An astonishing group of sixty-nine “Character Heads” by German sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783) has fascinated viewers, artists, and collectors for more than two centuries. The heads, carved in alabaster or cast in lead or tin alloy, were conceived outside the norm of conventional portrait sculpture and explore the furthest limits of human expression. Since their first exposure to the public in 1793, artists, including Egon Schiele (1890–1918), Francis Bacon (1909–1992), Arnulf Rainer (born 1929), and, more recently, Tony Cragg (born 1949) and Tony Bevan (born 1951), have responded to their overwhelming visual power. Lavishly illustrated, Messerschmidt and Modernity presents remarkable works created by and inspired by Messerschmidt, an artist both of and ahead of his time. The Character Heads situate the artist’s work squarely within the eighteenth-century European Enlightenment, with its focus on expression and emotion. Yet their uncompromising style stands in sharp contrast to the florid Baroque style of Messerschmidt’s earlier sculptures for the court of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. With their strict frontality and narrow silhouettes, the Character Heads appear to contemporary eyes as having been conceived in a “modern” aesthetic. Their position at the apparent limits of rational art have made them compelling to successive generations of artists working in a variety of media.

One girl, one painting a day...can she do it? Linda Patricia Cleary decided to challenge herself with a year long project starting on January 1, 2014. Choose an artist a day and create a piece in tribute to them. It was a fun, challenging, stressful and psychological experience. She learned about technique, art history, different materials and embracing failure. Here are all 365 pieces. Enjoy!

Selected works from four decades present Arnulf Rainer's cosmos in a far more complex, colourful and abundant way than the restriction to the position of the 'overpainter' suggests. Among other things, the exhibition includes Arnulf Rainer's early Abstrac

Enth. u. a.: S. 74: Concrete art (1936-49) / Max Bill. - S. 74-77: The mathematical approach in contemporary art (1949) / Max Bill. - S. 301-304: Dieter Roth.

The Hess Art Collection is one of the world's most distinguished private collections of contemporary art. It was assembled by the Swiss businessman and wine producer Donald M. Hess. The collection unites extraordinary works by numerous artists now known around the world as well as excellent pieces by artists whose names are (as yet) less well known. This mixture is part of the ensemble's particular charm, making a glance through this copiously illustrated catalogue a veritable expedition. Hess's collecting activities primarily focus on the individual work. Accompanied by an unmistakable sense of quality, he judiciously selected the works he acquired over a period of more than forty years. A large part of the collection's holdings is open to the public in the museums of the Hess wineries in Napa, California, Glen Carlou in Paarl, South Africa, and Bodega Colomé in Calchaquí Valley, Argentina. A fourth museum is being planned at the Peter Lehmann Winery in Barossa Valley, Australia.

The original edition of this ambitious reference was published in hardcover in 1998, in two oversize volumes (10x13"). This edition combines the two volumes into one; it's paperbound ("flexi-cover"--the paper has a plastic coating), smaller (8x10", and affordable for art book buyers with shallower pockets--none of whom should pass it by. The scope is encyclopedic: half the work (originally the first volume) is devoted to painting; the other half to sculpture, new media, and photography. Chapters are arranged thematically, and each page displays several examples (in color) of work under discussion. The final section, a lexicon of artists, includes a small bandw photo of each artist, as well as biographical information and details of work, writings, and exhibitions. Ruhrberg and the three other authors are veteran art historians, curators, and writers, as is editor Walther. c. Book News Inc.