Author Description

Looking at art is fun. Dutch art historian Henk van Os is well aware of this and for many years now he’s been fascinating TV viewers, radio audiences and the reading public with his off-beat accounts of what art is all about. He has a weekly TV show whose Dutch name Beeldenstorm can be freely translated as Challenging Icons. Watched by thousands of viewers, this is easily the most popular Dutch TV programme on art. Its popularity is due to Henk van Os’s unique style of presentation, that combines scholarly enthusiasm with unpretentious accessibility. In 2002 the plan is to make his work available to an international public, by translating the TV programmes into a series of books, under the title Stories of Images. Published by the Amsterdam University Press, it will be translated into several European languages. Unexpected questions, provocative comparisons and juicy anecdotes accompany a tour of various paintings, sculptures and art objects. With his enthusiastic and unorthodox way of viewing art, Van Os (re-)inspires his audiences to really look at the treasures that fill museums in the Netherlands and other countries. It’s a fascinating journey of discovery along ancient and modern art, from Dutch old master Paulus Potter’s incomparable paintings of cows to the controversial work of Andres Serrano. From the giants of the Dutch Golden Age, such as Rembrandt, to an outstanding figure like the French sculptor, Rodin. With Van Os we discover that looking at art is an art in itself, providing inestimable delight. Unending enjoyment, boundless discovery. Reading this book you are wakened to new notions and the works discussed will never look the same to you again.