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Ninth Street Women
- Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art
- Narrated by: Lisa Stathoplos
- Length: 40 hrs and 12 mins
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Publisher's summary
Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times).
Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of 20th-century abstract painting - not as muses but as artists. From their cold-water lofts, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, these pioneers burst open the door to the art world for themselves and countless others to come.
Gutsy and indomitable, Lee Krasner was a hell-raising leader among artists long before she became part of the modern art world's first celebrity couple by marrying Jackson Pollock. Elaine de Kooning, whose brilliant mind and peerless charm made her the emotional center of the New York School, used her work and words to build a bridge between the avant-garde and a public that scorned abstract art as a hoax. Grace Hartigan fearlessly abandoned life as a New Jersey housewife and mother to achieve stardom as one of the boldest painters of her generation. Joan Mitchell, whose notoriously tough exterior shielded a vulnerable artist within, escaped a privileged but emotionally damaging Chicago childhood to translate her fierce vision into magnificent canvases. And Helen Frankenthaler, the beautiful daughter of a prominent New York family, chose the difficult path of the creative life.
Her gamble paid off: At 23, she created a work so original it launched a new school of painting. These women changed American art and society, tearing up the prevailing social code and replacing it with a doctrine of liberation. In Ninth Street Women, acclaimed author Mary Gabriel tells a remarkable and inspiring story of the power of art and artists in shaping not just postwar America but the future.
Critic reviews
"These individuals are brought to life by Pulitzer Prize finalist Gabriel, who shows how each defied social convention and professional boundaries to create new creative forms and attain equality with their male counterparts.... A must for modern art historians and enthusiasts." (Library Journal, starred review)
"Ninth Street Women is like a great, sprawling Russian novel, filled with memorable characters and sharply etched scenes. It's no mean feat to breathe life into five very different and very brave women, none of whom gave a whit about conventional mores. But Ms. Gabriel fleshes out her portraits with intimate details, astute analyses of the art and good old-fashioned storytelling." (Ann Landi, Wall Street Journal)
"Gabriel delivers an immersive group biography of eclectic, free-spirited painters who shocked the art world in the 1940s and '50s with abstract expressionism.... Through the lens of these women's lives, Gabriel delivers a sweeping history of abstract expressionism and the postwar New York School, and an affectionate tribute to the underappreciated women of America's avant-garde." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
Editorial Review
Ninth Street Women is about five incredible women who ruffled feathers when they entered the world of 20th century abstract painting as artists instead of muses. Now, Amy Sherman-Paladino (see: Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and her producing partner, husband Daniel Palladino, are bringing these revolutionary women to the screen. I’m looking forward to all the signature, quirky flourishes and downing this listen as fast as I can in the meantime. —Rachel S., Audible Editor
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Curious Reader
- 05-20-19
Painful pronunciation issues!
So many names were mispronounced in this reading it had the effect of finger nails on a chalkboard. The director, producer, and narrator all failed this book by not doing their homework. The narrative was lively enough to keep me gritting my teeth until the bitter end, but Audible should pay me a credit for listening to this.
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29 people found this helpful
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- Jenny Jenkins
- 07-22-19
Gave Up on the Audio Version
The story of these important artists is an important and interesting one. But the editing and the narration both fall short.
Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Krasner and Elaine deKooning were extraordinary people — and intellectually tough as nails. The narrator here provides such a breathless, girlish tone to so many of their words, it is almost bizarre. Elaine dK talking about the size of a canvas is made to sound like a little girl talking about the height of the elephants at the circus: “it got bigger ... and bigger ... and bigger!” Has the narrator never heard how sophisticated New York women actually speak? The narration proved to be such a great disappointment that I shifted over to reading the rest of the book on Kindle— a great disappointment since this is a very long book and ideal for audio.
And yes, as other reviewers have noted, some of the mispronunciations were ridiculous. I wish authors would provide readers and producers with a list of foreign terms and names in their books, Perhaps writers could record how the names and terms are to be pronounced for the producer’s and narrator’s reference.
