In Revisionist Art, Bob Dylan offers silkscreened covers of popular magazines
from the last half century that somehow escaped history’s notice. As Luc Sante
notes in his introduction to this collection, they seem to emanate, “from a world
just slightly removed from ours—a world a bit more honest about its corruption, its
chronic horniness, its sweat, its body odor.” Art critic B. Clavery provides a history
of Revisionist Art, from cave drawings, to Gutenberg, to Duchamp, Picasso, and
Warhol. This book also features vivid commentaries on the work, (re)acquainting
the reader with such colorful historical fi gures as the Depression-era politician
Cameron Chambers, whose mustache became an icon to the gay underworld,
and Gemma Burton, a San Francisco trial attorney who used all of her assets in
the courtroom. According to these works, history is not quite what we think it is.
About the Author
Luc Sante is a critic and essayist and the author of numerous books, most
recently Kill All Your Darlings and Folk Photography. B. Clavery is the editor of
Sluggo: A Magazine of the Transformative Arts.
