Customer Reviews

Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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

 

 

Okay, not everybody's favorite artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art is in here, but they have plenty of other books that cater to more specific tastes. This book includes an excellent sampling of one of the world's best art museums. You get images from artists like David, Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Vermeer, Eakins, Velasquez, Picasso, Rodin, and more. My personal favorite in the book is "Madame X" by John Singer Sargent.

I picked up this book at the Met's gift shop as a souvenier, and I'm very pleased with it. If you've been to the Metropolitan Museum, this book provides a good reminder of what you've seen. If you've never been, this book will show you what you're missing.

The presentation starts from the earliest artifacts known to man, and continues all the way to the twentieth century. It covers all cultures, continents and civilizations. The types of artwork include paintings, sketches, sculpture, pottery, archeological remnants, and every imaginable medium. It is comprehensive but not too exhaustive. Basically, it has a little bit of everything, and it is my favorite collection of artwork.

As an amateur art conoisseur, and art student currently in study, I find this book to be a marvel. The photos of the artwork are fantastic. Nowhere have I been able to find photos and information on many of the permanent collection pieces that are captured in this book. Small captions are descriptive and informative, but the photos are the focus. It's the best one could possibly get without being there.

It is a very good book for those who do not have the opportunity to visit the museums abroad. I liked it very much. It is also useful for Art classes. I used it in my art homework and I have received a high mark.
Aysegul (12 years)

I found this book (the 1993 edition) very disappointing. At least half the book, and perhaps two thirds, is devoted to bronze, sculpture, pottery, and assorted other works rather than paintings. Since I was hoping for a book devoted to paintings, and could care less for these other works, I don't find it worth the $7 I spent on a very good used copy.

The illustations presented in it are of good quality though so if your interest extends beyond paintings then you may find it worth considerably more than I.

I suppose it's to be expected that the volume would touch on many of the works presented at the museum and that it's unreasonable to expect that it would in any way focus on one area of art over another (eg paintings). That said, to me the book does seem to give overwhelming weight to historic pieces of pottery and figurines, and less to the many magnificent paintings in the museum from the many eras covered there.

What's unfortunate is the amount of white space and text in the book. Text and pictures share almost the same amount of space across the pages. Yes, descriptions and information is important, but it seems to me in most instances white areas with text could have been limited to a smaller amount of space without reducing the word count, allowing for more images or larger images.