Download a PDF Sample (600 KB)"As a first-hand account of life with one of the major artists of our century [Max Ernst, 1891-1976], as the autobiography of a distinctive and original American painter [Dorothea Tanning, b.1910], and as a poetic evocation of the ways in which dream and reality can mate and mingle [Dada/Surrealism], Birthday is a book to read and re-read, an 'Alice in Wonderland' for grown-ups." —The New York Times

Project Notes:
First published in 1986, Birthday is out of print, but still in copyright. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the author (perhaps through the previous publisher, or a more recent publisher of another of her books) to determine copyright status and seek her approval of the project.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF SampleWritten by Dietmar Elger, Richter's former assistant and the current director of his archives at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, Gerhard Richter, Maler is the only authorized biography of this tremendously important contemporary artist. It has never been published in English, and no other English biography of the artist exists. Originally published in 2002, there is a new edition of the book due out this spring, which will add coverage of the artist's life and work since his major exhibition at MoMA in 2002, up to last year's stained glass installation in the Cologne Cathedral.

Project Notes:
This book is in print in Germany, and has never been translated into English. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be contact the original German publisher, DuMont, to determine the possibility of publishing an English translation. Along with the original publisher or the author, the team would also need to include a translator.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF Sample (1 MB)First published in 1973, this comprehensive biography of French artist Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) is but one of many artist biographies from the prolific and talented twentieth-century author Jack Lindsay (1900–1990).  Those familiar with Robert Hughes' recent biography of Francisco Goya, will find a similar tone in Lindsay's work, though where Hughes tended towards more political and historical description, Lindsay sticks close to his subject. In fact, more than any of the other few, complete biographies of Courbet currently in print, Lindsay's relies heavily on Courbet's own writing and on that of his peers. These direct glimpses into the artist's life and world, give a sense of depth and character to Courbet that has otherwise proven difficult to capture.

Project Notes:
This book is currently out of print, but could be potentially be republished in a new edition. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the author's estate to determine copyright status and seek their approval and possible involvement in the project.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF Sample (600 KB)This is a brief and lively biography of Gilbert Stuart, the 18th-century American painter most famous for his portraits of George Washington, the first President of the United States. It is written by Washington's own Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, James Thomas Flexner and was first published in 1955.

Project Notes:
This book is currently in print as On Desperate Seas: A Biography of Gilbert Stuart, but it has limited availability and only in a hardcover edition. Last published in 1995 it might be the right time to revitalize the title with a newly designed paperback version. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the latest publisher (Fordham University Press) and/or the author, to gauge the possibility of a new edition.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF Sample (800 KB)This is the story of 21st-century art forger David Stein, as recounted by his wife Anne-Marie.

"When forger David Stein was sent to prison years ago, Joseph Stone, the New York City assistant district attorney who prosecuted him, said, 'What I find so pathetic about the Stein case and other fraud cases is that while the victims relied on the false representations of the defendant, the victims were also blinded by the inexorable craving for bargains in art. Their lack of knowledge in what they were purchasing, their unwillingness to seek expert advice, their gullibility made them easy victims of Stein, who had become an overnight wonder in the art world.'" ("Fakes, Frauds, and Fake Fakers," Milton Esterow, ARTnews,  June 2005.)

Project Notes:
This book is currently out of print, but could be potentially be republished in a new edition. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the author to determine copyright status and seek her and her co-author's approval and involvement in the project

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF Sample (450 KB)This is a book of correspondences and personal memories with painter Philip Guston (1913–1980), from writer and close friend of the artist, Ross Feld. At the most basic level, Guston is perhaps best known for the dramatic visual changes in his work over the course of his career—from muralist, to abstract, to figurative and notably cartoon-like.

Publishers Weekly:
"The book is valuable too, for the light it sheds on the often ill-understood reciprocal nature of the relationships between artists and critics.... Guston himself is abundantly present, not only in Feld's reminiscences... but in the many letters to Feld that are included. Such generosity is typical of this remarkable volume, which recalls Rilke's Letters on Cezanne in its joyful intensity."

Project Notes:
This book is currently in print but available in a hardcover edition only. First published in 2003 it might be the right time to revitalize the title with a newly designed and less expensive paperback version. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the original publisher (Counterpoint) to gauge the possibility of a new or revised edition. As with every team member, the original publisher would receive a percentage of earnings for the right to reissue the book in a specified form.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.

Download a PDF Sample (1.1 MB)Originally published in 1969, Fake! is the story of art forger Elmyr de Hory. Although he vacillated between seeing himself as both the cunning mastermind and the innocent pawn, de Hory undoubtedly remains one of the 20th Century's most infamous forgers.  You can still find examples of the work, but rather than being fake Modiglianis or Chagalls, they're now genuine de Horys. And if art forgery isn't enough, to add further to the duplicitousness of this particular book, author Clifford Irving is actually best known for another book, his biography of Howard Hughes which itself turned out to be a fake. That part of the story was recently back in the news with the release of the movie, The Hoax.

Project Notes:
Fake! is out of print in any English edition, though would still be under copyright, presumably with the author. If an interested team were to form, their first step would be to contact the author to determine copyright status and seek his involvement in the project.

Project Team Members:
None. This project was submitted by the Hol Editors and is open for anyone to take the lead on. Apply to work on this team.