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History of Beauty

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Umberto Eco’s groundbreaking and much-acclaimed first illustrated book has been a critical success since its first publication in 2004. What is beauty? Umberto Eco, among Italy’s finest and most important contemporary thinkers, explores the nature, the meaning, and the very history of the idea of beauty in Western culture. The profound and subtle text is lavishly illustrated with abundant examples of sublime painting and sculpture and lengthy quotations from writers and philosophers. This is the first paperback edition of History of Beauty, making this intellectual and philosophical journey with one of the world’s most acclaimed thinkers available in a more compact and affordable format.

From the Trade Paperback edition

438 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2004

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About the author

Umberto Eco

842 books10.9k followers
Umberto Eco was an Italian writer of fiction, essays, academic texts, and children's books. A professor of semiotics at the University of Bologna, Eco’s brilliant fiction is known for its playful use of language and symbols, its astonishing array of allusions and references, and clever use of puzzles and narrative inventions. His perceptive essays on modern culture are filled with a delightful sense of humor and irony, and his ideas on semiotics, interpretation, and aesthetics have established his reputation as one of academia’s foremost thinkers.

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Profile Image for Ahmad Sharabiani.
9,564 reviews101 followers
April 6, 2022
Storia della bellezza = History of Beauty = On Beauty, 2nd ed, 2005, Umberto Eco

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it also has a lot to do with the beholder's cultural standards.

In History of Beauty, renowned author Umberto Eco sets out to demonstrate how every historical era has had its own ideas about eye-appeal. History of Beauty is really about the history of philosophical and perceptual notions of perfection and how they have been applied to ideas and objects, as well as to the human body.

This survey ranges over such themes as the mathematics of ideal proportions, the problem of representing ugliness, the fascination of the exotic and art for art's sake. Along the way, the text examines the intersection of standards of beauty with Christian belief, notions of the Sublime, the philosophies of Kant and Hegel, and bourgeois culture. More than 300 illustrations trace the history of Western art as it relates, in the broadest sense, to the topic of beauty.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه ژوئن سال2012میلادی

عنوان: تاریخ زیبایی: نظریه های زیبایی در فرهنگهای غربی؛ اثر: «اومبرتو اکو»؛ ترجمه و گزینش سرکار خانم: «هما بینا»؛ پیشگفتار و تحشیه جناب «جهانگیر شهدادی»؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، فرهنگستان هنر جمهوری اسلامی ایران، موسسه ی تالیف، ترجمه و نشر آثار هنری، سال1390، در230ص، مصور، بخشی رنگی، شابک9789642320844؛ کتابنامه ص223، همچنین به صورت زیرنویس، نمایه دارد، تاریخ زیبایی شناسی، هنر، فلسفه؛ از ترجمه انگلیسی به فارسی برگردانده شده است، موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایتالیا - سده20م

فهرست: پیشگفتار؛
فصل اول «آرمان زیبایی شناسی: همسرایی موزها؛ تصویر هنرمند از زیبایی؛ زیبایی از دید فلاسفه»؛
فصل دوم «آپولونی و دیونوسیوسیی: خدایان دلفی؛ از یونان تا نیچه»؛
فصل سوم «زیبایی در قالب تناسب و هماهنگی: عدد و موسیقی؛ تناسب معمارانه؛ بدن انسان؛ جهات هستی و طبیعت؛ هنرهای دیگر؛ همخوانی با هدف؛ تناسب در گذر تاریخ»؛
فصل چهارم «نور و رنگ در قرون وسطا: نور و رنگ؛ خداوند به مثابه نور؛ نور، ثروت و فقر؛ تزیین؛ رنگ در شعر و عرفان؛ رنگ در زندگی روزمره؛نمادپردازی رنگ؛ اصحاب کلام و فلاسفه»؛
فصل پنجم «زیبایی هیولاها: تصویرپردازی زیبا از زشتی؛ موجودات افسانه ای و حیرت انگیز؛ زشتی در نمادپردازی جمعی؛ زشتی لازمه ی زیبایی؛ زشتی غرابتی طبیعی؛»
فصل ششم «از شعر روستایی تا زن فرشته سان: عشق مقدس و عشق دنیوی؛ بانوان و شاعران دوره گرد؛ بانوان و شوالیه ها؛ شاعران و عشقهای ناممکن»؛
فصل هفتم «زیبایی سحرآمیزاز سده پانزدهم تا شانزدهم: زیبایی میان ابداع و تقلید طبیعت؛ شبیه سازی؛ زیبایی ماورای محسوسات؛ ونوسها»؛
فصل هشتم «بانوان و قهرمانان: بانوان؛ قهرمانان؛ زیبایی کاربردی؛ و زیبایی نفسانی»؛
فصل نهم «از ملاحت تا زیبایی ناآرام: منریسم؛ بحران دانش؛ اندوه؛ فراست ظرافت جمع، استعاره های غریب؛ تمایل به دستیابی به قدرت»؛
فصل دهم «استدلال و زیبایی: دیالکتیک زیبایی؛ انظباط و آزادیخواهی؛ کاخها و باغها؛ کاسیسم و نئوکلاسیسم؛ قهرمانان پیکرها ویرانه ها؛ اندیشه های نو مضامین نو؛ زن و اشتیاق؛ بازی آزاد زیبایی؛ زیبایی ظالم و محزون»؛
فصل یازدهم «امر شکوهمند: مفهومی جدید از زیبایی؛ امر شکوهمند پژواک روحی متعالی است؛ امر شکوهمند در طبیعت؛ جنبه های شاعرانه ی ویرانه ها؛ شیوه گوتیک در ادبیات؛ ادموند برک؛ امر شکوهمند از دید کانت»؛
فصل دوازدهم زیبایی رمانتیک: زیبایی رمانتیک؛ زیبایی رمانتیک و زیبایی عشقهای پرماجرای قدیمی؛ زیبایی مبهم نمیدانم چطور؟؛ رمانتیسم و عصیان؛ حقیقت اسطوره و کنایه؛ محزون، گروتسک و اندهبار؛ رمانیسم شاعرانه؛
فصل سیزدهم «کیش زیبایی: کیش زیبایی شناسی؛ دندییسم؛ جسم مرگ و ابلیس؛ هنر برای هنر؛ خلاف جهت رگه ها؛ سمبولیسم (نمادگرایی)؛ عرفان زیبایی شناسانه؛ جذبه درون همه چیز؛ امپرسیونیسم؛»؛
فصل چهاردهم «شیء جدید: زیبای منسجم دوره ویکتوریا؛ آهن و شیشه، زیبایی جدید؛ از آرنوو تا آردکو؛ زیبایی ارگانیک؛ کالاهای روزمره، انتقاد تجاری شدن، تولید انبوه؛»؛
فصل پانزدهم «زیبایی ماشین آلات: ماشین آلات زیبا؛ از دوره باستان تا قرون وسطی؛ از قرن پانزدهم تا دوره باروک؛ سده های هجدهم و نوزدهم؛ قرن بیستم»؛
فصل شانزدهم: «از فرمهای انتزاعی تا اعماق مواد: در سنگها مجسمه هایش را جستجو کن؛ ارزشیابی دوباره مواد در دوران معاصر؛ حاصر آماده ها؛ از دوباره سازی تا مواد صنعتی اعماق مواد»؛
فصل هفدهم «زیبایی رسانه ها: زیبایی تحریک آمیز یا زیبایی مصرفی؟؛ هنر پیشتاز یا زیبایی تحریک آمیز؛ زیبایی مصرفی»؛
درباره نویسنده «اومبرتو اکو»؛
کتابشناسی؛
نمایه؛

