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 | | Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being by Jonathan Fineberg ISBN-10: 0810919516 ISBN-10: 0-8109-1951-6 ISBN-13: 9780810919518 ISBN-13: 978-0-8109-1951-8 Hardcover 1995-04 Harry N Abrams Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Book Description "I can think of no better way . . . to more efficiently and compactly review the ambitious, ingenious, irreverent, and sometimes exasperating art of our time." -Art Journal Widely praised when it first appeared in 1995, Art Since 1940 tells the story of six decades of art in America and Europe through a series of in-depth biographical profiles of individual artists, astutely linked by illuminating discussions of the cultural influences on their work. Artnews hailed this lively volume as "a fascinating book" by "a superb critic and art historian." For this Second Edition, the author adds a new final chapter and extensively reworks the last quarter of the book to incorporate current thinking on the art of the last 20 years. 351 photographs, 246 in full color, 8 1/2 x 11" JONATHAN FINEBERG, winner of a Pulitzer Fellowship for critical writing and author of scores of articles, books, and catalogues on modern and contemporary art, is professor of art history at the University of Illinois. He lives in Urbana, Illinois. | ||
Reviews | ||
Illuminating Book I used this book when I was a student and have referred to it multiple times since I graduated. Simply said, I love it. It presents the work of artists of the major movements in a clear way, without the jargon that is so common in other art books. I would recommend it for anyone interested in modern and contemporary art or anyone who has been to a museum of modern art and not understood what they are looking at. It is also a great affirmation to all of us working in creative fields that there are actual people producing this work, and Fineberg beautifully illuminates these personalities. | ||
Ewwww....... Let me start off by saying that I'm not a fan of contemporary art. That being said, this book is incredibly difficult to read. For me, each sentence took several re-reads before I could get some type of clue as to what he was trying to say. I consider myself a good reader and this book was way out there with the uppity language. My husband would get a kick out of me reading sentences to him, just because they were impossible to understand. If you like this sort of thing, then you might like the book. I, however, did not like the book. I also did not like how they would describe a work of art in great detail, yet show you a totally different piece from that artist. It made if difficult to visually see what they were talking about. My professor did a much better job explaining the material covered in this book. | ||
No Photography! By this book, 1940 marked the time that photography died and was replaced by vast amounts of performance art. Can you seriously present a "survey" of contemporary art without even acknowledging photography in any form? | ||
Bad Religion This book by Finberg is professionally written, edited, and with lots of high quality color examples of the art being discussed. It covers a wide range of individual artists and art movements from the 1940's onward. The problem with book is that the range is not wide enough. Fienberg doesn't give equal treatment to art forms, and the visual arts even begin to take a backseat to performances and installations. It can be argued that new genres of art have emerged and should be discussed, but certainly not at the expense of other forms in a book presented as "art since the 1940's". There is a lot of art since the 1940's that isn't mentioned, though it should be, either because of significant cultural impact, or because of influence on artists that are discussed in the book. For example, there is no mention of animation of any kind, and relatively little coverage of realism, figurative work, design, comics, or advertising. Whether certain people like it or not, Ansel Adams, Walt Disney, Gottfried Helnwein, H.R. Giger, Dr. Suess, and Playboy magazine have had a major impact and more worldwide recognition than virtually all of the artists Fineberg discusses. While some may cast these off as unworthy of discussion in a book about "high art", knowledge of the evolution and integration of the "low arts" is essential to understand concepts of "pop art", "appropriation", "feminist art", and "post modernism". Fineberg's tone is celebratory with certain artists more than others, and makes odd choices on which artists to give the most attention to. The reason I titled this review "bad religion" is because this book is like a sermon about art by someone who is presenting their own doctrine, rather than telling the whole story. If you read this hoping to be educated about art, you are out of luck, unless your goal is to sound intellectual while sipping wine at the opening reception of the next retrospective show of minimalist art in Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago. Oh, it might also be useful if you are writing a paper for an art history class... | ||
excellent! I purchased this book for my Contemporary Art class. It's chock full of great information, and lots of excellent quality samples of art throughout. Worth getting if you're interested in 'educating' yourself in the vernacular of art -- both modernism and contemporary. | ||