Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk
 |
Description
Book Introduction
“Art stories come alive and breathe
“We invite you to a romantic walk.”
Julian Barnes, the chatty novelist,
It encompasses not only painters but also writers and art collectors.
We'll tell you a behind-the-scenes story you won't hear anywhere else!
Highly recommended by Cine21 reporter Kim Hye-ri
The revised and expanded edition of 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』 has been published by Dasan Books.
Julian Barnes, the king of British literature, won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his novel, "The Sense of an Ending."
In addition to novels, he has also presented a new side of himself by publishing essays on various topics such as cooking and death, such as “Another Recipe Like This” and “How to Talk About Death with a Smile.”
This book is a collection of art essays by Julian Barnes that he published over 30 years in literary and art publications, including The New York Review of Books and The Modern Painter. It became an immediate bestseller upon publication, receiving rave reviews from major media outlets, such as “a remarkable collection of wondrous things” and “a fascinating and brilliant essay.”
This revised and expanded edition adds seventeen illustrations and seven essays to the original book published in 2019.
When discussing artists, female painters are often marginalized, but Barnes focused on Morisot, who was acclaimed by fellow artists and critics but was listed as “unemployed” on her death certificate, and Mary Cassatt, the first foreign female painter to receive a decoration from the French government.
At the same time, we also introduce an anecdote about Degas, an artist who was labeled a misogynist but actually depicted women's solidarity and independence.
It reexamines the relationships between painters and writers active in Europe from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as well as the relationships between painters and their patrons, and organizes the artistic trends that developed through mutual influence over time to provide a three-dimensional perspective.
Let's take a look at the revised and expanded edition of 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』, which has been reborn with the addition of cover illustrations by Seol Dong-ju, who captures the fleeting emotions encountered in the city.
Beyond the contemplative writer Julian Barnes, painters who have left their mark on art history, including Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Magritte, gather together to invite readers into the world of art.
“We invite you to a romantic walk.”
Julian Barnes, the chatty novelist,
It encompasses not only painters but also writers and art collectors.
We'll tell you a behind-the-scenes story you won't hear anywhere else!
Highly recommended by Cine21 reporter Kim Hye-ri
The revised and expanded edition of 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』 has been published by Dasan Books.
Julian Barnes, the king of British literature, won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his novel, "The Sense of an Ending."
In addition to novels, he has also presented a new side of himself by publishing essays on various topics such as cooking and death, such as “Another Recipe Like This” and “How to Talk About Death with a Smile.”
This book is a collection of art essays by Julian Barnes that he published over 30 years in literary and art publications, including The New York Review of Books and The Modern Painter. It became an immediate bestseller upon publication, receiving rave reviews from major media outlets, such as “a remarkable collection of wondrous things” and “a fascinating and brilliant essay.”
This revised and expanded edition adds seventeen illustrations and seven essays to the original book published in 2019.
When discussing artists, female painters are often marginalized, but Barnes focused on Morisot, who was acclaimed by fellow artists and critics but was listed as “unemployed” on her death certificate, and Mary Cassatt, the first foreign female painter to receive a decoration from the French government.
At the same time, we also introduce an anecdote about Degas, an artist who was labeled a misogynist but actually depicted women's solidarity and independence.
It reexamines the relationships between painters and writers active in Europe from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as well as the relationships between painters and their patrons, and organizes the artistic trends that developed through mutual influence over time to provide a three-dimensional perspective.
Let's take a look at the revised and expanded edition of 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』, which has been reborn with the addition of cover illustrations by Seol Dong-ju, who captures the fleeting emotions encountered in the city.
