The Saints of Modern Art: The Ascetic Ideal in Contemporary Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music, Dance, Literature, and Philosophy

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Summary: Brilliant addition to your art, music, dance or lit bookshel
Review: How often does one book offer an accessible, lively window on the inside world of the great artists, composers, writers and choreographers of our time? In The Saints of Modern Art, Riley uses the ideas of the withdrawal of the artist from the world, and the quest for perfection, to link figures as disparate as Jasper Johns and Glenn Gould, George Balanchine and Marcel Proust, Piet Mondrian and George Santayana, not to mention other essays on David Smith, Miro, Brice Marden, Elliott Carter, Walter Abish, Robert Mapplethorpe and others. The book is peppered with lively interviews with the artists, and photographs of little-known works as well as masterpieces. Few critical studies cover as much ground in an interdisciplinary way, without bogging down in jargon or false analogies. The "readings" of major works, such as Barnett Newman's "Stations of the Cross" or Miro's "Constellations" are thorough and loving guides to milestones in contemporary aesthetics, and every page is informed with passion and inside knowledge. A mus-have for those seriously interested in the arts of our time.