Creative Gatherings: Meeting Places of Modernism

Description

Art is seen as a solitary, even a reclusive, endeavor. But visual artists, writers, and musicians often find themselves energised by a collective environment. Sharing ideas around a table has always provided a starting, and a continuing, place for fruitful exchanges between artists of all kinds. In her wide-ranging new book, Mary Ann Caws explores a rich variety of gathering places, past and present, which have been conducive to the release and sustenance of creative energies. Creative Gatherings surveys meeting locations across Europe and the United States, from cityscapes to island hideouts, from private homes to public cafes and artists' colonies.

Mary Ann Caws is distinguished professor emerita and resident professor of English, French, and comparative literature in the Graduate School, City University of New York. She is the author of several books published by Reaktion, including Blaise Pascal, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dal , and The Modern Art Cookbook.

"Caws has a discriminating eye, a catholic taste, a fine feeling for feeding. . . .She is hard to beat."--Alex Danchev, Times Literary Supplement "Scholarly if not theoretical. . . .Accessible without being condescending."--Rain Taxi Review of Books