Tuesday 16 November 2010

The Bookworm

I saw an image of this painting and I really liked it. It has no particular social or political message as far as I know, and yet it made me feel something. Perhaps that's just due to the skill in the painting itself, it's very rare for a painting to really make me feel something... except for disgust as most modern art achieves. I hate art to shock, if you aren't skilled enough to create something great, or clever enough to make a comment about the world in which we live, do us all a favour and don't give it a go at all. There are far too many pieces out there which are simply designed to shock, the kind of pieces which are covered in phallic drawings or swear words. It sickens me. This piece puts them all to shame simply due to it's brilliance. Not the greatest piece I have ever seen in my life, but I am quite fond of it. 


A piece by Carl Spitzweg entitled 'The Bookworm' (1850).  In many of Spitzweg's paintings (including this one) he explores human eccentricities, in this case an over enthusiastic love for books. The lighting is brilliant, and wouldn't we all love to have a massive library? I wouldn't mind adding in sliding ladders across the bookcases such as the ones Ikea sells. Then you could do bookcase racing!

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