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Every Picture Hides a Story: The Secret Ways Artists Make Their Work More Seductive
Each year 11 million people trek to the Louvre to gawk at the Mona Lisa. Many visitors clutch guide books in hand describing the painting. For some, it's the experience of a lifetime, one they'll talk about with friends and family for decades. Yet some modern researchers say that the vast majority of people will never recognize the hidden messages in this painting. That's because those hidden messages are subliminal. Buried below the threshold of conscious awareness, Da Vinci used techniques people never notice. Not only don't people know what they're seeing, they would be shocked to find out. A surprisingly large number of famous paintings fall into the same category. That is, they employ subliminal techniques to enhance the effectiveness of the work or to encode messages within portraits and landscapes. No book, however, has ever attempted to provide an overview of the technical sophistication and arcane methods that artists worldwide have used to conceal secret meaning in their work. Every Picture Hides a Story is the first book to expose the subliminal content in the world's greatest paintings. Titillating, subversive, and building on the groundbreaking work of pioneers of art criticism, this book will enable readers to view art masterpieces with greater understanding. And their enjoyment of these works will be exponentially enhanced. This full-color book contains 90 images of the paintings and their details.
- GenresArtNonfictionHistory
312 pages, Hardcover
Published November 15, 2022
About the author
William Cane
29 books22 followersWilliam Cane has had a distinguished career as a professor of English at CUNY and Boston College, where he helped a generation of students improve their prose. Cane is the author of six books, including the international bestseller THE ART OF KISSING (St. Martin’s 1991; revised editions 1995 and 2005), which sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S. and was translated into nineteen languages. The tremendous popularity of this title launched a series of successful follow-up books with St. Martins: THE BOOK OF KISSES (1993), THE ART OF HUGGING (1996), THE ART OF KISSING BOOK OF QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (1999), and KISS LIKE A STAR (2007). Cane’s self-help title THE BIRTH ORDER BOOK OF LOVE was published by Da Capo / Perseus Books in 2008. His book WRITE LIKE THE MASTERS was published by Writer’s Digest in 2009.
An attorney and a highly sought-after speaker on the college lecture circuit, Cane has appeared on almost every major television talk show, including Today, The View, and CBS This Morning. His work has been featured in print and electronic media internationally and has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Elle, and Seventeen.
An attorney and a highly sought-after speaker on the college lecture circuit, Cane has appeared on almost every major television talk show, including Today, The View, and CBS This Morning. His work has been featured in print and electronic media internationally and has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Elle, and Seventeen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 21, 2022
Did I just earn an Art degree reading this?! This is so well written and well researched. I know next to nothing about art, but this book made the learning fun. Highly recommend for a reader that’s newer to art and open minded! Thank you Netgalley and Rowman and Littlefield for the free review copy!
March 23, 2023
Love this book! Reads like a wild journey through time with a fun loving guide whose enthusiasm about art is contagious. I learned so much already and loved the narratives about the artists which sometimes made me feel like I was there with them. What's hidden in the paintings described is amazing. It filled me with a greater appreciation for art and the desire to see the paintings in person. Louvre, here I come!
January 23, 2023
I feel that people don’t often take the time to appreciate the craftsmanship of art. Especially now, in a world where too much attention is given to NFTs and AI art (though perhaps I am guilty of it too, mentioning it as I am), we neglect to appreciate the time, the energy, and effort of making art. I cannot help but think the book's subject is about as poignant as its timeliness. It makes sure to shine a light on art in such a way that the average enjoyer can better understand the work they are viewing and the average artist can learn.
March 30, 2023
I'm really, really baffled by who the target audience is for this book. The language is juvenile - often outright childish - while some of the content is not. Although even the rather more grown-up topics - such as exactly what Adam and Eve were doing in Michelangelo's pre-expulsion Eden - is handled coyly. And for every single artist addressed in the book there is a (happily) brief exchange at the section's beginning, consisting of an extraordinary, bizarre snippet of "conversation" with or about or to the artist, featuring a level of offensive familiarity which would probably have gotten the authors pummeled by at least a few of the artists discussed (if not all). These horrible intros are only slightly worse than the style of the book as a whole, which is scattered throughout with so many exclamation points that some pages look like birthday cupcakes, covered in sprinkles.
I regret to say I saved examples, and will now inflict them upon the reader:
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! I can’t take it! Don’t— please don’t make me stand like this! It’s killing me! My arm feels like it’s breaking! In actuality, although she loved his work, the princess was bored with the hours she had to stand still as a model for Ingres. But she didn’t really complain about her arm aching."
"And so the Big Wig was tight with Caravaggio" - This is how Caravaggio's patron Alof de Wignacourt is almost exclusively referred to in the section. It was truly nauseating.
"Then last, but certainly not least, good old Kilmty! Oops! Did we say Klimty? . . . Well, you’ll just have to wait and see why that moniker slipped out." (The typo is a lagniappe.)
"good old Velázquez" - It's so ... jolly.
"When you hear about Michelangelo’s next bit of tomfoolery you may gasp at its scope and viciousness. Just keep in mind his temperament as you consider what he did." I ... didn't gasp. And it wasn't vicious or all that ... scope-y. But at least the artist wasn't referred to as "Mike". (If only he had been - I could have quit right then and saved myself the pain.)
"Little Berty" - that's Berthe Morisot. Lashings of respect for the artist, right? That's even better than constantly referring to Velázquez as *gag*cough*gag* "the Big V". (I'm so sorry.)
"Now sit tight as you hear her story!" I'm sorry, did the authors expect a five year old reader?
What I was expecting from this book: Long ago, at the dawn of time, I went to art school. One of the art history teachers took her classroom of young adult artists at 3:00 in the afternoon, turned off the lights, and showed a series of bad slides of work somewhat close to what was in the book, ignoring the (literal) snores of her students as she basically read the textbook to us. The other art history teacher would sit cross-legged on the table at the front of the class, and talk. She told stories about the artists, about the cultures, about the works; she provided context and background; she made it live. When I requested this book from Netgalley, I expected it to be filled with the sort of thing she told us every week. Example: Caravaggio's Conversion of Saul. In this painting, Saul has just been knocked off his horse by a brilliant light; he was riding away from the viewer, and has fallen toward you - and the horse is angled away from you. Debbie - our teacher - pointed out that probably the first thing you see when you look at this picture is, frankly, the horse's rump. The horse is a piebald, black and white, and takes up a large percentage of the canvas - particularly that large black and white tuchus. Debbie told us that Benedictine monks wear black and white habits. And Caravaggio had a deep loathing for Benedictines. So the position of the horse, the prominent anatomy presented to the viewer, and its color, is a very intentional commentary. I know there was a lot more, but it was a long time ago ... But I never have forgotten that tidbit, because it deepens my understanding of the painting, and of the artist. And it was hilarious.
I was harboring hopes when I saw that Caravaggio was one of the artists discussed in this book. I didn't get The Conversion of Saul, though. Instead, I got "that portrait of the Big Wig shows him holding his staff suggestively!" and "that shadow in Supper at Emmaus looks like a fish!" OK. Thanks. Oh, and "That bit of the weave of that basket looks like half of the ichthys!" No, it doesn't = and if it did, it wouldn't be too surprising since the icthys consists of two curved lines. Half of that is one curved line. There are a lot of curved lines in art. Especially when the item being depicted is a woven basket. Elsewhere, in discussion of a portrait of Cleopatra, much is made of the fact that she's wearing a headdress with a rearing cobra. Somehow missing the point that the Egyptians who created her jewelry would have been using symbolism too, and this is more an example of the artist having done his homework than of hiding meaning in the painting.
