-
Art Firsts
- The Story of Art in 30 Pioneering Works
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Art Firsts
Buy for $18.15
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Art Thief
- A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
- By: Michael Finkel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Michael Finkel
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 720
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 616
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 616
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A book that's steals your attention!
- By samy on 07-23-23
By: Michael Finkel
-
All the Beauty in the World
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
- By: Patrick Bringley
- Narrated by: Patrick Bringley
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 280
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 280
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gallery 771
- By Jonathan Hurst on 06-10-23
By: Patrick Bringley
-
The Grand Affair
- John Singer Sargent in His World
- By: Paul Fisher
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7
A great American artist, John Singer Sargent is an abiding enigma. He scandalized viewers with the frankness and sensuality of his work, while dressing like a businessman and crafting a highly respectable persona. In The Grand Affair, scholar Paul Fisher explores the enigmas of fin de siecle sexuality and art, fashioning a biography that grants the man and his paintings new and intense life.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not what I expected.
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-23
By: Paul Fisher
-
How to See
- Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art
- By: David Salle
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 47
How does art work? How does it move us, inform us, challenge us? Internationally renowned painter David Salle's incisive essay collection illuminates the work of many of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Engaging with a wide range of Salle's friends and contemporaries - from painters to conceptual artists such as Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz, among others - How to See explores not only the multilayered personalities of the artists themselves but also the distinctive character of their oeuvres.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not for the novice
- By Denise on 04-14-20
By: David Salle
-
Turner
- The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J. M. W. Turner
- By: Franny Moyle
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
J. M. W. Turner is one of the most important figures in Western art, and his visionary work paved the way for a revolution in landscape painting. Over the course of his lifetime, Turner strove to liberate painting from an antiquated system of patronage. Bringing a new level of expression and color to his canvases, he paved the way for the modern artist.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Balanced biography of a complex artist
- By Thomas S. on 05-05-17
By: Franny Moyle
-
Magritte
- A Life
- By: Alex Danchev
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
In this thought-provoking life of René Magritte (1898-1967), Alex Danchev makes a compelling case for Magritte as the single most significant purveyor of images to the modern world. Magritte’s surreal sensibility, deadpan melodrama, and fine-tuned outrageousness have become an inescapable part of our visual landscape, through such legendary works as The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), and his celebrated iterations of Man in a Bowler Hat.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding Presentation of the Artist & His Art.
- By Regina on 01-06-24
By: Alex Danchev
-
The Art Thief
- A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
- By: Michael Finkel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Michael Finkel
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 720
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 616
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 616
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A book that's steals your attention!
- By samy on 07-23-23
By: Michael Finkel
-
All the Beauty in the World
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
- By: Patrick Bringley
- Narrated by: Patrick Bringley
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 280
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 280
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gallery 771
- By Jonathan Hurst on 06-10-23
By: Patrick Bringley
-
The Grand Affair
- John Singer Sargent in His World
- By: Paul Fisher
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7
A great American artist, John Singer Sargent is an abiding enigma. He scandalized viewers with the frankness and sensuality of his work, while dressing like a businessman and crafting a highly respectable persona. In The Grand Affair, scholar Paul Fisher explores the enigmas of fin de siecle sexuality and art, fashioning a biography that grants the man and his paintings new and intense life.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Not what I expected.
- By Anonymous User on 04-19-23
By: Paul Fisher
-
How to See
- Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art
- By: David Salle
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 47
How does art work? How does it move us, inform us, challenge us? Internationally renowned painter David Salle's incisive essay collection illuminates the work of many of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Engaging with a wide range of Salle's friends and contemporaries - from painters to conceptual artists such as Jeff Koons, John Baldessari, Roy Lichtenstein, and Alex Katz, among others - How to See explores not only the multilayered personalities of the artists themselves but also the distinctive character of their oeuvres.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not for the novice
- By Denise on 04-14-20
By: David Salle
-
Turner
- The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J. M. W. Turner
- By: Franny Moyle
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
J. M. W. Turner is one of the most important figures in Western art, and his visionary work paved the way for a revolution in landscape painting. Over the course of his lifetime, Turner strove to liberate painting from an antiquated system of patronage. Bringing a new level of expression and color to his canvases, he paved the way for the modern artist.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Balanced biography of a complex artist
- By Thomas S. on 05-05-17
By: Franny Moyle
-
Magritte
- A Life
- By: Alex Danchev
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
In this thought-provoking life of René Magritte (1898-1967), Alex Danchev makes a compelling case for Magritte as the single most significant purveyor of images to the modern world. Magritte’s surreal sensibility, deadpan melodrama, and fine-tuned outrageousness have become an inescapable part of our visual landscape, through such legendary works as The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe), and his celebrated iterations of Man in a Bowler Hat.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding Presentation of the Artist & His Art.