انگار کردم در کلاس درس زیبایی در دانشگاه بنشسته ام، درباره ی سیر نگاه‌های گفتنی از زیبایی، و سلیقه ها در تاریخ هست؛ فصلهایی که خود «امبرکو اکو» نگاشته اند، کلاس درس است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 19/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 16/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
Profile Image for Kalliope.
691 reviews22 followers
February 16, 2016



Reading Eco’s study On Beauty feels like visiting a Temple with very many chambers. In each room there are texts. There are also images, many of them too and of good quality and they are all photos of art pieces. During this visit we are accompanied by the talk of a commentator. He comments on the texts only. Not on the images. Each room corresponds to a period in the Quest of Beauty. In this pursuit we can also conceive each space as forming a petal of a different tone and shape, so that by the end of the journey we can see that this Temple has the appearance of a multi-faceted flower. And a beautiful flower it is.






In the search for Beauty along Western history many questions have been raised.





Where does Beauty originate? Is it in the things? And therefore is it made by man, or is it in Nature and made by god? If a god creates beauty, then what is this god? A concept, like Goodness? Or is it a being? If so, then what was his purpose? Or could man create it not in the things but out of the things? Who is this man (mostly man, sometimes woman) and what is his nature? Are all men capable of creating Beauty? Or is it only some – those who are endowed with a (divine) capacity, and we can call them ‘artists’? And those are the Artists – the beings who can create a (divine) entity – ‘art’? Or is beauty really created by the subject? Is it in front of you or is it in your eye – the shifting eye of the beholder? Can Beauty be measured? Indeed, is it proportion itself? Who measures those proportions? Does it form part of an overall scheme of things, the Harmonic Tutto? Or does it require another quality, such as individuality, and should therefore break the norms and surprise? What is its purpose? To elevate us to a higher, and ethical, or to a sublime realm? And if related to the human, should it be sensual, or smart, or witty? Does it have a gender? Or does it belong to the dominion of a particular gender? To what extent is it relative and needs its own context to shine out.



These are many of the questions addressed by Eco as they were formulated by thinkers, and it is his anthology of texts, from Theognis and Plato to critics from the 1950s, going through Plotinus, Suger, Hildegard von Bingen, Dante, Alberti, Gracián, Hume, Kant, Goethe, Diderot, Baudelaire, Foscolo, Burke, Wilde, Pater, Duchamp amongst very many others, that form the backbone of this book. The copious and beautiful images are unconnected illustrations. They are not addressed by Eco nor specifically related to the selected texts. They form a background musing, colouring the excerpts, like in my review. For the book is conceived as an intellectual exercise, an examination of concepts. It is a theoretical flower then, even if the images add a veneer by appealing to a seen and experienced Beauty.




Reading the compendium of excerpts, however, is somewhat unsatisfying and one feels that in this Temple one is just looking at the spine of the books stored in those inviting chambers. But they serve as indications for a later trip, without commentator, when one can stay in one of those rooms and think, not contemplate, some of those notions. And as map of the Search of Beauty this book is excellent.


Profile Image for Valeriu Gherghel.
Author 6 books1,684 followers
September 19, 2023
Pentru că am recenzat acum două zile cartea lui David Konstan, Beauty: The Fortunes of an Ancient Greek Idea (2014), am recitit și Umberto Eco Istoria frumuseții.

Niciodată nu am văzut în cartea lui Eco altceva decît un album de artă, însoțit de o antologie de extrase din diverși autori (antici, medievali, moderni) privitoare la frumos, unele potrivite și la obiect, altele mai puțin. Este, așadar, un album-album și ceva de genul cărților numite odinioară „commonplacebook”. Deci, nu mi-am făcut iluzii, nu m-am gîndit deloc la un tratat academic, riguros, cu subsoluri ticsite și bibliografie exhaustivă. Nu era cazul să mă formalizez și nu m-am... Lucrarea conține tipărite cu litere mici fragmente din Platon, Boethius, Thoma de Aquino, Hugo de Saint-Victor, Bernard de Clairvaux, Daniel Defoe, Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant etc.

Unii cronicari au remarcat inadecvarea titlului. Pentru o „istorie a frumuseții” e prea puțin și prea dispersat. Comentariul lui Eco e, de fapt, un eseu cu muuuuuulte divagații, după metoda săriturii calului la șah. Într-un capitol vorbește despre veșminte și culori, în altul despre strălucire și lumină, în al cincilea despre „frumusețea monștrilor”, altul se referă la frumusețea femeii, la iubire (cea cîntată de trubaduri, numită „fin' amors") și la meșteșugul desuet de a seduce o domniță îndărătnică („De la păstoriță la femeia-înger”). Alții au considerat cartea de-a dreptul lugubră (i-au dat o steluță amărîtă) pentru motivul cuvios că are un preț exagerat. Pe Libris, ediția din 2019, se vinde cu 109,65 lei. Pentru buzunarul unui student la Arte e cam mult, pentru buzunarul unui magistrat pensionar e un preț derizoriu, o nimica toată. Depide de unde privim prețul și de lărgimea buzunarului.

