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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dated, but worth the reading,
By A Customer
This review is from: Late modern: The visual arts since 1945 (Hardcover)
OK, so a book on modern art last updated in 1975 might not give you an exactly up-to-the-minute perspective on the field. But if you're looking for a sensible introduction to everything from Abstract Expressionism to Pop to Conceptual Art, it's hard to beat Edward-Lucie Smith's little handbook. "Late Modern" is written in a style almost impossible to find today: clear and simple without being condescending; sophisticated without being pretentious. This is a book on art that doesn't try to be a book on philosophy, nor does it assume the reader to be incapable of intelligent thought, like so much written today. Another element that distinguishes "Late Modern" from contemporary textbooks is the author's willingness to take a stand: his indictment of Bernard Buffet is direct and uncompromising, as is her criticism of Giacomo Manzu, R. B. Kitaj, and the late work of Picasso, among others. This boldness, this willingness to stamp a personal interpretation without descending into pointless rhetoric, gives the book a liveliness that, ironically, gives it an immediacy seldom found in works written in the thirty years since. The author's faults are the faults of age: writing so close in time to the creation of these works, Lucie-Smith did not have the advantage of hindsight, and some of his judgements (especially his predictions on the future course of art) seem a little off the ball. But on the whole he succeeded remarkably well in judging which artists would hold up over time, and displayed a remarkably acute sense for analysis. The book offers a dual pleasure: it is both a highly satisfying introduction to modern art and a fascinating insight into the situation of art and art criticism at a pivotal moment in it's history.
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