The editor let down the writer and reader by not cutting the trivial fat, especially about the male characters, and by not structuring the women’s stories more economically. I now know way more details about Barney Rossett and other secondary male figures than any reader of a book on these women artists needs to know. Keep that spotlight on the women — the book is 900 pages or something, and we don’t need so many detours and fun facts! A writer often thinks everything they have found is interesting and wonderful and wants to include it all in the book. It’s the editor’s role to contain those impulses and remind the writer where to keep the focus.
Disappointing and important at the same time — I hope the HBO series will inspire a shortened version of this book. And a different reader! I look forward to re-reading it then.
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16 people found this helpful
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- E.Sisto
- 04-05-19
Great book, very important history.
This book is very important for how it fleshes out the history of the New York School.
And it makes clear how essential, respected and courageous the women were. I found it very moving to learn especially about Lee and Elaine -how active they were intellectually with in that group of painters.
The reader, however, was not up to the job.
I knew some of the artists in the book and was surprised at how many of their names she mispronounced. Also at times she almost didn’t seem to realize what she was reading. Her tone was often trivializing. Not good.
But the book is still totally worth listening to.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Judith
- 06-29-19
Excellent book, narrator not so much
Ready to plunge into the mid-20th C NY art world? Then this book’s for you! It takes commitment to read such a lengthy book, but it brings the past to life, and you don’t have to be an art expert to enjoy it. These talented women bucked a sexist art world, a misogyny that only grew more intense as time went on. Gabriel is a fine storyteller.
Stay with it, even if you have trouble with the narrator, as I did. Her nasality, misplaced inflections and mispronunciations grated. Unlike fictional characters, these were real people whose names deserve to be pronounced the way they themselves did.
Don’t let my crankiness keep you away. It’s a great tale.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Teadye
- 07-19-19
All around cringeworthy
Gossipy, foolish and mostly about men, clothes and how clean the fridge was. I almost fell over when the author assured us that Joan Mitchell’s boobs were more than big enough to bolster her self-confidence! And so on... Wow. Really disappointing on so many levels.
Then there was the narration. Imagine an elementary school teacher reading Portnoy’s Complaint to a group of second graders and you’re pretty much there. Breathless E*Nun*see *AAA*shun and hyper-attention to punctuation coupled with misguided saccharine emphasis on random words... It took an act of will to finish this book. Thank heavens it’s over.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Art Maker
- 05-15-19
Kay sirra, sirra
The story is familiar, and told from the perspectives of the women of the New York School, it bears revisiting, though there's inevitably a disproportionately wide spotlight on the men, yet again. The book situates art world developments within the greater social, cultural and political circumstances of the times, a plus. What's annoying here is the narrator's weak grasp on correct pronunciations of many European names - someone should have coached her in this regard. Her French is especially rocky. It injects the wrong kind of humorous note in the listening experience.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Cookie Mom
- 02-15-20
Don't expect to hear about the women's art
While the book was at times immersing and rich in historical detail; it was a struggle to finish. The art of the women titled is seldom discussed. If one wants a book about the abstract expressionist movement and the historical setting, the book is overly long but interesting. If one is curious about Jackson Pollack and William de Kooning it is an in-depth biography, including all the details of their love lives and history of alcohol abuse. The women in this book seem like window dressing to the men. One finishes knowing everything about Jackson Pollack's wife and manager and having gained scarce knowledge of the work of Lee Krasner or the other women this book purports to feature. It is particularly vexing when Pollack is finally dead and the next two chapters go on to talk about Krasner selling his works and the rising prices being offered for the work of William de Kooning.
The book could be edited to a quarter to a half the length, at best, and be an engrossing read on the time and movement. As it is, it is a frustrating read about the looks and dress of the female artists mentioned with scant discussion of their art.
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3 people found this helpful
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- GeeBea
- 03-10-19
Detailed and riveting
The author returns again and again to history to put these important women and their circle in context. Really entertaining and fascinating!
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3 people found this helpful
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- William
- 11-02-19
Very poor recording.
The narrator sounds like she is reading under the covers in bed while the listener sits in a chair next to the bed. Very muffled.
When I turn up the volume it’s painful to focus as the muffling takes shape and fuzzy buzz in front of the words that are now hard to focus on because the plosives beat upon my eardrums.
I will be returning this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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- yellowjac
- 06-25-22
Draw-rings. Drawrings.
