Louise Nevelson: Art is Life - Hardcover

This capacious, precisely detailed biography, the first in a quarter-century, was a long time in the making and consequently brims with diligently mined and carefully weighed revelations. Wilson's fascinating, well-illustrated explication of Nevelson's artistic quest reignites appreciation for the profound complexity, evocative beauty, and mystical power of her work. The depth and beauty of this book is extraordinary. I lived with Louise Nevelson for almost twenty-five years and never asked questions that I thought would be intrusive. Laurie Wilson's brilliant biography answers those questions with remarkable insight.--Diana Mackown, Nevelson's longtime assistant and friend Based on primary sources--especially unpublished interviews with the artist, her family, friends, and dealers-- Laurie Wilson presents new information, adroitly separates fact from fiction, and reveals the complex personality of a much admired but little understood artist.--Valerie J. Fletcher, art historian and curator Laurie Wilson finds a delicate and delicious balance between art history and psychoanalysis in this authoritative, exhaustive biography. With an opulence that Nevelson herself would have admired, Wilson proclaims her subject's genius and sculpts a permanent place for Nevelson alongside her most admired contemporary, Pablo Picasso.--Vera Camden, Professor of Psychiatry and English Literature Reads like a thriller with the hero, art, as savior... This compelling biography examines Nevelson's inner life, and portrays her as an artist, woman, and complex human being. It is fascinating to read how she cultivated her image and rose to prominence in what was the macho art world of her time with her evolved and original works. Wilson's refreshing account also includes Nevelson's inspirational friends--many of them women--from the movers and shakers of her era. At last a major, yet inclusive, work in the genre of Art History!--Jane McAdam Freud, sculptor In this biography of Ukrainian-born American sculpture artist Louise Nevelson, famous for her work with shadow boxes and black wooden walls, Wilson, a practicing psychoanalyst who teaches at NYU, uses her professional expertise to explore the inner life and motivations of the artist and her artwork. Wilson details the artist's eccentricities and places Nevelson's success in the context of the 1970s, specifically the male-dominated contemporary art scene in N.Y.C. Her descriptions of Nevelson's art are vivid, carefully observed, and insightful. A much-needed, comprehensive biography of a great American artist. Wilson, an art historian and practicing psychoanalyst, is perfectly suited to write this intimate, revealing biography of the artist she interviewed many times and considers "one of the greatest American artists of the twentieth-century.'' Separating truth from myth, a perceptive investigation into the ''''larger than life' American original, Louise Nevelson. A fascinating read for someone who knew her well.--Arne Glimcher, founder of Pace Gallery

Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) was, with Calder, Noguchi and David Smith, one of the great American sculptors of the 20th century. She created extraordinary work, from room-size installations composed of boxes to gnarled and majestic steel structures. Her life story is no less interesting. She was born in czarist Russia, but her family emigrated to the States and she grew up in Maine. Nevelson endured a repressive marriage to a New York millionaire, whom she escaped to pursue the life of an artist. She gained recognition as an abstract sculptor at the age of 59, and spent the next 30 years taking the art world by storm, becoming a colourful New York personality and minor celebrity.
Laurie Wilson, who knew Nevelson personally, draws extensively on her own research in this crisp new biography. She conducted interviews not just with Nevelson but with her siblings, son, and gallery owner Arne Glimcher. Wilson has also had complete access to Glimcher’s archives, Nevelson’s personal assistant, Diana Mackown, and Lippincott studios, where much of Nevelson’s work was cast, among others