As one of the great portrait painters of the nineteenth century, George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) is best known for his 'Hall of Fame' series showing the noted contemporaries of his day. This series forms the cornerstone of the National Portrait Gallery's collection in London, but the wider importance of Watts's portraiture has never been fully appreciated since many works are in private collections and some have never been published. Timed to coincide with the centenary of his death, this book is the first major study of this aspect of Watts's work and provides a unique opportunity to see many of the artist's grand full-lengths, often strikingly beautiful and most hardly known, as well as the wide range of his portraits, from society beauties to eminent Victorians, dating from the 1840s to the end of the century. Watts was one of the celebrities of Victorian London, counting Tennyson, Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite artists and pioneer photographer Julia Margaret Cameron among his friends. Much interviewed and honoured, he fostered his own renown and participated in the creation of a considerable international reputation. Such a modern notion of the artist's public image is familiar to us today, but Watts forged this role for himself in the interest of promoting his serious and high-minded art, which crucially included his portraiture. This handsome catalogue illustrates and describes over sixty works by Watts, some seen for the first time. The Poet Laureate Andrew Motion gives a fascinating account of his experience of the artist's work in the introduction and Barbara Bryant's text offers a wider view, exploring Watts's entire career through his portraiture. The book presents new perspectives on Watts as an innovative artist aware of the traditions in portraiture yet also keenly alert to new artistic developments like Pre-raphaelitism and Symbolism.
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从一个历史爱好者的角度来看,这本书提供了极其丰富的原始资料和引证,但最吸引我的是它如何将这些碎片化的史料,编织成一张宏大而具有说服力的图景。作者在处理名人轶事时,展现了高超的克制力,既不流于八卦,又能精准地捕捉到事件的文化意义。特别是关于女性在“美貌”和“智慧”之间所做的艰难平衡的论述,让我深有感触。她们的形象如何被男性主导的艺术界固化和消费,以及她们如何在这种框架下寻找自我表达的可能性,是一个极其引人深思的议题。全书结构紧凑,论点鲜明,读完后,我对维多利亚社会中“身份政治”的早期形态有了一个全新的认识,这种对历史细节的精确把握与宏观分析的完美结合,绝对值得推荐给所有对社会变迁感兴趣的读者。
评分我必须承认,一开始我对这本书的期待值并不高,以为它无非是又一本关于某个艺术家生平的流水账。然而,它远远超越了那个范畴。它更像是一部社会文化史的精彩侧记,核心议题是“可见性”的权力。作者的切入点非常巧妙,她没有被光环所迷惑,而是冷静地分析了“名望”这种社会资本是如何被建构、传播和消费的。书中的一些批判性论述,观点尖锐而精准,直指当时社会文化中的虚伪性。例如,对于那些被过度美化的人物,作者总能找到证据链来揭示其光环背后的脆弱基础。这种解构的力量,使得原本可能略显沉闷的学术探讨,充满了思想上的张力和阅读的快感。这本书强迫你去重新审视那些你习以为常的“美与名”的定义,非常具有启发性。
评分这本书的文采,简直是一种享受。作者的语言风格兼具古典的庄重与现代的敏锐,每一个句子都经过了精心的打磨,读起来朗朗上口,却又蕴含着深刻的洞察力。她对维多利亚时代审美趣味的描述,那种对“理想化”的狂热追求,描绘得栩栩如生。我仿佛能闻到那时昂贵香水的味道,感受到丝绸长裙在社交场合摩擦的声音。与许多同类著作不同的是,它并未将当时的社会精英理想化或一味批判,而是以一种近乎同情的理解,去探究他们行为背后的驱动力——是对不确定性时代的掌控欲,对永恒价值的徒劳追寻。这种复杂而多层次的解读,极大地丰富了我对那个时期的认知,让我看到了隐藏在那些美丽肖像背后,更深层次的社会心理学。
评分这本书以一种我从未预料到的方式,深入剖析了维多利亚时代社会风气的脉络,那种对“名望”和“美”的痴迷,简直令人咋舌。作者的笔触细腻入微,仿佛能让你真切地感受到十九世纪伦敦街头那些精心打扮的绅士淑女们,他们是如何努力地在公众面前维持着某种精心构建的形象。我尤其欣赏它对当时艺术界、上流社会交际圈的描摹,那些关于肖像画、摄影术的讨论,绝不仅仅是技法层面的介绍,而是揭示了媒介如何被用来塑造和巩固社会等级的工具。读完全书,我仿佛穿越回了那个雾气弥漫的时代,亲眼目睹了“光环”是如何被制造出来,又如何在时间的冲刷下慢慢褪色的。它巧妙地平衡了学术的严谨性和叙事的生动性,避免了陷入纯粹的理论说教,而是通过鲜活的案例和丰富的历史细节,构建了一个立体的时代侧影。那种对时代精神的精准捕捉,让人不得不为之击节赞叹。
评分老实说,我本来以为这会是一本沉闷的艺术史读物,但事实证明,我的判断大错特错。这本书的叙事节奏感极强,它不像教科书那样平铺直叙,而是像侦探小说一样,层层剥开维多利亚社会那层华丽的表皮,直抵其核心的焦虑与渴望。作者的论证逻辑如同精密的钟表,每一步都衔接着下一步,让人心甘情愿地跟随她的思路前行。我特别留意了书中对“公众人物”定义演变的探讨,这在今天这个自媒体时代读来,竟然有种惊人的回响。书中描绘的那些“美貌的陷阱”和“名声的代价”,在今天依然适用,只是载体从画廊和沙龙变成了电子屏幕。阅读过程中,我时常停下来,对着书页沉思,思考着那个时代的人们是如何处理“被观看”的压力,以及这种压力如何反过来塑造了他们的生活方式和艺术表达。这种跨越时空的共鸣,是这本著作最宝贵的馈赠。
评分265元 wopaila.com
评分265元 wopaila.com
评分265元 wopaila.com
评分265元 wopaila.com
评分265元 wopaila.com
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