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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 709
EAN: 9780061176104
ISBN: 0061176109
Label: Ecco
Manufacturer: Ecco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: November 07, 2006
Publisher: Ecco
Release Date: November 07, 2006
Sales Rank: 79525
Studio: Ecco
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
"Great art has dreadful manners," Simon Schama observes wryly at the start of his epic and explosive exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. "The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things; visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure, and then proceed in short order to re-arrange your sense of reality. . . ."
With the same disarming force, The Power of Art propels us on an eye-opening, breathtaking odyssey, zooming in on eight extraordinary masterpieces, from Caravaggio's David and Goliath to Picasso's Guernica. Jolting us far from the comfort zone of the hushed art gallery, Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, altering the course of art forever.
The embattled heroes—Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko—each in his own resolute way, faced crisis with steadfast defiance, pitting passion and conviction against scorn and short-sightedness. The masterpieces they created challenged convention, shattered complacency, shifted awareness and changed the way we look at the world.
With vivid storytelling and powerfully evocative descriptive passages, Schama explores the dynamic personalities of the artists and the spirit of the times they lived through, capturing the flamboyant theatre of bourgeois life in Amsterdam, the passion and paranoia of Revolutionary Paris, and the carnage and pathos of Civil War Spain.
Most compelling of all, The Power of Art traces the extraordinary evolution of eight "eye-popping" world-class works of art. Created in a bolt of illumination, such works "tell us something about how the world is, how it is to be inside our skins, that no more prosaic source of wisdom can deliver. And when they do that, they answer, irrefutably and majestically, the nagging question of every reluctant art-conscript . . . 'OK, OK, but what's art really for?'"
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
It's difficult to decide what's more gorgeous, the full-color reproductions (wonderful, quality paper, by the way) or Simon Schama's prose. I did not see the tv series in its entirety so what's in the book is all new to me. He's a passionate intellectual and his enthusiam is a delight. I'm only at the Caravaggio essay now but already am thinking, How soon can I get back to Rome...?
Rating: -
I loved this book. Simon Schama brought art to life for me. I felt that both the artists and their works were living and breathing entities.
Rating:  -
The photography is beautiful. It would be a really interesting text if I hadn't seen the TV series first - it is almost verbatim.
Rating: -
If this is your first time reading Schama you should also borrow from
your local library his 1996 book "Landscape and Memory."
It will help you understand Schama's point of view on
art and history.
Rating: -
The Power of Art is a book that the serious artist of today should study.
Not for learning new/old techniques, but to take their art more seriously. It seem todays artists are so eager to please the buyer that the importance of the arts in historical sense has diminished greatly. I have always felt that art reflects the times we live in, and this book proves that the great artists through time have all created works that have had religious/political motivation.
As an oil painter this ... Read More
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