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Again,Taschen has done itself proud,the collection of magritte's imagery and reproductions are wonderful.Any art student would be happy with this book.Magritte is very mysterious,I used to think.after looking through my copy of this book,I now think Magritte is clear visioned and not mysterious at all.He just paints his point of veiw,and his veiw fascinates me.I am very happy with this purchase.If you want a great addition to your personal library,for whatever purpose,be you an artist or lover of art,this is the book to have.
In my opinion, the most important thing about a book about a pictorial artist is (usually) the actual pictures shown(including the quality of the reproductions), and I feel in this respect this book falls rather flat. Not only are there not enough large (full or half page) pictures for a book of this size (216 pages) - some of them are poor quality reproductions (a painfully common feature of art books) - why do paintings vary so much between different reproductions.Instead the book is mainly concerned with excessively wordy discourses on Magritte and his work. I'm not saying I didn't find any of it interesting, but the information and insight I gleaned after 8 hours of reading could have been put over with half as much text. I don't have a problem with writers indulging in intellectual analysis, so long as it is concise and well written, and this wasn't always the case.Incidentally, Magritte by Richard Calvocoressi (Phaidon - April 1993) is much shorter but has much better pictures in it.(review altered 27 May 2005, partly to remove British slang words that may have caused confusion)
As the description above states, this book contains 400 illustrations covering Magritte's entire career. I found that after reading "The Essential Magritte," this was a perfect continuation in my introduction to this man's work. The price is also unbeatable, considering what some art books go for these days. Well written and illustrated, this book was a wonderful find.
This is an absolute bargain, and I sincerely regret not having purchased it from Amazon, although I greatly enjoyed having purchased it overall. This book on Margritte includes fabulous images and great explanations and references to Magritte's life. I purchased this book in Dutch in Europe, for about four times the price listed here. Any Magritte fan cannot miss this book. Enjoy.
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