2 comments about Gay Art: A Historic Collection.

1. Highly recommended to all art lovers. The themes and layouts are well done.
   
   One complaint - at least a few of the artworks could have been printed in colour to enhance the visual appeal of the book.
   
   Otherwise a worthy selection of erotic gay art !



2. Felix Lance Falkon's historic collection of Gay Art was the first and only one of its kind when it was first published in 1972. Happily, Falkon is still around to revise and republish his long-lost classic. In this he is ably assisted by art historian Thomas Waugh, who provides invaluable commentary. Thanks to Waugh, we learn the names of some of the artists, who were "closeted" back in 1972. (For example, only now do we learn that some of the art is by Falkon himself.) The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is because the current political climate has forced the authors to censor some of the art that feature gay youths. What was perfectly acceptable in 1972 is forbidden today. Such is "progress."

4 comments about The Cottage Book: Living Simple and Easy.

1. I finished this book in a day. I found it easy to read and very inspiring. Just looking at the pictures gave me ideas about how I'd like my home to eventually look. Not a how-to or a book offering advice - it's a book to relax with, enjoy reading and use as inspiration!



2. Not so much a how-to book as it is a collection of homes to aspire to, The Cottage Book: Living Simple and Easy's combining of photographic examples and Carol Bass' prose transport the reader right into the cottages and their surroundings, with experiences beyond the visual alone. This is escapism at its asthetic best, a vacation-in-a-book. The title of the book is perfect, as are many of the featured rooms. Highly recommended for those who long to be close to nature and in touch with the past, with beauty all around as well. This is simply the best decorating book I've ever experienced. Inspirational!



3. Fresh and "reader friendly".

   The varied cottages presented by Carol Bass have soul and depth of character. And, they have a usefulness, charm and vitality that makes you want to re-create those kinds of spaces for yourself.

   What does the American cottage, camp or bungalow tell us about what we add to our life when we have a little time to get-a-way? This book gave me a chance to peek into special homes that show a sense of multiple generations beautifully layered into one place at one time.

   What feels very timely today is the bold use of color and the variety of different styles and materials to make a place personal.

   The book is useful in creating a meaningful home.




4. Reading The Cottage Book is a vacation in and of itself. Tons of windowsill sunlight, fresh indigenous flowers, classic patchwork bed quilts, exposed cupboards textured with china patterns from generations past and present, a perfectly positioned telescope, clothes line dried in the fresh air, vintage tablecloths draped over a table offering ice tea and croissants, and porches inviting us to spend a leisurely day enjoying the outdoors--all these things remind us that every cottage has a story worth living! Each cottage in this book is presented as unpretentious and practical, yet bright and beautiful, highlighting the simplicity, comfort, humor, and traditions found there. Particularly unique is the author's note of vibrant color introduced in each cottage room, either through unique fabrics or pieces or furniture. The book demonstrates clearly that the colors around us can have a powerful effect on our feelings and even outlook on life. A touch of vibrant color should be a basic element of any cottage home.

3 comments about And Fork: 100 Designers, 10 Curators, 10 Good Designs.

1. I have a very large collection of architecture and design books including Phaidon's ULTRA huge "Atlas Of Contemporary World Architecture" and never had any problems. I was very shocked at the the binding issue and contacted Phaidon directly. There was never a resolution or an answer if my book was an isolated quality issue. Disappointing.



2. For me as a photo-artist this is a book that really
   inspires me!



3. This book is a very inspiring book on new designers all over the world. It gives every designer a few pages with different products and a short charactarization of his/her work. Innovative use of new materials, surprising products and beautiful photographs. The only thing I would love is more detailed drawings of products and/or constructions.

No comments about Six Stories from the End of Representation: Images in Painting, Photography, Astronomy, Microscopy, Particle Physics, and Quantum Mechanics, 1980-2000 (Writing Science).

No comments about Elmer Bischoff: The Ethics of Paint.

5 comments about Capturing Light in Acrylics.

1. John Hammond's book is an excellent first book for the beginning acrylic painter, but also a fine refresher course for the experienced painter. His emphasis on light - developing tonal values is key to bringing paintings alive. It is a book that is more about how to think, how to see than a to techniques and tricks.
   - J.S.



