The Art Life: On Creativity and Career

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What compels a person to become an artist, actor or singer, and to make the financial and comfort sacrifices that so often precede success, or accompany failure? A new book offers myriad, unscientific answers. The Art Life: On Creativity and Career is "as much curated as written," says author Stuart Horodner, artistic director of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center . Inspirations, muses, personal motivators and observations are provided by such figures as film directors Woody Allen and Werner Herzog, writers Wayne Koestenbaum and Orhan Pamuk, singers Johnny Cash and Lady Gaga, and artists Vito Acconci, Francis Bacon, Dana Schutz and Leon Golub, who notes: "There are three things: your work, your livelihood, and your personal life. If any two are going well at the same time consider yourself lucky."--Stephanie Cash"Art In America" (01/18/2012)

The Art of Not Making: The New Artist/Artisan Relationship

Using examples from a wide range of media, Michael Petry presents art by more than 115 contemporary artists who have one thing in common: they do not make their own work. Instead, they either employ others to produce it on their behalf or appropriate objects made by someone else. Master craftsmen, artisans, and fabricators are just some of the technical specialists who help realize the creative vision of these artists. But when an artist does not make his or her own work, what does it mean for the nature of art and for the status of the artist? What is the relationship between creativity and production?
The book explores these and other questions about authorship, artistic originality, skill, craftsmanship, and the creative act. Beginning with a historical overview and continuing through the history of modern art, it highlights the vital role that skills from craft and industrial production play in creating some of today 's most innovative and highly sought-after works of art. Organized by the materials from which the works are made, five chapters examine the relationships between many of the world 's most important artists and the artisans and fabricators they work with.
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Robert Capa: The Paris Years 1933-1954

Publishers Weekly (03/12/2012):
Perhaps best known for his iconic photo of a Spanish soldier as he is being shot known as "Death of Loyalist Militiaman," which hangs in New York's Museum of Modern Art,  Robert Capa (born Endre Erno Friedmann) was one of the progenitors of modern-day war photojournalism, covering the Spanish Civil War, D-Day, the beginnings of the Vietnam conflict, and many other momentous occasions during his tenure behind the lens.
Though these milestones and others are addressed in war correspondent Lebrun (Normandie 44) and Le Monde journalist Lefebvre's biography of Capa, their primary focus here is the work he and his colleagues produced while based out of an apartment in Paris' fourteenth arrondissement.
 Led largely by Capa, the collective's commitment to immersing themselves in the moments they sought to document had serious consequences as Capa's longtime collaborator and girlfriend Gerda Taro was crushed and killed by a tank while covering the Spanish Civil War but their commitment to documenting life in a war zone, from both a military and civilian perspective, revolutionized reporting and brought the battles home. Historians and photographers alike will be rewarded by the authors' excellent blend of narration and academic analysis, coupled with a generous helping of groundbreaking photos, many of which have never been published before. Photos & illus. (Mar.) Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.
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Lucian Freud: Painting People

This beautifully illustrated book features fifty of Lucian Freud's portraits and figure paintings, offering an excellent introduction to the work of one of the most innovative figurative artists of the 20th century. Arranged chronologically and ranging over seven decades, from the early 1940s to Freud's death in July of 2011, the book features Freud's portraits of subjects including Kitty Garman and Lady Caroline Blackwood, both of whom were married to the artist; his mother, Lucie Freud; friends and colleagues Martin Gayford and David Hockney; and more formal portraits of subjects including Andrew Parker Bowles and Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza.
In his essay, critic Martin Gayford discusses Freud's standing as an artist and his place in art history and offers personal insights into the artist's life and approach to portraiture. Artist and longtime friend David Hockney gives a revealing account of his own experience sitting for a portrait by Freud. An illustrated chronology and previously unpublished documentary photographs place Freud's works within the context of his remarkable biography.
An ideal introduction to Freud's work, "Lucian Freud: Painting People" offers an excellent survey of an artist considered one of the world's greatest realist painters.
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Draw It With Your Eyes Closed : the art of the art assignment

Draw It with Your Eyes Closed: the Art of the Art Assignment, is a unique and wide-ranging anthology featuring essays, drawings, and assignments from over 100 contributors including: John Baldessari, William Pope.L, Mira Schor, Rochelle Feinstein, Bob Nickas, Chris Kraus, Liam Gillick, Amy Sillman, James Benning, and Michelle Grabner. Practical and quixotic in equal parts, the art assignment can resemble a riddle as much as a recipe, and often sounds more like a haiku, or even a joke, than a clear directive. From introductory exercises in perspective drawing to graduate-level experiments in societal transformation, the assignment coalesces ideas about what art is, how it should be taught, and what larger purpose it might, or might not, serve. The book is a written record of an evolving oral tradition. Bringing together hundreds of assignments, anti-assignments, and artworks from both teachers and students from a broad range of institutions, Draw It with Your Eyes Closed serves as an archive and an instigation, a teaching tool and a question mark, a critique and a tribute.
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Digital SLR Photography for Dummies eLearning Kit

Understand and use digital SLR cameras with this complete photography course
If you're making the switch from simple point-and-shoot cameras to more complex dSLRs and hoping to enhance your photography skills along the way, make your next purchase this value-packed eLearning kit. This complete dSLR photography course includes a full-color printed book and a Dummies interactive eLearning course on CD. You'll find a wealth of information on such topics as how to set your camera's exposure controls, composition do's and don't's, and how to apply what you're learning so you take better pictures.
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The Digital Photography Book, Part 4: The Step-By-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros'!

"The Digital Photography Book, Vol. 4" follows in the footsteps of the wildly successful previous volumes, giving photographers nearly 200 more closely guarded photographic "tricks of the trade" to get them shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos with their digital cameras.
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