Here, arguably, is the first book to clearly explain the fundamentals of the art and craft of painting. Written to be approached by students and professionals alike. These pages contain a revolutionary yet simple approach to learning to paint. The text if wonderfully complemented by over 140 full-color reproductions with key details enlarged to show the master's work.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
And an Artist always has more to learn,
By
This review is from: An Artist Teaches - Reflections on the Art of Painting (Hardcover)
Being an alumni masters student from the New York Academy of Art and a practicing painter/educator, I always take the opportunity to check out new books on painting, teaching, and art in general. I was pointed to this book by a friend because of my intense interest in Rembrandt. Upon opening it I was immediately struck by the sumptuous paint handling in his still-life and the great close up photos of the paint surface. It was obvious why he had pointed me to it: this was someone who had also studied Rembrandt in depth.So I decided to sit down and read through the book more thoroughly. I'll address the photos of the artwork first as I'm a visual artist and I learn more from analysing the painting. His still-life were stunning and beautiful orchestrations of light and expressive paint handling. There were a good number of detailed photos of these, yet only a meager few of his landscapes, which I found most beautiful of all his work. Now, I must forewarn you that being a portrait and figure painter myself, I'm somewhat of a stickler about painting the flesh. That being said, I found his portraits and figures to be the weakest. The color development in the flesh created a plastic look which somewhat negated his substantial drawing and painting skills. Now, on to the writing. I found some of his discussions on developing an oil painting to be helpful, but some of them where misleading (example: color development in flesh). I found it to be pretty well written and easy to follow, but it certainly didn't illuminate any great revelations in painting technique. Especially given the heavy price. I think this is decent for beginner-moderate painters but look for a used copy. I would probably pay $35-40 just for the still-life and landscapes, but no more. His adherence to using Maroger I think is quite ridiculous. I've studied the chemical analyses of Rembrandt's paintings, and there was no secret medium that he used, in almost all of the paintings he used linseed oil, sometimes sun-thickened or stand oil. In conclusion, I would recommend to anyone who studies with this book to look closely at Leffel's work and compare that with the paintings of Odd Nerdrum, whose color development is much more effective. I think the contrast of the two would be most helpful. I don't think one should rely on books to teach such things. In my 20 years of experience, a painter learns most from copying the masters and just painting, thinking, and then painting some more. Richard T Scott Joelle-Scott Gallery
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My $50.00 worth,
By MEB "MEB" (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: An Artist Teaches - Reflections on the Art of Painting (Hardcover)
I did in fact find this book used for $50.00, and began to wonder if that was too much, until I got to the chapter on Edges, which was worth the price of the book to me even had I paid the $150.00. The worth of a book like this depends upon whether it contains information one needs or not and this book has a lot of good information, and compared to the price of workshops and classes it is a bargain if you learn something. Unfortunately it is also filled with a lot of the authors personal bias about who's an artist and who is not and what constitutes painting and what does not and I had laid it aside because the beginning is filled with such, but I am so glad I picked it back up , so my advice is to take Mr. Leffel's opinions with a grain of salt and keep reading, because there is a lot of useful information here. I have no desire to attend a lecture by him but I would love to study under him because he knows about light, how it moves through space and how to recreate its effects in a painting. Whether he is the only one who understands this subject so thoroughly or not, he is the one who has broached the subject in such a way that he taught me something I didn't know after 38 years of painting, taking classes, and reading volumes on the subject. For that I am very grateful.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love Leffel's work,
This review is from: An Artist Teaches - Reflections on the Art of Painting (Hardcover)
I think Leffel's still lifes are his strongest work although I also love some of his portraits. I'm a painter and flicking through images of his work just makes me want to paint and makes me feel passionate about painting.I'd recommend this book, or the under $20 Linda Cattura/Davil A. Leffel one if you can't afford this one. (Nobody should be paying more than $85 dollars for this book though, new hardcover copies can be had for that price from the publishers website, along with his newer book on self portraits for $75 USD)
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