The Art of Looking at Art: A Concise, Readable Guide to Understanding Art

For Everyone From Art Lovers to the Merely Curious

For Immediate Release 16 May 2020

Media Contacts:

Gene Wisniewski
gene@genewisniewski.com
917.566.8390

Charles Harmon
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
charmon@rowman.com
212.529.3888, ext. 305

“Hand this book to anyone who says, “I don’t get art.” When they read this, they will get art from the first scratch on a cave wall to the latest disturbance in the habitual look of things. This deeply researched, clearly argued, and delightfully written history of art is two impossible things: a primer and an encyclopedia. You can read it as an ode or an elegy, but whether a believer or a doubter, you will be informed, entertained, and inspired.”

Andrei Codrescu, author of “No Time Like Now: New Poems” (Pitt Poetry Series, 2019)

There are art history books, and books on art appreciation. There are essays on creativity, scientific treatises on art and the human brain, and stories in the news about record-breaking sales. But The Art of Looking At Art puts everything you always wanted to know about this vast and sometimes baffling subject into one succinct, accessible, and, yes, entertaining read. This book examines art from every conceivable angle—the philosophical, the functional, and the financial. Discover what goes into making a painting, and what goes on in an artist’s head. Explore an ancient cave at the tip of Africa where, for reasons unknown, our hunter-gatherer ancestors first carved geometric patterns into bits of rock, then pop in at New York’s high-end auction houses, where fortunes are dropped at the raise of a paddle. Learn how to really look at art. The book’s lively, conversational tone makes the most difficult art comprehensible, even for the neophyte. Though this is a book for the aficionado, too. Because, as any aficionado will tell you, no matter how much you know about this vast and ever-fascinating topic, there’s always something new to learn.

Any questions? The answer is probably here.

The Art of Looking at Art

ISBN 978-1-5381-3372-9 (hardcover, $55.00)/978-1-5381-3373-6 (e-book, $52.00)

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Release date: October 4, 2020

280 pp., 8 ½” x 11”, 45 color illustrations, 6 b/w

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https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538133736/The-Art-of-Looking-at-Art

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