Customer Reviews

Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists from 1940 to the Present

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This is the catalog of an exhibition and national tour organized by the New Orleans Museum of Art, which has a well-developed acquisition program for the art of self-taught artists. There are 270 works by 80 artists from 13 southern states. The full-page color plates are accompanied with Yelen's text describing each work, often offering the artist's own words to describe a piece. These artists, for the most part, are not concerned with issues of preservation or conservation in their selection of materials. Their relationship to their materials is organic. Several of the artists paint in mud, a practice they continued even after interested patrons and gallery owners supplied them with proper paints. Most self-taught artists, says Yelen, begin their art late in life, usually after retirement. They often create as a directive from God, His angels, or from visions in dreams; they feel a spiritual connection to their work. The essays are well written and informative, but the art itself speaks most eloquently.

I purchased this book at the House of Blues in New Orleans on a whim a few years back, and have enjoyed it ever since. I keep it put away so it won't get tore up. If I meet someone I feel can appreciate the book I will let them look at it. The subject of self-taught American artist is very interesting and the book will give you an insight into the artist themselves as well as some of their creations.

However, the vast majority of the artists in the book are from the Deep South, and most are African-American. Nothing wrong with that, just thought I would let you know. You won't find Granda Moses in this book, but Finster is there.

Now I see it is out of print. Too bad.

Art is undoubtedly enjoyed differently by people depending on their education, background, training, patience, eye for detail, appreciation of life, and a host of other factors. This applies to pictures, books, music, and other art forms. One woman can stand transfixed before a picture with tears rolling down her cheeks, marveling at the beauty she sees, the emotions that the picture raises in her, the feelings of elevation and being transformed; while a by-stander looks at her and marvels at her stupidity because he sees the picture as a work that could have been done better by an enraged monkey.

This beautiful book contains 223 full color pictures and 100 black and white illustrations. The first 69 pages have informative essays by four art experts. The book concludes with, among other things, some 45 pages introducing readers to the biographies of the artists. The art, from 1940 to the present, is, for the most part, primitive art, an interesting thought-provoking subcategory of art. The editor of the volume breaks up the works into six categories, including daily life, religion, patriotism, and nature. While a viewer's first reaction upon seeing some of them might be "I could have done that," the viewer may want to pause, rethink, and ask, "What is this artist saying with her picture or statute?" In short, this is a beautiful book with beautiful pictures of art and commentary that could be considered an introduction to the appreciation of primitive art.

this book is very hard to follow. i saw the show at our museum and bought the catalogue. i did not enjoy the show but i assumed the book would be better. i don't understand the concept of organizing art by categories like "patriotism","animals",etc. that seems very juvenile. it was very hard to find art by various artists because it was so spread out. it was not very cohesive at all. the index is not very helpful either. i finally cut all the pictures of the art and the relevant information of the artists out and taped them into an album and made my own book with chapters of each of the artists. this made the book much easier to read and easier to learn about the artists, their work, and self taught art. i have since bought other books about self taught art, and while most are not very well done, at least a lot of the art is exciting. this is not one of the better art books i have read. it does have a lot of pictures, but many of them look like they were taken with velvet or felt backgrounds, and some look like they were taken in someone's yard(not the artist's). the university of mississippi should have rented a photography studio.

a

this book is very hard to follow. i saw the show at our museum and bought the catalogue. i did not enjoy the show but i assumed the book would be better. i don't understand the concept of organizing art by categories like "patriotism","animals",etc. that seems very juvenile. it was very hard to find art by various artists because it was so spread out. it was not very cohesive at all. the index is not very helpful either. i finally cut all the pictures of the art and the relevant information of the artists out and taped them into an album and made my own book with chapters of each of the artists. this made the book much easier to read and easier to learn about the artists, their work, and self taught art. i have since bought other books about self taught art, and while most are not very well done, at least a lot of the art is exciting. this is not one of the better art books i have read. it does have a lot of pictures, but many of them look like they were taken with velvet or felt backgrounds, and some look like they were taken in someone's yard(not the artist's). the university of mississippi should have rented a photography studio.

a