Book cover of The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing

Book description

A renowned art historian confronts the specific powers of painting, and the hold of the visual image on the viewer's imagination

Why do we find ourselves returning to certain pictures time and again? What is it we are looking for? How does our understanding of an image change over time?…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Sight of Death as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

T.J. Clark’s diary explorations of two Poussin paintings in The Sight of Death integrates an acuity of seeing with a searching intelligence that is simultaneously content, historical, personal, and linguistic.

He puzzles through a visceral sense of revelatory permanence in Poussin, a discovery of form in the details of painting: “Aren’t there plenty of moments in life that, whether they last or not, have enough of permanence about them to stand for things as they are, things as the mind conceives them –and not just to stand for them notionally, but have them be visible on their face?” He reveals…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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