“A magnificent re-introduction to a talented artist whose significant legacy will now become known through this fine book.“
– Magda Salvesen, co-editor with Diane Cousineau of Artists’ Estates: Reputations in Trust, Rutgers University Press, 2005
North Truro, MA — Fields Publishing announces the publication of Sam Feinstein, a retrospective, limited edition art book that captures the life work of artist Sam Feinstein. Each 11.5” x 10.5” hard cover book is numbered and signed by the author, Patricia Stark Feinstein; the collectible edition runs 216 pages with over 150 color images and includes a DVD of the documentary Hans Hofmann, filmed in 1950 by Sam Feinstein. This is the film’s first public release. The release date of the book (ISBN 978-0-9790597-8-0) coincides with a Sam Feinstein retrospective exhibition opening May 31, 2008 at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA.
To order this book contact one of the following: Amazon.com or direct from Feinstein Trust.
The following are excerpts from blurbs that will appear on the back cover and flaps of the published book:
Sam Feinstein has been called “the least commercial artist I have ever known” by the art historian Irving Sandler, who first met Feinstein years earlier in the 1950s. This book offers a glimpse into the art, life, philosophy, and teachings of a man who painted for over seventy years—the last forty in self-chosen obscurity—while he explored the infinite potential of the visual language and continually refined color-forms in his dynamically expressive compositions. His students called him “an embodiment of hope,” “a shining light,” “an utterly genuine and unique individual,” “an outstanding teacher and painter whose integrity in art was uncompromising.” One student wrote, “He gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ll ever receive: painting as a deep spiritual practice.”
Born in Russia and raised in Philadelphia, Feinstein taught and supervised classes at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and filmed the museum’s first art documentary. He later moved to New York and, from 1949 to 1952, studied with Hans Hofmann, whom he filmed in 1950 to create his documentary Hans Hofmann. Feinstein taught at Pratt Institute, wrote for Art Digest magazine and exhibited his paintings throughout the 1950s in New York, Philadelphia and Provincetown until he withdrew from the exhibition world in 1960 to focus solely on painting and teaching for the remainder of his life.
Hans Hofmann film by Sam Feinstein DVD Enclosed – First Public Release
Premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1999, this documentary about the artist Hans Hofmann was filmed, edited and produced by Sam Feinstein, with narration co-written by Hofmann. The twenty-eight-minute black-and-white 1950 film focuses on Hofmann’s philosophy and principles of art and includes a sequence of Hofmann’s painting The Window, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. Hofmann called Feinstein’s documentary “a classic,” a “great film about my scholarly and artistic activity” and wrote: “I am totally in sympathy with the entire film.” This is the film’s first public release.
Patricia Stark Feinstein is a painter, teacher, independent curator, lecturer, and former faculty member at Riverdale Country School in New York City, where she taught art and art history for twenty-two years. She is currently director of the Feinstein Project at the Cape Cod Museum of Art and curator of the museum’s 2008 Feinstein retrospective exhibition. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she studied with Sam Feinstein and taught with him for eighteen years in Michigan and Toronto painting workshops. They were married in 1985. Ms. Stark Feinstein is now cataloging, conserving, and exhibiting the art of her late husband. This is her first book; it has been praised by the art historian Irving Sandler as “clearly and elegantly written.”
The following is information about the publishing company, beyond that included on the book cover:
Fields Publishing, a publisher of fine art and photography books, was named the 2007 winner in the art category for the 21st Benjamin Franklin AwardsTM from PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association for their book, Anne Packard. The award is named in honor of America’s most cherished publisher and printer, and recognizes excellence in independent publishing. Grouped by genre, publications are judged on editorial and design merit by top practitioners in each field. A panel of more than 180 judges from throughout the publishing industry weighed and evaluated more than 1,700 submissions in 53 categories to create the list of more than 159 finalists for the 2006 publishing year. Publishers large and small from across the nation, Canada and Mexico compete for the coveted Benjamin Franklin Awards.