now available:
“
An absorbing armchair journey . . . ”
What books have you chosen for quarantine reading? I would not have thought first of a travel guidebook. But a new one that arrived in the mail last week carried me across the U.S. on a tour so absorbing, I hardly noticed that the trip was made entirely by armchair.
Valerie A. Balint’s “Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios” is the perfect book for art lovers dreaming of a post-pandemic journey across time and geography. In 44 succinct essays, generally four to six pages each, Balint informs our knowledge of some of the great American artists of the past two centuries, plus a few pleasant surprises.
Sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and funded by the scholarly Henry Luce Foundation, the guide has the credentials of a serious American art history survey. Its smart image choices, excellent reproductions and lively writing make it much more. —Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle
I am the editor of Valerie Balint’s Guidebook to Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios from Princeton Architectural Press (2020), a tour across the United States via the 44 sites that make up the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Praised for its “lively writing” by the San Francisco Chronicle, this book was an absolute joy to work on.
other selected writing projects:
Cézanne Portraits (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2018)
Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2018)
Marc Camille Chaimowicz: Your Place or Mine . . . (The Jewish Museum, New York, 2018)
Patron, Artist, Muse: Women of MWP, Part 1 and Part 2 (Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York, 2018)
Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2017)
Irving Penn: Centennial (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2017)
Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture Permanent Collection (New-York Historical Society, 2017)
Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2016)
J. Paul Getty Collects (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2016)
Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History (The Jewish Museum, New York, 2016)
Woven Gold: Tapestries of Louis XIV (The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2015)
Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2015)
Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2015)
Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015)
Walking Tour of Jacob Lawrence’s Harlem, in conjuction with One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2015)
The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2015)
Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power (The Jewish Museum, New York, 2014)
Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2014)
Yoga: The Art of Transformation (Asian Art Museum, San Franciso, 2014)
In Grand Style: Celebrations in Korean Art During the Joseon Dynasty (Asian Art Museum, San Franciso, 2013)
New Photography 2013 (The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2013)
Chagall: Love, War, and Exile (The Jewish Museum, New York, 2013)
Hillwood Museum and Gardens Tour (Washington, DC, 2013)
