Art Books is a free discussion group open to all Artists Council members via Zoom and held on the third Tuesday of each month from 3:30 - 4:30 pm.  Here is the reading schedule for the next few months:

AC Books Reading List for 2022

(Updated 1-4-22)

January 18, 2022

Meeting cancelled

 

February 15 AND March 15, 2022

One Madder Woman (Berthe Morisot)

By Dede Crane

NOTE:  We will read the first half of this book for the February meeting and the second half for the March meeting.

One Madder Woman illuminates the stories behind familiar masterpieces, and sketches a life teeming with obstacles defied and conquered by the genius of Berthe Morisot. At a time when art was a space completely dominated by men, Morisot upends all expectations of what a “proper woman” should be and manages to carve out her own place in the art world. Crane’s rich prose and lyrical expression bring this revolutionary artistic period to life, in vivid and glorious color.
 

April 19, 2022

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

by Gertrude Stein

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was written in 1933 by Gertrude Stein in the guise of an autobiography authored by Alice B. Toklas, who was her lover. It is a fascinating insight into the art scene in Paris as the couple were friends with Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. They begin the war years in England but return to France, volunteering for the American Fund for the French Wounded, driving around France, helping the wounded and homeless.  It was written to make money and was indeed a commercial success. However, it attracted criticism, especially from those who appeared in the book and didn't like the way they were depicted. 

 

May 17 AND June 21, 2022

Ninth Street Women: Five Painters & the Movement that Changed Modern Art

(Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, & Helen Frankenthaler)

by Mary Gabriel

Back by popular demand!  We will read the first half of this book for the May meeting and the second half for the June meeting.

Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of twentieth-century abstract painting -- not as muses but as artists. From their cold-water lofts, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, these pioneers burst open the door to the art world for themselves and countless others to come.

 

July 19, 2022

I Always Loved You: A Novel (Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas)

by Robin Oliviera

The young Mary Cassatt never thought moving to Paris after the Civil War to be an artist was going to be easy, but when, after a decade of work, her submission to the Paris Salon is rejected, Mary’s fierce determination wavers. Her father is begging her to return to Philadelphia to find a husband before it is too late, her sister Lydia is falling mysteriously ill, and worse, Mary is beginning to doubt herself. Then one evening a friend introduces her to Edgar Degas and her life changes forever. 

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Art Books is led by Gary Borgstedt. For more information on how to participate, please contact Gary at gary.l.borg@gmail.com