Comments on: Favorite art books

By: David

David — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:43:36 +0000

In addition to the book on Irwin, I highly recommend A Year With Swollen Appendices: The Diary of Brian Eno. It’s, unfortunately, out of print, but maybe you can find a used copy at a decent price.

By: Arthur Whitman

Arthur Whitman — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 14:18:05 +0000

I like Why Art Cannot Taught too.

Another favorite of mine is the book Art Worlds, by sociologist Howard Becker. He discusses the ways in which networks of people—not just the so called artists, but the accompanying “support personnel too”—are necessary to make finished art. In addition to case studies by others, he draws off his own experiences as a phphotographer and jazz pianist.

By: Steve Durbin

Steve Durbin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:50:26 +0000

“Art and Physics” is currently checked out from my library, so I won’t be able to have a look. Have to say that from the info on Amazon its main idea looks questionable to my sceptical mind. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun and stimulating to read, though.

By: D.

D. — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:19:23 +0000

Dave Eggers’ “What Is The What”.

By: Leslie Holt

Leslie Holt — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:51:33 +0000

I like The POetics of Space - others have mentioned that.
I also like James elkins’ “Why Art cannot be Taught: a Handbook for art students” and his book “Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphisis”

Has anyone ever read “Art and Physics?” I gave it to my mom (she’s a physicist) but she never read it and neither have I. One of you science types must have picked it up :)

By: Steve Durbin

Steve Durbin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:08:26 +0000

Thanks, Sunil, no need to select a single favorite, or a single genre. Your suggestions sound intriguing, I’ll be looking them up. I don’t recall the Hofstadter touching on art itself, though perhaps everything mental is related. I am about to look at a book along these lines I’m sure you’ll be interested in, but you’ll have to wait for the post…

Karl, I’m in the middle of another historical book by Ross King, “The Judgment of Paris,” which is about Manet and Meissonier and the art world of the time. A good read in general, with lots of interesting tidbits, though it seems a bit long and slow at times.

By: Sunil Gangadharan

Sunil Gangadharan — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:44:13 +0000

This is a difficult question as I have more than one book that I really like and most of my favorites are not really in the genre of ‘art technique books’. They are mostly in the area of art and its relation to the other sciences… The two books that come to mind are

1. ‘Seen/Unseen: Art, Science, and Intuition from Leonardo to the Hubble Telescope’ by Martin Kemp
2. ‘Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid: A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll’ by Douglas Hofstadter

I am still trying to figure out the second book, but the first does a good job of exploring the interrelationships between art and science (something that I am very interested in). I also get a lot of pleasure from reading the series from Time Warner that chronicles artists and their lives by their diary writings ‘Monet by himself, Gauguin by himself, Cezanne by himself’ etc. They really tend to ‘humanize’ great artists and it makes you feel that they were just like you and me facing the same trials and issues that confront us in our lives today.

The ‘Grove Book of Art Writing’ is an extremely enjoyable book and I have spent several hours just soaking up the rich prose from artists and their critics…

I am waiting for the prices to come down on the book ‘Beautiful Evidence’ by Edward R. Tufte, but I have read his other book ‘Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative’ and I loved it…

Sorry I really do not have a favorite…