The ongoing relevance of Belgian painter Rene Magritte may lie in the semiotic character of his work and its ability to create chasms between the world, its surfaces and the signs we use to occupy it. Magritte's paintings offer a space for the viewer to contemplate the emptiness of signs and to locate that emptiness in a world we recognize--indeed, the artist relies on the props of normalcy in order to upend, invert and collapse them into the terra incognita where life leaves off and art begins. "The mind loves the unknown," he avowed, "it loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown." In Attempting the Impossible we have a new definitive Magritte monograph, replacing David Sylvester's volume of the early 1990s. Featuring more than 300 works, it contains much unpublished material and includes chapters covering Magritte's photography, drawings and influence on German and American contemporary art. Each chapter opens with a close reading of a key work--such as "The Treachery of Images" ("This is not a pipe") of 1928-29--and a reconstruction of its intellectual and historical contexts. Art historian Siegfried Gohr examines Magritte's marriage and friendships, the phases of his work (from his sunlit Renoir period and his "periode vache" to his bright and visually arresting postwar work, which had such an influence on the advertising industry), the Belgian roots of his wit and sensibility and his word paintings and investigations into the paradoxes of representation.
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"The Bauhaus, that noble experiment in Germany between the world wars that in many ways ushered us into the modern world... This exhibit isn't like most art shows its like entering a whole world everywhere you turn you're struck by a dizzying array of paintings and sculpture, films and photographs... And the illuminating and thoroughly detailed catalogue, it weighs five pounds, gives you a pretty substantial impression of how profoundly prescient those artists were." --NPR, Loyd Shwartz
"This extremely well-illustrated tour de force combines new research with unique organization... Gohr's book reminds readers that excellent art never ceases to provide new avenues for investigation, through both research and careful visual examination of the art as primary document. Summing Up: Highly recommended." --CHOICE, January 2010 (E. K. Mix, Butler University)
"This extremely well-illustrated tour de force combines new research with unique organization... Gohr's book reminds readers that excellent art never ceases to provide new avenues for investigation, through both research and careful visual examination of the art as primary document. Summing Up: Highly recommended." --CHOICE, January 2010 (E. K. Mix, Butler University)
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant writing, deserved better reproductions.,
By Claude Reich (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: Magritte: Attempting the Impossible (Hardcover)
This hefty monograph was written by one of the most brilliant post-war German museum curators and art scholars and its publication coincides with the opening of the Magritte Museum in Brussels. It is an interesting study that follows a strictly chronological pattern with an original angle: each period is tackled through the in-depth examination of one key emblematic work (The Lost Jockey, 1926, The Treachery of Images, 1929, The Red Model, 1935, The Dominion of Light, 1954, etc). This methodological choice makes for enlightening reading and undoubtedly renders the text livelier and easy to read and grasp.
Now, the colored illustrations are numerous and often full-page but, unfortunately, the quality of the paper is mediocre and the pictures do not allow a glimpse into Magritte's technique and brushwork. The reproductions consequently appear dull and flat, which accounts for a three-star rating.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Addition to Any Library,
By Mary White (Houston, TX, US) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magritte: Attempting the Impossible (Hardcover)
Magritte is a personal favorite of mine. His sense of story-telling through such visual, vivid images haunts your memory long after you close the book. It's best to take it in little sections and savor the "story".
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