American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America
by Robert Hughes

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Book Summary Information

• Product Details: Paperback: 648 pages, Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (November 9, 1999)
• Language: English, ISBN-10: 0375703659, ISBN-13: 978-0375703652
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.7 x 1.7 inches, Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

Book Reviews of American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America

Book Review: A panoramic view of American Art with vivid opinions
Summary: 5 Stars

Rejecting a critic's views is fine, if you do it with well-formed argument and facts or for explicit aesthetic views and tastes. The whole purpose of affirmation includes the idea of rejection. Just as accepting everything is to accept nothing, making choices on acceptance includes the statement, "No, not this."

Robert Hughes has strong views and has the talent for stating them forcefully. Whether or not you agree with him is almost beside the point. This book is a wonderful tour of American Art from Colonial times through the mid 1990s.

While I don't want to try and state Mr. Hughes' views for him, my reading of this book tells me that when architecture, painting, and sculpture comes from an artist honestly trying to come to grips with his or her views of the world and our living in it, Mr. Hughes considers that a good thing. Whenever that is compromised in favor of social acceptance or whenever an artistic establishment forms to enforce an orthodoxy and muzzle expression he considers that a bad thing.

He also tends to favor actual skill, facility, and even virtuosity in expression (if not necessarily technique) over posing and demanding acceptance. The artist must be able to communicate to others and win an audience and hold them over time to win the author's admiration. Influencing others and having resonance with other artists and other times is also a plus.

The sorry state of art in our time with the dominance of a self-reinforcing elite art establishment in the museums, the shows, and the galleries comes in for a heavy beating later in the book. It isn't a blanket rejection of current art, rather it is a large pin the balloon of recent pretension and I think this is very valuable.

I see this in the book and hope I am saying this correctly in part because I agree with this view. Not every conclusion Mr. Hughes makes is one I find myself endorsing, but as I say, that is beside the point. He has mastered a lot of information, presents us with hundreds of wonderful works to consider, and challenges us to think for ourselves about the issues he raises. I think this is a wonderful service and that this is a wonderful book. I am glad to have it on my shelf to dip into again and again.

Summary of American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America

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