Cover of The Shape of Content

The Shape of Content

by Ben Shahn · 1957

+ Want to read

A modern painter discusses meaning and form in contemporary painting and offers advice to aspiring artists.

Subject
literary criticismliterary criticismMore like thisLess of this
Themes
artartMore like thisLess of thiscreativitycreativityMore like thisLess of this
Setting
USAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
short · 144 pages
Form
essaysessaysMore like thisLess of this

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked The Shape of Content? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Shape of Content. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa Michael Kimmelman · 2005 Shares art, nonfiction, essays
  2. Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists · 2013 Shares art, nonfiction, art theory
  3. An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Mastery Janna Malamud Smith · 2012 Shares art, nonfiction, creativity
  4. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class Ben Davis · 2013 Shares art, nonfiction, art theory
See more recommendations →

“People who read The Shape of Content tend to reach for these next.”

  1. One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity Miwon Kwon · 2002
  2. Visual Literacy: A Conceptual Approach to Graphic Problem Solving Judith Wilde, Richard Wilde · 1991
  3. Pedagogical Sketchbook: Introduction by Sibyl Moholy-Nagy Paul Klee · 1925
  4. Bellocq: Photographs from Storyville, the Red-Light District of New Orleans E.J. Bellocq · 1970

“If you want more of the same (literary criticism about art), start with these.”

  1. Design as Art Bruno Munari · 1971
  2. 100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures Francis Tsai · 2008
  3. The Art of iPhoneography: A Guide to Mobile Creativity Stephanie Roberts · 2011
  4. The Ongoing Moment Geoff Dyer · 2005

“If it was the art that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration From The Private Sketchbooks Of Artists, Illustrators And Designers Danny Gregory · 2008
  2. I Like Your Work: Art and Etiquette Paper Monument, n+1 · 2009
  3. Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy · 1997
  4. Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking David Bayles, Ted Orland · 1993

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Just Add Watercolor: Inspiration and Painting Techniques from Contemporary Artists Helen Birch · 2015
  2. Velázquez: Painter and Courtier Jonathan Brown · 1986
  3. Free onlineFree Concerning the Spiritual in Art Wassily Kandinsky · 1912
  4. Dear Friend Eric Torgersen · 1998

Report a problem