Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective

Michelle White's book on Richard Serra (Menil Collection) was a delight for me not only because of the drawings showcased but also because of the artist's thoughts and ideas about art and his art specifically. Take a look at the book and if it entices you, buy it. I came back repeatedly to the drawings, reminiscent, for me, of some Motherwell work. The heavy black drawings are subtle, and monumental. The artist's ideas are also monumental, but it was interesting to read about his consideration of the subtleties of the edge, how it relates to sculpture and drawing and where he became aware of it.Well worth owning if you are a fan.

This is a quality book but it's hard, if not impossible, to pick up the nuances of Serra's work in this format. Brush strokes, paint thickness,sheen, etc. are lost when works of this size are reduced to small, two dimensional prints.

Along with Malevich, Serra takes top honors for least photogenic artist. Even more than his sculptures, his drawings would require a consummate technician at the camera and a publisher willing to invest in rather fine reproductions to come off well in book form. They are not well served here. No doubt of less significance to most buyers, the text must nonetheless be mentioned. I have never seen a published work so abominably designed: the spaces between words, what's known in the print trade as tracking, have been reduced to mere slivers. There was a time when wordswerewrittenwithoutspacesinbetween, but I thought that the advent of punctuation and so forth had changed all that. I was shocked.

I was a bit put off from buying this at first by some of the reviews I had read and the comments on poor design and lack lustre images. Having taken the plunge, I am delighted with the book and cannot find fault with either. The texts are well written and informative and the illustrations show an excellent cross section of Serra's work throughout his career. An excellent companion to the book Richard Serra, 40 Years of Sculpture

Delivered in good time and interesting to read about his work and concepts