Edited with text by Erin Christovale. Foreword by Ann Philbin. Text by Franya J. Berkman. Interviews by Ashley Kahn, Erin Christovale.
Rashid Johnson, Cauleen Smith and others pay tribute to a truly extraordinary figure in 20th-century American jazz
This volume unpacks the cultural legacy of musician, spiritual leader, wife and mother Alice Coltrane. Accompanying the eponymous exhibition at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum, the book takes its title from Coltrane’s 1977 autobiography and devotional text, Monument Eternal, in which she reflected on her newfound spiritual beliefs and the path to healing and self-discovery. Coltrane was "ahead of her time," as her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, says: she was "one of the first people to move outside the mainstream, and certainly one of the first female, Black, American jazz musicians to record her own music in her own studio, and to release music on her own terms." Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal explores themes including spiritual transcendence, sonic innovation and architectural intimacy. The project juxtaposes works from 19 contemporary American artists with pieces of ephemera from Coltrane’s archive—including handwritten sheet music, unreleased audio recordings and rarely seen footage—to honor her cultural output and practice. Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit in 1937 and took up music at an early age, beginning piano lessons at seven years old. In 1967 her husband, saxophonist John Coltrane, gifted her a harp, on which she went on to record seminal albums including Journey in Satchidananda and A Monastic Trio, making her one of the very few harpists in the history of jazz. Coltrane moved to Southern California in 1972 and founded the Sai Anantam ashram. She lived and worked in Los Angeles, where she died in 2007 at age 69.
This book was published in conjunction with Hammer Museum
Featured image is reproduced from 'Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The New York Times
Siddhartha Mutter
[This exhibition] is breaking new ground by examining Alice Coltrane’s influence in a field that she did not practice herself but where her life story has resonated and her ideas have found purchase: contemporary visual art.
Cultured
Sophie Lee
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead has cited [Alice Coltrane] as an influence. She shared the stage with musicians as disparate as Carlos Santana and Pharoah Sanders. Along with her contemporary Dorothy Ashby, she introduced one of music’s most ancient instruments, the harp, into the jazz canon. Yet, during most of her lifetime, Alice Coltrane’s contributions were not considered part of the jazz pantheon [...] that's changing, according to curator Erin Christovale.
Frieze
Suné Woods
I am deeply grateful for the life and legacy of such a profoundly elevated spirit.
W Magazine
Michael Callahan
The exhibition has an almost bespoke feel, rousing a quiet elegance that evokes a sacred space.
Los Angeles Times
Cerys Davies
The first exhibition to examine Coltrane’s life and legacy through art.
Forbes
Chad Scott
Every artist in the show was impacted and influenced by Coltrane, both in their lives and art practices.
The Financial Times
Kristina Foster
Archival gems such as the composer’s musical manuscripts, unreleased audio recordings and seldom-seen video footage also allow us to get a little closer to this sonic innovator.
Galerie magazine
Janelle Zara
An intimate portrait of Coltrane herself emerges through collected ephemera, including unreleased recordings, footage and personal letters.
Los Angeles Review of Books
This groundbreaking and multisensorial exhibition calls forward Alice’s autobiography and brings together a collective of contemporary Black American artists whose lives and practices were impacted and influenced by Coltrane.
The Observer
Dan Duray
Curated by Erin Christovale, the exhibition creates a rich constellation of music-adjacent works to twinkle in the sky alongside Coltrane’s cool blue world.
ArtReview
Nicole Kaack
The Hammer’s portrait of Coltrane highlights the elusive nature of memorial. In 'Monument Eternal,' Coltrane is a divine icon, subsumed by a sea of other voices.
Los Angeles Times
Harmony Holiday
What we ultimately witness is the feeling of the Hammer itself praying on her altar, which is what’s brilliant about the curatorial work of the project: Its limitations become the artistic statement.
Hyperallergic
Nereya Otieno
'Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal' at the Hammer Museum, curated by Erin Christovale, creates a gently pulsing orb that expands far outside the realm of a typical exhibition. It explores the legacy of musician and spiritual leader Alice Coltrane, guiding museum-goers away from the daily humdrum and into a cool trance. You will leave changed, and improved.
The Guardian
Nabu Ramou
The first major exhibition honoring Coltrane’s legacy is rooted in a call to action for those ready to dig deeper into their own purpose, and allowing her work to be an awakening force to guide it.
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Published to accompany the Hammer Museum’s groundbreaking and wildly popular recent Alice Coltrane exhibition, this beautifully designed and lovingly assembled clothbound hardcover with gold stamped lettering and tipped-on cover image sold out almost immediately. We are delighted to announce the arrival of a new printing! Pairing Coltrane’s work and cultural legacy with works by 19 contemporary artists—including Rashid Johnson, Cauleen Smith and Jennie C. Jones, among others—Monument Eternal is an exquisitely considered and produced design object as well as a must-have volume of scholarship for collectors of books on art, music, Vedic religious practices or Black cultural history. Named after Coltrane’s iconic 1977 book (written in order to “fulfill a divine command”), Monument Eternal “calls forth her important autobiography and brings together a collective of contemporary Black American artists who are influenced by her cultural impact and production,” Erin Christovale writes. She concludes, “I believe Coltrane’s legacy resonates with so many, specifically with the group of artists included in this exhibition, because her story offers a self-paved path toward liberation and pursuit of the divine.”
Photo: Alice Coltrane, c. 1978. Courtesy of the John & Alice Coltrane Home.
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 12.75 in. / 192 pgs / 110 color / 21 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $90 GBP £51.00 ISBN: 9781636811567 PUBLISHER: DelMonico Books AVAILABLE: 2/11/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by DelMonico Books. Edited with text by Erin Christovale. Foreword by Ann Philbin. Text by Franya J. Berkman. Interviews by Ashley Kahn, Erin Christovale.
Rashid Johnson, Cauleen Smith and others pay tribute to a truly extraordinary figure in 20th-century American jazz
This volume unpacks the cultural legacy of musician, spiritual leader, wife and mother Alice Coltrane. Accompanying the eponymous exhibition at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum, the book takes its title from Coltrane’s 1977 autobiography and devotional text, Monument Eternal, in which she reflected on her newfound spiritual beliefs and the path to healing and self-discovery. Coltrane was "ahead of her time," as her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, says: she was "one of the first people to move outside the mainstream, and certainly one of the first female, Black, American jazz musicians to record her own music in her own studio, and to release music on her own terms."
Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal explores themes including spiritual transcendence, sonic innovation and architectural intimacy. The project juxtaposes works from 19 contemporary American artists with pieces of ephemera from Coltrane’s archive—including handwritten sheet music, unreleased audio recordings and rarely seen footage—to honor her cultural output and practice.
Alice Coltrane was born in Detroit in 1937 and took up music at an early age, beginning piano lessons at seven years old. In 1967 her husband, saxophonist John Coltrane, gifted her a harp, on which she went on to record seminal albums including Journey in Satchidananda and A Monastic Trio, making her one of the very few harpists in the history of jazz. Coltrane moved to Southern California in 1972 and founded the Sai Anantam ashram. She lived and worked in Los Angeles, where she died in 2007 at age 69.
This book was published in conjunction with Hammer Museum
