5 comments about Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It.

1. "Rescuing Da Vinci" by Robert M. Edsel.
   Subtitled: Hitler And The Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art, America And Her Allies Recovered It". Laurel Publishing, LLV, Dallas, 2006.
   
   After borrowing this book from the Plymouth Public Library, I was initially disappointed when I opened the book. It seemed that the book was all pictures and NO text! The book has some 300 pages and I would estimate that there are some 25 full pages of text, including the index and bibliography in the back of the book. Having said all this, it is my opinion, after having read the book that all those pictures were required to tell the complete story.
   
   Page after page, photo after photo, I would find a painting or sculpture that I recalled from my art history classes, which was a long time ago. The book would show the 1940s picture on one page, with a person, perhaps in a period German uniform, "collecting" the item. And, then, on the facing page, often in full color, would be a present day view of the object. See, for example, pages 204 and 205, were Jan Vermeer's "The Artist's Studio, 1665-1666" is displayed on page 204 in black and white and in full color on page 205. This mixture of historical fact and present day view is carried out throughout the book.
   
   The book begins with an explicit condemnation of the Nazi conquest. It is shown that the Nazi Germans prepared rather extensive documents identifying the art works of various nations and earmarking those works for transportation to the Third Reich. This is an amazing example of the arrogance of the Teutonic thoroughness of Hitler, Göring and the rest of the Nazi leadership. Speaking of Göring, it would seem that at the height of the war, his country "cabin, called "Carinhall", probably had more and better art than most museums in the western world. Page 45 records that Göring had a collection of approximately 1700 paintings. Sadly, there are too many pages in the book showing or identifying works of art that had been destroyed or had been lost. Page 285 shows, for example, Raphael's "Portrait Of A Young Man, 1516", which is still missing.
   
   Still missing is the so-called "Amber Room" which was once located in the city of Königsberg in what was once Prussia. There are entire books, available on Amazon, dealing with the lost Amber Room. With the emphasis on the sins of the Third Reich, little notice is taken of the fact that the Soviets stole the entire city of Königsberg, which is now called Kaliningrad. In fact, Kaliningrad is a tiny piece of Russia, (the so-called Kaliningrad Oblast) stuck between Poland and Lithuania. In Kaliningrad, Russian is the official language and the postage stamps are Russian. Interesting.
   
   And, of course, on a more mundane, but very telling level, there are the 5000+ bells that were stolen and the Dutch trolley cars being prepared for reparation to the Netherlands.



2. I have always been a museum addict. If the Metropolitan Museum of Art would let me place a cot somewhere, I would probably take up housekeeping. So, it was extremely rewarding to read this story of how so much of the stolen art from WW2 was found, protected, recovered and finally returned to rightful owners. These "Monuments Men" should all have received medals. The world owes much to them for making so many artistic marvels again available.
   
   The illustrations are quite good. Many are available in other sources but so many, at least for me, were viewed here for the first time. The attempts to protect many objects - e.g., St. Marks in Venice - were also interesting. When I visited there a few years ago I was very appreciative.
   
   Mr. Edsel is to be commended.



3. Excellent book with many historical pictures and historical comments of the war's effect on the art of many countries.



4. I was really surprised by this book. I thought it was going to contain more text but it's really all about the art and the people who rescued it. The result is a very impressive, easily readable 'coffee table' style book that's beautiful and informative. Teachers should grab this up for the classroom and it also would make a great gift for anyone interested in WWII and it's aftermath. I can't say enough about the photos and the story they tell. Bravo!



5. This book shows and tells another side of war. It is the story told in picture of Hitler and his Nazi thugs pillaging Europe and stealing priceless art objects, painting, statures, books, even ancient scrolls then hiding them in caves and bunkers in Germany. What I loved about this book were the photos of US Army units rescuing those stolen art treasures then returned them to the towns, churches and cities. The author has done an exemplary job of finding photos and stories which has made this an important work. Photos I've never seen and story I have never heard about. I think this book needs to be in every high school library in the country. Students need to be shown how our American Army worked to recover all this lost art. His book made me proud to have serviced in the US army.
   
   Thank you for writing this book

5 comments about Hell Beasts: How to Draw Grotesque Fantasy Creatures.

1. "Hell Beasts" by Jim Pavelec represents a book filled not only with original and entertaining illustrations, but with information on many mythological creatures, some not so well known. I enjoy reading about these creatures, and will use the book as resource for my own artwork.



2. Mr. Pavelec's book is an excellent resource for anyone in (or interested in) the fantasy art niche (though, the lessons is just as valid for any type of art, I believe). Though the book is loaded with all sorts of tips about making convincing and interesting creatures, I'd say the underlying focus is on the composition of a figure. Jim displays in many examples how to focus on the primary action or energy of a pose, even if the pose isn't inherently dynamic. The viewer gets to see many paintings evolve from thumbnail sketch to a completed illustration, along with a side commentary about why he makes his choices.
   
