Portrait of the Art Dealer as a Young Man: New York in the Sixties, Michael Findlay, Prestel, 228pp, £28 (hb)
This memoir tells the tale of the dealer Michael Findlay who has been a fixture on New York’s art scene since the 1960s when he arrived from the UK and started working for the Old Master dealer Richard Feigen. After arriving in the city as “an 18-year-old university drop-out, he unexpectedly found himself befriending Andy Warhol, renting a coyote for Joseph Beuys… and forging relationships with influential artists such as David Hockney, Bridget Riley, and Sean Scully,” according to a publisher’s statement.Findlay took the helm at Acquavella Galleries in 2000 after he left Christie’s where he was head of the Impressionist and Modern paintings department, among other roles.
Distinguishing Piss from Rain: Writings and Interviews, Glenn Ligon, Hauser & Wirth Publishers, 400pp, $38 (pb)
Distinguishing Piss from Rain is a book of texts and interviews by the US artist Glenn Ligon spanning three decades, covering subjects such as race, history and sexuality. Essays include “Housing in New York: A Brief History 1960 to 2007” and “Warhol’s Shadows” along with interviews between Ligon and Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and The Art Newspaper’s Ben Luke (A Brush With, August 2021). “Throughout these writings, Ligon combines razor sharp insight with anecdotes and autobiographical details, providing the fullest picture yet of the artist and his ongoing evaluation of the art and politics of our time,” according to a publisher’s statement.
Louis Fratino, Jordan Weitzman (editor), Magic Hour Press, 144pp, $70 (hb)
The US painter Louis Fratino, who looks to artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, is having a moment, with four of his works on show at this year’s Venice Biennale (until 24 November). According to the Biennale website, “Fratino is an artist whose paintings and drawings of the male body and domestic spaces capture the intimacy and tenderness found within everyday queer life.” This 50-work monograph includes an introduction by Virginia Anderson, the curator of American Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and a conversation between the artist and the US painter Carroll Dunham.
Installation view of Manal AlDowayan’s installation Shifting Sands: A Battle Song (2024) Photo: Venice Documentation Project. Courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, the Commissioner for the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia
Manal AlDowayan, Shifting Sands: A Battle Song, Jessica Cerasi and Iwona Blazwick (contributors), Electa S.p.A Milan, 200pp, €35 (hb)
This monograph examines in depth the ideas and techniques behind Manal AlDowayan’s installation currently on show at the Saudi Arabian pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale (Shifting Sands: A Battle Song). The Venice work “tells a story that transcends cultures and geographies asserting an autonomy and solidarity among women that will find resonances the world over”, writes Jessica Cerasi, the co-curator of the Saudi pavilion. “A comprehensive timeline of the evolution of the Saudi art scene is included to better understand the cultural shifts that Manal and her community are witnessing in her home country,” says a publisher’s statement.
