Gist of Art: Principles and Practice Expounded in the Classroom and Studio (Dover Books on Art Instruction) [Paperback]

John Sloan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Dover Pubns; 3rd edition (June 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486234355
• ISBN-13: 978-0486234359
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this man! Very real, honest, and practical. "The Color Triangle", August 19, 2005

By 

Howard Salmon "artist & author" (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gist of Art: Principles and Practice Expounded in the Classroom and Studio (Dover Books on Art Instruction) (Paperback)

"The Gist of Art" is one of my all-time favorite books about art and art-technique. What fascinated me in this book was his treatment of the color wheel. He ditches it in favor of a color triangle, which is more useful for analyzing color. The midpoint between blue and red is purple, and so on... I especially liked how he broke the color triangle into smaller triangles, which he calls "limited palletes". Each of these limited palettes he assigns a mood, which I find fascinating. For example, you can work with all of the colors in the triangle bounded by the points red-orange-purple (or any other triad that is a subset of the color triangle). Working with limitations brings out your inventiveness. Maybe I haven't done it justice here, but the color triangle is something that I've relied on ever since I've studied Sloan's great book. I found it very useful with mixing up a limited set of watercolor paints for my own book called "Israel in Watercolors" (look it up!), where I worked with a very limited set of colors (just eight), yet came up with a myriad of mixtures. A little color mixing knowlege goes a long way. Also, Sloan is very avuncular; he's like the art-loving grandfather that I never had. He has some fine anecdotes about Robert Henri (another fave artist), and some opinions that crack me up, such as "all nudity in art is pornography". There's a charm to a man like that. I love this guy, and I've got to thank him once again for turning me on to the color triangle.