3 comments about Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present (World of Art).

1. This book is a very informative. Providing a comprehensive history of performance art. This book gave me information about performance that I never knew before. This book is for a class and I feel personally that this is a very good teaching tool. From Dada to the present it allows me as a performance artist to see what is there before and what is happening now and be even more informed of what my work is all about. This is a very good and informative book.



2. OK, the book was first printed in 1979 and nothing new has been added since then. I would recommend "Outside the Frame" by Robin Brentano instead or Richard Martel's "Out of Action".
   Besiedes, the idea that Leondardo da Vinci made performance art is crap...



3. Goldberg's is an excellent, well-researched, and interesting text that documents the history of a most misunderstood medium: performance art. Proceeding in a sure-footed way from the early, combative, theatrical efforts of the Italian Futurists, then to Dadaism, then on to the dances of Oskar Schlemmer, to the 1960s "happenings", up until the end of the 1980s...Goldberg covers it all. She gives essential and pertinent cultural information that facilitates the reader's understanding of the "how" and the "why" of performance art. This book is a must-have for art and cultural historians, as well as anyone who wants to broaden their knowledge of the key figures and events relating to art of the modern and postmodern eras.

5 comments about Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin.

1. Robert Irwin has lived his life as both a solitary creator and unrelenting seeker to the same consummate degree that only Dante Alighieri, Agnes Martin, Meister Eckhart, Lao Tsu, and a handful of others have sought. If you haven't heard of him, you should read this anyway. Remember, it even took Bach two centuries to get his proper due. Regardless, this book changed a lot for me. I am forever grateful.
   
   Weschler's prose is Irwin's lighting. His book good as this biography junkie has ever read, and he does it in only 203 pages. As I write this, you can buy this book used for the price of a Domino's pizza - that's all i'm saying.



2. If you're an artist, you need this book. Even if you don't like Irwin's work (or never heard of him.) Remarkably, this biography of the most minimal of minimal artists contains no abstruse language, no mysteriously self-important pronouncements, nor even a single reference to any French esthetic theorist. Not only is this written in clean, straightforward prose; you can hardly put it down. It also raises critical, fascinating questions about the nature of art, and of the way we see. I've recommended this book to several people. It's never what they expect. They've always thanked me.



3. *
   
   I am fascinated by the creative process. I am fascinated by physical manifestations born from the spark of an idea. I am fascinated by the complex psychology, rigorous philosophy and simple backbone evinced by those devotees of method. And I am blown-away by Robert Irwin.
   
   My first contact with Robert Irwin's work came in graduate school when a few friends and I drove from Philadelphia to Manhattan to visit the Dia Center for the Arts. There on an upper floor I encountered a truly shocking, yet subduing, experience. Irwin had taken over the entire level and divided into rooms demarcated with translucent scrim. I walked slowly, from space to space, enclosed but not, silent in presence yet bursting with internal applause, and in awe. I marveled at the solidity of light that slid through the Dia's industrial steel windows, tracing its way across two layers of the thin white fabric and gently landing on the concrete floor. My eyes were tickled by the subtlety of color emanating from the vertical fluorescent lights wrapped in gels. There must have been thirty others there at the same time, meandering like ghosts whitened by one, two, three layers of scrim, yet the space was absolutely quiet. This was the first time that I truly understood the word ?perception.? It came in a space filled with exacted simplicity.
   
   Since then I have tried to follow Irwin's work, both past and present, only to find that it is rarely photographed, as the medium cannot do the work justice. However, Lawrence Weschler's biography on the artist is a tremendous piece of writing that will give you much more appreciation for Irwin than any catalog ever could. Weschler spent years interviewing the artist, tracking down collaborators and researching the works. He exhibits an amazing understanding of Irwin's intentions and adds much needed commentary to keep the story straight while tracing the complex and highly personal evolution of the man and his art. From descriptions of Irwin's self-imposed eight month exile in Ibiza, to his two year long rigorous exercise (and again, exile) to create what amounted to twenty lines, Weschler gives us an in depth look at the zen-like disposition of the artist in his search for the perceptual (and hence, not conceptual). Irwin's diligence and rigor will stupefy even those most devoted to their process, and discussion of his material experimentation will act to spur imaginations. Robert Irwin supplies the majority of storytelling, however, and lets the reader in on often humorous tales of the art world from the point of view of a very personable and highly influential artist.
   
