William Glackens

This is the catalogue accompanying the exhibition at the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (February to June 2014); the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York (July to October 2014); and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 2014 to February 2015). William Glackens (1870-1938) is a prominent figure in American art, well represented in our major museums and familiar from many exhibitions, most recently perhaps from the centennial reprise of the great Armory Show of 1913 mounted by the New-York Historical Society (see my review on this website). As chairman of the committee charged with selecting American entries for that groundbreaking show, and as the major art advisor to Albert Barnes and an authorized purchaser of paintings for his vast collection, Glackens exerted an influence on the development of American art far beyond the example of his own artistic practice. The current show is therefore all the more welcome for being the first comprehensive exhibition of his work in almost fifty years, and its excellent catalogue is among the few lengthy considerations of his oeuvre as a whole. The volume is edited by the art historian Avis Berman and presents essays by nine prominent scholars and curators who consider Glackens's art from a number of perspectives that include both his historical and social situation and the aesthetic innovations of his style. These essays are all authoritative, informative, and very well documented; among the topics addressed are his earlier work (to about 1913) in newspaper, magazine and book illustration; the lightening of his palette as he moves from Manet to Monet as models; his images of the new urban woman and her occupations; his painting of fashion as an indicator of social status and sexual customs; relations with other artists like Robert Henri, Maurice Prendergast, Alfred Maurer, The Eight, etc.; still lifes and flower paintings; and, especially, his reception and transformation of French art, which for him was the basis of all American art. What emerges from these discussions is the picture of an American artist completely aware of and consciously cultivating his roots in the art of Manet and the Impressionists through to the Fauves and the Nabis, whose originality consists in the idiosyncratic manner of his avowed borrowings from the likes of Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Derain and others, and whose individual artistic evolution reflects the historical trajectory of French painting in the latter third of the nineteenth century.The volume is beautifully illustrated, with 103 plates in excellent color, most of them full-page, and about ninety companion illustrations, mostly three or four to a page. There are also a few double-page reproductions and a generous number of blow-up detail studies as chapter frontispieces. It is a good, comprehensive collection representing all phases and genres of Glackens's work. The apparatus consists of an exhibition history of the artist from 1892 to 2012, which seems to be exhaustive and should be very welcome to scholars; a three-page chronology of the artist's life; an exhibition checklist with pertinent curatorial data; a selected bibliography; and a comprehensive index. The volume itself is very handsomely designed with easily legible print and an uncluttered page layout and, at 13-1/2" x 10", a bit larger than the average exhibition catalogue. An excellent new look at a familiar American artist, and highly recommended.

Though no fault of the author of this book. I ended up pretty disappointed due to the inconsistency and vapidness of much of Glackens' work. I've seen a few of his more famous pieces in Museums and was prepared to be awed by his larger body of work. Not so much. The book is arranged by periods , many of which are characterized by uninspired portraits of lackluster group scenes. It's as if he could muster the energy to knock out an occasional masterwork, but failed at developing any consistency of style, growth or insight.I guess this is one of the pitfalls of buying on-line.

it is 10 x 13"....it has 287 pages.......there are many color photos of the art work and they look clear and full of life........

Wonderfully printed, great compilation of Glackens' work. The price was better than what it sold for at the Barnes Foundation, which was a pleasant surprise. I received it quickly and well-packaged.

The packing was inadequate (a sheet of puffed plastic rows that still allowed the book to move within the box0 but the corners of the book were not badly damaged.

Recently visited the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia. William Gackens' works were displayed there. I love his works. You will too.

Should be in every library of American Art.

A quality art book--excellent reproductions and decent commentary on the career and development of Glackens' painting over some 50 years. The work is actually a catalogue that accompanied an extensive exhibition of Glackens' work that toured three museums in the U.S., 2014-2015. You have to speculate that this show was put together on the initiative of the Barnes Foundation, as its founder Albert Barnes had a close relationship with and appreciation of the artist's work. The Barnes Foundation (museum) has some striking examples of Glackens' paintings which are included in this publication.I'm not the biggest Glackens fan, but I think that his paintings of ordinary people enjoying the beach, swimming floats, etc. are wonderfully lively and colorful. That's in contrast to other works that show a slavish copying of technique from Impressionist paintings--especially Renoir--that seem (to me, at least) less spontaneous and original. To his credit, there always seems to be great color in his work which shows in this book/catalog.This publication is technically superb and will certainly appeal to fans of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and even Modernist art.