Maxwell L. Anderson

Excellent, excellent, excellent. I wasn't sure what to expect when I decided to read this...but I was quite pleased with the outcome. Anderson does not tell the reader what quality is; rather, he explains what he sees, how he looks at art and artifacts, leading readers to assess for themselves what speaks to them and how to discern for themselves quality. Of course, expertise counts for something, and he bats back and forth the question of objectivity vs. subjectivity, but he leaves the ball in the court of the reader. I don't think I'll ever understand either how the works of Mark Rothko or Ad Reinhardt are considered "art", but I'm less inclined to judge immediately and harshly now.

Anderson's book reads like literature - more than any work of fiction tagged as such that I've encountered. Well-composed, well-written, with a precise vocabulary, I hear what he has to say, grasp what he's trying to convey and most telling, want to read more of him or more like him. If only Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, et al could have told a story like this...

Excellent.… (mais)