Shadows in art are often a shortcut for poetry and vagueness, mood and empathic feelings. In the best case, they help install a cozy feeling of lyric warmth and depth. In the worst case, they are the starting point of what Ad Reinhardt and all those committed to sharpness and precision so strongly opposed when, in “Painting is special,” he stated: “Clarity, completeness, quintessence, quiet. No noise, no schmutz, no schmerz, no fauve schwärmerei.” Granted, Reinhardt was a defender and practitioner of abstract art, famous for his all-black paintings. But what he was standing for can also be applied to figurative art, as superbly shown by writer and multimedia artist Franck Leibovici in this funny, stunning as well as highly inspirational publication.
Taking as its starting point an observation once made by David Hockney: “What is the purpose of the shadow in a painting, if not to indicate the time?,”...