This is reference book that should be in every artist's library

books:


	• Abstraction in Art and Nature Nathan Cabot Hale Dover Publications, 1993 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is reference book that should be in every artist's library

Concepts not easily grasped by the beginner/intermediate(like myself), but I know that I will go back to this book again and again as my skills grow.

All black & white photos except the cover....

Not my idea of a gift book which is why I bought it. The photos do seem to have good values and a deeper look at the content could be rewarding. Just beware if you prefer art books in color. Also, the 1993 paperback with same title/author came to me with a different cover photo.

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Facinating approach to the study of form

Hale has thought deeply on the meaning of forms and has found endless relationships between them. All organic matter follows laws which are written into their structure. For the artist, understanding these laws means that each new object is no longer unique, but part of a larger whole. This means that each new object (water mountains, trees, bodies) can be related to others, making the "new" object more familear

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Essentials/Abstraction

The elation of discovery when I read in the very first paragraph of this book...*the word abstraction...simply means the act of drawing out the essential qualities in a thing, a series of things or a situation*. This is what the book is about throughout--rhythmic flows and patterns.

Examples from this book include mention of several instances in which the orgonome or teardrop form exists in nature--in the pull of a magnetic field, in the shape of an apple seed and in the form of a ducks body, and how the jet form of water creates the same shape of a common mushroom sliced in half...as well as numerous other forms illustrated that may surprise the reader.

I could give many more examples, but the great thing about this book is that it is no mere science lesson--all the information is given in relation to art and art making. Numerous large and smaller photos and illustrations all in black & white, taken from nature and art, along with suggested drawing exercises, assist the visual type of person to more fully grasp the points made. The final brief chapter is on Color in Nature.

This book is exactly what I hoped it would be, when I ordered it based on the title alone...

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A Must Have for Students of the Arts

This book is a must have...it has chapters set up in logical order with exercises in each section to help you master the lesson of each chapter. This author is or was a professor at the prestigious PRATT INSTITUTE of Utica, New York (through Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute) and Brooklyn/Manhattan, New York...so you know that the instruction is high quality. Most of the illustrations/photos are black and white, and if that bothers you, you may not like this book, but the photos and diagrams are sharp and clear and are a decent size, so they should be of help nonetheless. A great addition to the library of the self-taught artist!

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Stimulating, thought-provoking guide shows how to discover a rich new design source in the abstractions inherent in natural forms. Lines of growth and structure, water and liquid forms, weather and atmospheric patterns, luminosity, earth colors, many other elements are shown to be wellsprings of creative abstraction. Over 370 photographs and other illustrations.

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