- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (Nov 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0375400990
- ISBN-13: 978-0375400995
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.2 x 4.1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,809,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
There was a time, five hundred years ago, when science was regarded as an art, and art as a science. And in the contest between the senses, the ear, through which we had previously received all knowledge and the word of God, was conquered by the eye, which would henceforth be king. A new breed of painters aimed to reconcile the world of the senses with that of the mind, and their goal was to conceal themselves in the details and vanish away, like God. A new way of perceiving was born.
Anita Albus describes the birth and evolution of trompe-l'oeil painting in oils in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, focusing her attention on works by northern European artists—both major and minor. As a scholar, she stands in the tradition of Panofsky; as a painter, she is able to see things others have not yet perceived; as a storyteller, she skillfully describes abstract notions in a vivid and exciting way. Like the multilayered technique of the Old Masters, her method assumes an ability to distinguish between the different levels, as well as a talent for synthesizing them.
The first part of the book is devoted to the visibility of the invisible in the art of Jan van Eyck—his visual effects, perspective, artistic technique, and philosophy. The second and third parts are taken up with descriptions of the genres of "forest landscape," "still life," and "forest floor." In the midst of butterflies, bumblebees, and dragonflies, Vladimir Nabokov emerges as final witness to the survival in literature of all that was condemned to vanish from the fine arts. After a glimpse into the continuing presence of the past and some conjectures as to the future, the book's final part throws fresh light on the colored grains of the hand-ground pigments that were lost when artists' materials began to be commercially manufactured in the nineteenth century.
The Art of Arts is thus both a dazzling cultural history and the story of two explosive inventions: the so-called third dimension of space through perspective, and the shockingly vivid colors of revolutionary oil paints. Albus makes abundantly clear how, taken together, these breakthroughs not only created a new art, but altered forever our perception of the world.
Anita Albus describes the birth and evolution of trompe-l'oeil painting in oils in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, focusing her attention on works by northern European artists—both major and minor. As a scholar, she stands in the tradition of Panofsky; as a painter, she is able to see things others have not yet perceived; as a storyteller, she skillfully describes abstract notions in a vivid and exciting way. Like the multilayered technique of the Old Masters, her method assumes an ability to distinguish between the different levels, as well as a talent for synthesizing them.
The first part of the book is devoted to the visibility of the invisible in the art of Jan van Eyck—his visual effects, perspective, artistic technique, and philosophy. The second and third parts are taken up with descriptions of the genres of "forest landscape," "still life," and "forest floor." In the midst of butterflies, bumblebees, and dragonflies, Vladimir Nabokov emerges as final witness to the survival in literature of all that was condemned to vanish from the fine arts. After a glimpse into the continuing presence of the past and some conjectures as to the future, the book's final part throws fresh light on the colored grains of the hand-ground pigments that were lost when artists' materials began to be commercially manufactured in the nineteenth century.
The Art of Arts is thus both a dazzling cultural history and the story of two explosive inventions: the so-called third dimension of space through perspective, and the shockingly vivid colors of revolutionary oil paints. Albus makes abundantly clear how, taken together, these breakthroughs not only created a new art, but altered forever our perception of the world.
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4 reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Traditional painters and Van Eyck fans will love this book!
12 Sep 2001
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have recommended this book to several people and now it is available in paperback! It contains many nuggests of information a traditional oil painter will treasure. For example, the lapis lazuli-based pigment used by Van Eyck in his paintings contained tiny flecks of stone which added richness and sparkle to the paint. It was also irregularly ground and refracts light differently than the modern homogeneous synthetic "ultramarine blue" pigment available today. It was precious in Van Eyck's time, but today lapis lazuli ultramarine is more costly than gold per ounce. Albus devotes much of the book to historical pigments and shares recipes for making them.
My complaint with the book is that it is a strangely-shaped volume (it is extremely narrow and tall) and is uncomfortable to hold. Still, the early chapters on Van Eyck's paintings and the historical pigments will entice painters interested in effects not possible with modern pigments.
My complaint with the book is that it is a strangely-shaped volume (it is extremely narrow and tall) and is uncomfortable to hold. Still, the early chapters on Van Eyck's paintings and the historical pigments will entice painters interested in effects not possible with modern pigments.
well expressed with a nod to the painting studio process
31 May 2012
Format:Paperback
This could very well be a boring book for anyone looking to clarify art history. It isn't that. It's something different. The copious footnotes are indeed there but it shows a well researched and wide ranging application of resources, they're not something to be read as the text. The writer's eye toward the physical aspect of painting is undeniable. Most painters love the connections between the historical works and the enduring thread to their current practices. The work is well researched and her writing, to me, never gets that clinical. Her history is not data but the flesh and sinew of oil painting. It's not "well illustrated" but provides a number of fold out images that reinforce her narrative points. The section dealing with the paint itself is a glimpse into the sense and interest of the painter about the importance of color, it's visual function, surface substance, and how the artist was connected to the growing aspect of scientific personal discovery. If you like to go back to a book that you've read before and randomly open it and just start to read...it can be that kind of book. I suspect every reader will find a section that drags a bit. It's not a thriller. Lovely written, often poetic, the kind of book that ends up on your shelf.
A gorgeously idiosyncratic work of art
24 Jan 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Only in the narrowest sense can The Art of Arts be said to be a scholarly work about Northern European painting. A blend of aesthetics, visual art, natural science, myth, poetry, and arcana, I can only think that Ms. Albus immersed herself so completely in the age she studies that she emerged a magus. More than simply beautifully designed and written, the Art of Arts is a joy to the eye and mind--a work of art to be savored as art, the expression of a unique consciousness that can be appreciated only when viewed in its entirety.
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