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Article: Art's truth.(Art: A New History)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
- Article date:
- March 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Institute on Religion and Public Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ART: A NEW HISTORY. By PAUL JOHNSON. HarperCollins. 777 pp. $39.95.
Reviewed by John J. Reilly
YES, IT IS POSSIBLE to write a single-volume general history of art, if you narrow the definition and focus on your own enthusiasms. Paul Johnson is best known for his large-scale histories, written in the Burkean tradition of moralizing conservatism. He is also, however, a serious painter himself, and the son of a professional. He suggests that he might have made art his career, but his father warned him that the future would belong to charlatans such as Picasso. Actually, what's remarkable about Art: A New History is that it's mostly about what the author ...