Book Review: Masterpieces Of Art Explained

Author: Christopher P. Jones

Rating: Four out of Four Claude Monet waterlilies

Ease Of Reading: 80 pages. The author’s words paint a wonderfully chromatic canvas for interpreting great art throughout history.

When To read: After your retired father insists that art is “woke, a waste of time, and only attracts groomers.

In the U.S. today, career and life coaches speak enthusiastically of specific skills needed to do a job in the workplace. They scoff at the concept of studying history, literature or art as an effective way to improve our ability to problem-solve, open our minds to new ideas, and ultimately more prepared for life and its challenges.

Thankfully, authors like Christopher Jones argue that art is meant to express something that we ourselves feel unable to express or convey.

Jones takes a broad perspective on art appreciation, understanding that Art is meant to stimulate thought and conversation between its viewers. Art appreciation helps open up the mindset of people, and encourages thoughtful conversation and the understanding that there is more than one approach to everything.

Jones is the author of the recently released, Masterpieces Of Art Explained. This is Jones’s fifth book about art.

In this book, Jones acts as our docent, helping readers to learn the key features depicted within individual paintings and sculpture, find the hidden details beyond first glances, and understand how they convey their meaning.

The book contains works from artists such as Caravaggio, da Vinci, Michelangelo and Vermeer. Artworks include:

• Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer
• View of Toledo by El Greco
• The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David
• David by Michelangelo
• The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais
• Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci

I’ve read all five of Jones’s art books in their Kindle version, and the quality of the paintings and sculpture reproduced in digital form is impressive.

But it is Jones’s careful word art that makes his books so fascinating. His descriptions of the art and his verbal brilliance should charm every reader and encourage them to visit their local art gallery.

Here is Jones describing the famous 1856 painting, The Blind Girl, by John Everett Millais. “This exquisite painting shows two girls huddled beneath a shawl as a storm passes overhead. The whole scene is radiant and intense: the copper colored hair of the older girl, her pink cheeks, the small tortoiseshell butterfly on her shoulder, the double rainbow, and the golden blond of her inquisitive sister.”

Jones continues: “The older sister has lost her eyesight, yet the artist is prompting us to consider her heightened sensitivity.”

Jones’s comments are comforting and calming: “It is a painting that does its work gently. It doesn’t insist…The two peasant girls do not look for our sympathy; we must give it to them voluntarily.”

In Jones’s dissection of the famous sculpture “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin, we learn from Jones that the sculpture was not originally tilted as “The Thinker,” but was given that name by the iron foundry workers who made the replicas that reside in museums around the world.

Jones quotes Rodin, the artist, who says of his creation: “The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain. He is no longer dreamer, but he is creator.”

In Vermeer’s Seventeenth Century masterpiece, Girl With A Pearl Earring, Jones revels in the ambiguity of the young girl’s expression.

Jones observes: “So what makes this painting so appealing? My feeling is that the image works because its meaning is so unanswered….What is she looking at? What is she feeling?”

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli depicts a young woman sprawled over a bed, apparently sleeping and dreaming. While motionless and unconscious, the woman is visited by a demon, or incubus, sitting on her chest. It is a haunting image.

Jones tells us that this painting may have been an inspiration for Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein, or Edgar Allan Poe’s short story classic, The Fall of the House of Usher.

Christopher P. Jones is an art writer and critic. He has been looking at and writing about art for over 20 years. His particular areas of interest are 20th century German Expressionism, 19th century French art, and contemporary painting.

He features an engaging blog on Medium where he explores art and culture, and produces art reviews for magazines.

He is also the author of the intriguing mystery novels known as The Berlin Tales. The trilogy is set between the two World Wars, during the freewheeling spirit of the late 1920s to the end of the Weimar Republic in the early 1930s. The stories portray murder and deception, where the characters grapple with shifting forces and must face their own limitations.

In Masterpieces Of Art Explained, Jones acts as our guide to appreciating art and deriving our individual meaning from the art he presents us.

Jones notes: “Close attention to the basic elements of art, including color, line, composition, texture, space and light encourage us to consider different — sometimes challenging — points of view.”

The beauty of this book — and Jones’s four other earlier works — is that the author is not telling us what message the painting or sculpture is communicating. Instead, Jones arms us with the aesthetic tools necessary to make our own personal assessment of these great works of art.

You do not have to be a long-time art enthusiast to enjoy this book. In fact, the exact opposite is true. People who are just beginning to learn about art will find this book utterly captivating.

Read the book and reach out to the author with questions and comments. Jones enjoys conversing with readers around the world. I’ve messaged him several times, and he has replied with thoughtful, engaging responses.

To find out more, go to: chrisjoneswrites.co.uk

I’ll end with two quotes that effectively sum up the power of art.

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see,” Edgar Degas, French Impressionist painter.

The 20th Century Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí once said, “A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.”