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BEAUTY AND TERROR
ESSAYS ON THE POWER OF PAINTING
BY
BRIAN A. OARD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Click on the titles below to read the essays)
PART ONE: OLD MASTERS
1. Preface: How to Look at a Painting
2. The Terror of Beauty: Titian, The Death of Actaeon
3. Forget the Code, Look at the Painting: Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de Benci
4. Saint Francis in Sunlight and Shadow: Giovanni Bellini, Saint Francis in Ecstasy and Francisco de Zurbaran, Saint Francis in Meditation
5. Torture and Compassion: Mathis Grunewald, The Small Crucifixion
6. The Mirror of Mannerism: Agnolo Bronzino, An Allegory with Venus and Cupid
7. City on a Hill: El Greco, View of Toledo
8. Family Values: Artemisia Gentileschi, Lot and his Daughters
9. A Perfect Painting: Johannes Vermeer, Young Woman with a Water Pitcher
10. Meanings in a Landscape: Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill
11. The Performance Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait
12. Thinking on a Tabletop: Jean-Simeon Chardin, Still Life with Plums
13. Reason Asleep: Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare
PART TWO: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
14. Henry Clay Frick's Troublesome Trophy: Francisco de Goya, The Forge
15. Death and the Painting: J. M. W. Turner, The Campo Santo, Venice
16. A Closet Decadent: J. A. D. Ingres, Princesse de Broglie
17. Realism Unclothed: Gustave Courbet, Woman With a Parrot
18. Bourgeoisie and Proletariat: Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day
19. The Lure of Lotus-Eating: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party
20. Capitalism and the Death of the Soul: Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere
21. A Melting Vision: Berthe Morisot, Woman at Her Toilette
22. The Furious Energy of Age: Claude Monet, Weeping Willow
23. Bringing Darkness to Light: Vincent van Gogh, Cypresses
24. The Unknowable Sea: Winslow Homer, Maine Coast
25. Parallel Harmony, Beautiful Synthesis: Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire
PART THREE: THE MODERNS
26. Picasso's Eyes: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D'Avignon
27. The Most Difficult Painting in the World: Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Glass and Lemon
28. Lying to Tell the Truth: Georges Braque, The Round Table
29. A Beautiful Trap: Pierre Bonnard, The Open Window
30. A Window on Matisse: Henri Matisse, Interior with Egyptian Curtain
31. Triumph Over The Will: Max Beckmann, Departure
32. Thirteen Ways of Looking at an Eye: Rene Magritte, The Eye
33. The Viewer as Voyeur: Balthus, Therese Dreaming
34. American Emptiness: Edward Hopper, High Noon
35. One Day in the Park with Georges and Willem: Willem de Kooning, Excavation and Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
36. The Dancing Master: Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950
37. Altarpiece for an Atheist: Francis Bacon, Triptych--August 1972
38. Closing in on Close: Chuck Close, Alex
39. A Body of Paint: Lucian Freud, Naked Man, Back View
40. The Necessity of Looking Back: Anselm Kiefer, Lot's Wife
All contents of this website copyright 2009 by Brian A. Oard. All rights reserved.