Master Pieces: The Curator's Game - Softcover

Hoving, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393328384 ISBN 13: 9780393328387

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005

Synopsis

A stunning visual game that helps readers enjoy, appreciate, and identify great works of art.

As Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade, Thomas Hoving brought art to a new level of public awareness by pioneering such blockbuster shows as the King Tut exhibit. Early in his career, Hoving was introduced to the "curator's game." Each week, he and his contemporaries met to examine details of larger museum masterpieces. Whoever correctly identified the detail in context won free coffee: the losers paid. In an imaginative adaptation of this exercise, Hoving introduces us to the challenge and the fun of identifying art, and to the rewards of familiarity with the great works. A section of paintings accompanied by brief essays introduces a range of artists, themes, techniques, and styles, while progressively demanding "clues" are provided to help identify visual details in context. No experience is necessary to play this game. Readers at all levels will discover the fun of identifying and remembering great art. 250 color illustrations

About this title

About the Author:

Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also served as editor of Connoisseur and cultural correspondent for ABC's "20/20." The author of fifteen books, including the bestsellers Making the Mummies Dance and Tutankhamun, he lives in New York City.

From Booklist:

Credited with initiating the blockbuster exhibitions that have made museums a destination for the many rather than an enclave for the few, Hoving, a former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a best-selling author, shares an insider strategy, the "curator's game." It's a simple endeavor. One curator presents his or her peers with close-up photographs of details found in various artworks. The others must then identify the canvas from which it came. Since a curator's work, Hoving writes, is "all about looking," especially "scrutinizing the details," this game sharpens a curator's investigative skills and knowledge. In keeping with his egalitarian spirit, Hoving has created a challenging game of "master pieces" for the public: 214 details and verbal clues are sorted into categories that range from vases to farm animals to bottoms (Hoving's irreverent approach to nudes) to angels. These are followed by reproductions of the 57 paintings from which these details are taken, each the subject of a pithy and informative essay. In all, this is good, smart fun handsomely presented. Donna Seaman
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About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0393328384
• ISBN 13: 9780393328387
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176