R e a d i n g A r t

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CONTEMPORARY / MODERN ART BOOKS OF DISTINCTION
recommendations and reviews

form, colour, illumination Susan Frecon painting Amazon.co.uk Josef Helfenstein, Matthias Frehner, Sarah L. Eckhardt, Ulrich Loock, Larry Rinder The Menil Collection, 2008, hardback, 112 pages ISBN 9780300125528 This is the first major exploration of the works of American abstract painter and watercolourist Suzan Frecon (b. 1941), critically acclaimed for her sensitive arrangement of colour, form, and texture, and for the philosophical resonance of her art. By restricting herself to nonrepresentational forms, earth-based colours, and, in the case of her watercolours, ‘found’ pieces of paper, Frecon achieves an unequaled sense of balance and openness in her work. The book features ten oil paintings and thirty watercolours dating from the late 1990s to 2007.Form, color, illumination celebrates the uniqueness of Frecon’s painting and articulates how her work distinguishes itself within the history of abstract painting. The authors describe in-depth how her artistic process and materials are an integral part of her focus and aesthetic. Included is an essay revealing the ‘ethics’ of her aesthetics - an argument for abstraction and an attention to truth that is not divorced from social and environmental concerns.
Dec 29

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form, colour, illumination
Susan Frecon painting

Amazon.co.uk

Josef Helfenstein, Matthias Frehner, Sarah L. Eckhardt,
Ulrich Loock, Larry Rinder

The Menil Collection, 2008, hardback, 112 pages

ISBN 9780300125528

This is the first major exploration of the works of American abstract painter and watercolourist Suzan Frecon (b. 1941), critically acclaimed for her sensitive arrangement of colour, form, and texture, and for the philosophical resonance of her art. By restricting herself to nonrepresentational forms, earth-based colours, and, in the case of her watercolours, ‘found’ pieces of paper, Frecon achieves an unequaled sense of balance and openness in her work. The book features ten oil paintings and thirty watercolours dating from the late 1990s to 2007.Form, color, illumination celebrates the uniqueness of Frecon’s painting and articulates how her work distinguishes itself within the history of abstract painting. The authors describe in-depth how her artistic process and materials are an integral part of her focus and aesthetic. Included is an essay revealing the ‘ethics’ of her aesthetics - an argument for abstraction and an attention to truth that is not divorced from social and environmental concerns.

(Source: yalebooks.co.uk)

James Turrell: Zug Zuoz Amazon.co.uk Edited by Matthias Haldemann Hatje Cantz; Bilingual edition 2010 ISBN 978-3775726023 James Turrell (born 1943) first came to prominence in the late 1960s as a leading artist in the California Light and Space Movement. Informed by his studies in perceptual psychology and optical illusions, Turrell’s works impact the body, mind and spirit. Zug Zuoz is devoted to two contrasting Turrell installations in Switzerland, both of which forge an encounter between the architectural interior and the world beyond it. “Light Transport,” located in the city of Zug, immerses the internal façades and glass roof of the local train station in splendid colors; “Skyspace Piz Uter” in Zuoz is a plain, rounded stone structure with a circular aperture in its roof through which to view the night sky. These two works are usefully representative of the dichotomies explored in Turrell’s practice: artificial versus natural light, urban versus rural settings, color versus blackness. This monograph supplies thorough documentation on the two installations.
Feb 21

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James Turrell: Zug Zuoz

Amazon.co.uk

Edited by Matthias Haldemann

Hatje Cantz; Bilingual edition 2010

ISBN 978-3775726023

James Turrell (born 1943) first came to prominence in the late 1960s as a leading artist in the California Light and Space Movement. Informed by his studies in perceptual psychology and optical illusions, Turrell’s works impact the body, mind and spirit. Zug Zuoz is devoted to two contrasting Turrell installations in Switzerland, both of which forge an encounter between the architectural interior and the world beyond it. “Light Transport,” located in the city of Zug, immerses the internal façades and glass roof of the local train station in splendid colors; “Skyspace Piz Uter” in Zuoz is a plain, rounded stone structure with a circular aperture in its roof through which to view the night sky. These two works are usefully representative of the dichotomies explored in Turrell’s practice: artificial versus natural light, urban versus rural settings, color versus blackness. This monograph supplies thorough documentation on the two installations.

