Phaidon's Vitamin P: A Survey of Contemporary Painting

Phaidon has released the French translation of its influential survey 'Vitamin P', which documents the resurgence of painting as a medium. Published in the wake of landmark exhibitions like 'Urgent Painting' at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (winter 2002) and 'Cher Peintre…' at the Centre Pompidou (spring 2002), the book features 114 painters selected by an international panel of specialists. French artists included are Djamel Tatah, Carole Benzaken, Denis Castellas, Bernard Frize, and Yan Pei-Ming, among others. Each artist receives at least a double-page spread with a critical text, biography, and illustrations. Since its release, 'Vitamin P' has become a reference work for contemporary painting, though the author cautions against viewing it as a definitive canon. The introductory essay by Barry Schwabsky raises pertinent questions about painting's reception after modernism. The book is noted for its extremely small font size, which nearly requires a magnifying glass.