Tidying Up Art (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Who says great masterpieces can't be improved upon? In his hilarioyus reconfigurations of important paintings, comedian Ursus Wehrli deconstructs the works of famous artists and reconstructs them to fit his own slightly more orderly view of the world.

Art is messy, and it's about time someone did something about it. Sort those shapes, arrange those colors and for goodness' sake, can't Van Gogh straighten up his bedroom? Neatniks and art lovers alike will delight in the whimsical playfulness of this book. Whether he's rearranging Magritte's apples, chromatically stacking Klee's vibrant squares, or depopulating Breugel's busy village, Wehrli's tongue-in-cheek editing of classic artworks is the next best thing to painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing; illustrated edition edition (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3791330039
• ISBN-13: 978-3791330037
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,215 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The art of a neat book, March 4, 2005

By	Robin Benson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ursus Wehrli got there first with this wonderful idea but I was rather disappointed that there are only nineteen examples of his artistic tidiness and really less than ten are worth a second look. Seurat's 'Models' is the best example I think, the painting is on the left-hand page and opposite is a photo of a big plastic bag of colored chocolate buttons, just brilliant!

Mondrain, Klee, Picasso, Heering and Lichenstein all get fascinating tidy versions and the Van Gogh (see the book cover above) is another winner. I was though, expecting to see many more like the Van Gogh, that is keeping the basic painting and moving objects within it. Too many of the examples are just moving one or two items, like the three apples in Magritte's 'Young love', placed in a triangular shape in the original with Wehrli's version just having the apples in a straight line. Why are there no examples of tidy sculpture?

'Tidying up art' is a great idea and the book is well printed and designed but I wish there were lots more examples of Wehrli's creative fun. Maybe a second edition is on the way.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very amusing!, February 11, 2004

By	kathleen (Greater New York) - See all my reviews

For any one who has ever taken an art history class or spent hours at a museum studying fine art, this book is for you. The author takes familiar, iconagraphic works and rearranges the elements in surprising and unexpected ways. Wonderful!

5.0 out of 5 stars funniest picture book ever, December 18, 2005

By	Morgan "Mo" - See all my reviews

this may be the most amusing gift i've ever received
i know it will cheer me up in the future