Beyond the contemplative writer Julian Barnes, painters who have left their mark on art history, including Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Magritte, gather together to invite readers into the world of art.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
introduction
1 Jericho · Disaster into Art
2 Delacroix · How Romantic
3 Courbet · Rather than that, it's like this
4 Manet · Black, White
5 Morizo · “Unemployed”
6 Pantanglatour · Sorted People
7 Cezanne · Are the apples moving?
8 Painters and Writers 1
9 Degas 1 · Huh, hmm, yaaa!
10 Degas 2 and the woman
11 Mary Cassatt, A Woman Unrestricted by Rooms
12 Redong · Up, up!
13 Van Gogh · Selfie with sunflowers
14 Painters and Writers 2
15 Bonnard · Marthe, Marthe, Marthe, Marthe
16 Please call me Vuillard · Edouard
17. The Stranger of Baloton and Nabipa
18 Braque · The Heart of Painting
19 France goes to Russia
20 Magritte · Bird Eggs Instead of Birds
21 Oldenburg · The delightful fun of soft things
22 Is this art?
23 Freud · Anecdotalist
24 Hodgkin · H.
What do you mean to H?
Acknowledgements
Translator's Note
Original source
List of illustrations
Search
1 Jericho · Disaster into Art
2 Delacroix · How Romantic
3 Courbet · Rather than that, it's like this
4 Manet · Black, White
5 Morizo · “Unemployed”
6 Pantanglatour · Sorted People
7 Cezanne · Are the apples moving?
8 Painters and Writers 1
9 Degas 1 · Huh, hmm, yaaa!
10 Degas 2 and the woman
11 Mary Cassatt, A Woman Unrestricted by Rooms
12 Redong · Up, up!
13 Van Gogh · Selfie with sunflowers
14 Painters and Writers 2
15 Bonnard · Marthe, Marthe, Marthe, Marthe
16 Please call me Vuillard · Edouard
17. The Stranger of Baloton and Nabipa
18 Braque · The Heart of Painting
19 France goes to Russia
20 Magritte · Bird Eggs Instead of Birds
21 Oldenburg · The delightful fun of soft things
22 Is this art?
23 Freud · Anecdotalist
24 Hodgkin · H.
What do you mean to H?
Acknowledgements
Translator's Note
Original source
List of illustrations
Search
Detailed image
Into the book
Flaubert believed that it was impossible to explain one art form in terms of another, and that a masterpiece needed no explanation in words.
Braque thought that we would reach the ideal state if we did not say anything in front of a painting.
But reaching that level is a distant dream.
Because we are incurable linguistic creatures who love to explain, express opinions, and argue about anything.
When you stand in front of a painting, each one chatters in its own way.
---From the "Preface"
On the occasion of the Third Impressionist Exhibition, planned by Caillebotte in 1877 and including works by Cézanne, the art critic Paul Manz declared in the French daily Le Temps:
“In fact, there is only one impressionist in this group.
That painter is Berthe Morisot.” We can think of Berthe Morisot as the first Impressionist.
In her notebook there is this writing:
I have never expected anything for a long time, so it seems too ambitious to hope for posthumous glory.
I guess I'll have to be content with the desire to capture even a little bit of what's disappearing.
Ah, that 'some' thing! That minimal thing.
But I think even that ambition is excessive.
---From "Morizo: "Unemployed""
Ford took the idea of lust as a radical transgression of convention from Maupassant.
This includes the skin-peeling difference between the easy love of youth and the desperate love of old age.
To borrow Bertin's words, which were intended to understand rather than alleviate suffering, "the problem is that the heart is young." The painter, caught in a difficult emotional (and social) dilemma, ends his life by throwing himself in front of a moving carriage.
In this way, another painter in a novel commits suicide after suffering from agony.
If such false narratives about their profession were repeated, the Impressionist painters would likely file a petition against it.
---From "Painters and Writers 1"
Degas' original teacher was Ingres.
The women painted by Ingres (concubines, Venus, goddesses) have had their body hair removed and have been perfectly transformed into sculptures.
This is because the number of vertebrae is not anatomically possible, the torso is elongated, the buttocks are wide, but the legs are thin.
Ingres' nudes are often described as plesiosaurs, as Valéry aptly remarked.
Yet, few people complained about Ingres' work.
But Degas also depicted women who were not ideal: women who seemed to be scratching an itch or trying to tie their shoelaces, women who looked tired and bored, and obese women who were reminiscent of Rembrandt's diet-based, if not Rubensian, utter obesity.
Which one do people prefer?
---From "Dega 1: Huh, Hmm, Yaa!"
While in Paris, Cassatt helped arrange for the exhibition of 24 works by Degas, as well as 19 of his own.
She told Luijin that exhibiting her work alongside Degas's would "show that I am not imitating him in this age of imitation."
But the more ironic source of satisfaction lay in the exhibition's purpose.
It was to raise funds for the women's suffrage movement.
Cassatt told Louisine calmly that the exhibition was truly exhilarating, “considering Degas’s assessment.”
---From "Mary Cassatt: A Woman Unbound by Room"
“What the general public likes is bound to be banal,” van Gogh wrote in a letter to Theo in 1883.
But today the general public is very fond of his paintings.
So, has his art become clichéd? If we have trouble appreciating van Gogh's work, does that mean there's really only so much to see? And, or perhaps, as we grow older, do we graduate from van Gogh? Oddly enough, that's not the case.
Van Gogh is not a painter who refines and deepens our vision over time—like Degas or Monet.
I'm not sure if Van Gogh's paintings change with our own passage of time, if we see them differently because of this, or if we find ourselves discovering more in them when we look at them again in our 60s or 70s than when we were 20.
Rather, it is his desperate sincerity, his bold and dazzling colors, and his intense desire to “bring solace to troubled souls” that transports us back to our twenties.
And it's never a bad place to return to.
---From "Van Gogh: Selfie with Sunflowers"
What must life have been like for a collector of that kind, with so much money, in Paris during that brief and brilliant era of European art? What led him to risk his precious art by transporting it to Moscow? Shchukin hung his paintings haphazardly, side by side, or in two rows, sometimes touching the plaster cornices.
The only lighting seemed to be a chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling.
Below them were gilded chairs and silk sofas in the style of Louis XVI, completely out of touch with modernism.
Some of his friends laughed at the Gauguin paintings he owned.
Meanwhile, a visitor to his Moscow mansion drew Monet's paintings with the "protest chalk" described in the catalog.
Today, art-loving Parisians walk around with their iPhones, taking pictures of their returned idols.
Braque thought that we would reach the ideal state if we did not say anything in front of a painting.
But reaching that level is a distant dream.
Because we are incurable linguistic creatures who love to explain, express opinions, and argue about anything.
When you stand in front of a painting, each one chatters in its own way.
---From the "Preface"
On the occasion of the Third Impressionist Exhibition, planned by Caillebotte in 1877 and including works by Cézanne, the art critic Paul Manz declared in the French daily Le Temps:
“In fact, there is only one impressionist in this group.
That painter is Berthe Morisot.” We can think of Berthe Morisot as the first Impressionist.
In her notebook there is this writing:
I have never expected anything for a long time, so it seems too ambitious to hope for posthumous glory.
I guess I'll have to be content with the desire to capture even a little bit of what's disappearing.
Ah, that 'some' thing! That minimal thing.
But I think even that ambition is excessive.
---From "Morizo: "Unemployed""
Ford took the idea of lust as a radical transgression of convention from Maupassant.
This includes the skin-peeling difference between the easy love of youth and the desperate love of old age.
To borrow Bertin's words, which were intended to understand rather than alleviate suffering, "the problem is that the heart is young." The painter, caught in a difficult emotional (and social) dilemma, ends his life by throwing himself in front of a moving carriage.
In this way, another painter in a novel commits suicide after suffering from agony.
If such false narratives about their profession were repeated, the Impressionist painters would likely file a petition against it.
---From "Painters and Writers 1"
Degas' original teacher was Ingres.
The women painted by Ingres (concubines, Venus, goddesses) have had their body hair removed and have been perfectly transformed into sculptures.
This is because the number of vertebrae is not anatomically possible, the torso is elongated, the buttocks are wide, but the legs are thin.
Ingres' nudes are often described as plesiosaurs, as Valéry aptly remarked.
