The plan here is to list and
evaluate the books about Mondrian and make some suggestions on where to get
them.
As the Great Mr Zappa said,
"writing about music is like dancing about architecture", and a similar
principle applies to
art. I am not much interested in the more pretentious analyses of Mondrian's
works and so theoretical books do not appeal to me particularly. What we do
need, though are quality reproductions of as many works as possible, and
interesting details about his life and working methods. Listed below are the
books I have and my opinions of them.
All prices are correct at the
time of writing and will be updated occasionally. The books are listed below and
a range of sources at the bottom of the page.
I suppose all lists of Mondrian
books should begin with the Catalogue Raisonné by Joosen and Welsh
and published by Abrams. This 1100 page, two-volume work is the most
comprehensive on the subject and must set the standard by which others are
judged. It seeks to show and describe every Mondrian work, although a
disappointing number of the 1300 illustrations are
in black and white rather than colour. It also details his life and
exhibitions. It is rather disparaging about some of the competition.
It seems to be out of print (aka
"special order") at Amazon at the moment, but they are listing links to used
copies.
Second hand prices seem to
range from $100-$250 and from £100-£250
$100
£100
Michel Seuphor, Piet Mondrian:
Life and Work
Is probably the second best known book on the
subject. My copy has just arrived (Oct 2002) and it is a really fine book.
It is written in a straightforward, conversational way by a friend of
Mondrian and presents a fascinating background to the pictures.
I paid $30 plus $11 shipping to England, which
looks like a pretty good deal compared to some I have seen. Thanks to
Brannan Books, Garberville, CA.
One interesting feature of the book is an
appendix showing how PM's signature changed over the years. See
here.
Complete
Mondrian, by Marty Bax, Lund Humphries Publishers
This is a more reasonable
starting point, priced at $45 in the US and £30. I have the original Dutch
version (bought too soon) and so cannot vouch for the small amount of text,
but it has 300 colour and 1000 b&w reproductions.
$45
£30
Mondrian:
The Transatlantic Paintings, by Harry Cooper, Ron Spronk, James Cuno, Yale
University Press
Concentrating on the paintings Mondrian took with
him when Mondrian moved from London to New York, this book gives a
fascinating insight into his working methods.
See below on buying this book
in the UK.
$55
£35
Mondrian,
The Art of Destruction, by Carel Blotkamp, pub Abrams
I was at first rather critical
of this book as excessively analytical, but I am getting to like it more and
more. It is a fine balance of information and opinion with many excellent
plates and photographs. It also has a good section on Marlow Moss. This is out of print on Amazon US, but still listed on Amazon
UK. Used copies are readily available.
£20
26, Rue du
Départ, Frans
Postma, pub Ernst & Sohn
A reconstruction of the studio which Mondrian
occupied in Paris from 1921-36. Brilliant. How do you get a job doing that?
A book by Seuphor on the set Mondrian designed
for his play. The planned performance did not take place and the model in
the photograph has now been lost.
o
Piet Mondriaan, Een catalogus van
zijn werk in Nederlands openbaar bezit, by Cor Blok,
pub Meulenhoff
This concentrates on PM's earlier works. I picked up a
second-hand copy from a Dutch bookseller for €14.
The Catalogue Raisonné disapproves, stating "Blok's publication is
limited to which were owned by or on loan to Dutch public collections at the
time the catalogue was compiled", but I like it, and no collection would
be complete without it.
L'opera completa di
Mondrian, by Maria Grazia Ottolenghi,
pub Rizzoli
The Catalogue is even more disparaging on this
one, "not only little more than a listing of Mondrian's painted works,
but, with few exceptions, it is limited to works known to the author from
reproductions only and which could could thus be accompanied by
illustrations." As I cannot read Italian, this does not present me with
a problem. The illustrations are excellent. Again, bought second hand from
an online Italian bookshop.
Mondrian,
Structures in Space, by Susanne Deicher, pub Taschen
This must have been my first
Mondrian book and it is probably all most people need.
95 pages, many illustrations,
all in colour.
It seems to be out of print in
the UK but the same author has another book
here which could be just a later edition.
$8
£6
Piet
Mondrian, by Bois, Joosten, Rudenstine and Janssen, Bullfinch Press
This was my second decent book
on PM, remaindered at £25. It was published in 1994 to coincide with the
an exhibition which was held serially in the Haags
Gemeentmuseum (Dec 94 - Apr 95), Washington National Gallery of Art (Jun -
Sep 95) and MoMA (Oct 95 - Jan 96). 400 pages, 180 works pictured in colour
and discussed in detail, with 110 B&W.
