Completing the Picture: Materials and Techniques of Twenty-Six Paintings in the Tate Gallery

Hackney, Stephen (introduction)

London: The Tate Gallery, 1982. Softbound. Color pictorial wraps, 120pp, multiple color and BW illustrations. G+, Edge wear to wraps and tear at bottom of spine. Otherwise, a terrific reading copy with contents tight and clean, mild page edge tanning. Previous owner stamp on half title p. Item #128478
ISBN: 9780905005638

From the book--There are many ways of enjoying paintings; each aspect of a work has its own individual appeal. But the full appreciation of a painting depends on the ability to see it in its historical perspective and at the same time to understand the artists intentions. These intentions have traditionally been communicated by utilising a limited range of materials in a surprising diversity of ways. A close study of an artists technique--the particular diversity and order which he or she has employed to achieve a given image--will inevitably enhance the appreciation of both painter and painting. Books of an art historical approach are legion; those concerned with specific artists' techniques are all too few. Here, case studies of the work of more than twenty painters over the past two centuries add a new dimension to the enjoyment of painting in general. Both painter and public will find much of interest in these pages.