Kirjahaku

"A revelation. No one will ever view Andrew Wyeth's apparently tranquil works the same way again after reading this vivid and astonishing portrait of the turbulent, driven man who paints them. Richard Meryman has written a wonderful book." - Geoffrey C. Ward At its most fundamental level, this stunning and unique biography describes a distinguished painter's enterprise of transmitting emotion onto a flat surface. It explores all the factors that have combined to create Andrew Wyeth -- his childhood in a hothouse of creativity; his hypersensitivity; his formidable wife; his identification with people marginalized and misunderstood -- all which have made him an American icon. In the process, his realist works in watercolor and tempera, including the famous "Christina's World," have gained him a special and secure niche in the history of American art. The book is a portrait of obsession -- how single-mindedness has affected Wyeth's relationships and transformed his world into a realm of secrecy and fervid imagination. Those who read this book will never look at Wyeth's work as they did before. It reveals the artist's dark depths, as well as the ruthless, angry, child/man fantasist who paints the basic brutalities of existence -- death and madness --that vibrate eerily beneath his pictures' calm surfaces. Richard Meryman's narrative is almost novelistic, with its larger-than-life characters and subplots: the tragedy of C.C. Wyeth; Betsy Wyeth's campaign for independence and individuality; the byzantine 15-year-long drama of the Helga paintings; the eccentric and creative Wyeth clan; and the idiosyncratic land and people of Maine and Pennsylvania. Based on 30 years of research, frequent visits and countless conversations with the artist, his family, friends, admirers and critics, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life is the only book about the man and the artist that gets behind his carefully guarded screen, tells the full story of his life and reveals his complex personality and the motivations for his paintings.

In July 1962, Marilyn Monroe was at a crossroads. At thirty-six years old, and having just been fired by the studio from her current picture, Something’s Gotta Give, she was struggling with fame, age, and a studio system in which she no longer fit. When she sat down to give Richard Meryman an interview, she had a lot to say. Originally intended to be an interview just about fame, over the course of eight hours, Marilyn talked about her entire life. Only a small portion of the interview was published in Life magazine. When she died, just two days before the article was published, Meryman put the rest of her interview in his files, never to see the light of day. Documenting this landmark interview was photojournalist Allan Grant. His images of Marilyn would be her last photo shoot—in her home, in casual clothes, being the glorious free spirit she was. Grant captured every emotion of the interview in glorious images, only a few of which were published with the interview excerpt. The rest, just like the interview, sat in his archive, waiting to be rediscovered. Marilyn Monroe: The Last Photographs, The Lost Interview is Marilyn Monroe in her own words—the words that haven’t been published, until now. In this recently restored complete transcript, Marilyn very candidly talks about her life, her childhood, fame, the struggles with the studios, her approach to her work, celebrity, being a sex symbol, and more. At times joyous, silly, serious, and pensive, it is a Marilyn that the world has never heard. Accompanying the interview are more than 300 of Grant’s extraordinary pictures taken for the interview, most never published until now. This beautifully produced book offers readers a glimpse into Marilyn’s mindset during her last days as she began to assert control of her career and address her relationship with celebrity. Deepening the understanding of Marilyn’s talents, humanity, and true legacy, and the appreciation of her true beauty, this is a fitting tribute to one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century.