Definiția frumosului: „Dacă ar fi să reflectăm asupra acelei atitudini de detaşare care ne permite să definim drept frumos un bine care nu trezeşte în noi dorinţa, am înţelege că, în fond, vorbim despre frumuseţe ori de cîte ori ne bucurăm de ceva pentru simplul fapt că aceasta există, indiferent dacă acel lucru se află sau nu în posesia noastră” (pp.9, 11). Și încă: „Este frumos ceea ce, dacă ar fi al nostru, ne-ar produce desfătare, dar care tot frumos rămîne și dacă aparține altcuiva... Toate aceste forme de patimă, gelozie, dorință a posesiei, invidie sau lăcomie nu au nimic de a face cu sentimentul frumosului... Semnificația frumosului este diferită de cea a dorinței” (p.11).

Această caracterizare se cuvine a fi comparată imediat cu extrasele din autorii greci:

Teognis din Megara (sec.VI-V): „Muze și Grații ați cîntat fumoasele cuvinte:
'Ce-i frumos e iubit; ce nu-i frumos nu e iubit'
ce au fost rostite și de buzele zeilor” (Elegii, I, V, 17-18). (p.39).

Sappho: „ Iar eu gîndesc că frumos este ceea ce e iubit” (p.47).

În timp ce grecii și romanii au gîndit frumosul în relație strînsă cu atracția erotică, sub influența strivitoare a lui Immanuel Kant (Observații asupra sentimentului de frumos și sublim), comentatorii moderni au despărțit frumosul de dorință. Dar asta nu înseamnă că grecii au ignorat noțiunea de „frumos”. Îl cred pe cuvînt pe David Konstan.

Pentru mai multe observații cu privire la frumos, a se inspecta nota de pe blogul Miscell@nea:
https://valeriugherghel.blogspot.com/...
Profile Image for Coyle.
667 reviews61 followers
March 21, 2012
Really a 3 1/2 star book, but since that's not an option...

This book is misnamed, really "dictionary of Beauty" would be a closer title, while "Umberto Eco's Musings on Beauty in a loosely chronological order with occasionaly quotes about beauty from other thinkers and a boatload of pictures" would probably hit closest to home. Undoubtedly the publisher shot that title down and stuck History of Beauty in its place.

Strengths: Each individual section is fairly informative and interesting to read. There are a lot of useful and interesting art prints, quotes that I likely would never otherwise have encountered, and thoughtful reflections on the various periods and thinkers of artistic history. I will definitely be returning to the needed sections (particularly those on the Middle Ages and the modern world) for review in the future.
And if nothing else, it is encouraging to see a major modern thinker engaging aesthetics. That is rare enough to be worthy of attention and time.

Weaknesses: This book has two major weaknesses, the first is editing. This is always a fairly irritating one for me, since it means that either the author or the publisher or both (possibly also the translator in this case) got lazy along the way and just didn't do their job well. If I'm going to give money and time to your creative work, you should at least have the decency to care about keeping it coherent.
The second is that there's really no overall theme. Which is (spoiler alert- though it's nonfiction so I doubt anyone actually cares) one of the points he makes about Beauty, that it is no consistent through time. People's and cultures' perceptions of Beauty shift and grow and change from year to year, and region to region. Therefore, he argues, there is no (perhaps there cannot even be) any solid and lasting definition of Beauty. Beauty at the end of the day is relative, despite his claim that it is pervasive throughout both our culture and cultures past. Which functionally turns this into a 400 page episode of Seinfeld. Not that it's funny, but that it's a book about nothing. Or at least, nothing that has any transcendent value. If there is no ultimate Beauty, and it's all relative, why should we be bothered to read a book about it?
Well, as I said above, it is worth reading. But it would be more worth reading if Eco had articulated his own philosophy of Beauty and then talked about it in the context of aesthetics through history. In his failure to do so, this book is ultimately yet another postmodern disappointment.
Profile Image for Luís.
2,070 reviews851 followers
June 17, 2022
A very documented and academic study of beauty through art, a relevant and written reflection on aesthetics, significantly changed over the centuries.
Profile Image for Stela.
985 reviews378 followers
March 10, 2020
Even if I agree with most of the reproaches this book received (that it is more a guide than a study, that it is more a triumph of compression than of clarity, that it is too eclectic and so on) I have to say I really enjoyed it.

Is this a consequence of my great admiration for Umberto Eco or of my art dilettantism , I'm not sure (and I won't dig, so back off!). Anyway, I think the author completed his objectives, enumerated in Introduction:

- to identify Beauty as a thing worth to be contemplated independently of the desire we may feel for it;
-to establish the relationship between Beauty and Art (since Beauty was sometimes perceived simply as a quality of Nature);
- to document the history of Beauty (only in Western culture, though) through art (because only the artists left examples) but not to write a history of art.

Based on a reviewing of the great artistic movements (whose ideologies influenced - evidently- the conception of Beauty), the essay presents different Aesthetic Ideals from ancient Greece to nowadays, emphasizing the growing complexity of the concept of Beauty, from the antithesis Apollonian - Dionysiac as a very interesting antithesis between vision and sound, to the contemporary syncretism, from Pythagoras' abstract numbers and music of spheres to the prosaic industrialization, from Pericles' ideal of harmony, order, measure, and simplicity, to "the orgy of tolerance, the total syncretism and the absolute and unstoppable polytheism of Beauty" which characterize our times.

On the other hand, I was amused to learn that Thomas Aquinas considered a crystal hammer ugly because it didn't serve a purpose and that Marco Polo, seeing rhinoceros for the first time thought they were unicorns (I bet Eugène Ionesco didn't know that!).