   In short, I highly recommend that anyone devoted to design, be it fine art or architecture, read this book. I also recommend that you travel to San Diego to see the first major exhibition of Irwin?s work since 1993, "Robert Irwin: Primaries and Secondaries" at the MCASD through February 23rd.
   
   Note: The installation at the Dia Center was reviewed thoroughly, with an included history of the artist?s work, in an article entitled "Robert Irwin?s Doors of Perception" by Carol Diehl in Art in America magazine, December, 1999, findarticles.com



4. This is simply the best book about art I have ever read. Like other reviewers, I can say that this book permanently altered the way I see the world (and art). Irwin did it and he still does it.



5. I picked up this book in 1984 because it was on a reading list for an Art History class I was taking at Oberlin College. I stayed up all night in the library that night. I couldn't put it down. My mind has never been the same.
   
   I still often think of it,tell stories from it and give it as a gift. I always say "skip the first chapter-it gets much better." If I remember right, the book begins with a description of Irwin's perfectionism when cleaning the engine of his car. I figure that will bore my friends.
   
   I tell my students about Irwin's many years attempt to make the perfect line, to his wife's chagrin and his painting the back side of his paintings because it matters to him. They like the story of the riots that occured in South America due to the disorientation of his discs-concave and convex-the viewers couldn't tell where the wall started and the disc stopped. I have given the book as a graduation present.
   
   I thought about this book at the mechanic the other day. My engine is very, very dirty.
   
   I will never forget,forgetting. Great book.

4 comments about Indian Art.

1. While no expert in Indian art and architecture, I have been studying in this area off and on for about fifteen years. I have not encountered an introductory survey that was more balanced and illuminating. It is also well written and beautifully illustrated. The eccentric reviewer who accorded this book merely one star is obviously carping--perhaps because his or her own work was omitted from the necessarily selective bibliography. The other reviews have all been favorable up to this point, and for a good reason.



2. This is a significant improvement over Roy Craven's colonialist take on Indian art. This book is much more sensitive to the culture of India and its rich amalgamation of Vedic thought, the religion and philosophy of Buddhism, what we now term as Hinduism, and of course, later Islamic influence. Especially significant is the explanation of the narrative sculptural relief panels at Sanchi and Amaravati. Dehejia explains their rich narratives clearly - and what at first appears confusing becomes instead a rich tapestry of imagination. Her explanations also merge style with context; in effect, we understand these panels as they were understood at the time of their historical inception. She rightly de-emphasizes the dynastic and stylistically rigid categorizations that are so predominant in Western scholarship. A worthy and timely text. I highly recommend it.



3. I cannot agree with the previous reviewers. The illustrations may be wonderful, but the text is vague and uninformative. There are some puzzling omissions. Dehjejia wrote a book some years ago on Orissan architecture, but there is only the briefest coverage of this topic (and she does not even list her book in the bibliography. Speaking of bibliography, there are so many important omissions that it would be difficult to list them all. For the general reader, or for use as anintroductory textbook, it would be better to use Craven's by now classic Concise History of Indian Art.



4. Vidya's book is a delight not just for the scope and content of the written material and references, but also for visual pleasures it provides to the users. Indian art is nothing if not immensely varied and rich, and Vidya brings this to the fore. I was delighted to see the way the Madurai Meenakhsi temple was treated, to see its Gopurams teeming with mythological figures and dieties of all kinds : an apt symbol of the diversity and richness of this civilization and of life that it celebrates, for in many ways Indian art is like life : beautiful and confusing at the same time, a buzz of forms , shapes, and materials, all with their own rationale for existence and appeal. Vidya's book tries to a give a very good idea of this, from the earthy Khajuraho to the elegant Elephanta, from the ancient Indo-Greek Gandharan Buddhas to the naturalistic Nayaka. A book to please both scholars and lay readers alike.

2 comments about American Architecture: A History.

1. I'm taking Leland Roth's American Architecture class. I was worried about having to use his book for the class, but it turns out to be a very well written, interesting look at the history of American Architecture. Chapters are laid out in a well thought out manner and the pictures and drawings make for a more engaging read. I highly recommend this book for anyone who would like to know more about the built environment around them.



2. This extensive survey of American architectural history and styles covers works from pre-historic to modern times, covering the major developments which affected American-built cities and towns over a broad period of time. From evolving regional styles to period architecture and the development of urban landscapes, American Architecture: A History provides chapters packed with analysis and interpretation of American buildings and styles.

5 comments about Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts.

1. Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts - does what it says.
   This book will help you create a story and the characters within. I've read other books on storyboarding, but this book should be the one to start with. Then move on to Ron Bluth's - Art of Storyboard & Wendy Tumminello's - Exploring Storyboarding



2. Ms. Beiman's book is exceptional; it not only discusses storyboarding, but also the entire pre-production process, from character design to art direction to using cinematic lighting and camera angles. I'm never boarding without using tonal drawings again!
   
   I'm going to be the Teaching Assistant for the Storyboarding class at UCLA's MFA Animation Workshop in the fall, and I'm going to tell all the newbies to GET THIS BOOK!!!



3. This is a truly wonderful book filled with practical, concrete knowledge about how to plan for an animated production.
   
   In the past, I have seen a few somewhat superficial treatments of similar topics, and I was initially a little bit skeptical of this book. Suffice it to say that my expectations were vastly exceeded. Storyboarding is a central part of animated movie production, and it has finally gotten a definitive treatment in book form. This book is highly entertaining, beautifully illustrated, and really packed with information.
   
   Many readers of my own book Introducing Character Animation with Blender are interested in creating animated movies. I highly recommend that they take a look at this inspiring and informative book to ensure that they get off to a good start.



4. Well written and well organized, "Prepare to Board!" is a wonderful source for learning the ins' and outs of animation boarding.
   
   Nary a step in the process is glossed over or a stone left unturned. I'm quite impressed with the book all around, and have learned a lot about the inner workings of animation.
   
   A definite recommendation.



5. Nancy Beiman's book "Prepare to Board" is a must-have for animators. If you're serious about working in the industry then this book is for you.
   
   The quick little lessons are excellent tools for practice and improving skills. This books helps to increase creativity and really gives great advice. No other animation book has achieved what "Prepare to Board" has.
   
   Nancy Beiman knows the ins and outs of the animation world and you can tell why she's worked on so many great projects - she's the best at what she's talking about. Nancy Beiman is a professional and this book will help you along your path to a career.
   
   If you're not lucky enough to know her and have her as a Professor (or even if you do), then it goes without saying BUY THIS BOOK!

3 comments about Pattern Motifs: A Sourcebook.

1. While the drawings in this book are beautiful, I cannot use this book at all. The back cover states that the images are copyright-free, but the copyright inside the book states otherwise. I e-mailed the publisher and was told that I could only use the images for personal use, not commercial use. As I had purchased this book to create digital scrapbooking supplies to either sell in an on-line store or give away for free, I needed the images for commercial use. I am very disappointed in this because the images are indeed wonderful. If you want this book for personal use, go for it. But if you plan using it for any sort of commercial work, I do not recommend it.



2. BUY-IT! If you are a designer looking for ref books for inspiration, this one and 4000 Flower & Plant Motifs: A Sourcebook are amazing books for inspiration! Cannot stop browsing thru them!!!!



3. This book would be great for anyone who likes to applique. The bold pictures are easy to copy. There are many varieties of designs with these chapters: Stone Age Europe, Neolithic Europe, Mesopotamia, Egyptian, Minoan, Mycenaean, Greek, Chinese, Early Celtic, Barbarian, Byzentine, Romanesque, Gothic, Japanese, and Art Deco. I can also see someone who likes to make their own stencils use this book also.

1 comments about American Art Since 1945 (World of Art).

1. American Art Since 1945 tackles a period of art that is drenched in social and cultural change. Post WW2 art forms are about breaking out, exploring, and defining new forms of creativity & expression. Yet this book is so dry and academic it fails to draw the reader in or excite. Instead the author repeats his few insights over and over and over. Then he repeats what he just said. And then he states it differently yet again. His writing style comes across like an undergraduate's; written with thesaurus in one hand and keyboard (or pen) in the other. The author tries much too hard to sound like & prove he's learned. That said, the book is well illustrated. And the text (style that it is) ties in to the images. But I think that true experts should be able to use accessible, exciting language to make even dry subjects (not this art, for sure!) fun to delve into and read about...this author didn't do that for me.

3 comments about Early Medieval Architecture (Oxford History of Art).

1. The text arrived in good shape, and was just as described. What kept this from being a 5-star review was the sluggishness of the delivery, some 3 1/2 weeks after being ordered.



2. Mr. Stalley has written an excellent piece of work by combining the architecture in the early middle ages with its historical context. The content is entertaining and informative. It starts by describing the origin of the basilicas, their evolution along time and the influence that the medieval society (either royal, secular, or religious) had on both, design and construction, of these outstanding long lasting works.



