Richard Shone Livres

The Books That Shaped Art History provides an invaluable roadmap of the field by reassessing the impact of the most important texts of art history published during the 20th century. Each of the sixteen incisive chapters, focusing on a single book, is written by a leading art historian, curator or one of the promising scholars of today. In bringing these cross-generational contributions together, the book presents a varied and invaluable overview of the history of art, told through its most enduring literature. Each essay - with writers including John Elderfield, Boris Groys, Susie Nash and Richard Verdi - analyses a single major work, mapping the intellectual development of its author, setting out the premises and argument of the book, discussing its position within the field of art history, and looking at its significance in the context both of its initial reception and its legacy. Enlivening debates and questioning the very status of art history itself, this is a concise and brilliant study of the discipline and an invaluable resource for anyone interested in visual culture and its histories.

Alfred Sisley is now recognized as one of the great landscape painters of the nineteenth century, and a leading figure in the Impressionist. English-born, he lived all his life in France, and the 61 colour illustrations in this book include the celebrated snow scenes of the Paris suburbs, his views of the flooded Seine at Port-Marly, and his paintings and colourful regattas on the Thames with Kenneth Clark described as embodying “the perfect moment of Impressionism”. Richard Shone has completely updated his essay, fist published in 1979, in the light if his major 1992 Phaidon monograph on Sisley, selected new colour plates and added extensive commentaries on the illustrations to the work of Alfred Sisley.

Focusing on the figurative work of Walter Richard Sickert, this beautifully illustrated book features insights from experts that delve into his artistic contributions. It offers a comprehensive overview of Sickert's life and techniques, highlighting his significance in the art world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Sind die Bilder von Henri Matisse veraltet, nur weil sie vor Jahrzehnten entstanden sind? Die Antwort darauf ist eindeutig. Auch eine Studie über Matisse, die vor fast 65 Jahren veröffentlicht wurde, ist nicht automatisch veraltet. John Elderfield zeigt in dieser Anthologie, dass solche Annahmen falsch sein können, indem er Alfred H. Barrs „Matisse: His Art and His Public“ von 1951 neu interpretiert. Barr, als Gründungsdirektor des Museum of Modern Art in New York, vereinte außergewöhnliche Fähigkeiten als Kunsthistoriker und Pädagoge, was sich auch in seinem Matisse-Buch widerspiegelt. Die Publikation präsentiert 16 Klassiker der Kunstgeschichte aus dem letzten Jahrhundert, die von renommierten Kunsthistorikern behandelt werden. Diese Experten analysieren die Genese und den Kontext der Werke und beleuchten die Biografien ihrer Verfasser. Sie stellen zudem die Frage, ob die diskutierten Klassiker heute noch relevant sind. Richard Verdi erinnert an Roger Frys wenig bekannte Studie „Cézanne: A Study of His Development“ von 1927, während Boris Groys brillant in Clement Greenbergs „Art and Culture: Critical Essays“ (1961) einführt. Jeffrey Hamburger stellt Hans Beltings „Bild und Kult“ von 1990 vor. Geschichte muss periodisch neu betrachtet werden, und das gilt auch für die Klassiker der Kunst. Während einige Werke in Vergessenheit geraten, gibt es auch zeitlose Perlen, die auf eine Neuentdeckung warten. Diese Anthologie weist den