Asymmetric Books and Literature

If you're interested in the history of Western Art and it's relationship to larger themes like religion and nature, but prefer learning in little, bite-sized chunks, the Guide to Imagery series is indispensable. Each book in the series takes a theme, like the New Testament or pagan gods and goddesses, and shows how artists have represented them over the years, paying special attention to the little bits of visual code (imagery) that recurred in a subject's depiction.

The art is beautiful, the magnum opera of Western civilization and a reminder when artists strived for beauty over shock and a more confident Europe sought to glorify its heritage and ideals in its art.

The editors order each of these high-quality paperbacks logically. The Old Testament book, for example, divides the paintings by the order their subject appears in the Bible and not the date of the work itself, which is a beautiful way to read, as it allows one to follow along with one's scripture reading. If you've already read the Old Testament, the Imagery book on the Old Testament becomes a sort of Bible picture book.

Each page features some encyclopedia-like information on the subject itself ("Zeus was god of...") and captioned lines pointing to the symbols contained in each painting. It's all very interesting.

This page is from the New Testament Book.

If one must find fault with these books it's that they're a little small at about 8"X5." It is a book on paintings, after all, and I, for one, would have liked to see the works of art in a little more detail-perhaps about the size of a notebook.

One must also bear in mind (what does that mean? "Bear in mind?") that the books are feather-weight reading, fun to thumb through and to pick up a few facts, but the books don't have an overarching theme, place the paintings in their contemporary cultural context, or even have a point to make; it's just the facts.

Old Testament Figures in Art (Guide to Imagery) by Thomas Michael Hartmann

Nature and Its Symbols (Guide to Imagery Series) by Stephen Sartarelli

Gods and Heroes in Art by Lucia Impelluso

Gospel Figures in Art by Thomas Michael Hartmann

Artists' Techniques and Materials (Guide to Imagery Series) by Antonella Fuga

Angels and Demons in Art (Guide to Imagery Series) by Rosanna M. Giammanco Frongia

Icons and Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church (Guide to Imagery Series) by Alfredo Tradigo