num_pages: 150
description: "When an extremely intellectual, extremely experienced, extremely wise man shares his thoughts with others, the result seizes the imagination at once. Such is the effect of these essays, a series given as lectures at the National Gallery in 1973. Mr. Barzun examines art as religion, as destroyer, as redeemer, and in relation to what he calls "its temper, science," but never forgets the basic essential. As he says, "the last word on art should indeed be: mystery. But that need not stop any of us from dealing with it as if we understood more than we can." And how good it is to have one's mind stretched to that understanding of "more.""--Virginia Quarterly Review
language: English
title: The Use and Abuse of Art
titlecomplete: The Use and Abuse of Art (The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 22)
genres: Essays, Art, Russia, Philosophy, Art History, Nonfiction, History
ratings_count: 117
publisher: Princeton University Press