The Meanings of Modern Art

by John Russell

The Meanings of Modern Art Very Good Condition, highlighting on some pages

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, Art History

429 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

John Russell CBE (22 January 1919 – 23 August 2008) was an English art critic and journalist.

He started his career at the Tate Gallery in 1940, but moved to the country after the gallery was bombed during World War II.

He worked in Naval Intelligence for the Admiralty where he met author Ian Fleming, who helped to secure Russell a reviewing position at The Sunday Times in 1950.
Russell was chief art critic at the New York Times from 1982 to 1990.


Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ljubomir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 'Meanings' from the title should rather be understood as a historical and ideological overview of modern art (beginning with the Impressionists).
At any rate, Russell's immense erudition is impressive. His writing style is not lacking either and the book is very informative and enjoyable to read.
The author sometimes makes bold statements as to the nature of art and its quality without defending them, but then again, that is not the purpose of the book.
Russell aims to give the average reader a good idea about modern art, while simultaneously paying a tribute to it, and he does that perfectly.
He was able to abolish most of my prejudices (and confirm some, unwillingly, I presume) and broaden my view of (modern) art, which is a lot more than I expected from this book.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ushered in my era of learning lots more about modern art - painting in particular. It was my favorite of the two texts used in my first modern art history class. It's a special one to me for that reason, but through the years, I've read parts of it and reviewed the images several times. It's covered with underlinings from previous readings, and I laugh now when I read the impassioned written comments of a then-budding artist in the margins.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable introduction to 20th C. art. Unlike others, this book has a personality, something sorely lacking in similar survey course books. It helps that the author often quotes from writers who palled around with the artists of the era instead of hiding behind stuffy, impenetrable, or meaningless art-history jargon.

[Curtis Seven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just arrived in the mail today from Half.com (it may be out of print I'm not sure). Looks to be a logical sequence of essays dealing with the critical factors in the development of Modern Art which ironically may need a new name as it becomes more a part of history every day.

I will write more when I have read more of it.

[LemontreeLime]

Ive been distracted from this one for now....

[Artlab]

Art Criticism