Yet, few people complained about Ingres' work.
But Degas also depicted women who were not ideal: women who seemed to be scratching an itch or trying to tie their shoelaces, women who looked tired and bored, and obese women who were reminiscent of Rembrandt's diet-based, if not Rubensian, utter obesity.
Which one do people prefer?
---From "Dega 1: Huh, Hmm, Yaa!"
While in Paris, Cassatt helped arrange for the exhibition of 24 works by Degas, as well as 19 of his own.
She told Luijin that exhibiting her work alongside Degas's would "show that I am not imitating him in this age of imitation."
But the more ironic source of satisfaction lay in the exhibition's purpose.
It was to raise funds for the women's suffrage movement.
Cassatt told Louisine calmly that the exhibition was truly exhilarating, “considering Degas’s assessment.”
---From "Mary Cassatt: A Woman Unbound by Room"
“What the general public likes is bound to be banal,” van Gogh wrote in a letter to Theo in 1883.
But today the general public is very fond of his paintings.
So, has his art become clichéd? If we have trouble appreciating van Gogh's work, does that mean there's really only so much to see? And, or perhaps, as we grow older, do we graduate from van Gogh? Oddly enough, that's not the case.
Van Gogh is not a painter who refines and deepens our vision over time—like Degas or Monet.
I'm not sure if Van Gogh's paintings change with our own passage of time, if we see them differently because of this, or if we find ourselves discovering more in them when we look at them again in our 60s or 70s than when we were 20.
Rather, it is his desperate sincerity, his bold and dazzling colors, and his intense desire to “bring solace to troubled souls” that transports us back to our twenties.
And it's never a bad place to return to.
---From "Van Gogh: Selfie with Sunflowers"
What must life have been like for a collector of that kind, with so much money, in Paris during that brief and brilliant era of European art? What led him to risk his precious art by transporting it to Moscow? Shchukin hung his paintings haphazardly, side by side, or in two rows, sometimes touching the plaster cornices.
The only lighting seemed to be a chandelier hanging in the center of the ceiling.
Below them were gilded chairs and silk sofas in the style of Louis XVI, completely out of touch with modernism.
Some of his friends laughed at the Gauguin paintings he owned.
Meanwhile, a visitor to his Moscow mansion drew Monet's paintings with the "protest chalk" described in the catalog.
Today, art-loving Parisians walk around with their iPhones, taking pictures of their returned idols.
---From "France Goes to Russia"
Publisher's Review
“There is so much to say about just one painting!”
The artist's life and famous paintings in frames
It comes to life vividly with Julian Barnes' sentences!
In this day and age, you can easily view high-definition artworks simply by searching on your smartphone.
But we still go to famous exhibitions and wait in line before the opening to see famous paintings with our own eyes.
Why, when we crave such aesthetic stimulation, do we find ourselves speechless when confronted with a painting? Perhaps we pressure ourselves to express only the correct appreciation for the painting.
At times like these, let's go on an art walk through Europe with Julian Barnes.
As he shares his personal impressions with us, he emphasizes that there are no right answers in art, and that personal feelings are the true appreciation.
Julian Barnes, like the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist, opens the story in a way that is completely different from other art books that are busy conveying knowledge by listing information about the paintings or the artists.
As soon as the reader opens the book, he or she is confronted with the powerful sentence, “Ominous signs were evident from the beginning.”
This explains the events that formed the background of The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault.
In 1816, about 150 sailors from the French government's fleet who had escaped the wreck of the Medusa were forced to board a raft without a compass or charts, which led to a tragic fight where they killed each other to survive.
The image of Jericho, who shaved his head and locked himself in his studio to paint this incident, is vividly brought to life in Barnes's writing.
Not only Chapter 1, but all twenty-four essays in 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』 are composed of such dynamic sentences that stimulate the reader's imagination and approach it like a rhythmic novel.
Jericho spent eight months in the studio.
He painted a self-portrait around this time.
It is a self-portrait that looks at us with a somewhat suspicious gaze and a sullen expression, which is often made by artists facing a mirror.
We imagine that the complaint is directed at us and feel uncomfortable.
But in fact, it is mainly directed at oneself, the model of the self-portrait.
(…) He gives the impression of a determined and fierce pirate, as if he were about to rush in and start painting, as if he were about to board the large wreck of the ship in the “Shipwreck Scene.”
(…) The raft looks as if it had been thoroughly cleaned for the official visit of a squeamish monarch.
Pieces of human flesh are removed from sight, and people's hair is smooth as a new paintbrush.
(…) Jericho cuts away the sea and sky around us and forces us onto the raft, whether we like it or not.
- From the text
Resonating with every corner of the paintings of the greatest painters of the time
A tenacious and fascinating look into the shadows hidden behind the canvas.
Although Barnes is now widely known as an art enthusiast, he was not particularly interested in famous paintings until his youth, when he was only interested in sports and comics.
Even when I went to an art gallery and saw famous paintings, I didn't feel any special emotion, and I just thought art was something solemn and boring.
Then, after graduating from high school, I happened to visit the Gustave Moreau Museum, where I first became conscious of art.
Moreau's paintings, which felt mysterious because they were "exotic, jewel-studded, and darkly gorgeous," instantly turned Barnes into an art lover, and soon he became a writer whose writings were filled with an obsession and affection for art.
"The Noise of Time," which features the Russian pianist Shostakovich as its protagonist, and "The Man in the Red Coat," which was inspired by a portrait of Samuel Pozzi in a red coat, are both novels written from the perspective of exploring art.
When introducing an artist, he excludes content that would be included in an art textbook, and instead, he persistently analyzes and reconstructs everything from anecdotes about the artist's time painting a masterpiece to events that occurred throughout his life, adding his personal critiques and appreciation.
He portrays Delacroix as someone with an open mind but who, rather than being a rebel against society, wants to become an “artistic aristocrat” and achieve the comforts of status, and asks the reader whether Morisot, who mainly depicts women looking out from indoors, “expresses the limits of women’s liberation.”
Degas, who spent four hours combing the model's hair, also clears his name of being a misogynist, a label later used to label him.
In reality, it no longer matters what kind of life they lived while alive.
Barnes' writing has the power to captivate and persuade readers.
Through his novelistic imagination, which seamlessly weaves between facts and rushes forward without a break, readers are given an opportunity to glimpse the shadow the artist casts on history and at the same time become one step closer to art.
“If only all art essays could reach this level!”
The most beautiful and ecstatic essay on art
Julian Barnes's writing can sometimes feel esoteric and difficult, but at the same time, his unique cynicism and humor give readers the joy of reading each sentence, and provide a device for feeling closer to the artist.
For example, Barnes describes the sight of visitors trying to take selfies with Van Gogh's paintings as "impatient and excited fans blocking the painting," and then criticizes our generation's love for Van Gogh by saying, "Look how much our tastes are superior to those of those who ignored you back then, Mr. Van Gogh."
Then, we are raved about Van Gogh, who “returns us to our twenties with his desperate sincerity and intense yearning.” We cannot help but fall for him.
What about Picasso, who is widely known as a natural genius?
According to Barnes, Picasso, standing before Braque, was “a combination of stubbornness and vanity” and became Braque’s “affection-hungry” “antibrac,” a painter who envied and was jealous of his colleague’s abilities.
As he goes through Freud's bizarre and unpleasant words and actions one by one, he concludes that "it would have been better if he had painted more pictures of sinks, flower pots, leaves, and trees" instead of nudes.
In his sharp prose that captures the artist's life, readers will sometimes empathize, sometimes be struck by surprise, and sometimes feel catharsis.
In an interview given to commemorate the publication of this book, Julian Barnes replied:
“When I write about a painting, I imagine the reader is right next to me and we look at the painting together.
Perhaps because I have been looking at paintings for decades, I have many things to compare them to and I feel less anxious when I chat.” If you want to get away from the solemn and stiff art museum and chat about art with a novelist who truly loves art, this book would be a good choice.
