mburnamfink's review
3.0
There's something powerful and elemental about portraiture; about meeting another person's gaze across time and space. Similarly, the process itself, the complex dance between the subject, the artist, their actual appearance, what they desire to appear, and the chance that the image captures something of their essence, is also fascinating and powerful. And when portraiture becomes systematized, as it does in the National Portrait Gallery, that adds all the complications of public notability.
There's a great deal of potential in this work. It's a fascinating topic and Schama has the art historical background to pull it off. But only a few sections really gel as a cohesive whole; the first chapter on power, the last chapter on ordinary Britons, some of the asides on caricature and miniature paintings which were carried as a constant reminder of a beloved one. Basically, for an American, what this book needed was more structure and context on about 200 years of British history from 1750 to 1950. I consider myself reasonably well-read and an amateur historian, but I only know enough to sketch an outline of this period, and Schama is so caught up in breathy gossip that I lost track of what he was gossiping about. What could be insightful tends towards a ramble through the British Gallery.
This book probably also suffered because of my tendency to marathon through whatever I'm reading. At a chapter a day, the tone might grate less. Still, lots of beautiful plates and fun words, even if the choice of images in a chapter can be somewhat frustrating.
There's a great deal of potential in this work. It's a fascinating topic and Schama has the art historical background to pull it off. But only a few sections really gel as a cohesive whole; the first chapter on power, the last chapter on ordinary Britons, some of the asides on caricature and miniature paintings which were carried as a constant reminder of a beloved one. Basically, for an American, what this book needed was more structure and context on about 200 years of British history from 1750 to 1950. I consider myself reasonably well-read and an amateur historian, but I only know enough to sketch an outline of this period, and Schama is so caught up in breathy gossip that I lost track of what he was gossiping about. What could be insightful tends towards a ramble through the British Gallery.
This book probably also suffered because of my tendency to marathon through whatever I'm reading. At a chapter a day, the tone might grate less. Still, lots of beautiful plates and fun words, even if the choice of images in a chapter can be somewhat frustrating.
katheryn's review
3.0
I picked this one up because I was in the mood for some non-fiction, and that's certainly what I got. The Face of Britain is a collection of short histories, illustrated by portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, and separated into five thematic sections. It reads almost like a guided tour around the gallery. I enjoyed learning more about some immediately recognisable portraits, as well as about some household names in British art. There were also some enjoyable and moving stories about art and artists previously unknown to me. I think that The Face of Britain would have benefitted from more illustrations, especially as paintings are often described which the reader cannot see, and a more coherent structure. Although it is not surprising that a book with such a sweeping title lacks a strong structure and occasionally resorts to generalisations, it is still disappointing in a book of this size. Ultimately I got what I wanted out of this book, but I think that there was definitely more to get out of the source material.
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