Carmen Cicero

The first book devoted to the enigmatic and thought-provoking drawings and watercolors of Carmen Cicero-in a handsome oversize format. Carmen Cicero (b. 1926) is now in the midst of his seventh decade at the cutting edge of contemporary art. His works of the 1950s-collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and other major museums-combined the gestures of Abstract Expressionism with the complex emergent forms of Surrealist automatism. In the 1960s, Cicero was one of the first members of the American avant-garde to return to figuration, pursuing, through the 1960s and 1970s, a style he called ?figurative expressionism.? This evolved into his more recent ?visionary? mode, in which he depicts, with a startling clarity, mysterious scenes animated by multiple contradictory feelings-unfulfilled desires, jealousy, despair, and isolation-as well as a generous dose of humor. Throughout his entire artistic evolution, drawing and watercolor have remained central to Cicero's practice, allowing him to body forth his fertile imaginings with a vivid immediacy. This oversize volume presents a generous selection of drawings and watercolors from every stage of Cicero's career; it is printed on a quality uncoated stock that recalls the artist's favored Arches watercolor paper, and many of the drawings are reproduced at actual size. An essay by the noted critic David Ebony brings out the humor, pathos, and consummate skill of Cicero's art, and a full apparatus-including an artist's statement, chronology, and bibliography-further add to the value of this work, which will be an essential addition to any library of American art. AUTHOR: David Ebony, a contributing editor of Art in America and a columnist for Artnet News, is the author of numerous artist monographs. SELLING POINTS: . The first book about the drawings and watercolors of Carmen Cicero, born in 1926 and now in his seventh decade at the cutting edge of contemporary art . Like his older contemporary Philip Guston, Cicero achieved early success as an Abstract Expressionist but later adopted a figurative style. . Cicero's figurative style is all his own-visionary, surreal, full of ambiguity, shot through with humor, an exploration of the human condition with no easy lessons. . A magnificent oversize volume printed on an uncoated stock that recalls the artist's favored Arches watercolor paper . Text by the noted critic David Ebony and a foreword by the noted art historian Annette Blaugrund