From Library Journal
Artworks that emphasize key elements of American Abstract Expressionism--such as the direct, tactile transferring of the artist's body movement to the canvas and ecriture or calligraphic abstractionism--are featured in this first-ever presentation of the privately held Daros Collection, soon to open its doors in Zurich to the public. An introduction by Daros curator and volume editor Fischer is followed by erudite yet easy-to-grasp essays by leading scholars on Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Cy Twombly, Brice Marden, Andy Warhol, Jonathan Lasker, David Reed, Philip Taaffe, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. This unusual grouping, spanning four decades, is united by technique and conception. The catalog's layout and presentation are faultless. Striking reproductions, including many double foldouts, capture the paintings and details exquisitely. This unique work is highly recommended for research art collections.
-Russell T. Clement, Univ. of Tennessee Lib., Knoxville Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Synopsis
An illustration - in the essays of well-known critics as well as in the paintings selected from the Daros Collection - of the different abstractions and gestures in contemporary American art. It focuses on American artists who conceived a way of painting which began with the scrawl-like gestures of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell. Then the scriptural gesture, developed out of handwriting, is examined in an extraordinary group of work that spans Cy Twombly's whole career. Brice Marden's alternately fluid and tensile linear abstractions and Robert Ryman's intensive co-operation with the stroke of a brush are discussed as well as Andy Warhol's answers to abstract expressionism has provoked an ongoing dialogue in painting. This text covers this original gesture from the Action Painters and its resonance through the next generation of painters. Each painting discussed comes from the Daros Collection, a Swiss private collection which focuses on American art of the second half of the 20th century.