The Artist's Studio: A Cultural History A Times Best Art Book of 2022

(Hardback)

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A Times Best Art Book of 2022

An exciting narrative and visual history of the artist's studio, examining the myth and reality of the creative space from early times to today.

The artist's workplace has always been an imaginary as well as an actual location, an idealized utopia as well as the domain of dirty, back-breaking work. Written descriptions, paintings, prints and even photographs of the artist's atelier distort as much as they document. This pioneering cultural history charts the myth and reality of the creative space from Ancient Greece to the present day.

Tracing a history that extends far beyond the bohemian, romantic and renaissance cults of the artist, each chapter focuses on key developments of the studio space as seen in a variety of familiar and unfamiliar images. Mythical and divine makers, and some amateurs, are included, and so too are craftspeople - workers in metal and wood, potters, illuminators, weavers, embroiderers and architects to name a few. Each carefully chosen example is placed within a cultural and political context, with the aim of correcting the historical imbalance that has long overlooked the many artisans who collaborated with artists. Leading authority James Hall also extends the discussion to the artist's museum and the artist's house, as well plein air painting and the development of portable studios.

Reviews

'Innovative and wide-ranging James Halls breadth of reference - and choice of images - is impressive, from Greek red figure vases to Francis Bacons paint-encrusted and cluttered workspace via Renaissance workshops and the Victorian war chronicler Roger Fentons mobile photographic carriage [the studio] has, as Hall persuasively argues, been integral in artists projecting themselves as being more than mere craftsmen' - The Times, Art Books of the Year
'Ambitious and accessible ... extremely readable, wonderfully illustrated, capacious in its reach and altogether a book to send the reader back to their favourite art with a new set of questions about exactly how and where it was made' - The Art Newspaper
'The Artist's Studio describes how a noisome cockpit of lust, crime and virtuosity produced innovations in how art gets made, and by whom. To you, me and the estate agent, a studio is the most pinched accommodation going, but in Halls drily entertaining survey, it has many mansions' - Guardian
'A thorough exploration of artists workspaces ... combines cerebral and beautifully illustrated argument with encyclopaedic information about artists, their working practices and their funny little ways' - Literary Review
'A comprehensive account of much more than the practice of art, and demonstrates how artists have influenced, as well as been affected by, their working spaces from the earliest time' - artbookreview
'Halls accounts of the changing nature of artists studios from Greek antiquity onwards are enthralling' - Studio International
'An important study a compelling narrative' - Elle Decor Italia
'James Halls learning is immense, yet he displays his expertise in this lively and entertaining survey of the artists studio without a hint of pedantry. Rather, his delivery is fresh and informal, and at times humorous' - Times Literary Supplement
'[A] smart object biography The Artists Studio, which follows a similarly vast project from the author on self-portraiture Hall approaches his subject as a historian - although with the colloquial ease of years spent as a newspaper art critic' - Financial Times
'[A] thoroughly researched and well-illustrated book Alongside the anecdotes are historical accounts, such as the professionalisation of modelling and the development of the portable painting box' - House & Garden
'A good read with ample illustrations its a welcome addition to cultural histories that tell the story of art in new and interesting ways' - Hyperallergic
'An important bookMany of the works that Hall analyses and illustrates are very famous, but his point of view is always original' - David Ekserdjian, Il Giornale dellArte
'The author does not confine himself to the classic definition of the old masters studio but takes in all manner of spaces from the goldsmiths bench to the shoemakers workshop. Hall makes this range and diversity his strength, and out of this arises a fresh and unexpected take on the history of Western art' - World of Interiors
'Informative and enjoyable' - The Artist

Author Bio

James Hall is an art critic, historian, lecturer and broadcaster. He was formerly Chief Art Critic of The Sunday Correspondent and of the Guardian. He contributes to the Guardian Saturday Review, The Times and Times Literary Supplement, as well as to many magazines and catalogues. He is the author of several books including The Self-Portrait: A Cultural History (Thames & Hudson, 2014), which the Sunday Times hailed as 'fascinating, erudite and beautifully produced'.