Walton Ford: Tigers of Wrath, Horses of Instruction Hardcover – October 1, 2002

Unless you collect Art monographs and Walton Ford is among your favorites, there is really little reason to buy this book. It is being sold for ridiculously high prices (I paid $220.00 for a copy that was well-used, listed as 'Very Good' when it barely qualified as 'Good' condition), and every single painting inside has been collected in Taschen's excellent Ford retrospective, the massive 'Pancha Tantra'. It does include an essay or two, written material that 'Pancha Tantra' doesn't bother with. And it is a handsome little volume, released by 'Harry N. Abrams', one of the more prolific and long-established publishers known for producing high-quality monographs, who elected to go with a landscape format. But this is not the volume I go to to examine Walton Fords' large-scale watercolors; in order to read the 19th Century-style calligraphy that adorns the margins like Audubons' preparatory paintings for the prints in Birds of America, you need the 12" x 15" format of 'Pancha Tantra'.

Walton Ford's paintings are hauntingly beautiful. The first time I began to see reproductions of Ford's work in Art in America, I knew we had a bold new talent to challenge our sensibilities.The large watercolors; enhanced with colored inks, pencil, and gouache, are superb. The play with the naturalistic sensibilities of John James Audubon's nature paintings, but always have a dark, sinister, commentary hidden in the sub-text.The paintings are of incredible beauty, masterfully drawn, formal and structured, pristine and realistic. Yet odd forces of death, violence, and pain lurk just below the surface. The compositions and the tight use of the watercolor and ink medium create a discomfort and tension that places the works fully in the 21st century. They are Audubon combined with Kafka. The beauty draws you in and then you get caught by the sub-text, the evil little traps hidden in each work.The monograph is full of art, Ford being a highly prolific painter. At least 70 paintings are represented in full color. You will not be diappointed.

I like how telegraphs his message.

...you will love the book. The most lovingly rendered, satisfyingly composed and deliciously colored wildlife imagery seemingly filtered through the zeitgeist of early 20th century Austria.

A perfeccionist at the most difficult and unyielding of all painting mediums: watercolors, Mr Walton brings a plethora of emotions to his work. You will be delighted, disturbed, challenged and even insulted, but never bored. A surprise every time you see it.

Walton Ford's watercolors are among the most beautiful offered by any contemporary artist today. The context of each work is intelligent, thoughtful and imaginative while the execution of each work is brilliant. The book's release is in conjunction with a major exhibition of recent work by Walton Ford at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York City in October 2002. Serious art collectors, museum curators and art lovers should purchase a copy of the book for their libraries: the book is certain to become a collectors item.