Art of Reading Book Club Presented by Shaker Arts Council: Fierce Poise by Alexander Nemerov

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About the Book Club The saying goes “A picture is worth a thousand words” so let’s explore that! Get copies of our art themed selections from your local library or favorite bookstore and then spend a cozy and casual evening discussing them virtually. Free and open to all art and book lovers regardless of location. Led by Margaret Reardon

About this Month’s Book

“At the dawn of the 1950s, a promising and dedicated young painter named Helen Frankenthaler, fresh out of college, moved back home to New York City to make her name. By the decade’s end, she had succeeded in establishing herself as an important American artist of the postwar period. In the years in between, she made some of the most daring, head-turning paintings of her day and also came into her own as a woman: traveling the world, falling in and out of love, and engaging in an ongoing artistic education. She also experienced anew–and left her mark on–the city in which she had been raised in privilege as the daughter of a judge, even as she left the security of that world to pursue her artistic ambitions.

Brought to vivid life by acclaimed art historian Alexander Nemerov, these defining moments–from her first awed encounter with Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings to her first solo gallery show to her tumultuous breakup with eminent art critic Clement Greenberg–comprise a portrait as bold and distinctive as the painter herself. Inspired by Pollock and the other male titans of abstract expressionism but committed to charting her own course, Frankenthaler was an artist whose talent was matched only by her unapologetic determination to distinguish herself in a man’s world.” Amazon

About the Organization Shaker Arts Council (SHAC) is a volunteer nonprofit organization whose mission is to enrich the cultural fabric of Shaker Heights OH and the greater arts community. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SHAC established Stay-in-Place Productions. This program offers theatrical and musical productions as well as a wide variety of art classes and webinars. SHAC is happy to be adding the Art of Reading Book Club.