Goya

Rating:
Summary: This book needed an editor
Review: Anyone searching for a book of Goya reproductions should look elsewhere; nearly all the reproductions here are half-postcard size. But that's not a problem because the book's intent is to describe the artist's life within the context of his time. Unfortunately, it is in that area where the problems lie.

Simply put, the book is poorly written. It is rife with factual inaccuracies and contradictory conclusions. A few of the many examples are:

1) On page 120, in speaking about Goya's group royal portrait of "The Family of Carlos IV," Hughes says: "In 1787-88, when the picture was painted, family groups were distinctly uncommon in Spanish art: Velazquez, for instance, was never once called upon to paint one." In fact, group portraits of the Bourbon royalty were indeed common, such as Louis-Michel Van Loo's portrait "The Family of Philip V" in the Prado. Bourbon family portraits were an intentional departure from the traditional Habsburg royal portraits painted during Velazquez's time. In addition, the reference to Velazquez is confusing and unjustified because Velazquez painted around 150 years before Goya and nowhere near "1787-88, when the picture was painted."

2) On page 131, when conjecturing on whether or not Goya actually fought a bull in his youth, the possibility is dismissed as "a masculine boast easily made in Spain." But by page 351, Hughes has changed his mind and says that Goya "claimed, probably truthfully, that he had fought bulls in his youth."

3) On page 16, the name of Goya's house--the Quinta del Sordo or Deaf Man's Farmhouse--"drew its nickname...from the previous owner, a deaf farmer." But on page 372, he states "the property next door had been owned by a farmer who was deaf" and the name passed to Goya's house when he moved in.

4) On page 402, Hughes says that Goya was buried in the "Santa Maria de la Florida" church. In fact, he was buried in the "San Antonio de la Florida" church. This church has particular relevance to Goya and so the error is just sloppiness.

In addition, the book's timeframe unnecessarily bounces forward and backward, many events that have been described earlier in the book are repeated, and important seminal events in Goya's life are completely ignored, such as when and how did Goya rise to become the First Court Painter?

The book's good points are (1) that it contains information concerning the Bourbon monarchies that I did not know, but which I must unfortunately question because of the other inaccuracies throughout the book, and (2) the book's paper quality is first-rate--thick and glossy--the book is as heavy as lead and will last a long time. Too bad such a beautiful printing job was given to such an undeserving effort.


Rating:
Summary: Masterfully written, completely engaging
Review: As a contemporary art historian, I've always been deeply influenced by critics, but I've also always had a passion for 19th century art. While I've sometimes found Hughes' past writings to be a bit acerbic at times (though always passionate), this is without question a wonderful book which clearly contains not only Hughes' rich efforts at research as well as a passionate love for his subject. Striking in its lucidity, emotional in its descriptions not only of the paintings but the context within which Goya worked, and even generous in its praise to other art historian to whom it is indebted, it is a book I cannot recommend highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: another terrific addition to the history of art!
Review: hughes never disappoints his readers and his new biography on goya is another terrific example. his insight into art is amazing and Goya seems to have been a labor of love. the book is packed full of illustrations and scholarly detail yet it will appeal to those bio-seekers who just enjoy a good story. definitely recommend to all fans of goya, it doesn't get much better than this!

Rating:
Summary: another terrific addition to the history of art!
Review: hughes never disappoints his readers and his new biography on goya is another terrific example. his insight into art is amazing and Goya seems to have been a labor of love. the book is packed full of illustrations and scholarly detail yet it will appeal to those bio-seekers who just enjoy a good story. definitely recommend to all fans of goya, it doesn't get much better than this!

Rating:
Summary: The pictures help move this book along
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: The pictures help move this book along
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't Have Said It Better
Review: I was going to write a review of this book, but after reading S Calwas's opinion, I am going to refer the reader to it; I concur on every point made. Although I am enjoying the book, I have been distracted by the poor editing.

Rating:
Summary: Historical criticism at its finest
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: The Penultimate Artist Biography
Review: Throughout history we have examples of biographers so committed to the works of their artist subject that the reporting of the writer seems like the visual becoming oral. Such is the case of James Lord and Giacometti, David Sylvester and Francis Bacon, and now Robert Hughes and Jose de Goya y Lucientes. Hughes new publication entitled simply GOYA is the zenith work in the line of brilliant art history writing, books that include 'The Shock of the New' and 'American Visions' as well as definitive books on artists Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud. His knowledge is both technically sophisticated and psychologically sound and he is a gifted writer in about any métier.

But there is something more to this book than biography. Goya has been important to Hughes throughout his life: his first art purchase as student in Australia was one of the etchings of Goya's `Capricho' series. It wasn't until 1999, when Hughes came close to meeting death from an accident, was in a coma, then gradually recovered through a long series of debilitating therapies, that Hughes was able to overcome his writer's block and actually set about to write the biography of the artist who had become his obsession for years. Hughes admits that it was probably this experience coupled with a vision of Goya himself that made him truly comprehend and incorporate Goya's life of reactionary to the Church, to the absurdity and viciousness of War, to the Inquisition, and to the social injustices he observed. And the interesting parallel of course is that Goya suffered physically not only due to complete deafness, but also to undiagnosed maladies that made his life a trial but did not stop his painting.

