Alla Prima: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Direct Painting

by Al Gury

Alla Prima is a comprehensive guide to direct painting, characterised by bold, expressive brushwork and a painterly, atmospheric surface. It covers the history of the direct methods in both Europe and America. From there, it includes detailed step-by-step lessons and discussions on drawing structure, broken and smooth brushwork, and colour development.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, How To

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 2009

Reviews

[Jim]

This book was a great read and really explored exactly what is meant by "alla prima" painting. As the title suggests, this book is a "guide" and would be most useful to a student who is currently studying painting and is looking to expand their knowledge. I probably wouldn't recommend this book for beginners, especially since there are better intro books available, but once you've got some classroom experience, do consider giving this book a read.

[Erin Panjer]

This is a wonderful book, with break downs of process, and some really great suggestions.
With only one formal painting class under my sleeve, I feel this book was much needed to round out much of what I didn't know, exactly how to tackle. I love that there are many master painter palettes listed, so one can experiment with them. There are little, significant facts too, like how still life drawing was called Nature Mort in France, and when art wasn't popular for showing off ones wealth, it showed the fragility of life. I think the beauty we see in still life, makes this obvious, however, I think it's important to remind ourselves of that each time we begin, a Nature Mort. There are many examples, and colour prints of many different artist's paintings in the book, and there are a handful of great perspectives and small individual habits mentioned which light the imagination.

[Juliette Smith]

I found this very informative. Not only did it breakdown and define things I was only partially aware of, making them clearer (grounds, scumbling, glazes), it showed me new artists with styles that I like and want to emulate (John Redmond I’m coming for you), and helpful step by step demonstrations of figure painting, still life painting, and landscape. And at the end, it provided advice for how to approach a museum! I have lots of bookmarks in this book and will be referencing it quite often (well, until the library makes me return it).

[Hailey Coogan]

Great guide for painters.

[Rebel Fitz]

A lot of very helpful tips for painters, especially those wanting to explore or further their oil painting skills.

[David]

Very wordy and poorly edited. Some interesting information but overall difficult to understand and follow

[Eric]

This book is a strange mixture of good and bad. The technique-focused parts of the book are excellent, and gave me a real insight into some of the non-glazing methods covered.

On the other hand, Gury seems intent on changing the meaning of terms like "alla prima" and "direct painting" to mean whatever he wants them to mean. I'm not sure what his motivation is, but it renders the book confusing, and contradictory to the bulk of painting knowledge.

[Elizabeth]

This book is very informative, and contains demonstrations by the author of this method of painting. Also includes the listing of paints on many classical painters palettes, which was nice to see! Lists of materials and techniques. Good book!

[Randine]

Good instruction book if you can't get to a class.

[Litos]

Una vista superficial sobre la pintura en general, con muy poco énfasis en la técnica que le da título. No puedo evitar pensar que lo escogió para robarle ventas al clásico de Schmid.

[bimbimmm]

Thank you kind sir. thank you.

[Robert Morris]

My alla prima bible, I loved this book and often refer back to it.