George Lois, the conceptualizer/author/designer of 92 of Esquire magazine’s most inventive and controversial covers (as well as a defining force of mid- and late 20th-century Big Idea advertising), and his wife, painter Rosemary Lewandowski-Lois, have spent 60 years as art aficionados. They have collected and live with one of the world’s most incredible collections of art in the gallery of their Greenwich Village apartment. You could say they spend many, many, many nights at their own museum.
In The Art of Collecting Art, Lois’s 12th book, he documents and discusses the art and artifacts that have held pride of place in this collection.
What an extraordinary collection and intelligent juxtaposition of objects it is. With work from all over the globe spanning various eras of time, the holdings include an ancient Greek amphora; Maori sculpture; Eskimo masks; a Calder mobile; Corinthian helmets; Fang heads; a Benin Oba; ceremonial staffs; an Asmat shield; a Northwest Coast rattle; a Noguchi sculpture; an Easter Island figure; bannerstones; a Magritte Napoleon head; Muhammad Ali’s speed bag; and assorted primitive statuary, including a rare 4-foot Uli. Lois writes passionately and intelligently about the cultures that produced these magnificent objects as well as their aesthetics and mystical meanings.
The Art of Collecting Art is available at Amazon and Blurb.
