An excellent introduction to a 20th-century sculptor who deserves to be better known.
An art historian chronicles the career of a celebrated sculptor.
Two decades ago, Italian sculptor Fabro (1936-2007) asked curator Rowell if she “would edit an anthology in English of his lectures and writings.” Rowell agreed to participate but felt it would have been better “to write an illustrated book that prioritized his sculpture, at the same time shedding light on the thinking behind it.” Before the project got going, Fabro died. To honor his achievement, Rowell has produced this volume, in which she draws from the many interviews Fabro granted to her and others to “clarify the mysterious beauties and infinite complexities of Fabro’s art.” In this amply illustrated coffee-table book, Rowell charts Fabro’s career, from formative influences such as the writings of Locke and Rousseau to his two-year 1960s “moment” as an adherent of Arte Povera, characterized by “a drive to oppose the currents of consumerism and industrialization.” Subsequent decades included a period in which he incorporated Wittgenstein’s definition of tautology into works involving “commonplace things that engage the senses directly”; his series of Piedi (Feet) 1968-73, “among his best-known sculptures, singled out for their unclassifiable grotesquery” and intended “to reinvent the traditional premises of sculpture by attacking its own conventions”; and later experiments such as “hanging stone sculptures in the air, setting them on a pitched diagonal suggesting imminent fall, or even sliding down stairways, accentuating a precariousness and the loss of sculpture’s generic stability.” Rowell, a passionate guide, provides relatively little analysis but describes Fabro’s works and influences in considerable detail. She writes that Fabro’s work demonstrated “a range of diversity and complexity rarely seen in a single artist.” Readers of this handsome volume will understand why.
An excellent introduction to a 20th-century sculptor who deserves to be better known.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781580936118
Page Count: 248
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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