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Reviews
See What You're Missing: 31 Ways Artists Notice the World and How You Can Too by Will Gompertz
e_len's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
This is isn't really about perception towards art (as I thought as a psychology student, I was expecting a lot of interesting articles!). Instead the author introduces a lot of artists and tells us how he thinks that they saw the world. (Example about one artist: he saw the world in circles because he painted pictures of the seasons).
Still, it was nice to discover new artists.
Still, it was nice to discover new artists.
laurafieldsreads's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Insightful and informative however didn’t find it life changing.
madgrambo's review
4.0
This was so interesting to me. I was not brought up in an artistic culture, so I’m learning in the university of life. Any arty suggestions please!
wahistorian's review against another edition
4.0
Will Gompertz explores what is unique about artists’ vision in this collection of essays about (mostly) painters, well-known and little-known. For the most part, he is interested in them as visionaries whose individual psychology and experience create something new in the world. They are not divorced from culture or history—Peter Paul Rubens, for example, is steeped in the religious tensions of the Counter-Reformation, as Gompertz tells it—but their viewpoint makes their art sui generis. Gompertz brings a fresh look at classic artists like John Constable, whose attention to the clouds in the sky added to our understanding of light, but, not incidentally, put human activity in perspective. “Exploring the idiosyncrasies of each artist’s way of seeing has taught me to approach art differently,” he writes of his method. “I now think first about the artist’s point of view” (315). If I have any complaint about the book, it is that the essays are so short, he has finished with the artist just as you are warming to him or her. It does leave you wanting more.
katyboo52's review
3.0
An interesting premise, to attempt to look at what the artist sees and how they endeavour to turn that into art that can share that vision. Plaudits for not just picking dead, white men to write about too. The thirty one artists are a mixed bag and I would be interested to know how Gompertz went about choosing which artists to write about.
I'm not sure who this book is aimed at, perhaps at someone who is interested in art but hasn't really got to grips with it yet as we get a whistle stop tour through the artists and a strange mash up of biography crossed with descriptions of their work plus what the author thinks the artist was seeing, but it's all jumbled up together.
I'm not sure who this book is aimed at, perhaps at someone who is interested in art but hasn't really got to grips with it yet as we get a whistle stop tour through the artists and a strange mash up of biography crossed with descriptions of their work plus what the author thinks the artist was seeing, but it's all jumbled up together.
juliakobielska's review
4.0
I didn’t have many expectations before starting this book, but I am really pleasantly surprised. With some chapters weaker and some stronger, “See What You’re Missing” is a book that takes you on a guided tour - no expertise needed. I especially loved the descriptions of the paintings and the attention to detail (see Guo Xi chapter, for example). For a piece of non-fiction, it felt as if the author was in his own world of looking and exploring, quite a refreshing way!
mireillerb's review against another edition
4.0
Leí este libro en el club de lectura de Hablemos Arte, y como lo mencioné en ese momento, sostengo que este libro es una trayectoria inmersiva perfectamente pensada por Gompertz para invitarnos a meter el pie al río del Arte, hasta sumergirnos de lleno en Mar Abierto.
Sin duda, es un gran libro para aprender de Arte, cuestionar nuestra manera de percibirlo y explorar nuevas lentes. Sin embargo, va más allá del Arte como algo externo. Con el factor añadido de haberse escrito durante la pandemia de COVID-19, este libro retrata el camino que nuestras mentes (aisladas y en colectivo, simultáneamente) transitaron durante este periodo. Así, el libro en si mismo se vuelve un retrato de nuestra actualidad y sobre todo, una exploración de la esencia humana a través del Arte; llevándonos desde lo tangible hasta la Verdad.
Gompertz nos muestra que el Arte no es solo lo que se nos presenta de frente en una galería, sino que es eso que todos tenemos dentro y los grandes artistas logran interrogar.
Sin duda, es un gran libro para aprender de Arte, cuestionar nuestra manera de percibirlo y explorar nuevas lentes. Sin embargo, va más allá del Arte como algo externo. Con el factor añadido de haberse escrito durante la pandemia de COVID-19, este libro retrata el camino que nuestras mentes (aisladas y en colectivo, simultáneamente) transitaron durante este periodo. Así, el libro en si mismo se vuelve un retrato de nuestra actualidad y sobre todo, una exploración de la esencia humana a través del Arte; llevándonos desde lo tangible hasta la Verdad.
Gompertz nos muestra que el Arte no es solo lo que se nos presenta de frente en una galería, sino que es eso que todos tenemos dentro y los grandes artistas logran interrogar.