James Turrell: Geometry of Light: Geometrie des Lichts Amazon.co.uk Edited by Ursula Sinnreich, Kulturbetriebe Unna, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2009, hardback, 128 pages ISBN 9783775723695 Nobody who has experienced an installation by James Turrell forgets the encounter—he makes light tangible in ways that boggle perception and almost seem to defy physics, as if you could reach into the space you see when you close your eyes. A lifelong explorer of perceptual psychology, Turrell is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary light artist, as well as one of America’s most popular artists. In Geometry of Light, the first significant Turrell survey in many years, an extraordinary body of work covering several decades is assessed. At the book’s center is the series of works known asSky Spaces, a signature Turrell conception in which the sky is made to seem “on top of” the room’s ceiling, and which has become a mini-genre unto itself within light art. Academic, philosophical and art-historical essays explicate these perceptual spaces, whose evolution is closely allied to Turrell’s development of the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, where he began constructing an observatory in 1974. Also included is the latest installation, “Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space,” which Turrell conceived for the Zentrum fur Internationale Lichtkunst in Unna, Germany. As an undergraduate, James Turrell (born in Los Angeles, 1943) studied psychology and mathematics, transitioning to art only at MFA level. A practicing Quaker, one of his earliest memories is of his grandmother inviting him to “go inside and greet the light” at Quaker meetings. The recipient of several prestigious awards such as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Turrell lives in Arizona, USA.
May 20

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James Turrell: Geometry of Light: Geometrie des Lichts

Amazon.co.uk

Edited by Ursula Sinnreich, Kulturbetriebe Unna,

Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2009, hardback, 128 pages

ISBN 9783775723695

Nobody who has experienced an installation by James Turrell forgets the encounter—he makes light tangible in ways that boggle perception and almost seem to defy physics, as if you could reach into the space you see when you close your eyes. A lifelong explorer of perceptual psychology, Turrell is undoubtedly the most influential contemporary light artist, as well as one of America’s most popular artists. In Geometry of Light, the first significant Turrell survey in many years, an extraordinary body of work covering several decades is assessed. At the book’s center is the series of works known asSky Spaces, a signature Turrell conception in which the sky is made to seem “on top of” the room’s ceiling, and which has become a mini-genre unto itself within light art. Academic, philosophical and art-historical essays explicate these perceptual spaces, whose evolution is closely allied to Turrell’s development of the Roden Crater Project in the Arizona desert, where he began constructing an observatory in 1974. Also included is the latest installation, “Skyspace/Camera Obscura Space,” which Turrell conceived for the Zentrum fur Internationale Lichtkunst in Unna, Germany.

As an undergraduate, James Turrell (born in Los Angeles, 1943) studied psychology and mathematics, transitioning to art only at MFA level. A practicing Quaker, one of his earliest memories is of his grandmother inviting him to “go inside and greet the light” at Quaker meetings. The recipient of several prestigious awards such as Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, Turrell lives in Arizona, USA.

LEE UFAN: THE ART OF ENCOUNTER Amazon.co.uk Lisson Gallery (publication 42), originally published 2004, softback, 246 pages ISBN 0947830316 Born in South Korea in 1936, Lee Ufan briefly studied art at Seoul National University before enrolling in Japan’s Nihon University in 1956 as a student of philosophy. Lee returned to painting in the ’60s and co-founded the Mono-ha (School of Things) art movement, whose members were renowned for their use of simple, barely manipulated materials. Lee’s paintings and sculptures, which juxtapose the natural with the industrial, are characterized by repeated, minimal gestures that are continually updated.
May 15

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LEE UFAN: THE ART OF ENCOUNTER

Amazon.co.uk

Lisson Gallery (publication 42),

originally published 2004, softback, 246 pages

ISBN 0947830316

Born in South Korea in 1936, Lee Ufan briefly studied art at Seoul National University before enrolling in Japan’s Nihon University in 1956 as a student of philosophy. Lee returned to painting in the ’60s and co-founded the Mono-ha (School of Things) art movement, whose members were renowned for their use of simple, barely manipulated materials. Lee’s paintings and sculptures, which juxtapose the natural with the industrial, are characterized by repeated, minimal gestures that are continually updated.