3. Published last year, this is one of the initial volumes to appear in the extremely good, new "Oxford History of Art" series, which almost outdoes even the recent "Everyman Art Library", which it resembles. Both series are an attempt to make available up-to-the-moment overviews of selected areas of the history of building, sculpture, painting, and photography. Whereas the Everyman series seems to be open-ended, Oxford have divided their survey of world art into categories by area and/or subject, although only a handful of titles have appeared to date.

   Both series are superbly well printed and illustrated; each includes maps, charts, timelines, and bibliographies. What Thames and Hudson's "World of Art" series did well for several decades, these two series are now achieving in a more strictly periodizing form, with greater emphasis on method and, in the case of Oxford, on Theory.

   In both the Oxford and Everyman series, the most fascinating volumes are those which treat subjects broken down or combined in unusual ways. Thus, Alison Cole's "Art of the Italian Renaissance Courts" (l995) seeks to compare Naples, Urbino, Milan, Ferrara, and Mantua--- bringing relative clarity to a topic that most surveys tend to gloss over. Similarly, Loren Partridge's Everyman "The Renaissance in Rome" (1996) treats the Quattrocento and Cinquecento in the Eternal City, chapter by chapter, in terms of urban planning, churches, palaces, altarpieces, chapel decorations, and halls of state--- all in a single volume.

   Before Stalley, the two Oxford volumes I had read were Jas Elsner's "Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph" and Craig Clunas's "Art in China". Both are by younger scholars and are massively imbued with new (politically correct) art history. Yet both books are filled with challenging and brilliant examples and new information. In fact, the China volume is written (like all of Clunas's work) from a perspective that is truly revolutionary in Chinese studies. At the end of the day, both Elsa and Clunas are so skilled, both as writers and historians, that even the jargon of the new art history is eclipsed by the sheer quality of the two works.

   Roger Stalley, Professor of the History of Art, at Trinity College, Dublin, writes clearly, penetratingly, and without jargon. "Early Medieval Architecture" is deftly constructed, and the author claims that his chapters may be read "in almost any order". This may indeed be the case (I read straight through and could scarcely put the book aside). It comes, of course, as no small recommendation that Stalley was a student of Peter Kidson's.

   What makes "Early Medieval Architecture" unique is the editorial decision to relegate the entire topic of "late" medieval building to a separate volume by Nicola Coldstream. Therefore, hardly a mention is made of "Gothic--- the question that Stalley addresses being: "What is Romanesque?" Like its subject the book is suitably austere, yet it is not without personality. The endnotes are unobtrusive, and there is a state- of-the-art Bibliographic Essay. All this is supplemented by some 150 varied and informative photographs and redrawn plans and building sections. There is virtually no attention to sculpture, as befits a scholar whose interests and sympathies are Cistercian; however, there is a sensitive underlying concern with the "language of architecture" itself, such that the book would give pleasure to any working architect.

   Stalley has given us ten chapters starting with "The Christian Basilica", where his subject overlaps slightly with that of the Elsner's book. Appropriately, the argument returns again and again to Rome. The next chapter is an exercise in setting forth the architecture of the Carolingian Renaissance, where light is shed in an area of architectural history that for the novice is more typically hedged with exceptions and speculation. A third chapter pursues the "iconography of architecture" in Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and Jerusalem, as well as lesser-known places.

   Chapter 4 is devoted to secular architecture and is somewhat revisionist in tone. The very fact that such an exercise is provided bodes well for the clarity of Stalley's enterprise, and there are numerous photographs throughout the book that succeed in demonstrating a relationship between ecclesiastical buildings and the architecture of feudalism.

   Chapters 5 and 6 treat, respectively, the patron-as-builder and the builder-as-engineer. In this, the architectural expertise of certain early patrons is stressed, while the engineering argument is soft peddled, in the sense that techniques of vaulting are not allowed to dominate a more all-embracing explanation of the general integrity of the building fabric. As the author reminds us, the story of vaulting has too often been permitted to get out of hand, leading the discussion of early medieval structure well beyond what is warranted by evidence and probably away from what must have been the original aims and concerns of early medieval builders themselves, whether "engineers" or not.

