User Comments

1. 

   9/11/09

   nothingprofound

   I don't like books that explain the artist's works. I just like to look at the paintings. The exception is when the artists speak about their own work and what art means to them.

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   1. 

      9/13/09

      emooyoungart

      I buy and read a lot of books on artist that interests me, their biographies, their thoughts and more importantly a small collection of their works in a concise form. How else could you have access to an artists work? Galleries are one way but books are always at one's fingertips. My collection of books started decades ago, before the Internet, and being in Jamaica for long periods of time, access to the works of great painters, especially in its original form, is difficult. Books are the next best way to see and learn. Not many artists try to explain their works in a blog.
   2. 

      9/20/09

      Rivy

      Emooyoung:
      
      I do blog about my art. Just as you do. Which I appreciate. I just did a quick view/scan of your blog and I relate to what you do. Both your style/work and you continuing exploration of art through your images and commentaries. I share a similar need. Does it have something to do with age? I have about 10 years on you. (smile)
      
      I have spent a life as an artist. I did not acknowledge myself as such until I was in my late 40's. I am primarily a life drifter. Never any particular goals. (An in-bred fear of accomplishment I eventually realized prevented me from ever setting any.)
      
      My work has never fit a singular approach. Never a one-work way of identifing myself as an artist (painter? expressionist? writer? drawer? cartoonist? - I have been all and none.) Just a recognition eventually that I have spent a life with a need to somehow put down the world as I experience it. Often with cynicism, humor, momentarily wit, word arrangements, sketch scrawls, whatever.
      
      Today my primary need is to somehow organize what I have managed to retain of such a life, and figure/find the best way to present and preserve it. My blog is another erratic, often discouraging, and needy attempt.
2. 

   9/13/09

   Hels

   It depends on the topic. For Dutch art, I really love
   
   1. Embarrassment of Riches: Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, by Schama
   2. Reframing Rembrandt: Jews and the Christian Image, by Zell
   
   and I also like
   3. Rembrandt and 17th Century Holland: The Dutch nation and its painters, by Pescio et al
   4. Paragons of Virtue: Women and Domesticity in 17th Century Dutch Art, by Franits
   
   But students can also get a very gentle, useful introduction to a topic from novels eg
   * Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach and
   * Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier

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3. 

   9/19/09

   Hels

   emooyoungart,
   
   I can see you like Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee etc. The only book that I have from that period that I really love is:
   bauhaus 1919-1933, by magdalena droste.
   
   Do you have any favourite books from earlier periods of art?

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   1. 

      9/21/09

      emooyoungart

      Hi Hels, Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earrings and Girl with a Red Hat" have been favorite paintings of mine. My older collection includes The Art of the Byzantine Era, The Meaning of Art by Herbert Read. So I'm keen on learning art throughout the life of man. Klee and Kandinsky are definite favorites of mine, because of their new and inventive approach to art.
      I noticed Australian art among your list of interests. I have to stop using the word 'favorite' but one of the books I return to from time to time is "The Art of Australia" by Robert Hughes. This is a comprehensive account of Australian art from the founding of the colony in 1788 through to the 1960's.
4. 

   9/19/09

   LGramlich

   I like virtually all art books about Robert Bateman & his works. Just amazing. Makes me want to just put my paintbrushes away.

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5. 

   9/20/09

   drjay1966

   Everything I know about art I learned from LGramlich's blog...

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   1. 

      9/20/09

      LGramlich

      Then you're in trouble. *LOL* (But also very kind.)
6. 

   9/21/09

   cazywaz

   the best of Salvador Dali.

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7. 

   9/21/09

   mimimediamogul

   After dark, the story of dancehall style - can't remember the publisher but it's a book for my generation

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8. 

   28 days ago

   Hels

   Sometimes the best art publications are not really books in the normal sense.
   
   I was researching the art and architecture of Universal Exhibitions, starting with Crystal Palace in London, 1851. The most amazing publication was from Sotheby's, The Great Exhibitions Sale, London, 31/10/06. It had furniture, porcelain, paintings, gold and silver, brass, glass, prints and sculpture, all in chronological order and all well documented.
   
   To die for!

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9. 

   27 days ago

   angelshair

   I don't know if you consider this a book on art, and I'm not sure about the exact translation in english, It's "Letter to theo" by Vincent Van Gogh

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