Art and design projects. With stories about the people, places and experiences that have shaped my

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Connecticut Barn Project / Online Shopping News

The barn kitchen before pics continued: 
1) Bartley standing slightly outside the demolished, original kitchen wall on 11 January 2018.
2) After the cracked 90s kitchen slab was sledgehammered out by hand we laid tapered, wood sleepers on 16" centers over the original slanted barn slab - where the cows were fed in 1947. 
#kitchen #demolition #olddairybarn #1947 #goodbye #wall #slab #wiring #insulation #flooring #plumbing #sheetrock #framing #windows #doors #prettymuch #backtobasics #forget #fixerupper #magic #thisis #brutal #winter #labor

Barn kitchen 'before': Bartley standing slightly outside the demolished, original kitchen wall on 11 January 2018. After the cracked 90s kitchen slab was sledgehammered out by hand we laid tapered, wood floor 'sleepers' on 16" centers to make the original slanted barn slab level - where the cows were fed in 1947. 
#kitchen #demolition #olddairybarn #1947 #goodbye #wall #slab #wiring #insulation #flooring #plumbing #sheetrock #framing #windows #doors #prettymuch #backtobasics #forget #fixerupper #magic #thisis #brutal #winter #labor

A Barn Restoration Project

Many of our friends and long-time observers of these pages will have noticed that I have been AWOL from this blog for over two years. I apologize for the absence. In August of 2017 Bartley, Evie and I began work on the repair and restoration of a 1947 dairy barn in Sharon, CT. As is often the case, I worked on it seven-days a week for just short of two years. In early fall of 2019 we finally moved in!

Above is one of the many 'before' pictures taken of this project. I will be periodically adding additional photos and stories to this post to give you a better idea of the scope of the project and to describe how we designed it. By the way, even though we now live here, it still is not completely done! So please be patient! Some of the photos and stories that follow are taken from my Instagram account called #scofieldartdesign.

The barn is sited adjacent to a large, very handsome wetland. Here is a photo of it in September of 2019. It's filled with many birds from large to very small, recently including a male Northern Harrier and some Wild Turkeys. In the foreground is part of a sculpture I made called 'The Sawyer.'


scofieldartdesign

I like to take a morning constitutional between 6.30 and 7; when the fog is lifting across the watermeadow. A big green landscape balanced by a little Persian red. Foreground detail of morning dew on sculpture 'The Sawyer.' 
#watermeadow #grasses #lifting #fog #distant #green #landscape #view #red #sculpture #nwct #dew #september #inthecountry #cool #fall #air #happy #girls #living #here


Big space. Very exciting to have scaffolding removed! Continuing to install interior window casing and trim. Early morning sunshine. 
#interior #space #morning #december #sunshine #nwct #inthecountry #landscape #olddairybarn #renovation #artistsbarn #project #humanscale #familygoals #MoMAartist #makeahome #formygirls

The barn living-room. Spring, 2019. Very exciting to have scaffolding removed! Continuing to install interior window casing and trim. New sheetrock. Early morning sunshine. 
#interior #space #morning #december #sunshine #nwct #inthecountry #landscape #olddairybarn #renovation #artistsbarn #project #humanscale #familygoals #MoMAartist #makeahome #formygirls



Recent Personal and Business Events / Online Shopping

Bartley: As you all know, the virus lock-down has affected everything in the World. On 18 March Bartley's ladies clothing store in Sharon, CT was shuttered by the state of CT as a non-essential business. She quickly established an online site so that her customers could continue to make purchases from the safety of their homes. 

Her website is:  B.Johnstone&Co.

Please take a look at Bartley's very high-quality new and vintage pieces. It is also possible to private message her on the site with specific questions. 


John: In January I completed a commission for a large painting on canvas entitled, 'The Arkansas River.' It is now installed in it's new home in Little Rock (see below).

"The Arkansas River, painting on canvas, 5 x 5, 2020. I love the Mississippi Delta landscape. 
#polychrome #abstract #landscape #paintingoncanvas #subjectmatter #mississippi #flyway #delta #people #soil #arkansasriver #sky #water #agricultural #flooded #reservoirs #levees #distant #views #stories #history


I have many paintings, pieces of sculpture, drawings and completed art-furniture pieces that are available at very good prices due to the Covid-19 lock-down. A good place to view much of the work is on my Instagram site: #scofieldartdesign on your cell phone. 


