Man As Hero: The Human Figure in Western Art (CLASSICAL AMERICA SERIES IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE)

By Pierce Rice

As he takes his argument through several categories, including the cherub, the celebration of victory, and the Virgin as Mother, there are some unexpected artists in the pantheon: not only Michelangelo, Veronese, Fragonard, and Winslow Homer but also J. C. Leyendecker, creator of covers for the Saturday Evening Post, and John Tenniel, illustrator of Alice in Wonderland.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393304744
• ISBN13: 9780393304749
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Sweeping, invigorating polemic

This book is a bit rough, sometimes cryptic, but brisk and opinionated and very very interesting. Rice identifies the distinctive feature of Western art as the celebration of the human form, and dashes through Western art since the renaissance to illustrate his point. The first and last chapters underline the main thesis, that this the main current of Western art has in modern times been abandoned, to the detriment of great art. This is not simpleminded conservatism; it is erudite and intelligent and thought-provoking. It's short, too, easy to read, lots of illustrations ... and yet has more to say than many 1000 page art history tomes. Try it!