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More imagesThe Art of Karl Gerstner: Nine Picture Chapters and Selected Essays
Stierlin, Henri, editor; Stephenson, Dennis Q., translator; Glueck, Grace, forward; Fricker, François and Lüscher, Max, contributors
- Hardcover
- First Edition
Seller: Books to Give ~ Books to Love®, Alexandria, VA, U.S.A.Books to Give ~ Books to Love®
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Hardback. Condition: Near fine. Near fine. First American edition. Karl Gerstner was known for several things at once: He was a graphic artist and typographer of the Swiss school, a color theorist and writer, and an abstract painter. Which aspect of his long career was most important shifted with time and according to the intere…sts of the inquirer. "The Art of Karl Gerstner: The Spirit of Colors" (warning: references to this book are sometimes found with the title and subtitle reversed, for legitimate reasons) combines his theoretical work with many examples of his paintings. It also includes not only essays by Gerstner, but essays about Gerstner. What was he about? The general thrust of his thoughts on color, and perhaps his paintings, might be summed up by Lynn Gamwell in "The Guardian" in 2015, two years before Gerstner's death at age 86: "Swiss artists such as Gerstner created patterns that resonate with mathematical descriptions of nature in terms of symmetry. Like the mathematicians, these artists established basic aesthetic building-blocksunits of color and formand arranged them using rules that preserve proportion and balance." Critics were not always overly-fond of the end results when it came to his paintings as works of art in and of themselves. For example, Roberta Smith said this in the "New York Times" about one of Gerstner's rare solo exhibitions in 1997: "there's a brittle, overly intellectual bravura to these machinations that makes them seem more like high-performance color charts than paintings, despite Mr. Gerstner's ability to make his technically perfect surfaces feel handmade.Thus while the works unlock some of color's mysteries to dazzling effect, the dazzle never deepens." There are so many examples of Gerstner's work in this book, including large fold-out plates, that you have plenty of information to form your own opinion. Our copy is a first printing of the first American edition. It was originally published in German with the title, "Der Geist der Farbe," or "The Spirit of Colors," which appears here both on the top of the front of the dust jacket and on the half-title page. However, the wording at the bottom of the front of the dust jacket, the title on the title page, and on the official Library of Congress catalog record is "The Art of Karl Gerstner"hence where the confusion over the official title of the book comes in. To make matters worse, neither is stamped on the black linen binding, only Gerstner's name. That gray stamping is worn on the cover but still in fine shape on the spine, and the binding itself is in excellent condition, without even any bumping on the corners or spine. (There is some slight bowing on the boards, however.) The text block is tight and solid, and the pages are free of marks, creases, and tears. The dust jacket is showing slightly more wear, with a bit of shelf wear at the lower left corner of the rear panel and very small nick on top of the inside flap. The lamination is starting to pull away from the paper at a number of places as well, but at no place has it completely peeled away. Photos are forthcoming, or available upon request.
