Art book to read?

[Andrew ren]

any suggestions?

I know nothing about ART, hopefully it can help me with my photo-taking...

Winter here is lo...ong. need something to read.

Cheers

Andrew

[Hugo Zhang]

This will help you to go through the long winter.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Letters-Vincent-Van-Gogh/dp/0821226304/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260978778&sr=8-3

Cheers.

Hugo

[memorris]

The most influential book I ever read about art was the Edward Weston Daybooks. Out of print but can be found used.

[r.e.]

Sybille Ebert-Shifferer's Still Life: A History is first-rate, and the text has application well beyond still life. Copiously illustrated. Despite being a fairly recent book, it isn't in print and second-hand copies are crazy expensive. But major Ontario library systems (e.g. Toronto, Ottawa) will probably have a copy.

[Michael Alpert]

I doubt if you know nothing about art. You, like all of us, have been exposed to the Culture Industry's commodified version of art since you were knee high to a light meter! I suggest that you read good novels or plays or poetry--all of which will help you define yourself as a sensibility. Or read books about Vermeer, Van Gogh, Giacometti, or perhaps Mozart. I have found that the majority of photographic books (both monographs and general surveys) are terribly written and will provide you with an unexamined and oversimplified rehash of photographic "history." One exception is the very good book, River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West, by Rebecca Solnit. Solnit's book is worth reading. Another good book that may interest you is Landscape as Photograph: Reflections on Nature, Art, and Ideology, by Estelle Jussim and Elizabeth Lindquist-Cock.

[Raymond Bleesz]

Hello---Biography of your own countryman---Joseph Karsh---"In Search Of Greatness"

Raymond---in the Vail Valley

[lenser]

As an art major some forty years ago, I think the best instruction I ever found on portrait lighting (if that's your thing) is to study the works of Vermeer and Rembrandt. There are many great books featuring their work. Any college level tests on art history might be very helpful. And of course, any works by or about your own favorite photographers........Adams. Weston, Leibowitz, Avedon, Tim Osullivan, William Henry Jackson.............................etc. to the max.

[Vaughn]

In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965)

[Hugo Zhang]

Andrew,

Another book which I consider the most important literary work of last century is Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". The book itself is an incredible work of art and it also contains many discussions of art.

But be warned and be prepared to spend years, not months, on it.

A thin little book by Rilke "Letters on Cezanne" is a great read too.

Hugo

[Andrew ren]

wow!

Now I wish to have a lon...nger winter!

Cheers all.

Andrew

[Andrew ren]

Andrew,

Another book which I consider the most important literary work of last century is Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". The book itself is an incredible work of art and it also has contains many discussions of arts.

But be warned and be prepared to spend years, not months, on it.

A thin little book by Rilke "Letters on Cezanne" is a great read too.

Hugo

Hugo,

I reserved Rilke's already.
Will take a peek @ Marcel Proust for sure. Its a 6-vol beast. and yes, I will spend time with it after.

Cheers

Andrew

[Jon Shiu]

The Art Spirit by Robert Henri.

Jon

[r.e.]

Rilke also wrote a short book called Letters to a Young Poet.

[William McEwen]

Hello---Biography of your own countryman---Joseph Karsh---"In Search Of Greatness"

Raymond---in the Vail Valley

In Search of Greatness by Yousuf Karsh is a pretty good read if you're looking for an old autobiography by a famous portrait photographer. Personally, I found "Photobiography" and "Self-Portrait With Friends," both by Cecil Beaton, more interesting as portrait photographer autobiographies.

Weston's daybooks are terrific. And very much still in print. They used to be two volumes, now they're one. It's the day to day struggles, successes, failures, relationships, etc. of a talented photographer on the path to greatness.

Brooks Jensen of LensWork has published a couple of good books about creativity, photography, etc. Well worth reading.

However -- you asked for an ART book. Could you be more specific?

[csant]

Erwin Panofsky, Perspective as Symbolic Form (1927), or Meaning in the Visual Arts (1955).

[Heroique]

Yes, you did ask for art book recommendations, but at risk of drifting, I’ll share what works for me as a practical alternative to art books – but share a few ideas about art books, too. And who knows … maybe some of these ideas will appeal to you:

Often, in preference to art books, I just go outside, and look around at light falling on objects – taking mental notes (sometimes, even written ones) about what pleases me, what dissatisfies me. Why does this angle of light “work” on this subject? (Maybe I’m looking at a tree, a building, a creek.) Would a different intensity of light make this scene more pleasing to me? Less pleasing? And how does this particular light, at this precise moment, influence color? Space? Lines? Texture? How different will this subject look in an hour? A few steps in this direction? Under rain clouds? After sundown?

