Ulf Küster

Following key terms from A–Z, these books illuminate little-known aspects and shed new light on familiar motifs and themes. This time about the artist Edvard Munch Edvard Munch is one of the most famous painters of the early 20th century and a role model for many artists to this day. His legendary painting Scream even inspired a popular emoji, something that no other artist has ever achieved. Munch had a unique way of placing himself as an individual in the foreground of his art, making his psychological state the subject of his work. In doing so, he created a personal and at the same time universal “diary of the soul” that still captivates us today, as international exhibitions of the Norwegian artist show. In twenty-six short chapters, from A for anxiety to G for ghosts, R for revolvers and Z for zoo, familiar but also surprising aspects of his art and life are presented in a compelling way.

Pivotal in modern art's move towards abstraction, Piet Mondrian's oeuvre is extraordinarily versatile and complex. Not only did he paint and draw, he also wrote extensively about his thoughts and theories on art and life. Moving from traditional Dutch landscape painting to a pronounced rhythmic framework focusing on compositional structure rather than naturalistic representation, Mondrian was profoundly impressed by contemporary culture. Thus, he was not only inspired by the pattern of the extensive Dutch canal system, but also by the rhythm of jazz and the foxtrot. Demonstrating the impact of his oeuvre, Yves Saint-Laurent's famous "Mondrian Dress" even made him a fashion icon posthumously. Celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, Ulf Kuster entertainingly leads through well- and lesser-known aspects of Mondrian's life and work offering inspiring impulses for reflection and further engagement with the fascinating artist.

That incomparable melancholy in Edward Hopper's pictures occasionally leads us to look at the details of his life. Where exactly did this master of loneliness live and work? What were his most important influences while he was working on his great paintings of America? In this wonderful, simply structured, A-to-Z book, Ulf Kuster pursues these themes, which say a great deal about the painter and his interests, and yet he never loses sight of the artist and the necessary distance to his inimitable pictures. Thus, Kuster strolls through the ABCs of Hopper's life and work, from the "American landscape," "Buick" "Goethe," and "shadow and sunlight" to the key word, "time." On the way he opens up many new doors or insights, enriching the views of Hopper's paintings and make it possible to interpret them in new ways. An entertaining and informative book.