The Painted Word

By Tom Wolfe

"America's nerviest journalist" (Newsweek) trains his satirical eye on Modern Art in this "masterpiece" (The Washington Post)

Wolfe's style has never been more dazzling, his wit never more keen. He addresses the scope of Modern Art, from its founding days as Abstract Expressionism through its transformations to Pop, Op, Minimal, and Conceptual. The Painted Word is Tom Wolfe "at his most clever, amusing, and irreverent" (San Francisco Chronicle).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Oct 14, 2008
• ISBN: 9781429961202

Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe, nacido en Richmond (Virginia) en 1931 se reveló en los años 60 como genial reportero y agudísimo cronista. Fue el impulsor y teórico del llamado «nuevo periodismo», al que definió como el género literario más vivo de la época. La casi totalidad de su obra ha sido publicada por Anagrama: "La Izquierda Exquisita", "La banda de la casa de la bomba y otras crónicas de la era pop", "Los años del desmadre", "El nuevo periodismo", "Lo que hay que tener", "La palabra pintada", "¿Quién teme al Bauhaus feroz?", "Las Décadas Púrpura", "En nuestro tiempo", "La hoguera de las vanidades" y "Ponche de ácido lisérgico".

Book preview

Reviews for The Painted Word

[Kaitlyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's an almost guilty pleasure reading this merciless exposé and critique of modern Art.

[Eli Warner · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is about how the real skill in modern art is expressed by the intellectuals who write the theory of art and not with the artists.

[datrappert · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator's tone of voice and frequent pauses a bit annoying.Wolfe is basically saying that Modern Art is much ado about nothing, and he backs up his opinion (circa 1975 anyway) with a scathing analysis of various critics and movements. The thesis is that it all revolves around a very small number of people--just a few thousand in the whole world--who decide what is or is not art mainly for their own amusement, and that modern art is not comparable to literature or music in having a true mass audience that creates demand. In modern art, Wolfe is saying that the same people create the demand AND consume the art. I'm not sure how much I care. Even though the book is short (the audio book is barely over two hours), the fact that Wolfe invests any time in it at all perhaps shows that he took the subject more seriously than it deserved. This is occasionally amusing and a bit informative, but that's all.

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you abjure the chic and dream of a realist approach to art this may be your book. Written by novelist and essayist Tom Wolfe, this is an extended essay on the current state of art (circa 1975). In it he extends his social critique into the world of art with not surprising results. Those results are both witty and amusing. More importantly they are thought-provoking while raising the skeptical bar for art criticism. Modern art has morphed into postmodernism and beyond since this book was written, but his commentary has not lost its bite. Moreover, there may be good modern art, but there certainly is a lot of bad modern art to sort through before you find it. This short introduction is one good place to find out where and how to look for it.

[ITANicaragua · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The tongue and cheek humor and the educational aspect. Good stuff!

[dbsovereign · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wolfe successfully lampoons art criticism and helps us remember that 'art' is about the artists, *not* the critics.

[edwinbcn · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A love of modern art is often described as an "acquired taste" while anyone who professes doubt about the (aesthetic) value of modern art is frowned upon, smilingly or pityingly tut-tutted as being "not-in-the-know". The Painted word by Tom Wolfe debunks that notion.First of all, The Painted word does and does not attack all modern art. It does not explicitly condemn all art, simply because the scope of the booklet (120 pages) is too limited. However, the introductory chapter is very critical, even about the beginnings of modern art, and thus, by implication of all modern art.In the first and second chapters, the author traces the history of the elitism that created the in-crowd feeling that dominates the modern art world, tracing back to its origins in the 1920. Painters of American modern art in the 1950s - 60s are most fiercely attacked, such as Greenblatt, Rauschenberg, Pollock, Warhol etc.There is not much to learn from The Painted word, foremostly because the author is frightfully biased against the modern art scene. Nonetheless, the small book is still very readable and its irony may make readers chuckle.As long as modern art is still venerated, The Painted word will remain a refreshing note of disharmony, a reminder that madness is (also) in the eye of the beholder.

[juglicerr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I consider this to be one of the greatest art books ever written. I've read it three times, and two of the times were at one sitting. Wolfe takes on the pretensions and the polite fictions of the high brow art world. He argues that it has become so obsessed with theory that art works should be considered as ancillary examples to the real issue: philosophy.Although this applies specifically to "modern", especially non-representational art, its points are often valid for other types of art.

[David Roig · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic of art criticism. In the face of the avalanche of abstract expressionism that flooded post-war Western art, Wolfe raised a cry of protest in the form of a book against an art that only made sense if accompanied by an explanatory pamphlet. Initially, this book might not interest many people, but it is written with such charm and such malice that it has endured to this day and, truthfully, it has not lost any of its freshness. (Translated from Spanish)

[hemlokgang · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A well-written, witty, and still rather uninteresting essay about Modern Art.

[giovannigf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The defender of the bourgeoisie takes on the art world, or at least his idea of the art world. Entertaining, but infuriating if you know anything about art.

[puddintame-358807 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I consider this to be one of the greatest art books ever written. I've read it three times, and two of the times were at one sitting. Wolfe takes on the pretensions and the polite fictions of the high brow art world. He argues that it has become so obsessed with theory that art works should be considered as ancillary examples to the real issue: philosophy.Although this applies specifically to "modern", especially non-representational art, its points are often valid for other types of art.

[sean191 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't an art history major - or even really into paintings and painters, but it was still engaging.

[gwendolyndawson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is an unpersuasive essay about the failure of modern art and about how we are all caught up in the falsity and ugliness of modern art. Wolfe doesn't know what he's talking about, in my opinion.