As you make your way through "The Renaissance of Imagination"; youll have the opportunity to explore works by artists from Donatello to Botticelli that span Florences greatest century of art. But you wont find the usual discussions about the dating of particular works; or why a certain painting is considered "important" in the evolution of Western art; or how much was done by the master and how much by his workshop; or who influenced whom. Instead youll have the opportunity to contemplate these masterpieces of Florentine art in ways that enable you to appreciate their beauty; depth and brilliance more fully. The facts of history; iconography and biography are fully respected; but it is the works of art themselves that are here given the final word. If the Italian Renaissance has ever captured your interest and fired your imagination; this book has been written for you. (59 Full-color Images)
2016-02-01 2016-02-01File Name: B01C4M795K
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. very good book!By charles boydwhat a good book! talks about the very real problems facing successful architects and the s***ty current paradigms of the profession. the author worked closely with renzo piano on a couple projects where he really tried to engage the community and be sensitive to local culture; only to get insurmountable pressure from clients and outside forces to be more exclusionary and elitist. good effort; renzo! very good read.10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. A much needed; if occasionally garbled polemic.By E. S. VoytkoFranco La Cecla has stature. He is a close friend and colleague of Renzo Piano; he has consulted for Barcelonas regional planning body; and he helped to choose the design firm to head up a dramatic planning overhaul of Tirana; Albania. He is curiously prominent as a non-architect within the architecture profession; which positions him very well for a polemic against a field that at times displays an alarming disinterest in the immense social power it wields.Which is why I opened his book Against Architecture with such high hopes. Thankfully; for the most part La Cecla delivers. This short work draws on both La Ceclas firsthand experience in the field and on writers and theorists he admires (he particularly reveres Rebecca Solnit) to indict the current paradigm in architecture: reverence for each new "genius" work from the architectural superstars regardless of its social impact. The only real defect in La Ceclas delivery is his regular flirtation with the garbled postmodern obscurantism that plagues todays academic writing. Here is a paragraph from a randomly selected page:"Living is the direct communication between the subconscious of the city and the subconscious of the inhabitants. This brings us again to "local frame of mind." But because "local frame of mind" is an expression that still implies a certain state of consciousness; whereas what is working here is not a thought but; as Richard Sennett would say; "flesh and stone." The dream flesh of which we are made is the same dream stone into which the cities will sooner or later crumble."Youll have to trust me that context does not render the above paragraph any less opaque. As for the structure of the book: it is not a linear; coherent; thesis-driven text. Each chapter is rather a separate essay; many of which have been previously published in periodicals. This doesnt detract from the books impact; though; because La Ceclas writing throughout is informed by a sensitivity to social issues and a suspicious; frustrated; and sometimes mournful stance towards the architectural profession.In separate chapters; La Cecla describes his experiences consulting for Barcelona and Tirana and laments the slow decay of his native Palermo; but the best essay of the bunch is a ten page affair detailing the ongoing expansion of Columbia University into Harlem. La Cecla recounts his awe and admiration for Renzo Pianos designs; which sought to delicately balance the needs of Harlem residents and Columbia students. He then describes with increasing horror the process by which Columbia bought out existing residents and shopkeepers; relegated Piano to an insignificant role in the project; and pushed forward with its bald-faced plan to wreck a historic Manhattan neighborhood as part of a real estate move. This essay; along with the rest of La Ceclas book; throws in sharp relief the promising role architects could play in stitching together urban fabrics given a little sensitivity. Sadly; it is much more common to see architectural talent reduced to a branding role in the real estate deals that have become the ugly urban hallmarks of "casino capitalism."
