Comment regarder un tableau

by Françoise Barbe-Gall

Trente-six analyses de peintures anciennes ou modernes (Raphae͏̈l, Constable, Roger Van der Weyden, Giotto...), privilégiant les impressions ressenties face aux œuvres et apportant des répères complémentaires dans les domaines de l'histoire de l'art, du style et de l'iconographie.

Qui na pas éprouvé, devant un tableau, ce sentiment de ne pas posséder les clés pour le décrypter? Nous ressentons des émotions, mais I'oeuvre semble se dérober.

Tournant résolument le dos à I'enseignement traditionnel de I'histoire de l'art, Françoise Barbe-Gall prend pour points de départ les impressions ressenties face à la toile et nous entraîne dans une exploration passionnante. Quel rapport le tableau entretient-il avec la réalité ? L'artiste a-t-il idéalisé la nature ? L'a-t-il déformée ? Le peintre a-t-il voulu provoquer un choc chez le spectateur ? Lui apporter une vision réconfortante ? Grâce à la clarté du propos et à la simplicité de la démonstration - pour subtile que I'analyse soit en réalité - tout devient lumineux et accessible : I'oeuvre s'offre progressivement comme une évidence.

Aux textes consacrés aux œuvres, anciennes ou contemporaines, s'ajoutent des «repères» qui précisent en quelques lignes certains points de référence. Très abondamment illustré, l'ouvrage est aussi un magnifique livre d'art.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Françoise Barbe-Gall est une historienne d'art française, conférencière et auteure.

Barbe-Gall a fait ses études d'histoire de l'art à la Sorbonne, ainsi qu'à l'école du Louvre où elle enseigne. Parallèlement, elle dirige l'association CORETA (Comment regarder un tableau) au sein de laquelle elle donne de nombreuses conférences. Elle est régulièrement appelée à intervenir dans des séminaires en liaison avec la publicité et le marketing.

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really like the format/structure of this book. I bought this book with the hope that it would help me look more thoughtfully at paintings and learn to interpret paintings considering historical and artistic movements surrounding the creation of the work. Instead, the author limits discussion of art movements, history and biography of the artist to one page per painting. Rather, she dedicates three pages per painting to abstract writing with a writing style I assume she thinks inspires deeper meditation on the painting. However, for me, the lack of background hinders the ability to look at the paintings presented in a more thoughtful manner, contrary to what I think the author's intent was with this book.

[Jorge Maestre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primero de todo, mi review esta hecha sobre una copia defectuosa, cuyo defecto me priva de 40 páginas, un capitulo completo. En esencia creo que el principal defecto de este libro es que falla en cuanto a lo que promete su título. A lo largo de los distintos cuadros seleccionados podemos leer las derivaciones de Françoise, que si bien es interesante conocer los procesos mentales detrás de un experto en arte cuando se enfrenta a uno de estos cuadros, no sirve para que un neófito sea capaz de aprender, más allá de por imitación.

Independientemente, el libro es indudablemente precioso, relleno de distintas pinturas representativas de distintos estilos y periodos, y hay anotaciones (llamadas en este libro como referencias) que son verdaderamente interesantes. Pese a las criticas que haya podido hacer, este libro ha reavivado mi interés en el arte y tras leerlo siento la necesidad de ir a un museo cuanto antes.

"Un cuadro vive gracias a la frecuentación, se abre y cobra vida ante los ojos del observador sensible. Muere de la misma forma" Mark Rothko

[JoséMaría BlancoWhite · Rating 2 out of 5]

El libro puede presumir de un bellísima edición en general: gran calidad de fotografía y papel, perfecta distribución de textos y pinturas, excelente selección de cuadros de distintas épocas y estilos; en resumen, un sólido conjunto. Ahora vamos por partes, como diría Jack el destripador. Los textos son de dos tipos: dos o tres páginas dedicadas a presentar el cuadro, pero que son en realidad una especie de stream-of-consciousness del espectador-autor ante la obra. No es de ningún modo una explicación de la obra (hábilmente el autor ha elegido Cómo mirar, y no Cómo entender, para título de su libro). Lo que dice y nada son la misma cosa, pues no hay una sola frase con significado concreto e inteligible. Finaliza la exposición sobre el cuadro una página con texto, ya este sí con datos útiles, sobre la época, estilo y técnicas del pintor.

El lector no debe llevarse a engaño: no es un libro que sirva para entender la pintura en sus diversos estilos y edades. Pero la visión de los cuadros seleccionados y la elegante edición compensan en algo la inutilidad de la mayor parte de los textos.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging approach to art appreciation!

It takes one painting at a time, gives a few pages of interpretative work contextualized by history, biography, and so on. There's a page giving miscellaneous relevant facts (e.g., explaining a painting technique or the saint that is the subject of the poem). Then it's on to the next painting.

Sometimes the interpretative work got a little too fanciful for me to see how it was grounded in the actual piece, but I suppose a bit of fanciful personal interpretation isn't the worst thing when it comes to personal art appreciation.