You can call me at 860-671-0153 or by e-mail at johneverettscofield@gmail.com

We hope that everyone stays safe and healthy.

Bartley, Evie and John



Friday, March 3, 2017

Malraux's 'Faith In Man'

A clipping I saved from an issue of Time Magazine, 1975 or so.

"There cannot be another Michelangelo in today's society because our faith in man is too weak."

Think of the artists in your private pantheon. Do any of them refute Malraux's 'gloomy' opinion? I was thinking of this yesterday while looking at thousands of artworks at New York's annual 'Armory Show' exhibition.


Monday, September 12, 2016

A New Bronze and Cherry Coffee Table / Bench




This is a coffee table / bench design that I have recently completed. It's made of American cherry wood with a sculptural bronze leg at one end. I have introduced a great deal of textural balance to give the piece extra interest. For instance, the underside of the 4 1/4" thick top has bold tactile passages that transition from rough-carved to very smooth. (The rough looking parts, however, are extremely smooth to the touch).

The light-colored outer 'sap' wood of the log has been removed in the carving process. This exposes the darker colored, more beautiful 'heartwood' seen here. Also all wood has been hand-oiled multiple times. Each coat was wet-sanded with an extremely fine abrasive. Then several coats of wax were hand applied and rubbed for a very handsome and protective finish. It feels silky-smooth to the touch.

The 'flying buttress' style bronze leg has a hand-applied dark brown patina which has also been polished and waxed to a high degree of finish.



The overall dimensions are: Height 18 1/2", Length 90 1/2", Depth 26"




The cherry wood leg tapers from top to bottom. It is fastened to the top with a full-length sliding dovetail joint. A long, curved wood brace adds additional strength as it echos the bronze curve element in the leg (see detail below).











The flying buttress dark bronze leg, shown here at the far end, provides continuity of design between contrasting leg materials.

~~~~

How things like this get made:


Carving all of the sap wood off with an electric chain saw in May of 2016. This process exposes the harder and darker heart wood underneath. Shown up side down on rolling horses. The original cherry slab was 6 inches thick and quite a bit wider than it is now. I had been air-drying the slab for over 15 years; waiting for this moment to address it.




Step 2: Surfacing both sides of the slab. This gets both sides flat and parallel. And the thickness became reduced from 6 to 4 1/4 inches. In all, about 100 pounds of material was removed by the time this jointing and planing work was complete.

The whole process is not at all like the popular image of, say, Brancusi - whom we see in vintage photos wearing a clean white smock standing next to his pristine and exquisitely polished bronze sculpture 'Bird in Space.' Reality is a little different. Creating sculptural objects in any medium is usually pretty noisy, dusty and messy, just like his Paris shop was most of the time in the 1920s. 

So, how do these pieces really get made? Every medium - clay, plaster, metal, wood - has a different set of procedures. In the end it boils down to this: You have to really want to make something and have faith that it will turn out well... The desire to build has to be in your blood.
~~~~
Selected Public Collections
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA.
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT.


Education and Training
1995 Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture; Ancient Furniture.
1975-78 Studio assistant to Robert Motherwell.
1972-73 Apprentice to Wendell Castle under a Lewis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant.
1970-72 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, School for American Craftsmen.


Bronze fabrication courtesy of 21 Bridge Design LLC: http://www.21bridgedesign.com/

Also hearty thanks go to Bryon Jurs #wendellcastle for invaluable finishing tips on how to treat this textured piece and Joe Tracy of Mt. Desert Maine for continued technical support in all areas over many decades.

Copyright John E. Scofield 2016


Friday, May 27, 2016

Book Review, Article and Interview


'Provincetown Arts' annual issue 2016 / 2017
The 2016 issue of Provincetown Arts Magazine has a review of my book on Robert Motherwell in it. I'm delighted that it was written by Chris Busa, founder of the magazine and a long-time friend. This makes the review especially poignant and gratifying for me. Chris knew Motherwell a great deal longer than I did. Chris' dad was painter Peter Busa, long recognized as one of the original abstract crowd in the '40s and '50s. Here is what Chris said:

