Look Again: How to Experience the Old Masters

by Ossian Ward

An approachable guide to Old Master paintings from a new perspective that offers a simple aid to looking at and demystifying the often obscure strategies of the greatest painters of all time. This book engages with some of history’s greatest art, from the spectacular theatrics of Bosch to the luminous scenes of Giotto, and starts with the idea that the art of the past can and should be seen from the viewpoint of a contemporary observer of visual culture―rather than just an elitist, academic interpretation. Ossian Ward’s simple, ten-step guide acts as an aid to looking at and breaking down the often obscure strategies of the Old Masters into intuitive categories―from Art as Honesty to Art as Vision. Just as contemporary art should be judged by how it moves us, cajoles our senses, and envelops us, so too can the great paintings of history be seen as immersive, captivating, and even participatory experiences. Look Again does not deny the specific complexities and barriers associated with looking at art from other eras, instead it offers methods that not only provide the viewer with the tools to interpret the art, but also assumes that we intuitively hold some of this knowledge within ourselves already. 100 color illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

176 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2019

Reviews

[Brendan]

Look Again touts itself as a "how to look at paintings" book, and the first several chapters indeed go through a rather complicated multi-factored process for looking at old masters. After that, however, the book largely departs from the process and examines the different objectives that the old masters sought to capture and present: beauty, horror, whimsy and more. There are ample full-page color photos of the paintings, many of them famous, others less so. Look Again assumes some knowledge of art history and famous artists and is a next level book that looks more closely at the content of paintings than at the history of different styles.

[Alyssa King]

A nice trip down memory lane for a former art history student.

[Katheryn Thompson]

An interesting and beautifully illustrated book. Recommended for anyone who wants to know more about 'the Old Masters', or really about viewing paintings in general.

[Mike_msc]

Красивое издание, качественные иллюстрации, но содержания в тексте автора практически никакого. Зачем-то представленная в виде аббревиатуры методика "постижения смысла" картин больше напоминает маркетинновую уловку, увеличивающую продажи современных книг (и исскусствоведческих, видимо, тоже).

[Roku]

Personally, I wish there was a little less focus on religious art. Other than that, great book.

[Tiffany]

Nice small size and beautiful glossy photos for a book of this type. Not a giant, heavy coffee table size. Detail is lost, of course, but it's readable.

[Dr. Michael Van Hoffman PHD]

The best resource for understanding art and the artists perspective!

[Soumya Sehgal]

A great read.

[ME]

Well obviously I'm not reading this in GREEK! But Goodreads doesn't seem to have the English translation version in their database, and requesting a book addition is ridiculously complicated! But this is the content of the book I'm reading, regardless of the language, so... .
Finished it on the 12 hour car-ride home from the beach. Great way to pass the time. Once past the immensely practical and helpful T.A.B.U.L.A R.A.S.A section it is more of a commentary on particular pieces of art that fall into the various categories Ward has selected. Interesting. Appetite whetting. But not particularly helpful like the first section. A very informative read, though, no matter how you look at it... pun intended.

[Patricia Dias de Almeida]

A new way of seeing the old.

Art as philosophy, honesty, drama, beauty, horror, paradox, folly and vision.