Francis Cunningham

Christopher Knight, Edward Lifson, John Walsh , Valentina De Pasca

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Hardback

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English

Five Continents Editions
01 March 2021

Art & design styles: from c 1960; Individual artists, art monographs; Exhibition catalogues & specific collections; Nudes depicted in art

While the art world was turning its eyes towards abstract art and action painting, Cunningham's interest in figurative art and the human form never waned. This is the underlying reason for his lukewarm reception, keeping him out of the limelight, although this is not to say his art was second rate. In a sense, this marginal status was a blessing in disguise, enabling Cunningham to broaden and develop his thinking on his personal artistic sensibility and thus on the central role played by 'colour-spot' painting, the technique borrowed from his master Edwin Dickinson, and on the importance of teaching, of which he had personal experience at the New Brooklyn School of Life, Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture and at the New York Academy of Art. These last two aspects, which were of fundamental importance in his life, are brought to the forefront in the very title of the book: Learning How To See.

The book chronicles Cunningham's development from his earliest, small, and mostly abstract canvases characterised by large colour fields suggesting landscapes, to his later figurative work, in which the study of anatomy takes over, only to give way, as if coming full circle, to paintings containing large empty spaces and a drastically reduced number of elements.

Most of Cunningham's paintings are large and depict nude subjects, sometimes portrayed alone and sometimes in triptychs. A feature of his works from this 'second period' is what might be called their 'vertical' nature, which contrasts strongly with his very last, mostly still life paintings, which stand out for their horizontal orientation. The human figure has virtually disappeared and Cunningham seems almost to have returned to the preoccupations of his youth.

The artist's many facets are explored in essays by art historians and art critics, including Christopher Knight, Edward Lifson, John Walsh, and Valentina De Pasca, as well through the reminiscences of his favourite model, Regina Hawkins-Balducci.

AUTHOR: Francis Cunningham studied at The Art Students League with Edwin Dickinson and Robert Beverly Hale. He has had solo exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Copenhagen and Stockholm. He taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, The Art Students League, and in 1980, with the sculptor Barney Hodes, co-founded the New Brooklyn School of Life Drawing, Painting & Sculpture, Inc., which in 1983 merged with the New York Drawing Association to form The New York Academy of Art. He is a member of the National Academy of Design and a winner of the Benjamin West Clinedinst Medal.

100 colour images

Text by: Christopher Knight, Edward Lifson, John Walsh, Valentina De Pasca, Regina Hawkins-Balducci
Imprint: Five Continents Editions
Country of Publication: Italy
Dimensions: Height: 280mm, Width: 240mm,
Weight: 1.502kg
ISBN: 9788874399062
ISBN 10: 8874399065
Pages: 260
Publication Date: 01 March 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

Francis Cunningham is an American figurative painter known for working across three genres - nude, landscape and still-life - and for being an influential master instructor. He co-founded the New Brooklyn School of Life, Painting, Drawing & Sculpture, Inc. (1980 1983), and the New York Academy of Art in 1983 with sculptors Barney Hodes and Stuart Pivar. Christopher Knight is chief art critic for the Los Angeles Times. A three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism (1991, 2001 and 2007), Knight received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Art Journalism from the Rabkin Foundation in 2020, and the 1997 Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism from the College Art Association. Edward Lifson is an award-winning writer on art, architecture, design, and culture. He created and hosted a public radio show on the arts called Hello Beautiful! Lifson was also a U.S., foreign, and war correspondent, and domestic and foreign bureau chief for National Public Radio. John Walsh is Director Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Museum. He served as Director from 1983 until October 2000. He is the author of many articles and catalogues on Dutch paintings of the 17th century, and of several books including Jan Steen, The Drawing Lesson. Valentina De Pasca is a historian of ancient art. She obtained a PhD in art history and medieval archaeology from Milan University with a thesis titled Intercultural Exchanges and Interactions with the Eastern Mediterranean Area in Lombard Art in Italy (16th-17th Century): the Case of the Disk Fibulae, which she defended in 2018.