Jenny Saville

4. Jenny Saville – 2018 – essays by M. Stevens, R. Calvocoresssi, Sally MannThis is a hefty tome running to 392 pages and it is contained in a slipcase. The production quality is very high, which is fitting because I paid some 90 dollars for it in 2019. This one should last.The two essays by Stevens and Calvocoressi are fine, although the reader does not get the impression that Stevens spared the time to visit the artist in her studio to get her views first hand or observe her in her natural habitat. Calvocoressi does mention a visit – so kudos to him.The conversation with Sally Mann (the photographer) was much more illuminating. I believe that only another artist can really understand the making of art and the best interviews with artists are conducted by other artists (generally speaking). These pages include some interesting photos of Saville’s studio and include some of her reference photos. After reading this section I felt that I had a good understanding of Saville’s studio practice and where she is directing her attention.The essays and the interview take up the first 40 pages or so of the book. The rest is devoted to the plates and supporting material. There is a lot of luscious art to look at and after turning the 350 pages or so of this I felt that I had a good idea of where Saville is artistically right now.I did notice something buried on page 381 that could have formed part of at least one of the essays and that was Saville’s collision with the Catholic Church in 2008. She made a painting based on a photo of her new born to replace a Caravaggio stolen in 1969 for a church in Palermo but the Vatican deemed the studies “not religious enough.” Surely for an independent female painter, one of the best in the world, this is huge. She came up against the male establishment with a feisty, muscular painting and lost.This book is not the only book about this tremendous artist, but it is a good one for those who want to see where Saville is – mid career. I would recommend it, but don’t drop it on your foot. It’s heavy.

Not cheap but worth the money. Boks on her and her work are few, and this one has lots of images, with a mix of close ups and full painting shots. Process shots and an interview are great too. The book is kinda huge which is awesome.

Wonderful book - beautifully printed.

Perfect and delivered fast!

Excelente compra, llegó en tiempo y sin ningún maltrato el paquete.Ahora bien del libro, es una obra de arte, un most en la biblioteca de alguien que aprecia la pintura y el arte. El formato es increíble, se aprecian los detalles de las fotos. Puede parecer un poco alta su precio pero creo que la artista lo vale!

Great Book.

無事に届いて良かったです！包装方法も、丁寧で有難かったです。大好きなSavilleの画集が見れてとっても嬉しかったです。ありがとうございました！

Just about as good as an art book gets. It is huge, heavy and laden with colour pictures.

This is a top-quality art book, with great reproduction of many (most?) of Jenny Saville's wonderful paintings and many additional drawings - often studies for paintings. The illustrations are mostly full-page or double page, so details are easy to appreciate. The book is mainly about the plates - there are three short introductory text sections, and after that the pictures do the talking. While the full RRP (£115) is probably a bit steep, the £70 I paid is really quite reasonable for a book of this size and quality.A word of caution though - the book contains many (small) images that acted as source material for the works, and for photographer Sally Mann. Along with old master artworks, these images include victims of murder, rape, torture and genocide, severed body parts, pathology photos etc. Most people won't want to linger over these for long - me included. The inclusion of these images is justified for the context they provide (it's not a book of nursery rhymes, after all), but worth being aware of before hitting the button.