The Madman’s Gallery

by Edward Brooke-Hitching

Enter The Madman’s Gallery and discover an extraordinary exhibition of the greatest curiosities from the global history of art. Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of internationally acclaimed and bestselling books such as The Phantom Atlas and The Madman's Library, gathers together over one hundred magnificently eccentric antique paintings, engravings, illustrations and sculptures, each chosen for their striking beauty and the wonderfully bizarre story behind their creation.

Brought to light from the depths of libraries, museums, dealers and galleries around the world, these forgotten artistic treasures are presented in their finest glory: from the portraits of oddballs like the British explorer with a penchant for riding crocodiles, and the Italian monk who levitated so often he’s recognised as the patron saint of airplane passengers; to impossible inventions like medieval land yachts, floating churches and eagle-powered airships. Discover dog-headed holy men, armies of German giants, imaginary prisons, 18th-century stuntmen, screaming ghost heads and forgeries that fooled the world. Learn to swear like a Cossack, play ‘human chess’, paint with Egyptian mummies and fight a duel with lanterns. These antique marvels are brought vividly to life with colourful images, compelling stories, obscure trivia and an odditorium of engaging characters.

Visually stunning and riotously entertaining, The Madman’s Gallery opens up the vast field of art history in a way that appeals to the general reader and all lovers of beautiful image-based works and quirky history. The perfect gift and coffee-table book, featuring a variety of subjects and sources presented with a satisfying depth of research, the world of art has never been presented in a more intriguing and addictively enjoyable form.
 

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, Art History, Reference, Coffee Table Books

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2022

About the author

Edward Brooke-Hitching is a writer and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The son of an antiquarian book dealer, he read English and Film at the University of Exeter before entering independent film production. ‘Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports’ is his first book. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Jax · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree that Brooke-Hitching is a bit of a madman, but in the best sense of the word. He is informative in an easy, witty way that that makes art history approachable and entertaining. He might start a section with something like—“It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another: if I was to have my head lopped off and baked in an oven, what vegetable should I temporarily replace it with?” Or he might choose a humorous setup such as the one for Ilya Repin’s Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV”, which he says is the biggest insult in art history. He informs us that “historically, artists haven’t exactly shied away from hurling insults” and follows that statement with a few examples. My personal favorite is that Dalí said Pollock’s style is “the indigestion that goes with fish soup.”

For the benefit of our education in pigment sourcing before the era of Liquitex and Golden, we are treated to lessons about the early manner in which purple, mauve, and brown were crafted. The particular brown used in the artwork under discussion, Martin Drolling’s Interior of a Kitchen, is called Egyptian brown. To assure us that there were persons who shared twenty-first-century sensibilities, Brooke-Hitching offers a charming anecdote. It seems Rudyard Kipling was present when artist Edward Burne-Jones came running down the stairs with a tube of “Mummy Brown” in his hand. The artist exclaimed that the paint was “made of dead Pharaohs” and said he must bury it accordingly. I will admit, I get it.

Here’s something with which many of us will sympathize. King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, was viewing a naval scene on a panorama created by Robert Barker. As she gazed at an expanse of ocean, she became seasick and “decorously” vomited into a handkerchief. She’s lucky to have been born before 3D movies became a thing. Not everyone has a lace hanky on standby for such eventualities.

There is much more to this book than creepy pigment bases and seasick queens. Brooke-Hitching will take us from prehistory to AI, covering the best known movements and artists. We will see Dali’s The Persistence of Memory and learn that Arcimboldo was a triumph of abstract art in the sixteenth century, three hundred years before Kandinsky was born. Brooke-Hitching describes the physical struggles of both Joan Miró and Frida Kahlo and says that René Magritte’s The Lovers, my favorite surrealist painting, was symbolic of the surrealists’s fascination with what is hidden beneath the surface.

This is a book about beauty and the limitless creativity of artists throughout the ages. We couldn’t have hoped for a better tour guide on this journey and more beautiful graphics to accompany his lessons.

