Sometimes seeing is more difficult for the student of art than believing. Taylor, in a book that has sold more than 300,000 copies since its original publication in 1957, has helped two generations of art students "learn to look." This handy guide to the visual arts is designed to provide a comprehensive view of art, moving from the analytic study of specific works to a consideration of broad principles and technical matters. Forty-four carefully selected illustrations afford an excellent sampling of the wide range of experience awaiting the explorer. The second edition of Learning to Look includes a new chapter on twentieth-century art. Taylor's thoughtful discussion of pure forms and our responses to them gives the reader a few useful starting points for looking at art that does not reproduce nature and for understanding the distance between contemporary figurative art and reality.
"Works of art sometimes leave us speechless. But they almost never shut us up. They can't. There's just too much to say. Talking about art doesn't leave things as they are; it changes everything. To look, to think, to say what you see, or why you respond as you do, this changes what you see and it changes your response. The effort and the caring remake us. They remake us, in real time, as we listen to the song, or examine the painting, or watch the movie. This is not unique to art, of course. What I have just outlined goes for all experience and is really life's first principle: life is a process of growth and reorganization, a process that commences right then when we first act, for we reorganize ourselves and develop in response to the ways what we do changes what we undergo, as Dewey might have said. But art aims at this; there is art so that we may remake ourselves, and also, so that we may catch ourselves in the act of this remaking. Art requires creation, even from its beholder. Yogi Berra was right: you can see a lot by observing. But observation - the effort and the caring - this requires thought, attention, focus. It can be play, but it is also work-like. Art always proposes a task, and the task is neither easy nor quite well-enough defined. The task, though, is only this: try to perceive, try to bring what is there into focus. If you do this, you will find yourself unveiled and, to whatever little extent, put together anew. The crucial thing to accept is that we don't get all this - the wow, the pleasure, the unveiling, and the reorganization - just for the price of admission. We have to join in, turn on, throw thoughts and reactions at the works themselves, position ourselves to catch them on the rebound, and allow room for emotions, not always positive. This is something we typically do with other people, and in the field cast by their responses and their words and argument. Works of art are always strange provocations; sometimes they offend us; more often they leave us untouched, unaffected, even bored. And this is where their value lies. Each of the short writings collected here is an exercise in giving art and myself the time to let something happen; I try to do this work so that art may do its work. Some of them were written while I was working on my 2015 book Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature, and they flow from the same well of curiosity that nourished that project. The title is borrowed from Joshua C Taylor's famous Learning To Look, which was the first book about art that I ever read"--
This companion text to the author's Learning to Look at Paintings addresses some of the questions most commonly asked about modern art, covering key movements of the modern and postmodern periods in a richly illustrated and engaging volume.
Learning to Look at Paintings is an accessible guide to the study and appraisal of paintings, drawings and prints. Mary Acton shows how you can develop visual, analytical and historical skills in learning to look at and understand an image by analysing how it works, what its pictorial elements are and how they relate to each other. This fully revised and updated new edition is illustrated with over 100 images by a wide range of Western European and American artists, ranging from Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Botticelli to Picasso, Matisse and Rothko, and now includes modern and contemporary artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Anselm Kiefer, Tacita Dean and Marlene Dumas. In addition, Mary Acton presents new examples highlighting the survival and revival of painting in recent years. A new introduction situates the book in the wider context of recent changes in the approach to Art History. A glossary of critical and technical terms used in the language of Art History is also included, with an updated but still selective reading list.
