Simple Truth - The Monochrome in Modern Art

The monochrome--a single-color work of art--is highly ambiguous. For some it epitomizes purity and is art reduced to its essence. For others it is just a stunt, the proverbial emperor's new clothes. Why are monochrome works both so admired and such an easy target of scorn? Why does a monochrome look so simple and yet is so challenging to comprehend? And what is it that drives artists to create such works?

In this illuminating book, Simon Morley unpacks the meanings of the monochrome as it has developed internationally over the twentieth century to today. In doing so, he also explores how artists have understood what they make, how critics variously interpret it, and how art is encountered by viewers.

About the author

Simon Morley is an artist and writer. He is currently Assistant Professor at Dankook University, Republic of Korea, and is the author of Writing on the Wall: Word and Image in Modern Art (2003) and Seven Keys to Modern Art (2019), and editor of The Sublime (Documents of Contemporary Art) (2010).

Summary

A unique, global perspective of the monochrome in modern art.

Product details

• Authors: Simon Morley, Morley Simon
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.05.2020
• EAN: 9781789142310
• ISBN: 978-1-78914-231-0
• No. of pages: 344
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Theory of art, ART / Criticism & Theory, History of Art, History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -