The Annotated Mona Lisa chapter reviews?

- annotated mona lisa: crash course in art history
prehistoric post-modern
andrews , mcmeel, 1992. paperback, $22.95

want "smart art"? or, put in non-hip language, learn more painting , sculpture, increase understanding, appreciation, , enjoyment of art? 1 way study history, both discover hitherto unknown works , deepen knowledge of works familiar. standard surveys--hefty hardcover volumes of thousand pages or more--amply reward both casual perusal , systematic study of art of each major era, prehistory near present, sheer size can daunting readers accustomed more digestible fare. no surprise, therefore, in age of mtv-cultivated attention spans , diverse books "for dummies," 198-page paperback book entitled annotated mona lisa: crash course in art history prehistoric post-modern, has found broad audience.

not mean suggest brief survey of art history not serve legitimate introduction to, or reminder of, rich legacy of visual art. 1 good? have elsewhere suggested contents of books can judged cover alone. annotated mona lisa (which not leonardo's mona lisa, annotated or otherwise) case in point. cover features color image of "the world's famous painting," bordered series of inane, , misleading, annotations, among them:

note gauzy veil. leonardo pioneered sfumato, or layering of thin translucent glazes "in manner of smoke without lines or borders." / great eye contact. contrast coy smile helps create mystery. / leonardo davinci. painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, inventor, scientist. idea man bad on follow-through. works unfinished. . . . / great hands. leonardo studied anatomy. dissected bodies reproduce human form precisely.
on cover, under heading "how smart art," reader told annotated mona lisa "takes art history out of realm of dreary textbooks world of dynamic design, succinct page-length essays, , instructive sidebars." these "graphic devices" said "heighten reader's ability retain impressive amount of information, through cursory reading."

turn such book? lots of people, seems--from well-meaning elementary-school teachers seeking introduce students world's great art, high-schoolers prepping advanced placement tests, college students looking quick fixes, , unwary bookstore browsers seeking self-improvement. forbes magazine book club urges "the world's business leaders" read annotated mona lisa, , "smart art." after eleven years in print, book still attains impressive four-figure ranking on amazon.com website. not apparently enduring popularity, not warrant mention here, less in-depth critique.

rather attempt comprehensive review of annotated mona lisa, focus on select portions dealing topics of particular concern aristos--namely, strickland's notion of art is, , treatment of architecture, photography, abstract painting , sculpture, , work falling under rubric "postmodernism," art.
strickland's confusion on nature of art evident in treatment of architecture. in introduction of annotated mona lisa unsuspecting reader told "like music, art universal language." since mona lisa, pictured on front cover, painting, , cover illustrates 1 work of sculpture, 3 paintings (one abstract), , building appears covered scaffolding (identified inside centre pompidou [more] in paris) 1 assume term "art" strickland means painting, sculpture, , architecture. discussion marred inconsistency , contradiction, however. first signs appear on...

sq3r notes on annotated mona lisa
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