The favorite books and artists of renowned New York-based painter Raymond Pettibon are examined below. Pettibon grew a devoted following and drew acclaim from the underground art circuit during the punk scene of the late 70s and 80s while designing fliers, promotional posters, and album covers for numerous bands, including his brother Greg Ginn’s band Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, the Dead Kennedys, the Minutemen, and the Ramones (check out some of these promotional materials and album covers, including Sonic Youth’s famous cover for the LP Goo, below). Over the past two decades, Pettibon’s artworks have been exhibited widely throughout the United States and abroad. In 2013, his drawing No Title (The Lower Half…) was purchased by a collector for $1.575 million.
No Title (The Lower Half)
In numerous interviews conducted over the years, Pettibon has expressed his admiration for several fellow artists and revealed his ten favorite books during a 2015 interview with the New York Times. For more information on any of the books or artists below, feel free to click on the associated images (via Amazon).
RAYMOND PETTIBON’S FAVORITE BOOKS
The Death And Letters Of Alice James: Selected Correspondence
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Complete Works and Letters of Charles Lamb
PETTIBON’S FAVORITE ARTISTS
Reginald Marsh
Swing Time: Reginald Marsh and Thirties New York
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper: The Art and The Artist
Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography
Charles (Chas) Addams
Chas Addams Happily Ever After: A Collection of Cartoons to Chill the Heart of You
Peter Arno
Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker’s Greatest Cartoonist
John Sloan
John Sloan’s New York (Delaware Art Museum)
Francisco Goya
Goya: Order & Disorder
Rembrandt
Rembrandt: His Life & Works in 500 Images
(Sources: TimeOut, Paul Laster (2017); LA Times, Hunter Drohojowska (1991))
For more insight into Pettibon’s work, we strongly recommend checking out the following:
Raymond Pettibon: Homo Americanus: Collected Works
Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work
Raymond Pettibon (Rizzoli Classics)
Selection of some of Pettibon’s artwork:
No Title (But the Sand)
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