<![CDATA[The Power of Art]]>

false <![CDATA[The Power of Art]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167285053m/19797.jpg 19797 4 "Great art has dreadful manners," Simon Schama observes wryly at the start of his epic and explosive exploration of the power, and whole point, of art. "The hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things; visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure, and then proceed in short order to re-arrange your sense of reality. . . ." With the same disarming force, The Power of Art propels us on an eye-opening, breathtaking odyssey, zooming in on eight extraordinary masterpieces, from Caravaggio's David and Goliath to Picasso's Guernica. Jolting us far from the comfort zone of the hushed art gallery, Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, altering the course of art forever. The embattled heroes—Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko—each in his own resolute way, faced crisis with steadfast defiance, pitting passion and conviction against scorn and short-sightedness. The masterpieces they created challenged convention, shattered complacency, shifted awareness and changed the way we look at the world. With vivid storytelling and powerfully evocative descriptive passages, Schama explores the dynamic personalities of the artists and the spirit of the times they lived through, capturing the flamboyant theatre of bourgeois life in Amsterdam, the passion and paranoia of Revolutionary Paris, and the carnage and pathos of Civil War Spain. Most compelling of all, The Power of Art traces the extraordinary evolution of eight "eye-popping" world-class works of art. Created in a bolt of illumination, such works "tell us something about how the world is, how it is to be inside our skins, that no more prosaic source of wisdom can deliver. And when they do that, they answer, irrefutably and majestically, the nagging question of every reluctant art-conscript . . . 'OK, OK, but what's art really for?'" 20998 book 7 11 2006 The Power of Art total:97|5:38|4:39|3:17|2:2|1:1| 97 402 221 18 5 5 false false Sat Dec 13 15:42:45 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 15:46:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 10:49:31 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 17 09:22:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 07:34:10 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 07:38:31 -0700 2009
Why Art is Important
In this companion volume to the PBS series, Simon Schama writes with passion and verve about eight masterpieces (by Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko) and why and how they changed our v...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 06 09:20:22 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 12:47:52 -0700 2008
Schama is self-aggrandizing, melodramatic, irritating and truly compelling. He injects his out-size personality into the book and it's better for it.

One can certainly quibble with hi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Sep 09 00:12:53 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 09 00:13:42 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Fri Dec 19 09:26:55 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 23 05:54:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 15:48:33 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 15:54:20 -0700 2007 Plus the book has Grrrr...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 18:36:32 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 19:06:55 -0700 2009 4 1 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu May 08 18:22:49 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 18:28:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Nov 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 09 18:08:21 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 15 18:19:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Aug 07 13:02:37 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 13:06:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue May 27 08:44:54 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 10 11:57:56 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jul 24 16:38:49 -0700 2007 Tue Jan 22 18:40:20 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 14:21:50 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 14:27:12 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Mon Jan 21 06:40:31 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 06:38:18 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 06:40:30 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Sun Nov 16 09:24:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jul 22 21:13:41 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 16 09:24:00 -0800 2008 5 1 false false Mon Feb 18 05:13:25 -0800 2008 Fri Apr 18 08:10:41 -0700 2008 5 1 false false Mon Jul 07 06:49:26 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 06:50:36 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Nov 22 20:25:51 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 20:25:51 -0800 2009 1 0 false false Tue Nov 17 19:08:08 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 19:08:08 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=19797