Lending

I've read quite a few books on Gustav Klimt already, but I can't seem to get enough of his artwork! Obviously this tiny book can't compete with the larger publications like Taschen, nor does the author have much space to really discuss Klimt's work, but it was none the less a well done book. The author has chosen a broad selection of Klimt's work, drawing from the mosaics, portraits, and landscapes throughout his well-established career to give readers a plausible overview of an artist without attempting (foolishly) to be comprehensive. Each selection is accompanied by a short paragraph which introduces each painting's main theme, which while they are too brief to be truely satisfactory, we are given enough titilating details about Klimt's themes, motivations, and inspirations (as well as the artistic climate of the period) that we are drawn to seek out further information and discussion. My only complaint is that a few of the paintings seemed cropped in their reproduction, but I understand why the size restraints had to come into play. ( )

Fifty of Klimt's most famous paintings were shown in beautiful color and also discussed. I loved this book; it was so visually pleasing. Three comments/observations:
1. The last sentence of many of the painting bios is "destroyed in 1945." (sad--degenerate art to the Nazis)
2. ".....was created for Klimt's secret erotic gratification" This author certainly was not in a position to
make this assumption.
3. ".....no men were allowed in 99% of Klimt's paintings, but the male voyeur is an unseen presence...." very opinionated! (but maybe true) The fact is that it is women who wanted portraits of themselves.

Even though I thought the author went on too much concerning the erotic nature of some of the paintings, this was a great book. ( )

30.00