Art/Art History Books

Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
I'm teaching a lot of art history these days, although I have a rather weak formal background in it. I would appreciate some recommendations on books about art/art history, any scope, from the bookish and artish individuals of this forum.
 
E

ether

Well-known member
haven't studied art for years but these where on the syllabus when i did.

'The Story of Art' by E.H. Gombrich
'Ways of seeing' by John Berger
'The Shock of the New: Art and the Century of Change' by Robert Hughes
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
'ways of seeing' is a great book. For a history of modern art theory from the perspective of the artists - it's all manifestos and the like - I really like Charles Harrison's book

Amazon product ASIN 0631227083
mainly cos the artists talk such blah in it. It's good in that it's sequential though so you can see who was nicking off of whom.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
Yeah, I've browsed the Art&Theory series before, pretty nice. Isn't there a book called Manifesto? Worth checking out?
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
not exactly art history, but the Vision Machine by Virilio i think is just great. nomad posted an excerpt of it somewhere here
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
There's a good new general one out by Thames and Hudson - Mirror of the World: A New History of Art by Julian Bell.

Obviously lots of great monographs - Phaidon has done a great job on upping the ante on the quality of reproductions.

Though Hughes was great on Goya, Uglow on Hogarth, Schama on Rembrandt, Richardson on Picasso, lots of others as well nailing periods or individual artists. The aforementioned Berger on Picasso is also rather fine. I really liked Kathleen Raine on Blake as well.

Hope this is of some use.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
jenks said:
There's a good new general one out by Thames and Hudson - Mirror of the World: A New History of Art by Julian Bell.

Obviously lots of great monographs - Phaidon has done a great job on upping the ante on the quality of reproductions.

Though Hughes was great on Goya, Uglow on Hogarth, Schama on Rembrandt, Richardson on Picasso, lots of others as well nailing periods or individual artists. The aforementioned Berger on Picasso is also rather fine. I really liked Kathleen Raine on Blake as well.

Hope this is of some use.
Click to expand...

Yes, very much so! I plan on consulting these suggestions throughout the quarter.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
Another one if you're going down a modern modern route and into computer art gavin is this book, which is just totally brilliant - I know it seems to be about cinema but it isn't, it's about early developments in video art and computing and is just amazing

Amazon product ASIN 0525472630
(zhao I think you'd really really like this if you don't know it already)
 
you

you

Well-known member
Amazon product ASIN 0500238189
great big overview thing, good for dipping into.

also for recent stuff check out the phaidon series of contemporary artists, also, Vitamin P and vitamin D are very good for painting and drawing ( all these are contemporary, current or very recent )..... or any of the cream books? These are all post YBA though ( actually most of the cont artists series aren,t ), I dunno, whats your idea of modern? PIcasso? mmmmm Art since 1900 is a great place to start- its goes on until after 2000

vit p
Amazon product ASIN 0714844462
 
swears

swears

preppy-kei
I second Robert Hughes, read Shock Of The New in a weekend when I was 15, really good general overview of 20C art without being too bland.

His Nothing If Not Critical is also great, no pics tho.
 
Gavin

Gavin

booty bass intellectual
you said:
I dunno, whats your idea of modern?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recs. 'Modern' meaning European Renaissance on. Like, not ancient or medieval.

Would like some tips on Far Eastern and Islamic art, really weak in this area, and I think it'll be nice to balance out the relentless Eurocentrism of the textbook. And also explain all those weird Greek ideas that seem to spring spontaneously from the Aegean (wink @ zhao)!

Also, anything with a weird/contrarian take on the old stuff, I've got a pretty good grasp of the "party line" (such as it is) on a lot of the big names. Also, stuff about the economics -- art market, patronage, MODE OF PRODUCTION, all that ish. Like I've been reading about the CIA funding the abstract expressionist movement, awesome stuff, would love to share that kind of stuff with a class.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
Also try "Inside the White Cube." Can't remember who wrote it but it's easy to find.
 
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