   When I was starting out, I would have begged. borrowed or stolen to get my grubby paws on this book. Even as a reasonably seasoned professional, there are still a number of pearls residing between the covers.



3. HELL BEASTS: HOW TO DRAW GROTESQUE FANTASY CREATURES is for any would-be comic or graphic novel artist: it tells how to create and draw monsters, how to make selected monsters even creepier, and how to draw upon imagination to create new monsters. It's a pick not just for graphic novel and comics collections, but for any general-interest lending library reaching out to young would-be artists.



4. This is an extremely well illustrated, and well put together manual on how to draw hellish fanasty creatures. Jim Pavelec's representations of abstract and chaotic beings such as the Demogorgon, Leviathan, and Basilisk (to name a few) are quite phenomenal. His creations are not typical of the common how to draw monsters, dragons, etc.-type books. His hell beasts are one-of-a-kind, carefully crafted works of art. It is very reminiscent of Frazetta. One feature that I especially love about this book is the mythology behind each creature. Jim pulls many of his beasts from Japanese folklore, European folklore, and Greek and Roman mythology, and provides detailed descriptions of their origins. Jim Pavelec is definately a master of his art. I highly recommend this book!



5. I'm not much for the entire fantasy genre and neither do I have the imagination for such macabre concepts. With that being said, let me continue and make you understand why I am writing a review, and a positive one at that!
   
   Jim Pavelec is an amazing artist. I've read instructional art guides before and I never really got much out of them. Out of this one, I received way more than I bargained for! He covers the basics and the tools that you'll need to do what he's about to cover. At the end of the book, he says that he has many inspirations and that it is okay to use that inspiration from other artists to create something of your own. In finding your niche, you can go through many. That may or may not make sense, but it did me a hell of good! I never knew these monsters had names!
   
   It was 18 bucks well spent, thank you very much. It made me want to become an illustrator and offer services to paint nasty aquatic on bathroom walls. I could write another page on how happy I am that I bought this book and the nightmares that Mr. Pavelec's creations dwell in, but I have walls to paint.

No comments about Fabric Science.

No comments about The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media.

5 comments about Manga Matrix: Create Unique Characters Using the Japanese Matrix System.

1. Veery good book to ideas and the matrix sistem helps alot to do new (and good) characters, its a big book and worth all the money.
   
   Note: this book is NOT a how to draw book, it teaches how to create characters not how to draw them.



2. This book shows how to combine different elements in creating a new and original character. Beautiful work. Only weakness is not that much step by step instructions for someone wanting to practice this method of character creation. He creates the characters without any intervening steps - just a grid showing what elements he selected and the end result.



3. Make sure you don't just look at the pictures and you'll learn plenty from this book! It does a great job of breaking down parts of the body to help you think how to combine different things to combine unique characters. If you are only looking to copy drawings, this is not for you. But if you are serious about creating your own characters this is tremendously helpful. The art in the book are certainly of high quality, but the process that it takes you through to understand how to effectively create character is extremely helpful.
   
   I have a bunch of other famous "how to draw" books, but this really goes beyond how to draw to what to draw. This is not for beginners to quickly learn how to draw something impressive, but for serious artists who really want to explore their own creativity with a tour guide. Loving it, and so worth rereading too!



4. The main purpose of this book is to systematically pre-design your characters and do it in a way that is logical, formulaic and archetypically sound.
   I almost wrote that I didn't think it was 'for beginners', but thought the better of it when I remembered those that inspired me in my youth and younger days... They were not giving me 'step by step' instruction, instead they inspired me by their work instilling in me the desire to do my own work, and to imagine.
   What Tsukamoto-san has done here is just that, with the added benefit of laying out a methodology of creation. I can see this of greatest benefit to those starting out who have various characters laid out in the scheme, but who lack the skills to 'invent' the soul of that character. This book is to explain and punctuate that skill.
   When first I paged through after opening my mailer envelope from Amazon... my initial impression was the flash of inspiration I got when I first (in the early 1970's) saw the work of Brian Froude... or when I was perusing the works of Roger Dean or Frank Frazetta or Boris Vallejo... or reading over and over again the works of jean Giraude's (Who created work under the name Moebius) "The Air Tight Garage" in Metal Hurlant.
   Not to mention Fred Schrier or Dave Sheridan's spectacular works of wonder. It is that that makes me say to who ever takes the time to read this review, please do yourself a favor, get this book. Keep it by your desktop, close at hand and read it in the still of the evening when you want to dream, or in the heat of creation when you need to find that one thing to fill the gap. It is that good! Even though the mythologies are primarily 'foreign' (being from the ancient Shinto and archaic Japanese cultures, though not completely!) to the western mind, maybe it will inspire 'aspiring artists' to plunge into studies of ancient cultures of their own ancestry! It is a wonderfully presented book.
   And to those who have been out there for a bit I would say, "YES! It is worth the price!"
   I give it 'two thumbs up"!



