Customer Reviews

Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

This is a lovely book. The selections (with the exception of perhaps two or three) would be heartily agreed upon by art lovers and experts alike. The illustrations are well printed, the colors of paintings come close to the originals, all in all excellent representations of these 100 canonical works. The commentary is absolutely superb, blending engaging factual information and lively interpretations with personal experience. Bravo! Only one minor glitch: the commentary on Tiepolo and the reproduction of one of his Würzburg frescoes do not match, the photo is of the Kaiser Hall not of the Great Stairway.

Get past Thomas Hoving's steam-rolling ego (I doubt it's a coincidence that he put a photo of himself on the front cover alongside the "Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization;" he obviously considers himself one of them) and the contents of the book itself are very nice. It's a great resource simply for the high-quality reproductions inside.

This is the only art book you'll ever have to own or read.

This is a fresh, deep, controversial, excellent, thrilling book which perhaps will change the way you look at art forever. There's never been a book like it in history -- I think. The entire 50,000 years of art in Western Civilization has been searched for the best of the best works of art and the author -- one of the most seasoned connoisseurs of current times and the former director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art -- has chosen 111 which constitute the pinnacles of art. You really don't have to read any other book about western civilization's art to find the greatest and most moving works in all history. See if you agree with the choices. Email the author about why he chose this, and this and this and why he DIDN'T. Hey I should know what I'm talking about, I'm the author. Tom Hoving

Thomas Hoving has put together a beautiful book that has extremely high production values. It is visually stunning. I enjoy looking at it over and over again. And his writing invites us to further consideration and continue our explorations of this art in other books.

Art of many eras and styles is included so we can springboard from here into almost any branch of the Western artistic tradition. The book helps us expand our view and to explore beyond what we personally find familiar and comfortable.

Books with superlatives in the title encourage us to disagree and to challenge. All the better! It forces us to look more deeply and to formulate why we believe this way or why our tastes run that way. By looking and considering our views more deeply we become better students and are better prepared to explore into new forms and unfamiliar modes.

Some of the things in here I really love, some of I have seen in person, and some, like Rauschenberg's "Bed" I still dislike. Oh, well, my loss, I guess. But even in disliking it I am glad that I had it to consider and think about. I am better off for this and am grateful to Mr. Hoving.

It really is a very beautiful book.

Thomas Hoving is a an amazing writer. (Tom I tried to email you as you request in your amazon review - but your address bounces - maybe you could email me as I'd love to ask you a couple of questions about one of your books.) What is the greatest gift that we can be given? - the gift of deeper perception. Thomas Hovings works open up 'new ways of seeing' after reading his works, I've seen art in a far richer and sophisticated way. Thanks Tom - send me an email as I'd love to ask you some questions about your other book - The cross of the confessor. (10/10)

THIS BOOK IS A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF THEHUMAN SOUL,SEEN THROUGH WORKS OF ART.EVERY PERSON WHO LOVES ART,SHOULD USETHIS BOOK AS A GUIDE FOR A JOURNEY OFCULTURE AND BEAUTY.THIS BOOK IS THEGREATEST WORK OF ART #112.