Mondrian:
Flowers, David Shapiro, pub Abrams
This book obviously concentrates on the flower
paintings Mondrian produced earlier in his career and again later when he
needed some quick sales. Excellent illustrations, 57 in colour. This seems
to have gone out of print quite recently. I paid $15 for a copy on eBay, but
I have seen some selling at silly prices since then.
The flower paintings are often considered mere
'pot-boilers' Mondrian produced to make some money, but Shapiro ascribes
greater significance to them as a relief from the Compositions he was
painting simultaneously and also as sensual sublimation. I'm not sure I
agree with him, but it is a well produced book with excellent illustrations.
Mondrian
Diamond Compositions, by E A Carmean Jr,
pub National Gallery of Art,
Washington
Another book specialising in a subset of PM's
work, issued in connection with an exhibition, but a book in its own right. A very interesting and detailed study. Second hand copies are readily
available.
The
Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian, Edited and Translated by Harry Holtzman
and Martin S. James, Da Capo Press
I bought this because it was
cheap ($5) and because I am rather Mondrian-obsessed. I don't suppose I will
ever read it through, but it is interesting to dip into occasionally. "Not
for the casual reader", as the Amazon review states, although the book
starts with two excellent articles from Holtzman and James.
Out of print or nearly so, the
links are to the paperback version.
The following books are relevant
to Mondrian but do not deal with him alone
De Stijl: The Formative Years, by Blotkamp, Esser, Ex,
Gast, Hilhorst, Hoek, Kuper & Vermeulen (tran. Loeb & Loeb), MIT Press,
Cambridge Mass.
This is a delightful book covering the key De
Stijl members, one by each of the authors. The subjects are:
Theo van Doesburg,
Mondrian, Vilmos Huszár,
J.J.P.Oud, Bart van der
Leck, Jan Wils, Robert van't Hoff, Georges
Vantongerloo,
Gerrit Rietveld. It is well written and illustrated but with disappointingly
few colour illustrations.
That remarkable looking
thing on the cover is by Vantongerloo, more details
here.
De Stijl 1917-1931 Visions of
Utopia, Mildred Friedman, ed. with essays by Manfred Bock, Kees Broos,
Martin Filler, Kenneth Frampton, Martin Friedman, Ger Harmsen, Joop Joosten,
Rudolf W.D. Oxenaar, Serio Polano, Nancy J. Troy, Robert P. Welsh, Abbeville
Press, NewYork.
Similar in content and style to the book above, this
was published for the exhibition of the same name at the Walker Art Centre
in 1982. It has more colour illustrations, but I would find it difficult to
choose between the two in terms of the interest and quality of the articles.
Both highly recommended.
There are a
surprising two novels dealing with a Mondrian painting.
The Burglar
Who Painted Like Mondrian, Lawrence Block
This is an excellent crime
novel with a Mondrian (and a cat) at the centre, available in a variety of covers (see
here).
$7
£5
Boogie
Woogie, Danny Moynihan
The Mondrian element is
rather more peripheral here as it is more concerned with the nature of the
New York art market in general. I bought it and read it, but would not
really recommend it.
$11
£8
There is also
an intriguing note in
Blotkamp (p. 9),
... in his own lifetime [Mondrian] had been
portrayed in various novels, such as Maalstroom (Maelstrom) by
Henriëtte Mooy, De Vader en de Zoon (The Father and the Son) by Louis
Saalborn and Michel Seuphor's Les évasions d'Olivier
Trickmansholm (The Escapes of Olivier Trickmansholm), as well as an
inane crime story that appeared in Het gulden Meisjesboek (The Golden Girl's
Book).
Videos
Amazon US list
three videos.
Mondrian Mr Boogie-Woogie Man Written and Presented by Matthew Collings, Directed by
Janice Sutherland.
Phaidon, 1995.
This is the only one I have
actually watched and it is excellent.
Highly recommended. It includes analysis, comments, anecdotes and
reminiscences from many of the best known writers on Mondrian, Blotkamp,
Bois and Robert Hughes; the sons of Holtzman and Janis, and the photographer
Arnold Newman.
I bought it from Amazon UK, but it is temporarily
unavailable there at the time of writing - click the UK cover to check.
Still on sale in the US.
$40
oop
Mondrian:
From Naturalism to Abstraction
There is one review on
Amazon which pans this film.
