cover image The Life & the Work: Art and Biography

The Life & the Work: Art and Biography

. J. Paul Getty Trust Publications, $45 (162pp) ISBN 978-0-89236-823-5

This collection of six essays uses a number of approaches to examine the relationship among the life, work and criticism of an artist. Professor and Artforum magazine associate editor Rosalind Krauss follows Salas's introduction with an essay that's pure theory, detached from sustained consideration of any specific artist; the rest, while still immersed in theory, each focus on specific artists: Leonardo, Cezanne, van Gogh and Gauguin, the Art & Language collective, and Warhol and Bob Dylan. Questions raised are compelling and important, if not exactly unexpected: how should an artist's work be understood in light of questionable prejudices or political affiliations? How does the psychological makeup of an artist (in childhood or sexual experiences) illuminate his or her work? What role does religion play? How important is the artist's own commentary regarding his or her intentions? Most of these essays make a successful exploration of the role of art and biography in art criticism, clearing enough interpretive space to dig deeply into specific works, though the entries from Robert Williams and Paul Smith never quite manage to settle the issues at hand. Non-specialists may find it dry, but readers with an academic interest in art will find much to mull. Color illustrations.