Symbolism

Taschen Basic Genre

by Norbert Wolf

The year 1884 saw the appearance in Paris of a fin de sicle cult novel that was celebrated as an altogether perverse sensation on the European cultural scene. The title of the book was A Rebours (translated both as Against the Grain and Against Nature). Its author Joris-Karl Huysmans wrote it as a seductive textbook of decadence, as an antidote to banal naturalism or realism. Symbolism, whose influence was felt well into the modernist era, was an artistic religion-substitute, a spiritually charged cult of beauty. A Symbolist picture or sculpture is mysterious on purpose. In place of intellectual comprehension, the work seeks to have the beholder experience its mysterious depth like a vision. It is no wonder that Symbolists created some of the most fascinating artworks of their age.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Norbert Wolf is an art historian and author based in Munich. He has published several books with Prestel, including "Art Nouveau", "Art Deco", "Impressionism", "Spanish Painting", and "The Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish Painting", as well as monographs on Albrecht Dürer and Titian.

Reviews

[Lady-R · Rating 4 out of 5]

La primera parte del libro se centra en explicar la raíz y características del movimiento de forma clara y entendible para cualquiera. La segunda parte ejemplifica explicando brevemente alguna obra concreta de diferentes autores. La calidad del papel es buenísima y el tamaño de las obras a toda página para poder observarlas y analizarlas bien. La verdad es que esta colección de Taschen está muy bien editada.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I had real trouble picking a rating for this book because if I were to rate it on the subject, ie Symbolism itself, it would be 10000000/5!

BUT, there is the small matter of the author and his really rather irritating style which uses a lot of exclaimation marks at the end of sentences which really don't need it. Such as '...they no longer believed that this dimention needed to be tied to natrualistic themes and identifiable imagery!' I found it so irritating as my mental voice would go up at the end of these sentences (and trust me, there were lots, some worse than this example) in an attempt to make them as exciting as the punctuation suggested.

I also felt Mr Wolf was rather too opinionated in some places. This is fine, and even the point of, some books, such as Ways of Seeing, by Berger, but not what you really want in a book promising a basic introduction and overview of a style such as this one. His manner of expressing himself also sounded very arogant in some places, poo-pooing one possible interpretation of a piece as 'altogether too far-fetched' and then suggesting it actually was 'based upon a poem of that same epoch, and according to which the unnatural mothers had rejected pregnancy and hence fertile Nature and are being made to do penance on the icy plateau for their sterile lust.' Errr, yeah... cos that is much simpler and muake much more sense O.o

However, I do still really recommend this book for (a) its breath-takingly beautiful subject matter, and (b) when Wolf stops being annoyingly opinionated and excitable, he does seem to include most relevant points about the movement, and has selected a broad range of Symbolist artists as examples.

[?0?0?0 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a convenient, but not precise, collection of symbolist artists and one, or more, of their key paintings. There are many other books on this subject that are superior. And, as is the case with the majority of Taschen art books on a style or subject or movement rather than a single artist, the choices for the paintings/sculptures included rest on the editor. The editor, in this case, apart from being fond! of exclamation points, does a decent job, but there's so much more in this often overlooked movement that is not in this book that the most I can say is it's worth a read only if the reader is willing to seek out other works on this subject and by these artists.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book describes an artist style.

The text was pretty heavy going and only a few of the picture were interesting.

Overall rating 2.5.

[Alisea · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Per il diletto del suo spirito e la gioia dei suoi occhi, aveva voluto opere suggestive che lo portassero in un mondo sconosciuto... che gli scuotessero il sistema nervoso con erudite isterie, con incubi complicati, con visioni indolenti e atroci."

(Joris-Karl Huysmans - Controcorrente, 1884)

Il volume, ricco di informazioni e belle immagini, inizia a spiegare il simbolismo partendo dal romanzo Controcorrente (A Rebours), pubblicato a Parigi nel maggio del 1884. L'autore, Joris-Karl Huysmans, contrappone al Naturalismo e al Realismo dell'epoca, un'opera decadente , quasi una "religione della bellezza", dove viene valorizzata una specie di visione, una sorta di esperienza esoterica.

Il libro, ricco di informazioni e di prezzo contenuto, offre una bella panoramica dei Simbolisti che diedero vita ad alcuni delle opere più affascinanti del loro tempo.
Qualche nome: Arnold Böcklin, Edward Burne-Jones, Puvis de Chavannes, Thomas Cole, Jean Delville, Maurice Denis, James Ensor, George Frampton, Paul Gauguin, Ferdinand Hodler, Ernst Josephson, Fernand Khnopff, Gustav Klimt, Max Klinger, Georg Kolbe, Frantisek Kupka, Frederick Lord Leighton, Jacek Malczewski, Hans von Marees, James Abbot McNeill Whistler, Piet Mondrian, Gustave Moreau, Edvard Munch, Néstor, William Degouve de Nunques, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Félicien Rops, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Giovanni Segantini, Charles van der Stappen, Franz von Stuck, Félix Vallotton, Elihu Vedder, and Georg Frederick Watts.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting pictures. Not very memorable text. A good reference book I guess.

[N.E. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent introduction to the symbolist movement. Will keep as a reference book.

[Boni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why were they all so obsessed with the femme fatale tho?

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned about some exciting artists who were new to me. I would recommend the hardback edition which has more pages and therefore bigger reproductions. The author has a gang of these Taschen editions. I would welcome something a bit heavier, like from Prestel, with more essays. Wolf is just like, this dude lived here, was friends these cats, in this picture the angel of justice hovers in the shadows while horned demonic fighres lurk in the fireplace. This book is 🔞 NSFW 🔞 and I would have liked some more feminist criticism/analysis.

[Vlad Forsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction and explanation of an artistic movement that is wedged between Romanticism and Expressionism.