Hollywood Arensberg: Avant-Garde Collecting in Midcentury L.A.

I had never heard of the Arensbergs before I came upon Christopher Knight's Los Angeles Times review of this book. Knight's praise and the accompanying images from the book intrigued me. A house completely filled with works by Matisse, Picasso, Brancusi, Léger, Dalí, Duchamp, Calder, Klee, Kandinsky, Rivera, Braque and others? YES please!! The Arensbergs also collected pre-Columbian stone sculpture and ceramics. And all of this work was displayed together.The book is worth the purchase for the imagery alone. The room-by-room, wall-by-wall recreation of the house is nothing short of incredible. I can imagine the excitement people felt walking into this home: I get excited simply flipping through the pages of the book!But the book is much more than the images. Insightful, essays by the authors are essential to the overall experience.This book is fascinating recreation and exploration of an incredible art collection. You won't regret this purchase--get it for yourself and your art-loving friends and family.

Hollywood Arensberg: Avant-Garde Collecting in Midcentury L.A. combines phenomenal photographs and wonderful discussion and explanation. While many Getty books compel one to flip through them regularly and read them periodically (the usual combination for good coffee table type books) this one will warrant as many reads as I can get in before my digital review copy expires.I think the aspect that most appealed to me was the feeling that I was touring a home from the mid 20th century. Between floor plans, descriptions of what was on which wall or table, and photographs, it was easy to begin to understand the ideas that went into the displays. I want to do this tour many more times.If that tour aspect was the only thing in the book, which would be quite a bit, I would have been happy. But the essays and interview offered further insight and the history of the Arensbergs, along with a virtual who's who of early 20th century arts and letters, put everything into wonderful historical context as well.Anyone interested in art and/or art history will enjoy this book on so many levels. If you are mostly interested in interesting coffee table books, you'll be pleased with this one as well since it has the added benefit of being extremely interesting. I don't think you would necessarily have to have a strong interest in either avant-garde or pre-Columbian art to appreciate this volume since so much of the fun is looking at how the art is displayed.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

Wonderful book