Overall, not pretentious, beautifully illustrated (someone said, ironically, of course, that it would make a wonderful present), it doesn't aim to impress but to observe the evolution of a concept over a very long period of time. Hence the impression that he only grazed the surface of the subject.
Profile Image for Roman Clodia.
2,603 reviews3,476 followers
November 23, 2019
This is more source-book than analytical history and while there's no doubting Eco's erudition, all that's really on display here is his ability to summarise and compress vast swathes of literature into a handful of paragraphs : {whisper} this is pretty shallow and superficial, and anyone with an informed view of intellectual history won't learn anything new.

What is valuable is the way Eco has effectively curated texts, both visual and literary, and the surprising beauty category tables at the front that throw up unpredictable groupings and interconnections.

There's surprisingly little actual commentary from Eco: instead he assumes the artworks and extracts will speak for themselves, even though connections between image and text is often arbitrary. That said, as a compendium of texts related to aesthetics, even if only extracts, this can't help but be useful. It would have been nice to have had more Eco - and the illustrations are lavish and gorgeous. An enhanced coffee-table book I'd say.
Profile Image for Bjorn.
868 reviews163 followers
April 23, 2013
It's an interesting topic: what is beauty? It might seem like a trivial question, but think about it: esthetics run through everything we do. Everything we read, watch, listen to, right down to the houses we live in, the cars we drive, the cans we buy food in are made to correspond to some standard of beauty. Where does all that come from? What makes us think a Rolls looks better than a Datsun? What makes Dickens a better writer than Stephenie Meyer? Why did medieaval Christ figures look triumphant and baroque ones suffering? Why is Kate Moss a supermodel and Roseanne Barr not? Can something tragic be beautiful?

If you've read Eco before you know he's good at picking up patterns, memes, ideas and how they mutate with time and context. So this is Eco the non-fiction writer tracing society's concept of beauty from pre-historic time to the 21st century, richly illustrated with artworks and architecture and quotes from poets, philosophers and novelists ranging from Plato to Wilde. Venus of Willendorf and Naomi Campbell, Apollo and George Clooney, Warhol and Tizian, Thomas Aquinus and Kafka, they're all in here. Inevitably, even at 400 pages, it becomes a bit of a coffee table book; it's a huge topic, and he doesn't really have time to cover everything (plus, it's all pretty Eurocentric, of course). But being Eco, what he does cover is covered in-depth, giving you a great understanding of how and why standards change and how they relate to changes in the world - the relationships between religion and art, between revolution and poetry, technology and design. Rather brilliant.

Plus, obviously, the book itself is beautiful.

Now I'm even more intrigued by the sequel On Ugliness; Eco has said that after writing the first book, he realised he'd been writing about standards, about conformity. What about the things that don't conform to the traditional standards? That's another doorstopper.
Profile Image for Gabriella.
22 reviews1 follower
June 21, 2012
It's not really a book you read cover to cover, and I guess some of the disappointment many people may feel comes from them picking it up and reading it like that. It is a dictionary a reference, it should open people's mind up to further investigate and research. As someone said the book does reflect his personal opinions and musings, but just by flicking though the book many times I have found myself diving deeper into periods, artists, works of art, techniques etc.
Profile Image for Andrew.
2,082 reviews787 followers
Read
December 30, 2020
And the History of Beauty is a wonderfully written, aesthetically pleasing guide to how the idea of beauty in the Occidental, and particularly Mediterranean, world has evolved. I have to question the degree to which Eco ascribes the concept of “beauty” being informed by a specific epistemological zeitgeist (e.g. the dethroning of the Church as ultimate authority being reflected in the shadowy aesthetics of the Baroque), and some of his semiotic conclusions seem like stretches. However, that wart aside, it's a gorgeous exposition of how we got to what Eco calls the “aesthetic polytheism” of the present (great term).
25 reviews
October 29, 2018
This book takes a lot of stamina to go through. The concept is quite easy: each chapter contains a short description of the period in question and its understanding of beauty, accompanied by important artworks and literature of the time. These chapters are often just 3-5 pages. Nevertheless it's hard to read (weird layout, at least in the german edition, and hard to understand texts without comments) and boring at times. It doesn't feel like a cohesive book, but rather like lecture notes put together. Period descriptions don't go into details, but mention what's most important. What I really missed was an extensive analysis of the texts and artworks used. 3 stars for a good overview and great choice of artworks.
Profile Image for India M. Clamp.
246 reviews
June 3, 2023
RIP 6.1.23

Over the centuries, beauty has come to be regarded of a symphony that is fluid and flowing; lacking mechanical variances devoid of harmony. The quantum values that scream the symmetry of the blessed are not secret. Light and color and its stratifications are indicative of true beauty found in a world far elevated from the one we occupy. Though each culture has its indication of what ugliness is, it may be mathematically shown as asymmetric, yet this too has a bias. Beauty for the most part is subject to what the observer defines it as---and some may lament that the source is familiar.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Neva.
Author 52 books568 followers
August 26, 2016
Не, не харесах тази книга. Като изключим картинките, има повече проблеми, отколкото достойнства. И не, не бих я използвала като меродавен източник за каквото и да било, така че не бих я нарекла "енциклопедия".

* * *

"История на красотата, представена от Умберто Еко", "Кибеа", прев. Маргарита и Евдокия Златарови, под научната редакция на д-р Аксиния Джурова, 2006 г.

"Ще ти кажа само следното: ти се опитваш при такова нечовешко положение да се държиш като човек. Това може да е прекрасно, но е безполезно. Впрочем и в тая красота не съм сигурен: може ли да бъде хубаво нещо, което е глупаво?"
"Соларис", Станислав ��ем

Първото, което трябва да се каже за тази книга е, че е красива. Второто – че въпросът на Лем е не от (нищо че ЦЯЛАТА Е СЪСТАВЕНА ОТ ЦИТАТИ), а към нея. Защото тя има могъщ потенциал да е прекрасна, стеснен към безполезност от ред структурни, концептуални и преводни неравновесия.

Отпечатаният в Италия том е разкошен на вид и допир, даже ухае разкошно. Първоначалната му заявка е голяма (Еко! история! красота!), издателството е "Кибеа" (хората с най-амбициозни и интернационални проекти), подходът изглежда професионален (цяла рота коректори и редакто��и), цената безкомпромисно отказва случайните зяпачи (75 лева в България срещу 30 евро в Италия). Затова претенциите към "История на красотата" са по-сериозни, отколкото към средната книжка с картинки, която се появява на българския пазар. И наблюденията са следните.

