Four Books on My Must-Read List

I haven’t acquired these tomes yet, let alone absorbed them. (What I’m reading now is George Bernard Shaw‘s “Heartbreak House.” I’ve got tickets!)
But on the assumption that CultureGrrl‘s readers share some of her interests, here’s what I plan to peruse in the near future:
Collecting Contemporary by Adam Lindemann (Taschen)—From the publisher’s description, it sounds like this includes tasty tidbits from some major artworld players: “The main body of the book brings together tell-all interviews with the biggest players in the global art market: the Critic (Rimanelli), the Dealer (Boesky, Brunnet/Hackert, Coles, Deitch, Fortes, Gagosian, Gladstone, Glimcher, Hetzler, Lybke, Perrotin, Rosen, Shave, Wirth), the Consultant (Cortez, Fletcher, Heller, Segalot, Westreich), the Collector (Brant, Broad, Habsburg, Joannou, Lambert, Lehmann, Lopez, Paz, Pinault, Rothschild Foundation, Saatchi), the Auction House Expert (Cappellazzo, de Pury, Meyer), and the Museum Curator/Director (Dennison, Eccles, Heiss, Lowry, Peyton-Jones).”
Building the Frick Collection: An Introduction to the House and Its Collections by the Frick’s chief curator, Colin Bailey (Scala)—CultureGrrl readers know about my fondness for single-collector “jewel box” museums. The Frick is the gold standard. From the description in the Frick’s press release: “Bailey not only carefully documents the construction of the Gilded Age mansion that today houses the museum but examines how its creation influenced Frick’s taste during the final years of his life. Bailey’s work draws from several biographies of Frick as well as from recent studies of domestic architecture and interior decoration during the Gilded Age, setting the house’s construction–Frick’s last great achievement–in context.”
The Girl with the Gallery by Lindsay Pollock (Perseus)—I’m interested in this book for its subject matter (dealer Edith Halpert) and also as a possible role model for a project that I’m considering for myself: a biography of another important female artworld trailblazer—not a dealer, but a museum pioneer. Here’s the publisher’s description: “In 1926, Edith Gregor Halpert, just twenty-six years old, opened one of the first art galleries in Greenwich Village and set about turning the art world upside down. Her Downtown Gallery, which she ran for forty-four years, laid the groundwork for the art market’s modern era, and its aggressive promotion and sales tactics.” (Available Oct. 30)
Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock by Kirk Varnedoe (Princeton University Press)—This is an edited version of Varnedoe’s last hurrah before his untimely death in 2003: his series of lectures at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, in which he presented “a deliberate and scholarly case for abstraction” (according to the publisher’s description). “He frankly confronts the uncertainties we may have about the nonrepresentational art produced in the last five decades. He makes a compelling argument for its history and value.” I was moved to tears by the video of the poignant conclusion of these lectures, which was shown at a memorial gathering held at the Metropolitan Museum. With his brilliantly audacious insights and frighteningly fluent articulateness, Varnedoe was one of those blazing lights of whom it can truthfully be said: We shall not see his likes again. A talk commemorating the publication of Varnedoe’s book will be given at the National Gallery on Dec. 16 by Varnedoe’s successor as chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, John Elderfield. (Available in November)