Customer Reviews

Adam: The Male Figure in Art

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Adam; The Male Figure in Art by Edward Lucie-Smith sets out to explore how artists have perceived and represented man as a subject in every form of the arts. With his characteristic enthusiasm and wit Lucie-Smith offers enough treasures of painting, sculpture, photography, murals from Egypt and Rome and Greece to satisfy even the most avid art historian. It is a pleasure to discover young contemporary artists along side the ancients and the grand masters. This is a potpouri, a delectable, energetic voyage that begs frequent return visits. A must from the current coffee table art book selection for the holidays!

this book seeks to briefly encapsulate the history of the male figure in (western) art. it does a good job of providing a variety of styles and media, and the images are always very interesting. also, as a dancer, it is fascinating to note how the body becomes more and more realistic as anatomy is more fully studied and understood. it is a great resource for those interested in this branch of art history, as well as those who are interested in the way culture has looked at the male body.

As the introduction explains: "the purpose of this book is to discuss the paradoxes inherent in Western attitudes to the image of the nude or naked male" although Lucie-Smith goes on to say that he will be taking a look at the attitudes of other cultures to the male nude. The author then expounds his thoughts through the subsequent nine chapters looking at the male nude from early times to the present day. The writing is intelligent and informative as one would expect from such an authority as Edward Lucie-Smith.

The book is lavishly illustrates throughout with around 100 full-colour and well over 60 mono or duo-tones. Many of the pictures are full-page and some double-page. They include painting, drawing, sculpture and pottery, and photography, some subtle others blatantly provocative. However while the illustrations are well captioned and usually accompanied by a brief comment, their seems to be little direct relationship between them and the text, many artists mentioned in the text are not illustrated, and many illustrated are not mentioned in the text; it as if there are two separate books here.

The artists illustrated include David Hockney, Michael Leonard, Andy Warhol, Gilbert and George, Lucien Freud, De Chirico, Picasso, Delmas Howe, Tom of Finland, Tom Binachi, Roberto Rincon, Tony Butcher and many more - but for example no Robert Mapplethorpe who is mention in the text.

Adam, the Male Figure in Art make an interesting read, and an equally interesting visual experience, it is unfortunate that there is little relationship between the two other than the subject matter.

So many art books are heaving on the images and light on the actual research regarding the subject, but this book has a nice balance. Although there isn't a huge amount of text in the book, it does a good job at throughly explain the various dominant themes concerning the male figure in art.The images are varied and represent each topic/theme very well. As a painter who specifically paints male portraits, it is a very nice coffee table book that has a little research to back up the ample images.
The only issue I would say that I have with the book is that it may be in need of a new edition, its been over a decade since this inital release, so dont expect anything regarding any work of the 2000's. But that isn't a criticism of the book, just that its good enough to be worth an update to include an new decade.

Good art book for your coffee table on a pretty interesting topic for any art appreciator.

Given Lucie-Smith's vast experience in the field, I expected a more definitive work on the male figure in the history of art. I found it to be much short of that. The scholarship and the illustrations just don't measure up to anything like a seminal statement on the subject. In fact, there are many instances when the choice of illustrations is inexplicable. This is not a book that I have kept for my art library.