What Painting Is
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £6.35
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in What Painting Is for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £6.35, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
..."an illuminating exploration of the pungent and visceral fecundity of the painter's workplace.."
-Nicholas Harding, "Sydney Morning Herald
..."colorful and entertaining... This is a richly interesting look at the worlds of alchemy and painting."
-Virginia Bryant, "Parabola, Summer 2001
..."this is a truly original book. It will make you look at paintings differently and think about paint differently."
-"Globe
"This is a novel way of considering paintings, and excitingly different from standard art criticism."
-"The Atlantic Monthly
"An inspired, poetic account of an artist's creation is revealed."
-"Reviewer's Bookwatch
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
-Nicholas Harding, "Sydney Morning Herald
..."colorful and entertaining... This is a richly interesting look at the worlds of alchemy and painting."
-Virginia Bryant, "Parabola, Summer 2001
..."this is a truly original book. It will make you look at paintings differently and think about paint differently."
-"Globe
"This is a novel way of considering paintings, and excitingly different from standard art criticism."
-"The Atlantic Monthly
"An inspired, poetic account of an artist's creation is revealed."
-"Reviewer's Bookwatch
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
Unlike many books on painting that usually talk about art or painters, James Elkins’ compelling and original work focuses on alchemy, for like the alchemist, the painter seeks to transform and be transformed by the medium.
In What Painting Is, James Elkins communicates the experience of painting beyond the traditional vocabulary of art history. Alchemy provides a magical language to explore what it is a painter really does in her or his studio - the smells, the mess, the struggle to control the uncontrollable, the special knowledge only painters hold of how colours will mix, and how they will look.
Written from the perspective of a painter-turned-art historian, What Painting Is is like nothing you have ever read about art.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I revisit this book every year or so to remind myself of the lure of the studio and all the craziness that happens within. This is a marvelous read if you've ever experienced the pitfalls and joys of painting at all hours of the day. You call yourself a painter? Well, read this book and see if you relate. Painting in the historical sense carries with it a certain spiritual connection and this book connects contemporary pursuits with historical/traditional/sentimental efforts that have preceded you and i. bravo!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
18 reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Excellent read
19 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Elkins uses alchemy to interpret and read paintings. It sounds strange, but the way he explains it using such an odd device helped me to expand the way I think about art and paintings. It also is a book about paint- not conceptual or computer art or even theory. It is more concerned with the physical act of pushing paint, the solid matter of pigment, and the artisan-like way a painter opperates in the studio. If youre a person who is interested in the hands-on experience in art, and like thinking about new ideas, this book will be a lot of fun. If you dont like getting your hands dirty, you may want to look elsewhere.
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Esoteric and fresh title by Elkins
20 July 2003
Format:Paperback
The central premise of the title arises from the authors assertions that Painting and Alchemy are linked. It dealt with the notions of how painting like the scientifically naive Alchemy is rife with guesswork. No joke. It compares (as one of many examples) certain passages of Monet's paintings with the sort of haphazard experimentation that goes on in Alchemy. This is a well-researched book as far as I can tell, but then again I'm no expert on Alchemy.*pause* The book attempts to educate the forlorn and lost artist/art student such as myself on the lost pseudo-science of Alchemy.*pause* I had arrived at the idea that painting and alchemy are analogous in my own artwork; which led me to this book.*pause* I cannot stress enough in this review the extent to which he uses the Alchemy/Painting contrast as a springboard to jump into a bastardized survey course on the history of Alchemy. If you want a speculative art book that attempts to concentrate on the physical act of painting (as opposed to art history & criticism of content) this maybe worth checking out. I do have reservations about the book. Elkins compared the painter's studio to a 'jailhouse' and ascribed to painting self-reflexive connotations of the painted picture. The notions of a painters awkward methods of experimenting with media and it's spiritual connection are liken to the arcane pre-sciencitfic experiments of an Alchemists laboratory. "What painting is" really helps a student or artist ponder their personal feelings toward the actual experience of painting rather than the intellectual side of the content. Recommended simply because this book is really a new type of art book that concentrates a descriptive position paper around the actual activity involved in a favorite artistic media- Not AN ARTSPEAK book, coffee table glossy, "how-to" or technical manual!
The only possible negatives: It can drag on a bit when dealing with "Alchemical history". It can be slavish to the metaphorical relationship of painting to alchemy to a fault, at the expense of discussing the working life of a painter... Bare in mind that the author mentions the life of a painter is lived in oils.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Painter's perspective on painting
14 Aug 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been painting for nearly 20 years and this is the first book that I have encountered that has accurately described the material act of painting itself from a painter's perspective. I agree to some extent with other reviewers who complained that the discussions of alchemy were too long and obscure. However, in an age of digital images this foray into obsolete and arcane mucking about is absolutely necessary to explain why paint remains a vital medium. Even without the metaphoric parallels between painting and alchemy, delving into the alchemists kitchen seems like an excellent introduction into the mind of a painter.
I have one serious reservation about this book: I do not think that it would be useful for inexperienced painters. It is all too easy to be utterly seduced by the descriptions of lush thickets of paint and exquisite glazes. These must remain a means to greater understanding rather than an end in themselves. Elkins is aware of the problem and devotes a later chapter to self-reference and narcissism.
I am keen to try this book out on non-painting friends to see what impression it makes on them...
I have one serious reservation about this book: I do not think that it would be useful for inexperienced painters. It is all too easy to be utterly seduced by the descriptions of lush thickets of paint and exquisite glazes. These must remain a means to greater understanding rather than an end in themselves. Elkins is aware of the problem and devotes a later chapter to self-reference and narcissism.
I am keen to try this book out on non-painting friends to see what impression it makes on them...
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
