The Art of Arts: Rediscovering Painting

by Anita Albus

Book Overview

In this utterly original book, Anita Albus tells the story--in the birth and triumph of oil painting, the creation of perspective, and the very nature of paint itself--of how, when, and why the eye... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375400990
• ISBN13: 9780375400995
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 386 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.1" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Traditional painters and Van Eyck fans will love this book!

I have recommended this book to several people and now it is available in paperback! It contains many nuggests of information a traditional oil painter will treasure. For example, the lapis lazuli-based pigment used by Van Eyck in his paintings contained tiny flecks of stone which added richness and sparkle to the paint. It was also irregularly ground and refracts light differently than the modern homogeneous synthetic "ultramarine blue" pigment available today. It was precious in Van Eyck's time, but today lapis lazuli ultramarine is more costly than gold per ounce. Albus devotes much of the book to historical pigments and shares recipes for making them. My complaint with the book is that it is a strangely-shaped volume (it is extremely narrow and tall) and is uncomfortable to hold. Still, the early chapters on Van Eyck's paintings and the historical pigments will entice painters interested in effects not possible with modern pigments.