Appreciation: Painting, Poetry and Prose - Tapa blanda

"The writing is full of wisdom and subdued humor, and the book should be a stimulus and a guide to an appreciation of the arts."--New Yorker. "Without the least trace of snobbery or obscurantism [Stein] has stated the bases of his appreciation with a lucidity and directness which should disarm the most ardent of philistines and inform the most erudite of pundits... A charming, informative, and human book."--Nation. "[These] essays and reminiscences are valuable in their own right as an honest, amused and only slightly crotchety effort to put the whole matter of 'modern art' in a clear perspective."--Time. "A wonderful book... [Leo Stein] has a strong feeling for using words that mean something... He has a passion for veracity."--Commonweal.

Living well was the best revenge for Leo Stein, the art critic who took to heart Samuel Johnson's dictum, "Clear your mind of cant." Leo shared with his sister, Gertrude Stein, the Paris apartment that became a meeting place for the famous. Reflected in "Appreciation: Painting, Poetry and Prose" are their early years as American expatriates as well as their later estrangement. This book, originally published in 1947, the year Leo died, includes his reminiscences and estimates of Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne, and Renoir, among others, as well as his considered views on the place of art and literature in everyday life. Introducing this edition is Brenda Wineapple, the author of "Genet: A Biography of Janet Flanner", also a Bison Book, and of "Sister Brother", a biography of Leo and Gertrude Stein. She is Washington Irving Professor of Modern Literary and Historical Studies at Union College, Schenectady, New York.