Six Art Books to Read This April
Valentina Di Liscia, Lisa Yin Zhang, Alexandra M. Thomas, Sophia Stewart, Albert Mobilio and Lauren Moya Ford, Hyperallergic, April 6, 2025
In Eric Crosby’s introductory essay to this exhibition catalog, he characterizes the underappreciated painter, Gertrude Abercrombie, with a Whitman-esque docket of descriptions: She’s “the life of the party, the mischievous witch, the queen of Chicago, the jazz maven, the reclusive bohemian. Or maybe the avowed antiracist, the queer ally, the earnest entrepreneur, the inebriated ironist, the imagist forebear …” That’s quite a resume, but by the many accounts assembled in thelush, informative volume, Abercrombie lived up to each one and more. He and co-editor Sarah Humphreville along with other contributors supplement a rich array of the late artist’s work with several essays that delve into her compellingly idiosyncratic life, one at least as improbable as the images she conjured. In an included interview, historian and fellow Chicagoan Studs Terkel asks about her role in the Depression-era Federal Arts Project: “It saved some of our lives and it started me on my career,” she says. “Your career and the work,” he confirms. But, in a tonic display of ingenuous disregard for success, one that’s all but absent from the current art scene, Abercrombie replies, “Well, whatever career it is.” This is a must-have book for anyone interested in a way of painting that is mysterious, enchanting, and revelatory, as well as the life of an artist who reminds us that the work is a calling, not just a profession. —Albert Mobilio