That's how it was all the way through. There are lots of breathless, overblown promises:
"Buried below the threshold of conscious awareness, our wily friend Leonardo may have encoded an unseen subversion of gender roles. Not only don’t people know what they’re seeing, they would be shocked to find out."
"No one who has looked at the works of the most accomplished Spanish painter of all time has seen everything that we are about to reveal."
"But be forewarned— what you’re about to see firsthand has been ignored and missed by every other art critic to date!"
"we’re going to uncover a final secret that it contains, a secret that no commentator has ever mentioned— or noticed. This secret concerns the way people interact with one another every day of their lives."
As I mention below, I learned a couple of things - none of which was new ground being broken by this book. The "revelations" promised throughout were all ... not much of anything.
So much of what was asserted in this book was odd, silly, obvious, or just plain wrong that it began to be painful after a while. A short while.
"As we mentioned in the introduction, some people are fearful, skeptical, and unbelieving when you tell them that there are symbols hidden or embedded in works of art" - I'm sorry, are "some people" new? I suppose if you've never come within a light year of an art history class of any sort you might not know about symbols being used in art, but - - that's not the sort of person this is aimed at, is it? It goes back to my initial question of who the audience is. It's presented as something that will take an art lover's basic knowledge and deepen it, not as a primer for someone whose first thought on hearing artists' names is of turtles. In the end, it doesn't accomplish either task, so the question is pointless.
"Incidentally, why should the whole issue of subliminal advertising matter to you? After all, this isn’t a book about advertising, it’s a book about art and the way famous artists have employed sophisticated techniques to hide things in their work." Seriously, out there reading this - have ANY of you not heard of Joe Camel? Anyone?
Caravaggio is not "the quiet and well-mannered artist you might imagine when thinking of a Renaissance artist" ...Like Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo (who the authors just got finished describing as "obstreperous" and "impetuously lashing out at his critics", and whose "tomfoolery" was supposed to make me gasp in shock)? Those quiet and well-mannered gentlemen?
"The painting is unabashedly erotic because the girl is naked, after all" - Which ... I don't even know where to start.
"Satyrs are half man, half horse" NO THEY ARE NOT. (see, this is what started to happen in my notes on the book. I started using as many exclamation points as the authors did (almost), and caps.) (And foul language.)
"...The scene in Nymphs and Satyr is highly idealized. That is to say, there’s no splashing or mud spatter on the bodies of the nymphs." I'm sorry - show me an artist prior to the warts-and-all (or focus-on-the-warts) 20th century who ever put in all the mud. That's a great part of what art has been ... forever: idealized reality.
Phallic symbol after phallic symbol is pointed out - sometimes as the only "hidden" things in any given painting. And, yes, sure, ok, even pre-Freud I'm sure a slew of those long skinny objects really were intentional phallic symbols, especially given that a lot of these paintings were by men in their 20's. But it strains credulity that ALL of the long skinny objects were intentional phallic symbols. What was that Freud said about cigars?
"In photography this blurred background is known technically as bokeh" - I mean ... no, it's not. A blurry background is the result of the lens focusing on something else. When it's done intentionally, in a very specific technique (and since 1997, when the first use of the term seems to have occurred) then sure, it's bokeh.
"Tennyson tells us that the Lady [of Shallott] lays down" - lays what down?
The bodice of Sargent's "Madame X" (used on the book's cover, so - see for yourself above) ... brace yourself: "functions on a subliminal level as a magnified and enlarged image of a face— those two black loops being the eyes, and the upper part of her chest and shoulders being the forehead of an enlarged face." Whose face? Zorro's???? I mean ... ?!?!?!?
"Here, Madame’s high contrast level— dark reddish hair and extra-pale skin tone— give her a high contrast level." That's deep, man.
"It hardly need be said that the decision to feature the nude youth must have been a conscious choice of the artist." THEN WHY DID YOU SAY IT?! This attitude - that everything in a painting is not under the full control of the artist - is either something the authors think everyone else thinks, or is something they're none too sure of themselves, as they're endlessly surprised at shadows and backgrounds and, yes, symbols.
"When we showed [John William Godward's 'Dolce Far Niente'] to a forensic pathologist— a person who testifies in court about murder cases— he stated quite bluntly that the posture looked like a death scene." This opinion is apparently based on the fact that the model is lying on her side with her knees drawn up, lying on a "haphazard" arrangement of furs. Well, authors, that position happens to be almost exactly how I sleep most nights - and if you look at the furs, you'll see that they're spread out so that every part of her but her lower legs and feet are cushioned by them. They're not as tidy as a bed with hospital corners - but the disarray isn't a sign of a struggle. (But hey - thanks for defining "forensic pathologist" for me.)
This was just terrible writing: "Godward’s parents became estranged from him, and because of his suicide they even went so far as to destroy references to their son in family records." Why is this bad writing? Because it's the second time in a very few pages that the reader is told that the parents erased Godward from their family history - but it's the first time they let slip the little detail that he committed suicide.
The authors constantly show a weird exclusive bias toward fine art as possibly the only worthwhile field of study. Pre-twentieth century representational fine art, and only that, mind you!
"His influence— with his distortions and unusual anatomical perspective— led to some of the worst excesses in modern art, including the absurdities of cubism. Picasso seized on the idea, and as Tom Wolfe and Fred Ross point out, used it as an excuse to paint in such an unrealistic manner that art critics— desperate for something new to hang their hat on— elevated him to the status of a competent artist despite the fact that his drawing skills never advanced much further than those of a fledgling art student."
YIKES. I'm not a fan of Cubism either, but I've never slandered Picasso's ability to DRAW. What - those who can, paint; those who can't, Cubist? The authors slander Impressionists a bit too - I mean, why else would you want your work to be impressionistic unless you were trying to disguise a lack of draftsmanship?
"The modern Guggenheim, where curators regularly exhibit works of debatable merit ... When people go to the Guggenheim or other museums of modern art, they don’t have that specific intention, that is, they think they’re going to see good art and are then shocked by the garbage that’s on display"...
OK. Wow. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I don't loathe a lot of modern art. I'm not going to pretend that that moment the authors describe - of walking into a room filled with abstract art and truly wondering if the artists were pulling an elaborate, horrifyingly successful con on gullible patrons who will see what they're told to see and think what they're told to think - that this didn't happen once to a friend and me in New Haven. But WOW. This was - I thought - meant to be a form of art history book, not a personal diatribe.
The authors certainly know nothing about literature: "In literature, a writer is said to have created a three-dimensional character when the individual possesses characteristics that ring true, usually because they go against type. A sheriff may have a foible or weakness that makes him less than perfect, a preacher may yearn for worldly goods, or a wife may have an affair." Yes. Yes, absolutely, all the writing advice manuals suggest exactly this method for making a character three-dimensional. That's literally all it takes. Brilliant.
