Seeing Sam Richards' Sculpture

I think [this book} is a real contribution to HOW TO SEE ART and would warmly recommend it to any reader, but especially sculpture students. [The author] set up the conditions for a deep and personal interaction between the viewer and the work of art. That is very valuable, and the only real benefit of art criticism of any kind is to make the viewer look more and more deeply. Peter Morrin, Director Emeritus, Speed Art Museum Sam Richards' work embraces a language of form which speaks across cultures and time. Through the poetics of sculptural practice, grounded in observation and experience, Richards describes the joy of human existence. His deep understanding of the craft allows for a true mate-rial translation that works with and continues the canon. This book will resonate with those who represent the world through the physical object. Joyce Ogden, Artist, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Rounsavall Dean, Kentucky College of Art + Design Seeing Sam Richards' Sculpture is a comprehensive and deeply understanding study of the work of sculptor Sam Richards (1946 -1994). Richards' work in steel and wood is a reflection of his life-long investigation into the nature of form and material. Working by improvisation he created articulate freestanding and wall sculpture that has strong kinship with the work of Anthony Caro, David Smith, and Issac Witkin. Richards shares with them a love of the non-representational, independent thing - what poet Wallace Stevens called 'the object at the exactest point at which it is itself' .1 Timothy J. Segar, Sculptor and Professor Emeritus, Marlboro College 1 An Ordinary Evening in New Haven, Wallace Stevens 1949 Frances Kratzok takes us into Sam Richards' cre