Customer Reviews

Serov (Great Painters)

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Readers who read about the legendary American portraitist John Singer Sargent will certainly see the similarity in style from this Russian artist.

I wish I could write a great deal about this book to help other readers. The problem is, for well-known artists such as Rembrandt, Degas, Sargent (to name a few), their collection (and style) speaks for itself; any subjective opinion will sound inadequate. On the other hand, as much as I admire and enjoy Sargent's painting style (so as a majority of the art-lovers and artists alike), his collection is NOT the one I am crazily going after. Imagine wearing a fashionable shirt to work, just to find out about 90-95% of your co-workers wearing the same style of shirt to work. (Excuse the analogy.)

Anyhow, to be of any help, here goes:
1) This book is a rather complete collection of portrait paintings by Valentin Serov. If one happens to be Serov's big fan, this is the one to own. Nicely presented and well-organized.

2) If one is a portraitist, it is also a good book to own. The reader can see how bold and decisive Serov's brushstrokes are in his paintings. (Did I mention Sargent's style?) An interesting difference between Serov's and Sargent's choice of colors (at least from what I noticed) is that Serov's paintings seem to have more low-key (dark) and cooler colors than those by Sargent. I ponder this perhaps may have been because of the difference in clothing in two different societies at the time.

To sum it up, this is a good book to own in your art collection, for pleasure or inspiration.

Readers who read about the legendary American portraitist John Singer Sargent will certainly see the similarity in style from this Russian artist.

I wish I could write a great deal about this book to help other readers. The problem is, for well-known artists such as Rembrandt, Degas, Sargent (to name a few), their collection (and style) speaks for itself; any subjective opinion will sound inadequate. On the other hand, as much as I admire and enjoy Sargent's painting style (so as a majority of the art-lovers and artists alike), his collection is NOT the one I am crazily going after. Imagine wearing a fashionable shirt to work, just to find out about 90-95% of your co-workers wearing the same style of shirt to work. (Excuse the analogy.)

Anyhow, to be of any help, here goes:
1) This book is a rather complete collection of portrait paintings by Valentin Serov. If one happens to be Serov's big fan, this is the one to own. Nicely presented and well-organized.

2) If one is a portraitist, it is also a good book to own. The reader can see how bold and decisive Serov's brushstrokes are in his paintings. (Did I mention Sargent's style?) An interesting difference between Serov's and Sargent's choice of colors (at least from what I noticed) is that Serov's paintings seem to have more low-key (dark) and cooler colors than those by Sargent. I ponder this perhaps may have been because of the difference in clothing in two different societies at the time.

To sum it up, this is a good book to own in your art collection, for pleasure or inspiration.