"Isn’t architecture, after all, a tedious study of blueprints and stress factors and load weights? Isn’t architecture rock and stone and masonry? How could such a subject ever help a painter, especially one like Godward, whose specialty all his life was fair maidens, even a few tastefully depicted nude ladies swathed in ancient Greek and Roman togas and soft diaphanous gowns?" *paging Peter Grant ... would Peter Grant please report for duty*
I did learn a couple of things. I hadn't known, or remembered, that the slab the David was carved from was basically a reject of other artists, and the size and shape constrained Michelangelo's posing of the figure. That's great. I'd never heard of a "licked finish" before (though I had to go online to get a better definition telling WHY it's called that). I didn't know (or really care) that Oprah Winfrey bought Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer II - and then sold it to a Chinese collector, which I wish I hadn't known. Apart from that I collected a short list of books to look for at some point - hopefully by writers with less nauseating styles and more data. One more quote: "You’ll probably be eager to tell your friends what they’ve been missing, too!" No. No, I'm not. I'm eager to tell my friends to avoid this book. Because despite all of these assertions, there is very little substance to what is "revealed". If any.
Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Sorry about that.
I regret to say I saved examples, and will now inflict them upon the reader:
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! I can’t take it! Don’t— please don’t make me stand like this! It’s killing me! My arm feels like it’s breaking! In actuality, although she loved his work, the princess was bored with the hours she had to stand still as a model for Ingres. But she didn’t really complain about her arm aching."
"And so the Big Wig was tight with Caravaggio" - This is how Caravaggio's patron Alof de Wignacourt is almost exclusively referred to in the section. It was truly nauseating.
"Then last, but certainly not least, good old Kilmty! Oops! Did we say Klimty? . . . Well, you’ll just have to wait and see why that moniker slipped out." (The typo is a lagniappe.)
"good old Velázquez" - It's so ... jolly.
"When you hear about Michelangelo’s next bit of tomfoolery you may gasp at its scope and viciousness. Just keep in mind his temperament as you consider what he did." I ... didn't gasp. And it wasn't vicious or all that ... scope-y. But at least the artist wasn't referred to as "Mike". (If only he had been - I could have quit right then and saved myself the pain.)
"Little Berty" - that's Berthe Morisot. Lashings of respect for the artist, right? That's even better than constantly referring to Velázquez as *gag*cough*gag* "the Big V". (I'm so sorry.)
"Now sit tight as you hear her story!" I'm sorry, did the authors expect a five year old reader?
What I was expecting from this book: Long ago, at the dawn of time, I went to art school. One of the art history teachers took her classroom of young adult artists at 3:00 in the afternoon, turned off the lights, and showed a series of bad slides of work somewhat close to what was in the book, ignoring the (literal) snores of her students as she basically read the textbook to us. The other art history teacher would sit cross-legged on the table at the front of the class, and talk. She told stories about the artists, about the cultures, about the works; she provided context and background; she made it live. When I requested this book from Netgalley, I expected it to be filled with the sort of thing she told us every week. Example: Caravaggio's Conversion of Saul. In this painting, Saul has just been knocked off his horse by a brilliant light; he was riding away from the viewer, and has fallen toward you - and the horse is angled away from you. Debbie - our teacher - pointed out that probably the first thing you see when you look at this picture is, frankly, the horse's rump. The horse is a piebald, black and white, and takes up a large percentage of the canvas - particularly that large black and white tuchus. Debbie told us that Benedictine monks wear black and white habits. And Caravaggio had a deep loathing for Benedictines. So the position of the horse, the prominent anatomy presented to the viewer, and its color, is a very intentional commentary. I know there was a lot more, but it was a long time ago ... But I never have forgotten that tidbit, because it deepens my understanding of the painting, and of the artist. And it was hilarious.
I was harboring hopes when I saw that Caravaggio was one of the artists discussed in this book. I didn't get The Conversion of Saul, though. Instead, I got "that portrait of the Big Wig shows him holding his staff suggestively!" and "that shadow in Supper at Emmaus looks like a fish!" OK. Thanks. Oh, and "That bit of the weave of that basket looks like half of the ichthys!" No, it doesn't = and if it did, it wouldn't be too surprising since the icthys consists of two curved lines. Half of that is one curved line. There are a lot of curved lines in art. Especially when the item being depicted is a woven basket. Elsewhere, in discussion of a portrait of Cleopatra, much is made of the fact that she's wearing a headdress with a rearing cobra. Somehow missing the point that the Egyptians who created her jewelry would have been using symbolism too, and this is more an example of the artist having done his homework than of hiding meaning in the painting.
That's how it was all the way through. There are lots of breathless, overblown promises:
"Buried below the threshold of conscious awareness, our wily friend Leonardo may have encoded an unseen subversion of gender roles. Not only don’t people know what they’re seeing, they would be shocked to find out."
"No one who has looked at the works of the most accomplished Spanish painter of all time has seen everything that we are about to reveal."
"But be forewarned— what you’re about to see firsthand has been ignored and missed by every other art critic to date!"
"we’re going to uncover a final secret that it contains, a secret that no commentator has ever mentioned— or noticed. This secret concerns the way people interact with one another every day of their lives."
As I mention below, I learned a couple of things - none of which was new ground being broken by this book. The "revelations" promised throughout were all ... not much of anything.
So much of what was asserted in this book was odd, silly, obvious, or just plain wrong that it began to be painful after a while. A short while.
"As we mentioned in the introduction, some people are fearful, skeptical, and unbelieving when you tell them that there are symbols hidden or embedded in works of art" - I'm sorry, are "some people" new? I suppose if you've never come within a light year of an art history class of any sort you might not know about symbols being used in art, but - - that's not the sort of person this is aimed at, is it? It goes back to my initial question of who the audience is. It's presented as something that will take an art lover's basic knowledge and deepen it, not as a primer for someone whose first thought on hearing artists' names is of turtles. In the end, it doesn't accomplish either task, so the question is pointless.
"Incidentally, why should the whole issue of subliminal advertising matter to you? After all, this isn’t a book about advertising, it’s a book about art and the way famous artists have employed sophisticated techniques to hide things in their work." Seriously, out there reading this - have ANY of you not heard of Joe Camel? Anyone?
Caravaggio is not "the quiet and well-mannered artist you might imagine when thinking of a Renaissance artist" ...Like Da Vinci, Raphael, and Michelangelo (who the authors just got finished describing as "obstreperous" and "impetuously lashing out at his critics", and whose "tomfoolery" was supposed to make me gasp in shock)? Those quiet and well-mannered gentlemen?
"The painting is unabashedly erotic because the girl is naked, after all" - Which ... I don't even know where to start.
"Satyrs are half man, half horse" NO THEY ARE NOT. (see, this is what started to happen in my notes on the book. I started using as many exclamation points as the authors did (almost), and caps.) (And foul language.)
"...The scene in Nymphs and Satyr is highly idealized. That is to say, there’s no splashing or mud spatter on the bodies of the nymphs." I'm sorry - show me an artist prior to the warts-and-all (or focus-on-the-warts) 20th century who ever put in all the mud. That's a great part of what art has been ... forever: idealized reality.
Phallic symbol after phallic symbol is pointed out - sometimes as the only "hidden" things in any given painting. And, yes, sure, ok, even pre-Freud I'm sure a slew of those long skinny objects really were intentional phallic symbols, especially given that a lot of these paintings were by men in their 20's. But it strains credulity that ALL of the long skinny objects were intentional phallic symbols. What was that Freud said about cigars?
"In photography this blurred background is known technically as bokeh" - I mean ... no, it's not. A blurry background is the result of the lens focusing on something else. When it's done intentionally, in a very specific technique (and since 1997, when the first use of the term seems to have occurred) then sure, it's bokeh.
"Tennyson tells us that the Lady [of Shallott] lays down" - lays what down?
