Peter Saul, pop, funk, bad painting and more

More about the book

Peter Saul has consistently challenged art, history, and politics with his radical, unrefined style. Positioned outside the canon of contemporary and Pop Art, his exuberantly grotesque works feature an ironic and caustic humor that both critiques and celebrates his subjects. Influenced by French academic painting and MAD magazine, Saul’s commitment to narrative and figuration has set him apart from major art movements, evolving over sixty years into a profound, albeit unconventional, history painter. This comprehensive catalogue, published for his exhibition at Les Abattoirs in Toulouse (traveling to Namur, Belgium in 2020), spans his oeuvre since the late 1950s and includes many previously unseen paintings, works on paper, and archival materials. Born in 1934 in San Francisco, Saul is recognized as one of today’s most influential painters, having been elected to the American Academy of Art and Letters in 2010. His work is included in major collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The exhibition runs from September 20, 2019, to January 26, 2020, at Les Abattoirs, Toulouse.