Summer Reading

August is almost upon us, and with the last days of summer reading in mind, I thought I would write about a few of my favorite art-related books. These are not instructional books designed for painters (maybe that's a subject for later!). Instead, these are books that any art lover--or any reader for that matter--can love.

In the nonfiction category, one of my favorites is Strapless, by Deborah Davis.  It tells the story of John Singer Sargent's infamous painting of Madame X, and how it affected the lives of both Sergeant and the woman who posed for the painting. I found it very gripping, and loved the insights into Sargent's

"painter's remorse", for lack of a better term.

Also in the category of nonfiction, I loved Jonathan Harr's book The Lost Painting. about the quest for a missing Caravaggio painting. You may know Harr from his book A Civil Action, about the Love Canal litigation. Combining history, art, and mystery, The Lost Painting is a spellbinding as a detective story. And all the more captivating because it's all true! A real page-turner. 

A bit more dense, Ross King's book, The Judgment of Paris, is a fascinating look at the world circumstances that surrounded the birth of Impressionism. King describes the face-off between the establishment academic painters and the new fangled Impressionists. One reviewer called it a "history of the world as it influenced painters of the time". Fascinating look at the birth of a new movement in painting.

Happy reading! If you are interested, I may have a future post on other favorite books in the art sphere...