A fun book to dip in and out of, especially if you want to get a bit more into historical European paintings and aren't sure where to start.

[Ellen A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a little surprised that the reviews of this book here on goodreads are so negative. Francoise Barbe-Gall's approach to the 36 paintings in this book is maybe a little more idiosyncratic than a traditional art history book that seeks only to ground the paintings in a historical context and a symbolic lexicon, so if that's what you're seeking, you might want to chose another book. Her approach is approach the paintings by describing the initial reaction of the viewer. Of course, by default, she is describing her own reaction. Her descriptions of the painting are probing, detailed, and imaginative, allowing the reader to notice what he/she might have missing having seen the painting for the first time. The range of paintings is diverse, from medieval altarpieces to abstract expressionism. The text is not totally devoid of historical context. Each section ends with one page of historical information about the painting's content and about the painter. Barbe-Gall also subtly includes historical information in the main text of the sections. Overall this is an engaging work that may help one better appreciate the complexity of paintings on one's own.

Note: I am a native English speaker who also speaks French. I do not have access to the original French version of this book, but from what I can tell, apart from a few awkward sentences that may be more the fault of the author than the translator, the translation seems fine.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author knows what she is talking about. I just didn't like the writing style. Or possibly it was poorly translated.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading, some interesting historical and art facts, and some interesting views on how to 'view' paintings. I think the only thing missing was the variety, as although theme wise FBG talked about many different aspects, all the painters were European and all men - which gender wise I'm a little miffed at (what, women don't paint?) and the paintings, many famous and recognizable even by a novice like me, there was nothing on Asian, American or Pacific art let alone African or any others which was a shame, as it would have been nice to see what the differences (if there are any) with how to view other culture's paintings, not just European. Read for Uni and enjoyed it, but there could have been so much more. But then, so many paintings, so little time.

[Commander Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second reading. Am ambivalent this time round. Struggle with discrepancies between commentaries on contemporary work (say last 100 odd years) and earlier stuff. Commentaries on later stuff is so much work of imagination and artists statements of intent. By necessity the older stuff has to stand unsupported.

[Marvin Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

不知道如何欣赏这样的艺术，看的是中文版，翻过第一部有不少收获。不过，有种感受特别奇怪，翻着画册居然有一些沉重的感觉，偶尔会有对死亡的恐惧。耶稣受难、老妇人、永恒的记忆、呐喊，这些作品面前尤其这样，一种被勒住喉咙的恐惧吓住。

[Rebecca Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and bad. There is plenty of interesting information about how to understand art, but there are is also plenty of times the author waxes a bit pretentious. All in all I'm glad I read it.

[Nightkid · Rating 2 out of 5]

原本希望透過此書去了解如何觀看畫作，但不知道是此書的內容結構，抑或是個案研讀的方式，讓我有種中學時期閱讀課文賞析、背誦段落大意的感覺，那時我無法理解為什麼標準答案是這樣，閱讀此書的過程亦有同樣的感覺。

草草翻過就算，恐怕藝術與我無緣吧。

[Yakov Sidorov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

[Raquel Puente · Rating 4 out of 5]

La mayor parte: interesante. En algunas partes, un poco aburrido.

[John Anglis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing.
This book shows you how the painter's life, politics, motives, dreams, environment all come into play in shaping the painting. A variety of paintings are included, and the neat thing is if you're somewhat new to art, it kind of shows you, as the title suggests, HOW to look at a painting. Some of the paintings are so simple and you question their artistic significance-why they made a book that's supposed to captivate newcomers to art. Then you read and refer to the pictures, in clear detail by the way, and when you finish the sections you have a new found appreciation for said painting, and even begin to draw and relate from other works and analyze them in a similar fashion.
Simply put-this book teaches you how to speak "art" and how to understand this way of life.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very large book (I have read the hard covered edition) about nothing.

It is about how the author looks at a painting. Which is quite a silly way. The information is quite unrealistic. Also the context seems quite irrelevant to the writer, yet some of the symbols are described.

The result: you can learn to see what the author of this book sees and nothing more. This is not a teaching tool or a manual, it is only an album with a selection of paintings.

[Артур · Rating 4 out of 5]

Вопреки названию, это не скучная академическая литература, а скорее сборник легких и изящных философских эссе о картинах самых разных авторов. Про искусство я сильно больше понимать не стал, но удовольствие от чтения получил преизрядное.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, page through. Reviewed numerous works and talked to the key points in each...like going to the Met, with headsets better :).

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more insight not just a rehash of what one could see.

[Connect-ion Found · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm enjoying it's simplicity. I wish I was fluent in French. I agree that there's something peculiar about the translation.

[Olga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мой отзыв есть по ссылке.

[Gustavo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too subjective. The author puts down on paper her impressions of each painting within the context of her [arguably deep] knowledge of the painter's intent and background. But being so subjective, it ultimately doesn't teach much more that what feeling each painting elicits on the writer herself, and these could be anything and still fit in the book. So the end result was not insightful for me.