The bodice of Sargent's "Madame X" (used on the book's cover, so - see for yourself above) ... brace yourself: "functions on a subliminal level as a magnified and enlarged image of a face— those two black loops being the eyes, and the upper part of her chest and shoulders being the forehead of an enlarged face." Whose face? Zorro's???? I mean ... ?!?!?!?
"Here, Madame’s high contrast level— dark reddish hair and extra-pale skin tone— give her a high contrast level." That's deep, man.
"It hardly need be said that the decision to feature the nude youth must have been a conscious choice of the artist." THEN WHY DID YOU SAY IT?! This attitude - that everything in a painting is not under the full control of the artist - is either something the authors think everyone else thinks, or is something they're none too sure of themselves, as they're endlessly surprised at shadows and backgrounds and, yes, symbols.
"When we showed [John William Godward's 'Dolce Far Niente'] to a forensic pathologist— a person who testifies in court about murder cases— he stated quite bluntly that the posture looked like a death scene." This opinion is apparently based on the fact that the model is lying on her side with her knees drawn up, lying on a "haphazard" arrangement of furs. Well, authors, that position happens to be almost exactly how I sleep most nights - and if you look at the furs, you'll see that they're spread out so that every part of her but her lower legs and feet are cushioned by them. They're not as tidy as a bed with hospital corners - but the disarray isn't a sign of a struggle. (But hey - thanks for defining "forensic pathologist" for me.)
This was just terrible writing: "Godward’s parents became estranged from him, and because of his suicide they even went so far as to destroy references to their son in family records." Why is this bad writing? Because it's the second time in a very few pages that the reader is told that the parents erased Godward from their family history - but it's the first time they let slip the little detail that he committed suicide.
The authors constantly show a weird exclusive bias toward fine art as possibly the only worthwhile field of study. Pre-twentieth century representational fine art, and only that, mind you!
"His influence— with his distortions and unusual anatomical perspective— led to some of the worst excesses in modern art, including the absurdities of cubism. Picasso seized on the idea, and as Tom Wolfe and Fred Ross point out, used it as an excuse to paint in such an unrealistic manner that art critics— desperate for something new to hang their hat on— elevated him to the status of a competent artist despite the fact that his drawing skills never advanced much further than those of a fledgling art student."
YIKES. I'm not a fan of Cubism either, but I've never slandered Picasso's ability to DRAW. What - those who can, paint; those who can't, Cubist? The authors slander Impressionists a bit too - I mean, why else would you want your work to be impressionistic unless you were trying to disguise a lack of draftsmanship?
"The modern Guggenheim, where curators regularly exhibit works of debatable merit ... When people go to the Guggenheim or other museums of modern art, they don’t have that specific intention, that is, they think they’re going to see good art and are then shocked by the garbage that’s on display"...
OK. Wow. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and pretend I don't loathe a lot of modern art. I'm not going to pretend that that moment the authors describe - of walking into a room filled with abstract art and truly wondering if the artists were pulling an elaborate, horrifyingly successful con on gullible patrons who will see what they're told to see and think what they're told to think - that this didn't happen once to a friend and me in New Haven. But WOW. This was - I thought - meant to be a form of art history book, not a personal diatribe.
The authors certainly know nothing about literature: "In literature, a writer is said to have created a three-dimensional character when the individual possesses characteristics that ring true, usually because they go against type. A sheriff may have a foible or weakness that makes him less than perfect, a preacher may yearn for worldly goods, or a wife may have an affair." Yes. Yes, absolutely, all the writing advice manuals suggest exactly this method for making a character three-dimensional. That's literally all it takes. Brilliant.
"Isn’t architecture, after all, a tedious study of blueprints and stress factors and load weights? Isn’t architecture rock and stone and masonry? How could such a subject ever help a painter, especially one like Godward, whose specialty all his life was fair maidens, even a few tastefully depicted nude ladies swathed in ancient Greek and Roman togas and soft diaphanous gowns?" *paging Peter Grant ... would Peter Grant please report for duty*
I did learn a couple of things. I hadn't known, or remembered, that the slab the David was carved from was basically a reject of other artists, and the size and shape constrained Michelangelo's posing of the figure. That's great. I'd never heard of a "licked finish" before (though I had to go online to get a better definition telling WHY it's called that). I didn't know (or really care) that Oprah Winfrey bought Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer II - and then sold it to a Chinese collector, which I wish I hadn't known. Apart from that I collected a short list of books to look for at some point - hopefully by writers with less nauseating styles and more data. One more quote: "You’ll probably be eager to tell your friends what they’ve been missing, too!" No. No, I'm not. I'm eager to tell my friends to avoid this book. Because despite all of these assertions, there is very little substance to what is "revealed". If any.
Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Sorry about that.
June 26, 2024
There is almost more to a work of art that meets the eye. Whether you love or hate art, you might enjoy learning about the secret clues, double meanings, and subliminal messages that centuries of visual artists have included in their paintings and sculptures. For example, you might already know the rumor that Leonardo Da Vinci used himself as a model for the Mona Lisa. But did you know that he purposefully painted her smile to change appearance, depending on whether or not you’re looking straight at it, thus forcing your eye to keep coming back to it? Or you might know that neo-classical nudity brought excitement to Renaissance art, but did you know Michelangelo humiliated one of his critics by including him naked in a massive painting? Or that the serpent tempting Eve on the Sistine Chapel, wrapped around a blatantly phallic tree, has a woman’s breast? Or that the God of creation, pointing a finger at Adam, is floating inside a giant human brain? Once you see such things, you can’t un-see them. You might know that Van Gogh cut off his ear, but did you know some of his most famous paintings were secretly religious in composition? With tales of these and other famous artists, the authors (an English professor and an airline pilot, for whom art is a passion rather than a career) convey their obvious delight in looking closely at art and trying to decipher the artists’ hidden intentions. If nothing else, parents might pick up a few tricks for helping their kids get more out of trips to the art museum.
February 6, 2023
A Look at What Makes Art Amazing:
I absolutely adore Impressionism, and this book definitely delivered with analysis on many of the most famous Impressionist painters. And they start off with a bang: discussing beyond the smudged edges of the Mona Lisa smile to add new depths to the most well-known painting in the world. I loved learning more about the symbolism and historical significance of pieces of the background and even the subject (like the importance of Adele Bloch-Bauer in Klimt’s works) in so many major works. It was like combining pieces of a puzzle to discover a bigger message or reading a well-done mystery where every clue is meant to add depth to the topic. Cane and Gabrielle are excellent at tying historical analyses with psychoanalysis and scientific research to create interesting thoughts and theories on art’s history from da Vinci’s androgyny to the symbolism in Klimt’s flat perspectives.
If you like literary analysis, art history, or Impressionism as evolved through Realism and the Renaissance, this book is absolutely for you!
I absolutely adore Impressionism, and this book definitely delivered with analysis on many of the most famous Impressionist painters. And they start off with a bang: discussing beyond the smudged edges of the Mona Lisa smile to add new depths to the most well-known painting in the world. I loved learning more about the symbolism and historical significance of pieces of the background and even the subject (like the importance of Adele Bloch-Bauer in Klimt’s works) in so many major works. It was like combining pieces of a puzzle to discover a bigger message or reading a well-done mystery where every clue is meant to add depth to the topic. Cane and Gabrielle are excellent at tying historical analyses with psychoanalysis and scientific research to create interesting thoughts and theories on art’s history from da Vinci’s androgyny to the symbolism in Klimt’s flat perspectives.
If you like literary analysis, art history, or Impressionism as evolved through Realism and the Renaissance, this book is absolutely for you!
