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Title: American Visions : The Epic History of Art in America by Robert Hughes ISBN: 0-375-70365-9 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 09 November, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Its capacious wealth of indelible insight lurks to be read.
Comment: This book has all the usual verve of Robert Hughes insightful eye. As always, his wit goes where no one else dares lurk. His personal insight and vision is indelibly etched in the deep recesses making this a rich and rewarding reading experience. With none of the usual ethnocentric prejudices, his work analyzes the American psyche from a social context and reveals to us a side of ourselves that is not otherwise easily seen, least of all by us. The marvels of his occupation lay bare the foundations of American art in a form that will, no doubt, endure the test of time.
Rating: 4
Summary: An entertaining exploration and celebration of American Art
Comment: Using barrelling, passionate, reckless, witty and poetic prose, Robert Hughes as an author often comes off as drunken and macho new world pirate gleefully beholding a vast store of riches in his exploration of American Art History.
Because American Art is an Epic in the writing (as in fact is all forms of World Art), Hughes does betray an Euro-centric bias and, as a result, slightly overlooks the contribution of many other minority artists to the rich tapestry of American Culture.
That criticism aside, Hughes' passion and devotion to his subject rings true all throughout the entire book, making this a fast and consistently entertaining and educational read. His championing of Hopper, Benton and Pollock as world class visionaries is particularly enlightening (probably because I agree!). Hughes manages to sound scholarly without resorting to dry ivory tower musings. His rants and raves, while maintaining the informed and educated discourse required of a true scholar, also posses the wit and wisdom of skilled stage performer.
Although there are plenty of fine reproductions here, even more would have aided in creating a more complete book. But why quibble? This book is a fine starting out point for anyone interested in reading a fine author's exploration of a rich subject.
Rating: 5
Summary: A panoramic view of American Art with vivid opinions
Comment: Dismissing a critic simply because you disagree with him, even violently disagree with him, is to miss the value a critic has. A critic's role is to spark your own thinking and investigation, to encourage us to formulate our own views and develop our arguments for them more explicitly. Letting a critic supply you with your views or to simply reject him because he doesn't confirm your pre-dispositions is a waste of your own reading time as well as the work the critic put into to his work.
Rejecting a critic's views is fine, if you do it with well-formed argument and facts or for explicit aesthetic views and tastes. The whole purpose of affirmation includes the idea of rejection. Just as accepting everything is to accept nothing, making choices on acceptance includes the statement, "No, not this."
Robert Hughes has strong views and has the talent for stating them forcefully. Whether or not you agree with him is almost beside the point. This book is a wonderful tour of American Art from Colonial times through the mid 1990s.
While I don't want to try and state Mr. Hughes' views for him, my reading of this book tells me that when architecture, painting, and sculpture comes from an artist honestly trying to come to grips with his or her views of the world and our living in it, Mr. Hughes considers that a good thing. Whenever that is compromised in favor of social acceptance or whenever an artistic establishment forms to enforce an orthodoxy and muzzle expression he considers that a bad thing.
He also tends to favor actual skill, facility, and even virtuosity in expression (if not necessarily technique) over posing and demanding acceptance. The artist must be able to communicate to others and win an audience and hold them over time to win the author's admiration. Influencing others and having resonance with other artists and other times is also a plus.
The sorry state of art in our time with the dominance of a self-reinforcing elite art establishment in the museums, the shows, and the galleries comes in for a heavy beating later in the book. It isn't a blanket rejection of current art, rather it is a large pin the balloon of recent pretension and I think this is very valuable.
I see this in the book and hope I am saying this correctly in part because I agree with this view. Not every conclusion Mr. Hughes makes is one I find myself endorsing, but as I say, that is beside the point. He has mastered a lot of information, presents us with hundreds of wonderful works to consider, and challenges us to think for ourselves about the issues he raises. I think this is a wonderful service and that this is a wonderful book. I am glad to have it on my shelf to dip into again and again.
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Title: Framing America: A Social History of American Art by Frances K. Pohl ISBN: 0500237921 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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Title: Native North American Art (Oxford History of Art) by Janet Catherine Berlo, Ruth Phillips ISBN: 0192842188 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 1999 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: The Maya (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Michael D. Coe ISBN: 0500280665 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Art of the Andes: From Chavin to Inca (World of Art) by Rebecca Stone-Miller ISBN: 0500203636 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists by Robert Hughes ISBN: 014016524X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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