179. Title & Author: Henri Matisse by Volkmar Essers (95 pages)
Genre: Nonfiction—Art History
Completed: 1 April 2011
Summary & Review:
The life and art of Henri Matisse are chronicled alongside numerous color illustrations of many of his paintings. Also, a timeline of the major events of Mattise’s life is included at the end.
While I would never claim to be particularly fond of much modern and contemporary art—the baroque is my favorite period—I have always somewhat liked Matisse, much more so than artists like Kandinsky or Mondrian who were wholly abstract in their art. I guess to me, abstract art is more decoration, not something I can ponder and stare at for lengthy periods of time. Thus, since Matisse retained representation in his art, albeit highly stylized later in his life, I have typically found his art to be more interesting than many of his contemporaries. Unfortunately, the accompanying text in this volume was dry and lifeless.
Rating: 5.5
3 comments:
What!? Kandinsky and Mondrian, just mere decoration?!!!!! I am shocked and appalled. If I could still find my million page paper I wrote in college on Mondrian and Neoplasticism I would send it to you. Decoration. Pa-leeeese!
Love the reviews!
I hate to say it, but abstraction just doesn't do it for me. Sure, some of the pieces look pretty, but they don't elicit much of a visceral response from me.
Abstraction isn't necessarily my favorite art form aesthetically speaking, but I do find the thought and concepts behind them what make them interesting and valid. It might not be what I'd hang in my house (although I would hang a Mondrian and a Kandinsky in my house), but I can appreciate that the artwork is mostly a product of a larger statement or view. Is that what art is? Maybe, maybe not, but I still find it interesting.
Don't worry, their are definitely artists (in all genres, even abstraction) that I don't like, that I don't think are any good, that I think are just hacks, or that I don't buy into their explanations, I just happen to like both Kandinsky and Mondrian and find them interesting. We can just agree to disagree about those two. :)
Post a Comment