This companion text to the author's Learning to Look at Paintings addresses some of the questions most commonly asked about modern art, covering key movements of the modern and postmodern periods in a richly illustrated and engaging volume.
Mary Acton Books
This accessible guide explores the study and appreciation of three-dimensional art, highlighting the prevalence of sculpture in public spaces, architecture, and even design. It encourages readers to recognize the various forms and everyday contexts of sculpture. With a focus on Western sculpture from antiquity to the present, the author prompts readers to analyze their experiences, posing questions about sculptural vision, the influence of the Classical Tradition, and the impact of scale and context on visual understanding. The book covers different types of sculpture, including free-standing figures, group works, and reliefs, emphasizing how the experience of sculpture varies with its setting. It also examines the relationship between sculpture and architecture, drawing, and design, as well as the effects of evolving techniques on tactile experiences. Richly illustrated with over 200 images, the book features notable works such as the Riace bronzes, Michelangelo’s David, and contemporary pieces by artists like Henry Moore and Cornelia Parker. A glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading, and student questions make it an ideal resource for anyone interested in sculpture.
Learning to Look at Paintings is an accessible guide to the study and appraisal of paintings, drawings and prints. Mary Acton shows how you can develop visual, analytical and historical skills in learning to look at and understand an image by analysing how it works, what its pictorial elements are and how they relate to each other. This fully revised and updated new edition is illustrated with over 100 images by a wide range of Western European and American artists, ranging from Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Botticelli to Picasso, Matisse and Rothko, and now includes modern and contemporary artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Anselm Kiefer, Tacita Dean and Marlene Dumas. In addition, Mary Acton presents new examples highlighting the survival and revival of painting in recent years. A new introduction situates the book in the wider context of recent changes in the approach to Art History. A glossary of critical and technical terms used in the language of Art History is also included, with an updated but still selective reading list.
