Creative Gatherings
Meeting Places of Modernism
Distributed for Reaktion Books
288 pages
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120 color plates, 80 halftones
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6 1/2 x 8 3/4
Review Quotes
Christopher Benfey, Mount Holyoke College, author of “Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay”
“‘They were all here,’ writes Caws about one of the astonishing ‘creative gatherings’ she summons from the aching past in this vivid, impossible-to-put-down book. The next best thing to being there is to relish this delicious mix of gossip, intense creativity, and cultural analysis. Under Caws’s spell, crisscrossing the globe in search of those magical pockets of collaborative electricity, we all become what she calls ‘lovers of gatherings.’”
James M. Bradburne, general director of the Pinacoteca di Brera and Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Italy
“There are few scholars alive that combine erudition with first-hand experience like Caws. Caws’s writing has the enigmatic, serendipitous and discursive character of the writers, poets, and artists she has spent her life with. The seemingly disparate threads of people, places, and polemics meander, intersect, and tangle in a rich warp and weft; a travelogue in time, spaces, and ideas, taking the reader on a voyage of intellectual and historical discovery. Funny, insightful, and provocative, Creative Gatherings shows that despite the ubiquity of new media, spending time together—at bars, cafés, salons and sitting rooms—remains at the heart of human creativity.”
Michael R. Taylor, chief curator and deputy director, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
“Creative Gatherings documents the artists' colonies, bohemian haunts, country retreats, and favorite watering holes of some of the greatest cultural luminaries of the modern age. Rather than focus on the contributions of individual artists and writers, this enchanting book chronicles the shared lives of the various avantgarde communities across Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beautifully written and informed by meticulous research, [Caws’s book is] an instant classic: a must-read for anyone interested in the history and legacy of modernism.”
Rain Taxi Review of Books
"Scholarly if not theoretical. . . .Accessible without being condescending."
Alex Danchev | Times Literary Supplement
"Caws has a discriminating eye, a catholic taste, a fine feeling for feeding. . . .She is hard to beat."
Amy Hunsaker | ARLIS/NA Reviews
"Adds depth to the discussion about gathering spaces in relation to creative output, artistic movements, and inspiration among artists and writers. . . . The book almost reads like a travel guide; one could imagine themselves taking it on exploratory walks through Paris, Venice, or Prague. However, the comfortable tone of the narrative should not deter librarians from including this volume in their collections. Creative Gatherings belongs in both academic and specialized art libraries, as well as on personal bookshelves."
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