Author Description

Fineberg (art history, Univ. of Illinois) asserts that the "implicit underlying subject matter of modern art is always the personality of the artist in its encounter with the world." Fineberg has not let any theory of contemporary art constrain the organization of his book. In a system that at first seems chaotic, he lets what is most important filter up, whether it be an individual artist, a movement, a critic's theory, a style, or a medium. The result is a rich mixture of essentially separate essays that allows the reader to choose how to use the book. Unfortunately, for all his innovations, Fineberg repeats some of the common mistakes of this type of book: Barely ten percent of the artists on the contents pages are women; photography is given scant attention; and architecture, that bastion of the the individual artist, is divorced from the "fine arts." Still, Fineberg should be lauded for his provocative and inspiring assessments (whether or not one agrees with his thesis), and his eminently readable and engaging text should become a new standard of the form. For all art collections.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"