Great cultural history alongside focus on important female artists. Sadly, I focus on the readers pronunciation of drawings. Drawrings. Draw-rings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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1 person found this helpful
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- Strayficshion
- 10-11-20
Unexpectedly astonishing
This was recommended to me by my tutor on the OCA painting degree because, looking at a photo of the Ninth Street, New York School of Art, I thought it wasn't a school so much as a bunch of like-minded men who spent a lot of time in bars and cafes and I asked where all the women were. I wasn't looking forward to reading it and when I saw that the Audible version was 39 hours long, I really wasn't looking forward to having it pinning my ears back for such a very very long time. It looked endless.
So now I'm eating the hat I haven't got because while this is very definitely art focused, that's essentially the vehicle for an understanding of the politics, the place of women, and the life styles of people like them and the ones around them from the early 1900s to the death of the last surviving woman artist of the group in 2011.
They lived every kind of life; rich and poor, drunk and sober, drugged and clean. They were promiscuous and adventurous; they travelled, they saw wars and some of the men fought in them. Lives of excess and of near starvation.
Critically, and running through all of this is the recurring theme of whether women could be artists at all, never mind good ones, world-leading ones, or innovators. So often they were subjugated to their partners - the likes of Jackson Pollock and Bill de Kooning - and denied exhibitions in their own right. But they were also fighters; women who kept going against the odds, often picking up their drunken, debilitated men folk at the same time and propping them up long enough to make another painting. It reads as an exotic time; unique and with all the flamboyance of youth that never quite died even as they did.
My impression of this book, and my engagement with it is influenced hugely by the narrator, Lisa Stathoplos, whose style carries drama without acting, gives life without over-blowing things, and never over or under emphasises any phrase, word, or even syllable.
I know more now about this period of time, its social and political context, than I ever would have discovered or had any drive to discover otherwise. So art or no art, it was a revelation. I suspect those of us born later than these women might have thought we were the first to be feisty and to start breaking into men's worlds with challenges about equality, but these women were doing that without a voice, without a movement, without even a word - feminism - to bind them to each other. Gregarious party animals as they all seemed to be, at root they were all insular when it came to doing what drove them most - their art. I'm very glad to have had this book nudged in my direction and more than happy to nudge it in yours.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Alexandra
- 06-06-20
Super inspired
Im about 7 hours in, and its exactly what I need to hear as an artist right now. The accounts of artists lives through war and the great challenges of their era is timely and greatly supportive as we enter an uncertain era of our own. Plus fascinating insights into the intricacies of lives behind this work i have long adored.
I find the narration easy to listen to and am enjoying it on audio contrary to other reviewers. Highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mrs Samantha A Stickley
- 02-24-20
V v inspiring.
I listened as I worked in my studio. Inspiring and just to see these five women claiming their spots in art history.
The book is great but the audio a bit rubbish, still worth the purchase though.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Hannah
- 01-14-20
Poor narration
The breathless, soothing reading came across as an attempt to give some false excitement to a boring story. She sounds like she’s trying to smile during her reading to make it cheerful. Her emphasis on the wrong words in a sentence was distracting.
I was worried from the beginning that the writer wasn’t very serious when she said the story she had found out was so amazing it blew her mind so she had to write a book about it, and then she said she waited 20 years to begin.
But it covers an important part of art history so I persevered for a while. I gave up because of both the reader and the cliche-filled, gossipy, confusingly written text. I may go back.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 02-13-23
An gem that goes far beyond its title
Where to begin? with an understated cover and a title meant to appeal to contemporary feminism, had I seen the length of the book before purchasing it, I would probably not have dared.
It took me 2 winters, on and off, to get through war & peace, despite its geniality; I listened to 'Ninth Street Women' in basically 1 month.
This is how History should be told: through multiple characters that cross each other's paths; describing their lifestyle and thoughts in such a vivid way one can imagine sitting at the table with them; and criss-crossing story plots with major world events in a way both become more alive than ever before.
This story is the one of an artistic movement: abstract expressionism; all the major male artists are mentioned, but for once they are not the center: Gabriel's in-depth telling of the events is one centered around the often forgotten women who, at the time, painted, lived and exhibited in an EQUAL footing to their male contemporaries. Beautifully woven into the story is the ever-changing role and perception of women during the 20th Century - all, from feminist waves to the objectification of their bodies and negation of their minds - serving the greater good of political strategies.
