Average Customer Rating: 
American Visions : The Epic History of Art in America >
Customer Review #1:
An entertaining exploration and celebration of American Art
Using barrelling, passionate, reckless, witty and poetic prose, Robert Hughes as an author often comes off as drunken and macho new world pirate gleefully beholding a vast store of riches in his exploration of American Art History.Because American Art is an Epic in the writing (as in fact is all forms of World Art), Hughes does betray an Euro-centric bias and, as a result, slightly overlooks the contribution of many other minority artists to the rich tapestry of American Culture. That criticism aside, Hughes passion and devotion to his subject rings true all throughout the entire book, making this a fast and consistently entertaining and educational read. His championing of Hopper, Benton and Pollock as world class visionaries is particularly enlightening (probably because I agree!). Hughes manages to sound scholarly without resorting to dry ivory tower musings. His rants and raves, while maintaining the informed and educated discourse required of a true scholar, also posses the wit and wisdom of skilled stage performer. Although there are plenty of fine reproductions here, even more would have aided in creating a more complete book. But why quibble? This book is a fine starting out point for anyone interested in reading a fine authors exploration of a rich subject.
American Visions : The Epic History of Art in America >
Customer Review #2:
 A panoramic view of American Art with vivid opinions
Dismissing a critic simply because you disagree with him, even violently disagree with him, is to miss the value a critic has. A critics role is to spark your own thinking and investigation, to encourage us to formulate our own views and develop our arguments for them more explicitly. Letting a critic supply you with your views or to simply reject him because he doesnt confirm your pre-dispositions is a waste of your own reading time as well as the work the critic put into to his work. Rejecting a critics 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 dont 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 authors 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 isnt 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.
American Visions : The Epic History of Art in America >
Customer Review #3:
New World Symphony
I have been a fan of Robert Hughes since I fist saw the television show "Ths Shock of the New" and also his criticism in Time Magazine. In this book, he takes as his subject the epic of the American artisitc experience. In lesser hands this could be a dull topic, but thanks to Hughess enthusiasm and interesting takes on American life, this subject becomes quite fascinating indeed. Hughes begins at the beginning and starts off with a discussion of Spanish colonial art of the old west before moving onto the East coast and the founding fathers of American Art (West Copley, Peale and Stuart). When discussing the paintings Hughes ties it in with the politics of the various periods, the literature and even the music, establishing that art does not exist in a vacuum. I have seem many of the works discussed in this work and found Hughess insights inspiring in some instances sending off to look up material on them. The strongest sections deal with aside from the early American artists, Coles The Way of Empire series, the Eakins, Steiglitz, and Masden Hartley. Although I rate this book with five stars, I did have one or two problems. I would have thought that he might have examined Sargents technique more thoroughly. I have always noticed that he seems to have a problem drawing hands. The most profound disagreement that I have with Hughes is over theRegionalist movement of the 1930s. I am afraid I do not share his view of Benton. Rather than put him in the context of socialist realism and nazi art, I would have thought a more natural point of departure would be the discovery (some might say invention) of an early American aesthetic. Benton, Grant Wood and John Curry were more part of this trend than any of the international movement of totalitarian art. I also disagreed with the section on the abstract expressionists who Hughes likes and I do not, finding them sterile and self-indulgent. The book concludes with a survey of the art work of the 1980s and 1990s. This is more about commerce and perception and is illustrated by a story of the purchase of Van Goughs Irises. Whether one agress or disagrees with Hughess judgements, oneis sure to find this survey of American art history stimulating and thought provoking.
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