Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Not impressed
Because this book was a reasonable size I expected bigger reproductions. Most of the prints are a mere 3x5". If I live in the states I would have sent the book back.

Poor quality reproductions
If only the reproductions were half as good as the originals.I kept it but had I known the quality was this poor I would have skipped it.

An excellent overview of master works
Albrecht Durer was a Master artist in many forms and this book does justice to his work.It has excellent plates and detailed text, and is a worthy addition to any library, expecially one which concentrates on fine art books.

If you are not familiar with the works of Durer, this is an excellent introduction.His attention to detail is unsurpassed in an artist of his time.If you are already an admirer, the text will give you some insights into his life and times that you had not before been aware of.It is a good quality book and well worth the purchase.

Great source book
This is a wonderful source book for all of Durer's graphic work and should be in every one's library interested in master prints. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Durer x Durer
The visuals contained in this book by Durer are very very good. It gives you a great idea of what type of talent this man had. There is a very nice transition from his earlier work to the later noticeable due to the intricate detail woodcut by woodcut. If you are a fan of Durer, or wanted to know what he was capable of creating, I highly suggest checking this one out.

Classic
This book is 346 pages, not 44 as listed.Dover has a newer edition.Durer masterworks.

Excellent Compilation
This is the best compilation of Duerer prints I have ever seen. Duerer's talent is really downplayed in the avant-guarde scene today, but if you just look, you'll have instant appreciation. My only dissapointment was that the book does not include all of Duerer's Revelation woodcuts, which are my favorites. Anyway, I suggest you look into this book--it is amazing.

Spectacular talent
Albrecht Durer was one of the most talented artists the world has ever seen, and his woodcuts, especially those of apocolyptic visions are spectacular.This book reproduces these woodcuts faithfully, and the images are not diminished by the format of the book as is often the case.

These images are the stuff of nightmares - hell, torment, torture and death, and yet the images are so startlingly realistic as to be almost poignant in their representations.Enjoyt the images for what they are - works of genius.In addition the commentary is worthwhile, with interesting observations of Durer's life and techniques.

A valuable addition to an art lover's library, but also a fascinating book for anyone who is interested in genius.

timeless evil
The woodcuts in this book leap out at you with a ferocious and violentintent. I've seen the originals and the reproduction job here is nothingshort of superb. It's hard to believe that such visions of the apocolypsecome from Germany in the early part of the millenium. You can't miss thisbook! The engraving book is also way kool. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

This classic text presents the life, times, and works of Albrecht Dürer. Through the skill and immense knowledge of Erwin Panofsky, the reader is dazzled not only by Dürer the artist but also Dürer in a wide array of other roles, including mathematician and scientific thinker. Originally published in 1943 in two volumes, The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer met with such wide popular and scholarly acclaim that it led to three editions and then, in 1955, to the first one-volume edition. Without sacrifice of text or illustrations, the book was reduced to this single volume by the omission of the Handlist and Concordance. The new introduction by Jeffrey Chipps Smith reflects upon Panofsky the man, the tumultuous circumstances surrounding the creation of his masterful monograph, its innovative contents, and its early critical reception. Erwin Panofsky was one of the most important art historians of the twentieth century. Panofsky taught for many years at Hamburg University but was forced by the Nazis to leave Germany. He joined the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1935, where he spent the remainder of his career and wrote The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer. He developed an iconographic approach to art and interpreted works through an analysis of symbolism, history, and social factors.

This book, one of his most important, is a comprehensive study of painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), the greatest exponent of northern European Renaissance art. Although an important painter, Dürer was most renowned for his graphic works. Artists across Europe admired and copied his innovative and powerful prints, ranging from religious and mythological scenes to maps and exotic animals. The book covers Dürer's entire career in exacting detail. With multiple indexes and more than three hundred illustrations, it has served as an indispensable reference, remaining crucial to an understanding of the work of the great artist and printmaker. Subsequent Dürer studies have necessarily made reference to Panofsky's masterpiece. Panofsky's work continues to be admired for the author's immense erudition, subtlety of appreciation, technical knowledge, and profound analyses.

Customer Reviews (4)

Looking for good reproductions? Don't get this one.
I was immensely disappointed when I received this book. I was aware that it was an art critic book, and not all focused on the actual works of Dürer, but still: The reproductions are poor excuses for illustrations. I don't think I've ever seen worse. This is a book for people who are interested in Panofsky's theories, not mainly interested in making up their own minds.

An essential classic in Durer studies
While Panofsky may seem indigestible to some - this is not a book for the "general reader" - this book remains essential material for anyone researching any aspect of Durer's career. It is written in more accessible prose than some of Panofsky's other works, since he concentrates more on straight monographic information than on deep interpretation.

The book takes us through Durer's career in chronological order. It is easy to look up specific works and their contexts (there are handy indices as well). It's comprehensiveness makes it a really useful book to have on hand. All Durer studies after this one necessarily make reference to what Panofsky said.

As a monograph this is, hence, extremely succesful. It is also a product of its time and of Panofsky's method. Newer studies, such as Joseph Koerner's "The Moment of self-portraiture in german renaissance art", probe deeper into some of the themes about which the reader may be left wondering upon reading Panofsky.

Durer is arguably THE most important artist of the German Renaissance; Panosfky the most important art historian of our time. Read the book!

Unen-Durer-able
Erwin Panofsky was one of the founders of modern art criticism and a very learned man who wrote many books on such abtruse subjects as the difference between iconography and iconology with all the seriousness of a central European academic.

This lavishly illustrated work on the great German Renaissance painter and print-maker, Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528), starts with a reasonably good introduction, mentioning the differing historical views on Durer, such as the belief common among 19th-century German Romanticists that he was a meek and pious soul wholly devoted to the interpretation of Christian subjects and contented with a quiet and dependent life.

This picture of a pedantic, conservative craftsman is countered by a suggestion that there might have been a Faustian element in Durer's nature, typified by a restless craving for a perfection never to be attained and an acute awareness of irresolvable artistic problems.

Unfortunately, this lively opening is not lived up to. Panofsky's treatment of the biographical details of Durer's life - including the revelationn that he was unhappily married - leads to a long, shapeless, rambling account, governed more by the intricate chronology of Durer's artistic production than any profound sense of the man himself.

There is no denying Panofsky's erudition. He definitely has all the colors on his mental palette. But like a bad painter he mixes all the hues together in a messy attempt to show off how vast and detailed his knowledge is. An intrinsically fascinating subject is thus rendered increasingly murky and morass-like by Panofsky's inability to make clear points or structure the rich detail of his knowledge. This work is the classic example of a book written by an academic with his nose too deeply buried in his subject. A strong editor would have been a godsend.

Definitive
This is surely the definitive book on German renaissance artist Albrecht Durer (still justly famous in this century for his engravings "Knight, Death and the Devil," which a baby-boomer friend had as a poster onhis wall, and "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse").Thecollection of reproductions of Durer's work, and that of contemporariesthat influenced him, is extraordinary, taking up much of the volume'srather sizable girth.My only significant complaint is that I wish therehad been at least a few color reproductions. ... Read more

Book Description
A beautifully illustrated survey of Drer's work ... Read more