The Painted Word - Paperback

by Tom Wolfe (Author)

Reissued for today's reader with a redesigned cover by the renowned artist Seymour Chwast, Tom Wolfe trains his satirical eye on Modern Art in this "masterpiece" (The Washington Post).

What has become of art?

In his dazzling and controversial book The Painted Word, Tom Wolfe explores this question and more as he investigates early trends in Modern Art and critiques the critics who dominated the art world during the 1960s and '70s. Wolfe addresses the scope of Modern Art, from its founding days as Abstract Expressionism through its transformations to Pop, Op, Minimal, and Conceptual. He bring into question the work of famous avant-garde artists like Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and others. With gorgeous, pointed prose, Wolfe investigates what has become of Modern Art and examines the control that art critics have over the art world at large.

Elegant, hilarious, and devastating, The Painted Word presents a sharp critique of the modern state of art.

Author Biography

Tom Wolfe (1930-2018) was one of the founders of the New Journalism movement and the author of such classics as The Right Stuff and Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, along with several novels including The Bonfire of the Vanities, A Man in Full, and I Am Charlotte Simmons. His numerous honors include the National Book Award, the John Dos Passos Prize, the Washington Irving Medal, the National Humanities Medal, and the National Book Foundation Medal. He lived in New York City.