"John Scofield’s recent book, Robert Motherwell:
In the Studio (Bernard Jacobson Gallery,
London), bubbles with the éclat of seasoned
wisdom. The wraparound jacket photograph
features Scofield watching as Motherwell
puts a stroke on the enormous Reconciliation
Elegy, spread out on the floor, a thirty-onefoot-
long and ten-foot-high commission
for the East Wing of the National Gallery in
Washington, DC. Scofield, an artist, craftsman,
and landscape designer, was Robert
Motherwell’s studio assistant and confidant
for three years in the late seventies,
working daily with the artist in his array of
studios in Greenwich, Connecticut. Motherwell,
moving out of New York, purchased a
section of a large estate, where he converted
the top floors of the horse stables into living
and dining quarters while the bottom floors
were adapted to provide an industrial space
for the production of art—studios for major
paintings, collages, printmaking, and
frame-making. Scofield worked in the
Greenwich studios, then began coming
to assist Motherwell in Provincetown,
where he joined the Provincetown club
the Beachcombers, loving the artistic
“informality,” in which the primitive
and the elegant seemed to coexist."


Thanks Chris.
~~~~

L-R: John E. Scofield, Laila Pedro at the Kasmin Gallery, NYC, 4 May 2016.



People sometimes ask if I learned about color from Bob Motherwell. Perhaps. But I think it was just as much discovering the excitement of working with color. Just being around it is what counts. Above: his 1978 untitled print; pink and black chine colle. Printed by master lithographer Bob Bigelow.



L-R: John Scofield, Laila Pedro, Bernard Jacobson at the Andrea Rosen Gallery, NYC.
The June 2016 issue of the arts and literature magazine Brooklyn Rail contains an interview conducted by BR Managing Editor Laila Pedro. She interviewed me on my '70s memoir, Robert Motherwell: In the Studio. We met in Chelsea, NYC, at the Kasmin gallery's show on Motherwell collages. Laila Pedro thought that it would be a good place to hold the interview as it had the right atmosphere. And she was right!

http://www.brooklynrail.org/2016/06/art_books/john-e-scofield-with-laila-pedro

The photo of us above, bottom, was taken in May of 2015 at the Andrea Rosen Gallery. My book was published in 2015 by the London-based Bernard Jacobson Gallery. http://www.jacobsongallery.com/

~~~~

A blog site called Unlocking Litchfield recently ran a very nice visit with us titled, 'At Home with John Scofield.' They began their story by saying: John Scofield is and artist and designer living in Sharon, CT with his wife Bartley Johnstone, and their daughter, Evie. John’s folding music stand is in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. 

You can find their photos and interview at: http://unlockinglitchfield.com/2016/05/home-john-scofield/

Here are some of the lovely photos taken by Lora Warnick. The well-written story is by Beverley Canepari.

Bartley and I are standing in front of a large painting
on paper titled 'Her Moods.' This is a cartoon for a
glass top coffee table named after a line in a poem by
WH Auden.
A triptych of paintings on paper in the flat-file cabinet.
S. Marie Novella silverchest / humidor with the
mahogany lid raised. The cast bronze base has a
patina based on the stone arches of S. Maria Novella
in Florence.
Sculptural toys that Evie and I make in the shop. This one spins on the purple
nail. We make a lot of things like this together. 
My 'Folding Music Stand,' 1971. Behind it is a painting
on paper for the 'Bruno Chair.' Bruno is my son's
middle name. This music stand is in the collections at MoMA
And the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.
A companion to the Folding Music Stand is this 'Music Chair'
made in 2011. To its right is a small carved and painted
table with a maple top. Above is a painting on paper for
furniture called the 'Klismos Chair.'

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

New Paintings 2016


Please see this very nice interview 'At Home with John Scofield,' posted by 'Unlocking Litchfield.' It shows how as a family we display and otherwise live with art and design features at home. I am also interviewed on the subject of my new book, apprenticeships and the art world 'fast-lane' of the '70s.



Paintings on canvas, paper and panel completed in late 2015 and 2016:

Triptych on paper. Each 15" x 12".

Winter light in studio, February 2016.



'Biak I' 2016, acrylics on panel, 16" x 12"

Detail of 'Biak I'

'Biak II' 2016, acrylics on panel, 16" x 12"

Detail of 'Biak II'


'Orange and Green Table, 2016
'Orange and Green Table' is a painted sketch on paper for a dining table or desk. I have been making sketches like this for furniture designs since the early '70s.




