Summer Reading
Readings in the Arts
Visual Arts
Andy Warhol Diaries, Andy Warhol — The artist reflects on his life, creative thinking, and his interactions with movie stars, rock stars, designers, artists, and the who’s who of his time. An insider’s view of the art world.
The Transformation of the Commonplace, Arthur Danto — “Danto proposes art as a metaphor of the common place. Art makes obvious things odd; it paradoxicalizes the ordinary. It defamiliarizes.”
Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother Theo — An interesting selection of Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his younger brother, Theo. He depended upon his brother for money and moral support and these letters reveal his total trust in the unconditional love of his brother. The letters are surprising in their frankness and vulnerability. This is a special opportunity to understand the inner thoughts of a true artistic genius.
An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales, Oliver Sacks — How we see in color and pictures.
Discoveries: Leonardo da Vinci, Alessandro Vezzosi — A convenient but complete biography. Very thorough and very readable. Discoveries: Rembrandt, Pascal Bonafoux. A small art book filled with interesting facts about the complicated life of one of the greatest artists who ever lived. His financial and family struggles are described at the same time as his great artistic achievements. It is a complete biography in a small colorful package.
The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham — A novel that explores how an artist thinks – or how a writer thinks an artist thinks.
Music
The Inner Game of Music, Barry Green with W. Timothy Gallwey — A good book for students who know that they will be performing in front of an audience as it explains how to free oneself from inner obstacles that inhibit true performance and free artistic expression.
Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks — Music occupies more areas of our brain than language does. Explores how humans are a musical species.
This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession, Daniel Levitan — Why do humans create and enjoy music? Answer: evolution, anatomy, perception, computation, critical thinking, creativity.
Joys & Sorrows, Pablo Casals — Autobiography and poignant memoirs by a great musician and humanitarian.
The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures), Leonard Bernstein — The great American composer and conductor discusses the universality of musical language through wide-ranging analogies to linguistics, aesthetic philosophy, acoustics as well as music history. These six talks give new meaning to the word erudite!
And the Bridge is Love, Alma Mahler Werfel — Alma Mahler Werfel’s reminiscences of her marriages to Gustav Mahler, composer; Walter Gropius, architect and founder of the Bauhaus School; and Franz Werfel, novelist.
Letters of Mozart and His Family, Emily Anderson, editor — An intimate look into the life and mind of one of the world’s greatest geniuses.
Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta, Robert Palmer — Palmer traces the odyssey of the blues from its rural beginnings to its international popularity.
Why Sinatra Matters, Pete Hamill — A novelist’s personal and passionate take on the great American popular singer’s art.
Chronicles: Volume One, Bob Dylan — The first volume of the singer/songwriter’s autobiography which explores his early life and influences and his emergence as an artist in the vibrant folk scene in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. 4 Choate Rosemary Hall Choate Reads: A Guide to Summer Reading
Theater
My Life in Art, K. Stanislavski “Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.” — An autobiography of one of the world’s most influential theatrical artists, offering a fascinating portrait of the history of modern acting and the development of the Moscow Arts Theatre.
Stanislavsky On the Art of the Stage, David Magarshack — A must read for all acting students. An analysis of “method acting.”
Chekhov, Henri Troyat — “A superb, intimate portrait of Russia’s greatest playwright.” On the Technique of Acting, Michael Chekhov Michael Chekhov, nephew to the Russian playwright and protégée of Stanislavski, fled Russia in search of artistic freedom during the onset of the revolution. Once thought to be Stanislavski’s most likely replacement as Artistic Director of the Moscow Arts Theatre, Chekhov went on to develop his own process, which uses the actor’s imagination and body, instead of his intellect and emotional memory, to create a role.