Author:Martin Gayford
'An absorbing book, beautifully told and with the writer fully in command of a huge body of research' Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
There was an epic sweep to Michelangelo's life. At 31 he was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world; long before he died at almost 90 he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived (and, by his enemies, to be an arrogant, uncouth, swindling miser). For decade after decade, he worked near the dynamic centre of events: the vortex at which European history was changing from Renaissance to Counter Reformation. Few of his works - including the huge frescoes of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the marble giant David and The Last Judgment - were small or easy to accomplish. Like a hero of classical mythology - such as Hercules, whose statue Michelangelo carved in his youth - he was subject to constant trials and labours. In Michelangelo Martin Gayford describes what it felt like to be Michelangelo Buonarroti, and how he transformed forever our notion of what an artist could be.
'It is a measure of [Michelangelo's] magnitude, and Gayford's skill in capturing it, that you finish this book wishing that Michelangelo had lived longer and created more' Rachel Spence, FT
'One of our most distinguished writers on what makes modern artists tick . . . It is very difficult to cut through the thicket of generations of scholarship and say anything new about David, the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgement, the Basilica of St Peter's or many of Michelangelo's other masterpieces, but Gayford manages to do so by encouraging us to think - and look - at both the obvious and the overlooked' Sunday Telegraph
'Only the most ambitious biographer can take on the talent of Michelangelo Buonarroti' The Times
An absorbing book, beautifully told and with the writer fully in command of a huge body of research
—— Philip Hensher , Mail on SundayOne of our most distinguished writers on what makes modern artists tick . . . It is very difficult to cut through the thicket of generations of scholarship and say anything new about David, the Sistine Chapel, The Last Judgement, the Basilica of St Peter's or many of Michelangelo's other masterpieces, but Gayford manages to do so by encouraging us to think - and look - at both the obvious and the overlooked
—— Sunday TelegraphIt is a measure of [Michelangelo's] magnitude, and Gayford's skill in capturing it, that you finish this book wishing that Michelangelo had lived longer and created more
—— Rachel Spence , FTOnly the most ambitious biographer can take on the talent of Michelangelo Buonarroti
—— The TimesGompertz doesn't have it in him to be boring. He clearly loves art too much and his book ... succeeds as a short love letter to art. The pictures are wonderful
—— The TimesEnjoyable, engaging, rollicking - the storytelling is lively
—— Spectator, on ‘In Montmartre’Admirable. What an eye for art Roe has. Brilliant
—— Guardian, on ‘In Montmartre’An elegant synthesis of complex material... it excels: Roe is a skilled and graceful writer.
—— The Telegraph on 'In Montmartre'Lively and engaging... in her entertaining, ingeniously structured account Roe brings Montmartre's heyday back to life.
—— The Sunday Times on 'In Montmartre'[Roe]skilfully weaves her descriptions of artworks into her romp through the artists' struggles and fractious relationships.
—— The Times on 'In Montmartre'A colourful narrative describing the travails and triumphs of an equally colourful cast.
—— New Statesman on 'In Montmartre'With evocative imagery Roe sketches out the intensely visual spectacle on which Montmartre's artistic community was able to draw
—— Financial Times on 'In Montmartre'Paul's prose is spare and luminous, revealing her painter's eye in attention to colour, texture, and depth... The included paintings, both John's and Paul's, are breathtaking. Fellow artists will relish this lucid look at what is required to "live and paint truthfully."
—— Publishers WeeklyRemarkable dialectics of loneliness and desire, of love and manipulation, that Paul handles with patient - even disarming - frankness... Alongside the imaginative biography of John, and alongside the dated journal entries, the book is also a foray into Paul's past. The effect is one of a dreamscape, a mesh of past and present, as the borders between the two female artists soften and start to give.
—— Victoria Baena , BafflerCelia Paul, in both her painting and her writing, is a formidable guardian of her own inner life, as well as a careful chronicler of what it means to traverse a boundary that is barely perceptible, hardly there at all, and yet is the place where truth emerges, hangs in the balance, is not quite distinguishable from a lie. Letters to Gwen John...is a profound act of truth-telling made possible by the thrilling risk of tarrying at that contested border. Paul's writing is a kind of ritual, as well as a pilgrimage, in which she leads us into those hidden places where understanding is beside the point, and invites us simply to dwell with her and whomever else she summons.
—— Artforum , Jack HansonA loving and inquiring text, a lyrical correspondence between two women filtered through the inner life of one. It is also an intimate cataloguing of how loneliness and desire transmute to artistic awakening.
—— Makenna Goodman , AstraA compelling and thoroughly absorbing amalgam of history, autobiography, travelogue and philosophical ruminations on the nature of creativity and many other things besides
—— Monica Bohm-Duchen , Jewish ChronicleDe Waal…sees the world in a shard of white porcelain, thoughtfully and poetically tracing its invention and material production from imperial China through medieval Europe, and Cherokee creeks to the satanic factories of Nazi Germany. Global cultural history, structural and individual: this should be a humanising core text on the now sadly abandoned liberal arts curriculum.
—— Professor E. Stina Lyon , Times Higher EducationAn intimate and lyrical writer with a sophisticated grasp of cultural history… De Waal’s prose thrives on exchanges of curiousity… The White Road feels like a long book, and a long book may sometimes have qualities peculiar to its size. It may be by turns capricious, slow-drifting, and affected. It may yet enlarge your world.
—— Julian Bell , New York Review of BooksA stylishly written account with a surprisingly spiritual dimension. Engrossing.
—— Rebecca Wallersteiner , LadyDe Waal’s charm lies in his ability to undertake obsessive research, to pile up and accrue, to involve the reader in almost frantic travelling, note-taking and reading. There’s no doubting that The White Road is a mighty achievement.
—— Kathleen Jamie , GuardianHis enthusiasm is infectious... This is not just about one ancient industry – somehow, superbly, it's about industry itself
—— William Leith , Evening StandardCombining what is clearly a life-long love of art with an admirable depth of knowledge, Barnes brings a novelist’s eye to the gallery wall and, with this, a fresh, accessible approach to the stories being told in each painting.
—— Lucy Scholes , IndependentThought-provoking, beautifully presented, tender.
—— Rachel Joyce , ObserverBarnes has a wonderful eye for what makes a good picture, and a command of language that again and again allows readers to share what he sees.
—— Andrew Scull , Times Literary SupplementWell-informed and deeply admiring, but never didactic.
—— Prue Leith , Woman and Home[It] gave me a new confidence in how to engage with, understand and, more importantly, enjoy wandering around an exhibition.
—— Mariella Frostrup , ObserverFor those…insecure when viewing art, not always sure how to decode it or emotionally engage with it, this offers a lifeline…Utterly compelling.
—— Mail on Sunday , Mariella FrostrupA typically elegant ad absorbing book by one of t great contemporary English Writers, and with strong Gallic undertones – a wonderful set of essays about artists, many of them French, covering the period from Romanticism through to modernism.
—— Terry Lempiere , GuardianOpinionated, enthusiastic, witty and beautifully written.
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Sunday ExpressJulian Barnes is best known for his fiction...but he's also an excellent art writer... Peppered with personal insights and select historical detail, each piece is as engaging as the next
—— Millie Watson , Citizen FemmeUnusually moving.
—— William Leith , Evening Standard