Maybe Gabriel tried to include too much: endless side stories and interesting facts, but the moments are rare when the book wasn't engaging enough to make me press pause and research the various pieces and poems mentioned, rather than wishing she got on with the major plot.
On the down side is the audio: there seem to be two different recordings of the book and a very random editing at points. In one of the recordings, the narrator is lively and engaging - luckily this is the case in about 90% of the book - while in the other the voice is sluggish and monotone. Strange.
It is also worth mentioning - to any one who might be able to change it - that a random part of the last chapter is currently being repeated after the credits.
Voice editing aside, I found the book should be worth at least 2 credits.
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- LM
- 03-09-22
A must listen to for artists
This is an excellent book. I was captivated throughout. The narrator sensitively brought the text to life. As an artist I found it fascinating and having known some of the work of tug wse artists it's wonderful to discover how intertwined their lives were.
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- G. D. W. Scott
- 06-01-21
Much improved audio
I first got this about a year ago but had to return it as the audio was awful. I’m glad to report the audio has been improved and I am enjoying this book. Recommended if you want to learn more about the hitherto ignored role of women in modern art.
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- abigail mackie
- 08-26-20
Fascinating, in depth and informative
An incredible in depth exploration of the women from the new york school of post war abstract expressionism.
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- Kristine
- 06-13-19
Not just a woman’s world
Normally I am hesitant when the world ‘woman’ is in the title. It can lead to a bit of a rant. But this exceptional read opens the doors to a painters world. Being both a painter and a woman, Gabriel takes you into a world that is as energetic, layered and dramatic as the works that were produced in that era. She illustrates the hurdles many female artists had to jump for recognition and support. She provides an intimate insight into these artists and what it took to maintain your passion and perseverance to create. I can only imagine that writing this must have taken the same focus. It is a credit to the author and like the artworks created in their time, it is a formidable read that every artist, gallery owner and all those who love to create should hold a front row spot on the book shelf.
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- thomas coffey
- 08-17-23
A gang of desperate narcissists
A cloying narration, at times unbearable but I got to the end of it. Honestly, It was really hard to like any of these characters from this period. Sorry, but it was hard not to feel that they possess far more narcissism than talent. They seemed desperate for attention but in retrospection, much of their work seems uninteresting, and without a legacy to stand upon today. Philip Guston comes out a hero though, thankfully.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-30-22
Only the dedicated will finish
A profoundly important book not only about the abstract expressionist women and men of the time but a detailed and interesting historical lead in to the 50s and how this influenced the rise of the abstract expressionism. This book discussing the mid 20th century has helped me have an understanding of where I fit in the history of art and thereby grounding me. I have a whole new appreciation for 20thC history and the impact it on us in modern times.
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- Michelle Walker
- 01-14-22
A must read for any artist or curious creative
There’s so much to like about this book. I found it so illuminating to hear the story of these impactful artists who paved the way for us all. Mary Gabriel spent 20 years researching and writing this book… it shows in the depth and care of the final series of stories. If you’re after a light, short read, this one isn’t for you!
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- Anonymous User
- 12-18-20
Brilliant
A fascinating insight into New York in the fifties, the abstract expressionist movement and the intertwining lives of gutsy, passionate artists, who flew in the face of convention to achieve their dreams. I moved back and forth between the audio and hard copy book and eventually just found myself listening to the audio while googling paintings because I grew to love the narrator’s voice. The stories are engaging and easy to listen to and follow over time. I uncovered many books and paintings to research, gained a deeper understanding of the movement and had a break through with my own art process towards the latter half of the book. Am sure I will revisit this book over and over. Highly recommend to anyone interested in art and the artists struggle to negotiate the demands of life, art making and social expectations.
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Story
With her arrival on the music scene in the early 1980s, Madonna generated nothing short of an explosion—taking the nation by storm with her liberated politics and breathtaking talent. But Madonna was more than just a pop star. Everywhere, fans gravitated to her as an emblem of a new age, one in which feminism could shed the buttoned-down demeanor of the 1970s and feel relevant to a new generation. Deftly tracing Madonna’s story from her roots to her rise to super-stardom, master biographer Mary Gabriel captures the dramatic life and achievements of one of the greatest artists of our time.
