Painting as an Art

Rating:
Summary: Classic must read about painting
Review: Painting as Art by Richard Wollheim (Princeton University Press) provides the first sustained discussion of the complex of perceptions, design, pigments, biography, social history, and lived experience that becomes the experience of a painting as a work of art. Wollheim is well conversant with the philosophical issues while bringing a depth and expertise to the appreciation of the art and craft of painting within both broad historical contexts and the minutiae of a particular artist and this unique painting. So that what he says about any painting becomes a phantasmagoria of informed facts and conjectures that is a marvel approaching Keats' truth, beauty; beauty, truth. Wollheim's interpretations are intrepid corrections of received wisdom and well-argued virtuoso interpretations. His scientist's appreciation of the subtle effects of perception blends well with an informed style; not an easy read, but one likely to educate one's sensibilities anew.

Rating:
Summary: Philosophical/Scholarly in the extreme, but rewarding
Review: This book was very heavy going, but the ideas presented were worth it.
I found many new ideas among the lectures.