Many thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

[Melcat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing and educational book that takes you on a captivating journey through the world of bizarre and unusual art pieces. I found it particularly enjoyable and read it in one sitting, captivated.

Like many other readers, I couldn't help but notice a stark contrast when the book delved into modern art at the end. The transition from the enchanting and often bizarre historical pieces to the sometimes perplexing and abstract world of modern art left me feeling a bit disheartened. Art, of course, is a matter of taste, but the difference between the earlier captivating paintings and some modern works felt significant.

[David Wineberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: to see this same review with images the paragraphs describe, see https://medium.com/the-straight-dope/...

Art books – and coffee table books in general — are not the stuff I like to review. They tend to be forgettably similar. There’s boring text demonstrating the author’s erudition, text fitted around sculpture, and enormously monotonous commentary. Not the best scenario for a review that will rock readers. The exception is the fascinating and wonderful The Madman’s Gallery, by Edward Brooke-Hitching. It is a terrifically organized romp through the bizarre eruptions of (mostly) western art. He writes with light-hearted (but well-researched) commentary. .And the self-evident drama in the well-chosen images. They all come with stories. There’s even sarcasm! It is a pleasure to actually read the words. The images will stay with the reader a long time. This is the best art book I’ve read in years.


The chapters are short, and there are lots of them: sixty-one. They range from featuring an artist, to featuring a single work, to featuring a category. So for example, there are chapters on revenge, self-portraits snuck into commissioned works, nightmares, and doom in the 12th and 13th centuries. There’s even a chapter on hot-selling paintings by chimpanzees, meant to shame the art world, which shrugged it off and kept buying anyway. Among the artists rating chapters are Arcimboldo and his vegetable portraits, and Dali and his Persistence of Memory. It ends with Maria Abramovic’s performance art, in which she goes so far as to put her life on the line for the thrill of her art. This is a different level of madness altogether.


In Ugly Portraits, there is a painting so surpassingly ugly it defies reason, as in, who would commission such a thing? It dates to about 1513, and the painter was Quentin Matsys, a Flemish artist. It is truthfully titled The Ugly Duchess. I can only describe it as John Malkovich playing The Queen of Hearts without sufficient makeup.


Compare to the work of Xavier Messerschmidt (late 18th), who took it upon himself to sculpt heads with the most horrific expressions on their faces. His sculptures are grimacing, leering, and mad. They are fabulously ugly, in a repelling and off-putting sort of way.


For sheer bad taste, the completion is fierce. But the Penis Tree surely has a firm foothold there. It decorated a building in Naples, Italy in 1265, and was rediscovered only 24 years ago.


Along the way in this chronological ramble, there is education. At least half the precious art in museums and private collections is fake, according to the Fine Art Expert Institute of Switzerland in a 2014 report. This is a rather enormous percentage, calling into question centuries of collecting. It has always been a problem, and has only increased in significance with the astronomical sums being flung at galleries and auctions today. The chapter on forgers is therefore instructive.


Few will know of all the versions of The Mona Lisa, nude. For some reason, artists, including if not especially Da Vinci’s own students, found it necessary and irresistible to make nude versions the Master’s finest work. They are displayed in this book. Some of them are good enough to pass for his work. None of them rate anywhere near the real thing.


There is the bizarre story of Cecilia Giménez, an 80 year old artist in Borja, Spain, to whom the Sanctuary of Mercy church entrusted the restoration of Ecce Homo, a portrait of Jesus. She did such a horrific job that Christ comes off looking like a well-trimmed baboon. She absolutely ruined it. The news went viral, and art restoration became a thing on people’s minds as it never had been before. But then, the wild and wacky art world intervened. The story got so much press worldwide that tourism in the town shot from 6000 a year to 200,000 as people from everywhere wanted to see this horror for themselves. Go figure.


