What do you think?
Rate this book
Lists: To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Collections of the Smithsonian Museum
From the weekly shopping list to the Ten Commandments, our lives are shaped by lists. Whether dashed off as a quick reminder, or carefully constructed as an inventory, this humble form of documentation provides insight into its maker's personal habits and decision-making processes. This is especially true for artists, whose day-to-day acts of living and art-making overlap and inform each other. Artists' lists shed uncover a host of unbeknownst motivations, attitudes, and opinions about their work and the work of others. Lists presents almost seventy artifacts, including "to do" lists, membership lists, lists of paintings sold, lists of books to read, lists of appointments made and met, lists of supplies to get, lists of places to see, and lists of people who are "in."
At times introspective, humorous, and resolute, but always revealing and engaging, Lists is a unique firsthand account of American cultural history that augments the personal biographies of some of the most celebrated and revered artists of thelast two centuries. Many of the lists are historically important, throwing a flood of light on a moment, movement, or event; others are private, providing an intimate view of an artist's personal life: Pablo Picasso itemized his recommendations for the Armory Show in 1912; architect Eero Saarinen enumerated the good qualities of the then New York Times art editor and critic Aline Bernstein, his second wife; sculptor Alexander Calder's address book reveals the whos who of the Parisian avant-garde in the early twentieth century. In the hands of their creators, these artifacts become works of art in and of themselves. Lists includes rarely seen specimens by Vito Acconci, Leo Castelli, Joseph Cornell, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, H. L. Mencken, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Andrew Wyeth.
At times introspective, humorous, and resolute, but always revealing and engaging, Lists is a unique firsthand account of American cultural history that augments the personal biographies of some of the most celebrated and revered artists of thelast two centuries. Many of the lists are historically important, throwing a flood of light on a moment, movement, or event; others are private, providing an intimate view of an artist's personal life: Pablo Picasso itemized his recommendations for the Armory Show in 1912; architect Eero Saarinen enumerated the good qualities of the then New York Times art editor and critic Aline Bernstein, his second wife; sculptor Alexander Calder's address book reveals the whos who of the Parisian avant-garde in the early twentieth century. In the hands of their creators, these artifacts become works of art in and of themselves. Lists includes rarely seen specimens by Vito Acconci, Leo Castelli, Joseph Cornell, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, H. L. Mencken, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Andrew Wyeth.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 14, 2014
It's February and the weather is insulting. So I'm abusing Amazon and using "well, I mean I'm trapped here, why not just buy that. It's not like I'll ever leave my apartment again in a meaningful way" to the point I accidentally bought the same book twice within a week. This was a book from this blog post at brainpickings.org that in theory is the best book I've ever read, because the winter makes you want a savior. My personal to-do lists typically include an item like "decide everything is a mess" so I can check it off. Or like "feel overdramatic" or "check box." You get it. Shouldn't 69 artists have some of the same? No, okay. No they don't. Or not in this book. This is literally lists of theirs--inventories, paints, stuff like that. So the book is a little academic and would be great for a researcher I think. It did not save me with jokes, humanity and drawings. Not the book's fault.
It did lead to some discoveries, like: The Archives of American Art
And Adolf Konrad, Frederick Hammersley, Morris Lewis, Bob Thompson and that Alexander Calder, well, just take yourself to Wikipedia and read about the life of "Sandy" Calder. Goodness.
Maybe if you paid 1.9 million for some work of art, you don't want evidence that the artist was a weirdo. My favorite Monet fact is that he'd go out to paint with his son and each one would take a freshly baked potato to keep their hands warm. Then they ate it. I'm sure there were arguments around this, which I love to imagine.
Check out the original blog post and enjoy brainpickings.org if you haven't yet.
It did lead to some discoveries, like: The Archives of American Art
And Adolf Konrad, Frederick Hammersley, Morris Lewis, Bob Thompson and that Alexander Calder, well, just take yourself to Wikipedia and read about the life of "Sandy" Calder. Goodness.
Maybe if you paid 1.9 million for some work of art, you don't want evidence that the artist was a weirdo. My favorite Monet fact is that he'd go out to paint with his son and each one would take a freshly baked potato to keep their hands warm. Then they ate it. I'm sure there were arguments around this, which I love to imagine.
Check out the original blog post and enjoy brainpickings.org if you haven't yet.
