Mondrian

Praise

“This book will be a treasure-chest for art historians. Mr. Weber is a brisk and entertaining narrator . . . . The author’s comprehensive command of material, his subtle pictorial insight and his ability to bring any given canvas to energetic life, [are] a gift particularly valuable considering how very few Mondrian canvases are currently accessible to the general public.” —​Hilary Spurling, The Wall Street Journal

“This big, beautiful and necessary book is a rare full-dress biography of Piet Mondrian. . . . Weber traces Mondrian’s artistic evolution and gives a replete accounting of his personal quirks, including interests in spiritualism, phrenology and unusual diets.” — The Editors, The New York Times Book Review

“Nicholas Fox Weber’s biography of Piet Mondrian is as fastidiously passionate as his subject’s paintings. How wonderful it is to read of Mondrian’s gaiety and zest – he was a passionate dancer: who’d have thought? – as well as his rigour and unrelenting commitment to his own, absolutely his own, view of art and the world.” —John Banville, national bestselling author of The Lock-Up

“In Mondrian, the monk of modernism finally gets the flesh-and-blood portrait he deserves. The lifelong “quest for the absolute” does not shelter Mondrian from the temptations of love, the rewards and difficulties of friendship, or the profoundly playful spirit of jazz. Instead they enrich his art. This monk can dance.” —Mark Stevens, Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of de Kooning: An American Master

“[Weber] tracks the artist’s story with care and precision, debunking several longstanding myths about Mondrian along the way. . . It seems certain to become the standard biography of the artist for years to come.” —Charles Finch, The Boston Globe

“Truly outstanding . . . [the] definitive book about Mondrian’s fascinating life, arts and quest. There have been many books about the man but this one is truly unique, Nicholas unearths many facts and details that Mondrian lovers like myself have never read before!” —Sir Paul Smith

★ “Scrupulously detailed . . . rigorously researched and impressively nuanced . . .the definitive biography of one of modern art’s most important figures.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

★ “Twelve years in the making and brimming with exacting details and striking insights, Weber’s vital and enlightening portrait will be the foundation for all future studies of the ‘jazz-loving pioneer of abstraction.’” — Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)

“In this exceptionally well-crafted and researched biography, cultural historian Weber explores the intimate connection between Mondrian’s austere yet exuberant paintings and his life. . . . Written with a scholarly precision that revels in the nuances of Mondrian’s remarkable life and work, Weber’s book offers an immersive, if lengthy, biographical experience for lovers of both art history and modernism.” —Kirkus Reviews