UNITED STATES AUTHOR · EXHIBITIONS · BIOGRAPHY
Gail Levin
Edward Hopper was born in Nyack, New York, in 1882.
— from Edward Hopper
Most acclaimed
Aaron Copland's America
"Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York, Aaron Copland's America is a collaboration between two well-known and highly esteemed scholars, art historian Gail Levin and musicologist Judith Tick, whose complementary essays focus on, respectively, Copland's interactions with the art world (visual and otherwise) and on his music. The book documents Copland's friendships with painters such as Georgia O'Keeffe and Diego Rivera; photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand; composers Virgil Thomson and Igor Stravinsky; choreographers Martha Graham and Agnes de Mille; and writers Hart Crane and Gertrude Stein, exploring the direct exchange of ideas these relationships engendered and examining esthetic and intellectual parallels between their work and Copland's. At the same time, it looks at how Copland's fascination with folk and popular culture, native arts, jazz, cinema, and the search for an American national art gave form to his music, which sprang not only from his personal talent but also from connections to the powerful creative forces around him."--BOOK JACKET.
Edward Hopper
In the art of Edward Hopper (1882-1967), tense, unhappy men and women, in whom we recognize something of our neighbors and ourselves, play out mysterious dramas in silent, stripped-down spaces - stages raked by an unrelenting and revealing light. These paintings, and Hopper's equally evocative landscapes and houses, make us wonder: what kind of man had this haunting vision, and what kind of life engendered this art? No one is better qualified to answer these questions than the art historian Gail Levin, author of the major studies of Hopper's work (including the catalogue raisonne) and curator of many exhibitions that explored his development and cultural context. Delving deeply into his art and into a rich archive of unpublished letters and diaries, she now constructs "An Intimate Biography," which reveals the true nature and personality of the man himself - and of the woman who shared his life and helped to shape his art. Jo Hopper's diaries permit an intimate look at the interactions of an indissolubly bonded couple, revealing for the first time the personal tensions that lie behind some of Hopper's most haunting works. Gail Levin, sifting the gritty reality of Jo's story with her own analytic skills and historical and literary knowledge, uses the diaries to great effect in linking specific paintings to the time, place, and mood in which they were created.
Ethics and the visual arts
"The dark side of the arts is explored in this timely volume, sure to spark discussion and debate. Nineteen diverse essays by such distinguished authors as Eric Fischl, Suzaan Boettger, Stephen Weil, Richard Serra, and more cover a broad range of topics facing today’s artists, policy makers, art lawyers, galleries, museum professionals, and many others. Readers will find expert insights on such up-to-the-minute issues as preserving Iraqi heritage after the U.S. invasion; the role of new media; art and censorship; the impact of 9/11 on artists; authenticity and forgeries; cultural globalization; fair use; how tax laws encourage donations of art to museums; where people buy art; the ethical codes of working art critics; and much more. With its clear-sighted commentary on today’s hottest arts issues, Ethics in the Visual Arts is essential reading for anyone interested in the humanities and in current events."--