Recensies

Review: Nothing If Not Critical

Redactionele recensie - Kirkus Reviews

The author of The Shock of the New (1980) and The Fatal Shore (1986) reviews work from Holbein to Hockney in 100 pieces (most previously published in Time), and offers a brilliant, blasphemous view of the hollow ethos of the recent decade in art. ""The numbed eclecticism of eighties art, its fondness for pastiche and historical deck-shuffling, its vision of art history as a mere box of samples--these,"" writes Hughes, ""were the signs of a culture given over to surfaces, all style and no substance."" New York, he argues, is no longer the art world's Imperial center. The booming art market is ""strip-mining"" culture and has fundamentally changed the way we see painting. Erudite, fearless, and funny, the swashbuckling Hughes freely punctures inflated personalties on the ""market-museum axis"" like Julian Schnabel (who has ""never learned to draw""). But the 36 essays on ""contemporaries"" show that he admires a number of them, including Anselm Kiefer, Scan Scully, James Turrell, and Susan Rothenberg, whose paintings ""carry a patina of doubt."" Where the critic consistently finds the counterpoint to our mass-media-hyped age is in art of the recent and distant past. As part of ""the golden age of the museum retrospective,"" the Eighties brought exhibitions of Caravaggio, Watteau, Courbet, Degas, Manet, and van Gogh, etc. Explaining Goya's power to move us, Hughes sees the artist's ""long-dead face pressed against the glass of our terrible century."" The art criticism here, exploding with ideas and throwing its challenge to the status quo, will engage anyone trying to grasp American culture as it slouches toward the century's end. (Readers interested in a summary wrap-up of Hughes' critique of Eighties' art can read the concluding chapter--""The Future that Was""--to a new edition of The Shock of the New that the publisher is bringing out simultaneously with this volume. It's no less dour a view, however: "". . .there can be few who watch the approach of the year 2000 with anything but scepticism and dread."")

Gebruikersrecensies

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Cliff - Goodreads

The book is a series of short essays on the 'significance' of various artists, most written following a viewing by Hughes of an exhibition of the artist's work. Since Hughes' book contains not a ... Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - serrulatae (girl a) - Goodreads

Described to me as the one book to read on art if you only read one book on art. Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Anthony - Goodreads

His common sense approach, learned arrogance and discerning wins the day...as usual Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Tara - Goodreads

If you are art history knowledgeable this book will give you a good chuckle and increase your everyday cynicism. If you love smack-talking art reviewers, R.Hughes is your man. Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Kevin Tole - Goodreads

THE best book of art criticism from a master critic Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Prooost Davis - Goodreads

Whether or not one agrees with Hughes's critique of the current art market (or that of the 1980s, when this book came out), I don't think one can find much fault with the depth and breadth of his ... Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Rik - Goodreads

I love the vigour that Hughes brings to his criticisms, you feel like you're really reading someone that knows his stuff. It's a great way to pick-up insights about artists, and their work, that you ... Volledige recensie lezen

Review: Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists

Gebruikersrecensie - Tony - Goodreads

Hughes, Robert. NOTHING IF NOT CRITICAL: SELECTED ESSAYS ON ART AND ARTISTS. (1990). *****. I'm always amazed at what you can find on the remainder shelves at a bookstore. Here's a real winner. I ... Volledige recensie lezen