"История на красотата" е албум със стотици великолепни репродукции на картини, скулптури и фотографии, придружени с текстове от различни епохи (в унисон или контраст помежду си), поделени в седемнадесет глави със съответните встъпления и кратки свързващи коментари. Името на семиотика-писател Умберто Еко, автор на девет от главите, грее с тържествени пиринчени букви на корицата, до съвършеното лице на Елеонора Толедска, нарисувана от Брондзино. Името на философа-романист ДЖИРОЛАМО ДЕ МИКЕЛЕ, написал останалите осем, е сбутано с микроскопични черни буквички в издателското каре (и това не е нещо, което българските издатели са решили - Бомпиани изобщо не споменават името на Де Микеле в сайта си... което ми се стори АДСКИ некрасиво от тяхна и на Еко страна... говорим за съавторство, за ПОЛОВИНАТА КНИГА... както впрочем и на тази за грозотата). Малко след първите страници идва и признанието, че това всъщност не е история на красотата въобще, а на тази в ЗАПАДНИЯ, ХРИСТИЯНСКИ СВЯТ. Акцентът като че ли е ЧОВЕШКАТА красота, но тук-таме се говори и за природата, идеите, предметите.

Дефиницията на темата е проблемна: "говорим за Красота, когато се наслаждаваме на нещо заради него самото, независимо от факта дали го притежаваме". Мъглявото й третиране поражда куп спорни твърдения ("Благо е онова, което стимулира нашето желание...") и странни следствия (естетиката се смесва с етиката там, където властта или религията са дадени като образци за красота). Говоренето не е изкуствоведско, научно, академично и пр. (що е то "напредък" в изкуството?), а популяризаторско (което нямаше да е лошо при съвсем ясни критерии).

Преводът на разказваческия глас (Еко и Де Микеле) на места пресяда заради прекомерното си желание да се придържа о буквата на традиционно витиеватия (и трудно поносим) език на подобни италиански съчинения. Тук-таме се промъкват и непресети неточности: Франческо Хаез (вместо Айец), Джон Евърет Милес (вместо Миле), вездесъщата, с извинение, елементарна грешка от последните 25 години - "ЕЛЕМЕНТИ" вместо "стихии" и така нататък. Погледът се катери по стотиците нетипични за българската графика главни букви: "черната Красота на Наоми Кембъл", "Роджър Бейкън ще провъзгласи Оптиката за нова наука" или "вяра в ценностите на Разума и Революцията"...

В крайна сметка по пътя от Вилендорфската Венера до Моника Белучи в "История на красотата" се изреждат низ от спиращи дъха визуални и словесни изживявания. В леко нескопосни рамки, но все пак.

І Естетическият идеал в Древна Гърция
"Най-хубавото нещо на земята е ред конници" – каза./ "Не, пехотинци"./ "Не, ред кораби"./ Аз пък мисля, че красиво е обичаното.../ Красив е онзи, кой е пред очите/ добър е също той – сега и после." (Сафо, VІІ-VІ в. пр. Хр.)

ІІ Аполоново и Дионисиево начало
"Един следващ аспект на антитезата между Аполон и Дионис се отнася до диадата далечно/близко. Гръцкото и изобщо западното изкуство, за разлика от някои източни художествени форми, определя точното разстояние спрямо творбата, с която не се влиза в пряк контакт: обратно на японската скулптура, която се докосва, и на тибетската пясъчна мандала, изискваща взаимодействие..." (Джироламо де Микеле)

ІІІ Красотата като пропорция и хармония
"Гърците дадоха на света името "украшение" – поради различието на елементите и красотата на звездите. Това при тях се нарича всъщност Kósmos, което означава "украшение". И наистина, с очите на плътта ние не виждаме нищо по-красиво от света..." (Исидор от Севиля, VІ в.)

ІV Светлината и цветът през Средновековието
"Дворецът на Великия хан е най-големият на света: подът е на две педи от земята; таванът е много висок; стените на залите и стаите, покрити със злато и сребро, са изрисувани с чудни истории за дами и рицари, прици, зверове и други красиви неща... Голямата зала е толкова дълга и широка, че в нея могат да седят и да се хранят шест хиляди души... По покрива керемидите са червени, сини, зелени и с други цветове, лакирани тъй хубаво, че светят като кристал, затова дворецът блести още отдалеч..." (Марко Поло, ХІІІ в.)

V Красотата на чудовищата
"Една природна красота е красиво нещо, а красотата в изкуството е красива представа за нещо... Изящното изкуство показва своето превъзходство тъкмо в това, че описва красиво нещата, които в природата биха били грозни или отблъскващи..." (Имануел Кант)

VІ От пастирката до жената-ангел
"Жофре Рюдел дьо Бле бил знатен мъж, принц на Бле. Влюбил се в графинята на Триполи, без никога да я е виждал, само по онова, което слушал за нея от поклонниците, идващи от Антиохия. И съчинил за нея много стихове с хубави мелодии, но с недобри текстове. Тъй като желаел да я види, станал кръстоносец и плавал по море; на кораба заболял тежко, завели го в Триполи, в странноприемница, като казали, че умира. Графинята научила, отишла при него и на смъртния му одър го прегърнала..." (Неизвестен автор, ХІІІ век)

VІІ Магическата красота между XV и XVI век
"Изяществото винаги трябва да бъде уравновесено с достоверност и изкусност. Това е трудно, защото съвършени красоти не се откриват в едно-единствено тяло, ами са пръснати из множество тела и са редки. Ето защо е трудно да се намерят и проучат всички. За едни ще бъде по-лесно да изучават по-големите неща, а за други по-малките: няма трудност, толкова голяма, че науката и постоянството да не я преодолеят..." (Леон Батиста Алберти, ХV в.)

