Edvard Munch: The Complete Graphic Works
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Graphic Design
Edvard Munch: The Complete Graphic Works Details
From Library Journal This definitive updating and expansion of previous catalogs dating from the 1920s will remain the chief reference for Munch's graphic oeuvre for a long time to come. Woll, the senior curator of prints and drawings at the Munch Museum in Oslo, has spent 15 years studying the 17,000 sheets there and a further 6000 impressions in public and private collections worldwide to establish the 748 separate works representing Munch's graphic production (all are reproduced here, many in color). Appendixes list related drawings, reproductions, fakes, major print exhibitions of Munch's work, and a concordance with the earlier catalogs by Gustav Schiefler. Woll provides a clear and informative 25-page overview of Munch's 50 years of printmaking, but the bulk of the text is the 390 pages of catalog entries. Each entry gives the title in English, Norwegian, and German; date, dimensions, and medium; and a careful physical description of the print and any variants. Four pages of the essay in the review copy were misprinted from the German edition, and though the publisher claims that this problem has been caught, libraries should check their copy on receipt. Despite some other generally minor typographical errors throughout and the volume's high price, this will be absolutely essential for research collections and for those interested in the graphic arts. Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more About the Author Gerd Woll is senior curator of prints and drawings at the Munch-museet. Read more
Reviews
If you are passionate about Munch's art, you'll enjoy this immensely. If you deal professionally in fine prints, this will be a substantial addition to your working library. For all others, it's too much and not enough.This remarkable book is a complete catalog of prints from a very prolific printmaker - over 700 of them, from a career spanning 50 years. Each one is reproduced, B&W or color, in readily recognizable form. When significantly different states or inkings are known, each variation is shown. Thorough notes accompany each, not just medium, size, and date, but information about where it was printed and displayed, and sometimes even about the plate, block, or stone from which it was printed. Indexing, notes, and supporting material are meticulous. This volume certainly meets its goal: to represent Munch's total output of prints, to the extent that very fine scholarship possibly can.This is just a catalog, though. The author has intentionally witheld commentary, referring readers to the large literature that already analyzes Munch's work. Reproductions are always printed well, and large enough to be easily recognized. Very few are full sized or even page sized - despite its large format, this isn't a coffee table book of the usual kind. Anyone but a serious fan will find it repetitive and disappointing as a "picture book."//wiredweird