Synopses & Reviews
Rebecca Salter (b. 1955) is a British abstract artist who lives and works in London. After studying ceramics she spent six years in Kyoto, Japan. There she started to make drawings and woodblock prints that combined Western and Eastern traditions. On her return, Salter began painting on canvas using acrylics. She still views her practice as "making an object" rather than a surface. Although Salter's work is studio-based, it reflects her experience of drawing outdoors, and she arguably can be categorized as a landscape artist.
Accompanying a major survey exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art, this sumptuously illustrated book maps Salter's career, situating her work in relation to international abstraction, as well as investigating the impact of Japanese art, architecture, and aesthetics on her practice. Richard Cork considers Salter's redesign of the entrance of St George's Hospital, London, which demonstrates both her engagement with Japanese concepts of space and her belief in the therapeutic value of art.
Synopsis
British artist Alison Watt (b. 1965) creates monumental paintings depicting richly draped fabric. These canvases show closely cropped folds, gathers, tucks, and creasesand#150;and#150;all sensuously developed from a selective palette of white, grey, burnt sienna, cadmium red, and yellow.
The National Galleryand#8217;s seventh Associate Artist, Watt has been working in a studio near the permanent collection. This proximity to masterpieces she has long admired has concentrated her focus on the tradition of drapery in western art and inspired her dramatically abstracted reinterpretations. This beautifully designed and illustrated book presents her most recent series of powerful, large-scale paintings. In an essay featuring photographs of Watt at work in the gallery studio, Colin Wiggins reviews the artistand#8217;s creative process. Also included is a new piece written by celebrated Scottish poet Don Paterson that responds to these works.
About the Author
Don Paterson is a renowned poet, writer, and musician. Colin Wiggins is Deputy Head of Education at the National Gallery, London. He is the author of numerous books, including Leon Kossoff: Drawing from Painting, Tom Hunter: Living in Hell and Other Stories, and Ron Mueck, all distributed by Yale.