VІІІ Дами и герои
"Тук Дон Кихот дълбоко въздъхна и рече: - ...Косите й са злато, челото й – елисейски полета, веждите й – дъги небесни, очите й – слънца, бузите й – рози, устните й – корали, бисери – зъбите й, алабастър – шията й, мрамор – гърдите й, слонова кост – ръцете й, белотата й е снежна, а частите, които целомъдрието закрива от хорския поглед, са такива, според както мисля и съдя, че само с най-тънка прозорливост могат да се оценят, но не и сравнят..." (Мигел де Сервантес)

ІХ От грацията до тревожната Красота
"Към същността на остротата спада, че се познава повече в цялост, отколкото в детайли, че се усеща, а не се определя. Всяко описание на тъй неуловимата материя е валидно; това, което е Красотата за очите и хармонията за ушите, за интелекта е понятието..." (Балтасар Грасиан, ХVІІ в.)

Х Разум и Красота
"Човек, който не е имал никаква възможност да сравни различни видове Красота, изобщо не е подготвен да изкаже съждение относно какъвто и да било видян от него предмет. Само със сравнението ние определяме епитетите за одобрение и отрицание и се научаваме в какви граници да ги поставяме..." (Дейвид Хюм)

ХІ Възвишеното
"Твърдя, че най-големите обекти в Природата са най-приятни за гледане: след широкия небесен свод и безграничните области, населени със звезди, няма нищо, което да съзерцавам с такава наслада, както необятното море и планините..." (Томас Бърнет, 1681 г.)

ХІІ Романтическата Красота
"Смъртта и Красотата са две дълбини, които съдържат толкова лазурно и толкова черно, че изглеждат две ужасни и плодовити сестри с една и съща загадка, с една и съща мистерия..." (Виктор Юго)

ХІІІ Религията на Красотата
"Душата ми е Рим при сетния упад��к,/ посрещащ с взор тълпи от варвари безчет/ и с някой акростих замислено зает,/ на залеза лъча заплел в стиха си гладък..." (Пол Верлен)

ХІV Новият предмет
"Жената фашистка трябва да бъде физически здрава, за да може да стане майка на здрави синове, според "правилата на живот", посочени от Дучето в паметната му реч пред лекарите. Трябва да бъдат напълно премахнати рисунките на женски фигури, изкуствено отслабнали и с мъжки черти, които преставят типа на стерилна жена от упадъчната западна цивилизация..." (Фашистка пресслужба към Министерския съвет, 1931 г.)

ХV Красотата на машините
"Ако да се молиш значи да общуваш с божеството, движението с голяма скорост е молитва..." (Филипо Томазо Маринети, 1916 г.)

ХVІ От абстрактните форми до дълбините на материята
"...онова, което най-вече му харесва в пръстта, е това, че тя е обикновена и разпространена повече от всичко друго на света и поради тази си обикновеност често обезсърчава хората, които не й хвърлят дори разсеян поглед..." (Андре Пейре дьо Мандиарг, 1956 г.)

ХVІІ Красотата на медиите
"Първата половина на ХХ век и най-вече 60-те години са сцена на драматична борба между Красотата на провокацията и Красотата на потреблението..." (Умберто Еко)
Profile Image for Psychophant.
498 reviews19 followers
May 15, 2008
The book originally was presented as a CD-Rom. Although I like books, I think the idea of the writer would be better experienced in an interactive webpage or digital media. Because a page limits you to what is in it or its neighbours, or a shorter or longer search for a glimpsed idea. Hyperlink and search functions really help to compare what is in common and to spot the differences.

The book deals with the idea of beauty, and how it has changed through time and cultures, using works of art as the only surviving yardstick of what was considered beautiful. Although the author has his own views, he tries to keep it hidden, focusing instead on what others thought, although the narrative gives a hint of which of those ideas he favors, sometimes quite broadly, but that is to be expected as he is a son of his own time and culture, so his views will be different (though still close) from mine.

Its awkward handling, specially as it requires a certain level of involvement from the reader give it this relatively low score for such a gorgeous book. Because it is gorgeous, and a simple cursory read, looking at the images, probably will enlighten you as much as deep reading. But that gorgeousness detracts from its own message, because subject to so many beautiful images, how can you define what is beauty, if beauty is most of them? Which I suppose goes a long way to explain why Eco published also History of Ugliness. Because you cannot have one without the other. Maybe after reading it my mind will clear, and I will give it a higher score.
Profile Image for Gorab.
711 reviews127 followers
February 15, 2024
What a beauty!!!!

Highlight: Ton loads of detailed illustrations.

Often in books, illustrations are used to bolster the text, it's vice versa here!

The text content deals with the idea and evolution of what we consider as "Beauty". From what pleases the senses, perfect symmetry, nature, philosphical meaning of beauty .... to aesthetics, art, mathematical perfection, ratio, color, light, machines.... you name it!

What i loved most:
1. Illustrations of paintings, architecture, human body, fashion.
2. The part on Cosmos (personal bias)
3. Small commentary and anecdotes to support the illustrations.
4. Crash course on popular paintings. My ignorance was withered away for quite a few famous artists - prominent example being Bosch's Garden of Earthly delights - Paradise and Hell.

What didn't work for me:
1. Most of the artists and their works were Greek to me. Being a novice, i couldn't appreciate the identity or magnitude of those artists and their paintings. Only a fraction of names were familiar - Dante, Bellini, Leonardo.
While it widened the horizon, looking up too many references killed the fun.
I'm sure an art student would appreciate it better.

Overall:
Perfect coffee table book for aesthetically pleasing art references - NSFW (if you don't mind nudity)
Profile Image for Edward.
78 reviews
February 18, 2021
Les Très Riches Heures Duc de Berry
A page from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, demonstrating the use of colour in the Middle Ages

On Beauty charts the history of the Western idea of beauty from Ancient Greece onwards, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and into the modern era, right up to the 1980s. Eco demonstrates the development of art and the cultural shifts that occurred over the centuries. This volume forms part of a series together with On Ugliness, The Infinity of Lists and The Book of Legendary Lands (which I reviewed recently).

It is hard to choose a favourite part of this wonderful book. But I found the sections on the use of colour in the Middle Ages and perspective in the Renaissance particularly interesting.

On Beauty is teeming with hundreds of paintings by a huge variety of artists, such as Bosch, Da Vinci, Friedrich, Rossetti and Manet. In addition, it includes photographs of sculptures, buildings, illustrations and stills from films, making it a very attractive book. On Beauty was as much about changes in the subject matter that artists chose to depict across time and the reasons behind such shifts as it was about beauty per se. This makes it perfect for anyone interested in the history of art more generally.