July 4, 2022
Such a fun book! The author is the curator of manuscripts at the Smithsonian Archive of American Art, so you can imagine all the fascinating materials she has to work with. As a result, the book is both a great document and a charming look at the physical objects themselves, as a sort of art form of their own. As a frequent list-maker myself (Goodreads being one), I am delighted to think of lists this way.
This was a gift from my friend Ruth, recently retired from the Smithsonian herself. Thank you, Ruth, for this unexpected treat!
This was a gift from my friend Ruth, recently retired from the Smithsonian herself. Thank you, Ruth, for this unexpected treat!
January 17, 2024
I appreciate the typed transcripts in the back. the "biographical details" section was kinda funny - some people are so dramatic.
April 30, 2025
if the artists included are of interest, then perhaps it will be enlightening.
lists from ordinary peoples I would like
lists from ordinary peoples I would like
June 4, 2013
What an interesting concept for a collection: the paper ephemera of artists' lives. Here you'll find to-do lists, professional and personal letters, phone lists, business cards, and marginal doodles that are equal to fine art. The book captures beautifully the heightened way many artists see the world, and the inspiration they give and take from the everyday. If you're fascinated with the lives of talented, or interested in the art world, you'll enjoy this book.
October 2, 2018
some people like mystery novels and other people enjoy historical fiction, but my favorite genre is "high-quality full-color reproduction of a piece of paper that someone wrote some ephemeral shit down on once."
so this book is pretty much up my alley
so this book is pretty much up my alley
Read
December 23, 2019It always takes me time to adjust to being in my Mom and Dad’s space. It’s like I am a kid again in terms of expectations but I’m an adult and bringing my family and dog into the routines established by people who like their own routine, including myself. But once we are all comfortable and adjusted it really is lovely. My mom has all the sharp scissors, best pens and books, and all the beautiful plants, including a plant hospital where one desert rose has to be separated from the others because of spider mites.
I read and looked at the pictures in Lists, To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Inventories, Collected Thoughts and Other Artists’ Enumerations.
: The book was a suggestion to slow down and notice art in small details, like the small stalk of broccoli Lynn or Tommy might draw next to the word on a grocery list.
: It reminded me of a colleague who always carried a small notebook in his back pocket. I asked what he wrote in it, and he was vague, which I took to mean he was a closet poet.
: I love looking at handwriting.
: It made me think of how we photograph so much of our lives now and how many of our lists are on our phone and how I would much rather write lists but sometimes the phone is easier, but how sometimes I look at lists I wrote for myself and either can’t read them or remember why I wrote it.
*This wasn’t really a book to rate.
I read and looked at the pictures in Lists, To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Inventories, Collected Thoughts and Other Artists’ Enumerations.
: The book was a suggestion to slow down and notice art in small details, like the small stalk of broccoli Lynn or Tommy might draw next to the word on a grocery list.
: It reminded me of a colleague who always carried a small notebook in his back pocket. I asked what he wrote in it, and he was vague, which I took to mean he was a closet poet.
: I love looking at handwriting.
: It made me think of how we photograph so much of our lives now and how many of our lists are on our phone and how I would much rather write lists but sometimes the phone is easier, but how sometimes I look at lists I wrote for myself and either can’t read them or remember why I wrote it.
*This wasn’t really a book to rate.
January 16, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this book the whole way through. It is a very niche book for sure, being about the lists made by artists, but it was nicely curated. I love peaking into small honest moments of everyday life and that’s exactly what this felt like.
July 3, 2019
This is such a different type of book and appealed to my “list-making nature”. I read a few passages every morning and learned about SO many interesting and diverse people!!
December 13, 2020
Interesting to see the daily lives of artists.
Read
August 12, 2011It is interesting how important we find the ephemera of artists - it was fun to see into their world and even more fun that I knew most of them. What are you creating that someone might curate someday?
Read
August 1, 2010If you're a list lover, then see what famous people's lists look like! Full review: http://pikaland.com/2010/06/04/review...
January 2, 2011
This is just the type of illustrated book I love to see, both as an artist and as a self-described nosey noserson. ;)
October 5, 2011
An easy read, a few very interesting insights. One piece by Ad Reinhardt on art and language was thoughtful.
June 14, 2012
I'm not sure why I enjoyed this book so much, maybe it was just the glimpses into other artists' heads, like books of artists' studios and sketchbooks.
April 18, 2013
Brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews