On Sep 22, 11:06am, Ronn Smith wrote:
> Subject: M. Pezalla request for contemporary art books
> Sorry I couldn't get back to you on this before now, but my
> recommendations for "Intro Books on Contemporary Art" would include the
> following:

> WAYS OF SEEING, by John Berger (Penguin Books, $10/paper)

The origin of Berger's book Ways of Seeing, which was made into a television
series for the BBC (not the other way around, I believe), is  Walter
Benjamin's "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction".  Both sources deal
exclusively with our perceptions of artwork in a reproduced form (photograph,
slide, postcard, etc.).  Neither source can be considered an Introduction to
Contemporary Art...They do not deal with art itself, but the perception of
art.  This is an interesting and short book which may aid in a general
understanding for the need to travel and visit art museums in person, but
does not teach readers to appreciate the art, but the authenticity of a work
of art.

I have not read this other recommended book, but from the title, I would
assume it deals with perception of art, not art itself.

My personal recommendation for a "history" of Contemporary Art is D.
Wheeler's ART SINCE MID-CENTURY: 1945 TO THE PRESENT (Prentice-Hall).  In it,
Wheeler begins by explaining the European origins of Modernist art, moving
through Cubism, Surrealism, Dadism, etc.  But the end of the book, with quite
an extensive text but relatively inadequate reproductions, Wheeler reaches
the mid-1980s, and leaves the reader with the 'Post-modern question' (as I
like to call it).


--
Joshua Heuman
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Art History Undergraduate