The book also contains hundreds of extracts from a wide range of writers including Sappho, Plato, Hildegard of Bingen, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goethe and Wilde. Although these extracts were interesting, they were perhaps too short: it was difficult to appreciate these brief snippets of philosophical writings, treatises on perspective, novels, plays, poems and other works. Frustratingly, these excerpts also frequently split the main body of the text mid-sentence. However, this was a minor flaw in an otherwise beautiful book.

On Beauty would be perfect for any aesthete or anyone interested in how Western culture has developed since the classical times. I eagerly look forward to reading its companion volume, On Ugliness.
Profile Image for Jose.
10 reviews
January 8, 2013
Absolutely disappointing. It's just another collection of selected paragraphs and quotes from historical and philosophical essays concerning Beauty and other aesthetical categories like the Picturesque or the Sublime, with some extra explanations. I expected it to be a new essay by Mr. Eco himself, but his presence and touch on the subject approached is almost inexistent or unnoticeable. Plus, a quite expensive book. So, if you're already into History of Art or Philosophy, don't even think about getting this book. Still, it would be unfair not to acknowledge the book's easy style and summarized vision of the topic: useful for people with no further knowledge and a will to learn a bit about this tricky concept called Beauty.
Profile Image for Ioannis Savvas.
339 reviews44 followers
February 13, 2013
Μια εμπεριστατωμένη μελέτη της προοπτικής της Ομορφιάς στο πέρασμα των αιώνων. Μια πανοραμική απεικόνιση της αντίληψης του ανθρώπου για το Ωραίο. Μέσα από την τέχνη και τη φιλοσοφία. Ένα ταξίδι στον τρόπο σκέψης των ανθρώπων για ένα από τα σημαντικότερα αγαθά της ζωής. Η Ομορφιά μέσα από τη θρησκεία, την καθημερινή ζωή, τον έρωτα, τη διαστροφή, ακόμα και μέσα από την Ασχήμια.

Μια καταπληκτική έκδοση των Εκδόσεων Καστανιώτη, με υψηλή ποιότητα χαρτιού και εκτύπωσης, άριστες φωτογραφίες έργων τέχνης και πάρα πολλά αποσπάσματα κειμένων.

Ένα κόσμημα για τη βιβλιοθήκη μας, με την υπογραφή του ανεπανάληπτου Ουμπέρτο Έκο.
Profile Image for Rachel.
427 reviews4 followers
January 27, 2013
Dense.

I had to simply assign myself to get through the book. Though I read the book and made an honest attempt to absorb a goodly amount of the information, I suspect that I missed entire theses in my reading.

One reason is that the writing in supported with both images and text. Before I began the book I thought it was mostly an art historical history of beauty. I didn't realize how great a role writing, especially poetry and philosophy, would play in the theories expressed and discussed in the book. I am an artist and art instructor, but my grounding in philosophy is mediocre and my poetry background is almost nil. I was much better able to understand the arguments and explanations when they referred to art images (those included in the book or those left out) than when they were supported by poetry, philosophy, literature or music.

The writing is very academic and the book is full of both quality color reproductions of artworks and excerpts from many many written works. In the written works context was sometimes limited and this added to my feeling of being lost or confused.

I would expect the book to be used more as a textbook--a graduate level textbook supported by other text, readings and discussions. This is not a light read.
Profile Image for Moshtagh hosein.
356 reviews24 followers
June 19, 2021
من خیلی کتاب های غیر داستانی یی غیر زمان نمیخوانم اما اکو آدم رو وادار می‌کنه پاورقی‌هایش رو هم بخونه
بخشی از کتاب:
‏اکویناس می‌گوید برای زیبایی، سه کیفیت لازم است؛ اول انسجام و کمال، چیزهای ناقص چون کامل نیستند، بدقواره و زشت‌اند. دوم تناسب و هماهنگی، یعنی بین بخش‌هایش هماهنگی باشد، مثلا چکش بلورین زیبا نیست، و آخر شفافیت و شکوه و درخشندگی، که درنظر ما زیبا هستند.

‏نورسحرآمیز و شکوه زیبایی‌شناسی رنگ آبی درشیشه‌نگاره‌های کلیساها رادر نظر آورید که بررنگ‌های دیگر غالب است و حسی آسمانی در بیننده ایجاد میکند‏بنا بر مشاهدات در قرون اولیه، رنگ آبی، به همراه سبز، پست و خوار شمرده می‌شد ولی از قرن دوازدهم، آبی به ارزشمندترین رنگ بدل شد


‏فرم تنها راه مواجه ما با زیبایی است، در اصل هیچ مضمون زیبا و زشتی نمی‌تواند وجود داشته باشد مگر اینکه در چگونگی آن توضیح داده شود.

«وقتی از اسکار وایلد راجب وجه غیر اخلاقی کتابی پرسیدند پاسخ داد: بدتر از غیر اخلاقی است، بد نوشته شده است.»
(نقل از امبرتو اکو در کتاب تاریخ زیبایی)
Profile Image for Ritz.
124 reviews110 followers
February 11, 2012
Compré La Historia de la Belleza para mi tesis sobre estética. Estudio Filosofía y al momento de hacer una tesis sobre estética creo que ya tengo algo de información al respecto, "por este motivo y sólo por este" no recomiendo el libro; es decir no lo recomiendo si lo buscas con fines de investigación académicos.

Sin embargo, es un excelente libro de refrencia para profundizar con otras investigaciones. Es una aproximación a "la belleza" con un lenguaje muy ameno, directo y simple que no complica su lectura. Se trata de un libro perfecto para mesita de café en la sala de casa, porque está lleno de láminas e imágenes y los textos son bastante cortos, por eso se trata del libro ideal para "ojear" y pasar el tiempo.
Profile Image for Metin Yılmaz.
1,042 reviews113 followers
June 5, 2017
Güzellik nedir ne değildir hakkında kapsamlı bir araştırma Güzelliğin Tarihi. Fakat işlenişden mi yoksa dağınık gibi görünen farklı kronolojisinden mi bilemiyorum bir akıcılık sağlayamadı bende. Yer yer bildiğimiz tanımlamalar ve gerçeklerle karşılaştım. Bazen ise bilmediğim ama tahmin ettiğim bazı doğrularla. Genel olarak ise beklentimin altında ama okumaya da değer bir kitaptı.

