What is Painting?: Representation and Modern Art

This book confronts the uncertainty, suspicion and confusion many people feel about art today, and addresses such questions as - What is it that defines paintings?; What does the age-old practice of painting amount to at the beginning of the 21st century?; What happened to the generally accepted idea of art as representation in modern art? Bell writes incisively and clearly about the issues that have dominated painting in the last two hundred years. 'What is Painting?' is a remarkable achievement, an accessible inspired account of artistic thinking and practice, and of the complexities facing those who make, are puzzled by and write about contemporary art. This is a book for everyone interested in understanding modern art, or in making art themselves.