Russell from Princeton Architectural Press got in touch recently and asked if I'd like to receive review copies of some of their books (with no obligation attached); anything he felt might be of interest. Books like Cartographies…, for example.
I'll be honest, it wasn't something I had to wrestle with. PA Press publish some (and I don't use this word very often) awesome books. Lists is the next one and comes straight out of the archives of a most anally-retentive collection (so it's right up my street). Not surprising to discover, therefore, that it's actually compiled by a Smithsonian Institution curator, Liza Kirwin. Lists is an anthology of to-do lists, collected notes, inventories and workings from some seriously influential artists: Picasso, Alexander Calder, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Ad Reinhardt and loads of others. In a way, byrights, it should be as dull as dishwater but, of course, it's not. Instead Lists is slightly voyeuristic (this is stuff we're not meant to see) and a nosey man's dream (that nosey man being me).
And if you think Cartographies and Lists look ace, just wait until you see the next books.
Your blog is responsible for so many of the books on my bookcase. Thanks for feeding the addiction! (no trace of irony). BTW. did you lose a chicken over the weekend? we think ours have given up. Poor old ladies. :(
Posted by: Zoe | 17 May 2010 at 01:25 AM