Hector Obalk's 'Aimer voir': A Pedagogical Guide to Looking at Art

Key facts

• Hector Obalk published 'Aimer voir' with Hazan.
• Obalk wrote bestseller 'Les Mouvements de mode expliqués aux parents' with Alain Soral and Alexandre Pasche at age 24.
• He is a columnist for Elle, television personality, and director of art films for Arte.
• He organized the exhibition 'Ce sont les pommes qui ont changé' at École nationale des beaux-arts in 2000.
• He wrote books on Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp.
• The book's chapters are Anatomy, Physiognomy, Space, Light, Texture, Time, and Narration.
• Obalk uses a camera and computer for close-up analysis, reminiscent of Aby Warburg's Mnemosyne atlas.
• The typography of the book is criticized as ugly.
• Obalk discusses a Vuillard painting's 'scenario' and compares painting to sensual cinema.
• He claims Malevich's 'Realism of a Boy with a Knapsack' is not truly abstract, which is disputed.
• Obalk is moved by hidden zones in female clothing folds in works by Ingres and Botticelli.
• He comments on Tintoretto's novel lighting and cast shadows originating outside the painting.
• His interpretations recall Michael Fried's notion of absorption and methods for identifying works like a Rubens copy of Titian.
• Obalk criticizes historians focused on sources and iconographic interpretation.