New Books, 2024
Sanyu
His Life and Complete Works in Oil, Volume One
By Rita Wong
Designed by Glenn Suokko
Volume One draws upon archival material, photographs, letters, and stories recounted by people who knew Sanyu (Chang Yu, 1895–1966) to trace his life from his early years in China and Japan; to his journey in 1920 to Paris where he made a lifelong commitment to painting in oil; to his continued participation in Salon and other exhibitions, hoping for the success that was never to be; to his experiences in New York; and back to Paris, where he matured as an artist despite insurmountable difficulties, culminating until his tragic death in 1966, impoverished and forgotten. Today, Sanyu is one of the most coveted modern artists, his paintings having repeatedly broken world records for Chinese modern Western-style art.
Sanyu
His Life and Complete Works in Oil, Volume Two
By Rita Wong
Designed by Glenn Suokko
Volume Two comprises the catalogue raisonné of the 321 known works in oil by Sanyu (Chang Yu, 1895–1966) on mirror, canvas, Masonite, board, or paper. Today, Sanyu is one of the most respected and admired of modern Chinese artists, attracting the attention of scholars, his works coveted by collectors. An examination of his life reveals that it was precisely the polarities and tensions Sanyu experienced that spurred him to create a unique pictorial language that dynamically integrated the spirit of Western modernity with centuries-old Chinese traditions. Sanyu metamorphosed from a Chinese artist of the modern period to a modernist with Chinese cultural roots. These intersecting dynamics resulted in a hybridization previously unseen.
Glenn Suokko: Still Life
By Glenn Suokko
The self-published book focuses on Glenn Suokko’s creative process and the development of his still life paintings, illustrating selections from the last twenty-five years that include early realistic renderings, monochromatic compositions, quick painterly suggestions, and recent bold abstract expressions. An essay provides insight into Suokko’s interest in the history of still life painting and the artists whose work inspires him.
Glenn Suokko: Landscape
By Glenn Suokko
This new self-published book focuses on Glenn Suokko’s creative process and the development of his recent landscape paintings, inspired by the place where he lives and works in rural Woodstock, Vermont.
“In my paintings of Barberry Hill, I do not try to document the details of real scenes. I am interested in the equation between land and sky and most specifically the objects that bridge these dominant spaces: trees.”
