Ten Precisionist Artists: Annotated Bibliographies

(Hardback)

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Description

Sometimes considered to be America's first indigenous modernist art style, Precisionism, a movement principally of the 1920s and 1930s, concentrated on depicting the urban and industrial landscape, emphasising the formal geometrical qualities of solid mass and clean lines and rendering these vistas with simplified, sharp-edged shapes and smooth, unmodulated application of pigment, void of extraneous details and impersonal in tone. This annotated bibliography deals with Precisionism and its 10 leading practitioners: George Ault, Peter Blume, Ralston Crawford, Charles Demuth, Preston Dickinson, O. Louis Guglielmi, Louis Lozowick, Morton L. Schamberg, Charles Sheeler, and Niles Spencer. Each artist chapter begins with a biographical sketch and includes sections for writings, statements, and interviews; monographs and exhibition catalogues; articles and essays; exhibition reviews; and archival sources. A section lists annotated reproductions of the artist's work appearing in any of approximately 225 source volumes. Coverage extends to paintings, drawings, lithographs, and photographs. An opening chapter, also divided by types of materials, covers Precisionism in general and cites material in which two or more of the ten artists are discussed. A keyword index provides full citations for the source volumes. Three other indexes facilitate access by author, short-title of exhibition catalogues, and subjects. This volume should be a valuable aid to research on a variety of subjects relating to modern American art.

Reviews

"This thorough guide is an invaluable resource for anyone researching either Precisionism in general or its adherents in particular."-ARBA 93
This thorough guide is an invaluable resource for anyone researching either Precisionism in general or its adherents in particular.-ARBA 93
This volume should be the starting point for future research on Precisionism, and an interesting sidelight to any study of American Modernism in general. . . . Highly recommended for comprehensive research collections and specialized art collections.-Choice
"This volume should be the starting point for future research on Precisionism, and an interesting sidelight to any study of American Modernism in general. . . . Highly recommended for comprehensive research collections and specialized art collections."-Choice

Author Bio

R. SCOTT HARNSBERGER is Assistant Professor and Collection Development Librarian for the Humanities at Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston State University. His articles have appeared in Reference Services Review, Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, and Magazines for Libraries.