- By Regina on 01-06-24
By: Alex Danchev
-
Leonardo da Vinci
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Alfred Molina
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11,762
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,293
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,216
Leonardo da Vinci created the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and engineering. With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wish the sample was not from the preface!
- By Chris M. on 11-13-17
By: Walter Isaacson
-
Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, 100 Art Writings 1988-2018
- By: Peter Schjeldahl, Jarrett Earnest - introduction
- Narrated by: Peter Schjeldahl
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 62
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 49
Hot Cold Heavy Light collects 100 writings - some long, some short - that taken together form a group portrait of many of the world’s most significant and interesting artists. From Pablo Picasso to Cindy Sherman, Old Masters to contemporary masters, paintings to comix, and saints to charlatans, Schjeldahl ranges widely through the diverse and confusing art world, an expert guide to a dazzling scene.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
needs pictures
- By Petra Juarez on 02-19-20
By: Peter Schjeldahl, and others
-
How to Be an Artist
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 530
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 428
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 421
Art has the power to change our lives. For many, becoming an artist is a lifelong dream. But how to make it happen? In How to Be an Artist, Jerry Saltz, one of the art world’s most celebrated and passionate voices, offers an indispensable handbook for creative people of all kinds. From the first sparks of inspiration - and how to pursue them without giving in to self-doubt - Saltz offers invaluable insight into what really matters to emerging artists: originality, persistence, a balance between knowledge and intuition, and that most precious of qualities, self-belief.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Terrible Book Waste of Money
- By Classic on 04-22-20
By: Jerry Saltz
-
The Architecture of Happiness
- By: Alain de Botton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 449
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 364
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 365
One of the great, but often unmentioned, causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of chairs, walls, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet, a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Many elegant words used for a simple topic.
- By Spirit on 08-15-17
By: Alain de Botton
-
In Montmartre
- Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Emma Bering
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Florid narrative history with suspect details
- By Keith on 10-30-19
By: Sue Roe
-
The Mark on the Wall
- By: Virginia Woolf
- Narrated by: Teresa Gallagher
- Length: 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
This is a story from the Classic Women's Short Stories collection.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Just a stunning piece
- By Alfie on 08-07-22
By: Virginia Woolf
-
Threads of Life
- A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle
- By: Clare Hunter
- Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry, World War I soldiers coping with PTSD, and the maps sewn by schoolgirls in the New World, to the AIDS quilt, Hmong story clothes, and pink pussyhats, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Textile bucket list.
- By Amazon Customer on 10-18-21
By: Clare Hunter
-
The Sistine Secrets
- Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican
- By: Benjamin Blech, Roy Doliner
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 33
Five hundred years ago, Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world - the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Well-researched!
- By Natalie K. on 08-28-17
By: Benjamin Blech, and others
-
Rembrandt Is in the Wind
- Learning to Love Art Through the Eyes of Faith
- By: Russ Ramsey, Makoto Fujimura
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman, John Behrens
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 116
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 116
Striving for beauty, art also reveals what is broken. It presents us with the tremendous struggles and longings common to the human experience. And it says a lot about our Creator too. Great works of art can speak to the soul in a unique way. Rembrandt Is in the Wind is an invitation to discover some of the world's most celebrated artists and works and how each of them illuminates something about God, people, and the purpose of life. Part art history, part biblical study, part philosophy, and part analysis of the human experience, this book is nonetheless all story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Creating Beauty as Our Lifework
- By Anonymous User on 07-02-22
By: Russ Ramsey, and others
-
33 Artists in 3 Acts
- By: Sarah Thornton
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 161
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 134
33 Artists in 3 Acts offers unprecedented access to a dazzling range of artists, from international superstars to unheralded art teachers. Sarah Thornton's beautifully paced, fly-on-the-wall narratives include visits with Ai Weiwei before and after his imprisonment and Jeff Koons as he woos new customers in London, Frankfurt, and Abu Dhabi. She meets Yayoi Kusama in her studio around the corner from the Tokyo asylum that she calls home.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Very interesting, not engaging read
- By Charles Olivier de Vezin on 04-23-15
By: Sarah Thornton
-
Eye of the Beholder
- Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing
- By: Laura Snyder
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 46
"See for yourself!" was the clarion call of the 1600s. Natural philosophers threw off the yoke of ancient authority, peered at nature with microscopes and telescopes, and ignited the scientific revolution. Artists investigated nature with lenses and created paintings filled with realistic effects of light and shadow. The hub of this optical innovation was the small Dutch city of Delft.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Historical book about the evolution of optics through the eyes of two geniuses
- By Memi on 04-12-17
By: Laura Snyder
-
The Whole Picture
- The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums & Why We Need to Talk About It
- By: Alice Procter
- Narrated by: Alice Procter
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
How to deal with the colonial history of art in museums and monuments in the public realm is a thorny issue that we are only just beginning to address. Alice Procter provides a guide for deconstructing everything you thought you knew about art history and tells the stories that have been left out of the canon. A much-needed provocation to look more critically at the accepted narratives about art and rethink and disrupt the way we interact with the museums and galleries that display it.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A little hard to follow at times
- By jackie driscoll on 06-10-22
By: Alice Procter
Publisher's summary
When was art's first kiss? Who painted the first ever smile and the first self-portrait? When did Western art first depict a Black person or approach feminism? And why were each of these firsts so important? This book answers all these fascinating questions and more.
Art Firsts explores 30 groundbreaking works to piece together an original approach to looking at and appreciating art, as well as understanding where it has come from and how it relates to you. Each first is approachable and engaging, while each work is simply and satisfyingly explained. Every work is also fully illustrated, and its significance is shown through images of the subsequent artists directly inspired by them.
This book offers a refreshing and fascinating narrative for those curious about why so-called 'masterpieces' are so important and how the story of art can be boiled down to flashes of fascinating brilliance.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Related to this topic
-
What Are You Looking At?
- The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art
- By: Will Gompertz
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A simply wonderful book with a serious flaw
- By 11104 on 05-02-21
By: Will Gompertz
-
Art Is Life
- Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz, Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Jerry Saltz is one of our most-watched writers about art and artists and a passionate champion of the importance of art in our shared cultural life. Since the 1990s he has been an indispensable cultural voice: Witty and provocative, he has attracted contemporary listeners to fine art as few critics have.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
WRONG for audio program
- By Karen Lehrer on 11-07-22
By: Jerry Saltz
-
Twelve Caesars
- Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern (Bollingen Series)
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book - against a background of today’s “sculpture wars” - Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the Western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the “Twelve Caesars”, from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This foray into art history is a disappointment.
- By Stephen J Chiulli on 11-10-21
By: Mary Beard
-
The History of Western Art
- By: Peter Whitfield
- Narrated by: Sebastian Comberti
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age: religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, to the revolutionary years of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the artist has acted as a mirror to the ideals and conflicts of the human mind.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A whirlwind tour of Western art
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-18-12
By: Peter Whitfield
-
How Do We Look
- The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as an accompaniment to How Do We Look and The Eye of Faith, the famed Civilizations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Really needs a PDF
- By Britt Elin Gihleengen on 12-06-18
By: Mary Beard
-
In Montparnasse
- The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dalí
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
In Montparnasse begins on the eve of the First World War and ends with the 1936 unveiling of Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. As those extraordinary years unfolded, the Surrealists found ever more innovative ways of exploring the interior life, and asking new questions about how to define art. In Montparnasse recounts how this artistic revolution came to be amidst the salons and cafés of that vibrant neighborhood.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Second of Two Books
- By Robert Keith on 10-26-19
By: Sue Roe
-
What Are You Looking At?
