On Abstract Art [Hardcover]

Briony Fer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 1997

In this original and provocative book, Fer explores new ways to think about abstract art and the problems of interpretation it raises. She speculates on the kind of language required to describe the often tantalizing effects of kev abstract paintings and sculptures and on ways to discuss critical issues when a work of art is without "subject matter".

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (June 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300069758
• ISBN-13: 978-0300069754
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,175,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #98 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Abstract Expressionism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars no title, January 13, 2006

By 

C. L Wilson (Elmhurst, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: On Abstract Art (Paperback)

Another tough book, but not as bad as others I've read on the same subject. Not as long either, mercifully. Some insightful stuff here, and great photos. I am beginning to appreciate and even like abstract art.

5 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Veiling the Subject, March 9, 2003

By 

Captain Cook (Leeward to the Sandwich Islands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Abstract Art (Paperback)

A woman cuts up bits of paper and makes a tacky collage that would disgrace the aesthetic judgement of a pre-schooler; a man paints a big red dot, a big yellow dot, and - wait for it - a small black dot; another man drops bits of torn paper and glues them on a sheet of paper where they fall; another man (famously) paints vertical and horizontal straight lines and fills some of the squares with primary colors; a woman puts rows of bricks on the floor in straight lines that would be extremely thrilling if it wasn't so mind-numbingly boring; and, to cap it all, a man paints a white square on a white square - duh!

It's all supposed to mean something. For Briony Few, the the writer, it means a chance to spout over-intellectualized jargon that usually boils away to nothing. For example:

Human figures and objects have been expelled from the pictures but there is always at least one body which remains in this scene and that is the spectators.

This means that someone is looking at a picture that doesn't have any people in it. Great. I guess this is how they earn their money in academia. This book is a good example of what is quite common in art history and criticism, the pose of knowledge instead of its communication.

The history of modern art can be divided into two clear movements. First there was a move towards increasing explicitness in art which climaxed in the efforts of Surrealists like Dali to drag the processes of the mind out into the daylight. This tended to strip away the veils of mystery and made art almost unnecessary, so this was quickly followed by a move to mask and hide the subject of paintings as we see in the work of Miro and his three dots, abstract expressionists like Pollock, and colorfield painters like Rothko.

When I read a book like Fer's I realise that the same process has occurred in art criticism. For every critic like Martica Sawin (Surrealism in Exile) who do what they can to make the processes of art history transparent, there are countless others like Fer who do what they can with their lardy, tautological, and over-conditional and ambiguous jargon to mask and veil the true history of art. People like this are driven by the same motives as medieval guilds and the Magic Circle. They want to retain control of their area of expertise by preventing their audience, customers, or readers, from finding out about it. We are simply supposed to read this book and 'sense' their knowledge without being allowed to understand it. Understanding whatever clear ideas such writers as Fer have, would reduce them to the the intellectual minnows they are.