CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Excerpts from Life

by Julian Schnabel

Shows a variety of paintings and sculpture by Schnabel and shares his comments on his life, career, and works

Genres: Art

222 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 1987

About the author

Julian Schnabel is an highly acclaimed Cannes, Golden Globe winning and Academy Award, BAFTA, César Award, Golden Palm and two-time Golden Lion nominated filmmaker and American artist. He has only directed three films which have been rapturously acclaimed, such as Before Night Falls, which became Javier Bardem's breakthrough Academy Award nominated role, and the four-time Academy Award nominated The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Reviews

[Sovannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was unfamiliar with Schnabel's work when I bought this book as a gift for a friend. I decided to read it before hand to make sure it was good before I gave it to her.
I was hooked. I ended up reading the entire book.
C.V.J is more or so an autobiography than an art book. The book has excerpts from his life, his experience within the industry, relationships, his travels, depression and doubts, and critique of the modern art industry. I decided to knock a star off because some the pictures of his paintings would get hidden in the spine. However, I enjoyed his style of writing immensely. It was educated, masculine, and poetic at once yet easy to read.

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I hadn't already watched the film about Schnabel on Netflix and loved The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Basquiat, both of which he produced, I'd probably have given up with this book to be honest. The written word is not where he excels and this is, for me, a lot of pretentious nonsense much of the time. There is the odd interesting section here and there which I enjoyed and which shed light on his process. It also helps to realise that this was written a very long time ago. I'm not sure what he'd write now. There are a lot of good colour plates here, which is why it gets four and not three stars.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Varies between real world intrigue in how the art world operates (name dropping like nobody’s business) and some of the most pretentious word salads I’ve had the displeasure of reading. Clearly a young (successful) artist believing his own brand of bs.

The work isn’t presented very well either, and it’s his later portrait and collage work, as well as some of the larger scale paintings made in Montauk, that I prefer.

The plates were a good idea, though.

[Darren Emanuel]

Fun read. Great plates!

[Ty Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. As a Schnabel fan it drew me in to his genesis moments. Felt as if I was a part of his story.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily the best and most influential art book I've ever read.

Some do not give credit to big Schnabs because he's such a pompous bastard. Who cares? He had a good attitude towards painting and is painfully obvious about how painfully obvious all of the issues in the life of a painter are.

The difficulty with human relationships (girlfriends, friends, parents) when one dedicates one's life to making art is precisely annotated.

Recently I picked this book off of my shelf (and out of storage prior to that) and started reading again. It's so simple, direct, and obvious with its myth making. Perfect.

[Aj · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book on Schnabel iv'e read and he wrote it himself. First time I have seen an extensive amount of his work which I was far more interested in. Hysterically pretentious I have to say. Some of the text made me outright laugh but the art work was interesting. This was made in the mid 80's I would like to see something more current.