Artists And Amateurs

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 1, 2013-January 5, 2014.

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 1, 2013-January 5, 2014.

The words 'amateur artist' conjure up a picture of Victorian ladies and gentlemen sketching in watercolours out of doors. This text challenges such an image, describing and illustrating over 200 works from the British Museum's collections.

Inside an art gallery, it is easy to forget that the paintings there are the end products of a process involving not only creative inspiration, but also plenty of physical and logistical details. It is these "cruder," more mundane aspects of a painter's daily routine that motivated Brooklyn artist Joe Fig to embark almost ten years ago on a highly unorthodox, multilayered exploration of the working life of the professional artist. Determined to ground his research in the physical world, Fig began constructing a series of diorama-like miniature reproductions of the studios of modern art's most legendary painters, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. A desire for firsthand references led Fig to approach contemporary artists for access to their studios. Armed with a camera and a self-made "Artist's Questionnaire," Fig began a journey through the workspaces of some of today's most exciting contemporary artists.

Excerpt from Handbook of Young Artists and Amateurs in Oilpainting: Being Chiefly a Condensed Compilation From the Celebrated Manual of Bouvier; With Additional Matter Selected From the Labors of Merimee, De Montabert and Other Distinguished Continental Writers in the Art But let it not be supposed that with this initiation of the young, the as yet profanum vulgus, into the mysteries of our art, the Handbook finishes its func tions. The forty-three years' study and experience, the great good-sense, sound perceptions, and perfect sincerity of the artist-author whom I have chosen as my principal guide, and the undiminished popularity of his Manual, not only with learners but with artists of established name, (indeed we may say with all in any way connected with the art, including the manu facturers of its materials), on the continent of Europe, - added to this, the care bestowed by the compiler in the diligent collation of other authorities, - warrant the assumption, that even for the professed artist there will be found something useful in the following pages; and a translated passage, which on the fifth page takes the place of a motto, shows that Bouvier himself anticipated such an extension of the field of his usefulness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.