March 4, 2023
Every Picture Hides a Story is a fascinating book about the subliminal messages and symbols hidden in paintings from some of the world’s most famous artists. A book of this topic is unprecedented, and the amount of research that must have gone into its creation is astounding. Even though these are classic paintings and, therefore, already have a lot written about them, Cane and Gabrielle have added to the discussion. Their passion for the subject is palpable, and the book is still accessible to even those who, like me, aren’t in the art community and aren’t art critics. Not only does it give new meaning to classic paintings but it also gives new life to the subject of art criticism.
March 28, 2023
In college, I took a few art history courses and loved them! We would sit an analyze historic paintings and learn the different techniques in how they were painted. When I learned of this book, I was very intrigued to see what hidden meanings are behind these paintings that are so familiar. This book did not disappoint! It provided different theories behind some of the most famous paintings and even provided some background on the artists’ lives and how some even got revenge through their works. It opened my eyes to look at these pieces in a completely different light, particularly regarding the Sistine Chapel! I also loved the witty writing that made the reading even more interesting. The artists are all featured in chronological order based on their birthdates. You can pick and choose what to read, but as the author suggests, reading it in order will show the progress of art and help you understand it more.
January 18, 2023
This was a good relaxing read that I felt like I could read at my leisure. I learned a lot while reading this and the author presented information in an easy-to-understand and casual way. As an art lover, this book was a smorgasbord of tidbits of information about various well-known artists and while I enjoyed it, I felt that there was plenty of room for more detail and a greater focus in some areas.
August 16, 2022
I was delighted to discover three of my favorite subjects combined in this title, namely: art, history and symbolism. The writers combine these topics seamlessly and with finesse in a light, free flowing style.
The book takes you on a captivating and high-spirited jaunt through history that begins with Leonardo and ends with Gustav Klimt. There are 22 chapters attributed to 22 individual artists. Each chapter brings you somewhere in media res of the artist’s life. For example, the chapter on Degas opens up with him at a performance inside the Paris Opera.
Not only does this lend a magical element of surprise, but it also allows the observation of the artists in a historical setting. A wonderful concept that I have never seen utilized so well in art books. This form of historical analysis has the advantage over the typical recitation of dates and facts because it engages a reader’s empathy. The approach greatly enhanced my understanding of the masterpieces.
The examination of each painting often begins with an explanation of how it is understood by those art experts renowned for their knowledge of the particular artist (loosely following academic protocol). Thereafter is the authors detailed and original exploration of the artwork with discussion of hidden symbolism. I personally found that the revelations ranged anywhere from eye-opening to jaw-dropping.
Lastly, I greatly enjoyed the quirky playfulness in the presentation. Hiring independent art tour guides is becoming increasingly popular and people who hire them look for these attributes. Art is intimidating to many and having a guide who is knowledgeable and animated about their subject and yet relaxed and sometimes downright silly goes a long way in removing mental barriers, and self-consciousness that might prevent an individual from fully enjoying an artwork. The best independent art guides use this technique. All in all, masterfully done.
The book takes you on a captivating and high-spirited jaunt through history that begins with Leonardo and ends with Gustav Klimt. There are 22 chapters attributed to 22 individual artists. Each chapter brings you somewhere in media res of the artist’s life. For example, the chapter on Degas opens up with him at a performance inside the Paris Opera.
Not only does this lend a magical element of surprise, but it also allows the observation of the artists in a historical setting. A wonderful concept that I have never seen utilized so well in art books. This form of historical analysis has the advantage over the typical recitation of dates and facts because it engages a reader’s empathy. The approach greatly enhanced my understanding of the masterpieces.
The examination of each painting often begins with an explanation of how it is understood by those art experts renowned for their knowledge of the particular artist (loosely following academic protocol). Thereafter is the authors detailed and original exploration of the artwork with discussion of hidden symbolism. I personally found that the revelations ranged anywhere from eye-opening to jaw-dropping.
Lastly, I greatly enjoyed the quirky playfulness in the presentation. Hiring independent art tour guides is becoming increasingly popular and people who hire them look for these attributes. Art is intimidating to many and having a guide who is knowledgeable and animated about their subject and yet relaxed and sometimes downright silly goes a long way in removing mental barriers, and self-consciousness that might prevent an individual from fully enjoying an artwork. The best independent art guides use this technique. All in all, masterfully done.
January 28, 2023
As an avid art enthusiast and hobbyist (and art minor), I can honestly say this book is filled with treasures galore!!! Navigating the works of nearly two dozen artists, Cane and Gabrielle share thought-provoking and sometimes almost irreverent (or cheeky:)) tidbits of both well-known and lesser-known works. With ease and informality, they not only provide great information about the historical context and description of the pieces, but they thread in humor and a story-telling-like narrative to keep readers engaged throughout the book.
I was very taken with just how new and exciting this read felt, helping me to re-imagine the intent behind some of my favorite works and challenging some of my thoughts. That's what I love about art so much; it can be interpreted and discussed into a realm of timelessness. Just a really well-thought out, researched, and explored group of masterpieces and their creators. Fascinating read.
I was very taken with just how new and exciting this read felt, helping me to re-imagine the intent behind some of my favorite works and challenging some of my thoughts. That's what I love about art so much; it can be interpreted and discussed into a realm of timelessness. Just a really well-thought out, researched, and explored group of masterpieces and their creators. Fascinating read.
January 24, 2023
I definitely don't remember learning this in art history class! This book takes a fascinating approach, pointing out secret symbols, messages and meanings in some of history's greatest and most famous works of art.
From da Vinci and Michelangelo to Monet and Klimt, the authors lay out clear and compelling arguments for deeper meanings and subliminal messages hidden behind and within art. Was the Mona Lisa truly a composite of both male and female features? As the book states, once you see it it's hard to "un-see."
This is a great exploration of art that provides a fun new perspective for even the most casual admirer.
From da Vinci and Michelangelo to Monet and Klimt, the authors lay out clear and compelling arguments for deeper meanings and subliminal messages hidden behind and within art. Was the Mona Lisa truly a composite of both male and female features? As the book states, once you see it it's hard to "un-see."
This is a great exploration of art that provides a fun new perspective for even the most casual admirer.
April 19, 2023
I enjoyed this book more when I began reading it than when I read further. It was a well put together book, offering many famous works of art to enjoy, along with interesting background and insights about the artists. It even had slick glossy pages that showed the works of art to perfection.
What I enjoyed less the more I read was the apparent need to attach meaning to every minute detail of each painting. Not a shadow or a wrinkle was allowed to exist without being assigned a subliminal message. And those meanings tended overwhelmingly to translate to the erotic. No vaguely cylindrical object—not a church steeple in the distance, or a pointing finger-escaped exposure as an obvious phallic symbol.
A wrinkle in a lady’s voluminous sleeve, the twinkle in an eye, a piece of fruit in a basket? A branch on a tree? Were they really what they seemed? No, all ingenious messages skillfully slipped in by the artist to whisper “lust” to the beholder. I found this first laughable, then annoying. After all, Freud himself said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
When I quit reading the explanations and instead, just looked at the masterpieces, I found the book much more enjoyable, and gave it 4 stars for its lovely presentation of art and its overall high quality.
What I enjoyed less the more I read was the apparent need to attach meaning to every minute detail of each painting. Not a shadow or a wrinkle was allowed to exist without being assigned a subliminal message. And those meanings tended overwhelmingly to translate to the erotic. No vaguely cylindrical object—not a church steeple in the distance, or a pointing finger-escaped exposure as an obvious phallic symbol.