'Shunde Dancers I'

'Shunde Dancers II'
'Shunde Dancers' I and II are both photo collages with acrylic paint on panel. Dimensions are H. 16" x W. 12" x D. 1". Signed: JES - '16

In 2010 I was a panelist at a furniture design conference in Shunde, Southern China. That's where I took these photographs of traditional Chinese dancers. Our host, owner of a 2M square foot furniture showroom, put fifteen of us on CCTV to discuss the importance of creating original designs as opposed to copying. During a quite lavish lunch break my table happened to be closest to the dancers. Behind them was a huge LED screen upon which multiple images of the dancers were projected. Our interpreter said that these stunning multi-color costumes were authentic and quite valuable.



'Scott, AR Ag'
'Scott, AR Ag' is a 2015 photo collage with acrylic paint on canvas. Dimensions are H. 16" x W. 12" x D. 1". 

In 2008 I took this photo of a unique, sheet metal agricultural building located in Scott, Arkansas; about one half hour south of Little Rock. The numerous small concrete piers holding it up are truncated pyramids, not cylinders as is common today. They each had to be separately formed during construction; a detail I found interesting and in keeping with the overall design of the structure.




'Orange Willows'
'Orange Willows' is based on a 2015 photo of an overgrown paddock in Sharon, CT. It is a 24" x 18" photo collage with acrylic colors on canvas. The striking orange and yellow branches created a subtle band of color across an otherwise drab winter landscape. I have been looking at this field for years but never saw the colors as bright as this until last December.

I like to use glazes and under-painting to create interest and depth. The trick is to balance the upper photograph with the painting below in a harmonious combination. At my age I am no longer interested in unstructured or gratuitously shocking subjects or so-called political art.

An architect friend of mine, Jim Walden, studied with Louis Kahn at Penn. I'll never forget when Jim said to his irreverent, activist, son who had been working for the Marxist conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth, "You don't have to show me how bad the world is through your art. I know how bad the world is..!"



'City Hotel Landscape'

'City Hotel Landscape' of 2016 is a picture that was started two years ago. It depicts the somewhat infamous City Hotel in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. The place is described in some detail in Graham Green's first novel The Heart of the Matter written during WWII. Freetown was strategically important during the war as it is the largest natural port in West Africa.

In 1974 I was a Peace Corps volunteer there. On various occasions I would be standing at the City Hotel bar having a beer British-style; no bar stools. Once I happened to be chatting with a couple of Russian sailors standing to my left. They were saying how ships that were tied up at the Queen Elizabeth Quay were often vandalized by thieves at night:  "They will even pull the nails out of a wooden deck." After a few minutes one of the sailors turned sideways a little. They had sub-machine guns strapped on their backs.

 Very little had changed since the '40s. Teen-age Liberian prostitutes would sit on the front porch sipping drinks with no booze in them while waiting for customers. One day I was sitting there at a table next to them making a few watercolor sketches. That's when I took this photo of a dog on the front steps of the hotel. The Tri-X 400 ASA black and white negative then sat in a cardboard box for the next forty years. I occasionally reviewed the image on a proof sheet - kept it in the back of my mind. But until recently I had no use for any of them so they remained unprinted until now. 

Lower painted bands are from my memory of the landscape there - at once tragic, dangerous and beautiful - but stacked up and shuffled in the manner of our dreams.

Acrylic colors on photo paper. Lower portion cut and assembled collage. H. 11 1/2" x W. 9 1/2".





'Three Ausable Trout'

'Three Ausable Trout' is a photo collage with acrylic colors on canvas, 2016.
H. 24 " x W. 18" They were caught in late August with weighted nymph flies on the west branch of the Ausable River in the Adirondacks. This river flows north. The upper and lower fish shown here are brook trout. The center one is a rainbow. Photographed on the tailgate of my Ford pick-up truck; parked under a grove of tall, cool hemlocks.




'Pond Ice'


'Pond Ice' is an acrylic  painting on Arches Heavyweight paper. H. 15" x W. 11 1/4". Ice on a pond is more gentle than the shifting, cracking and moaning of thick lake ice. My daughter likes to test the thickness of pond ice by hitting it with a stick. 




'Aus. Trout'
This title, 'Aus. Trout,' is short for Ausable. Photo collage on board with acrylic paints. H. 9 1/2" x 10 3/4" x 1/2". 


'Figures in Landscape'

'Figures in Landscape' is a 2015 painting on paper that was revised and completed in 2016. Dimensions are H. 11 1/4" x 15". See a large outdoor version of this in sculptural form at the end of this post.



'Figures in a Landscape'
'Figures in a Landscape' has something that is, for me, a new feature. The upper image is a photo of a previous painting on paper, enlarged from the original. Yes, the 'painting' is a photo of a painting... The lower area is paint. A little odd; this reversal. 
H. 9 1/2" x W. 10 3/4" x D. 1/2". 



