LONDON.- What is painting? Julian Bell, writer and painter, is able to answer the question with a broad brush. His book thinks big about the medium that has generated more thought and discussion than any other. It explores old, deep problems. Are there reasons to be suspicious of pictures? What makes us think that one painting is more 'real' than another? What does it mean if we say painters 'express themselves'?

Bell's book also gives fine-brush attention to issues that are live in the contemporary art world. Till recently there was much talk about 'the death of painting'. Why did that discussion arise and what happened to it? Where does the interface between painting and photography now stand? Can we make sense of the appeal of 'bad' painting, or for that matter do we know what we mean by 'beautiful' nowadays?

The original edition of What is Painting? appeared in 1999. Since then much has changed in the art world, and the text has been substantially rewritten as a result.
It still however keeps its six-chapter structure and the approach that appealed to readers originally: reasoning from a combination of historical evidence and
common-sense experience.

Chapter 1 looks at traditional ideas in the West about the nature of painting, and
at some of the bases of our feelings about paintings. Chapter 2 discusses painting’s historical relations with photography, which involve questions about ‘knowledge’, ‘reality’ and ‘sensation’. Chapter 3 relates
the idea of ‘modernity’ to our changing understanding of time and space – changes that help define ‘modern’ (or ‘post-modern’) art. Chapter 4 suggests how the idea of personal expression has shaped the practice of painting in our culture, while Chapter 5 considers the interaction between the particular art called painting, other arts such as sculpture, and the notion of ‘art’ itself. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses painting in relation to its academic theorizations, and attempts theoretical suggestions of its own. These chapters are not independent, but follow one another in a developing argument. Further information and asides to the main arguments can be found in the Sources and Resources appendix. 


What is Painting? is not a standard art history book, nor is it a dry theoretical text. It's a personal argument about where we are now, culturally, conducted in straightforward language and with a sense of humour, and provides a focus and departure point for future debate.

Julian Bell is a respected painter living in Lewes, Sussex, and is a consultant on the major new BBC Art series, Civilisations, to be broadcast in 2018. Bell writes about art for various publications, including the London Review
of Books, the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian. He has also written several books including Mirror of the World: A New History of Art (Thames & Hudson, 2007) and has held teaching posts in London at Goldsmiths, Camberwell College of Arts, the City & Guilds of London Art School and the Royal Drawing School.