Of course, I have a healthy appetite for books, too:

Especially art and photography books with the finest lithography. I usually never have enough money to purchase them :( – but I do have a local library with deep shelves and a nice librarian :) . I’ll stack 8 or 10 books (often, monographs) beside me. Over the next hour or so, in the supper-time solitude of the library, I’ll page through their paintings (or photographs) … very … slowly … one … by … one. Usually, I’ll ignore the text; that often gets in the way. Instead, I’ll let the “visual critic” inside me exercise and sharpen his own talents, just like when I’m outside. (BTW, has anyone else noticed how many interesting and unique things Rubens – yes, late Rubens – shows about landscape composition!?!)

And, most of what I absorb stays w/ me w/ little conscious effort, informing compositions of my own the next time I set-up my tripod…

[Merg Ross]

Gyorgy Kepes, Language of Vision, 1944.

[Bill_1856]

"Art and Fear," by Ted Orland (former Ansel Adams assistant). A standard read for artists of all persuasions, not just photographers.

[Brian Ellis]

Two of the most enjoyable, readable books on art that I've found are the two by John Updike - "Just Looking" and "Still Looking." Updike of course was a marvelous writer and while he was very knowledgeable about art he wasn't a professional critic so he's very accessible. These books aren't art history. They're essays about the work of particular artists, based mostly on the paintings in exhibits Updike attended, so they don't purport to be a thorough examination of an artist's life work. But they're very informative and very good reads.

[cjbroadbent]

"How to draw 3D shapes" so as to know what your lenses are doing to your photographs. Then Leonardo's Treatise on Art so as to know how to get things under your control.

[Struan Gray]

I would second John Updike's essays on art. For a taster, quite a few are available online if you search on his name in the archives of the New York Review of Books (nybooks.com (http://www.nybooks.com/archives/)). My favourite writer on art, Peter Campbell, also has many essays available at the London Review of Books website (lrb.co.uk (http://www.lrb.co.uk/contributors/peter-campbell)).

Full-length books tend to encourage grand theories, which where art is concerned are mostly a put-off. Physics envy is bad enough in the dismal sciences, but when it comes to something as diverse and creative as art, the effects are mostly tedious. Writing on poetry however tends to be more useful, and the examples can be reproduced in the book, so you don't have to scurry off to Google before you can understand the writer's arguments. I've been working my way through two classics: Empson's "Seven Types of Ambiguity" and the creatively annoying "The Anxiety of Influence" by Harold Bloom.

[Andrew ren]

...

However -- you asked for an ART book. Could you be more specific?

William,

I don't know. might be visual art?
I want something can help me think, my vision...

Cheers

Andew

[Bruce Barlow]

"Art and Fear," by Ted Orland (former Ansel Adams assistant). A standard read for artists of all persuasions, not just photographers.

Strongly seconded! He wrote it with his friend, David Bayles

Add to it Ted's other book, "The View from the Studio Door."

"On Being a Photographer" by David Hurn and the late Bill Jay

Weston's "Daybooks" also strongly seconded

"The Creative Habit," by Twyla Tharp

And it's worth getting the back issues of LensWork on CD ROM and reading Brooks Jensen, who's had a lot of good ideas in his writing career.

All these are available, accessible, fun to read, and...relatively short.

[Hugo Zhang]

I want something can help me think, my vision...


Andew


How about 庄子·内篇? There are a few books that we reread them year after year. They give us slightly different meanings each time as we grow. The few thousand words he left some two thousand years ago has been with me all my life and they has become my blood, my gestures and my visions. He does not teach us the craft side of a particular art, but rather how to turn our living life into the most incredible artwork.

http://www.amazon.cn/%E5%8D%97%E6%80%80%E7%91%BE%E8%AE%B2%E8%BF%B0-%E5%BA%84%E5%AD%90%E8%AB%B5%E8%AD%81-%E5%8D%97%E6%80%80%E7%91%BE/dp/B0011C4FR0

Cheers.
Hugo

[Kirk Gittings]

Rent Simon Schama's superb BBC video series "The Power of Art" and see what moves you and go from there.

