The Art of Love: The Romantic and Explosive Stories Behind Art's Greatest Couples

by Kate Bryan, Asli Yazan (Illustrator)

The Art of Love  tells the stories of the most fascinating couples of the art world – uncovering the passionate, challenging and loving relationships behind some the world's greatest works of art. 

Kate Bryan (broadcaster, writer and curator) delves into the complex world of artistic relationships , exploring the nuanced ways in which art and love can share the same space. When two married artists collaborate, do they ever get a moment off? What happens when love fades and two artists, known by one moniker, part? When a couple work independently, how do they manage jealousy and competition? 

In this book, you’ll meet love in all its glorious and complicated forms, including  unlikely couples with conflicting philosophies (Yayoi Kusama & Joseph Cornell);  unconventional marriages that prove love has many guises (Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera); couples who suffered from intense, public burnout (Marina Abramovic & Ulay);  soul mates who found safety in each other (Ethel Mars & Maud Hunt Squire); and bitter rivalries that weren't built to last (Jasper Johns & Robert Rauschenberg).

Through evocative stories and beautiful illustrations, Kate tells of the formation, and sometimes breakdown, of each romance – documenting their highs and lows and revealing just how powerful love can be in the creative process. 
Whether long-lasting, peaceful collaborations, or short-lived tumultuous affairs,  The Art of Love , opens the door on some of the greatest love stories of the twentieth century. 

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Biography, Anthologies

184 pages, Hardcover

Published July 2, 2019

Reviews

[Literary Redhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am quintessentially romantic, so this intriguing title drew me like a heartbeat. It tells the amorous tales of some of the art world’s most renown couples. I was indeed entranced, and found the idea and stories totally inspiring. The illustrations, however, were not my romantic nor artistic cup of tea. 4/5

Pub Date 02 Jul 2019.

Thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#TheArtOfLove #NetGalley

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a book recently that tried to show a whole series of interconnections between artists – this one inspired this one, who worked with that one, who shagged those others. One of the things it showed me was how many managed to hop beds from one artist to another, with no end of toing and froing. This is to some extent a counter to that, for while non-marital relationships are definitely here, it sticks to firmer pairs of artists – those who either collaborated, or worked completely apart from each other – and looks at their relationships, both in and of biographical data and in the light of their output.

It also acts counter to the previous book by going into the realms of the unknown – I defy the average man on the average bus to know some of the names here, even if they are parents to Lena Dunham. You get stories of conjugal and creative perfection (Christo and Jeanne-Claude, for one obvious example), but also the mind-boggling, such as a certain woman's plummeting death, potentially at the hands of a jealous partner, and an even more unfathomable break-up, somewhere on the Great Wall of China. Those rarefied instances do sort of prove this book is more for the lovers of trivial, for it does not quite fit into any other category. As the introduction attests, the art is what we should look at, not so much the private life, so you can learn the details of their existence but not really take that into our understanding of their oeuvres. It does act as a survey of how many women-artists-married-to-male-artists-who-really-have-had-a-bum-rap there have been, but I'd want more from a book than a blatant, simplified corrective to those issues. It's a book that points to a lot of targets, then, and never really hits any. I never really regretted my time with it, but whereas this might have had a unifying thesis of the art world as produced by couples, this remains only for pleasant, smallest-room browsing.

[Kenyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love me some art couples, but I would've loved to see some of their actual art, even though the art featured was lovely.

The main thing that made me take the rating down to a 3-star was Kay Sage's suicide being described as "her tragically romantic departure from this world." That ain't it, that will never be it. Okay, I'm done.

[Debbi Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am fascinated how lots of famous artists lives intertwine, how they have shared lovers and collaborate together.

Whenever my partner and I go to an exhibition we are looking at the back story, who have the artists worked with, married, been lovers with, holidayed with.

So you can imagine my delight when we were at the Barbican for the Modern Couples exhibition we came across this book. It's like a bumper edition of Hello magazine but exclusive to artists.

I so enjoyed reading this book and learning about new artists I hadn't heard of before and look forward to checking out their works.

A must read for anyone who loves art (see what I did there!)

[Mary Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This ARC was kindly sent to me by the publishers in term for an honest review.

I thought that the concept of this book would be very nice and something I would consider purchasing for myself or as a gift (cute Valentine's day gift, anyone?) for other art historians in my life. Each chapter in the book is devoted to the story of a relationship between two artists and the impacts that it did or did not leave on their work.

Right upfront I want to say that I appreciated Bryan's commitment to sharing lgbt artists and their relationships., which are not often included in these kinds of publications. I think it was refreshing and I learned more about these relationships than I think I would have otherwise. My favorite chapter was Lili Elbe & Gerda Wegene, who I know very little about.

