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I guess, by now, I should have learned my lesson about books that promise to cover whole of art ...or literature...or history in 100 short, snappy, 2 page essays. Just as I sit here, I can see in front of me "1001 ideas that changed the way we think" and "1001 books you must read before you die"...and, over to the left is "The secrets of the universe in 100 symbols". All nice round-ish numbers ....it's nice that knowledge comes so clearly labelled and packaged. Actually, I'm being a bit harsh. This is actually quite a good book and it really does focus on ideas more than tools....though the tools also get caught up in the 100 ideas...eg. Welding and new materials such as plastics. I don't really have too much argument with Michael Bird's selection of the 100 ideas .....although any such selection is going to be highly personalised and somebody else might have emphasised something else. For example: is cooking an art form? what about the "plating" of food that is now so much a competitive activity in reality TV competitions? And I've always kind of wondered about statements such as "It's more an art than a science". I've heard this said about something as scientific as plant breeding where the true artist-plant-breeder makes their selection more on gut instinct than on measured parameters. (Though maybe this is changing as even plant breeding becomes more scientific with gene mapping etc).
I guess, the most frustrating thing I found with this book was the constant referral to examples which are not illustrated. We seem to have about three images per page but the text typically refers to about five other works that are not illustrated. Some of them I knew but many of them were just references for me to look up. (And, of course, I didn't).
I'm not sure that "the densely scrolled, interlocking, vegetal and bodily forms of Aztec relief sculpture echo the hallucinatory visual effects described by users of mescaline" (p181)...as Bird claims or that they are just rather stylised drawings that evolved into those patterns. And a fair proportion of the relief forms is actually hieroglyphic writing and symbols. But that's arguable I guess. Generally, I found his descriptions and deductions authoritative and reasonable. Did it make me think? Maybe a few times as in "Art does not reproduce the visible...rather it makes visible"...Paul Klee 1920. (p 169). Also I hadn't thought about Picasso and Braque's development of collage to incorporate the actual objects. Nor had I thought about the "frame" as a transformative idea ...but I guess it was. So yes. It has made me think.
Overall, quite a nice book despite being straightjacketed into 100 ideas (no more no less) ....and 2 pages each...including illustrations. I give it four stars.
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booktsunami | Aug 5, 2020 |
Artists' Letters: Leonardo da Vinci to David Hockney from Michael Bird is a fascinating collection presented in a wonderful manner.

While these letters are from and/or to famous people the emphasis is on the human aspect of each exchange. As such, they are grouped in broad general groupings such as Family & Friends, Love, and Travel. Unlike a collection of a single person's or a single couple's correspondence, this does not tell a single narrative. This makes this a book that can just as easily be read little by little as time allows as it can read all at once. If you need a single story arc to keep your interest, or if you can't read a book of short stories as a single book, then you might want to approach this as something to read as the fancy strikes you. I found it quite enjoyable as a single cohesive book, with each grouping as almost a prolonged conversation on a broad subject. Because of the context offered by Bird for each letter, each serves as a short story of sorts. The artists you're more familiar with will probably be more interesting to you but as long as you can relate to human feelings and situations it won't really matter a whole lot if you're unfamiliar with a lot of them.

Another fun aspect of the book is that each correspondence is pictured so you can see the handwriting or any scribbling or doodling that was included. There is a bit of a voyeuristic pleasure in finding old letters in real life, whether of family or strangers. Many recent novels use the finding of letters as a jumping off point for some kind of adventure, the pleasure is so common. This is very similar in large part because of the images of the actual letters.

I would recommend this to readers who like art and art history, who like to glimpse into the personal aspects of well known people, and those who simply enjoy reading something that was never meant to be made public and then speculating about what is written between the lines. This would also make a great gift for someone you know who might fall into these categories.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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pomo58 | Oct 24, 2019 |
Analyse van de kunstenaarskolonie in het Britse havenstadje St. ives in de periode 1931-1975. Met veel biografische informatie. Soms gepresenteerd met een in ironie gedoopte pen.
 
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timswings | 1 weitere Rezension | Jun 21, 2015 |
An essential read for all admirers of St. Ives art. Good on the social and intellectual trends of the times as well as on the art itself.
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Zambaco | 1 weitere Rezension | May 16, 2010 |

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