a prompt every week as part of the group – The Daily Creative Practice.  This weeks prompt basically is “how has reading informed your art form(s)?  (see the end of the blog for the entire prompt).

Now, I admittedly am a book junkie. The only time I do not have a book to read is when I finish a book and have yet to start another. Reading is such an integral part of my life, I know the books I read influence all parts of my life, including my art. So – I thought I’d put together a list of books about art.  I divided them into three categories, Reference, History, Fun reading.  (note – these are not book reviews)

REFERENCE:

The Collins BIg Book of Art – this is a quick reference of art from cave art to pop art with over 1000 works of art represented.

Color, A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finley – Eleven chapters, each devoted to a color. The book is packed with information!

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work: by Mason Curry – 161 artists rituals are profiled, from novelists, to musicians, painters, comedians, sculptors, and scientists. From Benjamin Franklin to Toni Morrison.

Inside the Painters Studio by Joe Figg – I love to take a peek at artist’s lives – but you might get some serious studio envy!

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron – the grand-daddy of all books about creativity.

The Quotable Artist by Peggy Hadden – I keep this book close by!

The Creative Process, Use It Or Lose It by Twyla Tharpe – a book I’ve returned to over and over.

HISTORY

The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris by David McCullough – if you are familiar with David McCullough, you know his attention to detail. Covering 1930 – 1900, it deals with artists, writers, scientists and more that  fell in love with Paris.

Secret Lives of Great Artists, What Your Teachers Never Told You About Master Painters and Sculptors by Elizabeth Lunday – this is just a fun look at the art world.

Originals: American Women Artists by Eleanor Munro – the book goes from Cassatt to Kiki Smith – a great reference book as women have been so often overlooked in the history of art!

The Man With the Blue Scarf, On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucien Freud by Martin Gayford – great book about the creative process.

Bad Boy, My Life On and Off The Canvas by Eric Fischl – more than just an autobiography, you get a glimpse into his view of the art world.

FUN

The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber – a wild ride of a book, it includes time travel, forgery, drugs and more. This was the book that got me reading book after book after book about both art forgery and art theft.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – winner of the Pulitzer Prize – it is a work of fiction that revolved around an actual painting (that I actually saw the year prior to reading this).

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro – okay – I admit, I have a fascination with art forgery!

Books to Read

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson -described as Wes Anderson meets Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe – it got my attention!

An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro – A floating world refers to changing cultures in post war Japan. This is the first book by the author of The Remains of The Day

This is a fluid list, it changes as I read more and more books.  In fact, 75% of these books were read this year! Yes, I left many books out.  If you have some to recommend – share it with me!

Here is the entire prompt:

“How has reading informed your art form(s)?

Looking at reading as visualization, perhaps a source for learning visualization. Have particular writers inspired you to visual expression? Ever had inspiration from reading to do something visual, in writing, or other art expression, music, movement? Self-help books, facebook, online, biographies, poetry, spiritual, fiction, children’s books, magazines? How does one transfer an idea or insight gathered from one art form into another art form? I don’t mean these particular questions to be answered, but an attempt to point to examples. Or does reading have no part at all in your art expression? Or sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Based on a prompt received every day, I am taking part of a 15 day Blogathon sponsored by C4 in Atlanta.   Today – I’m actually going to answer some of the questions!

Where are you geographically?  First of all, let me say, thank you for asking. It is so much fun to read blogs and know where the writer is located.  I am in Decatur, Ga. – which is a few miles east of Atlanta.

What does your dream work environment look and feel like?  I’m pretty lucky as I have a pretty nice studio in my house. Of course, doesn’t everybody want it to be bigger? I’d like to eventually reconfigure it and have enough room to put a comfy armchair in it so I could read.  Here is a previous post with pictures of my studio.

Who supports your daily life as you make your creative work?  Again, I am lucky.  I am married to an artist, who is very supportive of me and my artwork. While I still work a day job – he is great at helping me take care of the house, cooking, the yard, and the dogs! Check out the website of Joel Conison – shameless plug for his Birds in Portraiture series.

How many hours to you spend creating?  I feel as I create most of the time. I may not actually be “doing” art, but I’m thinking and observing most of the time.

How many hours to you spend selling your work or managing the business end?  I work in the field of advertising, so marketing was second nature to me. It has taken a backseat for awhile, but I’m getting ready to gear up again, get back out in the artworld, meet new artists and see new art!

