 "Excellent book on the artist Magritte" | 2008-05-16 |
| - Reviewed By Lorie Schinko from Montreal |
Again,Taschen has done itself proud,the collection of magritte's imagery and reproductions are wonderful.Any art student would be happy with this book.Magritte is very mysterious,I used to think...after looking through my copy of this book,I now think Magritte is clear visioned and not mysterious at all.He just paints his point of veiw,and his veiw fascinates me.
I am very happy with this purchase.If you want a great addition to your personal library,for whatever purpose,be you an artist or lover of art,this is the book to have.
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| "A fascinating biography!" | 2005-03-26 |
| - Reviewed By Hiram Gomez Pardo from Valencia, Venezuela |
"I don' t believe neither in the unconscious, nor that the world represents before us as dream, except when we are asleep". René Magritte.
Rene Magritte' s work and the thought in which it 's based constitute a special case in the modern art story. H studied at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Brussles during the last years of theWW1. And together with E.L.T. Messens, Camille Goemans, Marcel Lecomte and Paul Nogué, he formed a kind of Belgian surrealist group. In 1927 he established close ties with Breton and Eluard, moving back to Brussels in 1939 until his death in 1967.
He began as a Cubist and his first Surrealist pictures were painted after 1925. In his search of the unfathomable mystery that surrounds to things and living beings. So starting from daily reality, he follows a distinct route, he best for the logic in the multiple associations and ideas. Being an avid reader of detective stories and a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe, you may understand why his style fits so well defined in this category. He painted isolated fragments of objects set in landscapes in the same vein of De Chirico his most remarkable influence received. And according Scheneede's opinion "If we regard Duchamp as the prototype of the scandalous, Man ray the prototype of the inventive and Max Ernst the prototype of the inspirative artist, Magritte have to be called the prototype of the intellectual artist". That' s why Magritte developed the symbolism mixing elements of the reality and facing them with itself in such original way supporting in just an unique logic puzzle as anyone else. Dali, in the other hand blended reality with archetypical dreams or reality surrounded by unconscious gaze gifted with a major doses of black humor and cynicism.
The author Jacques Meuris is emeritus Professor of the Superior School of Visual Arts in Brussels and makes an admirable artistic effort with exquisite reproductions of this notable artist: an authentic icon among the Surrealist giants. Specially recommended for any kind of reader who is really interested in knowing the most intimate details about the life and works of R.M.
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 "More large (good quality) pictures would have been better" | 2004-05-26 |
| - Reviewed By Jenny Gilford from Linlithgow Bridge, West Lothian Great Britain |
In my opinion, the most important thing about a book about a pictorial artist is (usually) the actual pictures shown(including the quality of the reproductions), and I feel in this respect this book falls rather flat. Not only are there not enough large (full or half page) pictures for a book of this size (216 pages) - some of them are poor quality reproductions (a painfully common feature of art books) - why do paintings vary so much between different reproductions?
Instead the book is mainly concerned with excessively wordy discourses on Magritte and his work. I'm not saying I didn't find any of it interesting, but the information and insight I gleaned after 8 hours of reading could have been put over with half as much text. I don't have a problem with writers indulging in intellectual analysis, so long as it is concise and well written, and this wasn't always the case.
Incidentally, Magritte by Richard Calvocoressi (Phaidon - April 1993) is much shorter but has much better pictures in it.
(review altered 27 May 2005, partly to remove British slang words that may have caused confusion) |
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| "More for your money" | 2001-05-21 |
| - Reviewed By xboingox from Overland, Missouri United States |
| As the description above states, this book contains 400 illustrations covering Magritte's entire career. I found that after reading "The Essential Magritte," this was a perfect continuation in my introduction to this man's work. The price is also unbeatable, considering what some art books go for these days. Well written and illustrated, this book was a wonderful find. |
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| "Absolutely amazing" | 1998-10-19 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| This book on Margritte includes fabulous images and great explanations and references to Magritte's life. I purchased this book in Dutch in Europe, for about four times the price listed here. This is an absolute bargain, and I sincerely regret not having purchased it from Amazon, although I greatly enjoyed having purchased it overall. Any Magritte fan cannot miss this book! Enjoy. |
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