Learning to Look

Reference: Learning to Look: A Handbook for the Visual Arts, Joshua C. Taylor

Finally finished reading the above-mentioned book. It's a short (about 100 pages) introduction to the visual arts and I did really like it for the most part. I kept thinking how wonderful it would've been to have read this books years back, maybe in high school. The book doesn't go into anything in depth but was enough to get one started in appreciating a work of art. But it took me a whole week to get through this short volume and I was getting tired toward the end. The chapter on the technical aspects of art was tedious and uninteresting. I did not want to know about the various printing techniques and sculpture tools. The books is also a bit dated--there's hardly any information on photography and installations. But other than that, I thought it was a good read.

I can see why others might not like it. The pictures are black and white (except for the first two) and all in the front of the book, making the reader flip back and forth. I actually liked that since the author guides the reader through the point he is trying to make with the art example and the color was often irrelevant. Also, having to flip back and forth affords the reader the opportunity to look just at the picture. I hate it when a science textbook has all these pretty pictures embedded in the text; I simply can't manage my splitting attention.

The other potential criticism is that there's breadth but no depth. The information on color and perspective is basic, the art terminologies only superficially introduced, and there are no details on art history. But adding those details would detract from the point of the book which is, I think, trying to get someone to realize that one must learn to look just like one had to learn to read. Without learning to read and practicing the skill, one cannot appreciate a work of literature. Similarly, one must learn to look and learn to analyze the different aspects of what one sees to truly appreciate art. This small volume doesn't pretend to be a book on color theory, or art history, or philosophy of art.