How to Read a Painting PDF Download

Author: Patrick De Rynck
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
This book decodes the imagery of more than 150 of the most influential and admired artworks of all time.

Author: Francoise Barbe-Gall
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
ISBN: 9780711232136
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Choosing ten symbols from the natural world (the sun, the shell, the bird) and ten man-made (the window, the book, the mirror), Françoise Barbe-Gall illuminates our understanding of how these have been used and developed in art from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century, with sixty-eight wonderfully vivid examples. Painting has always made abundant use of forms and objects to convey abstract ideas: love, hope for eternal life, loyalty or betrayal. These recurring motifs, which were familiar to many in the past, have mostly become mysterious to the audiences of today. Today's art-lover will have to learn to look out for all the small things that can so easily seem like unimportant details, or simply decoration. But a flower, a reflection in a mirror or a bird in flight nearly always mean more than they first appear to. From Holbein's apple of knowledge to the black cat at the foot of Manet's Olympia, from Magritte's mysterious candles to Georgia O'Keeffe's flowers, this book shows how each work makes use of the language of symbols in an original and more meaningful way.

Author: Fran oise Barbe-Gall
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
ISBN: 9780711232129
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Which of us, in the presence of a painting, has not felt that we lack the keys to decipher it? We feel an emotional response, but the work still seems to evade our understanding. Francoise Barbe-Gall combines a nuanced understanding of the way viewers respond to paintings with a rich knowledge of their context and circumstances of their creation. The result is like a tour of an extraordinary museum in the company of a gentle yet authoritative guide. A fascinating range of works are grouped in six thought-provoking chapters that examine our different responses to the ways in which paintings define reality.ÿ The author takes as her point of departure the impressions that we all feel when confronted by a canvas and takes us on a voyage of discovery fired by her own passionate enthusiasm for the subject. What is the painting's relationship with the real world? Has the artist idealized nature, or distorted it? Did they want to shock the viewer, or provide consolation? With a clear approach and straightforward yet subtle analysis, the meaning of each work slowly becomes clear. From Raphael's penetrating character study of Castiglione, through Hopper's cinematic take on the wee small hours of the morning, Barbe-Gall begins by covering a number of ostensibly realistic works, made from the stuff of everyday life. Going in quite the other direction, she then looks at the way paintings can express moments of heightened reality, from the perfection of Boticelli's Primavera to the arresting glance of Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring. She discusses paintings that distort the visible world (Parmigianino's Madonna with an improbably long neck, Dali's melting clocks) and those that sow confusion to make us pay closer attention to the real world (Cezanne's depiction of a forest glade, a mysterious fifteenth century altarpiece). Questions of history, style, iconography and composition are dealt in context of the paintings she discusses. Lavishly illustrated and featuring thirty-six fascinating works from Raphael to Rothko, Breughel to Bacon, this is also a magnificent art book.

Author: Justin Paton
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781877551291
Category : Painting
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This book needs no introduction. Out of stock for several months, it now returns by popular demand - with an eye-catching new cover by Awa Press Young Designer of the Year Keely O'Shannessy and expanded illustration section - and still at the same RRP! Justin Paton's brilliant TV series has had repeated screenings during 2011 and 2012 on TV One and TVNZ7, and won a whole new audience for this acclaimed art writer. How to Look at a Painting was declared one of the Best Books of the Year by many, including the Listener. Raves include: 'A cultural exploration that deserves to become a classic' The Press 'Paton is a brilliant stylist. The intimate, almost confidential address to the reader is one of the book's strengths' The Dominion Post 'Nothing gets between Paton and a painting ...... a lively and sensual stylist with a knack for making you feel his enthusiasms' Listener 'If you've ever gone to an exhibition and felt intimidated, underwhelmed or just plain confused - and haven't we all? - this is the book for you' Leaf Salon

Author: Maxwell K. Hearn
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588392813
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
"Together the text and illustrations gradually reveal many of the major themes and characteristics of Chinese painting. To "read" these works is to enter a dialogue with the past. Slowly perusing a scroll or album, one shares an intimate experience that has been repeated over the centuries. And it is through such readings that meaning is gradually revealed."--BOOK JACKET.

Author: David Salle
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393248143
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
“If John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a classic of art criticism, looking at the ‘what’ of art, then David Salle’s How to See is the artist’s reply, a brilliant series of reflections on how artists think when they make their work. The ‘how’ of art has perhaps never been better explored.” —Salman Rushdie How does art work? How does it move us, inform us, challenge us? Internationally renowned painter David Salle’s incisive essay collection illuminates these questions by exploring the work of influential twentieth-century artists. Engaging with a wide range of Salle’s friends and contemporaries—from painters to conceptual artists such as Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz, among others—How to See explores not only the multilayered personalities of the artists themselves but also the distinctive character of their oeuvres. Salle writes with humor and verve, replacing the jargon of art theory with precise and evocative descriptions that help the reader develop a personal and intuitive engagement with art. The result: a master class on how to see with an artist’s eye.

Author: Sarah Urist Green
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525505857
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
“There are more than 50 creative prompts for the artist (or artist at heart) to explore. Take the title of this book as affirmation, and get started.” —Fast Company More than 50 assignments, ideas, and prompts to expand your world and help you make outstanding new things to put into it Curator Sarah Urist Green left her office in the basement of an art museum to travel and visit a diverse range of artists, asking them to share prompts that relate to their own ways of working. The result is You Are an Artist, a journey of creation through which you'll invent imaginary friends, sort books, declare a cause, construct a landscape, find your band, and become someone else (or at least try). Your challenge is to filter these assignments through the lens of your own experience and make art that reflects the world as you see it. You don't have to know how to draw well, stretch a canvas, or mix a paint color that perfectly matches that of a mountain stream. This book is for anyone who wants to make art, regardless of experience level. The only materials you'll need are what you already have on hand or can source for free. Full of insights, techniques, and inspiration from art history, this book opens up the processes and practices of artists and proves that you, too, have what it takes to call yourself one. You Are an Artist brings together more than 50 assignments gathered from some of the most innovative creators working today, including Sonya Clark, Michelle Grabner, The Guerrilla Girls, Fritz Haeg, Pablo Helguera, Nina Katchadourian, Toyin Ojih Odutola, J. Morgan Puett, Dread Scott, Alec Soth, Gillian Wearing, and many others.

Author: Stefano Zuffi
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
ISBN: 9780810989405
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Zuffi reveals the world of the Renaissance masters in a new and rich light. Each spread uses an important painting as a way to explain a key concept. Includes brief biographies of the major artists, provided an accessible introduction to the art and culture of the Italian Renaissance.

Author: Pamela Sachant
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Book Description
Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning offers a deep insight and comprehension of the world of Art. Contents: What is Art? The Structure of Art Significance of Materials Used in Art Describing Art - Formal Analysis, Types, and Styles of Art Meaning in Art - Socio-Cultural Contexts, Symbolism, and Iconography Connecting Art to Our Lives Form in Architecture Art and Identity Art and Power Art and Ritual Life - Symbolism of Space and Ritual Objects, Mortality, and Immortality Art and Ethics

Author: Leonard Koren
Publisher: Imperfect Publishing
ISBN: 0981484603
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Beskrivelse: Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.