19 Oct 2009

A Good Read For Winter Evenings..



Irving Sandler, A memoir: A Sweeper Up After Artists, 2008

Old Skool Painting:
I am currently reading this book, a light trawl through the New York art scene of the 1950's and 60's. Great annecdotes on conversations at the Cedar Tavern and the 'Club'. Some artists made the journey, others got lost along the way...(and not bad for a fiver!) This is an interesting article discussing these times by Peter Plagens.

This is another book I found interesting:

Groovy Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Fraser by Harriet Vyner

It's an intriguing book about the life of Robert Fraser, the art dealer, immortilized by Richard Hamilton on the cover, handcuffed to Mick Jagger in the back of the police car being taken them to court...
This is a sad yet hilarious account of Swinging London in the Sixties and how Robert Fraser made the careers of Peter Blake, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Jim Dine etc, great quotes from Jagger, McCartney and others such as Dennis Hopper, Kenneth Anger and Keef on the wider art, music and drugs scene at the time.

Both these books are documenting the social history you don't get in art history books...