Peter Saul

The first major monograph on provocateur painter Peter Saul, featuring the largest collection of his work ever published, edited by the artist himself.

A Pop art predecessor who helped pave the way to neo-Surrealism, Peter Saul is known for his luridly coloured, contrarian depictions of popular culture and political history. In the 1950s and ‘60s, reacting against Abstract Expressionism’s seriousness and influenced by Surrealist Roberto Matta, Saul began to paint everyday objects like iceboxes, steaks, and toilets in bright colours, along with political works like his series of cartoonish Vietnam paintings (1960s), which though evidently anti-war had no clear moral message or political agenda. Jumbling references like Mickey Mouse, Ethel Rosenberg, and Willem de Kooning, his work also includes darkly humorous self-portraits like Oedipus Junior, in which the artist pierces his eye with a paintbrush. More recently, he garnered attention for his series of Donald Trump paintings. His work is often compared to the riotous palettes and caustic wit of artists like Robert Colescott, Raymond Pettibon, and R Crumb.

For the artist’s first major monograph. art historian Richard Shiff writes about his work from a more formalist and historical perspective, Annabelle Teneze provides a substantive essay on the artist’s long career, and Bruce Hainley addresses the satirical aspects of the artist’s work.