How do I into visual art? What books do I need to read to truly

>Wanting a normie excuse to look at wieners and boobs
You're a coward.

>>8882541
Simon Schama maybe
>inb4 da jews

>>8882541
/ic/
We will teach you.

I just read The Story of Art from cover to cover and found out I knew more than most of my friends who'd gone to art schools. Especially after I supplemented that with Glittering Images and Nothing If Not Critical. Plus visiting museums.

Reading will never teach you. Artistic abilities are innate. But if you really put your mind to it you could improve, but it will never be natural.

>>8883054
I don't understand if he wants to get into visual arts as a painter or if he wants to be able to grasp the complexity and beauty of a painting.

If it's the latter, go to an art museum every time you visit a city. Look at art books. Read about art and artists. It's like "getting into" anything.

>>8883069
Don't you think it's obvious he is looking for books that can teach him about different movements, painters, etc? Why the fuck would he ask how to paint here?

Hi anon, art/educator here.

Start from where you are, this is the best I can say to you.

This extends to other areas too, whenever people say how to "get into" something. We don't know how much you know or from where you are coming from, we only know you want to "get into" it, then ask yourself why do you want to get into it and why do you think you are not into it already. I say this because most people just project their own vision of what is most important in art and what the art world is made of when it comes to answering that question.

First thing you should know that it is not at all homogenous, that it is huge and varied. There are people into art history, classical art only, recovery and maintaince, there is eastern art that is varied enough by itself, or modern and contemporary art, you can talk about the art market, galleries, tendencies, or art education, perception and psychology, you can talk about comic books, grafitti, naif art, there are niches by technique like just engravings or just pottery or just painting, photography, performance and so on and on. There is no book that covers it all or even acknowledges it all as art, so what could I recommend you? Just like "getting into literature", it's a strange thing to ask, more so to answer it straight.

So start from where you are, from your specific interest, but be willing to move out your comfort zone.

Try to visit museums and galleries, ask educators to show you around, don't be shy about that.

There is a documentary series that I always recommend as a good starting point to get a glimpse of an artistic appreciation mindset, which is Ways of Seeing by John Berger (which is also a book btw). Start there, you'll like it.

Another good documentary series is The Shock of the New with Robert Hughes, which speaks of the transition into modern art, from the 19th century to the 20th and is an area that I think most people have trouble with.

The two most read books about art history that I know of is History of Art by Ernst Gombrich and Modern Art by Carlo Argan, they are big and heavy, but to read them is kind of essential to get a good look around. Another essential read is Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin, which is a short text, very important to learn about modern art.

Read outside books about art in specific as well. Read on culture, history and language. Keep circling around it.

Be careful with people who "truly understand" art, or who seem to know very well what art is or isn't. When someone is knowledgeable about it, or when you face your own ignorance about something, we tend to think there is just an external source of answers that the other have access to and that can make you understand it. The greatest source is experience and developping your sensibility and your ability to not flinch when in contact with the unknown, with the ugly and with the new. Read about it, see it, talk about it with others, and keep moving.

>>8882541
I'm in college for art history.
I just uploaded this entry level book i read back in high school for youhttp://www37.zippyshare.com/v/4aIG4PWT/file.html
Enjoy! also checkout what this anon suggested also>>8883536

File: _U4PPq_Ut5STP_nkVHD9b-uvavd2Bf2oqoNlXJcYX7Y.png (506KB, 551x767px) Image search: [Google]

506KB, 551x767px

>>8883563
Thanks for the gift, anon.

GIORGIO VASARI
ROBERTO LONGHI