Thursday's Three on Art

Thursday's Three presents a glimpse of one forthcoming and two recently published books on art.

✦ Howard Hodgkin: Absent Friends (National Portrait Gallery, April 25, 2017) ~ Edited by Paul Moorhouse, this survey of 50 years of work also includes new paintings by abstract British colorist Howard Hodgkin, who described himself as a "painter of appearances" and "of emotional situations". Hodgkin's relationships with such other artists as David Hockney and R.B. Kitaj (1932-2007) also are explored.

Howard Hodgkin at Gagosian Gallery

✦ Rodin (Editions Xavier Barral, 2016) ~ French photographer Emmanuel Berry interprets Rodin's artworks in black-and-white photographic studies. Helene Pinet provides the introduction to the 120-page book; Marie Guillot, the text.

View images from the book at Berry's Website.

Musee Rodin

✦ Monet: The Early Years (Yale University Press, 2016) ~ Accompanying Kimball Art Museum's exhibition "Monet: The Early Years", on view through January 29, this 320-page catalogue, edited by curator George T. M. Shackelford and with essays from Richard Shiff, Richard Thomson, Anthea Callen, and Mary Dailey Desmarais, discusses the great painter's early style, influences, ambitions, and artistic innovation. Covering the years 1858 to 1872, the catalogue includes 180 color and 10 black-and-white illustrations and spotlights more than 60 paintings, including La Pointe de la Heve at Low Tide, Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), The Magpie, The Green Wave, and La Grenouillere.

Forthcoming is Monet: Reflections and Shadows (Hatje Cantz, April 25, 2017).

Claude Monet (1840-1926) at The Art Story