New worlds : German and Austrian Art, 1890-1940 /

Though there is no lack of studies on the well-known artists and movements covered by this new publication--such as Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka of circa 1900 Viennese modernism; Kirchner, Pechstein, and Nolde of Brucke; Kandinsky and Macke of Blaue Reiter; Grosz and Schwitters of Dada and Neue Sachlichkeit; Moholy-Nagy, Feininger, Klee, and Schlemmer of Bauhaus; decorative artists in Vienna around 1900 such as Wagner, Loos, and Hoffmann; German applied artists and architects such as Behrens, Breuer, and van der Rohe--lesser-known artists, such as Viennese decorative artists Moser, Sika, Trethan, Urban, the Prutschers, and Peche, and German applied artists and architects Brandt, Bogler, Wagenfeld, and Przyremel, have not fared as well. This excellent book rectifies this omission and serves, first as inaugural catalog of Neue Galerie New York, focusing on the work of the 44 artists represented in the book. Price assembled some 30 authors, including Jane Kallir, Peter Selz, Reinhold Heller, Serge Sabarsky, and Magdalena Droste, to write sections on the artists and their art, the movements, and thematic issues, all accompanied by black-and-white historical images and endnotes. Each work has an entry in the various checklists, and there are many high-quality color reproductions. Excellent bibliographies and index. Highly recommended for all modern art collections. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. J. Weidman Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Just across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a new museum opened last year with the aim of promoting the German and Austrian revolutionaries who fueled the artistic upheavals of the first half of the 20th century. This first publication from the Neue Galerie reflects the institution's broad mission as well as its quirks. Each of four main sections-covering Viennese fine art around 1900, Germany after 1900, Viennese decorative arts of the period, and applied arts and architecture in Germany from the 1890s to the 1930s-presents a broad subject essay, biographical essays about artists with works in the museum, color plates of pieces in the collection, and checklists providing provenance and other scholarly details on the works. Despite its breadth, this is a catalog to a collection, so some prominent names are noticeably absent; and with more than 20 contributors, the quality of the writing varies dramatically. These drawbacks are overcome by the wise choice to focus on individual artists rather than movements and styles and by the recurring theme of how the artists were received and perceived in the United States, which gives the book a unique purpose. Essential for all academic collections, the book also provides a good overview for all but the smallest public libraries.-Eric Bryant, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.