Contemporary Art Recommendations - For all ages

BOOKS for ADULTS

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American Art Book

by From the Editors of Phaidon
Phaidon Press Inc., 1999

Covering three centuries, this vibrant, fresh overview ranges from Puritan portraits to the American Impressionists to the videos and digital works of today's most intriguing conceptual artists.

Andy Warhol: Pioneer of Pop Art

by Carin T. Ford, Andy Warhol (Illustrator)
Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2001

Describes the life and achievements of influential 20th-century American personality, Andy Warhol. An appealing biography for teens.

Heart to Heart : New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art

by Jan Greenberg
Harry N. Abrams, 2001

A compilation of poems by Americans writing about American art in the twentieth century, including such writers as Nancy Willard, Jane Yolen, and X.J. Kennedy.

Pop Art

by Linda Bolton
Peter Bedrick Books, 2000

Describes Pop Art, which created works of art based on mass-produced images from advertising, comic books, and other aspects of popular culture, provides information on famous Pop artists, and illustrates their major works.

Pop Art: A Continuing History

by Marco Livingstone
Thames & Hudson, 2000

From Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and other proponents of consumer art and commercial culture, this work chronicles 130 artists in 300 color plates, many previously unpublished.

Runaway Girl: The Artist Louise Bourgeois

by Sandra Jan/Jordan Greenberg
Harry N. Abrams, 2003

Introduces the life of renowned modern artist Louise Bourgeois, who is known primarily for her sculptures.

True Colors: The Real Life of the Art World

by Anthony Haden-Guest
Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996

Haden-Guest draws from two decades of reporting to deliver an authoritative inside account of the contemporary art world.

KIDS BOOKS

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Andy Warhol (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

by Mike Venezia (Illustrator)
Children's Press, 1996

A simple biography of a man who helped develop Pop Art and made art fun for many people.

Faith Ringgold (The Portraits of Women Artists for Children)

by Robyn Montana Turner
Little Brown & Co., 1993

Examines the life and work of the artist whose determination to be true to her African-American heritage brought about an influential new art form.

Jackson Pollock (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

by Mike Venezia (Illustrator)
Children's Press, 1994

This children’s biography features Jackson Pollock, an abstract painter. He was most famous for his drip paintings, in which he dripped paint onto a canvas, usually with a stick.

MULTIMEDIA

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Art: 21 Art In The Twenty-First Century

by PBS Home Video
PBS Home Video, 2001

Meet twenty-one diverse contemporary artists through revealing profiles offering an intimate view of their lives, work, sources of inspiration, and creative processes. Includes Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, John Feodorov, Margaret Kilgallen, Sally Mann, Bruce Neuman, Shahzia Sikander, and Andrea Zittel. [VHS]

WEBSITES

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Art: 21
http://www.pbs.org/art21

This PBS site features the Online Lesson Library, a doorway to curricular resources that present contemporary art and artists for the classroom.

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
www.moca-la.org

View over 5,000 objects from the 1940s and on. Featured collections include the Panza collection, Scott D. F. Spiegel Collection, and Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Photography.

Museum of Contemporary Art
http://www.mcachicago.org/

Browse the museums permanent collection of over 6,000 objects. Search artist or enjoy the 150 samples readily available.