Artist's Lesson Book Is Eye Treat
Traditional Oil Painting, published by Watson-Guptill, is a how-to book suitable for your coffee table.
The publishers call it "every working artist's guide to this classic art form."
But to think of it only in this way misses something, for it isn't a traditional do-it-yourself kind of book
from which one can learn craft. For that you can get glossy little manuals at your local art supply or university
book store. Not that it won't help a would-be painter or even a painter with some expertise gain a certain
perspective that may improve their skills. It will. But this how-to book will also be an inspiration to those
who love art; it just goes about it differently by combining exceptional content with the quality of those lovely
volumes for reproductions owned by the museum crowd.
Author Virgil Elliott goes about this by giving a reader (artist or appreciator of art) an understanding of
the underlying skill set used to produce a great masterpiece. Chapters include Aesthetic Considerations, which
includes subsections on Variety, Linear Elements, the Golden Mean and Composition. One chapter is called Color.
Another is titled The Importance of Drawing, and yes, this is a book on painting.
It also turns out that Traditional Oil Painting isn't all that traditional. It includes extensive
information on the latest scientific discoveries that contribute to the art (and appreciation) of painting.
That's something painters who have been at it awhile won't want to miss.
Speaking of color. Oh, the color plates! A portrait by Alfred Stevens, a still-life by William Michael Harnett.
The light and shadow of George de la Tour and Johannes (Jan) Vermeer of Delft. Even a self-portrait of the author,
Virgil Elliott. Paintings many of us are not likely to see in life, or even in books. Paintings from the
Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
This, then, is the perfect gift for anyone with a head or heart for art.