Discussing the visual arts successfully in words is often held to be an impossible task. In fact it is merely difficult. And since the days of the ancient Greeks, many writers of all kinds have taken up the challenge -- not only art critics but novelists, poets, gossips, artists, and essayists. In The Grove Book of Art Writing, Martin Gayford and Karen Wright have collected the best and most lively attempts to pin it down, in a single-volume cornucopia of writing on art. From Vasari and Freud on why Mona Lisa smiles, to Adolf Hitler on the degeneracy of modernism, to Picasso on how to measure the depiction of the female body, art historians, art critics, artists, as well as the aforementioned weigh in on what makes art so wonderful, frustrating, what makes it art. From the deadly serious to the deeply witty, from the sublime to the ridiculous, The Grove Book of Art Writing is an eloquent compendium of insight into the diverse ways the visual arts can be seen and thought about.
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Gayford (art critic, Spectator magazine) and Wright (editor, Modern Painters) have scoured the centuries to provide a delightful romp through the world of art writing. The material includes both short stories and long quotes, arranged thematically by chapters that cover the artist at work, models, psychology, and revolution to truth and beauty, how to do it, and bad reviews. Writers ranging from Seneca to Henry James to David Bowie provide pointed, lively entertainment; cumbersome and uninspiring prose is not found here. Readers learn such tidbits as Pierre Bonnard's refusal to have his face photographed after the death of his wife, Brian Eno's attempt to relieve himself in Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain," and John Wells's comparison of abstraction and alchemy. So, ultimately, what is art? Read the Grove Book of Art Writing to find out. Recommended for public libraries and where there is interest.DNadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
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History and Philosphy of Art,
By Antaeuscass (Adelaide, Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Grove Book of Art Writing: Brilliant Words on Art from Pliny the Elder to Damien Hirst (Paperback)
Gayford and Wright have gathered together some seminal statements on Art made over the centuries.
Covering artists, their patrons, media and techniques, the book is a very useful insight into interpretations of Art in all of its forms. It becomes heavy reading because the text is unrelieved by any illustrations, which seems a pity when the text is directly concerned with visual elements.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
I don't think you'll manage to photograph Bonnard. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
vulture fantasy, welded sculpture, literal surface, tactile values, informed eye Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, David Sylvester, National Gallery, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Los Angeles, Robert Hughes, Sistine Chapel, The Materials of Art, Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, Henry James, Monna Lisa, Damien Hirst, Georges Braque, John Ruskin, Leonardo da Vinci, The Artist Interrogated, Difficult Relationship, Giorgio Vasari, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Royal Academy, Significant Form, Tate Gallery New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
I don't think you'll manage to photograph Bonnard. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
vulture fantasy, welded sculpture, literal surface, tactile values, informed eye Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, David Sylvester, National Gallery, Francis Bacon, Jackson Pollock, Los Angeles, Robert Hughes, Sistine Chapel, The Materials of Art, Andy Warhol, Barnett Newman, Henry James, Monna Lisa, Damien Hirst, Georges Braque, John Ruskin, Leonardo da Vinci, The Artist Interrogated, Difficult Relationship, Giorgio Vasari, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Royal Academy, Significant Form, Tate Gallery New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
4
books
cite this book:
- Artists on Art: from the XIV to the XX Century by Robert Goldwater on 6 pages
- A Documentary History of Art Vol. II: Michelangelo & the Mannerists--The Baroque & the Eighteenth Century on 5 pages
- Frank Auerbach by Robert Hughes on 4 pages
- John Constable by C.R. Leslie on 4 pages
- Discourses on Art by Sir Joshua Reynolds on page 524, page 526, and Back Matter
See all 100 books this book cites
- The Artist's Mentor: Inspiration from the World's Most Creative Minds by Ian Jackman on page 223, page 229, and page 232
- Living with the Genie: Essays On Technology And The Quest For Human Mastery by Alan Lightman in Back Matter
- The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles by Martin Gayford in Back Matter
- You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas on page 215
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