It’s not all bad taste, either. My favorite is a horrifying impression of World War I, by Franz Marc, called Fate of the Animals. He painted it in 1913, fully envisioning the coming conflagration throughout Europe. He was then drafted, sent to the front (as a camouflage artist), and was killed at the Battle of Verdun in 1916, at the age of 36. To me, his painting is far more evocative of the chaos and horror of war than Picasso’s Guernica, nearly 30 years later (and which does not make the book). Yet it was done in advance and in a very modern art style.


It turns out this is not the first time Brooke-Hitching has done this. His previous book is a madman’s survey of bizarre books and manuscripts. This was apparently such as success, he has tried to replicate it in art. And clearly succeeded. This might be a new franchise. Lord knows culture has enough that is bizarre to keep him occupied. So keep an eye on him. It’s worth it.


David Wineberg



If you liked this review, I invite you to read more in my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. And you already know it is well-written. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...

[Grittel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an art book of curiosities as the title says. There is a little bit of everything including, ancient statues, fine art through the centuries, modern art, performance art and even a few pages on forgeries (very interesting and problematic). I’ve seen many of the more famous pieces is art museums in the US and Europe. The book includes ugly pieces giving the true history of the piece. Or something may look classic, like a coronation scene, but the actual story is bizarre (the king is a corpse of four years). There are also scandalous pieces including the beautiful Madame X by Singer Sargent that is at the Met that was ridiculed when first shown. I’m not an art historian so I am assuming the writes up are correct and they are very readable. The selection is eclectic but for the most part follows a time chronology. This would be great for an art lover or to check out from a library. I enjoyed reading it and learning about the works, especially ones I recognized. But it isn’t something I would choose for my coffee table.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am someone who has absolutely no interest in art and no prior knowledge, but I picked this book up because I have enjoyed Edward's past books and he has a way of making me care or take interests in subjects I otherwise wouldn't. Coming from that world, this book 100% did not disappoint. It's an absolutely fascinating look at weird and wonderful art through the years and the stories that go along with them. Despite not having any interest in art it kept me engaged from the first page to the very last.

One other reviewer knocked a star off because they aren't a fan of more modern art - specifically performance art and AI images. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions so thats fair if thats how they feel, but as a heads up for anybody who reads that and might be put off - both performance art and AI images take up an extremely small bit of the book at the end, maybe fifteen pages all in. So if that review was making you second guess picking up this book, I would not really worry about it - there should still be a tonne of other stuff in here to keep you satisfied!

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This art history book is fascinating. Rather than focus on a movement or an artist, the book takes readers through history looking at some of the bizarre, grotesque, and mysterious. The book covers everything from ancient fertility statues to depictions of saints to performance art to forgeries. The book follows a rough chronological order (at least in terms of the main piece of focus) with several similar pieces rounding out each section. The write-ups are well written and researched. I read the ones I was interested in and skimmed others. This book is a wonderful that art doesn't have to fit the mold in order to be important. My only issue is that the current locations of the art was not always listed.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m still not sure “Here’s some weird stuff!” is a great basis for or organizational principle for an art history book, but this is fun and should be especially informative for those who are beginners learning the subject.

I have a couple of Art History degrees, so there’s not much here that’s new, but the curation is good and the text is amusing. The author hits some of the standard “weird” pieces and a few that aren’t quite so well known.

There are, of course, elevated meme accounts doing basically the same thing, and there are a number of them (particularly those using primarily Medieval Art) who are actually doing it better. To that end, I wonder if accounts like that have rendered books like this a touch obsolete when they’re done survey-style like this, rather than focused on a specific time or region and discussed in broader context.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Meenakshisankar M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simultaneously fascinating while also endlessly entertaining, this book collects and presents some of the most bizarre and unusual art pieces from across the world, along with impressive but well-researched commentary providing useful context and appreciation. From the origins of "mummy brown" color literally made from mummies, to naked Mona Lisa, to restoration of paintings attempted by amateurs which only made it worse (reminding one of "The Whistler's Mother" by Mr. Bean), to various (intentionally) ugly portraits, to painting capturing historically strange moments, this is a veritable treasure trove of curiosities. I can't even imagine how some of these paintings came into the imagination of the painter. One of the best books I've read on the subject of art!

