Earlier this year I published Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, a collection of essays on how to look closely at sculpture. One of my upcoming projects is a companion volume, Getting More Enjoyment from Paintings You Love. It will include essays from the past twenty-five years or so, most previously unpublished. As I work on it, I’ll be writing occasional posts about issues that arise.

The first issue was: Do I have enough material for a book, or will I need to write additional essays? I went through the items in my Writing folder, which are tidily organized in chronological order, to find out.

Mid-1990s: essays on paintings at the National Gallery, London

By the mid-1990s, I had been working for several years on a method of looking carefully at an artwork to determine its theme. (For why I was intrigued by that question, see Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, Chapter 1.) I was excited to share my ideas and receive feedback. But how?

Traditional publishers have always been wary of publishing full-color art books by unknown authors. The cost of quality color printing is so high that only a few such books recoup their expenses. In the 1990s, self-publishing with good-quality color illustrations was not yet an option. To circumvent this problem, I eventually I switched to self-publishing books on sculpture, with black-and-white illustrations. But first, I tried a work-around for a book on paintings.

I searched for a relatively inexpensive book with high-quality color illustrations of a wide variety of paintings. Finally I settled on Michael Wilson’s The National Gallery, London (London: Scala/Philip Wilson, 1982). I chose eleven paintings in it that ranged from portraits of a single figure to complex groups.

Using other illustrations in the book for comparison and contrast, I worked through the eleven paintings, refining my method of looking at details and stating themes. It took a couple exhausting but exhilarating years to get the collection of essays ready for publication.

And then … it turned out the National Gallery’s book had gone out of print. The National Gallery offered no acceptable substitute. I sadly filed the Word doc away, and worked on other projects. For example:

1996 Lyceum Lectures

In 1996, under the auspices of Lyceum International, painter Sylvia Bokor and I gave lectures on art in Washington, Boston, and Toronto. My talk included analyses of five paintings. I also worked up a series of questions on one painting in each city, so that participants could analyze a work mostly on their own. The Lyceum lectures were not recorded or published.

1999 Vermeer’s Geographer in AOB Newsletter

At the invitation of Sylvia Bokor, I wrote an essay on my favorite Vermeer painting for the newsletter of the Association of Objectivist Businessmen. I’ve published the Geographer essay on my website and as a YouTube video.

2007 “How to Analyze and Appreciate Paintings” in The Objective Standard

My third article for The Objective Standard included analyses of two paintings at the Frick Collection in New York City, plus questions on a third painting.

2008 “Evaluating Art” on the Quent Cordair Fine Art Arts Cruise

In 2008, the Cordair Gallery sponsored a terrific week-long series of art lectures, demonstrations, and performances aboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas. I gave several lectures on art history, plus one on analyzing and evaluating art. That one included discussion of three paintings.

My blurb for the QCGA Arts Cruise is really quite good – I must remember to incorporate a version of this in the upcoming book!

Learn to look longer at any artwork that intrigues you, to understand it better, and to enjoy it more. We will study and evaluate several paintings and sculptures, using works from the art history lectures for comparative material. What effect is conveyed by that pose, that texture, that composition? How do you determine the theme of a work of visual art, and how do you objectively evaluate the piece? This method for looking at an artwork with an informed and inquisitive eye was inspired by Ayn Rand’s writings on esthetics.

Next up (next week?)

It turns out that I have plenty of material for Getting More Enjoyment from Paintings You Love. From skimming the essays, it’s obvious that I’ve learned a lot over those twenty-five years. That’s a good thing, of course. But unfortunately, that means the essays will require considerable revision and updating. Stay tuned for discussion of the issues that will involve.

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here.