The Artist's Studio: A Cultural History - James Hall

Artist's studios are funny places; there is no set text to how they are or should be just as there is no prescribed diktat about what art is and can be. In my years of managing artists studios in London means that I have seen both the paint splattered, chaotic versions as well as the carefully laid out pristine versions. The ones where the artist almost inhabits the space for 24 hours a day and the ones where they work alongside other practitioners, enjoying the comapnionship and the ability to bounce ideas off one another.

James Hall explores the artist's studio as a place that can be a utopia as well as a place associated with dirty, back-breaking work. His cultural history reveals the myth and the reality of the creative space from ancient Greece to the modern day as documented through written description and also through painting, photograph, painted pottery and more. Hall places the studio within a rich cultural, political and social context with the aim of correcting an imbaance that has long overlooked the artisans who have collaborated with artists.

Among the famous artists whose studios he discusses are Leonardo da Vinci, Artemisia Gentileschi, Claude Monet and Diego Rivera.

Hardback. 288 pages

Measurements:

17.7cm x 24.7cm x 3cm