Böcker av Edward Lucie-Smith

An essay by Edward Lucie-Smith explores the dynamic art of Titian, exhibited in a major collection of his key paintings at the National Gallery London and other studies of leading figures in the transcendent era of the High Italian Renaissance in painting, drawing, sculpture and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuies. 'The Titian show at the National Gallery here in London has just opened to the public again. It was available for just three days before the big lockdown. Now it is with us once more, though on rather different terms from what was the case previously. You have to book a time. You have to wearing a mask. You have to keep a distance between yourself and other visitors booked in for the same slot. Is it worth the hassle? Yes, of course it is. Titian is one of the greatest figures in the history of Western art.' ELS

The word 'avant-garde', so much used in connection with the various manifestations of contemporary art, is starting to have a strange, ironic ring to it. One might even claim that it is starting to signify what is behind the times, rather than in front of them. Like all such terms, it is in fact a metaphor, rather than a direct description. Borrowed from old-fashioned military terminology, it seeks to describe a situation where social norms are being perpetually challenged by artists. In the military sphere, where it originated, it is long out of use. Armies no longer marshal themselves in regular formations of the battlefield. There is now no recognized grammar of warfare - any more than (come to think of it) there is a recognized grammar of art. The mantra now is: 'It's art because I say it's art!' In these circumstances, it is increasingly difficult to define what is positioned ahead of what - who is at the head of the column and who is near he tail end of it. ELS

Cv publishes a collection of essays and reviews by the eminent art historian and writer, Edward Lucie-Smith. The articles cover the broad span, of classical to 20th/21st century art and its progression by pathways of postmodernism to contemporary art. With the experience of his landmark publications on modern art, several of which remain in print; the author introduces the reader to aspects of cultural mechanics, from the outset of creative experiment and intervention, absorbed by an intricate arena of curatorship and collection, with luminous insights to flaws in its hierarchy and prospects for the future. In 'The Art of the Dealer' Edward Lucie-Smith considers the history and development of the art market, from the practices of Northern Renaissance artists such as Albrecht Durer to the 18th century painter Jean-Antoine Watteau. He notes the Impressionist dealer DurandRuel and 20th century figures Ambroise Vollard and Paul Gillaume; the dominant American culture carried through by major operators such as Larry Gagosian into the 21st century.

What is highly original is the fact that these drawings, often extremely ambiguous in meaning, form a meditative sequence, not apparently intended for public consumption, but entirely selfreflexive. They record the artist's dreams and fantasies, but strictly for his own contemplation. As such they represent a major psychological breakthrough, a next step forward from the late self-portraits of Rembrandt. Their successors are the images created by major Surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalì and Max Ernst. The exhibition enables us to see our contemporary ideas about the nature of the self at the very moment of their first formation. These are the issues Edward Lucie-Smith will discuss in his text about this pioneering show, which not only reconstructs Goya's long-dispersed album, but places it In the context of other drawings and prints by the same great artist

The Rembrandt and Turner exhibitions, one at London's National Gallery, the other at Tate Britain, are populist homages to two of the undoubted giants of the European cultural tradition. They do not attempt complete surveys. Instead they seek to found themselves on a now well-established but in fact comparatively recent myth: that of a 'late style', wherein a great artist, nearing the end of his life, somehow transcends all the works he has made previously. Titian and Michelangelo have also been the subjects of the same kind of mythologisation. The facts are, of course, that neither Rembrandt nor Turner attained a very great age by 21st century standards. The Rembrandt show covers the artist's last decade-and-half, roughly speaking from the time when he went bankrupt in 1656 to his death in October 1669, aged 63. Turner had a longer life, but the show at Tate Britain covers about the same amount of ground - from 1835, when the artist was sixty, until his death in 1851, aged 76. The idea of the 'late style', as a very special, magical phase in the evolution of the work of a great artist, is, as I have just said, a comparatively modern invention.

Cv/VAR series 152 publishes an anthology of essays and reviews by the eminent art historian and writer, Edward Lucie-Smith. The articles cover a broad span, from the Italian Renaissance of Giotto and Antonello da Messina, Leonardo and Michelangelo, progressing to Rubens, Velazquez and Ingres, with essays on William Hogarth, John Constable and John Everett Millais for British Art. With the experience of his landmark publications on modern art, several of which remain in print, the author sweeps the reader on a fabulous journey of perception, disclosing the strands that bind the continuum of classic and contemporary art

The coincidence of two exhibitions in major London institutions, one at the National Portrait Gallery, devoted wholly to Giacometti's work as a portraitist, the other a retrospective devoted to the career of Frank Auerbach, with a high proportion of portraits, on view at Tate Britain, prompts some reflections on the role of portraiture in modern and contemporary art

