Audacious: The Fine Art of Wood: The Montalto Bohlen Collection

This beautifully illustrated volume presents 108 stunning, technically unimaginable works of art in wood from the Montalto Bohlen Collection. The seventy-five internationally recognized artists featured in the book range from pioneering founders of the wood art movement in the United States, such as Bob Stockdale, Melvin Lindquist, David Ellsworth, and Dale Nish, to recent artists who explore wood as an expressive medium, including Hunt Clark, whose new woodworking techniques express his deeply personal vision and relationship with sculptural form. While many of the artists continue to use lathe turning to produce traditional forms, others are experimenting with color, texture, and alternative materials and techniques to push the creative boundaries of the art form.

During the past twenty years, wood art has emerged from the centuries-old practice of producing utilitarian tablewares to become part of today’s mainstream of artistic expression. The Peabody Essex Museum’s exhibition catalogue demonstrates wood art’s limitless range of visually and intellectually stimulating possibilities. The works from the Montalto Bohlen Collection speak to the extraordinary technical proficiency behind them. They share each artist’s eloquent vision that encompasses man’s unique relationship with trees and the natural world.