Julian Bell on Painting

by Julian Bell

Surprising, questioning, challenging, the Pocket Perspectives series celebrates writers and thinkers who have helped shape the conversation across the arts. Mixing classic and contemporary texts, reissues and abridgements, these are bite-sized, fully illustrated reads in an attractive, affordable and highly collectable package.

Genres: Art

96 pages, Hardcover

Published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Molsa Roja(s) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief -too brief perhaps to be really significant- account on the evolution of art ever since the Greeks -no Egyptian art nor cave art here. It may be well written, well edited, but it quite fails for me in making pictorial art interesting -which indeed is- and instead it makes it into a dull discussion -very modern- about what an image, a picture, a symbol is. When art criticism mingles with art making, things go wrong -that's me summing up 20th Century art. Whatever might be interpreted from a picture, that cannot be the picture itself: pictures, or art, are always much more than what we see in them.

[Pavel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn't very well written. Perhaps it's because it is composed of cut-ups from a larger work. It just doesn't work in a short format and doesn't flow well. It isn't an introductory book. If you're a casual reader wanting to know more about painting, or someone who prefers clear writing, I'd honestly avoid it.