Chalk

(Paperback)

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**A New York Times Editors Choice** "The most substantive biography of the artist to date...propulsive, positive and persuasive."-Holland Cotter, New York Times Book Review **PEN / Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography Finalist** **A Marfield Prize Finalist** Cy Twombly was a man obsessed with myth and history-including his own. Shuttling between stunning homes in Italy and the United States where he perfected his room-size canvases, he managed his public image carefully and rarely gave interviews. Upon first seeing Twombly's remarkable paintings, writer Joshua Rivkin became obsessed himself with the mysterious artist, and began chasing every lead, big or small-anything that might illuminate those works, or who Twombly really was. Now, after unprecedented archival research and years of interviews, Rivkin has reconstructed Twombly's life, from his time at the legendary Black Mountain College to his canonization in a 1994 MoMA retrospective; from his heady explorations of Rome in the 1950s with Robert Rauschenberg to the ongoing efforts to shape his legacy after his death. Including previously unpublished photographs, Chalk presents a more personal and searching type of biography than we've ever encountered, and brings to life a more complex Twombly than we've ever known.

Reviews

"A valuable synthesis of whats been said and written about Twombly, and the authors lyrical analyses of Twomblys paintings are both lovely and insightful."Andrew Martin, HARPER'S MAGAZINE

"The book becomes a record of obsessive love without any outlet, dead ends, yearning themes central to Twombly...[A] besotted, often very beautiful book."
Parul Sehgal, THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Refreshing ... a story well told."Bridget Quinn, Hyperallergic

Fascinatingthis biography unveils for the first time the many complexities of Twomblys artistic and personal life.Edward Goldman, KCRWs Art Critic

"A long, haunted letter of unrequited love, and a meta-analysis of true biographys impossibility.Catherine Lacey for THE PARIS REVIEW

"Chalkis an illuminating book...a laudable effort to lift the veil on an artist of concealment."
LOS ANGELES REVIEW of BOOKS

"Achieves unusual dimensionality by putting the experience of standing for many hours in front of Twomblys work together with travels to the places Twombly lived, and portraits of the people who surrounded him."Rachel Cohen for BOMB

Meticulousin clear, precise prose Rivkin goes to great lengths to understand Twomblys experience.ENTROPY

"[A] rewarding excavation into the life of Cy Twombly... rich prose studded with flashes of poetry... [a] patient, loving exploration."15 BYTES MAGAZINE

"For an art lover, collector, student or fan: utterly fascinating."THE STANDARD-TIMES (MA)

[A] passionate, prismatic biographygripping and revelatory.OPEN LETTERS REVIEW

"A creative portal into the life of the enigmatic, reclusive, modernist painter...Rivkin's first bookimpeccably researched, lavishly and lovingly written, insightful and discerningis a joy to read."
*starred*KIRKUS REVIEWS

"Rivkin brings his sensibility and prowess as a poet and essayist to this unusually reflective, stealthily dramatic inquiry into the enigmatic life and work of artist Cy Twombly... An extraordinarily involving, gorgeously written chronicle of art, controversy, fame, and the perils of biography."*starred*BOOKLIST



A singular reading experienceSHELF AWARENESS

"An entertaining and insightful biography of the painter.POETRY FOUNDATION


[A] compelling biography/memoirRivkins readings of the canvases provides as intimate encounter with the paintings as can be hoped for in printand a valuable supplement to the catalogue (or, better yet, to a visit to the museum)Indispensable.JHIBLOG

Reviled when young, revered when old, the elusive Twombly surprisingly emerges in this fascinating biography, which traces the difficulties of tracking down the man as thoroughly as it fills in the blurred, half-erased likeness. This is the record of a heroic journey of discovery.
acclaimed author and memoirist Edmund White

Joshua Rivkins sensitive eye and investigative ambitionexpandand enrichour understanding of Cy Twombly'sgenius inthis tenderly rendered biography.
Rachel Corbett, author ofYou Must Change Your Life

So much more than a study of the life and work of the famously guarded Twombly. At once candid and tender, meditative and unsparing . . .this book is a gift to Twombly devotees and newcomers alikeas imbued with beauty, genius, and vitality as the artists work that is its subject.Lacy Johnson, author ofThe OtherSide

Joshua Rivkins revelatoryChalkperforms an archaeology of a life and explores the layers below those wethinkwe already know (or maybe those we never even dreamed existed).
R. Tripp Evans, author ofGrant Wood: A Life

This book is a network of glances, an architecture of mirrors and hallways, all in pursuit of a figure in the carpetthe mysterious Twombly and the haunting scrawl of his beautiful paintings.Alexander Nemerov, Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University and author ofSoulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine

Author Bio

Joshua Rivkin's poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and Best New Poets. A former Fulbright Scholar in Rome, Italy, as well as a Stegner Fellow in poetry, he has received awards from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and Ucross Foundation. He teaches creative writing for Stanford's Continuing Studies and lives in Salt Lake City.