A wrinkle in a lady’s voluminous sleeve, the twinkle in an eye, a piece of fruit in a basket? A branch on a tree? Were they really what they seemed? No, all ingenious messages skillfully slipped in by the artist to whisper “lust” to the beholder. I found this first laughable, then annoying. After all, Freud himself said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
When I quit reading the explanations and instead, just looked at the masterpieces, I found the book much more enjoyable, and gave it 4 stars for its lovely presentation of art and its overall high quality.
September 29, 2022
This is a fresh, fun look at some masterpieces. From Leonardo to Klimt, the authors apply the science behind subliminal advertising to look for hidden messages in well-known paintings. They make a strong case, even if I’m not completely convinced that their interpretations are 100% correct and, since these artists are no longer with us, it’s impossible to know for sure. If nothing else, the thorough analyses made me really look and pay attention to works of art that I’ve seen a million times (some even in person). The waiter in one of Van Gogh’s most well-known works really does look familiar, and how come I’d never noticed all the creepy shadows in Degas’ paintings? I also found new artists that I’d never heard about (even in my art history classes), and who are worth knowing. The way the authors explain their deductions, based on the historical context and the lives of the artists enriches these masterpieces. There is a lot of speculation here, but if it makes readers really look at these paintings with fresh eyes, I think it’s worth it. Plus, just the illustrations are pure visual pleasure.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Rowman & Littlefield Publishers!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Rowman & Littlefield Publishers!
January 31, 2023
This book is filled with fascinating exploration into some of the greatest masterpieces in art of all time. From Michelangelo to DaVinci to Degas to Cassatt, I learned about the secrets hidden within their work, and the reasons why these Easter eggs might've been left. I found myself going down the rabbit hole on Google after I read up on each piece, just needing to know more. It was such a fun time, and these authors really helped me re-engage in my love for art history. They are knowledgeable, too, with more than three decades of experience and research between them. No stone is left unturned in the stories they weave and the questions they ask us to explore as we navigate the works they present to readers. Well-organized and just dang interesting, I read this book in a sitting and a half.
EVERY PICTURE HIDES A STORY is one of those books I will explore again and again. It was like a treasure trove of insights, and I was here for it. I highly recommend to anyone who loves art, appreciates art, or just wants the dirty and not-so-dirty details on what these artists were thinking when they created their timeless pieces.
EVERY PICTURE HIDES A STORY is one of those books I will explore again and again. It was like a treasure trove of insights, and I was here for it. I highly recommend to anyone who loves art, appreciates art, or just wants the dirty and not-so-dirty details on what these artists were thinking when they created their timeless pieces.
August 17, 2023
I absolutely have thoroughly and completely enjoyed this book. Lavish ,heavy paper is used to showcase several reproductions of paintings rendered by each of the 22 artists that are discussed. The text invites a closer look at many popular artworks with an eye to find symbolism and hidden messages within the picture. A brief review of each artists background enhanced my appreciation of their work. I poured over this book and slowly worked my way through all of the art. It was a bit like a fabulous visit to a wonderful art gallery.
January 25, 2023
Cane and Gabrielle have done their research and used their vast 30 years of combined experience to bring a magnificent new look at over 22 artists and some of THE most famous paintings and sculptures of all time. I love how easily the book flows, the color copies of each piece, and its chronological order. I couldn’t wait to turn the pages and see the next artists and artwork they were going to talk about.
I visited the Louvre in 1990 and couldn’t take my eyes off of the masterpieces it held, so I would love to revisit it one day and study them through new eyes! I loved reading this book as it dug deeper to reveal hidden clues and subliminal mysteries. My favorite one might be from Michelangelo’s, The Creation of Adam, where God is painted in the perfectly outlined anatomy of the brain, linking science with Creation. The book is also chalked full of fun and interesting facts about every artist, and I learned even more than the basics from my college-level art class. It’s a perfect book for anyone who loves mysteries and the amazing talent of our artists.
I visited the Louvre in 1990 and couldn’t take my eyes off of the masterpieces it held, so I would love to revisit it one day and study them through new eyes! I loved reading this book as it dug deeper to reveal hidden clues and subliminal mysteries. My favorite one might be from Michelangelo’s, The Creation of Adam, where God is painted in the perfectly outlined anatomy of the brain, linking science with Creation. The book is also chalked full of fun and interesting facts about every artist, and I learned even more than the basics from my college-level art class. It’s a perfect book for anyone who loves mysteries and the amazing talent of our artists.
January 30, 2023
I absolutely loved this unique exploration of art and art history through the ages! I certainly learned a lot of information about my favorite artists that I’ve never heard before. I’m looking at their paintings in new ways, too; I never knew how much I was missing until now! It’s intriguing and accessible even to non-art history buffs; nothing is obscured by high-level terms or too much detail, and enough background information is presented that by the time I was done reading, I felt like a true expert! It’s well-researched, well-written, and details the perfect variety of art and artists.
February 7, 2023
This book changes the way you look at art. Authors William Cane and Anna Gabrielle devote each chapter to a different artist and take time to dive into some of the most stunning works from Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Van Gough, Cassatt, Degas, Manet, and many others. They build out their analysis with each artist’s biographical information and relevant cultural and technical information from the time of the work. This provides a strong base for the argument they make about the hidden meanings in each work. With this background in place, we are then taken through the details of each work of art, analyzing the details of the focal point of the painting as it combines with the small details in the background--all the things one might miss with just a cursory glance, all the little items that look like they are just there to fill out a scene. Cane and Gabrielle show the intentionality behind every choice an artist makes and demonstrate how looking at a work as a whole, really looking at everything there, can change its meaning entirely. The authors present so many detailed examples that readers will come away feeling ready to try themselves, to see the hidden meanings and details in any work of art they encounter.
February 6, 2023
I was aware of the subliminal message techniques often pointed out in the 70s and 80s, and the negative connotations many read into them. However, Cane and Gabrielle take the reader through twenty-two masters of the art world, discuss the various theories on a specific work by that master that have been raised by other specialists and academics, then present their own observations. These are also backed by experts, both in art and in human physiology and psychology. The rest is left up to the viewer to make their own conclusions.
I quite enjoyed this. Humanities was one of my favorite classes, but we were never given the opportunity to really delve into forming opinions and insights of our own, so this sort of presentation, in the authors’ energetic voices, was very freeing and challenging.
I quite enjoyed this. Humanities was one of my favorite classes, but we were never given the opportunity to really delve into forming opinions and insights of our own, so this sort of presentation, in the authors’ energetic voices, was very freeing and challenging.
February 12, 2023
This book does an amazing job at lifting the curtain of time and knowledge, letting us get a peak into history and the personal lives of the artists and helping us picture their work through their own eyes. It offers an intriguing look into the psychology behind some of the most well known works of art in existence, and interesting explanations of everything from painting techniques to the neurobiology behind subliminal concepts. I especially appreciate that it covers artists and their works in chronological order, building on top of previous knowledge just as the artists did. Reading this book can really teach artists how to become even more successful by utilizing these ideas for subliminal messaging in their own work! This book is perfect for fans of anything from art to psychology, neurobiology to business/advertising, and history alike.
February 7, 2023
This book is an excellent overview of some of the greatest works of art (and their artists) found throughout history. From Da Vinci to Van Gogh, with many more besides, the authors trail through great artists and their paintings to uncover the mysteries within.
