The Grove Book of Art Writing: Brilliant Words on Art from Pliny the Elder to Damien Hirst

Brief Description: Discussing the visual arts successfully in words is often held to be an impossible task. In fact it is merely difficult. And since the days of the ancient Greeks, many writers of all kinds have taken up the challenge -- not only art critics but novelists, poets, gossips, artists, and essayists. In The Grove Book of Art Writing, Martin Gayford and Karen Wright have collected the best and most lively attempts to pin it down, in a single-volume cornucopia of writing on art. From Vasari and Freud on why Mona Lisa smiles, to Adolf Hitler on the degeneracy of modernism, to Picasso on how to measure the depiction of the female body, art historians, art critics, artists, as well as the aforementioned weigh in on what makes art so wonderful, frustrating, what makes it art. From the deadly serious to the deeply witty, from the sublime to the ridiculous, The Grove Book of Art Writing is an eloquent compendium of insight into the diverse ways the visual arts can be seen and thought about. Marc Notes: Bibl. ref. & index; First pub. in UK by Viking, 1998; The visual arts in words of the ancient Greeks to the present art critics, artists, etc.;from Vasari & Freud on Mona Lisa's smile to Picasso on the female body, from deadly serious to deeply witty Modernism, to Picasso on the female body: from deadly serious to deeply witty. Review Citations:

Publishers Weekly 09/04/2000 pg. 101 (EAN 9780802137203, Paperback)

Library Journal 09/15/2000 pg. 68 (EAN 9780802137203, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Gayford, Martin Martin Gayford is art critic for Bloomberg News and author of the acclaimed Man With a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud and David Hockney: A Bigger Message. Contributor Bio:  Wright, Karen About Modern Painters Magazine: Independently published, lavishly illustrated, and dedicated to brilliant writing with broad appeal, "Modern Painters" has emerged over the past 15 years as one of the world's leading art magazines. About the General Editor: Karen Wright has been the editor of "Modern Painters" since 1988. She was the editor of "The Grove Book of Writing on Art."