The Power of Art
Explore The Power of Art by Simon Schama: 2 Hacker News mentions from 2 participants in 2007-02-22–2026-11-01. Read original excerpts, compare opinions and save this book.
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Read on Hacker News…d colors. (Apologies if this sounds very pretentious but I couldn't figure out how to say it any other way :) ) Edit: This view was cemented for me when I read the book 'The Power of Art' by Simon Schama. After I read the book I realised that what made most of the great paintings great was the context in which they were created. The fact that some of them are aesthetically attractive or required consummate skill to create is besides the point. Their value comes from the messages in the paintings. For example there was a time painting divine biblical characters with dirty feet was seen as humanizing them, blasphemy. Something which I would never have noticed about the painting if it hadn't been pointed out. And even then I would not have deduced its significance which was that it supported a deeply subversive movement of religious reform. …
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