Customer Reviews

The Discovery of Pictorial Composition: Theories of Visual Order in Painting, 1400-1800

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I returned the book because the title (and indeed the editorial review here on the Amazon page) is, in my opinion, downright dishonest. This is not a historiographical treatise on pictorial composition that attempts to reconstruct contemporary theoretical understanding from the years 1400 to 1800. It is rather Puttfarken's very subjective and personal exercise in extrapolating modern abstract art theory backwards. I believe the ideas and notions presented here would not only be alien to artists from 1400-1800, but more importantly would be considered by them to thoroughly miss the mark as to what they were about and wanted to accomplish with their art.

This book was so interesting I was unable to put it down. It was as if I was reading a novel. Before reading the book I was unaware of the degree to which pictorial composition was left out of earlier accounts of art. Particularly fascinating is Puttfarken' s discussion of the development of composition and how this impacted paintings in general (ie their size, location, perspective, the relationship between ground and figures, how the image and frame work together, etc). The book, which looks at both Northern and Italian art, is a must read for anyone who longs for more art historical discussions that combine context with formal elements.