[Andrew ren]

...
And, most of what I absorb stays w/ me w/ little conscious effort, informing compositions of my own the next time I set-up my tripod…

Heroique,

Well said!
just back from Chapters.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew ren]

How about 庄子·内篇? ...


nice.
this will be an early spring project. :-)
Will pick one up for sure next March as I will be back to China for 3-4 weeks by then...

Rich books for poor times.

Cheers

Andrew

[Andrew ren]

Rent Simon Schama's superb BBC video series "The Power of Art" and see what moves you and go from there.

Kirk,

is this the one?
http://bibliocommons.biblioottawalibrary.ca/item/show/1354312014_simon_schamas_power_of_art

Cheers

Andrew
----
well, just reserved it.
I am the #38th on-holder @ that waiting list!

[Kirk Gittings]

Yes.

[fuegocito]

strong second on "In Praise of Shadow" and EW's Day Books-California in particular
Zen in the art of Archery-Eugene Herrigel
Art and Lies-Jeannet Winterson
Art and Visual Perception-Rudolf Arnheim
Henry Homes Smith's collected writings 1935-1985
On Photography-Susan Sontag
What is Art & The Death of Ivan Ilyich-Leo Tolstoy
The Journal of Eugene Delacroix

That ought to take care of this winter:-)

Roberto

[Vaughn]

And if you want to take a break from non-fiction, yet stay with the theme, you might try Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse.

Vaughn

[Joe Smigiel]

I like the writings of James Elkins (http://www.amazon.com/James-Elkins/e/B000AQ0L44/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1), particularly "What Painting Is".

[Mark Sawyer]

Beauty in Photography: Essays in Defense of Traditional Values, by Robert Adams

[Richard M. Coda]

Aside from Daybooks, I would imagine that the most influential book on photography I have read is Counterparts: Form and Emotion in Photographs (http://www.amazon.com/Counterparts-Photographs-Weston-J-Naef/dp/0525107681) by Weston Naif.

[jnanian]

the collected works of bob burden
and
man ray / self-portrait

[spkennedy3000]

Roland Barthes - Camera Lucida...

Beautiful and fascinating, while also quite moving if dense at times.

[mrladewig]

As a color photographer, this book is very useful to me in thinking about color as a compositional tool as well as the symbolic aspects of my compositional choices. Johannes Itten - "The Art of Color"

I've also found Michael Freeman's composition books to be helpful in thinking about composition far beyond the rule of thirds. The most recent one to my knowledge is "The Photographer's Eye"

[Joe Smigiel]

As a color photographer, this book is very useful to me in thinking about color as a compositional tool as well as the symbolic aspects of my compositional choices. Johannes Itten - "The Art of Color"

Then you might like the works of Harald Mante. He's just authored a new book entitled "The Photograph: Composition and Color Design" (http://www.amazon.com/Photograph-Composition-Color-Design/dp/1933952261/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IRZJY04T5KZ1E&colid=1A18ODSBZQI31) that follows Itten & the Bauhaus as applied to photography. I haven't seen the new book yet, but it is on my wish list.

[Scott Chandler]

6 Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 - 1972 by Lucy Lippard

ucpress.edu/books/pages/7078.php (http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/7078.php)

[John Bowen]

Thanks Bill and Bruce,

I just received "Art and Fear," "The view from the Studio Door" and "The Creative Habit" from Amazon for about $27 shipped.

I already own Weston's Daybooks and the books published by Brooks Jensen.

Also just ordered Brooks' new tome "Second Exposures" and the back issues of Lenswork.

Should make for a nice winter's reading.

John

Bruce Barlow Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill_1856
"Art and Fear," by Ted Orland (former Ansel Adams assistant). A standard read for artists of all persuasions, not just photographers.

Strongly seconded! He wrote it with his friend, David Bayles

Add to it Ted's other book, "The View from the Studio Door."

"On Being a Photographer" by David Hurn and the late Bill Jay

Weston's "Daybooks" also strongly seconded

"The Creative Habit," by Twyla Tharp

And it's worth getting the back issues of LensWork on CD ROM and reading Brooks Jensen, who's had a lot of good ideas in his writing career.

All these are available, accessible, fun to read, and...relatively short.

[CantikFotos]

Irving Stone's Depths of Glory

[csant]

Wow, this thread has given me a lot of ideas for some reading to start 2010 - thanks everybody, and wish all a happy new year!

[William McEwen]

If you're fluent in German, "Ich Bin Völlig Aus Diesem Bis Es Gibt Kein Solches Buch" by Hans Hattenswaller is pretty good.