Kathan Brown has long been a champion of art, both in writing and in production: her Crown Point Press in San Francisco was founded in 1962 as has served as a resting place where artists can be 'in residence' to work with the outstanding staff of craftsman to create new ideas in etching and monoprint form from their busy careers of painting and drawing. In this excellent book Brown discusses the work of eleven artists whose preoccupation with the landscape provoked conversations with Brown that lead to this penetrating and wise interaction of ideas lightly titled WHY DRAW A LANDSCAPE?
The artists with whom Brown has a working relationship at the Press include Jane Freilicher, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, April Gornik, Pat Steir, Joan Nelson, Anne Appleby, Edward Ruscha, Robert Bechtle, Tom Marioni, Bryan Hunt, and David Nash. And is ever there were more disparate views of observing and drawing the landscape than this group of artists represents, it has not been the subject of writing. Brown writes with skill and wit and a natural warmth. In responding to the works of these artists and their views of the land, Brown states 'Irony may be on the way out as the darling of the art world avant-garde agenda', and few writers can state such a fact with quiet sensitivity better than Kathan Brown. This book is a fine adjunct to those who elect to investigate representational art and landscape art in particular. Grady Harp, December 05