[Not Here · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Madman’s Gallery is the most uniquely fabulous book I have read in a very long time. It consists of myriad 1-3 page vignettes regarding “The Strangest Paintings, Sculptures and Other Curiosities from the History of Art”. Edward Brooke-Hitching does a tremendous job of highlighting both some more famous works - Magritte, Duchamp, Bosch, and even DaVinci - in addition to fully obscure things I had never heard of (and I have an art degree!). It was comprehensive and fascinating and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Some highlights for me were:
-the fertility pieces “Pussy Goes a Hunting” to name just one
-the “Penis Tree” of Naples, Italy
-accidental damage done to works of art by both restorers and passersby
-a NUDE Mona Lisa!
-fraud in the art world
-the Dadaists
All things ranging from the playful, to, like the following, the more severe.

This was a difficult book to quote as it obviously relies on the corresponding image. Every sentence is, indeed, a curiosity. The only piece I feel comfortable quoting is the work of Marina Abramović as it is about performance art:
“Abramovic’s “Rhythm O” is her most notorious work… A table was laid with seventy-two objects. Some were for causing pleasure (a rose, a feather, honey, perfume) and some for pain (a scalpel, nails, a gun with a single bullet). The public were invited to interact with the objects and with Abramović, who stood passively beside them. ‘There are 72 objects on the table that one can use on me as desired,’ read her instructions. ‘Performance. I am the object. During this period I take full responsibility. Duration: 6 hours (8pm-2am).’
‘It began tamely,’ reported art critic Thomas McEvilley, who was present:
“Someone turned her around. Someone thrust her arms into the air. Someone touched her somewhat intimately… In the third hour all her clothes were cut from her with razor blades. In the fourth hour the same blades began to explore her skin. Her throat was slashed so someone could suck her blood… Faced with her abdication of will, with its implied collapse of human psychology, a protective group began to define itself in the audience. When a loaded gun was thrust to Marina’s head and her own finger was being worked around the trigger, a fight broke out between the audience factions.’
‘What I learned,’ said Abramović, afterwards, ‘was that if you leave it up to the audience, they can kill you.’” (p. 238-39).
This is clearly a deeply macabre anecdote, but one that certainly fits the bill of the “strangest”. The notion that an art piece could make its way into something reminiscent of the Stanford Prison Experiment (which took place only three years prior), is truly noteworthy.

5/5 stars. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[Tatiana Friar McDermott · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone studying classical sculpture post-retirement, I approached The Madman’s Gallery with a reverence for traditional form—but I found myself completely seduced by its celebration of the bizarre, the grotesque, and the forgotten corners of art history. This book is a feast of eccentricity, curated with intelligence and genuine affection for the subject matter. It reminds you that for every Michelangelo, there’s an Arcimboldo painting portraits out of fish and fruit—or a Wiertz sculpting corpses in hyperreal decay.

Brooke-Hitching leads the reader through a cabinet of wonders: there’s the haunting Portrait of a Kleptomaniac by Théodore Géricault, painted as part of his obsessive study of mental illness through portraiture—deeply compelling for anyone interested in the expressive extremes of the human face. There’s also Lavinia Fontana, one of the earliest professional female artists, whose daring mythological nudes shattered expectations of her time. And how could I forget the inclusion of the 17th-century Italian nun who painted religious works with her own blood?

For a classical sculpture student like myself, steeped in anatomical precision and harmonious proportion, this book offers a counterpoint that’s both jarring and necessary. It challenges the eye, stirs the imagination, and deepens your understanding of how art reflects not just beauty, but also fear, devotion, madness, and rebellion.