'Figures in Landscape' H. 7' x W. 12', carved poplar. These are wooden forms that could be cast in bronze, concrete, fiberglass etc. to create a curved or straight relief screen - or solid wall. For use in interior or exterior installations.
Scale: The sixteen wood pieces,'figures,' are leaning against a standard horse paddock fence.


All paintings, sculptures, designs and photographs or photos used in paintings are Copyright John E. Scofield 2016







Friday, July 31, 2015

My New Book: 'Robert Motherwell, In the Studio'



By John E. Scofield

Published by Bernard Jacobson Gallery

In 1975, in the midst of a series of European retrospectives, Robert Motherwell (1915–91) hired a young man named John E. Scofield to be his first full-time studio assistant. Now, in honor of Motherwell’s centenary, Scofield—an artist and designer himself—has written a poignant and tender memoir which conveys the life and thought of a leader of the Abstract Expressionist school a generation ago. Intensely personal, the narrative brings the 1970s to life: Scofield writes of art, intellectual conversation, road trips and male bonding with affection and honesty. Robert Motherwell: In the Studio discusses the booze they preferred, the cars he drove, the artists he admired and the New York art scene that swirled around him. Well told and evocative, this page-turner offers a unique insight into a pivotal figure of American painting.


Notices and events: 

In the Studio is now available in the USA Through the New York art book publisher D.A.P.
http://www.artbook.com/9781872784564.html

~ Television anchorwoman Ann Nyberg recently included this book in an interview with me on 'News8' WTNH in New Haven, CT:
http://networkconnecticut.com/2015/08/john-everett-scofields-award-winning-music-stand/

~ Kent, CT: Saturday, 21 November 2015 book talk and signing accompanied by a slide show at the Kent Memorial Library, Kent, CT.
http://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org/
32 North Main Street, PO Box 127 Kent, CT 06757
860.927.3761
Hours: M-F 10-5:30, Sat 10-4

 
'Robert Motherwell, In the Studio' by John E. Scofield, 2015, front and rear of jacket.
I started writing Robert Motherwell In the Studio in 1995 as an essay on crafts and art. Since then it has slowly developed into a story about my years with the late Abstract Expressionist painter Robert Motherwell. Just published by the Bernard Jacobson Gallery in London, it is now available on Amazon UK. Below are edited excerpts from the book. You might call it a love story - but without the fights...

On New Year's Eve, in December of 1972,  Bob Motherwell and I met for the first time over drinks in the apartment above his Connecticut studio. We talked about a lot of things including the not terribly clear relationship between the crafted functional object and fine art. He was 57. I was 22.

As Motherwell patiently listened to my story of the craft troubles, he was also reading the messenger like a book - with a very good understanding of the way a young student carries a burning issue around him like a weight. I finally produced a few color slides of my own student work. After a very brief look he put them down and it seemed like it was time to pay more attention to his family.

To sum up his feelings on all the issues I had presented he said to me, "Due to functional limitations, the crafted object can never express the human condition, through metaphor, as well as high art can."

This started a friendship and working relationship that lasted until his death in 1991. I ended up working full-time for him from 1975 to '78. The wrap-around jacket photo above shows us painting 'Reconciliation Elegy,' a 31 foot long and ten foot high commission for the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.


'Colored Chair,' 1971, carved and painted wood, shown in a corner of the 2nd floor library.
Some months after our first meeting he purchased my sculptural, “Colored Chair,” For the chair's back I had carved a big chunk of wood from an enormous Bucks County cherry tree. The base was poplar wood stained dark green and flocked in a bright orange color. He said, “You know, it looks like a Miro sculpture.” I was so naïve that I had to pretend I knew who Miro was! 
But the next day I made it my business to find out. This was the beginning of keeping up to speed with the boss; reading, seeing, thinking and doing. You had to be quick on the uptake or you were dead. That's a Matisse collage sitting on the floor in the lower right of the photo. Motherwell did not own a lot of works by other artists. He had an Arp relief, a Cornell box, a Max Ernst sculpture and a few other nice things that were special to him.

Motherwell's painting for Chateau Mouton Rothschild's 1974 label.
One day Baron Philippe de Rothschild called to tell Motherwell that the Baron's wife had just died. Beside her deathbed, on a table, was the small painting maquette we had made for the label. He said that it had been of great consolation to her during her last hours on Earth. Considering the strain he was under, it's remarkable that he was so polite when I, the studio assistant, answered his call. Few callers were so courteous.