What do you do for recreation?  I read. I had a goal of reading 40 books this year, 40 books that I didn’t download for free that I read in a couple of hours. Today, on March 6, I have read 13 books, mostly biographies of artists right now. In fact, the one I just finished – Breakfast with Lucien made my jaw drop open. I kept reading passages about Lucien Freud’s outrageous life outloud to my husband Joel.

What do you do for inspiration?  Again I read. I look at art. I take walks. I talk to other artists.

Do you have any specific goals for this year?  Because the first quarter of each year is such a crazy time with my day-job, my goal is to make art more of a priority for the remainder of the year. I plan on getting my images organized.  I plan on reconnecting with the art community here in Atlanta and also internationally online. I would love to colloborate – possibly across disciplines.  Belog is an image from a collaborative project that came to be known at The High Project that I did a few years back.  This culminated in a performance at The High Museum of Art where we painted live while a dancer danced into our canvas.  Click here for a slide show. 

Most of all – I want to have fun with art.  I want to continue learning, listening and looking.

To say I am a reader is an understatement – I am a READER.  I read almost every day. I do read a good bit about art, both fictional stories and non-fiction. I find little facts buried within these books that inspires me to do further research.  Here are a few of what I found this year  (I admit this idea came to me late in the year so a goal is to keep a better record of what I’m finding).

THE LOST PAINTING by Jonathan Harr – This book reads like a fictional detective mystery.  However, it is a true account about the painstaking research done by Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa to track down the lost Carravaggio, The Taking Of Christ, shown below.  Before engraving and photography, did you know painters sometimes made, or had copies made of their paintings.   This particular painting has at least 12 copies, which made authenticating the original more daunting.  In fact, there are fewer than 80 Carravaggio’s authenticated, and according to some sources, there could be fewer than 60. 

The Taking of Christ, Carravagio, The National Gallery of Ireland

If you don’t know anything about Carravaggio’s life, it is worth looking up.  He fled Rome after killing a man, often painted himself into his paintings, signed only one painting, he worked directly on the canvas and his painting career lasted only about 13 years.

Another interesting thing I discovered after looking up the painting, when Mel Gibson was filming The Passion of the Christ, he admitted to imitating Carravaggio’s style in the arrest scene in the movie, using both similar lighting and placement of the figures.

The Monuments Men:  Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel  – Paul Sachs, son of Samuel Sachs and Louisa Goldman Sachs (yes, Goldman Sachs) was the associate Director of the Fogg Art Museum beginning in 1923.  In fact, he started a study at Harvard on museum curatorship.  Being only 5’2″, he hung paintings much lower than in Europe.  Because his students considered it the norm, they continued hanging paintings lower also.  I don’t know if this is still true, but I found it an interesting fact.  He was also a founding member of the Museum of Modern Art .   

The average age of the members of the Monuments Men was 40 and everyone chose to join.  

Other members included Captain Walker Hancock, who had won the Prix de Rome prior to World War II and designed the Army Air Medal in 1941,  Lincoln Kirstein, the founder of the New York City Ballet, and Second Lt. James J. Rorimer, who became curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was instrumental in the founding of the Cloisters.

This book has so many interesting facts in it, it is important to mention it is a major motion picture, to be released in February 2014, written, directed, produced and starring George Clooney, along with Matt Damon, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and others.  

The Monuments Men Poster – click on image for trailer

Bad Boy, My Life On and Off the Canvas – Eric Fischl – This book is interspersed with musings from fellow painters, friends and collectors.  Now, I wasn’t surprised to find art collector, comedian and all around renaissance man Steve Martin here. But, finding John McEnroe was initially surprising until I remembered he had a gallery in SoHo beginning in 1993 exhibiting such artists at Alice Neel and David Smith. However, he and Eric traded tennis lessons for painting lessons.  They began going on art expeditions together, thus furthering John’s interest in art.  In fact, the first painting lesson involved a nude model.

The Judgement of Paris, The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism – by Ross King – I have to admit, I have not finished this book, but there was one small paragraph that grabbed my attention that had to do with the history of the Top Hat.

Yes, the top hat.  Apparently, in 1797, and English haberdasher by the name of John Hetherington took a walk wearing a top hat, which apparently caused a riot.  It terrified people, women fainted, children cried and dogs barked (can you imagine?) and the police literally grabbed him by the collar and gave him a summons for disturbing the peace.  Well, that seemed so outlandish that I started googling around, and apparently the top hat is credited to George Dunnage in 1793.  I couldn’t find any documentation that proved the story of John Hetherington actually happened, but it is recounted in several places.

In my reading, I come across small facts that I find so interesting I’m compelled to do further research.  In the future, I’m going to make better notes and write about these small and interesting facts.

If you have any books to recommend, please do so!