Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle
Language: English
Published by powerHouse Books, New York, 2013
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Condition: Used - Near fine
£ 155.30
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
First and only edition. power-House, 2013, New York. Illustrated boards, 4to w/ dust jacket. Heavily illustrated with color images of Bess's work. Near fine/near fine: An extremely nice copy. Dust jacket has the tracemost shelf-wear, and that's about it. The American artist Forrest Bess was famous not just for his abstract yet mystical oriented paintings, but also for a bizarre episode in his life where he surgically altered his penis and urethra in order to possess a new form of genitalia. There are rumors he performed the surgery on himself. Either way, the work and documentation of said work is great in this book, and at one point you get a big eyeful of the surgery's results.
Seller Inventory # 6
- Title
- Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle
- Author
- Smith, Chuck
- Publisher
- powerHouse Books, New York
- Publication year
- 2013
- Condition
- Near fine
- Dust jacket
- Near Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1576876225
- ISBN 13
- 9781576876220
- Illustrator
- Bess, Forrest
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item weight
- 1,179 grams
- Dimensions
- 8.9 inches width by 11.3 inches height by 0.87 inches depth
Bess's treasured canvases were only part of a grander theory&;based on alchemy, Jungian philosophy, and aboriginal rituals&;that proposed that hermaphrodism was the key to immortality. As an artist, Bess could never equivocate, and in 1960 he underwent an operation to become a pseudo-hermaphrodite. For the first time ever in print, Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle combines the beauty of Bess's art with the drama and tragedy of his personal life. Using Bess's own hauntingly sincere words (in letters to Betty Parsons, Meyer Schapiro, and others) the book traces the life and logic of this forgotten artist and explains how a love of beauty and a desire for wholeness lead Bess to self-surgery and, ultimately, a mental hospital. Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle is a fascinating look at one of America's most notorious cult visionaries&;a man who truly believed that art could save his life.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House U.S., and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. He has BA, AM, and PhD degrees from Harvard and has studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and the United States. The New York Times recently hailed him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism."
Chuck Smith is a New York based producer, writer, and filmmaker who has directed numerous documentaries and series for the National Geographic Channel, Discovery, and TLC. Prior to his work for cable TV, Smith was a producer for CBS News and Michael Moore's TV Nation. In 1997, Smith and photographer Ari Marcopoulos, author of Transitions and Exits (powerHouse Books, 2000), produced and directed the award-winning documentary Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle, which features actor Willem Dafoe as the voice of Forrest Bess. Smith's short films and video interviews with artists such as Agnes Martin can be found on YouTube at chucksmithNYC. Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House U.S., and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. He has BA, AM, and PhD degrees from Harvard and has studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and the United States. The New York Times recently hailed him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism."
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
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Online and by appointment bookstore based in Red Hook, Brooklyn. My catalogue includes everything from art books and literature to fringe topics and Americana. Send me a message if you have any questions or want to swing by.
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