He uses elaborate systems of arbitrary rules to regulate his patterns of markings - the absolute opposite of the freewheeling calligraphy typical of Abstract Expressionist predecessors such as Jackson Pollock. Where images are present, they are often mirrored or doubled. Or else camouflaged and concealed. His paintings therefore take on the character of being not simply objects to be looked at, but puzzles to be solved by the viewer. This aspect of his work perhaps explains by his work has had such a solid, long-lasting appeal to professional commentators on contemporary art. They feel great satisfaction in solving the riddles he sets them, and perhaps too, a bit of schadenfreude in contemplating those who are not sophisticated enough to crack the code. ELS In his introductory essay The Enigma of Jasper Johns author and art hist Edward Lucie-Smith considers the art of Jasper Johns, pivotal figure in the development of American contemporary art, whose sixty years activity is represented in a major exhibition at the Royal Academy London. The study is illustrated by key works along with a room by room view of the exhibition.

A study of the celebrated american painter John Singer Sargent explores his public practice as a society portrait painter and thee personal and complex aspects of his own creative drive. Additional essays by the author include: Citizens and Kings, Collecting Contemporary Art, Halfway There With Delacroix and Daumier. Contemporary descriptions of his portraits, often from people who knew the sitters, are at least as often unfavourable as they are favourable, even when he was at the very height of his success. Perhaps this is the fate of all successful portrait painters. The artist often sees his subjects rather differently from the way they would like to be seen. Friends and acquaintances mal also have a different image stored away. So, too, professional commentators, if the subject of the portrait is well known. Two quotes from the artist himself sum up the situation perfectly: "A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth." - "Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend."

In this volume Edward Lucie-Smith explores the magnetic poles of post-War modernism, with its figurehead in Europe of Pablo Picasso, and emerging creators in the USA led by Jackson Pollock and others in Abstract Expressionism. The author sets the mutual roots in Surrealism and reflects on the survival of the French artists during the Occupation. He traces Pollock's lasting effect to the later cycles American Pop.

reviews, books by celebrated art historian Edward Lucie-Smith.

Russian Edition. There is surprisingly little, and certainly nothing comprehensive, written about the contemporary Russian scene now. What appear in the West are mostly reports about so-called dissidents, not about what is happening in this vast culture, taken as a whole. Too oen, these reports seem to be primarily inspired by a desire to demonstrate Western cultural and political superiority. e aim of Russian Art in the New Millennium is not to support any one cause, but to look at the situation as it now exists objectively and to give as wide and truthful a view as possible. Russian art during the period under review the last two

The mention of 'Faith in The City of London' conjures up images of ceremonial events in St. Paul's Cathedral, but there are over 40 other Anglican churches, as well as Jewish, Dutch, Catholic and Welsh places of worship squeezed in between The Square Mile's towers of commerce. Intrigued by this incongruity, highly acclaimed London photographer Niki Gorick has gained unique access to capture the day-to-day workings of these ancient buildings and discovered a vibrant, diverse spiritual life stretching out into many faiths. This is a book about London and Londoners from a completely new angle, revealing a rich mix of characters, traditions and human interest stories. From weddings, communions, evangelical bible studies and Livery company carol services, to Knights Templar investitures, huge wet fish displays, Afghan music and vicars wielding knives, the photographs show an extraordinary range of spiritual goings-on and charismatic personalities. For the first time, it's possible to get a real insight into a side of London's Square Mile not dominated by money-making, where City workers are trying to connect to life's deeper meanings and where religious traditions and questions of faith are still very much alive.

The only one-volume introduction to modern and post-modern art from Latin America, perhaps the most exciting and rewarding art scene in the world today.

An extensively revised and updated edition of this valuable account of contemporary art. It covers and illustrates all international trends and artists in the postwar era, including Neo-Expressionist tendencies, Post-Pop Blues, New Classicism, and art based on feminist and gay issues.

As London evolves into a Babylonian-style city of lofty towers, the artist Anna Keen has been inspired to paint this London Metamorphosis. While each new edifice heads to the heavens, the exposed entrails of these vast construction sites strangely resemble ruins. Her large canvases are enriched with details stemming from patient observation and on-the-spot sketches, and from voyages around the city made by helicopter, boat, road and on foot. Like the eighteenth-century artist J.M Gandy, who simultaneously painted London in ruins and in construction, Anna Keen takes us just beneath the surface of the metropolis, to where the emotional landscape lurks and to where the soul of London is heading. London-based art historian Edward Lucie-Smith has followed Anna Keen's painting since 1995 in Rome.

36 previously unpublished books by renowned art critic, writer and poet Edward Lucie-Smith. This book, complete with illustrations by English painter Joe Machine, was published on the occasion of Edward Lucie-Smiths 84th Birthday.

In his fascinating study of the pervasive theme of 'The Dance of Death' 'Edward Lucie-Smith traces its lineage in art from mosaiics of Pompeii and early Medieval frescos. He cites the celebrated engraving by Albrecht Durer: The Knight, Death and the Devil' and an extensive series of woodcuts,'The Dance of Death' by Hans Holbein the Younger.