Far from a novelty book, this is an erudite, wickedly entertaining journey through art’s underbelly—and it’s now one of my favorite companion texts as I explore form, spirit, and expression through clay and marble.

[Oktober · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Die Galerie des Wahnsinns“ von Edward Brooke-Hitching (ins Deutsche übersetzt von Lutz-W. Wolff) lässt die Lesenden einmal durch die Kunstgeschiche spazieren und verknüpft seltsame Kunstwerke und kuriose Fakten und Zusammenhänge interessant und informativ miteinander. Ich wage zu behaupten, dass ich durch dieses Buch mehr gelernt habe als während des gesamten Kunstunterrichts in der Schule, insbesondere, was die Verknüpfung von Gesellschaft/Geschichte und Kunst angeht. Für mich ein grandioses Buch, das kurzweilig mit viel Spaß übergreifendes Wissen vermittelt und die Analysefähigkeiten der Leserschaft schult.

*Das ebook wurde mir kostenfrei vom Verlag zur Verfügung gestellt.

[Aimée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das ist jetzt das dritte Buch, das ich von EBH lese und ich muss sagen, das war nicht ganz so witzig wie "Love" oder "The Madman's Library". Aber die vorgestellten Stücke (chronologisch sortiert von Steindamen 38.000 vC bis AI-Kunst 2018) sind abstrus genug, um das wieder wett zu machen und für sich selbst eine Comedynummer zu sein (verstümmelte Stücke, Boschs Butt Song oder ein Schmähbrief von Kosaken seien hier nur Teaser). Ich freue mich auf jeden Fall auf "The most interesting Book in the World", das noch im Regal wartet.

[Weronika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pozycja obowiązkowa dla fanów sztuki!❤️

Każde tajemnice dzieła sztuki i artysty ukazane w tej książce są naprawdę bardzo pouczające i zaskakujące! 😁

Bo kto słyszał, że Bosch w swoim obrazie zawarł na jednym z tyłków postaci z piekła nuty do piosenki, którą można słuchać na YT jako Bosch Butt Song? 👀

(w tej książkę znajduje się jeszcze sporo takich smaczków! 😉)

[anchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this collection of 'weird artworks around the world' and some items are just eye-opening to me. However, I would give it a four, because some areas could have more explanations to make it more rich and interesting.

[Mary Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a cute idea but it would have been better served with more obscure artworks. As is, the artworks are often so famous and their stories so oft-repeated that I’m not sure what the point of the book is.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was totally fascinated with this book! I had to look up so many of the amazing items he highlighted. First rate.

[Rhonda Hankins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Excellent selection of paintings; great descriptions; brilliant idea for a book (or an Art History class or a Museum tour.)

Super fun.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to dig deeper into art. This book makes you want to stop and find out more about artists and specific pieces of art. A book you will want to read with your laptop handy.

[Pop Bop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remarkably Engaging..... Lot's of times books like this consist of casually collected oddities, superficial text, jokey references, and amateurish commentary. Not so here. This is a carefully curated collection of interesting art, and it is organized in a fashion that tells a clear and coherent story about outsider, or just odd, art and the many ways it may manifest itself. The narrative is thoughtful and authoritative while still congenial and inviting. Illustrations, which are abundant, are accompanied by helpful and informative text. This book is both entertaining and thought provoking, which was quite enough for me to enjoy it.

[spencer wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art history presented in a new way is the best description I can give for this book. It's at times tragic, funny, and inspiring. I'm not sure if it belongs with history books, art books, travel books, or maybe all three.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was wildly eclectic selection of artwork. I did appreciate that it was organized chronologically. It was an interesting selection and I also appreciated the history and detail that went into explaining the works that were included.

[Emily Vander Ark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun look at some truly interesting pieces of art. Many nuggets to share aloud with whoever is in the room with you when you are reading!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Chronicle Books for an advance copy of this book of art history and why certain works speak to us, and yet makes others shake their heads in confusion.

