The Essential Robert Indiana

Famously proclaiming himself to be "an American painter of signs," Robert Indiana has created an enormous body of work, much of it boldly coloured abstractions. In this incisive new examination of the artist, based on ongoing conversations with Indiana, art historian Martin Krause sifts through autobiographical clues within the artist's work and finds a wealth of affecting and affectionate references to his childhood, literary heroes, and the cultural icons of his generation. In addition, a penetrating essay by Pop art scholar John Wilmerding deconstructs Indiana's use of geometric shapes, making unexpected connections that enhance Krause's own thesis. Accompanied by reproductions of more than fifty prints from the period 1960-2010 - and focusing specifically on series such as Decade: Autoportraits, Vinalhaven Suite, and The Hartley Elegies as well as the "Love" and "Hope" images and studies of Marilyn Monroe, Picasso, and the Brooklyn Bridge - Krause's decryption of Indiana's visual language provides telling insight into the work of this quintessentially American artist.