Customer Reviews

Edvard Munch (Masters of Art)

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Often times, in the art world, pedantry and an overwrought sense of aesthetics make anything written on the subject unbearable for all but the snobbiest. Fortunately for the rest of rest, Mr. Hodin wrote this book. He is an engaging, lucid writer who has studied his subject thoroughly and actually knew Edvard Munch in his later years which enables him to offer a good deal of important personal information that other authors are simply not able to do. This additional insight is important, for Edvard Munch is one of the truly original geniuses of art and his work carries an urgent message for the dissociated psyche of modern man. My only complaint with this volume is that the publisher elected to print only about one third of the prints in color which, while unfortunate, is by no means devastating. If youre interested in this greatest of expressionists and interested in delving into the spiritual crisis of modern man, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. On the other hand, if youre an elitist art critic looking for stodgy literature, look elsewhere this is not your book.

An excellent and scholarly work covering all of Munch's work. Over 160 plates are discussed in depth and there are cross references to the wherabouts of each of the plates at the end of the book. The major fault is the lack of colour plates (30), and the relativly poor quality of the reproductions but all in all a valuable and comprehensive work.

As the other reviewers noted, Hodin's book is heavy on personal information regarding the artist but low on color reproductions.

Given that, I think this is a good book for somebody who already knows a little about Munch and his work. A better introductory book, in my opinion, is Taschen's Munch, by Ulrich Bischoff. It has less information, as it is shorter (and less expensive), but almost all of the reproductions are in color. I believe color reproductions are critical in getting a feel for any artist's work but that this is particularly the case regarding the work of an artist such as Munch.

Hodin's book would seem to be a good follow-up to one such as Taschen's, providing more information on both the artist and his work.