Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Books 12 Gift-Worthy Art Books Available at Parnassus
Posted by Laura Hutson & Joe Nolan on Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 7:30 AM
Building Stories, by Chris Ware
For everyone who thought that Chris Ware would always be best-known as the creator of Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth, I present to you this giant box of comic strips, a game board, magazines, books and booklets. Together, they tell the interconnected stories of different residents of the same three-story Chicago brownstone. Ware has been working on Building Stories for more than a decade, and it's sure to be a treasure trove of humor, empathy and raw, gut-wrenching storytelling. —LH
Red Grooms: The Graphic Works
This book dates back to 2001, but two things make it a must on Nashville's bookshelves: First, Grooms is a homeboy artist who made it big in New York City. If you don't think Grooms is cool, just Google the No Gas series that Cheekwood has shown in various arrangements through the years. If that wasn't enough, this volume is authored by Grooms' lifelong friend — native Nashvillian, art patron and collector Walter Knestrick. Bonus points: There are plenty of autographed copies available. —JN
William Eggleston: Los Alamos Revisited
Memphis-based Eggleston spent nearly a decade snapping photos on the road, crisscrossing the country between 1965 and 1974. The body of work created at that time became known as Los Alamos, and the recent discovery of a mysterious “Box 83” has revealed images in the series that have never been seen before. This three-volume deluxe set represents an art investment more than a mere book-buying opportunity. —JN
Artists in Love, by Veronica Kavass
For a long time, the academic world looked down its nose at topics like artists' love lives, for reasons I can only imagine have to do with a fear of not being taken seriously. As a result, the rich and storied history of the interconnectedness between artists has largely been untapped. With Artists in Love, Veronica Kavass applies her deep knowledge and understanding of art to an area that is a kind of academic undiscovered country. There's a lot to learn about, and Kavass is a hell of a guide. —LH
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, With Illustrations by Yayoi Kusama
On the heels of a retrospective at The Whitney and a collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Japanese artist Kusama is on the verge of Murakami-like pop-cultural saturation. Buy this book and shape the childhood memories of your favorite niece or nephew, or show your classy, fashionable girlfriend that you know your way around an art museum. —LH
Flannery O'Connor: The Cartoons
I've raved about The Graphic Canon in this publication, and this weekend, The New York Times joined the chorus, saying its marriage of comics art and treasured literature had struck a chord, heralding a new trend in graphic lit. One of the things that makes the collection so strong is that it forces readers to expand and explore the way the relationship between words and pictures asserts itself in various media. For Flannery O'Connor, narrative was a vehicle for intense, singular imagery, but she'd set out to be a cartoonist. Shocking, right? This book explores the writer's development as a visual artist, and brings a brand new perspective to our understanding of all of O'Connor's work. —JN
Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold, by Tim Hetherington
If you want to find out more about the Long Story Bit By Bit exhibit at Vanderbilt read the insightful review Eric Lehning wrote for the Scene. If you want to take the show home with you, we suggest buying the book. Long Story's Tim Hetherington documents the Liberian Civil War with the same kind of chaotic intimacy he and Sebastian Younger captured in the War in Afghanistan documentary film Restrepo. Hetherington was nominated for an Oscar for the film before being tragically killed in war-torn Misurata Libya. —JN
Drawing From the City, by Tejubehan
The latest edition from indie Indian publishers Tara Books, Drawing From the City is the most Artistic-with-a-capital-A book on this list. Each copy is silkscreen-printed, bound by hand on handmade paper, and the cover is colored with traditional Indian dyes. It would be a perfect for anyone interested in printmaking, and would make an extra-special gift for the budding feminist in your family.
The Shock of the New, by Robert Hughes
First released in 1980, The Shock of the New might sound like old news, but this companion TO the BBC television art series is a thoroughly lucid — and often prescient — commentary on the voyage of modern art from Picasso and Braque through to the contemporary art emerging at the dawn of the Reagan Era. Both its humor and its heavy thinking are credited to the unforgettable Robert Hughes. We were sad to lose Hughes this past August. —JN
Drawn Together, by Aline and R. Crumb
A few years ago, reviewing R. Crumb's graphic-novel take on the Old Testament, I was moved to re-watch Crumb — Terry Zwigoff's classic documentary about the underground comics artist. In a film full of memorable characters, Crumb's wife steals her share of scenes. An underground comics legend in her own right, Aline Kominsky-Crumb met Robert in San Fransisco, and the couple have been married for decades. Drawn Together finds the couple doing just that in a tender — if often hilarious — exploration of marriage and their artistic struggles. —JN
The Dust Bowl, by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
The companion to the two-part PBS documentary, this chronicle of the Dust Bowl might surprise you. The photographs are disarmingly modern, and the oral histories are both thoughtful and heartfelt. Buy this for your history nerd dad, or anyone who loves digging through idiosyncratic archival photographs for inspiration. —LH
Mati & The Music: 52 Record Covers
Mati Klarwein was the German artist responsible for the art on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, one of the finest examples of visionary psychedelia ever. Get familiar with his other work with this volume, which includes more than 50 of his other works. A perfect for both record snobs and design nerds. —LH
All of these books are available at Parnassus Books, on 3900 Hillsboro Pike. Call them at 615-953-2243 to reserve your copies.
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