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Art Can Help
In Art Can Help, the internationally acclaimed American photographer Robert Adams offers over two dozen meditations on the purpose of art and the responsibility of the artist. In particular, Adams advocates art that evokes beauty without irony or sentimentality, art that “encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence.” Following an introduction, the book begins with two short essays on the works of the American painter Edward Hopper, an artist venerated by Adams. The rest of this compilation contains texts—more than half of which have never before been published—that contemplate one or two works by an individual artist. The pictures discussed are by noted photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Emmet Gowin, Dorothea Lange, Abelardo Morell, Edward Ranney, Judith Joy Ross, John Szarkowski, and Garry Winogrand. Several essays summon the words of literary figures, including Virginia Woolf and Czeslaw Milosz. Adams’s voice is at once intimate and accessible, and is imbued with the accumulated wisdom of a long career devoted to making and viewing art. This eloquent and moving book champions art that fights against disillusionment and despair.
92 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2017
9 people are currently reading
391 people want to read
About the author
Robert Adams
72 books40 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Robert Adams is an American photographer best known for his images of the American West. Offering solemn meditations on the landscapes of California, Colorado, and Oregon, Adams’s black-and-white photos document the changes wrought by humans upon nature. “By Interstate 70: a dog skeleton, a vacuum cleaner, TV dinners, a doll, a pie, rolls of carpet. Later, next to the South Platte River: algae, broken concrete, jet contrails, the smell of crude oil,” he wrote. “What I hope to document, though not at the expense of surface detail, is the form that underlies this apparent chaos.”
Born on May 8, 1937 in Orange, NJ, his family moved around the Midwest throughout his childhood, finally settling in Wheat Ridge, CO in 1952. Adams went on to study English at the University of Redlands and received his PhD in English from the University of Southern California in 1965. It wasn’t until the near completion of his dissertation for USC that Adams began to take photography seriously, learning techniques from professional photographer Myron Wood and reading Aperture magazine. In the 1970s, he released the book The New West (1974), and a year later was included in the seminal exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape.” Adams has twice been the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and once the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Adams lives and works in Astoria, OR. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.
See this thread for more information.
Robert Adams is an American photographer best known for his images of the American West. Offering solemn meditations on the landscapes of California, Colorado, and Oregon, Adams’s black-and-white photos document the changes wrought by humans upon nature. “By Interstate 70: a dog skeleton, a vacuum cleaner, TV dinners, a doll, a pie, rolls of carpet. Later, next to the South Platte River: algae, broken concrete, jet contrails, the smell of crude oil,” he wrote. “What I hope to document, though not at the expense of surface detail, is the form that underlies this apparent chaos.”
Born on May 8, 1937 in Orange, NJ, his family moved around the Midwest throughout his childhood, finally settling in Wheat Ridge, CO in 1952. Adams went on to study English at the University of Redlands and received his PhD in English from the University of Southern California in 1965. It wasn’t until the near completion of his dissertation for USC that Adams began to take photography seriously, learning techniques from professional photographer Myron Wood and reading Aperture magazine. In the 1970s, he released the book The New West (1974), and a year later was included in the seminal exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape.” Adams has twice been the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship and once the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Adams lives and works in Astoria, OR. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 14, 2020
A most succinct, profound and moving writing on art.
A necessary read.
“It is the responsibility of artists to pay attention to the world, pleasant or otherwise, and to help us live respectfully in it.
Artists do this by keeping their curiosity and moral sense alive, and by sharing with us their gift for metaphor. Often this means finding similarities between observable facts and inner experience-between birds in a vacant lot, say, and an intuition worthy of Genesis.
More than anything else, beauty is what distinguishes art.
Beauty is never less than a mystery, But it has within it a promise.
In this way, art encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence”
A necessary read.
“It is the responsibility of artists to pay attention to the world, pleasant or otherwise, and to help us live respectfully in it.
Artists do this by keeping their curiosity and moral sense alive, and by sharing with us their gift for metaphor. Often this means finding similarities between observable facts and inner experience-between birds in a vacant lot, say, and an intuition worthy of Genesis.
More than anything else, beauty is what distinguishes art.
Beauty is never less than a mystery, But it has within it a promise.
In this way, art encourages us to gratitude and engagement, and is of both personal and civic consequence”
September 16, 2018
Poetic and insightful. BTW, Goodreads site operators, please correct the author bio. The author of this book is quite alive and has authored a very different collection of books than you have listed. Here is the wiki for this: John Adams: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rober...
March 4, 2018
A hopeful collection of essays. I enjoyed all of the artwork featured in the book.
June 8, 2024
Книга, пълна с надежда и капчица тъга.
December 24, 2017
The Afterward to this book is one of the best things Robert Adams has ever written, very beautiful!
January 2, 2020
Rare is the person who can write about art. Usually art is better left to your own experience rather than having it moderated and steered by someone else. Many art museums are moving in this direction, offering viewpoints of art alongside the work, but all too often it feels like it is pandering.