"Art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation". This quote by E. A. Bucchianeri is as true about life as it is about art. One person's masterpiece is another person's my child could do better. One beholder of art will find beauty in the ugliest of things, and others will see the word beholder and think of one-eyed snake-eyestalks for hair, creatures from Dungeons and Dragons. So everyone has their own opinion on art, be it film, music, literature of pretty pictures and engaging statues, and a lot of people, myself included, like the odd more than we like a simple sketch. Edward Brooke-Hitching in his collection Madman's Gallery: The Strangest Paintings, Sculptures and Other Curiosities from the History of Art offers a companion book to his work on odd literature and books, this time focusing on art pieces from the past to the cutting edge of today.

The book begins with a little history of art, collections and what people look for in art, and art that is considered off the beaten path. From there the book goes to the past starting with early fertility works from about 30,000 B. C., and moving to Artificial Intelligence created art. There is A mix tapestrys, paintings, statutes, even pictures of the night sky, a sky map that seems amazing to be created so far in the past. Each section is illustrated with the art in question, and more photos with works related to what is being discussed. There are also descriptions ranging from a page to longer, describing the art, where is was found, what makes it unique, and what it possibly means.

The book is very different a unique kind of art book, with a lot of works that are new to me, with some that really surprise me. The subject matter, or how the works are created, even what they were created for I just found fascinating. Some works are more interesting than others, but I must say the research involved must have been intense. The photos inside are very good, very eyecatching and leave no doubt to why people wanted to posses them. Again some photograph better than others, but the art really does stand out. The descriptions are also well written, both informative and humourous, not a tour guide speech, or even an art class lecture, just a person sharing ideas with the reader in a very informative conversational style. Brooke-Hitching goes into great detail, without be overwhelming in sharing information, how the piece was created, and what materials were involved. There are plenty of fun facts, and stories about gravediggers finding more than they had bargained for or bad art restorers finding lost works by sheer incompetence and or luck. A different kind of art history, but one that will educate and entertain.

Recommended for people who like to read about art, and for those who need gifts for people who like art. This is also a good book for writers to get ideas from these pieces for ideas, especially fantasy and horror writers. There are a whole lot of plots for novels and graphic novels amidst the tales of some of these pieces. This is the first that I have read by Brooke-Hitching and I plan to read more.

[Schizanthus Nerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘If I could say it in words,’ explained the twentieth-century American artist Edward Hopper, ‘there would be no reason to paint.’

I’m absolutely obsessed with everything bookish but my art literacy leaves a lot to be desired. I love a lot of art. As someone whose stick figures don’t exactly resemble stick figures, I’m in awe of artists. Despite this, I don’t tend to really ‘get’ art.

This book focuses on “the oddities, the forgotten, the freakish, all with stories that offer glimpses of the lives of their creators and their eras.” It includes fertility art, doom paintings, revenge art and some artists sneaking portraits of themselves in paintings. There’s a lot of religious inspired art.

Two fun facts and a word of warning…

One of the funniest finds was an Italian fresco created in 1265. It’s called lbero della Fecondità. It’s otherwise known as the penis tree. The restorers swear they didn’t erase any testicles.

Restorations of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper have been undertaken since 1726. Currently only 42.5% is Leonardo’s work, 17.5% has been lost and 40% is the work of restorers.

It’s important to use a trusted restorer, unless you’re looking for results like Ecce Homo.



I didn’t get a lot of the art in this book but there were some I particularly liked, including:

🎨 Pere Borrell del Caso’s Escaping Criticism



🎨 Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s The Drawbridge



🎨 All of Franz Xaver Messerschmid’s Character Heads. This is The Yawn.



This book confirmed that my weird threshold is pretty high. I expected the artwork to be weirder. I really enjoyed the first half of this book but it didn’t keep my interest as much when it made it to more contemporary art.

I may not be obsessed about this book like I was with The Madman’s Library but I’m glad I read it. It’s piqued my interest enough to order more of the author’s books from the library.

