"Inspired to a creative breakthrough after glancing at a copy of Mad magazine, promoted by the Surrealist Matta, and discovered in Paris, American artist Peter Saul [b.1934] has created often difficult, funny, and trenchant works - "sick jokes," according to Robert Storr. His paintings have taken on subjects ranging from embarrassing personal foibles to important events in American history such as the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, end the atrocities at Abu Ghraib. Given the ongoing lack of recognition for the work of this controversial, influential, and pioneering artist, a deeper examination of Saul's career is Long overdue." "This publication provides the first comprehensive overview of five decades of Peter Saul's paintings and drawings. It features works from the early 1960s through the present, including his first "icebox" painting, examples of his epic historical canvases, satiric works poking fun at art history's sacred cows, paintings that painfully evoke the multiple psychic hazards of being an aging male, and recent works that point to the immorality of current political affairs. Essays by Dan Cameron and Michael Duncan as well as an interview with the artist by Robert Storr illuminate this body of work."--BOOK JACKET.