Belinda Rathbone Livres

"The first biography of George Rickey, one of the greatest kinetic sculptors of the 20th century. His moving blades, squares, triangles, and circles can be found in museums and public spaces around the world, from bucolic landscapes to the bustling streets of New York City. Now, here is the story of his life, his times, and his vision of balance that created something new--sculpture that is defined by movement. Before his death in 2002, George Rickey created more than 3,000 works of art that move, including hundreds of major outdoor installations. His "useless machines," as he called them, achieved complete rotation, used multiple variations of the pendulum, and delighted viewers with the joyride effects of conical movement. George Rickey follows the life of a renowned artist--first a painter, then a sculptor--who found inspiration all around him--as a child visiting the Singer Sewing Machine factory managed by his father, in his adventurous youth in English and Parisian art studios of the 1920s, during his service as an engineer in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and later as a pioneer in academic art programs around the United States. But this is not only the story of a single artist's creativity and achievement but of Rickey's life in the larger context of the twentieth century: from Depression-era America to the upheaval of World War II, from the rise of New York as the world's art capital at mid-century to the tumultuous 1960s, when Rickey emerged as an international figure rubbing elbows with Alexander Calder, David Smith, Christo, and many others along the way. It is also the story of an exceptional marriage and of Rickey's charismatic, devoted wife, Edith Leighton, who managed her husband's career and reputation in the high-powered art circles of New York, Berlin, and California. Belinda Rathbone (author of The Boston Raphael and Walker Evans) has captured the spirit of an artist and his world as few have before. George Rickey: A Life in Balance is for any reader fascinated by the lives of artists, the creation of enduring art, or twentieth century modernism"-- Provided by publisher

Set against the backdrop of a 400-year-old ancestral estate, a New England woman navigates her romantic feelings for a charming Scottish landowner while grappling with the complexities of his family's legacy. The narrative intertwines themes of love and heritage, offering a humorous and heartwarming exploration of how a place can shape relationships and identity, ultimately celebrating the connection between a house and a marriage.

Set against the backdrop of the 1969 centennial celebrations of the Boston MFA, the narrative follows museum director Perry T. Rathbone as he navigates a complex web of intrigue surrounding the acquisition of a mysterious painting attributed to Raphael. As an Italian art sleuth questions the painting's legitimacy and ownership, a fierce debate over its authenticity ensues. The story, revealed by Rathbone's daughter, explores the intersection of art, media sensation, and the tumultuous challenges of the Sixties, providing a unique insight into a pivotal moment in art history.

The full, inside story of how the discovery of a previously unknown painting by Raphael, the Italian Renaissance master, went from media sensation to career-destroying scandal. On the eve of its centennial celebrations in December, 1969, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts announced the acquisition of an unknown and uncatalogued painting attributed to Raphael. Boston's coup made headlines around the world. Soon afterward, an Italian art sleuth began investigating the details of the painting's export from Italy, challenged the museum's right to ownership. Simultaneously, experts on both sides of the Atlantic lined up to debate the artwork's very authenticity. While these contests played themselves out on the international stage, the crisis deepened within the museum as its charismatic director, Perry T. Rathbone, faced the most challenging crossroads of his thirty-year career. The facts about the forces that converged on the museum, and how they led to Rathbone's resignation as director, is only now fully revealed in this compelling, behind-the-scenes story that reveals how the art world, media, and museums work. This is for anyone who relishes stories of the business of art.

Walker Evan's photographs are American classics. His legendary images of southern sharecroppers in LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN and his pictures documenting the Depression era make up a haunting protrayal of the American soul. Until now, though, the man behind those well-known images has remained elusive, by his own design. In this first full biography, a leading authority on Evans penetrates the anonymity of his legendary photographs to reveal A VERY RICH AND INCLUSIVE LIFE OF FOOLISHNESS, CRUELTY, AND SPLENDOR, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. A portrait of an artist who profoundly influenced the generation of photographers who followed him, WALKER EVANS also traces the artstically fecund times that nurtured him. His career provides a NEW AND PENETRATING ILLUMINATION, ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, of everything from the newly established Museum of Modern Art to President Roosevelt's troubled Farm Security Adminsistratiion. WALKER EVANS is a thoroughly engrossing biography of a unique American master.