A new introduction to the story of architecture which explores the key buildings, but also examines materials, styles and fundamental building elements

The Short Story of Architecture is a pocket book guide to key styles, buildings, elements and materials - a new and innovative guide to the subject of architecture that explores 50 key buildings, from the Great Pyramids to high-tech, sustainable skyscrapers.

Accessible and concise, the book links the 50 key works to the most important architectural materials, elements and styles, giving readers all the tools they need to understand and appreciate the built world.

About the Author:

Susie Hodge is an art historian, historian and artist. She is the bestselling author of numerous books, among them The Short Story of Art and The Short Story of Modern Art.

The fastest way to grasp the key concepts of architecture

In this hyper-compact, fully illustrated guide to architecture, Susie Hodge outlines the history and theory of architecture from the earliest structures to the cutting-edge concepts of the present day. Along the way she profiles 200 key buildings, historic styles, architectural movements and celebrated architects from all around the world.

Contents include the Greek orders, Roman engineering, Gothic architecture, the Renaissance, the Baroque, Revivalism, Art Nouveau, Modernism and Postmodernism, Futurism and Dynamic architecture along with architects like Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Frank Gehry.

About the Author:

Susie Hodge has an MA in the History of Art by Research from Birkbeck, University of London. She is author of over 50 books, including studies of Impressionism, Victorian art, Picasso and Monet and is currently writing books on modern art and ancient Egyptian art. Throughout the year she runs workshops and seminars for various institutions and teaches part-time. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Книга Современное искусство в деталях: 75 шедевров содержит информацию, которая может быть неизвестна даже профессионалам искусства, проливает свет на нюансы, которые едва заметны при беглом просмотре. Примечания экспертов раскроют более глубокие детали и технические приемы, к которым прибегал художник для достижения определенных эффектов. В этом издании затронуты различные темы, внешние и внутренние факторы, повлиявшие на создание этих работ – от всемирных политических событий до революционных движений, например, Кубизма, Абстрактного экспрессионизма и Поп-арта, и даже научных и математических теорий, которые зачастую играют важную роль.

В книге представлены 75 произведений современного искусства, от Ван Гога (Церковь в Овере) и Пикассо (Авиньонские девицы) до Фрэнсиса Бэкона (Три этюда к фигурам у подножия распятия), Синди Шерман (Без названия № 213) и Паулы Регу (Видения). Начиная со старых работ и заканчивая совсем недавними, это издание демонстрирует радикальный сдвиг от приоритета художественных техник к доминированию идей, скрывающихся за самим творением. Это прекрасный информативный, интересный и доступный гид по современному искусству.

An accessible guide to the finer details of 100 masterpieces of Western art

Great works of art cannot be fully understood in a single encounter: to revisit and reconsider art again and again throughout one’s life is to be richly rewarded with an ever-deepening appreciation and insight. Similar benefits come from analysing a work of art in detail.

Art in Detail: 100 Masterpieces spotlights the finer points that even connoisseurs may miss, casting light upon minutiae that a quick glance will almost certainly fail to reveal. These include subtle internal details, such as hidden symbols. Expert commentary reveals the technical tricks employed by the artist to achieve particular effects, such as the placement of the subject, the lighting and the style of brushstrokes.

The book also looks at the themes and external and personal factors influencing the creation of an artwork – everything from the broad socio-economic context in which the artist operated, to personal, individual circumstances at the time of the work’s creation, which are often of great relevance.

The book examines 100 works of art down the ages, from Giotto’s 14th-century fresco Adoration of the Magi, to a twenty-first-century pastel by Paula Rego. It approaches each work not only, to quote Matthew Arnold, ‘as in itself it really is’, but also as part of a tradition that links the oldest work of art to the most recent, as artists pass a metaphorical baton down through the ages.

About the Author:

Susie Hodge is an art historian, author, artist and journalist with more than 100 books to her name. She has an MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London, and is a Fellow of the RSA. She has twice been named the No. 1 art writer by the Independent.

Casts new light on 75 masterpieces of modern art, revealing details that even those familiar with the works may previously have missed

Great works of art cannot be fully understood in a single encounter: to get the most out of modern art, it pays to revisit and reconsider, to reflect and to scrutinize in detail. It is also helpful to understand a work’s context: what has gone before, what it may be reacting against or extending, how it embraces new technologies, and how it relates to contemporary thinking on such subjects as politics, sexuality, identity and the role of the artist.

Modern Art in Detail: 75 Masterpieces spotlights the finer points that even those in the know may miss, casting light upon minutiae that a quick glance will almost certainly fail to reveal. Expert commentary reveals the subtle internal details and technical tricks employed by the artist to achieve particular effects.

The book also looks at the themes and external and personal factors influencing the creation of an artwork – everything from global political events, to groundbreaking movements such as Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop, and even scientific and mathematical theories, which are often of great relevance.

The book examines 75 works of modern art, from Vincent van Gogh’s The Church at Auvers-sur-Oise, through Marcel Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even and Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Crucifixion, to Jeff Koons’s Triple Elvis and Theaster Gates’s Face Over Time.

