Books by Karole Vail

Giacometti

by Valerie Fletcher, Catherine Grenier, Karole Vail

A fresh appraisal of Giacometti's output, from painting to sculpture
This comprehensive survey of the work of the Swiss-born modern master Alberto Giacometti offers a fresh and incisive account of his creative output. Published on the occasion of Giacometti’s first major museum presentation in the US in over a decade, the volume brings together nearly 200 sculptures, paintings and drawings to trace the artist’s wide-ranging and hugely innovative engagement with the human form across various mediums.
While Giacometti may be best known for his distinct figurative sculptures that emerged after World War II, including a series of elongated standing women, striding men and expressive busts, this volume devotes equal attention to the artist’s early and midcareer development. It explores his lesser-known engagement with Cubism and Surrealism as well as African, Oceanic and Cycladic art, while also highlighting his remarkable talents as a draftsman and painter alongside his sculptural oeuvre. Of particular focus is Giacometti’s studio practice, which is examined through rarely seen plaster sculptures that highlight the artist’s working process, in addition to historical photographs documenting his relationship with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum―which hosted the artist’s first US museum exhibition, in 1955―and with New York City.
Alberto Giacometti was born in Borgonovo, Switzerland, in 1901. In 1922, Giacometti settled in Paris, and began to exhibit his sculptures. By 1930 he was a participant in the Surrealist circle, up until 1934―also the year that he first exhibited in the US, at the legendary Julien Levy Gallery in New York. From 1942, Giacometti lived in Geneva, where he associated with the publisher Albert Skira. In 1948, he was given a solo show at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York. In 1955, he received retrospectives at the Arts Council Gallery, London, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. He received the Sculpture Prize at the 1961 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. In 1965, retrospective exhibitions were organized by the Tate Gallery, London, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Giacometti died in 1966.

Copies

No copies available.

Moholy-Nagy: Future Present

by Jennifer King, Matthew S. Witkovsky, Karole Vail, Carol S. Eliel

An unprecedented study of an important 20th-century artist and his diverse body of work

This exceptional book offers a fresh and extensive examination of the work of pioneering artist László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946). The first major American survey of his oeuvre in nearly a half century and the most extensive English-language book on the artist in thirty years, the catalogue offers an integrated presentation of Moholy’s production across a range of art forms including painting, sculpture, photography, graphic design, film, advertising, and theater.

Distinguished scholars offer new insights into Moholy's materials and working methods; the relation among writing, administration, and art making in his practice; and his influence on contemporary art. Particular emphasis is given to Moholy's American years and his leadership of the Chicago Bauhaus as well as his reception as a painter.

Over 300 works are illustrated in color, including the artist's early paintings and photograms, his whimsical photomontages---all of which are reproduced together here for the first time---and late works in Plexiglas. Beautifully designed and produced, with a PVC plastic jacket printed on the inside and a foil stamped casewrap, the book is a marvelous tribute to this phenomenally innovative artist.

Copies

No copies available.