THE ART OF AMERICA SINCE WORLD WAR II

by Shirley Glubok ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 19, 1976

Glubok winds up her rapid survey of American art with one paragraph on and one reproduction from each of about 50 painters and sculptors, all paired according to influence (Albers with Anuszkiewicz) or similarity of style, school or subject (Robert Indiana with Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenberg with George Segal, etc.). Pop art comes out well ahead here in terms of sheer numbers (and as Glubok never lets slip a value judgment there is little else to go by), with abstract expressionism close behind (but then Pollock alone rates a double page to himself); oddly, considering that earlier volumes covered everything from architecture, housewares and interiors to photography, parks and the Brooklyn Bridge, only Richard Kienhalz's relatively tame Friendly Grey Computer, Star Gauge Model #54 hints at a departure from conventional painting and sculpture--though during the period both technology and time dimension have become spectacularly prominent both in and out of the studio. Within the art forms she does cover Glubok has assembled an eclectic cast, all but a very few of them recognized luminaries--though of course her pace allows only tag-line commentary on each, and what she does say is always more descriptive (of subject, materials, procedure, or the artist's background) than analytic. Seriously handicapped in the early pages by the absurdity of representing such as Gorky, de Kooning and (especially) Albers in black and white, this might be considered the equivalent of a slide show preparation for a tour of the blue chip galleries.

Pub Date: April 19, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION