Customer Reviews

Art in Theory 1900-1990: An Anthology of Changing Ideas

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This book is a great place to start when looking at art theory, thought and a small smattering of philosophy. The works chosen are well thought out, good length and generally have good food for thought.

To read this book is absolutely essential not only for students and teachers (as the autthors suggest) but also for everybody interested in XX century art and its mental and intellectual origins. A wide spectrum of problems displayed in the book and careful selection of texts is really impressive and creates a panoramic view for entire artistic life and artistuc consciousness of the whole century. Even politicians like Lenin, Marx and Zdhanov have found their place in this interesting world! But what about Stanislaw ignacy Witkiewicz - a famous Polish painter, photographer, writer, philosopher and theoretician of art? I am slightly dissapointed because of an absence of his texts. His theory of Pure Form in painting, theatre and literature formulated during the years of the First World War (edeited as a book entitled 'Nowe formy w malarstwie...' ['New Forms in Painting...'] in 1919 in Warsaw is really worth presenting and omitting it can be treated as a serious mistake... But the rest is OK. Short introductory notes on each author or problem preceding texts are masterpieces of a species and can serve as patterns for everybody writing on art. These notes also create specific art history 'in a pill' (quite tasty pill, I can say), very useful for any quick researchings or, simply, for reading in spare time...