Summer Reading: Five Art Books by and About Artists

Artribune presents five art books for summer reading, each focusing on a different artist. Gastone Biggi's catalogue raisonné, edited by Arturo Carlo Quintavalle and Gloria Bianchino, is published by Skira in 2019. It comprises two volumes: one richly illustrated with essays and interviews, the other cataloguing about 4,000 of Biggi's 6,000 paintings, plus drawings and temperas. Gastone Novelli's anthology of writings from 1943 to 1968, edited by Paola Bonani and published by Nero in 2019, opens with an antifascist text from November 10, 1943, and includes his decision to skip the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968. Every thirty pages, a postcard reproduces one of his works. Ian Castello-Cortes's 'Cercasi Frida disperatamente' (L'ippocampo, 2019) is a biographical book on Frida Kahlo, part of a series also covering Banksy and David Bowie. Ugo Nespolo's 'Maledette Belle Arti' (Skira, 2019) covers his career from the 1960s with Arturo Schwarz and Pierre Restany, his experimental film 'Revolving Doors' based on Man Ray, co-founding the Istituto Patafisico Ticinese with Enrico Baj, involvement with Fluxus, and his presidency of the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin. Peter Halley's catalogue raisonné of 1980s paintings, edited by Clément Dirié and published by JRP|Ringier in 2018, was named among the 'Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2018' and includes an installation at Magazzini del Sale in Venice.