Steve Martin’s literary oeuvre (our nose may have just gotten bigger at that one) tends to take a look at, well, the finer things in life. From an essay on a woman in a shoestore, to Mirabelle and her gloves, to Theobald’s wife’s undies that seem to have a mind of their own, he could give the accessories department at Saks Fifth Avenue a run for its money. Earlier this week Grand Central Publishing announced two more releases from the author that are due out this fall.
Late for School, a children’s book, will come complete with illustrations by C. F. Payne and a CD, and is slated for a September release. It’s based on a song from Martin’s forthcoming album, The Crow, which you can preview here.
While there aren’t as many details on his twelfth book at this point, we do know that Woman, One is a full-length novel about the art world and it’s due out in November. As a long-time art collector — a 2001 review of a Las Vegas exhibition of his collection described it as “a wildly eclectic mostly 20th-century mix that runs from Picasso and Seurat to Robert Crumb” — Martin’s taste is all over the place, but based on previous pieces in the pages of The New Yorker, when spoofing, he prefers to skew high brow. This leaves us curious (and excited!) about who and what he’ll focus on in this latest literary work.
While we all wait to find out, peep some pieces from Martin’s personal collection below.
Georges Seurat, Woman Reading, 1883
Edward Hopper, Hotel Window, 1956
Willem de Kooning, Two Women, 1952
David Hockney, The Little Splash, 1966
Lucian Freud, The Naked Girl, 1966
Edward Hopper, Captain Upton’s House, 1927
Surprised by Martin’s collection as a reflection of his filmography? Tell us what you think.