Di Mattio, Vincent

Vincent DiMattio is Professor of Art at Monmouth University, New Jersey. He is a frequent exhibiting artist and curator of the Lewis Mumford Collection. He received his M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University.

Drawings and Watercolors of Lewis Mumford

2004 0-7734-6299-6
For more than half a century the distinguished critic, humanist, and historian Lewis Mumford accumulated sketches and watercolors that he executed while engaged in exploratory rambles through cities and landscapes. He also sketched notable people associated with his early education and career as a nationally recognized writer, which resulted in the National Medal of Freedom and The National Medal of Art. His hundreds of drawings lay buried in folders in Amenia, New York until the 1980' s. Now they can be sampled and enjoyed as a hitherto unknown extension of a literary career that lasted more than 70 years. The authors are uniquely qualified to assemble this volume. They spent many hours with Mumford and his wife, Sophia, until his death in 1990, and secured custody of all the drawings and watercolors for their institution, Monmouth University. Dr. Stunkel is a historian and has written on Mumford's thought. Professor DiMattio is an exhibiting artist and curator of the Mumford collection.

This volume is focused on Mumford as a gifted but unintentional artist. The Preface was supplied by Sophia Mumford before her death in 1997. The authors provide short essays that explain how the drawings and watercolors came to light, Mumford's strengths as an untrained amateur with pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor, and his intimate connections with art as a critic. The volume features 38 of the drawings and watercolors reproduced from the original works, with two photographs of Mumford in the 1920' s and 1970' s. Cross-referenced pages containing commentary on each piece and apt quotations from Mumford's books accompany the images. Following the images and commentary is a catalogue raisonne of 321 drawings and 16 rare photographs. The volume concludes with works cited and a bibliographical essay.