Does anybody ever read the text of art books?

[abcdefz]

I got a huge book of Picasso's stuff this weekend and realize that basically I just flip through art books, looking at pictures, and have never done more than dip in and out of the text. I don't think I've ever read the entire text of one of these things.

Does anyone here do that?


-- not talking about art textbooks; I'm talking about just coffee table art books.
I dunno. I usually don't like the way they're written, I guess.

But I was blown away to read that Picasso had produced over 30,000 works in his lifetime -- that's drawings, paintings, sculpture, ceramics... It was amazing to see how many really great paintings he did in one day.

Guernica only took about three weeks.

[abcdefz]

Pfft. He's one of the few artists who was lionized during his lifetime.

[camo]

sometimes but it's usually a load of old toss anyways.

I read the words in graphic design books though. I love to hear my peers waffle on about something theyt do and how great they think they are. Especially when it's something that I can do ten times better!

[Otis Driftwood]

Of course. The personal aspect improves the porn experience...

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by Mark Discordia

Shows how much I know about art.

Yeah. The dude was Elvis without the painkillers.

You might've been thinking of Van Gogh.

[Otis Driftwood]

You can tell after a few pages if it's worth it (case in point Toulouse Lautrec!).

[TAL]

Yes I do.

[Yeti]

I visited the Picasso Museum in Paris. He is one of my favorites and our cousin who lives in Paris arranged a private tour. Very nice Very nice.

http://www.musee-picasso.fr/homes/home_id23982_u1l2.htm

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by Yeti

I visited the Picasso Museum in Paris. He is one of my favorites and our cousin who lives in Paris arranged a private tour. Very nice Very nice.

Dang. That's a rare privilege.

That museum has a lot of the good stuff, I understand. A bunch of the stock was stuff that Picasso considered important and held onto, and then it went to the musee after his death.

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by cmute rhyme

I read the captions in Hustler, does that count?

Look Ma -- both hands!!!

[beastieangel01]

I always read the text.

but then I am an ex-andhopefullyagaininthefuture-art student.

so there is that.

[MC Moot]

I guess for me it depends on what the medium is...like if it's a collection of photography I like footnotes describing the conditions of the shoot, about the gear and background on the pict....but if it's coffee table book on say Reuben or Rembrandt, I likely could care less......I got an amazing book on Rauschenberg,over the holiday's, and it's really neat for me to see how many techniques (silk screen,lithograph,photography,etc) he would use in one piece, so that's pertinent to me....it all depends on how it's presented I guess......

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by MC Moot

I got an amazing book on Rauschenberg,over the holiday's, and it's really neat for me to see how many techniques (silk screen,lithograph,photography,etc) he would use in one piece, so that's pertinent to me....it all depends on how it's presented I guess......

Have you ever seen any of his works in person? There's some stuff at the SF MOMA that's awfully good. It's very different than seeing it in a photograph.

Did you ever see the original packaging he did for Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues? I used to have a copy of that. Kind of neat.

[ms.peachy]

Originally Posted by abcdefz

That museum has a lot of the good stuff, I understand. A bunch of the stock was stuff that Picasso considered important and held onto, and then it went to the musee after his death.

To pay all the taxes he owed, if I'm not mistaken. It wasn't exactly a great act of cultural philanthropy.

[abcdefz]

The book said it was some sort of "death tax." Then they got more stuff when his second wife killed herself with her "death tax."

No idea what that is.

[MC Moot]

Originally Posted by abcdefz

Have you ever seen any of his works in person? There's some stuff at the SF MOMA that's awfully good. It's very different than seeing it in a photograph.

Did you ever see the original packaging he did for Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues? I used to have a copy of that. Kind of neat.

I saw a retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2000,it was fantastic...his fixation with Kennedy,the Apollo program and Americana was and is stunning,I love his work.....that exhibit also include pieces by Jasper Johns and compositions by John Cage, abstract expressionism at it's best.....I didn't know that about the Heads record,trick......I also was fairly ignorant to the fact that he is such a strong sculptor,until I got this collection....great stuff......by the way "Guernica" hung in the Prado,was the most powerful single piece of standing art I have ever seen!

[abcdefz]

Originally Posted by MC Moot

by the way "Guernica" hung in the Prado,was the most powerful single piece of standing art I have ever seen!

Man, I'd love to see that in person. It's so huge, there's no way these reproductions do it justice.

First time I ever saw that image was on a lyric sheet for a Little Steven album.

[MC Moot]

Originally Posted by abcdefz

Man, I'd love to see that in person. It's so huge, there's no way these reproductions do it justice...

It is truly massive,if I recall correctly he originally was going to create it as 4 seperate panels...in the Prado it's guarded by 2 machine gun toting,Guardia de Asalto and is about 30 feet back,behind 4 inch thick bullet/bomb proof glass,ever since ETA threatened it.....I must say there is a quality to the way it is lit that is surreal!...and the other strange thing is on the 2 occasions I've seen it,the room is always hushed,people wait until they move into the next part of the building before discussing it.....power!

[abcdefz]

I'm sure they particularly guard it since they had to sort of extradite it from New York's MOMA, where it was under "permanent loan."