Editorial Review
This illustrated, practical record of talks and instructional advice by a member of the "Ashcan School" of American painting discusses line, tone, texture, light and shade, composition, design, space, perspective, related issues. Also: figure drawing, painting, landscape and mural painting, much more. Wealth of helpful suggestions and exercises.
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Customer Reviews
A little dry, but good information 
2008-04-05
If you can wade through the rather dry writing, you'll find some good information in this book. Although there are about two dozen pages devoted to Sloan's work (black and white) in his chronology, there are few visual examples of what Sloan is talking about, thus no shortcuts in grasping the message as he gives it.
There is no doubt that this man was a very talented and accomplished artist, and it was disappointing to see poor quality photos of his work. His views are interesting in that he believed "there is no progress in art...The man who scratched his concept of animals on the roof of a cave in Spain thousands of years ago, just had a space to work on and something to work with and he put down his ideas. That is what the artist does today."
A worthy read 
2006-12-04
I place Sloan's book alongside Robert Henri's "The Art Spirit" (100% recommended) and Charles Hawthorne's "Hawthorne on Painting" (also recommended). Sloan focuses upon starting with as good a drawing as possible from which a painting will develop. Unlike Hawthorne who is more focused on the "juxtaposition of spots of colour is the only way". To me they are both correct - no matter how good the underlaying drawing might be - without the correct placement of colour and tones then you won't be painting anything of any value. Sloan is all about being competant with technique, and once you've mastered that then you're ready to move on to wherever your own creativity leads you. Focus is placed on the "Master's": Durer, Rubens, El Greco, Rembrandt etc. and tries to provide insight in to the artists particular technique. The book is published by Dover hence it's low price. Given it was first published in 1939 and is still considered a useful reference today indicates the value of the comments/advice contained within. A good book to have on the shelf for both drawing and painting.
Sloan's common sense 
2006-09-08
John Sloan's teaching is as good today as it was in his day. His remarks about keeping an open mind is excellent advice. He goes on that one has to focaus ones interest so that one develops. The beginner must be given insightful criticism and not be bullied into never seeing his own personality and strengths.There are peole today that need to be reminded that there is illustration in painting . Many abstract painting teachers make the mistake of a snobish attitude and some students may have potentialities that are destroyed by such attitudes.This little book has a lot to offer;you can learn from it. Sloan's enthusiasm carried him through a long career .. Those qualities keep him alive today. In reviewing the literature on John Sloan, his life demonstrates the educational value the experience of developing as a painter has on ones life.John Sloan came from a humble background but he made contacts in the art of his time and the early influence of Robert Henri and others ..encouraged him and his own curiosity and will helped him achieve what he did... he left a legacy at the Art Students League. As well as a body of paintings in many museums...
an avuncular master confides in your his personal techniques; FANTASTIC! 2005-08-22
"The Gist of Art" is one of my all-time favorite books about art and art-technique. What fascinated me in this book was his treatment of the color wheel. He ditches it in favor of a color triangle, which is more useful for analyzing color. The midpoint between blue and red is purple, and so on... I especially liked how he broke the color triangle into smaller triangles, which he calls "limited palletes". Each of these limited palettes he assigns a mood, which I find fascinating. For example, you can work with all of the colors in the triangle bounded by the points red-orange-purple (or any other triad that is a subset of the color triangle). Working with limitations brings out your inventiveness. Maybe I haven't done it justice here, but the color triangle is something that I've relied on ever since I've studied Sloan's great book. I found it very useful with mixing up a limited set of watercolor paints for my own book called "Israel in Watercolors" (look it up!), where I worked with a very limited set of colors (just eight), yet came up with a myriad of mixtures. A little color mixing knowlege goes a long way. Also, Sloan is very avuncular; he's like the art-loving grandfather that I never had. He has some fine anecdotes about Robert Henri (another fave artist), and some opinions that crack me up, such as "all nudity in art is pornography". There's a charm to a man like that. I love this guy, and I've got to thank him once again for turning me on to the color triangle.
Interesting read but long-winded 
2004-06-06
Overall the book is interesting but it does get boring at times. Sloan is a big advocate of drawing. What a big difference from other teachers like Hawthorne who says not to worry about drawing and just concentrate on color. It's good to hear both sides. This is one of those books you read for theory, it's not a step by step or how-to book. Overall it's a good read but not one of my favorite books. I prefer Henri's Art Spirit better. Henri was a teacher of Sloan.
It's rare to find a good art book, by a great artist 2001-08-30
This illustrated, practical record of talks and instructional advice by a member of the "Ashcan School" of American painting discusses line, tone, texture, light and shade, composition, design, space, perspective, related issues. Also: figure drawing, painting, landscape and mural painting, much more. Wealth of helpful suggestions and exercises.
