{PRETITLE} Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings {POSTTITLE}

Rating: (33 reviews)
Author: Tobias Natter
ISBN : 3836527952
New from $134.01
Format: PDF

Download for free medical books PRETITLE Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings POSTTITLE from 4shared, mediafire, hotfile, and mirror link

The prince of decadence.  Looking at Klimt in a whole new light: a groundbreaking monograph
 

The countless events being held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth make a clear statement to the enduring appreciation for the work ofGustav Klimt. Not that it takes such a special occasion for the press and the public to start talking about Klimt. More than two hundred articles about the artist appeared online in August 2011 alone, in comparison with barely seventy on Rembrandt within the same period. This media publicity set editor Tobias G. Natter thinking about the value of compiling the present book.During his lifetime, Klimt was a controversial star whose works made passions run high; he stood for Modernism but he also embodied tradition. His pictures polarized and divided the art-loving world. Journalists and general public alike were split over the question: For or against Klimt? 

The present publication therefore places particular emphasis upon the voices of Klimt’s contemporaries via a series of essays examining reactions to his work throughout his career. Subjects range from Klimt’s portrayal of women to his adoption of landscape painting in the second half of his life. The cliché that Gustav Klimt was a man of few words who rarely put pen to paper is vehemently dispelled: no less than 179 letters, cards, writings and other documents are included in this monograph.This wealth of archival material, assembled here for the first time on such a scale, represents a major contribution to Klimt scholarship.

Defining features of this edition:

Catalog of Klimt’s complete paintings All known letter correspondence Featuring new photographs of the Stoclet Frieze commissioned exclusively for this book

Direct download links available for PRETITLE Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings [Hardcover] POSTTITLE

• Product Details
• Table of Contents
• Reviews

• Hardcover: 676 pages
• Publisher: Taschen (November 30, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3836527952
• ISBN-13: 978-3836527958
• Product Dimensions: 3 x 12.3 x 17.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 17.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

{PRETITLE} Gustav Klimt: The Complete Paintings {POSTTITLE}

I hesitated to buy this since I already have a good Klimt coffee-table-type book, and I also wasn't sure whether the scope of Klimt's work would support this kind of investment in terms of both money and space. (He died at a rather young age and I wasn't sure how much of his work was out there that I had not seen.) But I went ahead and bought this since I am a fan of Taschen's XL series of books and I have yet to be disappointed.

Wow. This thing is outrageous. This isn't just another book for your shelf, folks, this is nothing less than a work of art unto itself. Vivid close-up imagery which reveals each strand of canvass and all other textures (almost like having the piece of art right before you), metallic gold pages which divide each section, numerous fold-outs worthy of framing (don't you dare butcher this book!!), a striking cover with gold-foil emblem, thick paper of the highest quality, a silk ribbon book-mark, an embossed dust-jacket, an awesome decorative box to store and move the thing.....I could go on. This is ultra-high-end book-making going on here, this is a publisher's labor of love. I wish more products of all types displayed this level of inspiration and devotion to excellence.

It would take a month or longer for me to read this gargantuan edifice, and it may take me awhile to get around to that, but there is obviously an expansive overview of Klimt's work and his personal life. This publication will be the gold-standard on Klimt--forever, certainly. In a decade from now you will only find these in high-end book shops locked behind glass counters. The price will be stratospheric, and you will regret the day you didn't buy it on Amazon. This book may seem expensive, but it is a BARGAIN for what you are getting.

I bought this book with high expectations. The publisher, Taschen, promises to show all the paintings by Gustav Klimt, the book is extremely large-sized, and Taschen has created similar large volumes about Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo which are truly fantastic. My - admittedly high - expectations were unfortunately only partly fulfilled. In fact, probably all the paintings and several of Klimt's drawings are shown; there are also photos and some private documents of Klimt. However, Klimt's early work is treated with great arrogance. The author speaks disparagingly of the 'salon style' and presents this phase with just a few pages and works, and almost exclusively with small pictures. Regarding Klimt's later works it can happen that one and the same painting is represented several times, sometimes with extreme detail shots over several pages. I wouldn't have any problem with this (on the contrary, I appreciate large details of paintings), if it wasn't so clearly at the expense of Klimt's early work. Klimt's allegories, for example, are very beautiful. Is it really necessary to treat dozens of his early paintings within just 30 pages, while the frieze of the Stoclet Palais gets almost 90 pages with dozens of multi-page details? To me, this is an extreme example of the the modern condescension toward the so-called salon paintings that has no place in such a book. Especially when you get to the complete catalogue of Klimt's paintings at the back of the book, where the paintings are shown in smaller pictures only, it becomes clear how many of Klimt's works haven't been treated properly in the main part of the book because they don't fit into the author's concept.