5. just got this book and i looked through it. its very great to look at thats for sure.
   after reading a few pages and understanding the proccess that he uses to make unique characters, you can see how you'd never run out of ideas for interesting creatures.
   For example, you take a Dog and add a female and you'd have a humanoid dog. you take a female and then add the dog, you have a girl with a few dog features like ears, tail, nose etc. and of course you have an unlimited ammount of combinations like a Robot-Tiger-Female-Cactus combo.
   In the book theres tons of examples. there are some hideous creatures as well that look amazing, like an giraff-ostrish-carp(fish)-cactus creature that looks weird but you can clearly see that theres trillions of creatures that can be created as well as humans and humanoids.
   
   while its not for complete beginners, i'd suggest that a beginner gets it anyway so that they have something to be inspired by.

5 comments about Pencil Magic.

1. Too much time and space is spent on discussing materials. The author's drawing style is excellent. I would like to draw like that too, but this book would never get me there. Perhaps the very utmost beginner who needs to know the difference between a #2 pencil and #3 the book could be inspirational. It does not reach far enough for the advancing student of art.



2. If you are into pencil and Landscapes, this is the book for you. Very helpful



3. This is an excellent book for the beginner. It covers materials, perspective, techniques, and has excellent examples. I bought several different "learn to draw with pencil" books at the same time from different authors, because they all have different techniques. This is my favorite.



4. This book really help to learn drawing with pencil. HaS many examples on how to do it.



5. I love the more detailed drawings seen in this book. Alot of pencil drawing technique books look dark and smudged. Phil Metzger has used a wonderful talent to help others. I generally try to be more photorealistic in the pictures I draw in pencil or pen and ink and this book was one of the most helpful I have found. Buy it Buy it Buy it if you really enjoy drawing and want others to see what you were looking at when you drew it.

5 comments about 100 Years of Harley Davidson.

1. This is not only a book filled with beautiful pictures of Harleys but a history of the company and the development of it's product. VERY interesting and FUN to read. I would highly recommend this book.



2. I bought this for my dad for his birthday, the cover is leather bound and the pictures and stories within are in full color and very interesting! This gift is sure to be appreciated by any fan of the Harley legacy, be they simple enthusiasts or hardcore gear heads, they're sure to get something out of it.
   
   My dad loved it, and he's really hard to buy for, recommend highly!



3. This was a gift for my Harley riding son-in-law to be. He loved it and made points as mother-in-law of the year!



4. Perhaps Harley is going to publish an after-market book to correct all of the flaws in this book. Probably in chrome. I originally bought the book hoping to do some resarch on historic color schemes for a new bike, and in that quest I found the book to be quite valuable. Beyond that I found it to be curious that the book was a square format and all of Harley's bike are a horizontal format, so that every beauty shot of the bikes is printed across a gutter. You never get to see a bike in full. It's maddening. That being said, the history of the company and the culture is wonderful and inspiring. The shots from the archives are very well done and the tone of voice is very engaging. I just wanted to see the bikes. It's just like Harley's seats, good looking but kind of uncomfortable.



5. This book is very informative for the avid Harley lover!! This book would help you make an informative decision on which bike fits your lifestyle!! It is a great book to just pick up and flip thru the pages over and over again!!
   
   Billy Wannyn

5 comments about 501 Great Scrapbook Page Ideas.

1. There are alot of creativity in this book. I like most of them and would recommend if you are looking for ideas.



2. This book has several different layouts to get the creative flow going. I would have liked more instructions for the layouts but you can't have it all. It was definately worth the money spent though. I especially like how the layouts are grouped by subject matter. If you are looking for a zoo layout, look under zoo. Its a practical book for practical people.



3. This book has it all!!!! There are plenty of ideas in this book and it has gotten me out of scrappers block many times. I love the alpha order by theme, it is very easy to look up a topic and get an idea. All of my scrapping friends have this book. It is worth checking out :)



4. This is s cute book and has lots of good ideas for layouts. I wish it showed more specific ideas and how to do them. The layouts are really good, and great ideas, but I'd have liked more info on HOW to get the look.
   
   All in all, I'd say it's a good book and worth the buy. I'm a scrapbooker and a book lover, and this is a good addition to my library.



5. I love this book. I have just about every scrapbook ideabook out there by Creating Keepsakes, Paper Crafts, & Memory Makers. This one is a major favorite of mine. It's broken into wonderfully unique sections new inspiration to "think out of the box" while designing my scrapbook layout. The layouts are great, and just the right complexity so some normal jane scrapbooker like me can do them and has the embellishments needed without fancy techniques.
   Also recommended: PET PAGES UNLEASHED by Memory Makers!!!!!