Overseas recommendations
- It's pure ecstasy, that's all.
_The Washington Post
- An amazing collection of wonderful things! _The Independent
- Highly recommended to all art readers.
_Library Journal
- If all art essays had reached this level… … .
_New Statesman
- A very valuable, useful, thoughtful, thoughtful, and enjoyable essay.
_Evening Standard
- Fascinating and excellent.
Based on extensive research, it delves deeply into the most personal aspects of the works, capturing the influence each work has had on the others.
_Financial Times
- Clear, passionate, and thoughtful writing… Barnes, who looks at paintings with the eye of a born novelist who captures detail, reveals the true colors of artists from familiar figures like Degas, Braque, and Magritte to lesser-known masters through his original interpretations and intuitive narratives.
_The New York Times
- A powerful connection between art and artist… Barnes has a remarkable eye for understanding how great paintings are made, and he uses language to convey what he sees to his readers.
_Times Literary Supplement
- Philosophical and thorough, yet accessible and engaging.
Barnes's exquisite analysis of important artists and their works opens new horizons for readers and viewers.
_Kirkus Review
The artist's life and famous paintings in frames
It comes to life vividly with Julian Barnes' sentences!
In this day and age, you can easily view high-definition artworks simply by searching on your smartphone.
But we still go to famous exhibitions and wait in line before the opening to see famous paintings with our own eyes.
Why, when we crave such aesthetic stimulation, do we find ourselves speechless when confronted with a painting? Perhaps we pressure ourselves to express only the correct appreciation for the painting.
At times like these, let's go on an art walk through Europe with Julian Barnes.
As he shares his personal impressions with us, he emphasizes that there are no right answers in art, and that personal feelings are the true appreciation.
Julian Barnes, like the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist, opens the story in a way that is completely different from other art books that are busy conveying knowledge by listing information about the paintings or the artists.
As soon as the reader opens the book, he or she is confronted with the powerful sentence, “Ominous signs were evident from the beginning.”
This explains the events that formed the background of The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault.
In 1816, about 150 sailors from the French government's fleet who had escaped the wreck of the Medusa were forced to board a raft without a compass or charts, which led to a tragic fight where they killed each other to survive.
The image of Jericho, who shaved his head and locked himself in his studio to paint this incident, is vividly brought to life in Barnes's writing.
Not only Chapter 1, but all twenty-four essays in 『Julian Barnes' Very Private Art Walk』 are composed of such dynamic sentences that stimulate the reader's imagination and approach it like a rhythmic novel.
Jericho spent eight months in the studio.
He painted a self-portrait around this time.
It is a self-portrait that looks at us with a somewhat suspicious gaze and a sullen expression, which is often made by artists facing a mirror.
We imagine that the complaint is directed at us and feel uncomfortable.
But in fact, it is mainly directed at oneself, the model of the self-portrait.
(…) He gives the impression of a determined and fierce pirate, as if he were about to rush in and start painting, as if he were about to board the large wreck of the ship in the “Shipwreck Scene.”
(…) The raft looks as if it had been thoroughly cleaned for the official visit of a squeamish monarch.
Pieces of human flesh are removed from sight, and people's hair is smooth as a new paintbrush.
(…) Jericho cuts away the sea and sky around us and forces us onto the raft, whether we like it or not.
- From the text
Resonating with every corner of the paintings of the greatest painters of the time
A tenacious and fascinating look into the shadows hidden behind the canvas.
Although Barnes is now widely known as an art enthusiast, he was not particularly interested in famous paintings until his youth, when he was only interested in sports and comics.
Even when I went to an art gallery and saw famous paintings, I didn't feel any special emotion, and I just thought art was something solemn and boring.
Then, after graduating from high school, I happened to visit the Gustave Moreau Museum, where I first became conscious of art.
Moreau's paintings, which felt mysterious because they were "exotic, jewel-studded, and darkly gorgeous," instantly turned Barnes into an art lover, and soon he became a writer whose writings were filled with an obsession and affection for art.
