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Title: Greatest Works of Art of Western Civilization by Thomas Hoving ISBN: 1-885183-53-4 Publisher: Artisan Sales Pub. Date: October, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Visual pleasure with choppy text
Comment: Good introduction to the world's most renown works of art from an art historian without the dry textbook format. The care given to layout and reproduction resulted in a visually stunning book; however, Hoving's choppy commentary is a weak point. He offers the art historian view, but provides little insight into the human condition which art reflects. Sister Wendy (Story of Painting) has been criticized for her lack of academic knowledge, but her insight and love for art emanates in her writing. These are subtle elements that Hoving lacks. Despite its failings, it is still a worthwhile and enjoyable read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very beautiful with very high quality reproductions
Comment: Thomas Hoving has put together a beautiful book that has extremely high production values. It is visually stunning. I enjoy looking at it over and over again. And his writing invites us to further consideration and continue our explorations of this art in other books.
Art of many eras and styles is included so we can springboard from here into almost any branch of the Western artistic tradition. The book helps us expand our view and to explore beyond what we personally find familiar and comfortable.
Books with superlatives in the title encourage us to disagree and to challenge. All the better! It forces us to look more deeply and to formulate why we believe this way or why our tastes run that way. By looking and considering our views more deeply we become better students and are better prepared to explore into new forms and unfamiliar modes.
Some of the things in here I really love, some of I have seen in person, and some, like Rauschenberg's "Bed" I still dislike. Oh, well, my loss, I guess. But even in disliking it I am glad that I had it to consider and think about. I am better off for this and am grateful to Mr. Hoving.
It really is a very beautiful book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Shouldn't he know better?
Comment: I am surpried by the blatant mistakes in this book. An example I vividly remember is Mr. Hoving's discourse on the "The Stairs at Wurzburg". He describes the Olympians, African "giantess" with gold necklaces, alligators, personifications of America, etc. but the accompanying picture is of Beatrice of Burgundy being transported, in the chariot of Apollo, to her wedding with Kaiser Fredereich Barbarossa. In other words, the text has does not fit the picture. I agree with many of the works Mr. Hoving chose for this book but he (and his editors) should have been more attentive to their text.
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Title: Vanishing Histories : 100 Endangered Sites from the World Monuments Watch by Amery Colin, Brian Curran ISBN: 0810914352 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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Title: Sister Wendy's 1000 Masterpieces by Wendy Beckett, Patricia Wright, Sister Wendy Beckett ISBN: 0789446030 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
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Title: Architecture: The World's Greatest Buildings Explored and Explained by Neil Stevenson, Neil Slevenson ISBN: 0789419653 Publisher: DK Publishing Pub. Date: 01 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern by Carol Strickland, John Boswell ISBN: 0836280059 Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz ISBN: 0761104844 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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