The Daily Book of Art
I love this book! I found it by happy accident and immediately bought it. It’s a collaboration by ten authors, each responsible for one of ten categories: art 101, the philosophy of art, art through the ages, profiles in art, a picture’s worth 200 words, art from the inside out, art around the world, unexpected art forms, artistic oddities, and step-by-step exercises.
Each day has a one-page nugget of art information to ponder. The book start with, what else, day 1: The Elements of Art. Day 2: What is Aesthetics? and so on. You certainly don’t need to read it in order. Flipping through to Day 166: This is London, young British artists of the 1980s and 1990s. Day 251: Using an Underpaiting. Exploring the Initial Layer of Paint. Day 316: Taking Art to the Streets. Many days also have questions to ponder. Day 232: Perception and Reality. One question to ponder: When you analyze a piece of artwork, are you analyzing its objective reality or just your subjective experience of it? Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that one.
The book is hardcover, with the cover art printed directly on the color rather than just the dust jacket (which I prefer). It’s full color, nice quality paper, and includes a ribbon bookmark to hold your place. It’s a comfortable size and feels good in my hands. The book is also very reasonably priced: $22.95 and less from Amazon.
It puts me in the mind of The Intellectual Devotional series. Each book in that series include seven topics that rotate, one each day of the week (one per day) for 52 weeks. If you haven’t seen that series, check it out. There are various titles on culture, American history, and so on. You can learn more about this title: The Intellectual Devotional: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Roam Confidently with the Cultured Class here.
February 5th, 2010 at 3:33 am
sounds good! thanks for sharing gloria!
February 5th, 2010 at 10:08 am
My pleasure! Nothing like a good book!
February 6th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Intellectual Devotional…….two words not normally associated with ME! :-)
the daily book of art, however, sounds really cool.
February 6th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Jane, the ID books are very cool, especially the culture one as that also deals with art. However, it’s not in full color, which I like. :)