What are the best books on understanding Art (in the general

>>9480624
bump.

would like to know as well

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>>9480671
>>9480684

You fucks, you bump to keep from slipping off page 10, not to keep on page 1

Here, just read some Hughes and then you too will be a critic

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>>9480624
Larry Shiner's The invention of art is the way to go for starters. Also, read Arthur Danto, George Dickie and Rosalind Krauss for understanding modern art.

Also, Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word. I disagree with a lot of things, but is a really short and really enjoyable reading about the art world in the 20th Century

aesthetic branch of each philosophy

Deleuze What is creative act (there should be video in youtube)
Ortega y Gasset - art dehumanization (if you want to understand modern art)

both of these texts focus more on modern, post/contemp art, but help understanding traditional art too

oh and do not forget that there is always underlying desire in every art, just read freud writer and daydreaming

Gardner's Art Through the Ages is pretty much THE art history text book. If there is a college near you, you can probably find it at a text book exchange or used bookstore. My local half-priced books store always has like 6 of them because of the art institute nearby.

Art in Theory is the book for primary sources: exhibition essays, artist statements, important works of philosophy, famous reviews, manifestos, etc. There are a few versions, broken down by the years they cover.

john berger's ways of seeing and mary anne staniszewski's believing is seeing are both fine introductions.
>>9481151
krauss is good. any of the october group is good for modern and contemporary like yve-alain bois and hal foster. the october files series on individual artists is a good way to go for contemporary stuff.

>>9481142
Is this a good book?

>>9480624
Gonna go with the obvious and recommend you Gombrich if you are a total beginner.

Aesthetics is interesting and there's certainly overlap with history of art but they are very different disciplines at their core. Aesthetics is more concerned about the general questions behind art, and discussions of artworks are usually used to further or put into question some assumptions or theories. It's a different approach to art altogether, but a solid grounding in aesthetics can further your knowledge of art history and viceversa.

I posted this same exact thread yesterday and got like two replies before it 404'd.

>>9481255
Here, you can have a (You)

who are some patrician artists to check out? my familiarity is just like picasso and other people youd see going to major museums and not paying attention

>>9481290
what kind of art interests you?

>>9481312
mostly paintings that have an original aesthetic. i like el greco

>>9481316
Klimt, Schiele, Goya, Francis Bacon, Basquiat

>>9481290
Henri Matisse, Gustave Courbet, JMW Turner

>>9481316
manet, matisse, duchamp, klee, katz, richter, kiefer, neel

>>9481392
was at a schiele exhibition a week ago. only interesting if you're a pedo tbqh

>>9480624
A Very Short Introduction: Art Theory

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>there are fewer critics than artists

>>9481479
what...

>>9481419
never looked at matisse like this - the blue nudes are dope

>>9481483
that series is so hit or miss, but normally a good intro

>>9481494
schiele is the kind of shit podesta brothers would collect. EU marxists like to praise schiele and call klimt overrated kitsch.

>>9481392
>>9481419
>>9481436
more please

How do I know that I do not get art when I believe I get art.

>>9481526
always assume you're wrong, but less wrong than others

>>9481547
thats what im thinking sort of

>>9480624
This painting always give me ominous feels.

It's really good.

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>>9481578
you might like this

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>>9481578
there's a scene in Fire Walk With Me involving a painting that it reminds me of

>>9481597
pseud spotted - better renew your donation soon so you can feel rpoud during the next episode of wait wait dont tell me

>>9481616
HUH?!

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John Berger – Ways of Seeing.

Absolutely essential

full tv show too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pDE4VX_9Kk&list=PLlhSx0L1hpaGKfq1qXe1vWUhG1EgIN9Yf

>>9481622
is that a page in the book?

>>9481290
Lucio Fontana, Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Giorgio Morandi, Jannis Kounellis, Alberto Giacometti, Isamu Noguchi, Joan Mitchell, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra

>>9481631
that's the front cover, but the text comes from the first page of the first chapter of the book

>>9481622
Just watched the first episode of that program. Nearly everything he said was some pretty obvious shit.