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Narrator unbearable
- By Gina ihms on 10-13-23
By: Mary Gabriel
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Art Is Life
- Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz, Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Jerry Saltz is one of our most-watched writers about art and artists and a passionate champion of the importance of art in our shared cultural life. Since the 1990s he has been an indispensable cultural voice: Witty and provocative, he has attracted contemporary listeners to fine art as few critics have.
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WRONG for audio program
- By Karen Lehrer on 11-07-22
By: Jerry Saltz
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The Art of Rivalry
- Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses.
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Death by bob souer
- By SKWAD on 01-18-18
By: Sebastian Smee
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Broad Strokes
- 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order)
- By: Bridget Quinn
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Historically, major women artists have been excluded from the mainstream art canon. Aligned with the resurgence of feminism in pop culture, Broad Strokes offers an entertaining corrective to that omission. Art historian Bridget Quinn delves into the lives and careers of 15 brilliant female artists in this smart, feisty, educational, and enjoyable book.
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Unbelievably Trying
- By Lorraine on 09-15-20
By: Bridget Quinn
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Hilma af Klint
- A Biography
- By: Julia Voss, Anne Posten - translator
- Narrated by: Doria Bramante
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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The Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was forty-four years old when she broke with the academic tradition in which she had been trained to produce a body of radical, abstract works the likes of which had never been seen before. Today, it is widely accepted that af Klint was one of the earliest abstract academic painters in Europe. But this is only part of her story. Not only was she a working female artist, she was also an avowed clairvoyant and mystic.
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Ruined by narration
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-23-23
By: Julia Voss, and others
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Boom
- Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art
- By: Michael Shnayerson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The contemporary art market is an international juggernaut, throwing off multimillion-dollar deals as wealthy buyers move from fair to fair, auction to auction, party to glittering party. But none of it would happen without the dealers - the tastemakers who back emerging artists and steer them to success, often to see them picked off by a rival. Dealers operate within a private world of handshake agreements, negotiating for the highest commissions. Michael Shnayerson, a longtime contributing editor to Vanity Fair, writes the first-ever definitive history of their activities.
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Outstanding
- By Clifford I. Davis on 07-04-19
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ArtCurious
- Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History
- By: Jennifer Dasal
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dasal
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed - or even murdered.
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Very odd but I could not stop listening!
- By Jan Carlson on 10-05-21
By: Jennifer Dasal
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The Slip
- The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever
- By: Prudence Peiffer
- Narrated by: Melissa Redmond
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For just over a decade, from 1956 to 1967, a collection of dilapidated former sail-making warehouses clustered at the lower tip of Manhattan became the quiet epicenter of the art world. Coenties Slip, a dead-end street near the water, was home to a circle of wildly talented and varied artists that included Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman.
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This was a very good follow up to ninth Street women
- By Gary on 10-29-23
By: Prudence Peiffer
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Talk Art
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Contemporary Art but Were Afraid to Ask
- By: Russell Tovey, Robert Diament
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz, James Corden, Russell Tovey, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Talk Art is an accessible celebration of contemporary art, and a guidebook to navigating and engaging with the art world. Informal and jargon-free, this book proves that art really is for everyone. With an informative and engaging narrative, Talk Art will become the must-have book that art lovers return to again and again.
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Waste of Time
- By Dan Peterson on 03-04-23
By: Russell Tovey, and others
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How to Be an Artist
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Art has the power to change our lives. For many, becoming an artist is a lifelong dream. But how to make it happen? In How to Be an Artist, Jerry Saltz, one of the art world’s most celebrated and passionate voices, offers an indispensable handbook for creative people of all kinds. From the first sparks of inspiration - and how to pursue them without giving in to self-doubt - Saltz offers invaluable insight into what really matters to emerging artists: originality, persistence, a balance between knowledge and intuition, and that most precious of qualities, self-belief.
