Mangold

An impressive book from Phaidon. Large format, square hardcover with a sewn binding, bound in nubby cloth with an inset color image. Clear plastic dustjacket. 4.5 pounds. 335 pp with over 150 illustrations, most of them large, almost all of them in color. Texts by four authors, interview, statements by the artist. 12 pp of footnotes, a 26 p Chronology, 6 p Bibliography, list of Mangold works, index. A comprehensive, beautiful book!

This is a wonderful book--easily the best book on Robert Mangold available. Beautiful color images of paintings from across Mangold's career (up to 1999), along with images of Mangold's drawings and preparatory studies, make this worth the price alone. But there's also a fascinating set of essays (by Richard Schiff, Robert Storr and Arthur C. Danto), an entertaining interview between Robert Mangold and his wife, artist Sylvia Plimack Mangold, a comprehensive bibliography and chronology (often including images of gallery catalogues, promotional materials and such) and an interesting set of images of the work of other artists somehow related to Mangold. (Not much on Mangold's prints, alas, but this was evidently written before the appearance of the limited edition catalogue raisonne of the prints.) Mangold is one of the best abstract artists of our time, and this is a book that does him justice.The book is beautifully designed too: clean, attractive layout inside and a simple cloth cover inlaid with a printed paper reproduction of one of Mangold's paintings, all protected by a mylar jacket. I know a paperback edition is promised for Fall '04, but unless it has updates or new material, the hardback is worth the extra money just for the sumptuous presentation.