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Power Of Art (Hardcover)

by Simon Schama (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Viking Canada (AHC) (Nov 7 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0670066672
ISBN-13: 978-0670066674

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #54,630 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Schama presents eight remarkable artists who created their masterworks against a backdrop of personal and professional distress. From politically charged commentaries (David, Picasso, Turner and Rembrandt) to intensely personal visions of the world (van Gogh and Rothko) and the reinvention of the divine (Bernini and Caravaggio), Schama takes these masters' hallowed works off the museum wall and drags them through in the mud and muck that went into their creation: Bernini's savage attack on his mistress with a razor, Caravaggio's rapacious gutter lifestyle, Turner's hands-on (and more) approach to painting, David's willingness to follow his political allegiances no matter the cost. Schama's approach succeeds admirably in breaking away from conventional art history; throughout, he comes across like a cool British uncle talking about art late into the night. He renders these canonical works and their creators immediate and hip, conveying what it might have been like to be shocked by their audacity and sheer newness. This book should be of great value in a classroom, making an enormously appealing introduction for students encountering these artists for the first time. Though professional art historians will not find much new here in the way of research and analysis, anyone even remotely interested in art will find much to enjoy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Book Description

"Great art has dreadful manners..." Simon Schama observes at the start of his epic exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. "The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed in short order to re-arrange your sense of reality..." With the same disarming force, Power of Art jolts us far from the comfort zone of the hushed art gallery, as Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, altering the course of art forever. The embattled heroes--Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko--each in his own resolute way faced crisis with steadfast defiance. The masterpieces they created challenged convention, shattered complacency, shifted awareness, and changed the way we look at the world. With powerfully vivid story-telling, Schama explores the dynamic personalities of the artists and the spirit of the times they lived through, capturing the flamboyant theater of bourgeois life in Amsterdam, the passion and paranoia of Revolutionary Paris, and the carnage and pathos of civil-war Spain. Most compelling of all, Power of Art traces the extraordinary evolution of eight world-class works of art. Created in a bolt of illumination, such works "tell us something about how the world is, how it is to be inside our skins, that no more prosaic source of wisdom can deliver. And when they do that they answer, irrefutably and majestically, the nagging question of every reluctant art-conscript... 'OK, OK, but what's art really for?'"

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5.0 out of 5 stars Power of Art Indeed!, Jul 5 2007

By	Vincent C. Roper (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a forensic psychologist, professor of criminal justice and a painter. This book somehow manages to speak to each of these diverse interests and endeavors with wisdom, passion, and Yes, power. As in Schama's "Rembrandt's Eyes", the author writes boldly and eloquently about art and artists, with neither pedantic fussing over historical minutiae or fawning reverence. As a result, The Power of Art is exciting, sometimes raunchy, even shocking reading. (Who knew about Bernini!). Schama somehow brings to life (as no other writer about art can) both the artist and his art with vivid descriptions, and personal but always thoughtful often thought provoking reflections. I will use this wonderful book in a grad course in Cultural Studies confident that my students will have a refreshing new perspective on art and artists, portrayed here as vital forces in human existence past and present. Power of Art indeed!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! A must have for any art lover!, Dec 12 2007

By	Vanessa H. "Art Lover" (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

Simon Schama is to art history and writing what Pavarotti was to opera or Baryshnikov was to dance.

He is an absolute master wordsmith whose writing can only be described as sublime. Mr. Schama has helped me understand art in ways I could never have done on my own. I would pay just about anything to be a full time student of his and just listen to him explain art in ways that only he can.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD set but my only criticism would be that sometimes there is too much screen time given to shots such as street scenes, bull fights, and general atmosphere rather than on the art itself.

I can only hope that Mr. Schama will soon do another Power of Art series on artists like Monet, Vermeer, Stanley Spencer, Mondrian, Pollock and other great artists.

I highly recommend this DVD set and book to anyone interested in learning about art. In fact, anything by Mr. Schama is a must have.

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