I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: Art with a message

In my Goodreads profile I write that "God has given man the amazing power to invent language and the means to record it which has created words and worlds that border on the eternal." Visual images are also a creative language that as a reader by skill and interest I don't speak as often, but this collection shows that created worlds in visual language that can have amazing inventive powers as well.

Edward Brooke-Hitching takes us on a chronological walk through this visual cabinet of curiosities, from the earliest surviving man-made objects accepted by artists and archeologists as art, to the latest AI-generated paintings accepted by artists and technologists as art. The curiosity factor may be the artist, the subject, the style, the artistic medium, the contemporary reaction, the subsequent history, or multiple combinations of all these factors. Some of these are shocking, some humorous, some startlingly ahead of their time or so anachronistic they seem impossible to have been created in their time. Some carry hidden messages or illustrate religious messages both orthodox and heretical in surprising ways.

Each section is based on a single piece of art that is reproduced while Brooke-Hitching describes what makes the piece so unique. Each section is from two to five pages long and includes close-up details of sections of the art or other examples of the phenomenon where applicable. While the book is 8 x 10 in size it is not an oversized coffee table book so some of the artwork must be reproduced in much reduced size; the author does a good job of making sure to include closeups where necessary so the reader can see the visual effects he is describing. A pet peeve if mine is an author describing a visual image that is missing or too small to see, which is not a problem here.

One of the interesting aspects of this Madman's gallery in the progression from prehistory to the 21st century is the transition from pieces that are so old that the artist's intent and purpose is not documented but must be deduced from archeological or historical evidence, to modern pieces where the artists are explicit in their intent and purpose. How much can either--the deduced or the explicitly stated--be believed, and how much of our perception of the creation we are examining is based on our belief in that believability? All of art, including and perhaps especially this Madman's gallery of art, is more than an image. It is indeed a visual language that creates worlds with its inventive powers.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book would be a really fast read. It wasn’t. This was a lot more text heavy than I was expecting but I’m actually glad. There was a lot of interesting information included and thankfully it was presented with some humor. As I’d expected I wasn’t a huge fan of most of the art though I did like some of it. I like being challenged by art but I don’t like most unpleasant images, or at least not more than an occasional one, and a lot of them are included in this book. Sometimes they were so bad they were funny. “Wound Man” is a good example of that. Not surprisingly there were many religious images of devils and other images that were meant as warnings to their viewers. I could have done with many fewer of those. Thankfully most of the art works in the book were not too, too disturbing. I was fascinated by reading about and seeing the Mona Lisa(s). Cannibals, especially “Tapuya Woman,” Hirsute women. Mr. Barker’s Monster Panoramas. Frieda Kahlo’s Wounded Deer and one of her supportive corsets. How J.M.W. Turner in the 1800s used “fugitive colours” and nobody alive today sees his paintings the way they were when painted. Fate of the Animals by Franz Marc and Paul Klee’s participation. Revernge hoax and fake art. Some of the insults artists gave to other artists are amusing. Lots of torture/too much torture and other awful subject matter. Interesting about how much fake art there is and how many forgeries there are. “At least half the artworks in circulation in the global market are fake.” This book is packed with information, most of it fascinating. There are some lovely art pieces too but they’re not in the majority. The art is presented in chronological order, from 38,000 BC to 2018, but there is very little from the present century. I think it’s a shame that the present day art is heavily represented by performance art and AI made art since so much of modern art is created more traditionally. I liked this book more than I thought I would and I’m planning to also read The Madman’s Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts, and Other Literary Curiosities from History. This book: 3-1/2 stars, and it was hard for me to choose 3 or 4 stars but I decided to round down. It’s an excellent book and I liked it but I didn’t really like it. It wasn’t that pleasant a reading experience.