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>>9481142
The Art Spirit

>>9481239
It reads a bit like a self-help book but is much better than say the Inner Game books. It's written by two authors one of which is better than the other. Overall some decent advice if you're going to take art/sculpture/writing/other artistic pursuits seriously but if you're trying to understand aesthetic theory and art fundamentals probably not. Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery and lectures are very good as well in the advice/mindset category, although his book is about Jazz piano.

>>9481812
What parts of it did you disagree with? I haven't watched it in years, but I remember episode 1 being fairly good while episode 2 started talking about muh feminism and nudes in paintings oppressing women or something.

>>9481812
And? I'd be happy to watch some 'deeper' content if you'd care to link it.

I agree some of the language and explanations are simple, though you have to bear in mind that this was prime time BBC television programming. Benjamin's idea of Reproduction had to be made accessible, so of course there's detail that's filtered. I'd recommend the other episodes too but maybe they're not 2deepenuf4u

>>9481865
No need to take offense, man. It was a pretty decent special and I guess the visuals helped facilitate understanding of the general idea but it's not something I can see being of use to anyone except art majors on Day 1 of class.
>>9481858
Nothing, see above

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>>9480624
Watch the lecture series Civilisation with Sir Kenneth Clark, pretty comprehensive history of the development of Western art from the end of Rome to present. There is a book version, but then you miss Clark's soothing narration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6qYjisp51M

>>9481918
Right Honourable not Sir apparently*

>>9481918
was just watching this today. such a great show - have you ever watched any of the new types of this show? have been thinking of it

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>>9481944
I think the BBC has gone more pop-science and pop-history, rather than producing unapolagetically high-brow documentaries. There are few people that have the gravitas of Kenneth Clark. Roger Scruton might be the closest thing we have but he often comes off as being bitter and cranky, very unlike Clark's admonishment of "heroic materialism". Scruton's criticisms are very surface level in comparison. Maybe it's the modern distrust of authorities and experts on subjects, but this type of documentary making is pretty rare these days. Incidentally I found this old special from the CBC where Glenn Gould talks about Bach which is well worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crQ8YEUkUjg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1ax7SD8wk4&list=PLetzdzqx3dNWk9XCxNUJZCVDfElI3Bi_Y&index=10

>>9482377

>That comment section

Christ...

>>9480624
I really liked "The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present" by Eric Kandel.

>>9482377
A bunch of hipsters and pseuds with no discernable talent. I guess it does illustrate everything wrong with the art world.

>>9481918
Some of the scholarship is a little outdated (Skin of Our Teeth) and he also ignores the art of Spain. It is specifically about civilisation though so art isn't the main focus of the show as it includes philosophy and science as well.

>>9481712
Good artists, critical to understanding the transition from modern to post-modern

>>9481812
Hearing it and thinking it is obvious is different from recalling that information when it counts. That being said I've only seen Ways of Seeing once and Civilisation, for comparison, like three or four times.

Camille Paglia is insightful. Her book Glittering Images is great, as is her first book Sexual Personae.

>>9483785
Yeah, any documentary from 50 years ago is bound to be dated in some ways, but is overall a great introduction to Western art. In episode 1 he quotes Ruskin "Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts—the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art." and says he'll be focusing on the book of the art. The history and philosophy is a backdrop to put the art into context because artistic movements don't happen in a vacuum.

>>9481189
We were required to get this in first-year Art History but I'll never know how useful it actually it because we never really used it. Good for a survey course probably but totally inadequate otherwise, I feel. Wasn't even helpful for an introduction to classes on specific periods. I guess it's more of a comparative text.

>>9483806
I mean Gardner's. Art in Theory is very good.

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>>9483806
We had to get Janson's history of art but don't remember if it was good or not.