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Terrible Book Waste of Money
- By Classic on 04-22-20
By: Jerry Saltz
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Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, 100 Art Writings 1988-2018
- By: Peter Schjeldahl, Jarrett Earnest - introduction
- Narrated by: Peter Schjeldahl
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Hot Cold Heavy Light collects 100 writings - some long, some short - that taken together form a group portrait of many of the world’s most significant and interesting artists. From Pablo Picasso to Cindy Sherman, Old Masters to contemporary masters, paintings to comix, and saints to charlatans, Schjeldahl ranges widely through the diverse and confusing art world, an expert guide to a dazzling scene.
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needs pictures
- By Petra Juarez on 02-19-20
By: Peter Schjeldahl, and others
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Picasso's War
- How Modern Art Came to America
- By: Hugh Eakin
- Narrated by: Mack Sanderson
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
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Better Books on Picasso Available
- By john burke on 08-17-22
By: Hugh Eakin
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In Montmartre
- Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Emma Bering
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district.
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Florid narrative history with suspect details
- By Keith on 10-30-19
By: Sue Roe
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Peggy Guggenheim
- The Shock of the Modern
- By: Francine Prose
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Acclaimed best-selling author Francine Prose offers a listen of Guggenheim's life that will enthrall enthusiasts of 21st-century art as well as anyone interested in American and European culture and the interrelationships between them. The lively and insightful narrative follows Guggenheim through virtually every aspect of her extraordinary life, from her unique collecting habits and paradigm-changing discoveries to her celebrity friendships, failed marriages, and scandalous affairs.
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Good listen
- By Amazon Customer on 05-04-21
By: Francine Prose
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Foursome
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury
- By: Carolyn Burke
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
New York, 1921: Acclaimed photographer Alfred Stieglitz celebrates the success of his latest exhibition - the centerpiece, a series of nude portraits of his soon-to-be wife, the young Georgia O'Keeffe. The exhibit acts as a turning point for the painter poised to make her entrance into the art scene. There, she meets Rebecca Salsbury, the fiancé of Stieglitz’s protégé, Paul Strand, marking the start of a bond between the couples that will last more than a decade and reverberate throughout their lives.
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A competent account of four interesting lives
- By Sil A. on 11-21-20
By: Carolyn Burke
Related to this topic
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The Art of Rivalry
- Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses.
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Death by bob souer
- By SKWAD on 01-18-18
By: Sebastian Smee
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When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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The Voice is All
- The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac
- By: Joyce Johnson
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Voice Is All, Joyce Johnson - coauthor of the classic memoir Door Wide Open, about her relationship with Jack Kerouac - brilliantly peels away layers of the Kerouac legend to show how, caught between two cultures and two languages, he forged a voice to contain his dualities. Looking more deeply than previous biographers into how Kerouac's French Canadian background enriched his prose and gave him a unique outsider's vision of America, she tracks his development from boyhood through the phenomenal breakthroughs of 1951 that resulted in the composition of On the Road.
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Kerouac's Voice
- By Robert L. Stofel on 09-26-12
By: Joyce Johnson
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Picasso's War
- How Modern Art Came to America
- By: Hugh Eakin
- Narrated by: Mack Sanderson
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
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Better Books on Picasso Available
- By john burke on 08-17-22
By: Hugh Eakin
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And So It Goes
- Kurt Vonnegut: A Life
- By: Charles J. Shields
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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New York Times best-selling author and biographer Charles J. Shields crafts this fascinating portrait of literary icon Kurt Vonnegut. The first authorized biography of the influential American writer, And So It Goes examines Vonnegut’s life, from his childhood to his death in 2007, and explores how the author changed the conversation of American literature.
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Probably only for die hard Vonnegut fans
- By Watery M on 12-22-12
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Zelda Fitzgerald
- The Tragic, Meticulously Researched Biography of the Jazz Age's High Priestess
- By: Sally Cline
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Zelda Fitzgerald was the mythical American Dream Girl of the Roaring Twenties who became, in the words of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, "the first American flapper." Their romance transformed a symbol of glamour and spectacle of the Jazz Age. When Zelda cracked up, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, Scott remained loyal to her through a nightmare of later breakdowns and final madness.
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The Beautiful and the Bungled
- By Silverthorne on 12-08-17
By: Sally Cline
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The Art of Rivalry
- Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story