High Drama

Download or read book High Drama written by Michael Duncan and published by L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER. This book was released on 2004 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The work of the acclaimed visionary artist Eugene Berman taps into a fascinating and little-known undercurrent in twentieth-century aesthetics. Variously labeled neo-Romantics, fantacists, neo-humanists, and magic realists, Berman and his peers ignored the formalist dicta of modernism to explore lyrical, emotive, and highly personal realms deemed the "melancholic sublime." In High Drama, Michael Duncan's exploration of the beliefs, styles, and legacy of the "melancholic sublime," and the biographies and reproductions of the work of thirty-five artists, complete a thorough look at a school of great interest, ripe for rediscovery by today's museum-goers and readers. The remarkable paintings and drawings of Eugene Berman seem at first glance to delineate a self-contained, private realm. But, in truth, his precise depictions of decadent beauty and ruin reflect an attitude towards the past thatis shared by a fascinating array of artist from both his own time and today. 75 colour & 50 b/w illustrations