>>9480671
>>9480684

Bumping twice in less than 20 minutes.

Summer is upon us.

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what does it mean

>>9480624
surprised nobody said the story of art yet. its an easy but long read. it really gets you started.

to critique art, im not sure. but tysons critical theory today is also an accessible read for how we read and review literature. can usually be applied to other forms of art

Tolstoy wrote a book "What Is Art", which I assume would be a decent starting point.

All books on Art are Formalist babble with negative value.

>>9484076

Your post has negative value

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"You’ll never “think up” an idea. We confuse Ideas and thoughts.

This job is not complex. Only the muddle of our minds is complex. The job is simple. If
the time spent before a canvas is unduly long compared to the results achieved, you’ll find
it’s spent digging self out of the way so that the picture can stand forth in all its loveliness.

An idea is not something you “cook up”. It comes to you when your consciousness is
open and receptive. It presents itself. If it is a true idea it has always been true. There is no
such thing as a creative artist. An artist merely expresses that which has always been."

http://www.robolus.com/H.Dunn-EveningClassroom.pdf

>>9481255
Are you jealous?

>>9484015
it looks fukn cool. See that blue shin? wanna take a bite mmmm gotta to touch it

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cant say it better than this guy a few months ago
https://warosu.org/lit/thread/S9208885#p9209906
>the best way to truly study is to find a movement you're interested in and work from there. The Art History field is actually quite small, so many movements have their leading experts and seminal works. Once you find something you like, it's very easy to just follow that thread to the next territary movement and keep digging deeper.

>tfw was enjoying gombrichs story of art but got bored during the churches chapter so I dropped it like the peabrained pleb I am

>>9481494
literally all this guy did was paint naked kids and himself skinny as fuck. his 3 landscape paintings are fine but you'd have to have a mental disability to enjoy the rest.

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>>9481520
Anders Zorn, Joaquin Sorolla, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam

>>9480624

Venus in Exile by Wendy Steiner

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Odd Nerdrum "On Kitsch"
https://222d127b-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/monicamildredhidayatpdf/home/Odd-Nerdrum-Kitsch-More-than.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cpyxTnXcBPOfF5lTxuqS82nQ2-JENb6NeSp0U78vVHK_HvF52IsU2Nb47ljsPO-AxHEVA6lZpwb3bsrYaokGGai2STg7fXxhL2gt_whaSYAHsTzuGkSfoZV3I802TR4RjHXNTJd885SKB4QDxDf1m7_pdJyY-1weWZmCv8m5a7bCbGuU9WRo_h9v01A8uSdqUhKtp76tOS1jmWNqPiUN-SkP9FumbpRQnC4piOkGM6cFLJigS_yFGkZY-oDS7MD3uI9jmW8&attredirects=0

>>9486965

Seems bunk

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A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
Fired at first sight with what the Muse imparts,
In fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,
While from the bounded level of our mind,
Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind;
But, more advanced, behold with strange surprise
New distant scenes of endless science rise!
So pleased at first the towering Alps we try,
Mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,
Th' eternal snows appear already past,
And the first clouds and mountains seem the last:
But, those attained, we tremble to survey
The growing labours of the lengthened way,
Th' increasing prospect tires our wandering eyes,
Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise!

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>>9484892
Hey, that's me. I post in most Art Threads, didn't know the archive worked that well. I won't repeat myself in that case beyond the recommendations I made there.

>>9483806
I keep my old thrift copy on my reference shelf. It's (intentionally) shallow, but a good way to brush up on the exact kind of Freshman Survey broadstrokes of Art History, movements one tends to forget years down the line.

>>9481175
>

>>9484076
I wish there was more Formalist babble, but most are muh Marx (and later muh Foucault) ivory tower theory wanks. Formalism was at its limits anyway, connoisseurship can't engage the broader questions [academia needs to sustain itself]

>>9481918
/comfy/ Rewatched this when I came across some of his papers regardless of >>9483785

>>9481488
>Rilke, not Baudelaire, not Proust the GOAT art historian writer.
Good writer though, enjoyable short stories, rather shit poetry.

