Desperate Necessity: Writing on Art and Psychoanalysis

Few experts on psychoanalysis know as much art history as did the late Eugene Glynn. Few, if any, can write with the panache and the insight he possessed. Brought together in this anthology, his book reviews provide a penetrating account of the pitfalls and occasional successes in efforts to marshal psychoanalytic theory in the interpretation of works of art and their makers. Developed through years of close study in galleries and museums, Glynn's sensitivity to visual form enables him to transcend professional protocols to frame large questions about the origins of the creative act. Jonathan Weinberg's introduction positions Glynn's writings in the fields of art history and psychoanalysis. Weinberg also recounts the story of how Glynn and Maurice Sendak became his mentors after the premature deaths of his own parents.