2. the book is good, and the illustrations and explanations also. it has many landscapes to support the advice and lessons



3. I just received this book and already I can see how the techniques described and displayed will greatly improve the "look" I'm going after. An artist friend saw the book and barely wanted to give it back after thumbing through just a few pages. This book is BEAUTIFULLY illustrated with the talented Mr. Hammond's artwork, but his narrative is so clear and concise that you know his good influences will show up in your own work and improve your own style. This is not a book for beginners, but intermediates will gain so much more and even old pro's can incorporate techniques that will help bring paintings to life through light!



4. I am an artist and painting teacher working in oils, which I love. But, increasingly, I have students who want to paint in acrylics. There aren't that many books out there on the subject, but this clearly explains how to paint in acrylics and achieve the fine art look of oils. It goes beyond, and shows what acrylics can do that oils can't. So, now rather than think there are two mediums, watercolor and oil with acrylics somewhere far below - I now see acrylics as a third medium with it's own advantages and possibilities. This book covers all of the basics that a good book or teacher covers ... color, temperature, value, edges and design. "Capturing Light in Acrylics" should be on every acyrlic painter's shelf ... and maybe the oil painter's and watercolorist's, too.



5. I was delighted to look over the book. It is well written, beautifully illustrated, clear to use. It ranks very highly in my estimation.

3 comments about Bamboo in Japan.

1. There have been other fine books that show and describe bamboo in Japan, both plants and craft, but no other book has so effectively shown how this remarkable plant has shaped a culture in all of its aspects, from the roots of its language, to its cuisine, its art, and its commerce---from the most mundane tools of daily life to the most sublime aspect of art and spirit. Beautifully designed, the book itself is a work of art, with text and photographs woven together in such a way that one finds that one has not simply read a book about a topic, but has become a part of that experience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!



2. BAMBOO IN JAPAN is one of the most exciting and beautiful books I've read in years. During her many years of researching in Japan, Bess discovered that bamboo contributes to every aspect of Japanese life: from architecture to religion, from household goods to children's toys. Bamboo is made into fans, baskets, kites, fences, tea ceremony whisks and scoops; into rakes, blinds, lanterns, spoons, dolls, umbrellas, fish rods, swords, and even into musical instruments such as the eerie, reedy shakuhachi. The book is filled with fascinating facts and anecdotes. Ancient documents chronicle the use of a small bamboo knife that was thought to have magical powers, and so was used to cut the umbilical cord after birth. In the 17th century an ordinance mandated that peasants plant bamboo in order to use the leaves for fuel. Did you know that some varieties of bamboo grow so quickly that one can actually watch them grow? Or that the adult plant is strong enough to support traditional scaffolding tens of stories high, yet delicate enough to be cut into fibers hardly wider than a hair? A Japanese folktale describes a bamboo cutter's discovery of a beautiful miniature princess in a bamboo shoot. Additionally, Bess includes resources for observation and research in Japan and in the US. An internationally known textile and basket craftsperson, Bess has produced a book so vibrant and colorful, it will grow and grow sky high in your imagination.



3. What a pleasure to see the soul of bamboo portrayed with such insight! Many examples of bamboo in use, a feast for the eyes. This book is a treasure of bamboo knowledge.

5 comments about Gaudi: A Biography.

1. I have been obessed with Gaudi from the first minute I landed in Spain a month ago. I have been to msot of his major works and am finding my way to his lesser. This book has been an amazing companion to the journey. It is amazing to sit and read about Park Guell while sitting in Park Guell. The author gives you the entire story of each work, and the social, political, and economical contexts that surrounded Gaudi's works and life. I read the book at fast I as could and now am reading it again. If you want to learn not just about Gaudi but the Modernisme movement and the socio-politics of turn-of-the-century Spain, there is no better book than this one.



