Art Books

Copyright, Jim Lane

No, I'm not writing this because I've written an art book myself (at right). Likewise, having hit the virtual shelves of Amazon.com, does not make me an expert on the subject. Speaking of the shelves of Amazon, one might get the impression that there are more people out there writing about art than there are producing it. Probably not the case, but there was a time in Paris, during the 1800s, when such might have been close to the truth. There were some 5,000 writers covering a mere 12,000 working artists. That's one art critic for every 2.4 artists. If only writing were that lucrative today...

 

Copyright, Jim Lane

I just checked, Amazon.com has just short of two million art book titles available. That's two million titles, not copies. Naturally art, like the ocean, is both broad and deep; those kind of numbers rival the quantity of titles on God, Health, History, Politics, and Justin Bieber. With that much breadth and depth, I'm not about to start naming titles (other than my own, Art Think). Art books, like the ocean, are divided into "areas" not unlike seas. Probably the largest of these "seas" is the "how to" category, followed by biographies and exhibition catalogues. Closely related, though separate, art history comes next. Somewhere down the line are books on children's art, military art, fantasy art, and ethnic or national art--native American, Italian, British, French, and probably the art of Lichtenstein. Following those, the listing of art titles breaks down into thousands of micro-topics--puppy art, naked art, feline art, food art, flower art, and for all I know, rhinoceros art. Add to all these the huge category of books which fall into no category--simply about art in general (such as mine).

 

Copyright, Jim Lane

Then there are the writers of art books. TV has played a major role here with names like Bob Ross, Ben Alexander, and Sister Wendy (highly recommended), who were as much personalities as art experts. As for true art experts, often they come with university credentials, or are affiliated with museums or art galleries. Often too, like myself, they have art and/or art books to sell. (Be wary of this type of expert, those who earn their primary income from selling art stuff. Unfortunately, perhaps because of their numbers, most authoritative writers with any real depth of knowledge in the field, few people have ever heard of. (I guess I fit this category too.)




Copyright, Jim Lane

In shopping for art books, I like to pick them up (often from the discounted table) and thumb through them. Amazon.com, for all their numbers (likely because of all their numbers) doesn't always allow this hands-on approach. (My own book has sample text available on line). Okay, that's the next thing (literally)--on line. This is the avenue where things have changed the most. Art books, even the best of them, have always been slow to move. There are just too damned many of them for any of them to stand out from the crowd (but a boon to art lovers who also happen to be bargain lovers). Publishing a high-quality art book means fine paper, expensive color printing, hiring an editor, binding, shipping, profit margins, promotion, graphic design, even royalties to living artist for citing and (in effect) promoting their work. Most (though not quite all) of these costs are either eliminated or greatly reduce in putting out what has come to be known as the e-book. Thus, the hundred-dollar, coffee table, dust gathering, impress-your-guests, art tome of the past is in danger of being relegated to display only in art museums or art libraries. In general, the average e-book art book can be purchased for roughly one-fifth the cost of even the paperback version of the same book. Not only that, downloaded onto one of close to a dozen different e-readers, it weighs about one-fifth less as well. However, with this new technology and publishing costs plummeting, artists like myself now have the never before, economically viable, opportunity to see their words and thoughts in print. Of course, that only adds to the flood of titles seen on Amazon.com.