>>9481253
See >>9484892, Gombrich has been crushed, the only value he has these days is demonstrating Formalism in action. Agree with you on Aesthetics, see next:

>>9481156
I have Aesthetics from Classic Greece to Present by Monroe Beardsley. Really great, dives into the source material itself and is very explicit when it cuts the material short or forgoes a deeper study. Don't let that fool you, it's dense. I'm still wading through Saint Augustine myself. Good rec.

>>9481622
I'm a big fan of Berger. Not that he says anything particularly profound, nor does the show do a great job of communicating anything beyond that, but Berger is great because he reminds me why I got into art in the first place. He's really optimistic about art, and his writing itself is very unacademic, lyrical even. His essays particularly are really grounded in the personal experience of seeing a (>)beautiful work and the influence a work or a movement can have on individuals and ideas on a human level. He has critical work too, that has actual theoretical merit even, although most of these ideas are retroactively obvious now. After burying myself in academic theory for years, Berger is really refreshing and comforting. He never loses sight of the human element in work. I'd recommend the 'Moment of Cubism' for a good insight into his way of thinking. Solid theory work that is still grounded in real life. It's in his last book, Landscapes, but probably findable online too.

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>>9488809
Odd Nerdrum is one of the greatest living figurative painters and also one of the most original. Not sure why you would reject his thoughts on art without reading it.

>>9489794
kitsch

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>>9489643 (You) Forgot to rec a few publishers. October books, MIT Press's imprint consistently publishes good to amazing work in paperback, currently working through Johnathan Crary's Suspensions of Perception (which you can find in full online). Also: University of Chicago Press, Verso (Berger, by wary contemporary 'pop' theory), Cambridge University Press, Paul Holberton Publishing. By wary of museum imprints and catalogue books, at least see if you can read them in a library (try your look museum before your public variety) before you drop the $60+ on a textbook, reproduction quality is worth paying for, but vary wildly even from quality publishers.

>>9489794
Why would someone subject themselves to an entire book on Kitsch when the can just read the (blatantly flawed and biased as it is, even by his admission) Clement Greenberg article and subsequent responses? Seems like such a painfully banal subject to read in depth, though I study landscape art, I have nothing to talk about. Were you the anon from the deskilling thread? Enjoyed your articulation of points, though I don't share your taste in this work.

>>9489899
do you know malraux "voices of silence"? is it marxist or wtf did this nigga want?

>>9484015
FUCK jeff koons

>>9489643
Thanks for the write up on Berger. I've only read Ways of Seeing, but I really enjoyed his writing style, as you say, the balance of theory is something he gets perfect (for me personally anyway). I've actually bought Landscapes but haven't got around to reading it. I'll make sure it's next on my list.

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>>9490039
No problem, he's been a favorite of mine for years. I'd recommend getting his Selected Essays collection, has a 'best of' from virtually all of his other published work, some 600 pages worth. Finished Landscapes during a holiday trip before he passed, being his last work, his age, and comfort in it really came across, as did his optimism. Being a collection, has a few un (and re) published old works as well Was a very comfy book.

>>9484076
you literally can't think art without thinking form, kiddo

>>9484076
Read some Heidegger my dude

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>>9489920
It was a long time since I read it, but I believe his premise is that attempting to bring back classicism/realism is going to be considered kitsch by the art establishment, and allowing yourself to be put into that category gives you freedom to explore topics that have themselves been put into the category of kitsch.

Yeah that was me in the last art thread, well spotted. Have a landscape.

>needing a book to understand art
You will gain understanding by becoming the artist, not the crtitic.

>>9480624
The poetics of space by bachelard
The art spirit by robert henry
Proust
Deleuzes books on cinema
I also found Paul Vrilios Vision machine to be quite enlightening
The new testament