Forget the 10,000 hour rule— what if it’s possible to learn the basics of any new skill in 20 hours or less? Take a moment to consider how many things you want to learn to do. What’s on your list? What’s holding you back from getting started? Are you worried about the time and effort it takes to acquire new skills—time you don’t have and effort you can’t spare? Research suggests it takes 10,000 hours to develop a new skill. In this nonstop world when will you ever find that much time and energy? To make matters worse, the early hours of practicing something new are always the most frustrating. That’s why it’s difficult to learn how to speak a new language, play an instrument, hit a golf ball, or shoot great photos. It’s so much easier to watch TV or surf the web . . . In The First 20 Hours, Josh Kaufman offers a systematic approach to rapid skill acquisition— how to learn any new skill as quickly as possible. His method shows you how to deconstruct complex skills, maximize productive practice, and remove common learning barriers. By completing just 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice you’ll go from knowing absolutely nothing to performing noticeably well. Kaufman personally field-tested the methods in this book. You’ll have a front row seat as he develops a personal yoga practice, writes his own web-based computer programs, teaches himself to touch type on a nonstandard keyboard, explores the oldest and most complex board game in history, picks up the ukulele, and learns how to windsurf. Here are a few of the simple techniques he teaches: Define your target performance level: Figure out what your desired level of skill looks like, what you’re trying to achieve, and what you’ll be able to do when you’re done. The more specific, the better. Deconstruct the skill: Most of the things we think of as skills are actually bundles of smaller subskills. If you break down the subcomponents, it’s easier to figure out which ones are most important and practice those first. Eliminate barriers to practice: Removing common distractions and unnecessary effort makes it much easier to sit down and focus on deliberate practice. Create fast feedback loops: Getting accurate, real-time information about how well you’re performing during practice makes it much easier to improve. Whether you want to paint a portrait, launch a start-up, fly an airplane, or juggle flaming chainsaws, The First 20 Hours will help you pick up the basics of any skill in record time . . . and have more fun along the way.
Twenty-eight-year-old Katie DePaola was undergoing treatment for a mystery illness, mourning the loss of her youngest brother and attempting to cut ties with her business partner and then-fiancé. To overcome this trifecta of trauma, she knew she needed to become her own advocate and find the unexpected gifts. She never imagined she would be starting a million-dollar business in the midst of so much chaos. In At Least You Look Good, Katie shares her most vulnerable and amusing reflections on dealing with the hardest parts of life. From a psych ward break up call and visits from her probation officer to over-the-top beauty treatments and making business deals from bed, Katie's story is a deep, entertaining and love-filled modern guide to healing. Katie urges women to glow through whatever they go through by unapologetically owning their desires, learning to use their anxiety as fuel, swiping on some waterproof mascara and showing up for life. A must-read for those looking to take their lives to the next level, Katie's resilient approach to balancing the demands of inner and outer beauty inspires a generation of leaders to overcome whatever life throws their way. At Least You Look Good tells the story of Katie's inspiring comeback, demonstrating that loss always leads back to love.
Physical attractiveness is only a distant relative to self-esteem, yet our opinion of ourselves and others may be based on the way we look. Trying to measure up to the impossible standards of the media makes us insecure and can lead to depression and other serious health problems. It can even damage our relationships.Here psychologist Joni E. Johnston shows us how we become self-conscious about our looks from an early age and develop an adversarial relationship with our bodies. This well-researched book offers crucial help to men, women, and teenagers, showing how to develop and maintain positive self-esteem, social esteem, and healthy body image.
The activities in this book will help parents, teachers, babysitters, nannies, daycare workers, or grandparents spend joyous moments with the children in their care and help those children learn to read and write as naturally as they have been learning to walk and talk ? Features fifty easy-to-use activities using common every day, inexpensive materials ? Includes a glossary of common "literacy terms" and a bibliography of children's literature that the very young love best!
Learning to Look at Sculpture introduces students to different types of sculpture from all periods of Western art, from Classical times to the present day. It considers the relationship between painting and sculpture, but also the interesting relationships between sculpture, other arts and its surrounding context, including architecture, design, and issues around commemoration and public space. In her highly accessible style, Acton demonstrates to those new to the field that learning to look at sculpture in a more focussed and analytical way can lead to greater understanding of sculpture of the past and the present, and of the cultures from which it comes. This book is intended as a companion volume to Learning to look at Paintings and Learning to look at Modern Art by the same author.
