Art Book Tells Behind-The-Scenes Stories

Ever wonder exactly what was going on in the painting “The Experiment With An Air Pump” by Joseph Wright? Or what the skull symbolizes in “The Vanities of Human Life” by Harmen Steenwyck?

OK, OK, so maybe you haven’t. But even if you don’t know the paintings or the painters, you can still enjoy “Annotated Art” by Robert Cummings.

Cummings has collected 45 of the world’s greatest paintings and put copies of them in “Annotated Art.” The book dissects each painting, explaining everything from why the artist used certain brush strokes to what is going on in the lives of the characters in the paintings.

The book is big and thick, and has paintings sprawled across two pages. Some of the paintings are really cool, like “A Dance to the Music of Time” (the old man angel in the corner reminds me of the angel in the R.E.M. video). “The Raft of Medusa” and “Guernica” are also great.

The book was most interesting because there are hidden meanings in many of the paintings that you probably couldn’t realize just by looking at them. I was surprised at the detail in “Arrival of the French Ambassador.”

So, if you ever wondered why the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows, or why the landscapes behind her could never really have been there, you’ll want to pick up “Annotated Art” at the library. I thought it was really neat.