Working Space
In these Charles Eliot Norton Lectures delivered at Harvard, Stella has produced a critique of abstract painting that starts in the Renaissance and ends with Abstract Expressionism. Caravaggio's brooding chiaroscuro works locate for Stella the beginnings of modern painting. Stella posits these beginnings in Caravaggio's creation of a "working space," an enveloping pictorial space. Stella, an abstract painter himself, takes abstraction to task, but this is lucid, impassioned prodding from the loyal opposition. This is art history and art criticism of a high order, detailed and refreshingly idiosyncratic. Both scholarly and hip, Stella has written a book that reveals the painter's mind and studio, allowing us to see the play of history and vision that goes on within. Highly recommended for specialists and informed readers. Calvin Reid, "Library Journal"Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.