- The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art
- By: Will Gompertz
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 117
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 116
What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A simply wonderful book with a serious flaw
- By 11104 on 05-02-21
By: Will Gompertz
-
Art Is Life
- Icons and Iconoclasts, Visionaries and Vigilantes, and Flashes of Hope in the Night
- By: Jerry Saltz
- Narrated by: Jerry Saltz, Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 87
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Jerry Saltz is one of our most-watched writers about art and artists and a passionate champion of the importance of art in our shared cultural life. Since the 1990s he has been an indispensable cultural voice: Witty and provocative, he has attracted contemporary listeners to fine art as few critics have.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
WRONG for audio program
- By Karen Lehrer on 11-07-22
By: Jerry Saltz
-
Twelve Caesars
- Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern (Bollingen Series)
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 66
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 51
What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book - against a background of today’s “sculpture wars” - Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the Western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the “Twelve Caesars”, from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
This foray into art history is a disappointment.
- By Stephen J Chiulli on 11-10-21
By: Mary Beard
-
The History of Western Art
- By: Peter Whitfield
- Narrated by: Sebastian Comberti
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities from eras of history utterly remote from ourselves? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age: religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, to the revolutionary years of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the artist has acted as a mirror to the ideals and conflicts of the human mind.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A whirlwind tour of Western art
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-18-12
By: Peter Whitfield
-
How Do We Look
- The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
- Length: 2 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 39
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as an accompaniment to How Do We Look and The Eye of Faith, the famed Civilizations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Really needs a PDF
- By Britt Elin Gihleengen on 12-06-18
By: Mary Beard
-
In Montparnasse
- The Emergence of Surrealism in Paris, from Duchamp to Dalí
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
In Montparnasse begins on the eve of the First World War and ends with the 1936 unveiling of Dalí’s Lobster Telephone. As those extraordinary years unfolded, the Surrealists found ever more innovative ways of exploring the interior life, and asking new questions about how to define art. In Montparnasse recounts how this artistic revolution came to be amidst the salons and cafés of that vibrant neighborhood.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great Second of Two Books
- By Robert Keith on 10-26-19
By: Sue Roe
-
The Art of Rivalry
- Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art
- By: Sebastian Smee
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 193
Rivalry is at the heart of some of the most famous and fruitful relationships in history. The Art of Rivalry follows eight celebrated artists, each linked to a counterpart by friendship, admiration, envy, and ambition. All eight are household names today. But to achieve what they did, each needed the influence of a contemporary - one who was equally ambitious but who possessed sharply contrasting strengths and weaknesses.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Death by bob souer
- By SKWAD on 01-18-18
By: Sebastian Smee
-
Foursome
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury
- By: Carolyn Burke
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
New York, 1921: Acclaimed photographer Alfred Stieglitz celebrates the success of his latest exhibition - the centerpiece, a series of nude portraits of his soon-to-be wife, the young Georgia O'Keeffe. The exhibit acts as a turning point for the painter poised to make her entrance into the art scene. There, she meets Rebecca Salsbury, the fiancé of Stieglitz’s protégé, Paul Strand, marking the start of a bond between the couples that will last more than a decade and reverberate throughout their lives.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
A competent account of four interesting lives
- By Sil A. on 11-21-20
By: Carolyn Burke
-
So Much Longing in So Little Space
- The Art of Edvard Munch
- By: Karl Ove Knausgaard
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 47
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 46
In So Much Longing in So Little Space, Karl Ove Knausgaard sets out to understand the enduring and awesome power of Edvard Munch's work by training his gaze on the landscapes that inspired Munch and speaking firsthand with other contemporary artists, including Anselm Kiefer, for whom Munch's legacy looms large. Bringing together art history, biography, and memoir, Knausgaard tells a passionate, freewheeling, and pensive story about not just one of history's most significant painters, but the very meaning of choosing the artist's life, as he himself has done.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
not just for Munch fans
- By Alexander on 08-19-24
-
ArtCurious
- Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History
- By: Jennifer Dasal
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dasal
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 107
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 94
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 94
We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed - or even murdered.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Couldn’t take it
- By Amira on 03-05-22
By: Jennifer Dasal
-
Red
- A History of the Redhead
- By: Jacky Colliss Harvey
- Narrated by: Jacky Colliss Harvey
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 167
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
Red is a brilliantly told, captivating history of red hair throughout the ages. An audiobook that breaks new ground, dispels myths, and reinforces the special nature of being a redhead, with a look at multiple disciplines, including science, religion, politics, feminism and sexuality, literature, and art. With an obsessive fascination that is as contagious as it is compelling, author Jacky Colliss Harvey (herself a redhead) begins her exploration of red hair in prehistory and traces the redhead gene as it made its way out of Africa with the early human diaspora.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Pushing Past Stereotypes
- By Troy on 06-09-15
-
What Would Frida Do?
