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Table Of Contents
CONTENTS
Table Of Contents
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
STATE OF THE ART
The GREAT ARTISTS of our age have always been cornerstones of Vanity Fair (whether by reputation or as a result of the magazine's own recent survey, on page 4). Humble or bombastic, GENRE-BLURRING or GENRE-DEFINING, the creative forces corralled in this special issue Picasso and Balthus, Keith Haring and James Rosenquist, JEFF KOONS and John Currin, FRIDA KAHLO and Agnes Martin, John Szarkowski and Sol LeWitt, among many others discuss influences, theory, and (even better sometimes) each other.
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4 PAINT BY NUMBERS By MARK STEVENS
The results of a Vanity Fair poll about the world's top artists—and the values that really preoccupy its best and brightest.
16 POP TO THE PEOPLE By INGRID SISCHY
Keith Haring, the ultimate idealist, believed that "art is for everybody" and that it had the power to transform lives.
18 ARTIST INTERRUPTED By INGRID SISCHY
After her death in 1984, Alice Neel became a heroine for a new generation of portrait painters.
24 JOHN CURRIN By A. M. HOMES
Bad-boy painter John Currin grows up.
26 ART'S NEW SUPERPOWER
By BARBARA POLLACK
China: the hottest stop on the art circuit
36 ARTISTS AMONG US By INGRID SISCHY
Kiki Smith, Nan Goldin, and Jenny Holzer represent the power of post-feminism.
38 FRONT AND CENTER
Art gets the V.F. cover treatment.
44 FOR THE LOVE OF BASQUIAT
By INGRID SISCHY
Jean-Michel Basquiat's most devoted collectors share their memories of the artist.
50 IMAGE MAKER By INGRID SISCHY
How John Szarkowski made photography matter as it never had before.
58 CHARMS OF THE BOURGEOIS
By A. M. HOMES
Honoring Louise Bourgeois, the queen of existential art
60 PICASSO'S EROTIC CODE
By JOHN RICHARDSON
Marie-Therese Walter became Picasso's mistress at 16, and appears in some of the most important artworks of the 20th century.
68 THIN GRAY LINE By MARK STEVENS
Before her death in 2004, painter Agnes Martin talked about beauty, happiness, and perfection.
72 ROSENQUIST'S BIG PICTURE
By INGRID SISCHY
James Rosenquist's vast canvases lift commercial imagery to near-abstract heights.
82 SOL'S PATCH By INGRID SISCHY
The quiet genius of Sol LeWitt
84 RALTHUS S LAST MUSE
By INGRID SISCHY
Balthus's Polaroids of his last model reveal a more human side.
88 DIARY OF A MAD ARTIST
By AMY FINE COLLINS
Inside the tortured mind of Frida Kahlo, the politically correct heroine for every wounded minority
98 JEFF KOONS IS RACK
By INGRID SISCHY
Has Jeff Koons, taboo-busting rebel, become a pillar of the art establishment?
112 WHAT CHRISTIE'S WON'T SELL By A. A. GILL
How to market a Stalin portrait.
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IN MEMORIAM
Ingrid Sischy, who died in July, wrote nine of the features in this special issue. A contributor to the magazine for almost 20 years, she was says Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter "a beloved original in an age of generics."