Approaching each work as part of a tradition that links the oldest work of art to the most recent, it deftly charts the shift from the supremacy of artistic technique to the more recent dominance of the idea behind the artwork itself, as well as being an enlightening, entertaining and accessible guide to a wide range of modern art.

About the Author:

Susie Hodge is an art historian, author, artist and journalist with more than 100 books to her name. She has an MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London, and is a Fellow of the RSA. She has twice been named the No. 1 art writer by the Independent.

In this enjoyable and thought-provoking book Susie Hodge explains, thoroughly and conclusively, why modern art is not, and never has been, child’s play

The book examines 100 works of modern art that have attracted critical hostility – from Cy Twombly’s scribbled Olympia (1957), Jean-Michel Basquiat’s crude but spontaneous LNAPRK (1982), to the apparently careless mess of Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998) – and explains how, far from being negligible novelties, they are extensions of the artistic ideas of their time.

In the past, estimation of artists' stature took great account of their ability to produce a likeness of the real world. A portrait was expected to be a faithful likeness, and landscapes had to be recognizable in all their details. However, especially after the arrival of photography, many artists ceased to make such ‘true’ likenesses in favour of more immediate images that sought to express feelings about their subjects. From the beginning of this sea change, critics have mistaken an apparent lack of technique for a lack of sophistication, often deriding works as nothing more than the untutored efforts of children.

Susie Hodge explains how ‘notorious’ works such as Carl Andre’s Equivalent VIII (1966) – a rectangular arrangement of fire-bricks that is admittedly easily copied by a child – occupy unique niches in the history of ideas, both showing influences of past artists and themselves influencing subsequent artists. A five-year-old might succeed in executing a spin painting such as those of Damien Hirst without understanding the ideas that lay behind it or its place in the history of artistic endeavour, but it does not follow that this work would be of significance to artists and historians.

With illustrations of works from Hans Arp to Adolf Wölfli, Hodge places each work in its cultural context to present an unforgettable vision of modern art. This book will give you an understanding of the ways in which modern art differs from the realistic works of earlier centuries, transforming as well as informing your gallery visits for years to come.

Сюзи Ходж анализирует 100 шедевров изобразительного искусства - от фрески Джотто «Поклонение волхвов» XIV века до написанной в 2014 году пастели современной художницы Паулы Рего.

Раскрываются символизм и лежащие в основе сюжеты, обстоятельства создания произведений и технические приемы - освещение, палитра, характер наложения мазков и многое другое.

Книга дает новую информацию о сотне шедевров изобразительного искусства, раскрывая детали, которые может не знать даже хорошо знакомый с произведением человек.

Вы получите большое удовольствие от знакомства с великими творениями, независимо от того, встречаетесь ли вы с тем или иным из них в первый раз или в сотый.

Посмотреть оригинальное англоязычное издание Susie Hodge - Art in Detail: 100 Masterpieces

An accessible guide to the finer details of 100 masterpieces of Western art

Great works of art cannot be fully understood in a single encounter: to revisit and reconsider art again and again throughout one’s life is to be richly rewarded with an ever-deepening appreciation and insight. Similar benefits come from analysing a work of art in detail.

Art in Detail: 100 Masterpieces spotlights the finer points that even connoisseurs may miss, casting light upon minutiae that a quick glance will almost certainly fail to reveal. These include subtle internal details, such as hidden symbols. Expert commentary reveals the technical tricks employed by the artist to achieve particular effects, such as the placement of the subject, the lighting and the style of brushstrokes.

The book also looks at the themes and external and personal factors influencing the creation of an artwork – everything from the broad socio-economic context in which the artist operated, to personal, individual circumstances at the time of the work’s creation, which are often of great relevance.

The book examines 100 works of art down the ages, from Giotto’s 14th-century fresco Adoration of the Magi, to a twenty-first-century pastel by Paula Rego. It approaches each work not only, to quote Matthew Arnold, ‘as in itself it really is’, but also as part of a tradition that links the oldest work of art to the most recent, as artists pass a metaphorical baton down through the ages.

About the Author:

Susie Hodge is an art historian, author, artist and journalist with more than 100 books to her name. She has an MA in the History of Art from Birkbeck, University of London, and is a Fellow of the RSA. She has twice been named the No. 1 art writer by the Independent.

В прошлом особо большое значение предавалось способности автора отражать сходство его произведения на холсте, в дереве или камне с окружающим миром. Официальный портрет должен был передавать максимальное сходство, а пейзажи – содержать характерные детали. Однако, после изобретения фотографии многие художники отказались от «истинного» сходства, сделав выбор в пользу большей непосредственности в попытке отразить эмоциональную составляющую объекта. Зачастую «простая» линия заменяла детальную прорисовку в работах ранних мастеров. С самого начала таких изменений в художественных амбициях и по сей день критики-искусствоведы принимают отсутствие технического мастерства за отсутствие худо-жественного воображения, называя экспрессивные работы примитивными и детскими.

Включив иллюстрации с изображением 100 произведений искусства, которые стали объектом суровой критики и общественного недовольства, Сюзи Ходж убедительно и вдохновенно доказывает, что современное искусство, несмотря на заверения в обратном, не является и никогда не являлось ни детской игрой, ни примитивным занятием.

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