- A Guide to Living Boldly
- By: Arianna Davis
- Narrated by: Marisa Blake
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 76
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 66
Revered as much for her fierce spirit as she is for her art, Frida Kahlo stands today as a brazen symbol of daring creativity. She was a woman ahead of her time whose paintings have earned her generations of admirers around the globe. But perhaps her greatest work of art was her own life. What Would Frida Do? explores the feminist icon's signature style, outspoken politics, and boldness in love and art, even in the face of pain and heartbreak.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I was excited
- By Edgar E Armendariz on 01-14-21
By: Arianna Davis
-
The Vanishing Velázquez
- A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece
- By: Laura Cumming
- Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 155
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 138
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 138
When John Snare, a 19th-century provincial bookseller, traveled to a liquidation auction, he stumbled on a vivid portrait of King Charles I that defied any explanation. The Charles of the painting was young - too young to be king - and yet also too young to be painted by the Flemish painter to which the work was attributed. Snare had found something incredible - but what? His research brought him to Diego Velázquez, whose long-lost portrait of Prince Charles has eluded art experts for generations.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A fascinating study of art history
- By Ron on 07-02-16
By: Laura Cumming
-
Botticelli's Secret
- The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance
- By: Joseph Luzzi
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 97
Some 500 years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all 100 cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri. A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great story
- By Chris M on 12-09-22
By: Joseph Luzzi
-
Leonardo and the Last Supper
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 188
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 165
Early in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began work in Milan on what would become one of history's most influential and beloved works of art - The Last Supper. After a dozen years at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point personally and professionally: at 43, in an era when he had almost reached the average life expectancy, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Informative yet creative
- By Isabellabasil on 05-27-15
By: Ross King
-
Caravaggio
- A Life Sacred and Profane
- By: Andrew Graham-Dixon
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 18 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 473
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 409
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 409
In the tradition of John Richardson's Picasso, a commanding new biography of the Italian master's tumultuous life and mysterious death. For four hundred years Caravaggio's (1571-1610) staggering artistic achievements have thrilled viewers, yet his volatile personal trajectory - the murder of Ranuccio Tomasini, the doubt surrounding Caravaggio's sexuality, the chain of events that began with his imprisonment on Malta and ended with his premature death - has long confounded historians.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Interesting life
- By Jean on 08-28-13
-
Alice Behind Wonderland
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 2 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 104
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 88
On a summer's day in 1858, in a garden behind Christ Church College in Oxford, Charles Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, photographed six-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of the college dean, with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London. Simon Winchester deftly uses the resulting image - as unsettling as it is famous, and the subject of bottomless speculation - as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not Long Enough
- By thefrogman on 06-18-12
By: Simon Winchester
-
In Montmartre
- Picasso, Matisse and the Birth of Modernist Art
- By: Sue Roe
- Narrated by: Emma Bering
- Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 257
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 218
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 218
A lively and deeply researched group biography of the figures who transformed the world of art in bohemian Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. In Montmartre is a colorful history of the birth of Modernist art as it arose from one of the most astonishing collections of artistic talent ever assembled. It begins in October 1900, as a teenage Pablo Picasso, eager for fame and fortune, first makes his way up the hillside of Paris’s famous windmill-topped district.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Florid narrative history with suspect details
- By Keith on 10-30-19
By: Sue Roe