Celebrated poet and art critic, Carter Ratcliff, joined acclaimed artist Li-lan at Rizzoli NYC to celebrate the publication of the first major monograph on this American painter entitled The Art of Li-lan: A World Achieved. A solo exhibition opening April 3, 2014 at Jason McCoy Gallery will accompany this publication, with a bespoke special edition of the monograph and signed limited edition print.

Born in New York to the gallerist Helen Wimmer Gee and Modernist painter Yun Gee, Li-lan was exposed from a young age to cultural sophistication that matured into a unique art form. Through Carter Ratcliff’s extensive research, a sensitive and penetrating narrative guides us through a gentle but hard-fought life of artistic accomplishment. Firmly rooted in the culture of postwar New York, Li-lan is portrayed within the fabric of the American experience, while unfolding her own identity outside of New York in Japan and her father’s homeland of China.

Carter Ratcliff is an honored poet, art writer, teacher, and lecturer, who has published extensively for art journals, institutions, and museums worldwide. His books include monographs on Marisol, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, John Singer Sargent, Leon Polk Smith, Andy Warhol, and many others. His books of poetry include Fever Cast, 1973, Give Me Tomorrow, 1983 and Arrivederci, Modernismo, 2007.

Read coverage in The East Hampton Star: Li-lan Celebrates the Publication of a New Book at Rizzoli in NYC

All photos: Gerald Estabillo

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