cover image American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913-1993

American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913-1993

. Prestel Publishing, $85 (490pp) ISBN 978-3-7913-1261-3

A fresh, vibrant, major reassessment of modern American art, this catalogue accompanies an exhibit in Berlin and London, which, regrettably, will not visit the U.S. In their introductory essays, German curator Joachimides and Rosenthal of London's Royal Academy of Arts trace a polarization in American art between a longing for transcendence (Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock) and a confrontation with pop culture or urban despair (Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg). In his contribution, Anfam, author of Abstract Expressionism , explores the movement's search for authenticity while art critic Arthur Danto punctures the abstract expressionists' metaphysical pretensions and investigates pop art's philosophical conundrums. Other essays cover social art of the Depression, the Dada-inspired Fluxus movement and the ``process art'' of post-minimalist sculptors Eva Hesse and Bruce Nauman. Hundreds of color plates--of the work of Man Ray, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, Jean-Michel Basquiat and others--convey a sense of American art's continual exploration of visual reality. (Oct.)