Talking Art: Interviews with Artists Since 1976  Amazon.co.uk Ridinghouse/Art Monthly, softback, 2007, 605 pages ISBN 9781905464043 Since it was founded in 1976 Art Monthly has consistently published interviews with leading contemporary artists. The interviews collected in this book offer unique insights into the thought processes and working practices of artists.From Russian Constructivists of the 1920s to Turner Prize winners, this collection of interviews constitutes an entertaining and alternative history of 20th-century art written in the first person. Essential Reading. Contributors include: Naum Gabo, Clement Greenberg, Victor Pasmore, Robert Motherwell, Agnes Martin, Anthony Caro, Brice Marden, Alan Charlton, Frank Stella, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Hanne Darboven, Hans Haacke, Richard Serra, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Michael Snow, Gilbert & George, David Tremlett, Jasper Johns, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg, Mark Boyle, Gustav Metzger, Ed Ruscha, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, RB Kitaj, Ilya Kabakov, Leon Golub, Joseph Beuys, Stephen Willats, Barbara Kruger, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Jeff Wall, Liam Gillick, Richard Deacon, Anish Kapoor, Bill Woodrow, Sophie Calle, Gary Hill, Jimmie Durham, Thomas Struth, Willie Doherty, Mark Wallinger, Anya Gallaccio, Steve McQueen, Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean, Simon Patterson, Angela Bulloch, Mike Nelson
May 08

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Talking Art: Interviews with Artists Since 1976 

Amazon.co.uk

Ridinghouse/Art Monthly, softback, 2007, 605 pages

ISBN 9781905464043

Since it was founded in 1976 Art Monthly has consistently published interviews with leading contemporary artists. The interviews collected in this book offer unique insights into the thought processes and working practices of artists.

From Russian Constructivists of the 1920s to Turner Prize winners, this collection of interviews constitutes an entertaining and alternative history of 20th-century art written in the first person. Essential Reading.


Contributors include: Naum Gabo, Clement Greenberg, Victor Pasmore, Robert Motherwell, Agnes Martin, Anthony Caro, Brice Marden, Alan Charlton, Frank Stella, Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Hanne Darboven, Hans Haacke, Richard Serra, Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Michael Snow, Gilbert & George, David Tremlett, Jasper Johns, George Segal, Claes Oldenburg, Mark Boyle, Gustav Metzger, Ed Ruscha, Patrick Caulfield, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, RB Kitaj, Ilya Kabakov, Leon Golub, Joseph Beuys, Stephen Willats, Barbara Kruger, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Jeff Wall, Liam Gillick, Richard Deacon, Anish Kapoor, Bill Woodrow, Sophie Calle, Gary Hill, Jimmie Durham, Thomas Struth, Willie Doherty, Mark Wallinger, Anya Gallaccio, Steve McQueen, Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean, Simon Patterson, Angela Bulloch, Mike Nelson

Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art Amazon.co.uk Edited by Jacquelynn Bass and Jane Jacob University of California Press, 2004, hardcover, 280 pages ISBN 0520243463 This volume documents the growing presence of Buddhist perspectives in contemporary culture. This shift began in the nineteenth century and is now pervasive in many aspects of everyday experience. In the arts especially, the increasing importance of process over product has promoted a profound change in the relationship between artist and audience. But while artists have been among the most perceptive interpreters of Buddhism in the West, art historians and critics have been slow to develop the intellectual tools to analyze the impact of Buddhist concepts. This timely, multi-faceted volume explores the relationships between Buddhist practice and the contemporary arts in lively essays by writers from a range of disciplines and in revealing interviews with some of the most influential artists of our time. Elucidating the common ground between the creative mind, the perceiving mind, and the meditative mind, the contributors tackle essential questions about the relationship of art and life.  Among the writers are curators, art critics, educators, and Buddhist commentators in psychology, literature, and cognitive science. They consider the many Western artists today who recognize the Buddhist notion of emptiness, achieved through focused meditation, as a place of great creative potential for the making and experiencing of art. The artists featured in the interviews, all internationally recognized, include Bill Viola, and Ann Hamilton. Extending earlier twentieth-century aesthetic interests in blurring the boundaries of art and life, the artists view art as a way of life, a daily practice, in ways parallel to that of the Buddhist practitioner. Their works, woven throughout the book, richly convey how Buddhism has been both a source for and a lens through which we now perceive art.
May 03

