Masters of Painting Their Works/ Their Lives/ Their Times by Bernadine Kielty

 

Masters of Painting, Bernadine Kielty, 1964 Doubleday

This large format book was published in 1964 and touches on art and artists from Byzantine times through Impressionism, and just slightly touching on modern art, as it was still relatively new in 1964. I have read a few art history books that are more comprehensive than this one, but I like that this volume tries to touch on the artists personally and give a little more insight into their lives. The one drawback to this book is that almost all the pictures are in black and white, rather than in color. 

I would like to share the last thought from this book by the author:

    "On the walls of the museums and galleries of the world hang pictures from all these centuries. Some of these pictures the gallery-walker likes, others he dislikes. But the final judgment as to which picture is truly great rests not on how many people like it, but on the personality of the artist who painted it. No way of painting is superior or inferior to another. It is a matter of whether or not the style expresses the painter. Old masters portrayed madonnas. The moderns portray apples. No matter what the period of time, no matter what the beauty or ugliness of his model, regardless of technique, the value of the painter's creation depends on the worthiness of his ideal, and the degree to which he has made that ideal clear in his finished picture. In today's art we may not always understand what the artist is saying, or recognize the object he is painting, but we sometimes can feel the urgent desire which prompted him, and we must look in his picture for its fulfillment. As a wise man Venturi said, "We must look with the eyes of the mind into the painter's soul."

Would you like to buy me a book, or help keep my little free library stocked and maintained? You can donate here: paypal.me/AmyVanGaasbeck