However, I struggled with the organization of this book. The chapters themselves are not organized in a chronological way which leads to some confusion about the timelines of each artist's lives. The chapters are also not arranged in any particular kind of order which leads to a confusing reading experience. For example, Dada is finally defined on page 73 (in the chapter about Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp) despite being name-dropped a few times in previous chapters. It is impossible to glean a sense of the evolution of art history when the chapters jump back and forth between late nineteenth and early twenty-first century. This book could have benefited from being organized either chronologically or by theme. I think organizing by theme would also have helped each chapter come together to form a coherent statement or identity which this book does not at present have.

Bryan also suggested at the beginning that she would make an effort to describe female artist's on their own terms. However, her analysis plays into the same tired tropes of female artists that have been written again and again. For example, Frida Kahlo's work is contrasted with Diego Rivera's work in the following way: "Rivera was a famous muralist [...] His work was literal, vast, public, and political. Kahlo, by contrast was a more intimate artist in every respect [...] her subjects were always personal [...]" (p. 19.) This is simply not true and despite the way that Kahlo's legacy has been sanitized, she made a significant amount of political artwork (her 1932 painting 'Self Portrait Along the Boarder Line Between Mexico and the United States' comes to mind.) There are other quibbles I have, like the artist Jeanne-Claude being described as her partner Christo's "flame-haired beautifully furious diplomat," (p, 29) or Lee Miller being described as "the apprentice, muse, lover and collaborator of surrealist artist Man Ray" (p. 52.) I am having trouble reconciling these kinds of descriptions with Bryan's promise to address female artists on their own terms.

The writing of this book is full of generic platitudes that sometimes leave me scratching my head. Relationships are "destined to be in a fertile landscape of their joint imagination" (p. 61) or other such statements. Most puzzlingly are art-historical assessments like this one, which are not backed up by any kind of source or evidence: "Duchamp is considered to be the most influential artist of the twentieth century. Pablo Picasso may be the greatest, but he is a breed of singular genius, someone to be feared and respected but not openly emulated" (p. 69.) I think most contemporary artists would be enormously surprised that they apparently should not (or do not) interact with Picasso's work.

I will end with something I very much did enjoy: the illustrations. I thought that they were beautiful and charming, if at times at odds with the horrific abuse and rampant infidelity sometimes described in these relationships. I will definitely be looking forward to seeing more of this artist's work in the future.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Art of Love is an interesting look at how artistic endeavor and relations affect and define creative work. Author Kate Bryan uses short biographic backgrounds to give a glimpse into how (or if) the artists' art and lives intersected one another.

Due out 2nd July 2019 from Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 184 pages and will be available in ebook and hardcover formats. The ebook version is available now. It's unclear from the publishing info, but the eARC I received for review includes an interactive table of contents with direct links to each of the 34 couples included as well as a hyperlinked index. (Very handy).

There's an erudite well written introduction by the author which represents about 6% of the page content. She includes some of the philosophy behind her treatment of the subject, along with some very interesting observations about the interactions and dynamics of personal and professional interactions in artistic partnerships. How did they relate to one another, how they traversed the different levels of fame in their art, etc. Reading the foreword enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of the biographies. Each of the section headings is nicely illustrated by Asli Yazan. There are no interior photos with any of the included artists' works, but Yazan's line drawings represent some of the artists' works. I'm not sure how I feel about that, it might be almost imitative, on the other hand, there were several places I thought to myself "Ah, that's who originally did this piece of artwork".

I was not familiar with all of the included artists, and there were some couples with whose work I was only familiar with one and not the other. The couples in the book are all drawn from the last 140 years; starting with Camille Claudel&Auguste Rodin to the present day. The couples are a mixed bunch, from married heterosexual couples, gay men, gay women, and one passionate but unconsummated platonic relationship. There are artists represented from many different cultures and ethnicities.

This would make a good selection for art interested readers, fans of the included artists, and a good library book or gift.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Barbara (Bobby) Title · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review in my local newspaper set me up for immediately purchasing "The Art of Love," Kate Bryan's delicious new storybook. The subtitle of the book I purchased was not "The romantic couplings..."as shown on the book Goodreads features but "The Romantic and Explosive Stories Behind Art's Greatest Couples." Regardless, a book with "couplings", "explosive stories," "and greatest..." on the cover should entice art lover and reader alike to put this book on a "Must Read" list.

I was fascinated with every story. I was surprised over much I read. There was plenty laid out that I was totally unfamiliar with -- but even so, I learned SO much more.

In addition, I was totally charmed by the illustrations by Asli Yazan on almost every page. And the introduction became an amazing part of the stories.

