Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization [Hardcover]

Thomas Hoving (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1997

One early morning of an exceptionally beautiful day I got the idea of retracing every step of my life as an art expert--from 1951--and writing down the works of art that had bowled me over visually and emotionally. The ones that after years I could describe down to the tiniest details, as if standing in front of them. These are the ones that changed my lifeÓ So begins Thomas Hoving--the man who revolutionized the Metropolitan Museum of Art and with it the museums of the world--in this sumptuous book that contains his passionate, opinionated, and sometimes controversial selection of the 111 masterpieces of Western art. Encompassing classical Greek statuary, paintings by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Renoir, Munch, and Pollack, frescoes by Piero Della Francesca, mosaics, altarpieces, tapestries, even Benvenuto Cellini's Great Salt Cellar, this book takes a fresh, engaging look at Western man's artistic accomplishments. Interpreted with wit, zeal, and passion, The Greatest Works of Art includes treasures from the Museum of Modern Art, the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and of course the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, has selected the 111 greatest works of Western art. These are the pieces he deems "the pinnacles of quality, elegance, and artistic strength, the best mankind has created, the hallmarks of unalloyed genius," and it's really a terrific selection. Spanning the globe and the centuries, Hoving playfully mixes old standbys such as the Venus of Willendorf and Picasso's Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon with lesser-known works--The Street by Balthus and Leonardo's Lady with an Ermine, for example. Accompanying each of the illustrations is a friendly, informative essay describing both the work and the artist, placing both in historical context. The works are presented in no particular order, but this randomness allows readers to view each piece on its own--out of context, with a kind of freshness. While some may be turned off by the book's occasionally self-absorbed tone, Hoving offers a highly educational, thoughtful survey, and his knowledge and discernment are undeniable.

From Library Journal

This volume delivers exactly what one would expect from the author and title. Hoving, the well-publicized former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and author of the best-selling Making the Mummies Dance (LJ 11/1/92), has personally selected the 111 "greatest" works, which are illustrated and accompanied by brief, often gossipy commentaries. In the three-paragraph introduction?the only text aside from the annotations?Hoving is honest, if imprecise, in describing his criteria: "These are the ones that changed my life....All I cared about were my reactions and whether they mirrored the power, the mystery, and the magnetism of the works themselves." Though this emotional litmus test has brought an occasional surprise to these pages?e.g., "The Bamberg Rider," a sculpture of unknown origin?most of the masterpieces are predictable and well documented?from Michelangelo's "David" to Velazquez's "Las Meni?as" to Van Gogh's "The Starry Night." Given that most of these works are already illustrated and more deeply analyzed in a number of books held by most every library, Hoving's name is the only draw here.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Artisan (January 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885183534
• ISBN-13: 978-1885183538
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,805,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great pictures, sloppy text, June 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization (Hardcover)

Hoving is a person whose choices for the best art ever are worth respect. His selections are superb, the reproductions outstanding, and Hoving's historical commentary is clear and pertinent. For these reasons alone this is a wonderful book.

Unfortunately, however, Hoving's aesthetic commentaries appear to have been dashed off, and are too often sloppy, sometimes contradictory, and thus confusing, unreliable and unhelpful. (The editors probably bear some responsibility for this.) For example, he says that Rembrandt is "the finest painter of all time" but Goya as a painter "stands alone in excellence," and he is "tempted" to include Turner "among the top three Western painters who ever lived" along with Velazquez and Leonardo. "There has never been an oil painter" like Rembrandt "and never will be," but Jan van Eyck "perfected painting with oils and is the greatest practitioner of the technique." Michaelangelo is "perhaps the single finest artist in the history of the Western world," but Leonardo "surpassed every artist known throughout history." Raphael was "just as fine an artist as Michelangelo," Gislebertus of Autun is "equal to Michelangelo" and Durer is "the equal to any artist in history" and along with Leonardo is one of "the two incomparable geniuses" of Western art.

Hoving's aesthetic judgments in this book are also sometimes inconsistent with his comments in his later work, "Art for Dummies." For instance, in "Greatest Works," he says that Queen Nofretiti is "the most beautiful woman of all time." We know this from the sculpture of her head, which is a portrait. But in "Dummies" he says that Durer's "Melancholia" is a picture of "the most beautiful woman ... ever portrayed" in art and that the Mona Lisa "may be the most beautiful woman ever depicted by any artist." In "Greatest Works" he judges "Woman with Ermine" as "the best painting Leonardo ever made," but fails to include it in "Dummies" as one of the 15 "greatest [art] works of western civilization" while listing the Mona Lisa there.

Thus, while "Greatest Works" is a terrific picture book and contains a wealth of well-presented art history information, for readers looking for more rigorous aesthetic/artistic analysis and criticism this book is pretty irritating.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shouldn't he know better?, June 25, 2001

By 

Rick Watson (Galveston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization (Hardcover)

I am surpried by the blatant mistakes in this book. An example I vividly remember is Mr. Hoving's discourse on the "The Stairs at Wurzburg". He describes the Olympians, African "giantess" with gold necklaces, alligators, personifications of America, etc. but the accompanying picture is of Beatrice of Burgundy being transported, in the chariot of Apollo, to her wedding with Kaiser Fredereich Barbarossa. In other words, the text has does not fit the picture. I agree with many of the works Mr. Hoving chose for this book but he (and his editors) should have been more attentive to their text.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A coffee table book that won't stay on your coffee table., March 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization (Hardcover)

This was one of my first introductions to art history. We had it in our house and I kept picking it up and reading it every now and then. Finally I took an art history course, but found it dry and pedantic compared this gem of a book. Hoving's commentaries on the world's greatest works of art are thoughtful and personal. He truly loves his subject and makes you do, too. Most of all, it makes you want to go to a museum!