[Book Club of One · Rating 3 out of 5]

In The Madman's Gallery: The Strangest Paintings, Sculptures and Other Curiosities from the History of Art Edward Brooke-Hitching presents another assemblage under a common theme, he has previously published works centered on books, sports, maps and the afterlife.

As is clear from the title, this time Brooke-Hitching is presenting oddities from the art world, under the unfortunate title choice tied to mental health. (Perhaps an Oeuvre of Oddities might have been a better choice?). On page 10 the author notes his prior life experience and writing the book, The Madman's Library, taught him that to open a seemingly closed world "a historical curiosity with a captivating story can make even the most complex area of specialist study instantly accessible." And the works here are all meant to inspire some sort of emotional response.

The Madman's Gallery is arranged chronologically, and attempts to show global art, but the bulk of the works are Western leaving works from the other nations to feel more like token additions, though the effort is worth acknowledgement. Each work is provided a short history or explanation alongside images of the work, similar works, or works that influenced the creation of the featured work. Most works get 3 to 4 pages, making this book a fairly swift read. Brooke-Hitching looks at many different mediums and eras, but the majority are painted works.

The most interesting section was the last entry, focused on Artificial Intelligence created art. Centered on the 'first' work created this way, the author uses it as a reflection point to consider all that was covered before "the depthless capacity of human imagination" (Pg 243), but what will it like partnered with AIs? Will they be just another tool or medium? Or will AI art become its own genre?

As a work of popular nonfiction, it serves its premise well as a something for a reader to pick up and flip through, however those seeking a more in-depth look at or overview of the history of art would be better served elsewhere, perhaps in Gardner's Art Through the Ages.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Madman’s Gallery presents a selection of bizarre, curious, macabre, grotesque, surreal, and psychedelic artworks with essays offering insight into the background of each painting or sculpture, including information on influences and what is known about what motivated these atypical acts of creativity. Not all of the artworks are the product of mental illness – though some are and when something is known about the artist’s mental state it’s mentioned. They are all just, in some way, preternaturally creative or unconventional.

I was pleased that the book exposed me to a new selection of art. There were only a few pieces with which (as a neophyte) I was familiar. These included: Van Eyck’s “The Arnolfini Portrait,” Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” Fuseli’s “The Nightmare,” Gentileschi’s “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” the Olmec heads, and Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory.” There were other well-known paintings that were referenced because they were influenced by or had something in common with the artwork under discussion.

The book disabused me of the notion that the latter half of the twentieth century art was the golden age of freakish art (though that era is well represented with discussions of Dada, Surrealism, performance art, etc.) It’s interesting to learn how much wild and weird art was being producing in previous centuries, given how little of it made it through the filter of history to a general audience.

There are many recurring themes throughout the book: death, blasphemy, fertility, demons, etc. But the latter portion of the book features some new sources of bizarre art, including hoaxes, forgeries, and AI art.

If you’re interested in art history, and particularly the weird side of the subject, I’d highly recommend you read this book.

[Theediscerning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what the doctor ordered, either as a sequel to the companion book on literature, or purely for the art herein. Starting with the oldest known sculpture of a woman, going through unique Greek tomb ceiling designs nobody was expected to ever see, and on into things that do tend to hang in galleries alongside other paintings, this is a superb joy, a wonderful chronological catalogue of the confusing, complex and the cockamamie. And as before it's not just been thrown together – it's so easy to imagine weaker volumes of this ilk presenting some of the mysteries of the Arnolfini Portrait, but not to prove that artists reflected within their paintings in near-secret miniature was nowhere near unique, as an early sixteenth century still life reveals.

I won't go into all the contents of this gallery of grotesques and grot, purely because if I said "all the usual suspects are here" it would be a lie. I think we can all decide on some artworks that might have been included but aren't, but it takes a firm chunk of research and/or years of experience to have collated this compilation. It works then as a book for the specialist to have fun with, and for the layman with little interest in anything visual – well, each piece has a story to tell, and these are very well-told stories. Buy before some woke nutjob decides the title wording is not allowed.