   Chapters 7 and 8 deal with the influences of pilgrimage and monasticism on early medieval building. Here a number of relevant statistics and medieval texts are cited that raise the discussion well above what is ordinarily expected to suffice the undergraduate reader. For example, the names of the seven major services or "offices" of Benedictine communal worship are set out and, where needed, explanation is offered. The discussion of the famous St. Gall plan is commendable in its detail, while the full-page photographic detail of the plan is printed in color to show the use of red ink on parchment. Included here is mention and illustration of the recently restored Cistercian abbey church at Fontenay, which as a caption points out, may reflect the destroyed mother house at Clairvaux.

   The final two chapters are a magisterial recapitulation of the "Language of Architecture", starting off "During the course of the eleventh century a new architectural language emerged in western Europe...", and of its subsequent diversity throughout Europe. In summary, this is an exciting book that matches some of the recent strides forward in early medieval social and political history and provides a superlative discussion of a topic that has rarely been so coherently presented and illustrated in a single volume.

   David B. Stewart, Tokyo Institute of Technology

5 comments about Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers.

1. a close friend of mine loaned me the book on saturday - i read it once on sunday, and again yesterday (monday)
   
   the book is more powerful than i can describe in a review. 5-stars, no-brainer.. read this book!
   
   the orientation is more ideological than demonstrative or critical.. the relative shortage of (delightful!) examples leaves me wanting more. and as much as like loved this book, i would like to read the large glossy version titled "wabi-sabi: for people with ipods, large televisions, and who generally disdain reading" :)
   
   in its existing form, the book is an easy and inspiring read. if you're intrigued by the beauty of a pair of worn-out shoes, the grime of a subway station, the cracks in a crumbling rock, a decaying leaf, etc.. this book may give words, insight and extension to your aesthetic perception. given the relative lack of high-fidelity examples, it may be hard for others to gain an appreciation of wabi-sabi through this book
   
   wabi-sabi is primarily contrasted with modernism, providing a much more useful and forward-focused comparison than against its more classical/baroque aesthetic ancestors - however the comparison does imply an inappropriate (imo) us-vs-them context with modernism. modernism is concerned with the clean, permanent, undistracting, impersonal, etc.. wabi-sabi is about the dirty, organic, distracting and personal. the author positions wabi-sabi as occupying a subset of aesthetics that is *not* modern.. i don't know if this "anti" element is a crucial part of wabi-sabi (?). wabi-sabi would be more powerful to me if it were described only in terms of its own fundamental traits, without counter-reference to other aesthetic ideologies. i find my ipod attractive *and* i find decaying leaves attractive - is it possible there could be more one "good" aesthetic?! the author generally defines wabi-sabi as fundamentally antithetical to modern design aesthetics. for example, on page 9 he writes:
   
   "wabi-sabi - deep, multi-dimensional, elusive - appeared the perfect antidote to the pervasively slick, saccharine, corporate style of beauty that i felt was desensitizing american society. i have since come to believe that wabi-sabi is related to many of the more emphatic anti-aesthetics that invariably spring from the young, modern, creative soul: beat, punk, grunge, or whatever it's called next"
   
   otherwise, i don't know anything about zen buddhism - and the book left me wanting to know more



2. It was not as good as I expected. I would not pay full price for it again, in fact, it did not stay in my collection but was bought by a used bookstore. If you are interested in a philosophical or spiritual aspect of art or writing, look elsewhere. While it is a lovely looking book, the information could have been found online for free. I would have been happier with a small book of Haiku.



3. This book has been very important for me in its ability to explain something that is hardly explainable - more to suggest the essence of Wabi Sabi and let the reader take it the rest of the way. Particularly in the second half of this slender book does the nature of Wabi Sabi come to life. It is a book I will continue to read on occasion, and it sits next to my Tao te Ching ready to be accessed at any time.



4. A good introduction to the history and basic concepts of Wabi-Sabi. It has good examples that are relevant to our culture and lifestyle. I wish it had better photos. But overall I recommend it.



5. This was a great intro to the ideas of wabi sabi. the use of modern art as a reference point is a very constructive way to describe "what is" and "what is not" wabi sabi. I definitely recommend this book for any artist or creative mind.

1 comments about Chinese Art (World of Art).

1. If you, like millions of westerners, have found within yourself an intense curiosity for, and resonance with, the orient, but have been intimidated by the breadth of the subject matter, this book is an excellent way to "get your feet wet." Tregear wrote Chinese Art for the interested reader, not for art critics. Her book is scholarly, insightful, and very engaging. She has done well to write not only about painting and sculpture, but about landscaping, architecture and textiles as well, offering the reader a truly comprehensive survey of this magnificent artistic tradition.