Book review for Thinking About Art, Edmund Burke Feldman, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1985

Ring, Laurie Gomon

English

VCU Scholars Compass

E~~~d B~rk~ F~l~a~ THINKING ABOUT ART Eng l ewood Cl iffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1985. Paperback, 466 pages. For the student of art or an art "civilian" Thinking About Art by Edmund Burke Feldman offers an opportunity to expand one ' s appreci-ation of art visually and inte l lec-tua l ly. The author ' s three main purposes for the book: "to stimu -late thought about art, to encourage discussion about artist i c ideas and to give pleasure" are truly fulfil -l ed in this reader . The book begins with a discus-s i on of the "Importance of Art." Here, one fi nds the thes i s of the book that "art is i mportant because it expresses meanings and because it creates effects and causes resu l ts". Thinking About Art then proceeds to exp l ain the ways in which the visual arts can do this. In order to understand art today and yesterday , Feldman knows that a l ot of groundwork must be done. The " Impor t ance of Art," the first chapter, discusses "What is Art?", "Who Creates Art?", and "What Are the Uses of Art?". Although these seem to be ordinary questions, Fe l dman does an extraord i nary job of laying down interesting answers, particularly in his discussion of "Who Crea t es Art," discussing such types as the wel l known artists and their teams to the anonymous crafts -men, t heir identities lost to us whi l e their achievements rema i n to i nspire; the magicians and sorcer -ers, possibly the first artists; and ending with the advent of machines and technology that have shared in the process of artmaking since the Industria l Revolution. In a section on the uses of art, Feldman explains the possibilities of moral, reli -gious, political and aesthetic reasons and uses for creating art . He chooses superb exampl es of artwork created by artists maki ng 98 powerfu l visua l statements concer n-ing human i ssues. The second chapter, "The Lan-guage of Art," provides the reader wi th the vocabul ary and unders t and-i ng to ta l k about, t h; nk about and enjoy art. "How Does Art Speak? " discusses t he elements and princ i -pl es of design . What cou l d be dry stuff comes a li ve because of Fe l d-man's style. He refers t o art !tIe know in unique ways , for example this discussion of Cezanne and Va n Gogh. "For thei r abi 1 i ty to create fee l ings of unity and co herence we can be grateful to two mod ern pa inters: Cezanne, obsessed wi th f i ndi n9 order ina mountai n he painted aga i n and aga i n; and Vincent van Gogh, discovering t he pa inful harmony of the universe in a pa i r of sunflowers." Before we get any furt her , i et me ment i on that the colo r repr in ts used throughout the book are of the finest qual i ty, on a smooth, substan -tial weight paper offering the reader a treasure of int r ig uing images, many of which are not common exampl es of art i sts' work. Each carefully chosen reproduct i on is accompani ed by an explanatory paragraph that gives the reader additional insight supplementing the rna in text of the book. As I turned each page I found myself l oo king forward to both of these learning devices. Chapter three, "Ancient and Medieva l Art," chapter fo ur, "Renais -sance and Baroque Art," and chapter five, "The Modern Wor l d" use about one third of the book to give us the historical spectrum of western art. While art history is sequential, Feldman reminds us that in its evo l ution, art consists of many streams of development feeding into each other, intersecting, running parallel, or going underground and coming up as springs i n unexpected places. He a l so reminds us that when leonardo was painting the Madonna and St. Anne (1510 A.D . ) about the same time an Aztec scul p-tor was carv ing The Goddess Tlaztol -teot l Giv ing Birth to Centeotl, God of Corn, pointing out how artistic ac ti vity goes on contin uousl y throughout the wor l d. These chap-ters on the history of art outline major artists, movements and styles, clearly describing how rel i gion, pol itics, economics , the rul ing class and the human condition influenced and/or control l ed the artistic endeavors. Again, I found in the text, revealing aspects and perspectives on art hi story. In each period Feldman discusses whatever art form was prevalent or outstand i ng at the time and what i nf l uences we re involved, as well as cultural context and cross - cultural perspect i ve. The last five chapters deal with individual media a nd art forms: "Painti ng, " Scu l pture," "Archi tec-ture," "The Crafts and Design," "Printmaking , Photography, and F i 1 m. " I n these chapters, Fe 1 dman emphasizes critical and aesthetic factors tha t make each artwork more meaningfu l and enjoyable. The intent i on is not to teach a person how to create art but to get more out of an encounter wi th art. Chapter six, UPainting,U fo r exam-ple, goes into all the aspects of this art form, such as "The Paint Itself," "Drawing While Painting," "Enjoying Drawing Alone," "light, "Co l or , " " Enjoying Co l or," "Pleas -ure in Pa int i ng: Execution," "Enjoy i ng Space," "Enjoying Form in Space , " and "Energy in Painting." These chapters take the reader ; nto the art experience in a way inacces-sib l e to art history. They help the reader to appreciate the uniqueness of each art form, the problems and solut i ons that artists enco:.nter. 99 Chapter nine, "The Crafts and Design , " discusse s a more uti 1 i tar-i an a rt f o rm wh i ch, because of its nature , is intrinsica l ly involved with craftsmanship and design re l ated to f unct i on . Here Fe l dman examines a range of issues focused on the questions of craftsmanship and quality ; n des i gn. He i ncludes an analysis of bad craft and bad art which he classifies as exhibiting incompleteness , i nauthent i city, incongruity and inflation. Accard -i ng to Fe l dman, any work of art can suffer f r om t hese if the a r t i st i s insensitive to th e "aesthetic signalling" projected through design and craftsmanship. In a sect ion on the pleasure of good design he delineates seven aspects that a we l l des i gned object shou l d conta i n a nd the pleasure that good design wi l l convey. The l ast chapter , "Pri ntmaki ng , Photography, a nd Film" deals with these medi a as art forms as we 11 as examin i ng the re l at i onship between the traditional arts and the modern commun i cation arts. Here , more than anywhere e lse , he de 1 ves i nto t he use of art in expressing social i ssues. He exam i nes the great pr i ntmakers , photographers and filmmakers who used their art to educate the pub l ic about soc i al injust i ces and conditions. The text contain s descriptions of the various techn i ques of printma king , t he issues of origi na li t y, and the imp act of reproduced art. Woodcuts, wood engravings, intagl ios, engrav-i ngs , etchings, lithography , and silk screen are various methods discussed in creating a pr in t pattern. Photography, fi 1m, and television are described as using 1 ight to create the print pattern for reproducing images . Discussion of these latest technological deve 1 opments r equ i res bas i ca 11 y the same artistic language as earlier forms and affords more peop 1 e the opportuni ty to enjoy and react to such a wide variety of vi sual arts. Thinki ng About Art would make an excell ent textbook for many art courses, especially focusing on art appreciation and criticism. It;s informative, interesting, and stimu i ates creative thought and discussion about art. Feldman has revea 1 ed to us the power of art to make us truly see, encounter and experience the world. laurie Gomon Ring, Vol usia County Schools, Florida. 100 

Book Review: Thinking About Art

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Book Review: Thinking About Art

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