Line: An Art Study by Edmund Sullivan

Category: 50 Books

So I started reading this art book because I enjoy having both a fiction and nonfiction book going at the same time. I didn’t look into the book, just chose it purely by the cover (Surely not, book nerd! Oh, yeah. I’m a sucker for good artwork.)

As I started reading it I thought, “Damn, this guy talks fancy.” and as it when on I thought, “Like, real fancy. This guy sounds like he’s from 100 years ago.”
Then I ran across a racial slur and I was all, “No way! Am I reading a time machine?!” and I went back to the small print at the beginning and saw that, indeed, it was written nearly 100 years ago, and that the publisher regrets some of the more ignorant of language but that they decided to keep it like it was, for I dunno, reasons historical or whatnot.

This book is not an instructional book. I would never recommend this book for how-to-draw purposes. It is more of a philosophical book about lines and art and what makes something beautiful. It was a delight to read! Mostly. There were several racial slurs in it and every time I read one it threw me completely out of the book, and honestly, I think the publisher or whoever could’ve taken them out or AT LEAST replaced it with the word negro and added an asterisk or something.

So I did enjoy the chapters where the author got real deep into “What’s a point?” and “What’s a line?” and reading about the different pens at the time was a trip! But my favorite chapter was the one on beauty. It was really thought-provoking and had me thinking if we still have the same perception of beauty today and how universal beauty is. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

If you want a philosophical look at drawing, or enjoy deep thoughts about lines and beauty, or are just an Art Nerd like me, I think you’ll get a kick out of this book, IF you can overlook a few ignorant words.

Tags: ,

No Comments