Customer Reviews

Varieties of Visual Experience

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Feldman has made art criticism easy to understand for the student and non-student layperson alike. Throughout the book he uses clear examples from established art works to ilustrate the ideas used in identifying what is art through the use of one's perception. The book is clearly divided into logically linked chapters. The last half of the book can be used as an outline to clearly write one's own criticism, and, with a little work, construct a criticism comparing any two artworks from any media. This is a "must have" book for any graphic or performing artist.

I have the second edition, hardcover, 680 pages. Most pages have two or more excellent illustrations to which Feldman refers in the text. There is a complete index to names and works, and a well organized bibliography. He covers the aesthetics of city planning, furniture design, graphics, TV, movies, as well as the more traditional art forms

Why do I accuse this well turned out book of being hokum? Because most of the language in the book has no helpful meaning. A Glass House by Mies is described as an architectural paradigm of "pure, unobstructed, undemanding, serene space," albeit "a limited solution to the problem of shelter for a family..." (p.107). That description to me is tautological. It is a glass house, after all.

Many of his remarks are redundant and self-evident. He indulges in detailed descriptions of paintings in which people are depicted in situations of horror, as though the reader were not able to see the situation without his help. The captions of many of the illustrations are so generalized that they could be interchangeable.

The book does have redeeming educational value. He points out the historical, social and cultural background of what he discusses. He points out techniques which enhance the "illusion" of the artist's work. If you have the patience to skip the dross, and the discrimination to identify the author's opinions, which need not be yours, the book is about three pounds (including the hardcover) of useful material.

Feldman has made art criticism easy to understand for the student and non-student layperson alike. Throughout the book he uses clear examples from established art works to ilustrate the ideas used in identifying what is art through the use of one's perception. The book is clearly divided into logically linked chapters. The last half of the book can be used as an outline to clearly write one's own criticism, and, with a little work, construct a criticism comparing any two artworks from any media. This is a "must have" book for any graphic or performing artist.