Because he cared about how his art looked and because he accepted traditional ideas of what looked good on canvas, EGON SCHIELE remained outside of Expressionism. Expressionist influences nevertheless showed up in his bold graphics, distorted lines, and unnatural colors: "The artist's wife" wore a plain skirt covered with heavy impastoes, against a similarly treated background, by the emotionally charged, energetically treated brushwork style of Oskar Kokoschka; "View of Krumau" brought Georges Braque- and Pablo Picasso-type Cubism into the exaggeratedly high, unusual viewpoints to make a three-dimensional motif work on a two-dimensional Gustav Klimt-style decorative picture plane. They also had their role in his opinion of art as having to do with feelings, which he drew as abnormal or exaggerated in his self-portraits: "Self-portrait with black clay vase" gave him a double-jointed pair of hands in the manner of medievally represented saints, Paul Gauguin-style self-painted ceramic head, and a vulnerably, wide-eyed look. Expressionism played a part, too, in his pessimistic views: "The family" painted an unhappy trio looking in different directions against a brightly lit background as menacing as a spotlight; drooping "Sunflower" leaves hung dejectedly along a woody stalk; and with her Gustav Klimt-styled fine society lady's huge hat, "The scornful woman" showed an Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec-styled fish wife nude to the waist and sneering at a hurtful world. Author Frank Whitford has come up with a good set of illustrations and text. The author's book, along with his KLIMT, and Christopher Short's SHIELE give a good idea of the artist's place among Bernard Denvir's TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, Jose Maria Faerna's KOKOSCHKA, Hans Ludwig C Jaffe's PABLO PICASSO, Susanna Partsch's GUSTAV KLIMT, Belinda Thomson's GAUGUIN, and Karen Wilkin's GEORGES BRAQUE.

This is a wonderful reference book for information concerning 20th century artists. Included is biographical data, main exhibitions, and the character of the work. The primary focus is Western Europe and the USA, although, a few artists from Latin America and Japan are included. I would agree with all of the nice things that the editorial review says. This is the most complete and up-to-date reference for this type of information. My only disappointment was in the extensive bibliography that is not that helpful to me, primarily because I don't read all those languages.

Many art lovers have no entry point to abstract modern art. It is bad enough to see a canvas filled with rising black lady fingers, or crowded with primary color matchsticks which look as if a child had drawn them. Even worse, if a huge, plain white canvas, or a black one, or a purple one is put in a frame, hung in a museum, and sold for thousands of dollars, we have no idea why. Frank Whitford finds a simple path through history, and through the evolving types of abstract art, to lead us by the hand into the thicket, show us what is going on in there and what it means, and bring us safely to the other side, educated and ready to go look at some pictures - more importantly, ready to look at the abstract pictures with new appreciation and understanding.

Whitford uses traditional pictures we all appreciate and understand to provide a strong starting point for the journey into the abstract.

Whitford's writing style is at once clear, erudite, educated, not without humor and irony, and always entertaining. He is never cynical or sarcastic, no matter how much this subject would seem to set up easy targets. Abstract art is serious business for those in the know, and this book gives us lay readers a chance to count ourselves in that group.

It performs a valuable service.

Great background to an institution which was about as rock'n'roll as they come. The soul put into the establishment, its teachings, its beliefs (collective and individual) and the commitment of those involved is staggering - its a shame that it really doesn't have an equivalent today, but that's todays politic and media for you. Consice account that was almost written as a historical novel - Christ, I even read the bibliography at the end !! Off to find more books about it all now. Oh, and listen to Blumfeld, International Jetset & Earl Brutus whilst reading this too.

AJC 1999

Mister Whitford thoroughly chronicled the events that formed and shaped the Bauhaus - from the very beginning to the unfortunate end. A very good point of view - a must read for the Bauhaus enthusiast.

Frank Whitford's Bauhaus in the Thames & Hudson World of Art series provides a fine basic introduction to the 20th century's most important school of art. Whitford writes engagingly and informatively. He begins by sketching the prehistory of the school in the 19th century arts-and-crafts movement and then goes on to examine van der Velde and the Weimar Art School that served as the basis upon which Gropius established the school. Whitford deals with all the major figures in the fourteen-year history of the Bauhaus and he uses contemporary documents (journals, personal accounts, etc.) to tell the story. I rank this among the best books in the Thames & Hudson series. In fact, I assigned it as a required text in a course on the Bauhaus and the Weimar Republic. Incidentally, teachers might be interested to know that Whitford has also written and narrated a fine 60" film "Bauhaus: Face of the 20th Century" (available in the Films for the Humanities series.)

it is a very good book. i enjoyed it expecially because I LOVE Kandinsky. It is worth it