2. I recently finished two architectural biographies, Gijs Van Hensbergen's volume on Antoni Gaudi, and Libeskind's book on himself. Neither is especially well-written (Libeskind's is especially dull), but the situation begged comparison. In Van Hensbergen's hands, Gaudi comes across (like his architecture) as generous and spirited, whereas Libeskind (who chose to write about himself) comes across as self-centered and disrespectful. Gaudi's life was spiritually motivated and this was reflected in his deeply moving architecture; Libeskind also pontificates, but it doesn't ring true, and when I was told he used another architect to design his home, it made me wonder how sincere he really is about the ideas he sells to clients. Gaudi was a quiet, humble and modest man; Libeskind is a braggart who writes about developers, other architects and even his clients, with venom and disdain. Gaudi's architecture remains popular a century later; much of Libeskind's work is hated before it is built. I would like to have known Gaudi, but by the end of Libeskind's book, I feel glad not to have met this petty and selfish man. Van Hensbergen's account, despite its flaws, is a welcome addition to the limited accounts of Gaudi's life that are available in English. It is also a refreshing read about a time when architecture was a civic art and beautification for a common good was the norm. Libeskind's book is the worst kind of indulgent self-promotion and I could not recommend it to anyone.



3. Gaudi, perhaps one of the most important architects of the 20th century, has long been in need of a good account of his life and works. This book finally fills the gap in scholarship surrounding Gaudi.

   Gaudi was a Catalan from Barcelona. He sculpted the famous La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and a few other works including an apartment building. He was a modernist and his buildings frequently appeared alive, as if from some fantastical dream, crawling, moving, fluid. He was a genius, on par with Goya(who lived a century before and was a painter). This is a wonderful account of the life and times of Guadi. It explorers his passionate faith and his obsessive qualities. It also looks at his unique designs and revolutionary ideas while exploring the cataclysms and social movements which shook Spain from 1900-1940. A important addition to any collection and of interest to anyone who enjoys art and architecture




4. My title is a quote from Gaudi himself and it is only something a genius could say. Like Bach claiming his work was 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. What clearly comes through in this book is that Gaudi was an extraordinary man - a creator of unique structures and visions.

   I have always felt a fascination with things that seem to have some unexpected, almost alien, aspect to them. In architecture this includes the temples at Angkor and the Hindu temples of India; are these the works of humankind? So it is with Gaudi. Where are the precursors? Where are the followers? Perhaps there are no followers because what he did was so exceptional no-one dares takes the same path. And then there is the man Gaudi as described in this book - he is no less alien; banishing intimacy with women from his life, being absorbed in catholicism, following a rigorous vegetarian diet. I didn't want speculation - I hate that in biographies - but I would have liked more information. For example, why was Gaudi a vegetarian - was it a religious tenet he was following, was it a moral one, was it health-driven?

   Other reviewers have been disturbed by Mr Hensbergens command of the English language. This did not offend me. Perhaps the paperback version I am reviewing had been further edited. But I did find the book slow to capture my attention. Perhaps it was Gaudi and not the prose that finally engaged me - but engaged I was. Another feature that initially annoyed me was the placing of the four sections of illustrations. It seemed to me that I was forever hunting for an illustration for the text I was reading. But by the end of the biography this didn't offend me at all; in fact I grew to love hunting back and forth through the illustrations because as I did so I grew to know Gaudi's architecture better and better.




5. I agree with most of what the reader from Buffalo says about this book: "Poorly written, haphazardly organized and indifferently edited, Gaudi is painful to read and does very little to improve ones understanding of the subject."

   The book IS painful to read, if you love the English language. On the other hand, if you are able to laugh about bad writing, there are quite a few chuckles in the book. For example, van Hensbergen tells us about Graner's demon automaton in his cinema threatening customers with death, and comments: "This was rounded off by realising, after queuing patiently for one of the two ticket booths, that the usher was a dummy." I love the shift from the passive "was rounded off," which points to Graner's plan, to the ticket-buyer's active-voice subjectivity in "realising." Grammatically, of course, it's garbage. Imagistically, though, it's a kind of inspired madness not unlike the idea of a demon automaton itself.

   Van Hensbergen's inadequate command of English grammar provides a constant source of humor. "This was the first time a nation - Catalonia - had connected into the history of a much wider Western culture." He means, of course, that it was the first time Catalonia had connected with that history, a broad but at least defensible claim; but of course what he says is that it was the first time a NATION had done so, which is just plain funny.

