From Library Journal
The past ten years have seen a wealth of good publications devoted to American art and, in particular, the formation of a uniquely American artistic identity. Expanding that list are two new publications, one from that bastion of American art, the Whitney Museum, and one from an unlikely source: an exhibition created and shown solely in France. Fresh, intelligent, informative, and wide-ranging, the Whitney's American Visionaries illuminates the work and careers of over 280 artists in the collection, from its earliest exhibitors to the big names of postwar American art to contemporary new media artists. Each entry includes a full-color reproduction of a work and a short text that considers both the specific work and the artist's larger role in American art. The introductory essay by Maxwell L. Anderson, the Whitney's director, traces the growth and evolution of this premier collection. This handbook adds nicely to the array of focused collection catalogs recently produced by the museum. Beginning in the early 20th century, American Art surveys its subject through the often-critical eyes of European (primarily French) art historians. The exhibition itself, one in a proposed series, was organized by FRAME (French Regional & American Museums Exchange), a loose organization of 18 French and American museums. The catalog presents 200 works (paintings, sculptures, prints, and photographs), with essays that provide important viewpoints on the development of a unique American art form as seen from a distinctly European perspective. Although the translation is a little awkward at times, the essays are beautifully and liberally illustrated with images from the exhibition. Both books are recommended for all libraries with American art historical collections, though American Art is best for academic and museum libraries, and American Visionaries will be most valued by libraries that do not have other recent collection catalogs from the Whitney. Kraig A. Binkowski, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
American Art, 1908-1947 offers fresh interpretations of diverse modern American artworks by a cast of mostly French art historians, an unusual perspective given the stupendous influence of French artists on American artists during that era, and the disconcerting fact that this essential period of American art has been little known in France. American readers will be piqued by the provocative title of editor de Chassey's introductory essay, "Why Has There Been No Great American Art (Before the Triumph of Abstract Expressionism)?" And what follows is a series of mind-stretching, sometimes goading discussions that trace the emergence of a genuine American aesthetic accompanied by paintings, photographs, and some sculpture by the likes of Alfred Stieglitz, John Marin, Paul Strand, Charles Demuth, and Thomas Hart Benton, as well as less familiar artists. This is a skewed but intriguing overview of a dynamic and globally influential chapter in the increasingly complex history of art. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Offering a fresh perspective on American art from the first half of the 20th century, this elegant book presents approximately 200 paintings, works on paper, photographs, and sculpture by such artists as Ansel Adams, Milton Avery, Walker Evans, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ben Shahn, Paul Strand, and Grant Wood, along with works by other well-known and less-familiar artists. All the works are reproduced in stunning full-color and duotone plates. These works have been brought together for a traveling exhibition organized through F.R.A.M.E., a major artistic exchange program between the United States and France. This book, published to accompany the inaugural exhibition of the program, includes texts by French and American art historians that place the works in art-historical context.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Offering a fresh perspective on American art from the first half of the twentieth century, this elegant book presents approximately two hundred paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and photographs by artists such as Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Ben Shahn, Paul Strand, and Grant Wood. Works by other well-known and less-familiar artists are also included, each with an individual commentary. All the works are reproduced in stunning full-color and duotone plates. The history of American art has been told almost exclusively by American writers. This new book, written mainly by French scholars, brings a new point of view to the painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and photography of the period, which begins with the scandals of the Eight and the Armory Show and ends with the advent of Abstract Expressionism. How did artists as diverse as Arthur Dove, Jacob Lawrence, and finally Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman struggle with the opposing notions of what it was to be an American artist and what it was to be part of the international history of modern art? The artists who succeeded were those who found ways to reconcile these issues, and who understood that the twentieth century was the century of Americanism. Beginning with the realist tradition, this lavish book looks at the different manifestations of the period's various movements and schools in the United States, ultimately offering a unique look at American art -- from outside America.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal