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Art General

The Art of Mary Pratt

The Substance of Light

by (author) Tom Smart

Publisher
Goose Lane Editions
Initial publish date
Apr 1996
Category
General, Artists, Architects, Photographers
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780864921901
    Publish Date
    Apr 1996
    List Price
    $50.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780864921734
    Publish Date
    Apr 1996
    List Price
    $65.00

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Where to buy it

Out of print

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Description

Mary Pratt told a Maclean's reporter that only concrete, real images are truly worth painting. Perhaps this is one reason why she has become an icon of mainstream contemporary art, with paintings reproduced in magazines such as Saturday Night, Chatelaine, Arts Atlantic, and Canadian Art, and featured on billboards, in cookbooks, and on the covers of books and magazines. The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light is stunningly beautiful, informative, and a joy to read. Tom Smart relates Pratt's work to her life, tracing the history of her painting from her Fredericton childhood through her training at Mount Allison University, her marriage to Christopher Pratt, and the setbacks and breakthroughs of her career. Pratt cooperated enthusiastically in this venture, even allowing Smart to quote from her journals. The Art of Mary Pratt contains over 70 colour reproductions. These cover the full range of Pratt's works: from early impressionistic pieces to the eviscerated chickens and fish of the 1970s; and from figure studies of Donna, to sensuous paintings of fruit, to her latest watercolour and pastel interpretations of fire, blown snow, and waves crashing over a ship's deck.

About the author

Tom Smart is the Executive Director and CEO of the McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, and the President of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. For seven years he was Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he developed an ambitious international exhibition program, and at the same time, he was appointed a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. He served as Acting Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery from 1997 until 1999 and was Curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton from 1989 to 1997. Smart is the author of nine books and catalogues. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Alex Colville: Return, which moved criticism of Colville's works to a new intellectual level. His 1995 book The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light won the Atlantic Provinces Booksellers Association Booksellers Choice Award, the Studio Magazine Award of Merit, and the Printing Industries of America Award of Merit. It was included in Great Canadian Books of the Century.

Tom Smart's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Like the art it discusses, the book is accessible in style and content, yet Tom Smart shows an admirable sensitivity to the complexities of his topic . . . A stimulating examination of Pratt's achievements." — Books in Canada

"A seductively handsome book. . . . An intelligent, nuanced and insightful discussion of Pratt's photorealism." — Atlantic Books Today

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