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Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art

Amazon.co.uk

Edited by Jacquelynn Bass and Jane Jacob

University of California Press, 2004, hardcover, 280 pages

ISBN 0520243463

This volume documents the growing presence of Buddhist perspectives in contemporary culture. This shift began in the nineteenth century and is now pervasive in many aspects of everyday experience. In the arts especially, the increasing importance of process over product has promoted a profound change in the relationship between artist and audience. But while artists have been among the most perceptive interpreters of Buddhism in the West, art historians and critics have been slow to develop the intellectual tools to analyze the impact of Buddhist concepts. This timely, multi-faceted volume explores the relationships between Buddhist practice and the contemporary arts in lively essays by writers from a range of disciplines and in revealing interviews with some of the most influential artists of our time. Elucidating the common ground between the creative mind, the perceiving mind, and the meditative mind, the contributors tackle essential questions about the relationship of art and life. 

Among the writers are curators, art critics, educators, and Buddhist commentators in psychology, literature, and cognitive science. They consider the many Western artists today who recognize the Buddhist notion of emptiness, achieved through focused meditation, as a place of great creative potential for the making and experiencing of art. The artists featured in the interviews, all internationally recognized, include Bill Viola, and Ann Hamilton. Extending earlier twentieth-century aesthetic interests in blurring the boundaries of art and life, the artists view art as a way of life, a daily practice, in ways parallel to that of the Buddhist practitioner. Their works, woven throughout the book, richly convey how Buddhism has been both a source for and a lens through which we now perceive art.

BORDERLINES: BRIAN BLOW AND WILLIAM BUCHANAN The Hughson Gallery, 2004, hardback (limited edition of 40 signed copies) The original woodcuts and the text, hand-set, were printed on Somerset mould-made paper by Sebastian Carter at The Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge.  Additionally, a de luxe edition of ten copies, numbered I - X has been produced. With each copy is an original woodcut, signed by the artist, and an individual haiku, signed by the author.  All copies have been bound and slipcased by The Fine Bindery, Northamptonshire. Brian Blow (1931–2009) Artist and jazz musician, Brian Blow was painter, print-maker, sculptor and photographer. Technically trained in London during the late forties and early fifties, Blow developed his sensibilities via Paris and New York. While his art is primarily non-representational and ‘elegantly minimal’, visual input, from the natural and man-made world is the bedrock of his creativity. His early interest in the Livre d’Artiste of the Ecole de Paris (Picasso, Matisse, Rouault) has in the past decade led to the publication of Iron Chords (1998, Rocket Press); En evila (2000, Redlake Press); Kernow and Indications (2003, Redlake Press).  Haiku Japanese haiku is traditionally understood as a poetic form in which 17 syllables are arranged in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. In origin it was the first three lines of the 31 syllable tanka, or short poem. The form was perfected by the Japanese master Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694), who raised its level from that of popular usage by bringing to it the spirit of Zen Buddhism. Critic and poet, Basho introduced various new criteria by which haiku should be measured. Whereas haiku was first used in descriptions of nature and the seasons, the range of subjects increased, and Basho used it to document his travels during the 1680s. In essence it is an art form in which much is expressed (or suggested) within the parameters of a prescribed structure. William Buchanan (born Trinidad, 1932) is best known for his professional interest in the History of Photography. As Art Director of the Scottish Arts Council (until 1977) he curated the exhibition Mr Henry and Mr Hornel visit Japan (1978), and as Deputy Director of Glasgow School of Art (until 1992) he edited Mackintosh’s Masterwork, now in its second edition. Japanese culture, whether seen through the eyes of the Glasgow Boys, Mackintosh, post graduate students - or acquired in the preparation of an exhibition about commercial and other ties between Glasgow and Japan during the Victorian era - has become a ‘second nature’ to him. The haiku of Borderlines have been written since his move to the country, west of Hawick, in 1993.
May 02

