American artists : an illustrated survey of leading contemporary Americans / Les Krantz, editor & publisher.

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 349.

Krantz is the author of several general art guides to U.S. cities. He has now produced two works offering informa tion on the contemporary art scene. Like his previous guidebooks, these publications are intended for non professionals or persons requiring a few basic facts. American Artists is lim ited to 1000 individuals ``whose works are most frequently exhibited'' and the choices are, in fact, quite representa tive. The biographical data include: a vita section of name, address, birth date, awards, collections, exhibitions, education, and dealer (with a maximum of two entries per category) and a de scriptive paragraph on the artist's work and intentions. These brief annotations border on the superficial when com pared to standard sources such as Who's Who in American Art or Paul Cummings' Dictionary of Contempo rary American Artists (St. Martin's, 1982). However, the selected, identify ing material about each artist is handy for quick reference purposes, and the ``Cross-References by Specializations and Locations'' index is a useful ser vice which should be offered in more art reference tools. American Art Galleries is less effec tive for several reasons. Information about galleries in the United States goes out of date quickly. The 1000 gal leries profiled, from all 50 states, are more subjective choices and some ob vious omissions are apparent. Entries are arranged alphabetically under state and city, with address, hours, and di rector's name listed, accompanied by a sentence or two about the gallery itself and a longer description of the gallery's focus and represented artists. Unfortu nately, the few historical facts offered are often irrelevant and sometimes sound like publicity rehashes. Never theless, many features of this directory, including the cross-references to galler ies' specializations and the alphabetical index to gallery and artists' names, are successful adaptations from the indis pensible Art in America Annual Guide to Galleries, Museums, Artists. Both these titles are recommended with the understanding that they are selective, popularized reference works. Paula A. Baxter, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc www.shelfari.com