What Makes a Masterpiece: Artists, Writers, and Curators on the World's Greatest Art

by Christopher Dell

The stories behind the paintings and sculptures that form our common artistic heritage, illustrated with superb reproductions of the works, as well as dozens of details and comparative works. What Makes a Masterpiece explores the most important works of art ever created, from the Chauvet Cave to Cézanne. It covers art from Africa to China, Japan to South and Central America, Persia to Sri Lanka, as well as a large selection of European works from Ancient Greece to Impressionism. Little-known treasures such as the Iberian Lady of Elche or a Maya relief from Palenque appear alongside well-loved classics such as Masaccio’s Expulsion of Adam and Ev e or Degas’s Little Dancer , creating a fascinating and unique collection of groundbreaking and beautiful works.

The book brings together an impressive list of artists such as Antony Gormley and Avigdor Arikha, writers including Marina Warner and Philip Pullman, and cultural figures like Germaine Greer and Quentin Blake appear alongside curators and directors from the Louvre, Prado, Museo di San Marco, Berlin Gemäldegalerie, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, British Museum, and the National Gallery, London. Intimate knowledge combines with unique insight (and some startling new interpretations) to create fresh analyses of these works, of as much interest to art historians as to the general reader. 280 color illustrations

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, Art History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2010

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, which covers major works of art from cave paintings up to 1900. For each work a different art historian or expert writes a few pages about what makes this work special or important. As you can imagine the quality of the write-ups varies, but they are generally very good. Each one is complimented by several beautiful full color pictures. This book introduced me to a number of works with which I was unfamiliar, and also led me to re-examine works I thought I knew well.

[Bill Eger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This compendium of 70 works from early days of our occupation of earth from pre-history to Cezanne. Compiled by Christopher Dell, the 285 illustrations are studied by 60 erudite contributors who open the door to deeper understanding of this wide range of artistic expression.

That some of the works and comments introduce much that I had not understood attests to the success of the effort. Many of the works are based in a wide variety of religious subjects, some of which I had no knowledge to bring to their enjoyment.

The book widened my scope of understanding in many ways and opened my eyes to curiosities that I would have otherwise overlooked.

[Dorinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

High Quality plates and interesting essays by interested observers---more than teh coffee table book it appears to be at first glance

[carelessdestiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a completely sensual experience going through this book. Beautiful works illustrated with perfect colour reproductions and learned commentaries that never lapse into the usual academic cliches .