   Here's another one that I love: "Built up in the Colserolla foothills on the slopes of Mont Tibidabo, Gaudi looked to the mediaeval Christian fort and the Moorish fortified hisn complex of Al-Andalus for his inspiration." I KNEW Gaudi wasn't born, but fashioned out of pipe cleaners and lizard scales, up on the slopes of Tibidabo! Van Hensbergen apparently believes that it's enough to mention the actual referent of "built" in the previous sentence: Bellesguard.

   But my all-time favorite comes in the third line of the book: "Gaudi, Barcelona and Catalonia were, and still are, eternally intertwined." For sheer malapropist grace, that one is hard to beat. He means "integrally intertwined," of course. He just doesn't care enough about words to notice that "eternally" and "were, and still are" are mutually exclusive. But look at the economy of that oxymoron! The verbs give us the localized temporal reference, which is contradicted by the universalized adverb. And look at the cumulative effect of the verbs: WERE (and are no longer), and STILL ARE (for a while). He could have written "have always been eternally intertwined," but he didn't. It would have been much less powerful that way. The book isn't just badly written. Here and there it reveals a ubiquitous FLAIR for bad writing. (See, I tried to replicate van Hensbergen's oxymoron with spatial reference, and didn't do it nearly as well!)

   The fair thing to say about van Hensbergen's atrocious writing is that he's Dutch, so give him a break. YOU try and write a book in a foreign language, Mr. Reader from Buffalo, see how far YOU get! The real culprits here are the editorial staff at HarperCollins. This isn't exactly a fly-by-night publishing operation. They should hire copyeditors to fix the kind of absurdities van Hensbergen's book is full of. But they're so busy saving money that they don't care. The book reads like van Hensbergen's first draft -- as if nobody else ever looked at it before it was typeset.

   Still, I have to disagree with the reader from Buffalo on the book's ultimate value. True, we need more books on Gaudi. But this one is still useful, especially for someone like me who is planning a novel on Gaudi. Every other book available on Gaudi in English is 200 color plates and a brief and fairly pious biography; van Hensbergen has done an enormous amount of research into Gaudi's LIFE. And yes, you have to laugh or grit your teeth at the bad English, but it is pure unadulterated Romantic genius-worship to claim with the Buffalo reader that "an understanding of Catalanism with its piety, spiritualism, chauvinist patriotism and family values," while "helpful to understanding Gaudi's life," is "not essential to appreciating his work. Antoni Gaudi was a genius. Works of genius communicate themselves. That is all you really need to know admire and love Gaudi's designs."

   If you are determined to treat Gaudi as an untouchable genius whose life is irrelevant to his work, don't read this book. If you kind of enjoy discovering that artistic geniuses are actually human, and fallible, and not a little neurotic, and if you aren't too fastidious with the English language, it's well worth the read.

3 comments about Minimalism: Art and Polemics in the Sixties.

1. A stunning and brilliant book, this is THE essential work on minimalism.



2. This book is already becoming the standard work on the etiology of the movement. Meyer combines a complete mastery of the period's theoretical issues with a sleuth's approach to its historical narrative. Essential.



3. This history of minimalist theory and thought is based on the contention that the question of what constitutes minimalism has remained unresolved since the 1960s. Chapters trace the movement, examine its major qualities, and considers the presence of minimalism as a debate or argument developed in response to works of others.

2 comments about Russian Decorative Painting: Techniques & Projects Made Easy.

1. I am so happy with this book. I am new to this style of painting, and the projects are made very easy!



2. A book by Priscilla Hauser and Boris Grafov which is beautifully presented but I think a beginner would have difficulty with the projects. There are pages dealing with some of the "basics" (such as brush loading, palette preparation etc) which would not be necessry for a painter with some experience. What is helpful to anyone new to the Zhostovo style are the techniques required to paint the leaves and flowers and this is shown in close-up and color very well. There are 10 projects featured and the book finishes with a superb gallery of completed pieces from various collections and these are an inspiration in themselves. The paintings throughout the book are in oils.