5 comments about Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters.

1. I will just say that this is very helpful for reference to specific part of the human anatomy. Especially the skeletal and muscular diagrams at the back of the book.



2. for us amateaur artists who want inspiration to create great works of art. This book shows the details of the human body and how great artists drew from live and dead bodies as they create the greatest masterpieces in art history.



3. I took an art class at the junior college and the instructor suggested copying the masters to improve drawing skills. I bought this book and copied every picture. Not only did it familiarize me with many artists I had not heard of but, over time my drawing skills improved dramatically. I am now buying collections of drawings of other artists and copying. I highly recommend the book not only as a reference but also to be used to improve skills. I have an engineering background, not art and this helped immensely.



4. Pick up this book if you are looking for a great artistic anatomy reference book. If you are looking for more than reference, however, you might want to look elsewhere. While this book is definitely good, it doesn't give the artist direction in how to draw or depict the illustrations. The text is pretty much straight-forward, usually only noting the parts of the bodies in the images. Second, this book lacks the poetic and great writing of Robert Beverly Hale.

   Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters is more of an extra reference book or a supplement to Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters. In that book, Hale really teaches to the reader whats needed to depict anatomy, what steps the artist must take, gives tips on how to become a great or accomplished artist, why the artists of the past were so good, what mistakes beginners of figure drawing usually make, and sooooo much more. It's pretty much an incredible book to have even if you're not into figure drawing.

   I think Anatomy Lessons would probably be more highly regarded in my eyes had Drawing Lessons been nonexistent. Anatomy Lessons is great for further reference, if thats what you're looking for though. I probably wouldn't recommend anyone to buy this book unless you already own or have thoroughly read and studied Drawing Lessons by the Great Masters.




5. An excellent book on artistic anatomy. Reading this one book has taught me more than some figure drawing classes. A systematic deconstruction of how the masters of artistic anatomy have integrated their knowledge into some of the greatest drawings of all time. The book goes through the drawings of famous artists, categorized by the region of the body on which the drawings are focused, and attempts to explain how extensive knowledge of anatomy has been effectively applied. It touches on how these artists could create drawings which are more powerful than merely a photographic rendering of the model through their use of anatomy.

   Unfortunately, the book is very cheaply bound. Entire leaves have detached themselves from the spine, though I have treated the book very well. My copy has turned into a stack of paper and scotch tape, wrapped loosely in its former cover. Despite that fact, I still consider it worth the purchase.

   I have both this book and "Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters." Both are excellent books, but if you must only buy one, get this one. It is the better of the two.

5 comments about The Lives of the Artists (Oxford World's Classics).

1. A good introduction to Medieval, Renaissance, and Mannerist artists written by someone who lived around their time and had actual contact with some of the artists, as well as personal painting experience. He is, however, colored by his personal relationships with the artists, hyperbolic, and constrained by the Zeitgeist of the era. In exploring the relationships of artist and patron he is able to shed light on their social situation and the constant struggle of the elevation of the art of painting among the liberal arts. In English, some of the grandeur of his writing is lost, and it lacks the poetic ease of the Italian original. If you want a fuller version, I suggest (especially for bilingual speakers) a translation with the Italian original on the other side of the page.



2. No artist, or aspiring artist, should go without this book. While it is sometimes exhausting to read through the author's detailed coverage of the works of each featured artist, it should be considered mandatory reading for artists and art historians -- so that all can see the pillars of art on which civilization is built. The author covers both the works and the private lives of the artists, although I would have personally prefered more emphasis on the personal lives. It would also be very nice to have pictures of the specific works in each bio, so I guess that might be a future book purchase here at Amazon(!) -- a visual reference to Renaissance Art. In spite of those two drawbacks, I highly recommend the purchase of this book.



3. My daughter took Art History and loved this book. She kept it and insisted I buy her a copy so her teacher could have the new ones.



4. This book was a text for a grad school seminar I had. After nearly 500 years, Vasari remains the best "eyewitness" to the lives and works of his contemporary artists. Although he does take some liberties, such as trying to fit many artists into the traditional hero mold of child prodigy/discovered by master/quickly surpasses master, he also gives us a glimpse into the glorious time that shaped so many artistic geniuses.



5. "Do you admire a beautiful tower resounding with sacred sound?
   By my design this tower also reached for the stars.
   But I am Giotto, why cite such deeds?
   My name alone is worth a lengthy ode."
   [From the Live of Giotto di Bondone]
   Classic masterpiece containing selection of lives of famous Italian masters of art, written by their (almost) conterporary. This work is tedious and difficult to read at times (Vasari is describing at length all importatnt works of old masters). But still, this account is valuable for particular details about techniques used by old masters or condidtions under which their masterpieces were created... Kind regards, Mario.