Arts & Culture

 Every week I look forward to sitting down with a new stack of library books.

It was sunny last Sunday, so I turned off my phone and settled in for some private time.

I've already had a quick flip through these. They are all real goodies.

Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition. Wait 'til you see!

This fish by Jed Quinn caught my eye. It is called The Myth of Metals, (oil on linen, 2012).

The little glazed stoneware sculpture on the left is by Klara Kristalova. The text says, "Her sinister Black Pansy is wholly lacking the cheerful delicacy of this familiar flower." They've got that right, and what a hilarious way to say it!

Christopher Williams, the photographer of Rittersport (above), says he prefers to stand beside the camera rather than behind it. What this means is he hires studio professionals to take the pictures he wants to see. How interesting.

One more still life. Rabbit with Curlers, 2010, by Nancy Fouts. Yes, that is a taxidermy rabbit. 

If you like French painting you may feel you've seen all there is to see from Montmartre. Esprit Montmartre: Bohemian Life in Paris Around 1900 surprised me. It is full of art I've never seen before.

Like these paintings by Ramon Casas from 1890/91. I don't know Casas. I'll certainly look for more from him.

And these paintings jumped out at me as being quite fresh. That's another Casas on the left (from 1891). That's Santiago Rusiñol's Sacré-Coeur in Construction, from about 1890.

Nice Picasso sketch — La Buveuse d'absinthe (The Absinthe Drinker), 1901. Looks like Colette.

That's a painting by Kees van Dongen on the left, and by Alexis Mérodack-Jeanneau on the right.

Auguste Chaubaud is new to me as well. These paintings from 1908/09 (on the left) and from 1907 give me a powerful impression of walking around Montmartre at night. You can hear the music pumping out of those clubs.

Inventing Abstraction 1910-1925: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art was a hit show last year at the Museum of Modern Art. This is the catalogue and, again, it is full of wonderful work I've never seen before.

I love these paper-collage endpapers by Sonia Delaunay-Terk, 1914. So simple and yet very strong and fresh considering they are 100 years old.

And how about this watercolour, gouache and pencil drawing on paper by Francesco Cangiullo. Great Crowd in the Piazza del Popolo, 1914. I'd love to see the original but it's in a private collection.

Ivan Kliun: Studies in Colour, c. 1917. Oil on cardboard. There is something very satisfying about these shapes and the way they have been placed in the frame. Nice.

I'll end with these unusual paintings by Aleksandr Rodchenko: Pure Red Colour, Pure Yellow Colour, Pure Blue Colour, 1921. I find this both restful and intense. So simple.

OK. Now back the real world. Thanks for joining me.

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More: Library Books at Home, Library Books at Home 2, Library Books at Home 3 and Library Books at Home 4.