"PHOTO-REALISM" par Louis K. MEISEL. Editions Abradale Press, New York. 1989. Fort in-4, couverture toilée rouge sous jaquette illustrée en couleurs. 448 pages. Textes en anglais, avant-propos de Gregory Battcock, recherche et documentation par Helene Zucker Seenman, illustré de 952 reproductions photographiques, dont 576 en couleurs, in-texte et hors texte, d'œuvres d'artistes tels Robert Bechtle, Tom Blackwell, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Ron Kleeman, John Salt...

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"The Photo-Realists, creators of the most popular movement in American painting to emerge in the 1970s, portray the bright shiny surface of the American Dream in amazingly realistic paintings. They turned for subject matter to the everyday objects that Americans treasure: big, old cars and fancy trucks, chrome-laden motorcycles, flashing pinball machines, sleek airplanes, jazzy neon signs, colorful shop windows, and thrilling racing cars. Dazzled by the rendition of reflective and highly finished surfaces made possible by contemporary color films, the Photo-Realists made large paintings that captured the look and feel of very precise color photographs. Over 950 of their remarkable paintings are reproduced in this book, virtually the entire output over ten years of the major Photo-Realist painters. The thirteen artists covered in separate chapters of the book are Robert Bechtle, Charles Bell, Tom Blackwell, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Don Eddy, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Ron Kleemann, Richard McLean, John Salt, and Ben Schonzeit. Every painting by each artist made before 1979 is reproduced, with complete information about mediums and technique. Even the sequence in which they were painted is given, where known. Each chapter closes with biographical information, a listing of solo and selected group exhibitions, and a full bibliography. ln his Introduction, Louis K. Meisel describes the techniques of the Photo-Realists and demonstrates convincingly that the Photo-Realists constitute a school of their own, he shows how different artists transfer images from photographic film to canvas, and illustrates with details of paintings how various effects are achieved with traditional brushes or the use of an airbrush."

 

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