Published by Prestel

Author: Tom Phillips
Book Type: Cloth
Pages: 128 pages with approx. 100 full-color illustrations.

Size: 9 x 11 in.

Item #: 4008
Name: Music in Art
Price: $39.95





About this book...
Art loves music: From the tombs of Ancient Egypt to the late 20th century, painting and sculpture have played their variations on musical themes. Internationally established artist and musician Tom Phillips examines masterpieces from the visual arts that have been inspired by music. In a series of colorful images we meet the music makers - the men and women who, in the act of playing and listening to music, have provided rich subject matter for artists throughout the centuries.

The long affair between these arts has its passioate moments. The orchestral angels of the Renaissance and the seraphic choristers of the Baroque yield to the domestic music making of the masters of the Dutch interior. The pastoral concerts of Venetian and French artists of the 17th and 18th centuries give way to the Impressionists and the still lifes and soloists of Cubism. Finally, the musical abstractions of Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky lead to the often ironic or iconoclastic references to music in the experimental art of the end of this century.

Here, artist, writer, and composer Tom Phillips seeks out these colorful meetings between the sister arts and spins an intriguing web of anecdote and interpretation to link them through the ages. As an artist, he understands how pictures are made and as a writer he can convey this understanding with humor and clarity. Since he is also a composer in his own right (the latest CD of his music, "Six of Hearts", appeared earlier this year) his insights have had the added value of a musical authenticity as well as artistic authority. Each of the fifty shor essays focuses on a particular work of art or contrasts two or more approaches to a similar theme. A diverse range of artists is featured, including Rembrandt, da Vinci, Veronese, Titian, Caravaggio, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso/ We are introduced to composers who are painters, and painters who are accomplished musicians, and learn how their thoughts can provide the key to understanding musical and artistic styles.