HOLLANDER, Anne 1930–

PERSONAL:

Born October 16, 1930, in Cleveland, OH; daughter of Arthur (a pianist, teacher, and author) and Jean Loesser; married John Hollander, June 15, 1953 (divorced, 1977); married Thomas Nagel (a professor of philosophy), June 26, 1979; children: (first marriage) Martha, Elizabeth. Education: Barnard College, B.A., 1952. Politics: Democrat.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Robert Cornfield, 145 W. 79th St., New York, NY 10024.

CAREER:

Writer, art historian, and educator. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, graduate assistant in fine arts, 1953-54; New York University, New York, NY, adjunct professor at Graduate School of Arts and Science, fall, 1981; freelance writer; New York Institute for the Humanities, New York University, New York, NY, acting director, 1995-96. Consultant for an educational project sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1977-79. University of California—Los Angeles, visiting lecturer, 1987; has also lectured at the Yale Center for British Art, Smithsonian Institution, Victoria and Albert Museum, Princeton University, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

MEMBER:

PEN (American president, 1995-96), Costume Society of America, College Art Association, New York Institute for the Humanities (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Guggenheim fellow, 1975-76; New York Institute for the Humanities fellow, beginning 1981.

WRITINGS:

nonfiction

Seeing through Clothes, Viking (New York, NY), 1978, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1993.

Moving Pictures, Knopf (New York, NY), 1989.

Sex and Suits, Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.

Feeding the Eye: Essays, Farrar, Straus, (New York, NY), 1999.

Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2002.

Woman in the Mirror, photographs by Richard Avedon, Abrams (New York, NY), 2005.

Also contributor to books, including New Perspectives on the History of Western Dress: A Handbook, by Mary Ellen Roach and Kathleen Ehle Musa, NutriGuides (New York, NY), 1980; and The Best American Essays 1986, edited by Elizabeth Hartwick. Contributor to periodicals, including American Scholar, New York Times Magazine, London Review of Books, Slate, Gentleman's Quarterly, New Republic, New York Times Book Review, Vogue, Times Literary Supplement, New York Review of Books, and Georgia Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

In her first book, Seeing through Clothes, Anne Hollander explores the relationship between popular styles of dress and the depiction of nudity and clothing in contemporary art. In her well-documented survey of eight centuries of Western fashion trends, Hollander examines such elements as the significance of wearing black in the fifteenth century and the influence of black-and-white movies on early twentieth-century dress. Washington Post Book World contributor Eve Auchincloss commented in her review of Seeing through Clothes: "The idea that a naked body is just as exact an indicator as dress, while not exactly new, has probably never been dealt with in such scrupulous detail."

Moving Pictures is Hollander's second extensive investigation of the persuasive nature of art. In this series of essays, she argues that modern cinema is rooted in the works of seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painters and their followers, and that the methods cinematographers use to inspire emotion in moviegoers today stem from the same dramatic devices these artists used to engage their audiences. Careful to note that film is also influenced by literature, photography, music, and particularly the theater, Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Douglas Messerli commented that "Hollander's attempt to place film in the visual art tradition … is useful if it is seen as part of the larger story."

Hollander's 1999 collection, Feeding the Eye: Essays, was acclaimed by critics. Here, Hollander writes of the impact of contemporary culture on a variety of visual forms, including dance, fashion, and film. "In her detailed and well-documented text, she makes observations about the style, development, and artistic contributions … of each of her subjects, offering insight into the visual aesthetics of modern culture," commented Carol J. Binkowski in Library Journal. Calling Hollander an "essayist in the most balanced, dignified and old-fashioned sense," a Publishers Weekly critic lauded the author's "generous, original insight[s]."

With Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting, Hollander explores the representation of fabric and clothing in Western art from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. She looks carefully at how artists used clothing as a means of expression, and how garments and their depiction served to reflect and illustrate the "social preoccupations, fashions, and tastes" of each historical period covered in the book, noted Sandra Rothenberg in Library Journal. Early fifteenth-century paintings paid great attention to the qualities of cloth itself, while paintings in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries used luxurious cloths and drapery as dramatic elements. By the twentieth century, depictions of clothing in art were of less importance than use of color and form within the painting. Hollander "brings new insight into the fields of both art and costume history," Rothenberg stated.

Hollander is also the author of the text for Woman in the Mirror, a collection of portrait and fashion photographs by Richard Avedon. Known as a photographer who concentrated on fashion and beauty, Avedon was identified by what a Publishers Weekly contributor called his "stark, minimalist touch" with composition. His work chronicles evolving styles in fashion, glamour, and concepts of female beauty. Hollander offers "astute commentary" on Avedon's work and legacy, and he explores in depth his "passion for photographing women and his profound inquiry into the symbiotic powers of seeing and being seen," commented Booklist reviewer Donna Seaman. As adept at photographing era-defining celebrities and fashion models as he was at depicting more down-to-earth subjects, Avedon's photography occupied a space between high art and common picture-taking, exemplified by the intimacy of his portraiture and the darkened, shadowy style of his compositions. The Publishers Weekly critic called the book "a treat for devotees and newcomers alike."

Hollander once told CA: "My field is the history of art, with particular reference to clothing and fashion as aspects of art. The continuity of imagery is my main idea, which I followed up in Moving Pictures."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, October 1, 2005, Donna Seaman, review of Woman in the Mirror, p. 14.

Library Journal, September 1, 1999, Carol J. Binkowski, review of Feeding the Eye: Essays, p. 193; December, 2002, Sandra Rothenberg, review of Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting, p. 117.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, July 30, 1989, Douglas Messerli, "It All Started with Vermeer," review of Moving Pictures, p. 6.

New Republic, January 2, 1995, review of Sex and Suits, p. 29.

New York Times Book Review, September 17, 1989, Marina Vaizey, review of Moving Pictures, p. 22.

Publishers Weekly, July 25, 1994, review of Sex and Suits, p. 40; September 27, 1999, review of Feeding the Eye, p. 85; October 24, 2005, review of Woman in the Mirror, p. 54.

Washington Post Book World, December 31, 1978, Eve Auchincloss, "The Flickering Forms of Fashion," review of Seeing through Clothes, p. 7.

online

New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University Web site,http://www.nyu.edu/fas/institute/nyih/ (May 29, 2006), biography of Anne Hollander.*