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Vintage books on Painting

4 min read

The Pleasure of Painting - Vintage Painting Books

Painting, like many other creative disciplines, is a therapeutic activity. Pleasure can be taken from organising, viewing, conjuring and imagining a piece of art. Painting creates a world of sensory detail, where the eyes, hands and mind are equally employed in their work. The joy of painting can be experienced by everyone, from masters through to beginners, and this wonderful list of vintage books will show you how to access this sensory world!




  1. How to Use Color in Portraits by Merlin Enabnit, Undated

    How to Use Color in Portraits by Merlin Enabnit, Undated

    This lovely painting guide, from the Walter Foster Art Book series, provides useful tips on painting portraits in colour. If you’re not quite sure how to blend your colours for the best effect, then this guide is for you. The artist provided a series of illustrated examples, showing you how to create subtle shades of flesh for your portraits. You can learn how to paint adults and children with realistic colouring and bring your paintings to life. Enabnit also includes helpful tips, encouraging painters to develop their own formulas and to experience to pleasure of painting.



  2. Painting as a Hobby by Adrian Hill, 1961

    Painting as a Hobby by Adrian Hill, 1961

    Painting as a Hobby shows that painting doesn’t have to be a serious pursuit. It can simply be enjoyed as an after work hobby or occasional creative outlet. The book is however incredibly informative. Adrian Hill guides readers through different mediums and teaches beginners the basic principles of painting before encouraging them to develop their own experimental style. He advises on what tools and techniques to use, how to set up indoor and outdoor painting spaces, and how to compose landscapes and still life paintings. Hill is an excellent tutor and his skill as a painter and art therapist is evident in this book. Readers will truly learn to appreciate the joy of painting with Hill as their guide.



  3. How to paint and Draw by Bodo W. Jaxtheimer, 1965

    How to paint and Draw by Bodo W. Jaxtheimer, 1965

    This in depth guide to painting and drawing is the perfect gift for an amateur artist. The author discusses different painting and drawing techniques and shares information about materials, colour characteristics and pigments. Artists are taught how to draw animals, people, plants and architecture, following step-by-step examples of how a painting is constructed. The book shares reproductions of well-known paintings, breaking down composition, technique and colours to demonstrate how they were composed. It is a useful guide for the amateur artist, teaching basic skills while encouraging painters to take joy from their craft.

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  4. European Painting and Sculpture by Eric Newton, 1941 First Edition

    European Painting and Sculpture by Eric Newton, 1941 First Edition

    Eric Newton was an art critic for the Manchester Guardian from 1830-1947 and for The Sunday Timesuntil 1957. As such, he knew a great deal about painting and the pleasure found both creating and observing a work of art. He promoted the work of many artists, including Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash and Henry Moore. In this book, he provides a short account of the development of fine arts in Europe from its early roots to the present day (the 1940s). Newton’s knowledge of art, in particular of paintings, is evident. His book remained a standard text well into the 1960s and can still be enjoyed by artists today.

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  5. Enjoying Painting edited by David Piper, 1964

    Enjoying Painting edited by David Piper, 1964

    The pleasure of painting can truly be understood through this book. The product of a BBC initiative, the book contains twelve personal tributes by various art critics. These talks were delivered at a ‘Painting of the Month’ forum, a space created by the BBC for the appreciating of painting. In Enjoying Painting, each critic discusses a painting of their choice, speaking about the visual aspects of the painting and the impact of this on personal feelings. The reader is invited into this discussion and starts to formulate their own critique. These talks reveal new ways in which the mind can perceive works of art and teach readers how to enjoy the world of painting.



  6. Great Masters in Painting & Sculpture, 1900

    Great Masters in Painting & Sculpture, 1900

    This wonderful four volume collection discusses the life and works of many notable artists such as Botticelli, Correggio, da Vinci and Raphael. Arranged alphabetically by title, the books form an informative and organised history of art collection. The book is known in part for its significant number of female authors, including Evelyn March Phillips and Ethel Halsey. By 1906, the collection had reached thirty-one titles and the four we have here at Country House Library offer just a taste of this magnificent collection. Complete with examples of artists work, Great Masters in Painting is a collection well worth owning if you take pleasure in painting.





Painting for Pleasure at Country House Library

As an artist, even common objects such as a leaf or a grain of sand becomes intriguing. The painter perceives unexpected similarities and differences between colours, textures and shapes. To understand the pleasure of painting, the artist must fully submerge themselves in a sensory sphere. The books on this list can help you, the reader, truly experience the pleasure of painting and enter this creative and imaginative world.


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