Adams speaks about art like a philosopher poet, letting the work take into streams of thought that is often beautiful or poignant. The set up of the book is to show one photo and have a page of text. Often the photos he chooses are ones I would never otherwise spend more than a moment on. My opinion of the photo may not change, but the opportunity to see into the thoughts of someone who celebrates it is enriching. It helps me to think clearer and in different ways when considering an image or any piece of art.
As a college professor of photography, I am adding this to my recommended reading list. It has inspired me to try to write about images as well.
Adams speaks about art like a philosopher poet, letting the work take into streams of thought that is often beautiful or poignant. The set up of the book is to show one photo and have a page of text. Often the photos he chooses are ones I would never otherwise spend more than a moment on. My opinion of the photo may not change, but the opportunity to see into the thoughts of someone who celebrates it is enriching. It helps me to think clearer and in different ways when considering an image or any piece of art.
As a college professor of photography, I am adding this to my recommended reading list. It has inspired me to try to write about images as well.
September 20, 2020
My my, this book is not the stuff of glossy magazines. It is the stuff of epistemology. A message from the interior. It advocates for the connectedness of things, art that reveals the inner light.
"More than anything else, beauty is what distinguishes art. Beauty is never less than a mystery, but it has within a promise."
"Garcia remarks, half jokin in refernce to his attempted picture, This would be funny if it weren't so serious." Any artist might say that by acknowledging why he or she is grateful--thankful for a vocation, for friendship, for even partial victories, and for what Garcia says is the best part of all "being close to the tree..."
February 4, 2022
A beautiful and profound devotional about art, life, and truly seeing our world. I started reading a chapter a day and soon could not resist moving to the next essay and piece of art. This was not at all what I had expected, but it became so much more. I feel as though I need to revisit each chapter in more depth to glean the full wisdom from the words and images. I am so thankful to “Spirituality and Practice” (spiritualityandpractice.com) for suggesting this book on their website.
September 20, 2017
Very inspiring. He writes about art as if he is taking in the collective perspective of the world. It's as if he is not writing about these works of art, but rather about life itself.
Quite often taking into account our shortcomings, this book still left me with a sense of hope, and I think that's what Adams intended.
Quite often taking into account our shortcomings, this book still left me with a sense of hope, and I think that's what Adams intended.
November 25, 2017
Very quick and easy but thought provoking read especially if you're an artist/photographer. Enjoyed Adam's take on the work of several photographers that I was not familiar with. Always enjoy artists thoughts about the work of other artists.
January 16, 2019
"What we all want in our lives, is a way to put ourselves into accord with the mystery out of which we came and into which we will return."
"Silence is so accurate."
"The farther we walk, the less we claim to know....gradually it becomes clear that the horizon promises nothing."
"Silence is so accurate."
"The farther we walk, the less we claim to know....gradually it becomes clear that the horizon promises nothing."
July 30, 2022
A lovely book by a photographer who comments on other's photos in a quite thoughtful manner...He also is well read and I especially found his comments on Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" of interest...
August 31, 2023
Una raccolta eterogenea di micro-saggi, composta soprattutto da materiale già edito nel corso degli anni. Una aggiunta coerente e coesa con in materiale saggistico precedente di Adams, di certo non al livello dei suoi testi più noti, corposi e compiuti (su tutti: La bellezza in fotografia).
April 23, 2025
This has been on my studio desk for a while and I pick it up to read an essay or two at a time usually while working on art. Adams is as always excellent at writing about photography and particularly pulling things out of subtle photos that I'd hardly ever think of (the "beauty in the whirlwind")
March 12, 2018
This is a beautifully made/imagined book, full of things to think about, but for me, mostly way over my head.
October 13, 2019
A bit inaccessible or difficult to follow in his wandering thoughts, the book opens up your mind and heart to the joys of art and finding subjective truths in visual arts. A must read masterpiece.
October 9, 2021
best book ever.
April 7, 2023
Lovely and concise. Catered to photographers but still very nice.
November 18, 2023
Robert Adams is as good of a writer as he is photographer. This is a nice quality small book with great photographs and writings to ponder. Each photo has a page or two of Adam’s’ writings about the photograph or photographer that took the photo. This book was enjoyable to read when I don’t have time to get involved in a book.
January 7, 2024
A quick read, full of wisdom. I wish it was longer!
July 31, 2024
The synopsis of this book would make you think of it as a boring read, it’s not! Worth the read.
September 11, 2024
Tohle je krásná kniha, moc bych ji chtěla mít doma a vracet se k ní. Nádherné fotografie a zamyšlení nad nimi.
February 26, 2025
As always, Adams is a beautiful and reflective writer, this time in regards to some of his favorite artists.
November 25, 2025
Some very beautiful reflections on the power of art based on photographs Robert Adams has admired over the years. This is a very hopeful book.
December 30, 2025
I wish all my artists friends would read this. We need this work. We need to be interacting with people that don’t need to be convinced, so we can save those that do. Immerse yourself in this.
July 25, 2023
Felt like I was walking through a museum with him
August 12, 2023
Robert Adams is incredibly wholesome, loved the anti-capitalist messages sprinkled in throughout.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews