Dawn's Reading Blog

This was a nice collection of Mary Cassatt’s works with a one-page summary of each of the major periods of her life and many full-color prints. It was interesting that Mary Cassat was a long way from being an ovenright success. She didn’t come to like her own work until later in life but she kept working, taking lessons and trying different mediums until she found her niche and honed her talent. She’s best known for her mother/child drawings and those were the most striking and best-represented works in this collection.

Dali is a nice collection of color prints of the artist’s works. It’s interesting that some of these works are actually smaller in person than in the prints. The book also contained detailed blow-ups of some sections of some of the works and a review of Dali’s life.

Maybe I should read these books before I go to the museums. I don’t remember seeing 80% of this stuff. Nice book with big plates but no accompanying text. It’s an excellent souvenir, although I bought it off Amazon, if only I’d actually seen more of it.

Treasures of the Louvre

This is the second in this series I’ve read. Manet by Himself combines letters written by Manet with biographical information and plates of his work. The background information is brief and the plates are small. The letters, unfortunately, are dull.

Manet wasn’t given to writing about art. In fact, he doesn’t seem to have been a big letter writer except when out of town, so the letters are mostly along the lines of “why don’t you write? when are you coming to visit?” Some of the letters aren’t letters at all but things “recorded” by others that he supposedly said. Or maybe wrote. I don’t know. The editor doesn’t explain what she means by “recorded” but the accuracy seems doubtful.

Apparently Manet wasn’t as hard up as Gauguin, whose letters were almost exclusively about money. Manet’s main worry seems to have been the fight to get into the Salon and be recognized by the powers-that-be of his time, even though he claimed not to think much of their opinions.

Like Gauguin, he died of syphilis, but, unlike Gauguin, he didn’t pass it on to any 15-year-old “brides.” He seemed dedicated to his wife, though I don’t suppose that’s where he got the syphilis from.

Treasures of the Musee D’Orsay is just a picture book, but it’s a pretty picture book. I bought it as a reminder of my trip there. It includes hundreds of photos of their most famous works, presented in a large format. However, there’s almost no explanatory text. Just the photo with it’s basic info and a very brief introduction to each section.

Gauguin By Himself is a collection of letters written by Gauguin to others, primarily other artists. The letters are presented in snippet form as they relate to his art and, sometimes, his life and business. In between we get pictures of the works themselves.

Gauguin thought a lot of himself. He lived with Van Gogh for a while but we don’t see any letters between the two of them. We do see some letters about Van Gogh and Gauguin seems to think he changed Van Gogh’s art for the better. I know which of the two artists I like better.

One of the most interesting snippets about his art was in reference to another artist saying that he needed to use more paint. I happened to see some of Gauguin’s work at the D’Orsay in Paris around the time I read that and it’s really true that some of his works seem thin on paint. Apparently this was a financial issue.

But the most interesting parts were about his life on the islands. He’s commonly depicted as living with the natives in paradise as though returning to a simpler time but the actual setup is pretty nasty. He had 13 year old wives he regularly traded in and to whom he gave (or from whom he got) syphilis. He was just a nasty old man taking advantage of his whiteness to buy these people’s daughter.

All in all, this book didn’t make me like either Gauguin or his work any better.

I had no idea watercolors could be used so diversely until I read American Watercolor. Great pictures in this book covering watercolor from traditional landscapes up through abstract art. There’s a few pages of timeline in the front and then each school of art starts with a summary, making it not too difficult to flip between the explanation and the colored plates. Nice full sized photos and a good selection. Well worth the remaindered price at Border’s.

Art Now: 81 Artists at the Rise of the New Millennium looked good at a glance. I enjoy modern art more than the old masters because of the variety, inventiveness, and change of subject. I get tired of portraits, madonnas, and landscapes. Unfortunately the book doesn’t cover its material well, at least not if you’re an outsider as I am. It reads like a yearbook. For each of the artists covered, it gives vital statistics, important shows, a quote, a paragraph summarizing the artist’s works, and several photos.

Sounds great, but it’s not. The paragraph is written in psuedo-speak. There’s not a meaningful sentence in there. The photos are often of installations – pictures of video stills from movies or views of some enourmous construction. There’s no way to get a sense of the actual work. Worse, the paragraph and photos don’t correspond. While the paragraph may go on and on about the artist’s most important work, analyzing its so-called meaning, the photo will then be of something else entirely, which is left completely unexplained. It’s as though the book assumes we’re familir with the artist’s work and don’t need to actually see it.

Perhaps if you know these people and their work, this is an interesting remembrance. As a way to learn about modern artists or artistic trends, it’s useless.

A Treasury of Art Masterpieces is the most stunning art book I’ve ever read. There’s actually something to read in it! Craven gives more than the basic facts about the artist and his work. He emotes. He dishes out gossip. He makes you feel what he, as an expert who actually understands this stuff, is feeling. Unfortunately, it’s an old out-of-print book as is everything else edited by Craven, so it will be hard to track down more, but I wish all art books were edited with such emotion and thoughtfulness.

Little Big Art Book contains small photos of famous art works arranged in roughly chronological order. Each major time period is introduced with a two page essay but the reproductions aren’t paired with any narrative text. Just the artist, title, and date are given. A nice reference book but not educational.