In this book, you'll discover the hidden meanings and messages in some of the greatest works ever envisioned. Whether these hidden messages were meant to be discovered or merely to enhance the joy of looking at art, you'll be delighted to see them!
If you're a lover of art, artists, and the mysteries of the human heart and mind, you need to read this book!
In this book, you'll discover the hidden meanings and messages in some of the greatest works ever envisioned. Whether these hidden messages were meant to be discovered or merely to enhance the joy of looking at art, you'll be delighted to see them!
If you're a lover of art, artists, and the mysteries of the human heart and mind, you need to read this book!
August 31, 2022
The authors describe the genesis of this book as a shared experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that's the way their book reads, too: it's like viewing more than 80 of the world's greatest paintings next to someone who has done her/his homework.
The methods described in the book aren't so "secret" as the subtitle might imply, but this long-time art lover still found "a-ha" moments in every chapter, from the hidden religious symbolism of Vincent Van Gogh, to a female Renaissance artist whom I had never heard of (Artemisia Gentileschi, who got back at her rapist in a memorable painting). There was a special focus on late-20th-century realists, which I appreciated, as they aren't often featured in art history books.
The "seductive" methods are obvious, not hidden. Sexual organize appear in many of the paintings, as do symbols of virility and docility. I would say that the insights on the artists are just as common as insights on the paintings, although each chapter on an artist typrically includes 3 or 4 of their works.
For the "snobby" set of art lovers, this book may feel redundant and basic. But it is a fine guide to old and recent master artists for those who may visit a world class museum like The Met only once or twice in a lifetime.
Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in return for this honest review.
The methods described in the book aren't so "secret" as the subtitle might imply, but this long-time art lover still found "a-ha" moments in every chapter, from the hidden religious symbolism of Vincent Van Gogh, to a female Renaissance artist whom I had never heard of (Artemisia Gentileschi, who got back at her rapist in a memorable painting). There was a special focus on late-20th-century realists, which I appreciated, as they aren't often featured in art history books.
The "seductive" methods are obvious, not hidden. Sexual organize appear in many of the paintings, as do symbols of virility and docility. I would say that the insights on the artists are just as common as insights on the paintings, although each chapter on an artist typrically includes 3 or 4 of their works.
For the "snobby" set of art lovers, this book may feel redundant and basic. But it is a fine guide to old and recent master artists for those who may visit a world class museum like The Met only once or twice in a lifetime.
Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in return for this honest review.
August 4, 2022
Every Book Hides A Few Nuggets
What we do here is scream through treatments of 22 different artists. Each treatment is a grab bag of stories, hype, imaginary conversations, exaggeration, and recycled criticism and explication. The style is breezy and occasionally a bit manic and untethered. Sometimes it feels like an infomercial for the Ronco Art-o-Matic.
That said, the narrative goes right to the edge but is never actually offensive, and there are some interesting bits tucked in to the text. For example, Van Gogh's study of the theory of simultaneous color contrast was interesting. Some of the subtle effects that were identified in the sample artworks were informative. I'm not sure there were enough gems to justify this grab bag, though, and I suspect that there are other general interest books out there that give this topic more considered and rewarding treatment.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
What we do here is scream through treatments of 22 different artists. Each treatment is a grab bag of stories, hype, imaginary conversations, exaggeration, and recycled criticism and explication. The style is breezy and occasionally a bit manic and untethered. Sometimes it feels like an infomercial for the Ronco Art-o-Matic.
That said, the narrative goes right to the edge but is never actually offensive, and there are some interesting bits tucked in to the text. For example, Van Gogh's study of the theory of simultaneous color contrast was interesting. Some of the subtle effects that were identified in the sample artworks were informative. I'm not sure there were enough gems to justify this grab bag, though, and I suspect that there are other general interest books out there that give this topic more considered and rewarding treatment.
(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
June 23, 2023
Beautiful quality book with beautiful printing of the paintings looked at. A wonderful premise for the book. Some chapters/discussions of artists are better than others. I definitely learned some things, and found it interesting.
However...
1. I had a very hard time with the tone of the book. It is very...conversational. Jokey. Overly so. The audience here is a non-art audience, which is fine, especially since I am no expert, but it got old quickly. At a certain point it would have been nice to do without the imagined dialogues, without the over the top promises of secrets to come, without the attempts at silly humor. "You can amaze your friends" was one of the early messages, but I am not interested in amazing my friends; I just wanted to learn more about the artists and art. The whole book reads like the script of a show or talk that is meant to be performed live.
2. The voices of the authors often got lost. They quote extensively from other art experts, and in this way do what good teachers do. Survey the knowledge out there and put it together in an organized comprehensible way for their students. But this is supposed to be THEIR book, and I sometimes felt that they were just regurgitating info like a bad book report, like none of this was actually them writing; they were just stealing other people's ideas to make money off of it in their book. Some chapters, beyond the bad jokes and "dialogue" at the beginning of the chapters, were barely them at all, just "he said" and "she states", until the end...but considering I don't actually like the jokey town of their writing, perhaps this was better. Lol
3. Spoiler alert: the hidden story is mostly sex. They say that sex sells, and the authors took this to heart. At one point I thought I would scream if I heard the words "phallic symbol" one more time. In many of the works, this was obvious, and in others (especially Degas) I definitely learned things I didn't know. But there were works where I found it a stretch, where the argument for hidden sex in the work was tenuous at best, and for each of these situations the authors tell us that "the suggestions of sex is highly suppressed by the human mind " --this is repeated whenever they clearly know the argument is weak. So their defense is to tell me that I am a repressed prude if I find their "secrets" to be baloney. Rather offensive to their readers who know how to think and evaluate information themselves. For the sake of transparency: I am a teacher who for 30 years has evaluated the research projects of students for good arguments and sustained support of a premise. Plain and simple: in evaluating each chapter, I sometimes found their support and arguments weak; no repression necessary. With that said, some chapters were definitely stronger than others.
4. Chapters that are stronger: I thought the three chapters about women artists were some of the best in the book. I felt that I learned something about them - about their lives and art and how they intertwined-- and I enjoyed those chapters. Or maybe it is just that women aren't as obsessed with sex as male artists are, apparently, so their chapters were a refreshing change! Now that I think of it, the artists in the second half of the book seemed to be better discussed than in the first half. More info aside from sex, though still some of that.
In conclusion, this is not a bad book; indeed much of it was very interesting! I don't think I would actually recommend it, however, unless you are someone who wouldn't mind the "sensationalist" tone.
However...
1. I had a very hard time with the tone of the book. It is very...conversational. Jokey. Overly so. The audience here is a non-art audience, which is fine, especially since I am no expert, but it got old quickly. At a certain point it would have been nice to do without the imagined dialogues, without the over the top promises of secrets to come, without the attempts at silly humor. "You can amaze your friends" was one of the early messages, but I am not interested in amazing my friends; I just wanted to learn more about the artists and art. The whole book reads like the script of a show or talk that is meant to be performed live.