"The Noise of Time," which features the Russian pianist Shostakovich as its protagonist, and "The Man in the Red Coat," which was inspired by a portrait of Samuel Pozzi in a red coat, are both novels written from the perspective of exploring art.
When introducing an artist, he excludes content that would be included in an art textbook, and instead, he persistently analyzes and reconstructs everything from anecdotes about the artist's time painting a masterpiece to events that occurred throughout his life, adding his personal critiques and appreciation.
He portrays Delacroix as someone with an open mind but who, rather than being a rebel against society, wants to become an “artistic aristocrat” and achieve the comforts of status, and asks the reader whether Morisot, who mainly depicts women looking out from indoors, “expresses the limits of women’s liberation.”
Degas, who spent four hours combing the model's hair, also clears his name of being a misogynist, a label later used to label him.
In reality, it no longer matters what kind of life they lived while alive.
Barnes' writing has the power to captivate and persuade readers.
Through his novelistic imagination, which seamlessly weaves between facts and rushes forward without a break, readers are given an opportunity to glimpse the shadow the artist casts on history and at the same time become one step closer to art.
“If only all art essays could reach this level!”
The most beautiful and ecstatic essay on art
Julian Barnes's writing can sometimes feel esoteric and difficult, but at the same time, his unique cynicism and humor give readers the joy of reading each sentence, and provide a device for feeling closer to the artist.
For example, Barnes describes the sight of visitors trying to take selfies with Van Gogh's paintings as "impatient and excited fans blocking the painting," and then criticizes our generation's love for Van Gogh by saying, "Look how much our tastes are superior to those of those who ignored you back then, Mr. Van Gogh."
Then, we are raved about Van Gogh, who “returns us to our twenties with his desperate sincerity and intense yearning.” We cannot help but fall for him.
What about Picasso, who is widely known as a natural genius?
According to Barnes, Picasso, standing before Braque, was “a combination of stubbornness and vanity” and became Braque’s “affection-hungry” “antibrac,” a painter who envied and was jealous of his colleague’s abilities.
As he goes through Freud's bizarre and unpleasant words and actions one by one, he concludes that "it would have been better if he had painted more pictures of sinks, flower pots, leaves, and trees" instead of nudes.
In his sharp prose that captures the artist's life, readers will sometimes empathize, sometimes be struck by surprise, and sometimes feel catharsis.
In an interview given to commemorate the publication of this book, Julian Barnes replied:
“When I write about a painting, I imagine the reader is right next to me and we look at the painting together.
Perhaps because I have been looking at paintings for decades, I have many things to compare them to and I feel less anxious when I chat.” If you want to get away from the solemn and stiff art museum and chat about art with a novelist who truly loves art, this book would be a good choice.
Overseas recommendations
- It's pure ecstasy, that's all.
_The Washington Post
- An amazing collection of wonderful things! _The Independent
- Highly recommended to all art readers.
_Library Journal
- If all art essays had reached this level… … .
_New Statesman
- A very valuable, useful, thoughtful, thoughtful, and enjoyable essay.
_Evening Standard
- Fascinating and excellent.
Based on extensive research, it delves deeply into the most personal aspects of the works, capturing the influence each work has had on the others.
_Financial Times
- Clear, passionate, and thoughtful writing… Barnes, who looks at paintings with the eye of a born novelist who captures detail, reveals the true colors of artists from familiar figures like Degas, Braque, and Magritte to lesser-known masters through his original interpretations and intuitive narratives.
_The New York Times
- A powerful connection between art and artist… Barnes has a remarkable eye for understanding how great paintings are made, and he uses language to convey what he sees to his readers.
_Times Literary Supplement
- Philosophical and thorough, yet accessible and engaging.
Barnes's exquisite analysis of important artists and their works opens new horizons for readers and viewers.
_Kirkus Review
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: July 18, 2023
- Page count, weight, size: 592 pages | 926g | 138*210*35mm
- ISBN13: 9791130644714
- ISBN10: 1130644715
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