About the book
Index of artists
Format
Reviews
To order the book |
ABOUT
THE BOOK
From the jacket
copy:
"This is a book about the
makers of dreams. They have a common sign by which they may be known: they do nothing
which need be done at all. Yet, in an age in which one can believe in nothing at all, they
provide magic."
—From the Foreword
|
In Search of Genius
is an attempt to understand the nature of that magic, to find its roots, and to
examine its creative catalyst. This is a self-defining book. Here, magicians, men around
whom we structure the word "genius" itself, men whose minds have helped shape
the genius of this century, men like Picasso, Cocteau, Chagall, Dalí, and Marceau, reveal
and define the genius that moves them.
More than a collection of
conversations, this is an investigation of creativity—an investigation conducted by
the investigated. Over the course of twelve years (beginning in the early 1960s), William
Fifield spoke with each of these men about his specific artistic processes and about the
nature of creation. Conversation, commentary, structure, and transition mesh
imperceptibly, highlighting the supernatural reality of art, touched by warm personal
insight.
This is a montage from which emerges
the force of genius. Fifield clarifies incisively without seeming to intrude; he organizes
these artistic reverberations until they chime clearly, in harmony; and, as he penetrates
the mask of personality, he creates an atmosphere of accessibility and imparts a sense of
intimacy.
There is an aura surrounding these men
and their names. In Search of Genius examines the aesthetic adventures of its
subjects, seeking to understand and tap the spirit of curiosity and inquiry that lives in
them. |
![[back arrow]](images/arrow.gif){kind=icon}
