32409 Hopper, Davis, Pollock, De Kooning, Rothko, Rauschenberg, Wyeth, Cornell Random House, [n.d.] Hardcover quarto, 288pp., numerous monochrome and colour plates. Lightly foxed prelims, spotted page edges; boards rubbed at edges with some discolouration, but clean and solid; dustwrapper sunned, creased/frayed at edges, but intact and bright. Very good in like dustwrapper. [Hardcovers with dustwrappers are professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film, where appropriate.] American Masters: The Voice and the Myth is about eight American artists, each of whom stands for certain aspects of American art and tradition. The book's underlying - and hitherto unexamined - theme is one intrinsic to modern art: the dialogue between an artist's work - his 'voice' - and its reception by the public, which tends to comprehend the artist and his work as a 'myth', and so provides itself with a social armature whereby the artist's image and body of work become stabilized and accessible. The relation between voice and myth varies with each of the eight artists, and Mr O'Doherty's discussion offers not only much new material, but brilliant insights into the fate of modern art in our culture. In tracing the circulation of energy between work, artist, and public, he brings to bear a sensibility of extraordinary amplitude, and touches on such themes as the relationships between Europe and America, the romantic quest and the modernist void, and the contributions of the vernacular to American art. Hans Namuth's superb photographs, specially taken for this book over many years, enter into a sophisticated dialogue with each artist's persona, so that the book itself becomes an example of its theme. $70.00AUD
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