Odd Nerdrum: Themes: Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures [ハードカバー]

This is certainly one hefty tome, 554 pages and weighing in at 9lbs. The book opens with a 16 page story about an journalist "Temp" who has been assigned to a press conference for Odd Nerdrum's latest book. Alas Nerdrum doesn't attend, preferring to allow his art to speak for itself.
Hence "Temp" is pretty much left to his own devices to research the meaning behind Nerdrum's subject matter, imagery, philosophy etc. Much is devoted to Nerdrum turning his back on contemporary art and in-vogue styles, instead preferring the styles of the art greats such as Rembrandt, Sargent, Zorn, Homer, Da Vinci, Titian. Philosophy is touched upon through the teachings of Kant and Goethe.
The story, written by Bjorn Li, provides some very interesting perception in to the world of Nerdrum and his devotion to kitsch.
The remaining 520+ pages of the book are devoted to Nerdrum's art. Li's story might give some insight in to various pieces but ultimately there is still plenty of room for the viewer to provide their own interpretation. Human's wandering barren landscapes, solitary worlds even though they are not alone, amputations, lost limbs are commonplace. An over-riding theme presents itself...nothing is perfect...not humanity, the world in which we live whether it be the philosophical or the physical. Existence is simply bleak, filled with anxiety and unknown.
All of Nerdrums major works are here, in many cases accompanied with detail images, preparatory sketches, notes etc. Paintings are grouped by "Themes" - hence the title which such groupings as "Lack of Light", "Mother and Child", "Loving Couples", "Song and Dance" etc. etc.
The book is a huge addition to any Nerdrum library both physically and contentwise. However it is slightly flawed by the quality of the reproductions. For the most part the images are excellent, colour captured well, discernible brushstrokes (which for me is a huge part of the attraction with both Nerdrum and Rembrandt - their use of impasto). Unfortunately there are a few photos that appear to be slightly out of focus with the resulting blur. Not too many but enough to cause some disppointment.
I've had this book on order since its originally anticipated publication date of late 2006. It is very well priced at approx $55 with extensive colour images. A worthy addition to any Nerdrum library, and certainly lends itself to extensive browsing. If all the images were top notch then I'd give it 5+ stars, however my enthusiasm for it is tempered slightly by some blurred images. Recommended all the same for what it does contain and at such a good price.

Ok, so now there are two great huge books on Nerdrum. One by Richard Vine and now this one. If you are a Nerdrum freak you might as well buy both, but if you have to choose one, here's the facts. The 'Themes' book has more paintings than Vine's book as there are about 100 pages more in it. And though both books have good close ups, 'Themes' has more and better details for those artist who wish to torture themselves drooling over Nerdrum brushwork. However, Vine's book has the better quality reproductions. The color has more lustre, and the colors in 'Themes" seems just a bit too dark at times, plus a couple of the close ups are slightly out of focus. Both books are great in that they consist almost entirely of pictures only. But though the article by Richard Vine is insightful and informative, the article in 'Themes' sucks, being a kind of attempt at lashing back at the narrow critics who have been biting at Nerdrums heels since the day he invited them to do so. I don't see why Nerdrum, given that he is the greatest painter of today and possibly equal to any of the past, should give a damn about their existence.

So pick your choice and celebrate the fact that modern art is dying, while true painting lives on.

Warning: If you already have the 2001 book by Richard Vine on Odd Nerdrum this book will mostly just be redundant. And if you don't have either i would recommend getting the 2001 book first, and only .
I was highly disappointed when i finally got the chance to look through this book. I was expecting a collection of new and never before seen paintings but instead found that it was mostly just full of paintings shown in the Richard Vine book, and the reproductions are far inferior and include far fewer closeups. The main disappointment was that it contained only a handful of new or recent paintings, though it did contain some old paintings that i hadn't seen before. It also contains fewer drawings than the previous book. It also misleadingly lists 'Sculptures' in the title when only containing 3 or 4 tiny sculptures of faces and cacoon-like babies.
One good thing about this book however is that it includes a lot of thumbnails and quick sketches of ideas for his paintings, giving an insight into his working process.

This is not a bad book, just a little disappointing and not as good as it should have been. And again, if you have the 2001 book, you won't find much new here.