Henry Taylor

Purchased for my MOM who has wanted it for some time. She is so happy to have it finally. "Thank you Thank you Mr. Taylor"

5. Henry Taylor – 2018 with essays by Zadie Smith, Sarah LewisThe production quality of this book is high, it runs to 320 pages contained within strong hardback covers.Zadie Smith’s essay situates Taylor’s work in contemporary African American culture and focuses on the difficulties facing black artists today. Sarah Lewis takes this a step further and focuses on how today’s racial tensions have influenced Henry Taylor’s painting in terms of subject matter.The interview with the artist Charles Gaines did not focus as much on studio practice and art making as I would have liked. Taylor has a distinct painterly style and a recognizable palette but Gaines did not want to focus on the art. On page 67 Gaines says,“You’re bringing it back into the realm of art again. I was trying to stay outside of art.”He could have enquired about paint handling, composition and color, but he didn’t. I felt that, in some ways, Gaines hi-jacked the discussion and directed Taylor to reiterate what had already been said in the essays about subject matter. The interview section has some puzzling large white spaces on pages 69 and 78, which may be layout mistakes.Gaines holds forth on the controversy with Dana Schutz at the Whitney and rather eclipses the man he is supposed to be talking to. This book could do with some information and photos on how Taylor makes art as well as why. He almost seems absent from his own book. It’s odd.The third essay by Kaadzi Ghansah goes over the same ground and the total effect for me was that although the plates are sumptuous, the writers have somewhat short-changed the artist.There are very few people who can write about art in a knowledgeable way. It needs a leap of faith into another’s world. It requires humility and generosity and formidable powers of analysis. If you want to read good work then look at Mark Doty in Still Life with Oysters and Lemon, Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker, Charlotte Mullins in Painting People: Figure Painting Today and of course Robert Hughes in Shock of the New. They’ve all spent time acquiring the skills to respond to art and they can guide us into a deeper understanding.There are far too many writer-curators with PhDs rushing around burping up art theory, leaving them no time to respond to the paintings. It’s a shame.I am not saying don’t buy the book. Buy the book, for the art, not for the writing. Henry Taylor is a very talented artist. Leave a review on Amazon. Tell them that we want better writing about art.

An amazing and much needed monograph on this incredible artist. The quality of this book is second to none. Thick and glossy pages, all full color illustrations with over 150 works shown of Taylor’s. Hurry up and buy before it goes up in price!

This book your very nice, it has a clean layout and a good Art Book to add to your collection.

amazing all around.

This is a beautiful coffee table book. Good quality.

Best book I’ve ever bought!

Super livre vraiment complet