Mark Tansey /

Catalog for a traveling exhibition of the artist's work begun at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and curated by Judi Freeman. The brief catalog contains three essays and an afterword. Freeman's essay is an enlightening interpretation of the artist's working methods, inspirations, and place within the recent history of painting. A short essay by the painter illuminates his intentions, historical influences, and methods. The text is supported by a complete bibliography and exhibition record, and the volume includes a good number of reproductions that are true to life. The exhibition is not a retrospective, for it addresses Tansey's work only from the late 1970s to 1992. Tansey has emerged as one of the most important among the group of American figurative painters who came to international prominence in the late 1970s. Any library wishing to build a comprehensive collection on contemporary artists should include something on Tansey. The book under review is recommended as a good source and one of the most comprehensive to date. For another good work on the painter see Arthur Danto's Mark Tansey: Visions and Revisions (1992). R. J. Merrill; University of Southern California