Reading Pictures: A History of Love and HateReading Pictures looks at the work of great artists-from the intensely familiar to the undiscovered-and examines the stories behind them, tracing the passage of life into art. Pablo Picasso torments his mistress Dora Maar and then paints brilliant studies of her grief-crumpled face; these evolve into the weeping woman in his great indictment of fascism, "Guernica." Manguel untangles what this story, and countless others, shows us of our twin impulses toward creation and destruction. A tour of the psyche more than of the museum, this book dares to ponder, with contagious wonder, why we create. Not since John Berger's influential Ways of Seeing has an essayist so eloquently examined what happens when we are moved by profound works of art and how we decode a wordless language that touches us so intimately. Richly illustrated, Reading Pictures shows us that there is no limit to the stories we may find if we look with care and delight. |
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according Acts of Mercy Aleijadinho Arc-et-Senans architects architecture artist Author's collection baroque became become body Bologna Buenos Aires building canvas Caravaggio century Christ Christian Church Claude-Nicolas Ledoux colour Congonhas death depicted divine Dora Dora Maar dress Eisenman emotions eyes face father Firescreen French Gallimard Gartner's painting Golden Legend Gonsalvus Guernica Harmondsworth History Holocaust Holy human Image a s imagination Institut Claude-Nicolas Ledoux Jackson Pollock Joan Mitchell later Lavinia Fontana Legend living London Maar Marianna Gartner Mary mask medieval mirror monument mother Museum Naples Oxford Pablo Picasso painter Paris perhaps Peter Eisenman photograph Picasso Pio Monte poet Pollock poor portrait Quoted reality reflection Renaissance representation Roman Rome scene sculpture Seven Acts sitters soul story suggested symbol Tina Modotti tion Tognina tradition trans University Press viewer Vincent van Gogh Virgin and Child Weeping Weston woman words York