2. The voices of the authors often got lost. They quote extensively from other art experts, and in this way do what good teachers do. Survey the knowledge out there and put it together in an organized comprehensible way for their students. But this is supposed to be THEIR book, and I sometimes felt that they were just regurgitating info like a bad book report, like none of this was actually them writing; they were just stealing other people's ideas to make money off of it in their book. Some chapters, beyond the bad jokes and "dialogue" at the beginning of the chapters, were barely them at all, just "he said" and "she states", until the end...but considering I don't actually like the jokey town of their writing, perhaps this was better. Lol
3. Spoiler alert: the hidden story is mostly sex. They say that sex sells, and the authors took this to heart. At one point I thought I would scream if I heard the words "phallic symbol" one more time. In many of the works, this was obvious, and in others (especially Degas) I definitely learned things I didn't know. But there were works where I found it a stretch, where the argument for hidden sex in the work was tenuous at best, and for each of these situations the authors tell us that "the suggestions of sex is highly suppressed by the human mind " --this is repeated whenever they clearly know the argument is weak. So their defense is to tell me that I am a repressed prude if I find their "secrets" to be baloney. Rather offensive to their readers who know how to think and evaluate information themselves. For the sake of transparency: I am a teacher who for 30 years has evaluated the research projects of students for good arguments and sustained support of a premise. Plain and simple: in evaluating each chapter, I sometimes found their support and arguments weak; no repression necessary. With that said, some chapters were definitely stronger than others.
4. Chapters that are stronger: I thought the three chapters about women artists were some of the best in the book. I felt that I learned something about them - about their lives and art and how they intertwined-- and I enjoyed those chapters. Or maybe it is just that women aren't as obsessed with sex as male artists are, apparently, so their chapters were a refreshing change! Now that I think of it, the artists in the second half of the book seemed to be better discussed than in the first half. More info aside from sex, though still some of that.
In conclusion, this is not a bad book; indeed much of it was very interesting! I don't think I would actually recommend it, however, unless you are someone who wouldn't mind the "sensationalist" tone.
March 14, 2024
As the title states, Every Picture Hides a Story is pretty much what this book is all about. William Cane & Anne Gabrielle explore through some of history's innovative artists and their famous pieces they shared with the world. And within their works, they explain how the masters made them so mesmerizing to the public and the messages they convey visually. With high quality paper and stunning scans of notable artworks, we're about to take a trip through art history and learn the fascinating secrets the masters have learned to create their masterpieces.
Going in timeline order, we start in the Renaissance era and end by the early 20th century of some of the greatest artists to have ever lived. Much of the chapters follow the same style: introduce the artist, a little bit of background, then an analysis of some of their famous works, and an occasional comparison. In their explanation behind the meaning of these works, the authors are both very straightforward while being very approachable in tone. Humorous, I feel like the authors were trying to be less formal, as it seems this book is aimed at non-art folks. While I have interest in art, but find it hard to analyze them, this book was very helpful in underlying the messages conveyed in paint. Others seem to complain about the informal tone, but to me, I like it. Normally stuff like this are usually dry, but their more conversational tone is very welcoming to me, like a breathe of fresh air. I feel like I learned a lot about art from this, and I would probably would take this with me on any gallery or museum exhibitions just for a little help when I need it.
Going in timeline order, we start in the Renaissance era and end by the early 20th century of some of the greatest artists to have ever lived. Much of the chapters follow the same style: introduce the artist, a little bit of background, then an analysis of some of their famous works, and an occasional comparison. In their explanation behind the meaning of these works, the authors are both very straightforward while being very approachable in tone. Humorous, I feel like the authors were trying to be less formal, as it seems this book is aimed at non-art folks. While I have interest in art, but find it hard to analyze them, this book was very helpful in underlying the messages conveyed in paint. Others seem to complain about the informal tone, but to me, I like it. Normally stuff like this are usually dry, but their more conversational tone is very welcoming to me, like a breathe of fresh air. I feel like I learned a lot about art from this, and I would probably would take this with me on any gallery or museum exhibitions just for a little help when I need it.
April 6, 2023
William Cane's "Every Picture Hides a Story: The Secret Ways Artists Make Their Work More Seductive" is like a treasure map, guiding you through the hidden techniques and cool strategies artists use to make their work so darn irresistible.
The book is split into six engaging chapters, each focusing on a different part of the creative process. Cane takes you through the lives of famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, spicing it up with fascinating stories. He also dives into the work of some modern-day artists, giving you a fresh take on their methods and what they're all about.
What's really unique about this book is how Cane unveils the sneaky techniques artists use to make their work more appealing. He talks about how they play with color, composition, and symbolism to get you all emotional and thinking. Plus, he gets into the psychology of seduction in art, like how the viewer's perception and the artist's intention can create a super mesmerizing experience.
"Every Picture Hides a Story" isn't just some dry, boring art guide—it's a celebration of the magic behind artistic expression. Cane's easygoing writing style and expert knowledge make this book a must-read for anyone wanting to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the world's greatest masterpieces. This book will change the way you look at art forever.
The book is split into six engaging chapters, each focusing on a different part of the creative process. Cane takes you through the lives of famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, spicing it up with fascinating stories. He also dives into the work of some modern-day artists, giving you a fresh take on their methods and what they're all about.
What's really unique about this book is how Cane unveils the sneaky techniques artists use to make their work more appealing. He talks about how they play with color, composition, and symbolism to get you all emotional and thinking. Plus, he gets into the psychology of seduction in art, like how the viewer's perception and the artist's intention can create a super mesmerizing experience.
"Every Picture Hides a Story" isn't just some dry, boring art guide—it's a celebration of the magic behind artistic expression. Cane's easygoing writing style and expert knowledge make this book a must-read for anyone wanting to appreciate the beauty and complexity of the world's greatest masterpieces. This book will change the way you look at art forever.
March 2, 2023
I cannot recommend this book enough. The authors, William Cane and Anna Gabrielle, have done a beautiful job in not only revealing symbolic (“hidden”) elements of a number of famous works but also guiding readers with insight and glimpses into the lives and foci of the artists themselves; an example is the section on Degas in which I was shocked to read about the backstage lives of the dancers, who are portrayed seemingly with such purity.
Cane’s and Gabrielle’s analyses of famous works of art are eye-opening, entertaining, and informative. While the content is absolutely absorbing, the writing itself is engaging, with a number of laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled throughout the text. With most of my experience with artwork analysis completed in dry art history courses in college, I found this book refreshing; I feel like even the most seasoned scholars of art history and analysis will find new takeaways from the book.
Cane’s and Gabrielle’s analyses of famous works of art are eye-opening, entertaining, and informative. While the content is absolutely absorbing, the writing itself is engaging, with a number of laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled throughout the text. With most of my experience with artwork analysis completed in dry art history courses in college, I found this book refreshing; I feel like even the most seasoned scholars of art history and analysis will find new takeaways from the book.
April 13, 2023
This is one of the rare books I've encountered that do a great job of making fine art accessible to a layperson without excessively dumbing it down. Plus, the style and format in which the content is presented is actually fun and very easy to follow.
The insights offered on the dozens of popular paintings included in this book have immediately expanded the way I view all art. I cannot wait to explore these paintings and more in person.
A must read for lovers and admirers of art who haven't had a chance to truly develop an appreciation of its deeper interpretations. Definitely a great starting point.
The insights offered on the dozens of popular paintings included in this book have immediately expanded the way I view all art. I cannot wait to explore these paintings and more in person.
A must read for lovers and admirers of art who haven't had a chance to truly develop an appreciation of its deeper interpretations. Definitely a great starting point.
February 23, 2023
My wife keeps talking about taking me to museums. I’m not that much of an art guy, but I like learning new things. However, I don’t do well with just straight information texts- I get distracted too easily. This one works really well though, if you want to learn about art and not get side tracked. It covers a lot of different artists and time periods. I think I won’t be as lost now when we finally get to go to the museum.
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