Customer Reviews

Abstraction in Art and Nature (Dover Art Instruction)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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The elation of discovery when I read in the very first paragraph of this book...*the word abstraction...simply means the act of drawing out the essential qualities in a thing, a series of things or a situation*. This is what the book is about throughout--rhythmic flows and patterns.

Examples from this book include mention of several instances in which the orgonome or teardrop form exists in nature--in the pull of a magnetic field, in the shape of an apple seed and in the form of a ducks body, and how the jet form of water creates the same shape of a common mushroom sliced in half...as well as numerous other forms illustrated that may surprise the reader.

I could give many more examples, but the great thing about this book is that it is no mere science lesson--all the information is given in relation to art and art making. Numerous large and smaller photos and illustrations all in black & white, taken from nature and art, along with suggested drawing exercises, assist the visual type of person to more fully grasp the points made. The final brief chapter is on Color in Nature.

This book is exactly what I hoped it would be, when I ordered it based on the title alone...

This book is a must have...it has chapters set up in logical order with exercises in each section to help you master the lesson of each chapter. This author is or was a professor at the prestigious PRATT INSTITUTE of Utica, New York (through Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute) and Brooklyn/Manhattan, New York...so you know that the instruction is high quality. Most of the illustrations/photos are black and white, and if that bothers you, you may not like this book, but the photos and diagrams are sharp and clear and are a decent size, so they should be of help nonetheless. A great addition to the library of the self-taught artist!

Hale has thought deeply on the meaning of forms and has found endless relationships between them. All organic matter follows laws which are written into their structure. For the artist, understanding these laws means that each new object is no longer unique, but part of a larger whole. This means that each new object (water mountains, trees, bodies) can be related to others, making the "new" object more familear

The natural world can be maddeningly complex to draw. Abstraction in Art & Nature seeks to bring that complexity down to a understandable level.

Hale relates the similarities of just a few basic forms, forces and patterns that can be found throughout nature. Not just plants or fish, but clouds, water splashes on up to humans. Seeing these basic forms and how they relate to each other gives you a foundation to work with so you can capture natural forms without drawing every twig on a tree.

Even though there's some invaluable information in this book, it isn't presented very well. Hale's style of writing is rather halting. It can be hard sometimes to squeeze the relevant information out of his words. And even though I see plenty of merit in his "project" suggestions line observing how glass breaks, or sprouting an avocado seed, I would've personally liked more specific instruction on how to tie this info to artmaking.

The later chapters are far less informative than the earlier ones. Subjects like perspective and tone are handled far better in other books. And the last chapter on color is kind of worthless, since it's a black & white book and there really aren't any pictures.

Altogether this isn't a bad book to have. Just being made aware of these natural forms is a great asset. However I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it.

Concepts not easily grasped by the beginner/intermediate(like myself), but I know that I will go back to this book again and again as my skills grow.

I am a scientist interested in art. I have worked with abstract (mainly mathematical) ideas most of my life and recently become more interested in the broader meaning, that related with how we perceive the world. This book provided many hours of joy and inspiration and I really liked it. The best chapters are definitely the first ones, where it seems to me that most of the substance is. The treatment of line and shadow, form and orientation is illuminating. There are other less brilliant but still interesting things like the discussion of waves (wave phenomena are indeed everywhere in the universe!). Then there are things which I, being a scientist, cannot accept even in a poetical sense, like the supposed relations between weather patterns and magnetic fields. Lastly, a chapter on colour (without colours!) seemed little out of place. Overall nevertheless a great read, enjoyable and instructive.