Mentors: The Making of an Art Historian

(Paperback)

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A surprising and revealing memoir populated with art historians, art influencers, and the former lover and lifelong friend of Marcel Duchamp, Beatrice Wood.

Francis M. Naumann, a distinguished expert on Dada and Marcel Duchamp reflects upon his mentors, including Leo Steinberg, John Rewald, and perhaps his greatest influence: Beatrice Wood, a renowned ceramic artist and one of the most prominent participants in New York Dada. Wood set Naumann upon a course of original research that would define him, but also provided a moral platform for what an art historian could be. Artwork by Kathleen Gilje; French flaps.

Reviews

[A]t heart,Mentorsis an accessible and richly detailed celebration of intense cross-generational exchanges between individuals who champion and challenge each other. Naumanns cogent and open communicative style, and his personal and professional integrity, should be inspirational and valuable to all, forMentorsis an encounter with a fine and fiercely exacting mind.
Hyperallergic
"Naumanns writing is entertaining and authentic. He sings the praises of those who formed his own character as well as embraces their flaws. From the bordellos to the classrooms and from high rises to high on the hills of France and Italy, this story offers a unique and riveting view into the world of art history and the people therein."
Seattle Book Review, 4.5 stars

Naumann allows the reader to see how patterns of sexual comradery among prominent male scholars reinforced the masculinization of art historical scholarship. Naumann broke with that sexist world when, to both Steinbergs and Rewalds befuddlement, he took an interest in the work of Beatrice Wood, an accomplished California potter. Naumann first met Wood in 1976 during the course of his research into New York Dada when she was 84 and he 28, and he played a tireless role in reigniting her art world career through his devotion to writing about and exhibiting her work something he has continued to do for other forgotten women Dada and Surrealist artists including Mary Callery, Henrietta Myers, and Maria Martins. Wood became Naumanns closest friend and confidant until her death at 105 in 1998. The course of Naumanns life directed by his choice to adopt different aspects of his mentors, shows how we become ourselves through the ongoing transformation spawned by these relationships.

Robert R. Shane, The Brooklyn Rail

Author Bio

Francis M. Naumann is an independent scholar, curator, and art dealer, specializing in the art of the Dada and Surrealist periods. He is author of numerous articles and exhibition catalogues, including New York Dada 191525 (Harry N. Abrams, 1994), considered to be the definitive history of the movement, and Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Making Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (Harry N. Abrams, 1999), Wallace Putnam (Harry N. Abrams, 2002) and Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray (Rutgers University Press, 2002). In 1996, he organized "Making Mischief: Dada Invades New York" for the Whitney Museum of American Art; in 1997, "Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute" for the American Craft Museum in New York; and, in 2003, he co-curated "Conversion to Modernism: The Early Work of Man Ray" for the Montclair Art Museum. His most recent book is The Recurrent, Haunting Ghost: Essays on the Art, Life and Legacy of Marcel Duchamp (Readymade Press, 2012). He currently owns and operates a gallery in New York City, which specializes in art from the Dada and Surrealist periods, as well as work by contemporary artists who possess related aesthetic sensibilities.