NEW YORK, NY.- From mountains and forests, rivers and gardens, to sunsets and skyscrapers, art consultant Lauren P. Della Monica fills her new book, “Painted Landscapes, Contemporary Views” (Schiffer Books, May 2013) with vivid images that uncover the American landscape in both traditional and far less recognizable forms. The book focuses on four distinct geographic regions. Sections titled “Eastern Views,” “Western Views,” “Southwestern Views,” and “Urban Views” showcase the genre in each locale.

While landscape painting often gets a reputation for being anything but contemporary, Della Monica’s Painted Landscapes features work from 60 living artists who paint with strong and varying points of view that represent the genre as more than just a tradition. “This project merges the worlds of art appreciation and reveals that painting, specifically landscape painting, is not just conventional but part of the contemporary art market in ways that have never been examined,” says Della Monica.

Breaking the tradition of exclusively featuring “white male artists,” Della Monica took care to select a diverse body of painters, a process that she says was easy for her because it allowed her to include some of her “very favorite painters who deserve to be right there with the big guys: they are the grande dames Lois Dodd, Sylvia Plimack-Mangold, Yvonne Jacquette and Jane Freilicher.” She notes that these woman are “are exceptional and underrated, and they are undervalued in the market considering their achievements.”

Della Monica’s passion for art led her to earn a graduate degree in connoisseurship at Christie’s, New York, and work at the Citibank Private Bank Art Advisory Service. As founder and principle of LPDM Fine Arts Consulting, she has been building collections for clients since 2004. Della Monica says art consulting allows her to enjoy “the opportunity to share these experiences with others who often rarely get the chance to really look at art, and who may feel like outsiders to the business of art.”

With “Painted Landscapes,” Lauren P. Della Monica illustrates the importance of variety and strength in landscapes in a way that resonates far beyond tradition.