The Shock of the new
by Robert Hughes · first published 1981
10mentions
5recommended by
8HN commenters
2008–2026first – last mentioned
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible survey of modern art from the late 19th century onward, useful for building a vocabulary for discussing form and aesthetics. Serves as a primer and as a companion to the TV series.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The hundred-year history of modern art ..."
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…about form/aesthetics that you like. It is hard to talk about visual things, so in this way, it is imperative to have a good set of words when talking about form. A few great books: Robert Hughes' The Shock of the New, Reyner Banham's Theory & Design in the First Machine Age, Rosalind Krauss' Passages in Modern Sculpture. 4. Make things. this is perhaps the most important thing. Make things and be critical of them.…
on “Ask HN: Learning Web Design” ↗And if you enjoy Ways of Seeing in all its retro-critical glory and need MOAR, check out Robert Hughes's The Shock of the New: https://youtu.be/J3ne7Udaetg
on “John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ Exploded a Discipline” ↗…It's an amazing structure and nothing like that was possible before. Only after the construction of it could people get a view of Paris never before possible. You should read Robert Hughes' book "The Shock of the New" or watch the series. I think it's online on Youtube. It begins with the Eiffel Tower as the starting point and centerpiece of modernism and works through to the modern day to see how art and architecture…
on “Why Is Everything So Ugly?” ↗…different things. - For art produced pre 1900, the classic tome is 'The Story of Art' by Ernst Gombrich. He may be a bit sneered at nowadays, but he knew his stuff. - For art produced post 1900 'The Shock of the New' by Robert Hughes is a great primer. Also 'Ways of Seeing' by John Berger is aimed at students and presents high-brow ideas in a very digestible manner. On the subject of aesthetics, I would recommend…
on “Hollow City: Edward Hopper’s portraits of urban alienation” ↗Also The Shock of the New with Robert Hughes.
on “The Greatest Shot in Television: James Burke Had One Chance to Nail This Scene” ↗…the era we are currently stuck in, “post modernism”. From the construction of the Eiffel Tower to WW2, you get rough markers indicating that era. A great book regarding art in particular is called “The Shock of the New”. There’s also an 8-part (nearly 8 hours long) TV version of it you can find on YouTube. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFtSvldL7Mh4ismj4BgH33pBR... Robert Hughes, the art critic who wrote the book…
on “From Art Nouveau to Bauhaus: How Home Interiors Looked in Popular Art Movements” ↗Robert Hughes was a real treasure. His archive is worth exploring if only for his honesty and no bullshit approach. He was incredibly well informed and erudite. His book “The Shock of the New” is a landmark to this day for anyone interested in getting a perspective on how modern art, culture, and western humanity intersect and wind through history. The BBC made a TV version he narrated in…
on “Painting is terribly difficult: on Monet” ↗This might help bloggers write copy, but it's definitely not good for writers. The first paragraph of Chapter 1 of Robert Hughes' Shock of the New has these stats according to Hemingway: 5 of 12 sentences are hard to read. 2 of 12 sentences are very hard to read. 2 adverbs (he should be aiming for "0 or less"). 0 words or phrases could be simpler*…
on “Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear” ↗…that determine art’s monetary value are no longer seen as dicey. Instead, they’re understood as art itself. "The new job of art is to sit on the wall and get more expensive." - Robert Hughes (1982, The Shock of The New)
on “The Deal of the Art” ↗Right, because reading _Godel Escher Bach_, _Shock of the New_, and _Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain_ (my current reading list) obviously doesn't exercise the imagination.
on “Do you read?” ↗