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What Is a Masterpiece? : The 11th Walter Neurath Memorial Lecture. Hardcover – January 1, 1979

by Kenneth Clark (Author)

4.8 14 ratings

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English
Publisher

Thames & Hudson Ltd
Publication date

January 1, 1979
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Kenneth Clark
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002UJWAHK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thames & Hudson Ltd; First Edition (January 1, 1979)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.58 pounds

Best Sellers Rank: #8,993,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35,306 in Arts & Photography Criticism

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4.8 14 ratings

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Xav

Great read for museum professionals or those interested in the arts!

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2014

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Great look into how a masterpiece actually gets its designation. Sometimes it is just pure circumstance!

3 people found this helpful

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Samurai Girl

It All Comes Together

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2009

I'm sorry to see this book is out of print and only available used, because, slim volume though it is, it does broach a difficult subject: "What is a Masterpiece?" and gives some direction toward answers.
Sir Kenneth Clark (deceased, but once a towering figure in art-Director of London's National Gallery, and author of the seminal Public Television series "Civilisation" and of a book by the same name) was an erudite, thoughtful man conversant with a wide range of visual art. In this book he gives us some criteria with which we may begin to evaluate art. Most importantly, he describes a masterpiece as a title awarded over time by a consensus. It's not a single opinion-it's a time-tested collection of opinions. Excellent point!

And, how to tell if something has masterpiece quality? Well, masterpieces seem to share some common traits:

One of my favorites listed by Sir Kenneth Clark is that a masterpiece is a "confluence of memories and emotions forming a single idea". That, in a nutshell, describes the "coming together" or "harmonious" relationships in the masterpiece of layered meanings and emotions, taken from both the artist's own experience and times, and relevant to those of his viewers and appreciators.

This little book can put the kibosh on subjectivists, deconstructionists (a system which has no place in art, anyway, as a language-based exercise, not a visual one) and post-anythings. What a relief! What a nice little bullet-deflector for your mind! What intelligent guidance from an expert.

Although the nature of art appreciation implies a degree of subjectivity, this little book is a wonderful guide into separating the intellectual wheat from the chaff.

24 people found this helpful

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koocea

Lord Clark describes artistic masterpieces in the Walter Neurath Memorial lectures

Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2018

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Lord Clark(1903-1983 )well known to USA audiences for his TV series Civilization, discusses 38 artistic masterpieces beginning with Raphael's 16C fresco "The School of Athens" and concludes with Picasso's 20C "Guernica." He discusses briefly each piece and his reason for designating the work a masterpiece. The book is as interesting as much for the fact that he does not included The Romanticists,, the Impressionists or the Abstract artists .I liked the book despite its shortcomings( noted above and b/w pictures).An important book by a famous art critic.

4 people found this helpful

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Ronald Lanham

Excellent book!

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2012

As a professional artist I highly recommend this book.

Kenneth Clark writes about the aesthetic density of a work... 'several-persons-thick' if you will... not simply a work that reflects the thoughts of one individual.

After living and maintaining a studio in SoHo, NYC for a couple of years and viewing hundreds of exhibitions I can tell you first hand... there are far too much artworks being created that are 'one-person-thick.'

It is as if many artists in NYC... when having another idea... pull out another canvas. Their works were often shallow and esoteric to the point of being cryptic thereby preventing the viewer from entering and becoming large decorative wallpaper (at best)... and simply vacuous or ugly at worse. Great for filling corporate halls and boredrooms (sic) that didn't distract from commerce by making people take notice and think. Again... wallpaper.

Do yourself a favor if you love art... purchase this book.

This book is a short read, but a very valuable read.

It will show you that you are probably not 'uniformed' when you think that either you are not educated well enough in art to understand an artwork or simply that you do not have taste; but rather the work you are looking at is simply 'thin' and tasteless.

11 people found this helpful

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J. Tideman

Excellent critical writing

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2014

Excellent discussion about masterpieces.

2 people found this helpful

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wiredweird

The anti-deconstructionist

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2004

There's been a period of rabid anti-judgment, of the assertion that any esthetic judgment is just a matter of culturally defined opinion, and that no work of art is inherently "better" than any other. Fortunately, that thought itself is just an opinion, and one with remarkably little historical justification.

Sir Clark uses this booklet to try to define the indefinable something in works called masterpieces. I don't think Clark succeeds completely, but he doe seem to capture parts of it. Technical mastery is a requisite, but certainly not enough. An important subject helps, the kind that compels a human response from the viewer, whether or not the viewer knows the people and events depicted. Masterpieces may use the visual vocabulary of their times, or define a new idiom. Clark used Montegna's Dead Christ to demonstrate the former, and Picasso's Woman with a Guitar for the latter. Clark also seems to say that no one period can define a masterpiece - it must stand the test of centuries, holding its importance while times and fashions change around it. Most of all, a masterpiece is a product of the master, not just of the master's skill but of the personality, empathy, experience, and revelation.

Frankly, I find the book too short to address the topic properly. Though interesting, parts of Clark's definition can never be put into practice. The master's subjugation to subject is an inner experience, something that can not be shared or even detected by another person. I can't define a masterpiece either, but I can't accept a definition that relies on the artist's frame of mind.

Still, the book is brief, readable, and thought-provoking. It reproduces some of the works described, but only in black and white, printed indifferently. The pictures seem intended only as memory-joggers, to help the viewer recall better renderings seen elsewhere. This is an approachable work by an acknowledged master in his own right, but just left me hoping for more.

//wiredweird

25 people found this helpful

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