LOVERS IN ART

Readers won't expect this luscious, well-designed, illustrated volume to begin with an insightful discussion of the mores of romance and marriage in Western civilization, and the conflict between sexual passion and lifelong commitment, but that's exactly what art historian Adler provides by way of thought-provoking introduction to her distinctive inquiry into paintings depicting lovers and spouses from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Love sanctioned and illicit, felicitous and tortured, has been the subject of artists as different in context and outlook as Giotto and Picasso, Rubens and Lichtenstein. Here are paintings of classical lovers by Titian and Francois Gerard, Jan Van Eyck's intimate and solemn The Arnolfini Marriage, and Chagall's couples flying high on love. Elsewhere men and women are in the grip of cosmic sensuality and helpless lust: think Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele (Adler wryly follows her graphic Love-Making with Grant Wood's famously dour American Gothic). Not only has Adler selected indelible images that illustrate our dreams of and struggles with love, she pairs each one with enjoyable and illuminating commentary. Donna Seaman

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