American images : the SBC collection of twentieth-century American art /

The American corporation SBC Communications showcases in this superbly printed (in Japan) book its extensive, well-chosen art works in its collection of American art of diverse styles in various two dimensional mediums. Valuable (but regrettably too brief) commentaries are provided by 13 outstanding contemporary art critics. American Images begins with the early-19th century painter John James Audubon and moves through various artistic developments to the postmodern artists Sandy Skoglund and Richard Prince. As one of the writers, John Beardsley, says, "the collection is an effort to make sense of a culture." There is an attempt to give a sense of historical background of American art, to determine what is uniquely American. The book deals both with the anti-urban regionalism of painters such as Thomas Hart Benton and with the impact cities had on east coast painters such as Robert Henri. The book pays tribute to America's diverse ethnic heritage by including black artists such as Romare Bearden and Chicano artists such as Luis Jimenez. General; undergraduate; graduate. M. Kren Kansas State University

It's a shame that so many corporate art collections remain sequestered from the art-loving public. SBC Communications, Inc., is justifiably proud of its exciting and distinctive collection of twentieth-century American art, and its sharing it with the world is an act of generosity and aesthetic validation. The works, which run the gamut from George Bellows to Robert Longo, are presented in 166 color reproductions and discussed in a succinct and graceful set of essays by such critics and curators as Dore Ashton, John R. Clarke, Susan Larsen, and Irving Sandler. Not only does the collection cover the birth and evolution of modern American art, it contains some of the very best and most unusual work by such artists as Robert Henri, Charles Sheeler, and Helen Frankenthaler, and embraces a number of underappreciated artists, including Everett Shinn, Gerald Murphy, Theodore Roszak, and Yvonne Jacquette. SBC is to be commended for its confidence and good taste. --Donna Seaman

Featuring 13 essays by art historians, critics and curators wrapped around 166 color plates and 364 black-and-white photographs, this serendipitous catalogue of telecommunication giant SBC Inc.'s corporate art collection selectively chronicles the pluralistic concerns of 20th-century American art, from George Bellows and Childe Hassam to Robert Longo's provocative explorations of gender identity, Neil Welliver's crystal-clear semiabstract landscapes and William Wegman's wildly humorous photographic dog portraits. Rutgers professor Matthew Baigell groups Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Charles Burchfield and Milton Avery as artists who probed the national character by focusing on the American scene. Eminent critic Dore Ashton charts the New York School's emergence in works by Pollock, de Kooning, Gorky, arguing that abstract expressionism's guiding philosophy was respect for each individual as a reservoir of feelings and images. Other essays explore pop art's debt to happenings, minimalism's reductive aesthetics, Ashcan school realism, African American and Hispanic art. Carlos Almaraz's powerful symbolist serigraph Greed and Pat Steir's marvelously evocative white-on-black oil Waterfall of Ancient Ghosts typify the diversity of the current scene. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Corporate patronage of the arts has a long tradition; as is frequently the case, the corporate collection of SBC Communications Inc., begun in 1985, devotes itself to art being created in its own country, in its own time. However, it differs from many other collections of this type in that it is strongly committed to playing a public role in gathering, displaying, and circulating its holdings. This book examines the past century of American art in scholarly fashion and presents the entire collection‘nearly 1000 works gathered over the past decade that reflect the multiple facets of the "American image." The essays touch on American Modernism, Regionalism, and the New York School, as well as Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism. The writing on "Contemporary Diversity," in particular, provides insight into our energy-filled, constantly changing cultural view. Excellent, well-annotated illustrations and an extensive bibliography make this handsome production a useful resource for those researching contemporary American art; the volume is also a comment on what can be accomplished by corporate sponsorship with a commitment to public education. For large public and art collections.‘Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.