Eric Newton
Description
Eric Newton, who was born in 1893 near Manchester, returned from the 1914-18 war determined to be an artist, but only succeeded in turning himself into a craftsman (in mosaic). He has spent the rest of his life learning that his creative powers lag considerably behind his appreciative equipment and has become, in consequence, an art critic and an art historian. He is not unaware that unless enthusiasm is based on knowledge, art criticism becomes an unpalatable mixture of gush and prejudice. He is equally aware that unless knowledge is accompanied by enthusiasm (and, sometimes, boredom) art history can never become art criticism. He has been art critic of the Manchester Guardian and the Sunday Times, and now writes a weekly column for Time and Tide. His other books include Stanley Spencer (in the Penguin Modern Painters series), The Meaning of Beauty, and Tintoretto. He is an M.A. of Manchester University, President of the British Section of the International Association of Art Critics, and Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford, 1959-60.
Books
Masterpieces of European sculpture
From ancient Greece to the mid-twentieth century.
Tintoretto
"Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-1594) is ranked along with Titian and Veronese as one of the most important Venetian painters of the 16th century and was well-known among his contemporaries for his rapid, inspired painting technique. Characteristic features of his late work, of which the Gonzaga Cycle is a part, are deep diagonal perspectives, complex, interconnected movements of figures and intense light effects." "In 1578 he was commissioned by Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, to execute a series of four large-scale paintings, now known as the Margrave Series." "A rigorous examination of the paintings with the aid of x-ray technology, which has provided new insights into the workings methods of Tintoretto and his workshop associates, while assisting scholars in tracing the development of pictorial themes and the changes made during the work process, is a central focus of this publication." "In readable, soundly researched essays, the contributing authors - art historians and conservators - improve and expand our understanding of Tintoretto and the Gonzaga Cycle, adding new insights from several important perspectives."--Jacket.