image of person or book cover 3775439831115604957.png
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon The Spectacle of Skill : Selected Writings of Robert Hughes selected work   biography   autobiography   essay   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2015... 2015 The Spectacle of Skill : Selected Writings of Robert Hughes
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'"I am completely an elitist, in the cultural but emphatically not the social sense. I prefer the good to the bad, the articulate to the mumbling, the aesthetically developed to the merely primitive, and full to partial consciousness. I love the spectacle of skill, whether it's an expert gardener at work, or a good carpenter chopping dovetails . . . I don't think stupid or ill-read people are as good to be with as wise and fully literate ones. I would rather watch a great tennis player than a mediocre one . . . Consequently, most of the human race doesn't matter much to me, outside the normal and necessary frame of courtesy and the obligation to respect human rights. I see no reason to squirm around apologizing for this. I am, after all, a cultural critic, and my main job is to distinguish the good from the second-rate."

'Robert Hughes wrote with brutal honesty about art, architecture, culture, religion, and himself. He translated his passions–of which there were many, both positive and negative–brilliantly, convincingly, and with vitality and immediacy, always holding himself to the same rigorous standards of skill, authenticity, and significance that he did his subjects. There never was, and never will be again, a voice like this. In this volume, that voice rings clear through a gathering of some of his most unforgettable writings, culled from nine of his most widely read and important books. This selection shows his enormous range and gives us a uniquely cohesive view of both the critic and the man.

'Most revealing, and most thrilling for Hughes's legions of fans, are the never-before-published pages from his unfinished second volume of memoirs. These last writings show Robert Hughes at the height of his powers and can be read only with pleasure and a tinge of sadness that his extraordinary voice is no longer here to educate us as well as to clarify and define our world.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Knopf ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 3775439831115604957.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xv, 667 pp.
      Note/s:
      • Published 17 November 2015
      ISBN: 9781400044450

Other Formats

Works about this Work

What I’m Reading Jonathan McBurnie , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018;
A Verbal Artist of Verve and Insight Peter Craven , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19-20 December 2015; (p. 34) The Saturday Age , 19-20 December 2015; (p. 30)

— Review of The Spectacle of Skill : Selected Writings of Robert Hughes Robert Hughes , 2015 selected work biography autobiography essay criticism
A Verbal Artist of Verve and Insight Peter Craven , 2015 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19-20 December 2015; (p. 34) The Saturday Age , 19-20 December 2015; (p. 30)

— Review of The Spectacle of Skill : Selected Writings of Robert Hughes Robert Hughes , 2015 selected work biography autobiography essay criticism
What I’m Reading Jonathan McBurnie , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018;
Last amended 16 Feb 2016 13:20:29
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X