Understanding Abstract Art [Hardcover]

Frank Whitford (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (October 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525245758
• ISBN-13: 978-0525245759
• Product Dimensions: 20 x 20 x 20 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,683,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, Clear Language Explains Abstract Art to Us Outsiders, September 27, 1998

By 

John Mosher ([e-mail]) (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding Abstract Art (Hardcover)

Many art lovers have no entry point to abstract modern art. It is bad enough to see a canvas filled with rising black lady fingers, or crowded with primary color matchsticks which look as if a child had drawn them. Even worse, if a huge, plain white canvas, or a black one, or a purple one is put in a frame, hung in a museum, and sold for thousands of dollars, we have no idea why. Frank Whitford finds a simple path through history, and through the evolving types of abstract art, to lead us by the hand into the thicket, show us what is going on in there and what it means, and bring us safely to the other side, educated and ready to go look at some pictures - more importantly, ready to look at the abstract pictures with new appreciation and understanding.

Whitford uses traditional pictures we all appreciate and understand to provide a strong starting point for the journey into the abstract.

Whitford's writing style is at once clear, erudite, educated, not without humor and irony, and always entertaining. He is never cynical or sarcastic, no matter how much this subject would seem to set up easy targets. Abstract art is serious business for those in the know, and this book gives us lay readers a chance to count ourselves in that group.

It performs a valuable service.