Durer: Master Draftsman of the Renaissance--His Life in Paintings [Paperback]

DK Publishing (Author)

Book Description

Series: DK Art Books | Publication Date: March 1, 1999

This volume, one in a series of lavishly illustrated paperback books on major artists and their works, tells the story of Durer. From a look at the artist's life and times, to the historical and social context in which he worked, to an analysis of his masterpieces, this is a vital visual resource with more than 300 superb full-color illustrations. The fact-based text is aimed at the general reader, and makes the series perfect for art-history students and art lovers of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These three books are part of a series of brief monographs on big-name artists that also includes titles on Rembrandt, Monet, Bosch, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Gauguin, van Gogh, Titian, and C?zanne. The popularity of the artists, the glitzy format, and the low price will probably guarantee sales. Reading these three installments, however, was more bewildering than enlightening. The publisher states that they are a perfect gift or study companion for art history students and art lovers alike. Yet art history students expect and deserve bibliographies and citations (neither of which are present), and art lovers will probably not appreciate the number of illustrations printed right into the book gutters. The text portions are well written, but editorial negligence in other areas is distracting: inconsistencies, typographical errors, and incorrect headings appear throughout, and illustrations are included in sections where they do not seem to belong. Even the covers have misleading juxtapositions. The Matisse volume features his portrait prominently under his name, but under Goya's name there appears a servant from one of his paintings. And whoever is pictured under D?rer's name is a mystery, since he does not look like D?rer, but no identification appears anywhere. Some mistakes are glaring; for example, a section headed "Matisse and etching" discusses his lithographs instead. Conversely, D?rer's famous woodcut of "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is noted as one of a series of lithographsAa process not even invented yet. The layout of the books is overly complex, with snippets of information under small illustrations scattered about in irregularly alternating color-coded sections. Although the colored sidebars suggest a distinction between "Life and Works," "Background," and "Masterpieces," there is often overlap, and some of the illustrations do not fall into whatever date span distractingly heads each page. Every facing two-page spread is concerned with a particular theme. Although these themes are relevant and interesting, when over 50 of them are presented this way in each book, the end result feels superficial rather than thorough. On top of all this, the film layer over the paperback covers peels away from the edges as one reads the books. Not recommended.AAnn Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: DK ADULT (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789441373
• ISBN-13: 978-0789441379
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,228,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll Adore Durer!, January 23, 2000

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dürer: Colour Library (Phaidon Colour Library) (Paperback)

This book was a very pleasant addition to my art library. I never saw it in a bookstore, so I was hesitant to buy it when I saw how little it cost and how small it was. But, I didn't know anything about Durer and wanted to learn and I figured I'd take a chance on this book. Good decision! This book is well put together and a tremendous bargain to boot. The book starts off with about a 25 page, obviously brief, biography by Mr. Bailey of Durer. Then there are 48 full page color plates with descriptions and explanations of the paintings on the opposing pages. The reproductions are of good quality and the descriptions are well written and informative. Any of you out there who own a lot of art books know what 48 color plates usually does to the price of an art book, so "Durer" is really a steal. After you see this book you will realize what a great all-around artist Durer was. He wasn't only a painter of religious scenes but an equally talented landscape and portrait painter. (Some of the portraits are just fantastic!) He also did some beautiful nature studies. Included are 2 paintings he did of a hare and of the wings of a bird that will just knock your socks off (assuming you wear socks!). He worked well in all mediums. The watercolors are as beautiful as the oils. Phaidon has a whole series of these books in their "colour library" and this book makes me want to check out some of the other titles concerning other artists I haven't learned about yet. Definitely worth purchasing as an introduction to an extremely gifted artist!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, June 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dürer: Colour Library (Phaidon Colour Library) (Paperback)

This Phaidon Durer book is probably, for the price, by far the best comprehensive introduction to the life and works of Durer. It is also one of the best books on Durer in absolute terms. The photographic reproductions vividly bring out the color and sharpness of the dozens of key Durer paintings illustrated in the volume. The photographs show that there is simply no substitute for an up-to-date book utilizing modern photographic reproduction/printing techniques to reproduce paintings. I have looked at several older books in librarys with color reproductions of Durer works, and this newer Phaidon book has much better quality color reproductions. It also has examples of key Durer drawings, such as "Praying Hands," and "Architect," as well as good-quality reproductions of the three classic Durer engravings ("Melancolia I," "Knight, Death and the Devil," and "St. Germone in his Study") and beautiful, crisp and brilliantly colored reproductions of several key Durer watercolors, including the classics "Hare" and "Great Turf," as well as key landscape watercolors. Of particular interest are the reproductions of the 3 classic self-portraits, of which the one Durer did at age 28 was so fascinating that it alone made me buy this book and is alone worth the price of the book. Another fascinating painting is the one that Durer made of Wolgemut, who was his mentor and who taught him how to paint. It is startlingly brilliantly colored, and has amazing color depth for a photographic reproduction of a painting. This book shows how Durer may well have been the greatest graphical artist of the Western World, and one gets a sense of his amazingly modern personality from the selections in this book and the quality of their detail. It is hard to believe that a man as modern-thinking and scientific as Durer lived 500 years ago.