Hughes writing style is urbane and conversational, informed and witty, impeccably researched and yet related as though the reader were sitting at the feet of an old longtime acquaintance of Goya. He obviously is in awe of Goya's works, allows him the court portraits and tapestries that Goya endured for money, and makes it a point to examine each painting with fine scrutiny - finding every self portrait of the artist in paintings most other scholars have missed. Rather that writing the life of Goya from his birth chronologically through to his death and epilogue, Hughes examines a life that is inevitably destined to paint the darkness of the Black Paintings and the Caprichos with frequent asides, a style that creates incredible energy in the telling of the life of this amazing artist. Example: In 1980 Goya applied to a "proper institution" - the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and his entrance exam was a painting entitled "Crucified Christ". Hughes: "It is without much doubt the worst painting he ever did. How could a man who would emerge, some thirty years later, as the most powerful reporter of human anguish in all of Western art have produced this soapy piece of bondieuserie? The ladylike body, unmarked by torment; the absence of any kind of empathy with what real bodies underwent in the course of flogging and crucifixion; the enervated "correctness" of pose - all this combines to convey a sort of sickly, moaning piety that, if it were not for the relative liveliness of the paint and its impeccable provenance, would make you doubt it was by Goya at all." These are not damning critical flagellations: these are the responses of a writer who knows his subject well.

This richly illustrated volume (one only wishes the plates were larger) is well designed to keep pace with history, psychology, and a world timeline and it should be in the libraries of students, artists, art lovers, and scholars. In a line of important books, GOYA is most assuredly the finest product of the gifted Hughes' mind and pen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Rating:
Summary: The Penultimate Artist Biography
Review: Throughout history we have examples of biographers so committed to the works of their artist subject that the reporting of the writer seems like the visual becoming oral. Such is the case of James Lord and Giacometti, David Sylvester and Francis Bacon, and now Robert Hughes and Jose de Goya y Lucientes. Hughes new publication entitled simply GOYA is the zenith work in the line of brilliant art history writing, books that include 'The Shock of the New' and 'American Visions' as well as definitive books on artists Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud. His knowledge is both technically sophisticated and psychologically sound and he is a gifted writer in about any métier.

But there is something more to this book than biography. Goya has been important to Hughes throughout his life: his first art purchase as student in Australia was one of the etchings of Goya's 'Capricho' series. It wasn't until 1999, when Hughes came close to meeting death from an accident, was in a coma, then gradually recovered through a long series of debilitating therapies, that Hughes was able to overcome his writer's block and actually set about to write the biography of the artist who had become his obsession for years. Hughes admits that it was probably this experience coupled with a vision of Goya himself that made him truly comprehend and incorporate Goya's life of reactionary to the Church, to the absurdity and viciousness of War, to the Inquisition, and to the social injustices he observed. And the interesting parallel of course is that Goya suffered physically not only due to complete deafness, but also to undiagnosed maladies that made his life a trial but did not stop his painting.

Hughes writing style is urbane and conversational, informed and witty, impeccably researched and yet related as though the reader were sitting at the feet of an old longtime acquaintance of Goya. He obviously is in awe of Goya's works, allows him the court portraits and tapestries that Goya endured for money, and makes it a point to examine each painting with fine scrutiny - finding every self portrait of the artist in paintings most other scholars have missed. Rather that writing the life of Goya from his birth chronologically through to his death and epilogue, Hughes examines a life that is inevitably destined to paint the darkness of the Black Paintings and the Caprichos with frequent asides, a style that creates incredible energy in the telling of the life of this amazing artist. Example: In 1980 Goya applied to a "proper institution" - the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and his entrance exam was a painting entitled "Crucified Christ". Hughes: "It is without much doubt the worst painting he ever did. How could a man who would emerge, some thirty years later, as the most powerful reporter of human anguish in all of Western art have produced this soapy piece of bondieuserie? The ladylike body, unmarked by torment; the absence of any kind of empathy with what real bodies underwent in the course of flogging and crucifixion; the enervated "correctness" of pose - all this combines to convey a sort of sickly, moaning piety that, if it were not for the relative liveliness of the paint and its impeccable provenance, would make you doubt it was by Goya at all." These are not damning critical flagellations: these are the responses of a writer who knows his subject well.

This richly illustrated volume (one only wishes the plates were larger) is well designed to keep pace with history, psychology, and a world timeline and it should be in the libraries of students, artists, art lovers, and scholars. In a line of important books, GOYA is most assuredly the finest product of the gifted Hughes' mind and pen. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.