Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective of Sculpture and Drawing, 1958-2000

One of the most acclaimed figures in the New York art world during the 1960s, Lee Bontecou dropped out the galley scene in the mid-1970s, choosing, instead, to work on her sculptures alone. This catalogue, which is timed to coordinate with major exhibitions of Bontecou's work in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, aims to reassert the reclusive woman's place in art history--and succeeds. The catalogue's full-color plates cover all of Bontecou's career, from the welded-steel and canvas boxes that made her name in the 1960s to the intricate porcelain and wire sculptures that comprise her latest series. Bontecou's work is deeply organic--many of the sculptures resemble catfish or seagulls or flowers. As early as 1971, one critic dubbed her a""strange naturalist."" Other interpretations of her work can be found in this book's five essay-length monographs. In the first,""All Freedom in Every Sense,"" curator Smith provides a career biography of the artist. Storr's""Seek and Hide"" attempts""to situate her sculpture within a context that was contiguous with but outside the American mainstream."" Judd's monograph argues that Bontecou's work derives its force from its rejection of solipsism, skepticism and irony. As the first comprehensive book on Bontecou, this catalogue has great scholarly importance. And the traveling exhibition should generate press coverage, such as Calvin Tompkin's profile the August issue of the New Yorker, which may make this book popular with a wider audience as well. 175 color illustrations.