January 15th, 2007
by Joe Walentini / New York Views is published twice monthly.

Recommended Reading

Recently I completed reading Jed Perl’s book, New Art City, (Alfred Knopf, 2005, 622 pages) which took me about a year to finish.  This was not because the book is particularly dense or difficult; in fact quite the contrary.  No, my long read was due to the sundry stresses of daily life which force constraints on many activities I enjoy like reading for pleasure.  All I initially knew about this book is that it focused on what is for me, particularly as an abstract painter, an important historical period - the art world of the 40s, 50s and early 60s in New York. What I discovered was a superbly written and researched history with a subjective point of view on what the author correctly describes as a golden age of creativity in this country.

Think of this book as an abstract painting. With New York City establishing both a complex background and underlying theme, Perl fashions the foreground objects for this literary painting out of the art, artists, writers, poets, gallery owners and museum curators from the period.  Some of the famous like Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning and Harold Rosenberg are brought into sharp focus albeit with a refreshing perspective.  But he does not neglect less than household names like the writer John Graham, the photographer / filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt and the painter Richard Pousette-Dart. No major surprises in this but interspersed are interesting peripheral characters like the artist Earl Kerkam. Though near totally unknown today Kerkam was nevertheless a fixture and contemporary of the

Alice Zinnes, Galleria Janet Kurnatowski

Joan Hernandez Pijuan, Galeria Ramis Barquet

Cedar Bar denizens (the unofficial clubhouse of the New York School).  Nearly everyone from those decades is included in this book it seems, but in such correct proportions as to add richness to the mix.

Although some images are sprinkled throughout (mostly paintings but also photographs of the artists and writers) language is the primary medium and Perl wields it without getting lost in noxious clouds of obfuscation that so often taint professional criticism.  Rather, his writing is grounded in a straightforward prose style as combined with an intelligently informed analysis all of which strikes an exquisite balance between accessibility, engagement and imagination. Interwoven throughout this tapestry of city, art and history, Perl provides content in the form of nuanced viewpoints that range from analyses of individual artists and specific works of art to larger observations of the period to varied