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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Such a gentle and moving exploration of Fabritius, 17th century Dutch art and well, life. That of the author, her family, and the painters’. Life with its illnesses and tragedies. It made me want to go see the paintings right away. The paperback itself is also a lovely book to hold and enjoy with thick pages and the pictures in colour for you to see while you read.
Cumming can craft a sentence: icy, swampy, melliferous. She writes so well about art that you have to see the pictures, printed here in glorious color, and so well about her artist father that I could have read twice as many sections about his life.
The problem is that the two parts don't quite cohere. Fabritus and James Cumming are just extremely different kinds of artists, and her attempts to link up their work feel forced. Instead, this reads like a series of (consistently excellent) essays about the Dutch Golden Age and making art in postwar Scotland, and they're both interesting subjects.
The problem is that the two parts don't quite cohere. Fabritus and James Cumming are just extremely different kinds of artists, and her attempts to link up their work feel forced. Instead, this reads like a series of (consistently excellent) essays about the Dutch Golden Age and making art in postwar Scotland, and they're both interesting subjects.
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Focusing on Dutch artist C. Fabritius and his painting A View of Delft with a Musical Instrument Seller’s Stall, painted in 1652, the author tells Fabritius’s story, her own, her father’s, Delftt, and other Dutch artists. In other words, it is an all-encompassing book about Dutch art history but always comes back to Fabritius. He was killed as a result of a “thunderclap” of an explosion of stored gunpowder near his house, but that killed many more. Fabritius’s life was cut very short and the author wonders what more he could have created. There’s an excellent examination of one of his most famous works, The Goldfinch. I really liked the audiobook—the author has a beautiful and calming voice—but you must have the ebook or real book so you can look at the artwork while listening to her.
Another book that confirms my belief that with passion and a certain ability to write well, you can fascinate me in realms in which I would not have expected.
I feel that I can't really write a review for this book because I am not into art. I know nothing at all about art. There are some paintings I've seen in my life that I enjoyed but I couldn't name one painting outside of the Mona Lisa and some Van Goghs. I can count the amount of artists I know on one hand (maybe one and a half, at a push). So, on the surface, this book is Not For Me. However, it's on the inaugural Women's Prize for Nonfiction so I thought I would give it a go.
When someone is passionate about something, when they really love something with all of their heart, I can listen to them talk about it for hours. That's what this book was like to me. You can really feel when you're reading this that Laura Cumming lives and breathes the paintings and their creators. She has an easy to read narrative style. I loved reading her descriptions of these paintings because, where my untrained eye missed small details, she picks them up. She brings them to life, puts you in the scene or behind the easel.
This was a truly unique reading experience for me and I loved it. I hope she does well in the Women's Prize and, if I get the chance, I'd be happy to read more about art from her.
When someone is passionate about something, when they really love something with all of their heart, I can listen to them talk about it for hours. That's what this book was like to me. You can really feel when you're reading this that Laura Cumming lives and breathes the paintings and their creators. She has an easy to read narrative style. I loved reading her descriptions of these paintings because, where my untrained eye missed small details, she picks them up. She brings them to life, puts you in the scene or behind the easel.
This was a truly unique reading experience for me and I loved it. I hope she does well in the Women's Prize and, if I get the chance, I'd be happy to read more about art from her.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Gorgeous blend of an art history of a very specific period and a personal memoir. It didn't fully come together for me till the last few pages, but with a suddenness, which, to some degree, I should have expected, but didn't. Solid library read, definitely worth checking out.
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced