Art, Design, Craft, Beauty and All Those Things…

Responding to many recent calls for redress and restitution, Richardson summarises the historical and current situation and attributes its problematics to the fact that theorists and historians have taken the concept art as a generic that includes both design and craft – which are actually and validly distinguishable from art by application of the concept function/al ­– or else ignored the two entirely. Considering the concept function/al, he maintains, calls into question the view that the three may be sub-classes of the one class: whereas in a work of art, typically there is a resolution of the tension between form and content, in works of design and craft the resolution is between form and function. How this recognition can clarify the issue informs the entire book.

The book’s other major thesis is the realisation that aesthetic values are inherently human and that, therefore, they apply not only to art but to life in general. Far from being frivolous or a mere ‘emotion’, the aesthetic is a sense of equivalent psychic status to sight and hearing ­and, like them, is employed at almost every moment of our daily lives – which fact grounds art, design and craft deeply in human life. This is reflected in the universal use of the human form (including the exhibition of sexual characteristics) in art.

The eternal conflict between making art and making a living from making art is examined and contrasted to the rarely-recognised, but positive, role of design in planning and industry.

Richardson also critiques common theories of representation and composition, including ‘creativity’, Albertian perspective and scientific and geometric theories of beauty and composition; also the relevance of the camera and the computer in the field.

New Realism in Contemporary Israeli Painting

Art today can be whatever one wants it to be: a rotting cadaver, a photograph of someone else’s photograph, a banana… In this post-modern age of post-truth, of social media and the selfie, when everyone has a high-resolution digital camera at their fingertips, one wonders what would possess a talented artist to sit for days, weeks, often months, to paint a portrait of a friend or a landscape of home. Today, a group of 20 or so remarkable painters have revived a fascinating style of realistic painting, and in Israel of all places, where realistic art has never played any significant role. Their brand of realism is not mundane photographic realism, but rather it is an intensified sort of realism, a kind of hyper-realism. This book offers an initial explanation as to what these artists are doing, and how they are doing it.

Sir Hubert von Herkomer RA 1849-1914

In 1848 Europe was in turmoil. People were starving, work was scarce. Hubert Herkomer’s father, a Bavarian woodcarver, emigrated to the United States with his wife, a musician, and their two-year-old son. But the settled future they hoped for did not materialize – after struggling for six years, the family borrowed money and settled in Southampton. They were almost penniless.

With his father’s encouragement, he picked up the paintbrush. At 13 he could paint in oils. Though art school was a disastrous experience, he sold his first painting at 19. His creative mind would end up contributing to multiple fields from photography to car racing.

But fame is a roller coaster. Hubert’s loyalty to Germany (and Britain) during the lead up to World War 1 resulted in personal and artistic unpopularity. He died just before the war.

However, his vivid and evocative work regained its value in the second half of the twentieth century, restoring his reputation as an artistic paragon and visual chronicler of the Victorian and Edwardian age.

This is the story of an artist and his art-filled life.

The Professional Approach to Sculpting the Human Figure

The Professional Approach to Sculpting The Human Figure is the first book by Andrew Sinclair MRSS SWAC, recognised as a master of world-class figurative sculpture.
It is based on Andrew’s ground-breaking Sinclair Method, as taught at The Sculpture School, which completely transforms the building and creation of Contemporary Realist sculpture. This method is revolutionising the approach to sculpture, also acting as a powerful source of knowledge, enabling students searching for excellence to become professional masters of their art.
This book deals with the foundations of good figurative sculpture and offers a profound understanding of measurement, anatomy, design and composition in an easy to understand format that will inspire established sculptors and beginners alike.
So if you want to raise your game and lift your sculpture talents to a professional level – this book is dynamite! Consider it food for the sculptural soul.

You Can Have Any Colour You Like, As Long As It's Black

Producing artworks of our colourful world using black ink is a challenge. Using only lines and dots, the artist has to make the viewer believe that the white spaces left after the ink has been applied represent recognisable forms.

I have assembled in this book a selection of my own ink drawings along with tips which might assist anyone who works or who would like to work in this dark art. There are no rules as such, but there certainly are things to avoid and techniques to employ.

Whatever your age or ability, if you wish to develop your drawing skills then you will find something here to inspire you.