Customer Reviews

A Short Walk Around the Pyramids & Through the World of Art

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Isaacson does a wonderful job of tying all sorts of art forms together in this short volume [I read through it in <30min.]. I'll get nit-picky below, but let me say I heartily recommend it: first, for adults looking to understand "art" themselves, and secondly, as an introduction to the process of sharing and beginning to explain the arts to their children.

Now, to the "picking"...I would beg to differ with Isaacson on a few fine points, chief among these being 1) Pyramids belong in a separate chapter! to be called "Useful Things We NOW Consider 'Art'"; 2) don't [unless you must be totally PC] shy away from the term "primitive art", parents, look in a dictionary and share the definition of 'primitive' with your kids...there's a much deeper meaning than the derogatory-superficial meaning it's picked up; 3) in the chapter "Photographs" Isaacson, in an affront to all of us who have ever labored over a piece of ART [made with a camera+darkroom or otherwise] destined to be utilized to ILLUSTRATE something or other, flat out states that photographs which are 'illustrations' are "not works of art" and refers to an adjacent photo of the Taj Mahal.

Oddly, I had just done a double-take on that very same photo! It had struck me, as an RealArtCritic might say, as "exuding such an ethereal quality, such a misty moodiness, unlike the harsh photo-images of the late 90's..." that I at first mistook it for a PAINTING!

All in all, this book would make a great textbook for your very own "Family Art Appreciation" class.