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BORDERLINES: BRIAN BLOW AND WILLIAM BUCHANAN

The Hughson Gallery, 2004, hardback

(limited edition of 40 signed copies)

The original woodcuts and the text, hand-set, were printed on Somerset mould-made paper by Sebastian Carter at The Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge. 

Additionally, a de luxe edition of ten copies, numbered I - X has been produced. With each copy is an original woodcut, signed by the artist, and an individual haiku, signed by the author. 

All copies have been bound and slipcased by The Fine Bindery, Northamptonshire.

Brian Blow (1931–2009) Artist and jazz musician, Brian Blow was painter, print-maker, sculptor and photographer. Technically trained in London during the late forties and early fifties, Blow developed his sensibilities via Paris and New York. While his art is primarily non-representational and ‘elegantly minimal’, visual input, from the natural and man-made world is the bedrock of his creativity. His early interest in the Livre d’Artiste of the Ecole de Paris (Picasso, Matisse, Rouault) has in the past decade led to the publication of Iron Chords (1998, Rocket Press); En evila (2000, Redlake Press); Kernow and Indications (2003, Redlake Press). 

Haiku Japanese haiku is traditionally understood as a poetic form in which 17 syllables are arranged in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. In origin it was the first three lines of the 31 syllable tanka, or short poem. The form was perfected by the Japanese master Matsuo Basho (1644 - 1694), who raised its level from that of popular usage by bringing to it the spirit of Zen Buddhism. Critic and poet, Basho introduced various new criteria by which haiku should be measured. Whereas haiku was first used in descriptions of nature and the seasons, the range of subjects increased, and Basho used it to document his travels during the 1680s. In essence it is an art form in which much is expressed (or suggested) within the parameters of a prescribed structure.

William Buchanan (born Trinidad, 1932) is best known for his professional interest in the History of Photography. As Art Director of the Scottish Arts Council (until 1977) he curated the exhibition Mr Henry and Mr Hornel visit Japan (1978), and as Deputy Director of Glasgow School of Art (until 1992) he edited Mackintosh’s Masterwork, now in its second edition. Japanese culture, whether seen through the eyes of the Glasgow Boys, Mackintosh, post graduate students - or acquired in the preparation of an exhibition about commercial and other ties between Glasgow and Japan during the Victorian era - has become a ‘second nature’ to him. The haiku of Borderlines have been written since his move to the country, west of Hawick, in 1993.

Richard Serra: Dirk’s Pod Amazon.co.uk Ed. Silke von Berswordt-Wallrabe. Essays by Daniel Vasella and Richard Serra Steidl; Bilingual edition, 2005, hardback, 131 pages ISBN 3865210899 Famed for his works of physicality compounded by breathtaking size and weight, Richard Serra is one of the artists at the forefront of contemporary sculpture. He has exhibited extensively throughout the world and has created numerous permanent site-specific sculptures in public and private venues. This book accompanies Serra’s sculpture project Dirk’s Pod, one of the artist’s major site-specific works realised in the last few years, and conceived for the Novartis Campus in Basel/Switzerland. Serra dedicated this sculpture to his friend of many years, the photographer Dirk Reinartz who died in Spring 2004. Reinartz had documented the entire production process of the sculptural elements in a series of magnificent photographs included in this book.  
Apr 30

