Ιστορία της μοντέρνας γλυπτικής

World of Art

by Herbert Read, Μαρίνα Λαμπράκη - Πλάκα (Translator)

Το βιβλίο αυτό παρακολουθεί την εξέλιξη της μοντέρνας γλυπτικής από τον Ροντέν ώς τις μέρες μας και «βάζει σε κάποια τάξη» το από πρώτη άποψη συγκεχυμένο πλήθος τεχνοτροπιών και τεχνικών που έκαμαν την εμφάνισή τους σ αυτό το διάστημα. Ο συγγραφέας ξεκινάει επισημαίνοντας τη συμβολή κατά πρώτο λόγο του Ροντέν και κατά δεύτερο λόγο των Μαγιόλ, Ντεγκά, Ματίς στη γέννηση αυτού που ονομάζουμε μοντέρνα γλυπτική, για να δείξει στη συνέχεια το πώς ο Πικάσσο -ένας κατά βάση ζωγράφος- ήταν υπεύθυνος περισσότερο από οποιονδήποτε άλλο για μια σειρά νεωτερισμούς στο πεδίο της γλυπτικής. Η σχέση της γλυπτικής του αιώνα μας με κινήματα όπως ο Κυβισμός, ο Φουτουρισμός, ο Εξπρεσιονισμός και ο Σουρεαλισμός και το έργο μορφών όπως ο Μπρανκούζι, ο Γκάμπο, ο Τζιακομέττι και ο Μουρ φωτίζονται και αξιολογούνται από τον Ρηντ με ιδιαίτερη ενάργεια.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, History, Reference

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Sir Herbert Edward Read, (1893 - 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Politically, Read considered himself an anarchist, albeit in the English quietist tradition of Edward Carpenter and William Morris.

Read was co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art & the publisher and editor-in-chief of Jung's collected works in English.

On 11 November 1985, Read was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.

He was the father of the well-known writer Piers Paul Read, the BBC documentary maker John Read, the BBC producer and executive Tom Read, and the art historian Ben Read.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a curious book. The text is problematic. Herbert Read is an interesting figure in cultural history, but I find the historical account here sketchy and the criticism almost valueless. And I say that as someone who is not at all typically dismissive of views "out of the past." But Read makes many contentious aesthetic assertions that I find unhelpful even as spurs to thought. He has no patience for sculpture that is "about" space instead of "about" mass - but it is that tension that has defined modern sculpture, at least in large part. He comes perilously close to stating that almost all post-1950 sculpture except for the work of Henry Moore is depressing junk. (He finds tonier words to say that, of course, but still, the point of view is clear.)

Read has an annoying habit of privileging artists that he knew well personally (Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Eduardo Paolozzi) in his narrative. Moore is a great artist and it is not as if he needs any special pleading, but Read provides it anyway. It all comes across as unpleasantly clubby in the worst British sense. (From an avowed anarchist and the son of a farmer, no less!)

The illustrations are another matter. They are fascinating, but a vast number of the sculptors and pieces, especially in the second half of the volume, are referred to nowhere in the text, or at most in a list. Whoever put this edition together allowed the textual and visual sides of the book to lead separate lives.

[Mardiyyan Zaenudin · Rating 4 out of 5]

yep, it's fast since i love gossiping abt art world and how picasso, gaugin, and rodin rejecting any other artist is such entertainment

[sarahhh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book if your into cubism sculptures, also just a great general history of 20th century sculptures.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite wordy so I don’t think I have taken it all in on my first reading but if just to use as a catalogue of images it is great for an overview of Modern Sculpture. Many of the images aren’t referred to at all.

[Artlab]

Sculpture

[Kalara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everybody looooves Picaso

[Samuel Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of awesome pictures of modern and contemporary sculpture. For nothing else this book is a gem.

The first half or so is a solid, no-nonsense history of (big-M) Modern Sculpture primarily in Europe. Read's theory of Vitalism as a moving force in art and sculpture is fascinating, but didn't come away with the ability to define what Vitalism actually was, i.e. what made one piece Vitalist and another piece not Vitalist. I know nothing about art criticism, or art history (or art for that matter) but I would be curious to see whether Vitalism as a term acutally caught on.

The second half of the book is this wavy edged essay that edges further and further into the polemical about the state of Contemporary are into the late 50's and 60's. It feels pretty 'old man yells at cloud' in that it holds adherence to schools above individuality in art. All of one sentence is allowed to Joseph Cornell and it end on this note of derision toward art that is 'ugly'. It all feels a little anti-climactic, and with the wash of time so much of this ugly art has taken hold as a legitimate, important work, that this part seems on the wrong side of history.

[Steev Hise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good survey of sculpture from about 1880 to the 1960s. Lots of great illustrations and the general "story" of different developments is good, but the author is definitely of his time, a knighted, establishment critic with a low opinion of most art newer than 10 years before he's writing. His take on assemblage and of contemporary metal sculpture is almost insulting, just a classic stick-in-the-mud making clueless pronouncements. He died shortly after this book was written but I wonder what he would think of people like Jeff Koons? It makes me smile to imagine it.

Despite these drawbacks, the book did introduce me to a lot of stuff I hadn't seen or heard about, and spurred me to think about sculpture more than I have before. It's a good jumping off point.

[Viking One · Rating 5 out of 5]

As opposed with the mammoth "Sculpture Today" by Judith Collins, where the only real sculptures are the ones cited as examples of classical sculptures -the rest only being a buched-up pile of contemporary garbage- "A Concise History of Modern Sculpture" is a seminal book, a must for all aspiring sculptors and art enthusiasts.

[Foxtower · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy must of once been used by a studious student. I feel sorry for the person who read and highlighted this drivel. Yet it belongs in my collection as it is mostly pictures of sculptures created between the 1870's and the 1960's, allowing me and you to make our own decisions as to whether the artists of the period created brilliant inspiring sculptures or merely garbage.

[Bethany]

i bought this book falling apart. apparently my school book store hadn't ordered them in years. did use it THAT much, but i still keep it for reference.