In the summers Motherwell normally worked without assistants up in the third floor of ‘Sea Barn,’ his Provincetown house. But in the spring and summer of 1977 he brought me to P’town to help with some special projects. After work and on weekends I often went fishing for bluefish and striped bass.

Late afternoon fishing from the boat with Jeannie on Cape Cod Bay, 1977. I caught a flounder by accident using this deep-diving lure. If we caught blues at night, then I would fillet them; leave some wrapped in newspaper on the front step of Sea Barn as a morning present. I would normally work all day then fish at night. Thermos of espresso on the dash, running lights on, prop churning up green phosphorescence. Come back in before dawn. When keeping this sort of schedule up it helps to be twenty seven…     Photo: Jeannie Motherwell



The following fall and winter were largely devoted to preparing and executing 'Reconciliation Elegy.

Applying gesso to the raw canvas for ‘Reconciliation Elegy.’ Motherwell is shown here standing in front of his downstairs library in the big painting studio. He always recommended books that had been important to him; encouraged us to borrow them. L-R: Scofield, Bigelow, Motherwell.
Photo: Renate Ponsold Motherwell


Here are some additional photos that are not in the book:



My 'chest of drawer' / table with a Joseph Cornell 'box' sitting on top. This was in the 2nd floor
dining / sitting alcove. That room had beautiful light in the sunny late afternoon.


The chest / table is mahogany and carved pear-wood.
My 'Colored Chair' in the apartment sitting area. It got moved around from time to time but
usually sat in the little library by the stairs - where it remained for the better part of 17 years. 
One night we sat on that leather couch watching TV as Jimmy Carter got elected - while
eating Bob's roast chicken with herbs. 



Noted filmmaker Stephan Chodorov recently wrote this brief review of the book:

How often do we read "inside" scoops on the behavior and misbehavior of the successful and celebrated which serve only to boast that the insider had their confidence. So how refreshing it is to have a book like this which reports in an unpretentious way the life and thought of a leader of the Abstract Expressionist school a generation ago. I should say "lives and thoughts" because the writer himself is in the picture throughout, first as an aspiring student with barely two nickels to rub together, and eventually as Robert Motherwell's indispensable assistant. The booze they preferred, the cars they drove, the painters they admired, and the history that swirled around them -- it's all in this neat little book with fascinating photographs. It's to Scofield's credit that he knew how much space to put between himself and the master, and that he knew, as he says, "when it was time to go." Motherwell went on to participate in the rise and fall (and rise again?) of Abstract art...Scofield went on to study sculpture, painting and furniture design (one of his pieces is in the Museum of Modern Art collection).

And Tony Scholl had this to say:

"Scofield's years with Motherwell... a boldly intellectual yet friendly look at a fascinating time and relationship."


Verified Purchase
Poignant and tender, Scofield's memoir is not simply about his time as Robert Motherwell's assistant -- interesting as that is. It is an homage to a time when the art world was evolving -- and to a relationship that shaped and influenced a young man. Well told and evocative, it leaves you wanting more.

Verified Purchase
The Seventies come to life in this fine book full of art, intellectual conversation, road trips and male bonding. Scofield's relationship with Motherwell was a rare thing, an apprenticeship to a good man who understood him. Scofield writes with affection and honesty. An engaging, well-told story.


By hugh davies on 30 Oct. 2015

Verified Purchase
This is a fascinating first hand account of life in the studio of Abstract Expressionist master, Robert Motherwell. Scofield's recollection of everything from studio practice and the artist's reading habits to the frequent visits of art world celebrities is a lively and personally evocative history of one of our greatest artists. A must read for scholars and art lovers alike.
Hugh Davies, Director, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

My book can be purchased through these links:

http://www.artbook.com/9781872784564.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Motherwell-In-The-Studio/dp/1872784569/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

~~~
Another new, very engaging book on Motherwell and his fellow Ab-Ex artists is the one Bernard Jacobson has spent the last two years writing. It is titled, Robert Motherwell: The Making of an American Giant. Bernard put his heart and soul into this. We both did...!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Robert-Motherwell-Making-American-Giant/dp/1901785157/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A2KELR7V6FL47K

All photos and text on this blog site are 'Copyright John E. Scofield 2015.'