BOOK: The Boy - Germaine Greer

Title: De Jongen (The Boy)
Author: Germaine Greer
Genre: Art, History
Publisher: Meulenhoff 2003
Pages: Paperback, 256
Language: Dutch (translated from English)
Rating: 6/10 (text) 8/10 (photos)
Summary: Essay about the different depictions of boys and young men in art through the ages; from the Roman era and the Middle Ages to modern day paintings and statues.

Review
I confess I bought this book because of the beautiful boy on the cover and the promise of more images of glorious men inside. That kind of proves Greer's point about the changed perception of men in art, which is only recently accepted as titillating for women. In the past, art was meant for and made by men, not to arouse but to admire (and possibly inspire). At least that's what I understood to be the main conclusion of this book.
Greer's language is rather scientific and requires a basic knowledge of arthistory. I've only had some arthistory in school and can't really judge her essay based on that, so I won't. I did find the writing a bit messy, but the book is filled with loads of beautiful paintings to compare or simply enjoy.
All in all it took me nearly two years to finish reading the whole book, but only looking at the pictures would have taken me less time and would have probably given me the same amount of satisfaction (maybe even more;).