Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis

Rating:
Summary: An excellent survey of contemporary art & the art world.
Review: Eyewitness deserves ongoing mention as an excellent survey of contemporary art and the evolution of an art world in crisis. Almost thirty essays examine this modern art world and the place of contemporary artists within it, lamenting the collapse of an instructional system which allowed for artistic evolution and examining how art career have changed.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book by a Great Iconoclast
Review: I hadn't read much of Jed Perl's previous work when I picked up a copy of this book. I was amazed at the acuity of Perl's criticisms. I did not agree with his assessment of each individual artist, but I thought his general philosophy of viewing art was right on, and should be required reading in high schools across the land. I note that much if not all of this book was written before the SENSATION fiasco in New York; Perl certainly saw it coming.

A truly magnificent book.

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Summary: Perl is a Post-Modernism Hater
Review: If you hate everything that has happened in the popular art world since the day you were born, you will love this book. Perl has the cliche conservative's idealized vision of an art world that never existed, and he is trying to drag us back to it. He provides no more insight than every other reactionary critic longing for what art used to be. The author is the same kind of person who wanted to jail Manet for Olympia. He blames commercialism's influence for moving art away from what he wants it to be. Sorry, Jed, art would have moved on anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended reading for art lovers and professionals.
Review: Over twenty essays provides the thoughts of contemporary artists who reflect upon trends in the art world. Eyewitness charts the collapse of institutions and traditions and their replacement with new systems in the art world; showing how the influences of major institutions have affected the content and display of art around the world. Insights on a market-dominated art world are particularly well done and revealing.