The long hours of sitting here at the computer keyboard finally caused my back to go into spasms and my "crab" mode, so I had to take leave from this desk, and stop sitting or walking for awhile. But now I am feeling much better, and I must let you in on something I am really excited about. It is another book. This is not anything but my own enthusiasm here - no paid announcements. But I went up to the mailboxes on Wednesday and had to unlock the large box that is there for parcels. The cardboard box was too heavy for me to lift, so I pulled it out onto the asphalt, and began to kick it so it would slide down the hill to our house. (Dry pavement, no rain or snow the previous night.) All I knew was that it was my order from the store at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
American Painting is a very large book. 11 X 14-1/2 inches, 320 pages, with 305 full-color plates, and it is a hardcover, too! Incredible! This huge and encompassing volume was in the "bargain basement SALE," along with another one that I got, "Van Gogh's Van Goghs." I got that one for less than $10, and haven't even taken it out of its shrink-wrap yet, I am so excited by this big one. It is an immense art history book which will fill in a lot of the gaps in my art library, and I picked up for $19.99! I almost feel guilty! Before anyone else buys these up, I suggest you click on over there and see if there are any left! (post haste!) http://www.mfa.org/home.htm
This American Painting book was originally listed for $100.00, which is far more than I would ever have paid. But for $20? How could I resist?
As far as a review goes: There are thirty-four chapters, set up pretty much chronologically, but sometimes running a couple of movements simultaneously, as, indeed, they occurred. The very first discussion is about the definition: What is American about American art? Another discussion brings up the definition of "painting," which is not so rigid a delineation here as to mean only "colored paint on a flat surface." A bit of collage, some sculptural forms, are lumped in. Although the editor, Donald Goddard, writes about the difficulty of selecting what goes in and what does not, he states that the decisions were based on the visual qualities of the works more than on recognized and labelled movements.
American Painting is a very large book. 11 X 14-1/2 inches, 320 pages, with 305 full-color plates, and it is a hardcover, too! Incredible! This huge and encompassing volume was in the "bargain basement SALE," along with another one that I got, "Van Gogh's Van Goghs." I got that one for less than $10, and haven't even taken it out of its shrink-wrap yet, I am so excited by this big one. It is an immense art history book which will fill in a lot of the gaps in my art library, and I picked up for $19.99! I almost feel guilty! Before anyone else buys these up, I suggest you click on over there and see if there are any left! (post haste!) http://www.mfa.org/home.htm
This American Painting book was originally listed for $100.00, which is far more than I would ever have paid. But for $20? How could I resist?
As far as a review goes: There are thirty-four chapters, set up pretty much chronologically, but sometimes running a couple of movements simultaneously, as, indeed, they occurred. The very first discussion is about the definition: What is American about American art? Another discussion brings up the definition of "painting," which is not so rigid a delineation here as to mean only "colored paint on a flat surface." A bit of collage, some sculptural forms, are lumped in. Although the editor, Donald Goddard, writes about the difficulty of selecting what goes in and what does not, he states that the decisions were based on the visual qualities of the works more than on recognized and labelled movements.
The copyright of the article So Many (Art) Books, So Little Time in Visual Arts is owned by . Permission to republish So Many (Art) Books, So Little Time in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Gretchen Wms. Jurek's Visual Arts topic, please visit the Discussions page.