Tabi kabul etmek gerekir ki bu çalışmanın çok ama çok önemli bir öğretisi var. Geçmişten günümüze gelindiğinde güzel sanatın nasıl bir sanata evrildiğini daha doğrusu kötüleştiğini gösteriyor.

Kitapta özellikle son paragrafın ilk cümlesini çok beğendim; "geleceğin kaşifi 20. Yüzyılı ve daha ilerisinin kitle iletişim araçlarının ifşa ettiği estetik idealini artık belirleyemez."
11 reviews5 followers
July 22, 2019
Umberto Eco is one of my long term interests. I've learned and enjoyed a lot reading this valuable art reference.
29 reviews1 follower
March 26, 2012
This was a bit of a tough read in that it could be slightly boring at times and also lacked a coherent organization or scheme. True, Eco's main point is that there is not necessarily a theme to beauty, but this nonetheless made it a tougher read.

The included philosophic tidbits were great and well selected, though I felt some added context would have helped overall. The images chosen were great, and almost always helped in understanding the ideas being presented.

Overall, decent, but my biggest problem is that I can't say I've walked away feeling I know much, if anything, more about beauty than I did going in.
Profile Image for Dominika Žáková.
145 reviews475 followers
January 3, 2018
Obsažné, kvalitné, zazdrojované spracovanie. Musím ale priznať, že to bola pre mňa nuda a “len” zopakovanie vedomostí z výšky. Bodaj by som ju ale bola bývala prečítala pred štátnicami z dejín umenia!
Profile Image for Pollopicu.
264 reviews63 followers
November 3, 2016
I got through this book by pure endurance I built by jogging 2-3 miles a day, 4 times a week. Otherwise I wouldn't have made it through. Good thing I have mental stamina. It's gotten me through a lot of difficult times in my life.

I loved Umberto's book "On Ugliness". I gave that five stars, which is the reason I asked for a copy of "On Beauty" for Christmas, so I could have the set, and forever cherish them both. I learned a lot about literature from "On Ugliness". I believe it was one of the ultimate driving forces which inspired me to start reading classic works. So when I opened my copy of the beautifully illustrated book "On beauty" and saw that one of the very first pictures of the book was a nude picture of what our society has been conditioned to recognize as beauty, I was disappointed.
I somewhat expected in this book, the transition of the history of beauty to eventually lead to what our warped over-sexed society has come to consider beautiful, but I didn't expect to open the book to the very first pages and see a modern image/photograph of a topless woman with what seemed like literally painted on black patten-leather boots that went up to her waist. I think that adding this image to the very first pages of this beautiful book was a serious offense, and I was indeed offended.
Other than that, the book was deeply disappointing. It was a tedious bore to get through. I found a driving manual more interesting to read.. I can safely say I got nothing from reading it, and I read it from cover to cover. I guess I'm more fascinated with the nature of ugliness than with that of beauty, since beauty these days seems to be so generic and un-original. Also none of the Art that Umberto chose moved me. Waste of a potentially gorgeous book.
This is hands down one of the shittiest books I've ever read in my life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ricardo Acuña.
132 reviews14 followers
February 5, 2020
Cuando decidí leer este libro, no había leído ninguna de las revisiones. Mi expectativa era una lectura al estilo de Umberto Eco, del tipo si bien estético, también filosófico o semiótico. Sin embargo ya habiéndolo leído, debo decir que se trata más bien de una especia de libro de referencia que cronológicamente recorre el desarrollo de la estética de la belleza a lo largo del tiempo desde los griegos hasta nuestra época. Se enfoca exclusivamente en la estética occidental, griega, romana, europea. No toca la historia de la belleza de otras regiones. En este sentido debería llamarse Historia de la Belleza Occidental. Lo que me gustó mucho es la impresión del libro con una selección de pinturas, esculturas, fotografías y obras de diseño que están muy bien impresas, y que me parecen una excelente selección.

Aunque se trata de una cronología de la forma en cómo se percibe la belleza a lo largo de la historia, la presentación no se va a los detalles, sino que se trata de una exposición muy general que retrata una semblanza del sentir de una época. Se intercalan varios textos originales a lo largo de la exposición del libro de renombrados escritores, filósofos y artistas. Esto me gustó porque captas el pensamiento particular de cada etapa histórica con su particular forma de describir la belleza. Es una manera “semiótica” de expresión directa por así decirlo.

En general el libro me gustó, y si bien a mi parecer no corresponde precisamente a un ensayo, su estilo es más bien narrativo, sencillo y fluido. No entra en discursos filosóficos, ni disertaciones complicadas sobre el arte. Me parece un libro de acceso al público en general y con una calidad impresión que es muy atractiva.
Profile Image for Agnes Fontana.
291 reviews13 followers
February 4, 2016
Umberto Eco a voulu éviter l'écueil du "beau livre d'art" qu'on vous offre, on répond "Ooooh, merci !!", on regarde au mieux une fois les images, puis on le met sur une étagère ou sur la table basse du salon et on le lit jamais... Pour déjouer le piège, Umberto Eco a réduit le livre au format quasi-poche, et en a fait un développement nourri mais resserré autour d'un fil rouge : comme la vision de la beauté a-t-elle évolué au cours du temps ? Proportions idéales chez les Antiques, reflet des valeurs morales chez un Moyen Age qui n'aimait pas le corps, passage de la la notion d'équilibre à l'âge classique à celle de tension vers quelque chose de supérieur et d'extérieur avec la beauté romantique et le sublime inquiétant, puis le décadentisme, la relation de haine puis d'amour avec la machine, la coexistence d'une beauté de rébellion et d'une beauté de consommation au XXème siècle... Livre à trois niveaux avec le texte proprement dit, les nombreuses illustrations, mais aussi les citations de textes du temps, consacrés souvent à l'art, mais le flirt avec la littérature n'est pas négligé... Un très beau travail, assurément. Osera-t-on regretter quelques longueurs, et que le pas vers le vrai livre de poche n'ait pas été sauté jusqu'au bout ?
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