Learning to Look

Creating art, and the art of looking at art, takes a long time to perfect, but life is short. Robert Cumming shows that patience in mastering such a skill can lead to unexpected and huge rewards. In Book One - Learning to Look he shares his own slow discovery of the pleasures of looking and aesthetic experience, and then takes you on a journey dedicated to helping you explore art on your own terms. He takes you to Madrid to experience Velazquez's Las Meninas, travels with you to Cortona in Tuscany to look at a Fra Angelico altarpiece, takes you to St Petersburg to immerse yourself in Canaletto's Venice, and explores with you the minute details of a Jackson Pollock in New York. You will be whisked off your feet and your eyes truly opened by this artistic odyssey with Robert as your fellow traveller. Turning the direct experience of a mute work of art into words is notoriously difficult, but in Learning to Look, Robert encourages you to embrace and articulate your own individual interpretation of art. Robert's decades of experience at The Tate Gallery and Christie's London and New York makes him a sympathetic and knowledgeable guide and companion. You will also be accompanied by the artist Gino Ballantyne who adds complementary insights through his sketches and drawings. Slow Looking is essential to your personal journey in the art world.