Of great help to me was that each chapter in the book was short -- a real picker-upper and puter-downer, just the kind of book for a busy person to tackle. However, my intention is to read the book again soon... there is so much of interest and so much to soak in. I am perfectly smitten with the book, the artists, the stories as well as the drawings. What more could a book have?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting and enjoyable book about the often tumultuous romances of art's greatest couples. As Bryan writes, romances between artists raise lots of issues, such as how does the relationship affect the work, where do they work and the prospect of competition between them. Many of the women artists in the book suffered from 'little woman syndrome,' such as Sonia Delaunay, so it is good to see that she gives them their due. Others had to be very strong and independent to get ahead, and to not let their relationships destroy them or destroy their art. Georgia O'Keefe, for example, would not put her art into all-women exhibitions.

My favourite couple were the Delaunays who were so in sync that they described their art as 'simultaneity'! I like the bright colours and modernist designs of Sonia Delaunay and I was pleased that she regarded her decorative work as equal to her paintings.


This is well-worth reading for anyone who likes art, and is interested in the love affairs of great artists.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

[Pam Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Art of Love by Kate Bryan and illustrated by Asli Yazan gives brief overviews of artists relationships and of their art. There are illustrations by Asli Yazan throughout, to give you an idea of the art produced by these artists.

I think of this type of book as coffee table book. It's there to dip in and out of, to admire how attractive it is, and to educate you a little in something new.

I found myself often googling pictures of the art as there are typically 2 illustrations per couple, and sometimes I wanted to see the real thing!

I don't know a lot about art, and this was a great introduction to a lot of artists, and giving you a little more to understand about them, and the context of their relationship and their art.

It is a lovely book, and feels like a good starting point if you want more information about these artists!

The Art of Love was published on 2nd July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Kate Bryan on Instagram, or through her website.

You can follow Asli Yazan through her website.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quatro Publishing (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

[Elsabe Retief · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned so much from this book! Great way to add knowledge of artists I did not know much about previously while enjoying a new perspective in artists I know.
The premise of the book offers a very interesting perspective.
I guess the by having all the artist and some of their art drawn is a smart way to get out of copyrights issues. But it did not really satisfy. I wanted photos of both - lots of them too. The book felt like I could smell the food but wasn’t allowed to eat it.
I feel as if Azli Yazan’s name deserved to be on the cover of the book.

[Linda Donohue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is snapshot into the lives of artist romantic relationships. It is interesting how they can both assist each other to success but also hinder their success. Some are short lived relationships and others are long lasting. I am not well educated in the art world so I learned more about 20th century art designs/eras. I received this book as as a Goodreads giveaway and I thank the authors and publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Erin Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a nice jumping off point to look into the lives and works of artists I wasn't too familiar with. There are no pictures of the artist's works, and the biographical information was very brief, so I read this while searching the internet. I didn't particularly care for the writing style. Too many assumptions were made, but I'm still glad I read it for the introduction to these artists and how they did or did not collaborate.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super interesting! I learned a lot about artists I was already familiar with, and I learned of artists that are new to me. It gives just enough information about each couple to make me want to delve more in depth into their works and lives. The artwork inside was nice, but I was left wanting to see actual imagery of the artists and their works, not just drawings (but that's probably just me).

[Sydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art + (sometimes unhealthy) romances are fun! The author clearly took the time to give a voice and story to the often forgotten works of history’s female artists which I appreciated.

Only three stars bc for a book about art the illustrations were kind of...bad?? Idk maybe they just weren’t my taste. I love art, but, I’ll say it, I got bored (!!). More anecdotes, less overviews pls.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed what I read of this book. Unfortunately my ARC copy corrupted - the perils of being a slow reader! It was a fascinating read alongside some great illustrations. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

[Annie McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the stories of the artists but wish there were photographs of the art and the illustrations.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely glorious! A brilliant read by Kate Bryan. Loved the illustrations too. So many things I didn't know about and it was very enlightenment!

[Stephen Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marina Abramović once wrote "an artist should avoid falling in love with another artist". Whether or not to test this thesis was intended, this book profiles 34 couples, each a pair of artists who had been or in some cases still are in long-term personal relationships, some of whom worked in the same medium but others working in very different fields but all in the arts. Each 1,000 to 1,500 word chapter begins with a profile of each of the two artists and the cultural milieu in which they met and lived, followed by an expanded examination of the evolution of their work as influenced by each other and the locational and cultural backdrops to their works leading to, in some cases, an eventual breakup, a death or their continuing partnership.

The book is well researched and well written with illustrations by Alsi Yazan instead of photographs, which gives it a consistency that a book with photographs would not. My only issue is that in a few chapters, Kate Bryan tried, unnecessarily, to make a point that the female of a heterosexual couple outperformed the male, even citing that François Gilot, one of Pablo Picasso’s lovers had outlived him.