Art: A Play [Paperback]

Yasmina Reza (Author), Christopher Hampton (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 1997

The Tony Award-winning play that focuses on the meaning of art (in the form of a solid white painting) as well as the meaning of friendship, to both the man who bought the painting and the two friends who come to see it."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How would you feel about your best friend if she suddenly did something so colossally stupid, it made you doubt the very basis of the friendship? It happens in Yasmina Reza's monster international hit, Art. When an art lover buys what is in essence a pure white painting for a horse-choking sum, his best friend goes ballistic. Yet a third friend gets squeezed in the middle. Questions about the meaning of strange modern art and strange modern friendships--and how they're sometimes not all that different--fly thick in the limelight.

Review

"This is not some irrelevant fringe production; it is a major intervention in the cultural debate of the country by people who are keen to keep the reactionary tides running. It is probably the most sustained attack on modernism yet seen on the British stage, and it represents a stern challenge to the brilliant success story of British contemporary art."--The Guardian

"Not only brings to the stage a topical debate, it makes it invigorating, touching and finally disturbing. This dark comedy, translated from the French, in sparkling form, explores its themes through a rift between friends."--Financial Times

"A remarkably wise, witty and intelligent comedy . . . has touched a universal nerve."--The Times

"Chic, short, and wickedly, perceptively funny, it's the perfect West End play."--Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

"Art, which has been translated from the French by Christopher Hampton, is filled from first curtain to ending with a dazzling array of language."--Iris Fanger, Christian Science Monitor

"It's an actor's dream, a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a degree from the Sorbonne. Brilliantly translated by Christopher Hampton, . . . Art takes that yawny old bore, the play of ideas, and jolts it to life."--Jack Kroll, Newsweek

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Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (March 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571190146
• ISBN-13: 978-0571190140
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #12 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Continental European
  • #56 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > British & Irish

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "ART" imitates life, July 22, 1998

By 

RALPH PETERS (CLOVIS, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art: A Play (Paperback)

"ART" lives up to its Tony-winning reputation, at least on the book level. The text examines the results of the seemingly innocuous act of buying a painting and the impact it has on the lives of three male friends. While much is made of the fact that the painting itself is only a white canvas with some vertical lines, its fascinating to observe Yasmina Reza making the point, almost subliminally, that art itself (let alone the question of art) has the power to unify or divide with equal fierceness simply by existing. The discussions these men foist based on the conflict of buying an expensive painting that needs interpreting are incisive and thought-provoking. I don't feel, as some have, that the play is ultimately about friendship among men, though that is certainly an element. But all great works of "ART" are open to discussion.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, dull execution, January 2, 2001

By 

Pierre Weydert (Zurich, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art: A Play (Paperback)

The basic idea underlying "Art" is intriguing as well as promising: The seemingly harmonious relationship between three male friends named Marc, Serge and Yvan is all of a sudden threatened and ultimately put to the test when one of them, Serge, buys a controversial work of modern art - an immaculately white canvas, decorated only with a few solitary lines, to be precise. While this constellation is indeed promising, as it could be used by the playwright both to explore the different layers of (male) friendship and to set the stage for a broad discussion of man's diverging tastes and attitudes towards art, not much is made of this starting point.

To be sure, the play opens on an interesting note when Serge proudly presents the newly acquired "painting" to a startled Marc. Confronted with an all but white canvas Marc tactlessly expresses his dismay at Serge's being so stupid as to have wasted money on such a nonsensical object, a remark that obviously leads to a quarrel between the two longtime friends. Yvan on the other hand, always anxious to please everybody, shows interest and admiration for the purchase when with Serge, but changes sides and joins in mocking the canvas when together with Marc. From this point on, just as the reader is keenly anticipating the plot's next intriguing turn, the play degenerates into a mixture of shallow aphorisms and déjà-vus: The three men decide to meet in order to talk their differences of opinion over, and doing so they come to realize (and to avow) that the whole time their friendship and even their lives were tainted with some embarrassing realities.

In the end the three make up, although their friendship will probably never be the same again. Exactly why they agree to bury the hatchet, however, never becomes quite clear, and thus no real attempt is made to decode the complexity of (male) friendship, just as art's role in the development of events never gets the attention it really deserves. In conclusion one might say that far too little has been made of a very promising initial idea.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Friendships, and art..., July 18, 2005

By 

M. B. Alcat "Curiosity killed the cat, but sa... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art: A Play (Paperback)

"Art", a play written by French author Yasmina Reza (1959-...) in 1994, and translated into English in 1996 by Christopher Hampton, is quite interesting. Despite the fact that it isn't overly long, it tackles difficult subjects such as the nature of friendship and art in a rather original way.

The plot is not complicated, and revolves around three male friends: Serge, Marc and Yvan. The dynamics of their friendship is substantially altered when one of them, Serge, buys a Modernist painting without consulting with the others. Serge simply fell in love with the painting, and believes it is splendid even though it is somewhat strange, all white with some lines in a different tonality of white in the middle. Marc, his assertive friend, finds that the amount Serge paid for the painting (200,000 French francs) is absurdly large, and is offended by the mere idea that his friend Serge likes it and believes it is art. Yvan, on the other hand, doesn't mind, but his non-commital attitude will land him in trouble with both Serge and Marc.

Buying a painting, a seemingly common act, will draw the three friends into an uncomfortable debate about themselves, their relationship, and art. It will also give the reader the opportunity to take his own position in a debate that it is still going own.

All in all, I really liked "Art", and I found the ending specially good. This is the first play by Reza that I have read, but if the rest are as good as this one, I have no doubts that I will read many more.

Belen Alcat