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Richard Serra: Dirk’s Pod

Amazon.co.uk

Ed. Silke von Berswordt-Wallrabe. Essays by Daniel Vasella and Richard Serra

Steidl; Bilingual edition, 2005, hardback, 131 pages

ISBN 3865210899

Famed for his works of physicality compounded by breathtaking size and weight, Richard Serra is one of the artists at the forefront of contemporary sculpture. He has exhibited extensively throughout the world and has created numerous permanent site-specific sculptures in public and private venues. This book accompanies Serra’s sculpture project Dirk’s Pod, one of the artist’s major site-specific works realised in the last few years, and conceived for the Novartis Campus in Basel/Switzerland. Serra dedicated this sculpture to his friend of many years, the photographer Dirk Reinartz who died in Spring 2004. Reinartz had documented the entire production process of the sculptural elements in a series of magnificent photographs included in this book.

 

David Lynch: The Air is on Fire Amazon.co.uk Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2007, hardcover, 443 pages ISBN 9782742764969 Spanning a period of forty years, David Lynch’s widely respected films and television series include Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive. However, his prolific visual art production, which began even before his films, has rarely been seen.This catalogue of his artistic output, published on the occasion of a large-scale exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, covers a wide variety of disciplines: painting, photography, drawings, sculpture, furniture, music, and “moving pictures.” His art echoes his films in theme and aesthetic, yet offers viewers a fresh and more intimate glimpse into his singular universe. The book also contains several essays that analyze his artworks, as well as a conversation with Lynch, interviewed within the context of the show.
Apr 30

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David Lynch: The Air is on Fire

Amazon.co.uk

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, 2007, hardcover, 443 pages

ISBN 9782742764969

Spanning a period of forty years, David Lynch’s widely respected films and television series include Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive. However, his prolific visual art production, which began even before his films, has rarely been seen.

This catalogue of his artistic output, published on the occasion of a large-scale exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, covers a wide variety of disciplines: painting, photography, drawings, sculpture, furniture, music, and “moving pictures.” His art echoes his films in theme and aesthetic, yet offers viewers a fresh and more intimate glimpse into his singular universe. The book also contains several essays that analyze his artworks, as well as a conversation with Lynch, interviewed within the context of the show.

Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock (The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts) Amazon.co.uk Princeton University Press, 2006, hardback, 297 pages ISBN 9780691126784  “What is abstract art good for? What’s the use—for us as individuals, or for any society—of pictures of nothing, of paintings and sculptures or prints or drawings that do not seem to show anything except themselves?” In this invigorating account of abstract art since Jackson Pollock, eminent art historian Kirk Varnedoe, the former chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, asks these and other questions as he frankly confronts the uncertainties we may have about the nonrepresentational art produced in the last five decades. He makes a compelling argument for its history and value, much as E. H. Gombrich tackled representation fifty years ago in “Art and Illusion,” another landmark A. W. Mellon Lectures volume. Realizing that these lectures might be his final work, Varnedoe conceived of them as a statement of his faith in modern art and as the culminating example of his lucidly pragmatic and philosophical approach to art history. He delivered the lectures, edited and reproduced here with their illustrations, to overflowing crowds at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in the spring of 2003, just months before his death.
Apr 30

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Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art since Pollock

(The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts)

Amazon.co.uk

Princeton University Press, 2006, hardback, 297 pages

ISBN 9780691126784 

“What is abstract art good for? What’s the use—for us as individuals, or for any society—of pictures of nothing, of paintings and sculptures or prints or drawings that do not seem to show anything except themselves?” In this invigorating account of abstract art since Jackson Pollock, eminent art historian Kirk Varnedoe, the former chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, asks these and other questions as he frankly confronts the uncertainties we may have about the nonrepresentational art produced in the last five decades. He makes a compelling argument for its history and value, much as E. H. Gombrich tackled representation fifty years ago in “Art and Illusion,” another landmark A. W. Mellon Lectures volume. Realizing that these lectures might be his final work, Varnedoe conceived of them as a statement of his faith in modern art and as the culminating example of his lucidly pragmatic and philosophical approach to art history. He delivered the lectures, edited and reproduced here with their illustrations, to overflowing crowds at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in the spring of 2003, just months before his death.

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