- Hardcover: 448 pages
- Publisher: Knopf (Nov 11 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0394580281
- ISBN-13: 978-0394580289
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 17.8 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#797,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10 in Books > Arts & Photography > Artists, A-Z > ( G-I ) > Goya, Francisco
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
A long life and vast works make fitting subjects for the epic-minded Hughes (The Shock of the New, etc.). Born in Aragon in 1746, Goya weathered the Peninsular Wars (1808-1814) in Spain and lived to the age of 82, when he died in self-imposed exile in France. Hughes denies the popular image of the artist as a die-hard iconoclast, painting court portraits while winking behind his patrons' backs. Staying close to the visual evidence, Hughes shows Goya was not above flattering his royal subjects (aggrandizing midget count Altamira), waxing patriotic (as in the famous Third of May) and taking commissions from the Bonapartes under the French occupation. In middle age he was struck deaf by an unidentifiable illness, at which point his pictures turned darker-a bullfighter gored before eager spectators, the inmates of a madhouse clamoring for respite. His Desastres de la guerra rendered the mute, gaping horror of guerrilla combat. Under a picture of refugees fleeing the French, he inscribed, "I saw it." Whether or not this much debated act of witness really happened, for Hughes it is Goya's urgent visual economy that "invented... the illusion of being there when dreadful things happen." Given his intimate understanding of the painter, one regrets that Hughes's diligent catalogues of the Caprichos and Pinturas Negras (among the 115 color and 100 b&w illustrations) often forgo in-depth analysis for textbook thoroughness. But he compellingly insists on Goya's prophetic genius, arguing that, for an age that has produced few great paintings in response to modern terrors, Goya's pictures anticipate disasters unheard of but yet to arrive.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Australian-born Hughes, art critic for Time and the author of 10 acclaimed books, begins his expert and passionate interpretation of the life and work of the seminal artist Goya with a dramatic account of how, during his recovery from a nearly fatal car crash, he was visited by the great painter in the twilight zone of his pain. This empathic connection with Goya, who suffered his own isolating and debilitating crisis in his mid-forties when a fierce illness left him deaf, enabled Hughes to write a remarkably vital, delectably discursive, and deeply affecting study of an artist whose unique and powerful work grows more significant with each passing year. Goya, Hughes writes, "truly was a realist, one of the first and greatest," but he was also a sly and courageous social critic, creating indelible images of both earthy satire and epic tragedy. Declaring the prolific, "sanguine and ironic" Goya "the last Old Master and the first Modernist," Hughes brings eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Madrid to dynamic life and insightfully dissects every aspect of Goya's ever-evolving paintings and etchings, indelible works that grew steadily darker, more disturbing, and increasingly radical in their indictment of injustice and violence. Hughes' profound appreciation for Goya's genius and "immense humanity" will inspire readers to look to Goya's magnificent, shocking, and clarifying works as to a polestar as we grapple with the inhumanity of our times. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The pictures help move this book along,
By TMF (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Goya (Hardcover)
I enjoyed Hughes's style and his illumination of Spanish history was quite intertesting, but I left the book feeling like I knew very little about Goya personally. I did, however, feel as though I really knew Goya's painting quite well and that's really the point isn't it?Overall, a great primer, but not a fantastic biography.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting Characterizations of Goya's Work!,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Goya (Hardcover)
Until about 12 years ago, I thought of Goya as a minor artist who had done few memorable works. Then, I happened to stumble upon a major exhibition of Goya's etchings and aquatints at a Rennes museum in Brittany. I was astonished and compelled by what I saw. Most of the exhibit focused on a theme of antiwar and I wanted to know more. Many people have told me since that it's hard to find good books about Goya's etchings and aquatints. So I picked up this volume hoping to fill the void. My expectations with regard to the etchings and aquatints were more than fulfilled. Thank you, Mr. Hughes.The book offered me much more. It has very good coverage of all Goya's work and what is known about his personal life. Mr. Hughes also has a wonderful ability to describe a work of art in a way that helps you see it in its historical context . . . rather than just in terms of today. From those perspectives, I became equally enthused about Goya's Caprichos and came to understand more about bullfighting and witches than I ever would have otherwise. The book has a personal touch to it that is compelling. Mr. Hughes suffered a horrible accident before starting this book and had a lengthy recovery before he could begin the work. All of that frustration seems to have energized him to make the book come to life more than one would have ever thought possible. The book does have three flaws that you should be aware of before beginning. First, the reproductions are usually quite small. If Mr. Hughes hadn't pointed out the tiny details in many cases, no reader would have been able to discern those details from looking at the pages here. Second, you will probably learn more than you ever wanted to know about the Spanish Bourbons for whom Goya was the court painter. There is such as thing as too much historical context. Third, Mr. Hughes like to make unnecessary digs at historical figures that seem gratuitously related to the work here. For example, Ernest Hemingway is characterized as having modeled his style after a woman writer and therefore cannot write appropriately about bull fights. But if you want to find lots of reasons to enjoy Goya, this is your book. Good viewing!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Historical criticism at its finest,
By
This review is from: Goya (Hardcover)
This book is the best to be written about Goya, placing him squarely in the modern arena, debunking most of the silly and trivial myths surrounding his life, and educating the public on one of the true masters. Hughes build-up is slow but thorough. The novice and art-historian alike are given a full historical context for Goya and his work. Hughes' payoff is a far better understanding of artist's life than any other writer as of yet has captured. With less obvious material than other biographers (letters, diaries, etc.), Hughes does a splendid job of re-piecing the cultural and political climate of Spain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Even if you disagree with him at points and find his critique a bit stuffy, you can never argue with his passion for Goya's art or the research put into the book. His eye for detail and relentless pursuit of background material, make the author's style almost incomparable; because his points are made so plainly and lucidly, he conveys an appreciation of art that few critics can match. This book seeks to educate and entertain, succeeding on both levels. I highly recommend Goya to anyone interested in Modern or European art of the last 300 years.
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