Vermeer: a study E-Book

Max kozloff

• Herausgeber: contrasto
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

What is the secret of these extraordinary creations we call “icons”? In fresh lucid prose, the writer Max Kozloff explores the impact on viewers  of the 17th century painter Vermeer, one of the most emblematic and fascinating artists of our visual history. “Here is an eye of immense power,” Kozloff writes, “unrelentingly trained in every direction all at once.” Acknowledging the “phenomenal radiance” of these Dutch interiors, the “silent eventfulness of light itself,” Kozloff suggests that Vermeer creates an atmosphere of “volatile proximity” that, across centuries and societies, delights and envelops us—and draws us deep into his paintings.“In the history of Western painting, certain works have been accorded a standing higher even than fame. Admired without reserve, they belong to a special class, luminous across time, distance, and varied societies….Popular culture naturally exalts such pictures, though it also has the capacity to degrade them….Yet a work’s familiarity to the widespread public does not minimize, it actually enhances the mystery of its power. In order for an image to become an icon, magnificence may be an asset, whereas charisma is a prerequisite.” Max Kozloff

Leseprobe

Vermeer: a study

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For the text: © the author

Photographic credits ©: Artothek (fig. 17); Blauel/Gnamm/Artothek (fig. 15, 23);

Claus Cordes, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum Braunschweig, Kunstmuseum

des Landes Niedersachsen (fig. 11); Collection of the Speed Art Museum,

Louisville, Kentucky (fig. 18); Corbis (fig. 12);

Dea Picture Library (fig. 7); Dea/G. Dagli Orti (fig.10, 16);

Erich Lessing (fig. 2, 6, 8, 9, 19, 20, 22, 24); Joseph S. Martin/Artothek

(fig. 4); Francis G. Mayer/Corbis (fig. 1, 14); Städel Museum/Artothek

(fig. 5); The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala (fig. 3);

The National Gallery, London/Scala (fig. 21)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic tape or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.

Edizione digitale: giugno 2012

ISBN: 9788869654138

Edizione digitale realizzata da Simplicissimus Book Farm srl

Max Kozloff

Vermeer: a study

In the history of Western painting, certain works have been accorded a standing higher even than fame. Admired without reserve, they belong to a special class, luminous across time, distance, and varied societies. However local their origin, these icons are circulated worldwide as never before, courtesy of their afterlife in our media age. Popular culture naturally exalts such pictures, though it also has the capacity to degrade them. Icons are in fact images that pay for their exceptional Alpine status by prolonged exposure to treatment as clichés. Yet a work’s familiarity to the widespread public does not minimize, it actually enhances the mystery of its power. In order for an image to become an icon, magnificence may be an asset, whereas charisma is a prerequisite.