No comments about Landscape with Figures: A History of Art Dealing in the United States.

1 comments about Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collections of Modern Illustrated Books.

1. Splendid Pages: The Molly And Walter Bareiss Collection Of Modern Illustrated Books is a remarkable tribute to the Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, the foundation of the singular and remarkable collection of Book Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art where author Julie Mellby is a curator. Full-color photographs of timeless books along with essays and insights regarding the collection make this a most unique and inspirational artbook showcasing the great books of this impressive collection and their unique illustrations. Splendid Pages is ardently commended to the attention of bibliophiles and academia.

1 comments about Art Bronzes.

1. I bought this book out of the blue, based only on the subject matter promised. I did have to think it, though, as it is indeed quite an investment, and not just something to be dismissed and shelved with a shrug if the material is not what you expected. As a sculptor and art lover, I am always in search of a little boost... Inspiration of sorts... Things that push me towards higher goals. But, finding myself in a third world country at the time (Bolivia), a place where art is at the bottom of the ladder and there is no access to museums, galleries, or basically anything to enrich the mind, I have had to rely on books and only books to fulfill my interests and needs. I have made mistakes, and ended up stuck with expensive books, way below my expectations, but I finally decided to take the chance on this one. Let me just say that, in my modest, but decent personal library on books on art, I have set Art Bronzes at the top of the list. It goes way beyond anything I had expected! If I had received but half of what this book offers, I would have been satisfied! But this book goes all the way! I have been through it countless times, and I always end up with an amazing need to run of and start working on a sculpture! The pictures are beautiful, inspiring, detailed, devided into sections for every taste and need. The writing is above average, short, to the point, and with all that is needed to know on a particular piece. Above all, and going beyond my artistic interests, it is a book for anyone who has ever stood in front of a sculpture and felt something tingle inside them. Art lovers and artists everywhere... This is the book... If no other... Go through it, and you will not be able to set it down... When you finally do, place it anywhere, and I can assure you that whomever takes a glipmse at it, interested in art or not, will indeed start loooking at art, at sculpture, in a whole different light. A real find... A real treasure...

No comments about Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 To the Present Day.

No comments about Miniature Arts of the Southwest.

No comments about Late Victorian Flow Blue & Other Ceramic Wares: A Selected History of Potteries & Shapes (Schiffer Book for Collectors.).

No comments about The Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies Vol. 20).

1 comments about Popular Art Deco: Depression Era Style and Design.

1. Most books about Art Deco rightly cover the fine art aspects of the movement but the authors of this lovely book explore the way commerce used deco styling in mass produced products available on any Main Street. It would be a good few years before an art style was used again to sell things, namely pop art in the mid-Sixties.
   
   Look at the many photographs of everyday items in the book and it is clear that manufacturers copied whatever deco style elements they wanted to enhance the sales potential of their products, at the same time a group of industrial designers where developing America's unique design style, streamline and contributing more elements to be copied, a good example are the three speed lines that popped up on many products.
   
   I think the illustrations in the book are well chosen and they really do cover everyday items in use during the Depression years and nicely the text is broken up with various interesting sidebars like the one on Dolores Del Rio's moderne house or festive season graphics or Deco Mexicana. To compliment this excellent survey have a look at 'Streamline' (ISBN 0811806626) by Steven Heller and Louise Fili, basically a visual book with several hundred examples of everyday graphics. Both books cover so well two exuberant art styles that everyone could share and so were truly democratic.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

3 comments about The Oxford History of Western Art.

1. Why should any art afficiando purchase yet another "History of Western Art" book? Answer: Because this one is thoughtful and user friendly. Yes, electing to present the entire history of Western Art is daunting and often borders on stuffy: Martin Kemp has wisely recodified the presentation to maintain the flow of chronolgy but to this flow he adds the refreshing idea of grouping paintings into similar examples of each period, the effect of which provides entertaining and eye-opening disclosures that have not been readily available prior to this volume. Example: In a section on the Era of Revolution 1770 - 1914 he groups paintings into categories such as 'Romantic Quandries' showing Goya's "Third of May, 1808" with Turner's "Snow Storm: Hannibal Crossing the Alps" and Gericault's "The Raft of Medusa" - combining a study not only of politial content but also of variations in landscape and figure painting. 'Disquieting Images' pairs Goya's "Fire" with Gericault's "Severed Limbs". At the end of this section of the book Kemp gifts us with photographic visions through the stereoptican and progresses through Julia Margaret Cameron's "Lancelot and Guinevere" to Alfred Stieglitz. He ends this beautifully and generously illustrated volume with a fine Chronology pairing artistic events with concurrent events in that time's contemporary world. The book is thorough enough to accompany any art student's passage through the academy, but more important this History is a quick reference, elegantly detailed, to refresh each of us when we encounter that newly uncovered masterpiece in the museums and magazines. Excellent.



2. I have the highest regard for Kemp and a number of the contributors to this volume; this is especially due to the fact that I was once a student of his, and the source of much of my excitement derives itself directly from having listened to his wonderful lectures. This book, however, was a major disappointment in many respects.

   Espousing a new approach to art history which is image based, Kemp has provided us with a text that is filled with glorious reproductions. Alongside the old favourites are many new discoveries, and the inclusion of areas of design and the attention to the history of photography is not just welcome but a breath of fresh air. Yet, there is very little text accompanying the imagery, and a complete lack of architecture.

   Why? Kemp and his contributors don't offer an explanation. Where complicated art require an explanation for the uninitiated, the reader is left with little to rely on. This may be due to the fact that Oxford is currently publishing an excellent series of detailed texts on specific periods and ideas (though not all are that good... avoid the volume on Modernism at all costs), but I would think that Kemp's book should be self-sufficient. It isn't.

   Most of these large volumes are published with introductary art history classes in mind. As a professor, I look to have material which will enhance my teachings. Kemp fails to provide this. I loved looking through the book, but it would be impossible to teach from this, in that little information is provided for an audience who will be mostly ignorant of that which they're looking at.

   Truly, its a beautiful book to look at, and I recommend purchasing it on that basis alone, but don't buy it to read anything substantial. Oxford should think about a second edition quickly if they wish to bite into the market that Gardner, Janson, and Stockstad have established on campuses in this country.




3. It is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To an extent that is true but it also has its limitations. The proper appreciation of art is not a matter of taste or impressions but an intellectual understanding of what a particular work is trying to do. That is as true of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel as it is Mark Rothko's Ochre on Red on Red. To understand a piece of art, one must understand the context that created it. That means both the society the artist lived in and the threads that connect art throughout history. A perfect book to explain that is The Oxford History of Western Art, edited by Martin Kemp.

   Kemp and the other contributors describe the age artists lived in, the motivations for their creations and the technical details involved in the creation of different kinds of art. There is the perfect combination of art theory and history and Kemp is careful not to impose modern prejudices and understandings (theory, techniques, world view) on the past.

   The particular strength of the book is the Renaissance and its weakness may be a longer than necessary examination of the last 200 years (although, unlike earlier ages, there are more areas to cover with the advent of different kinds of art such as photography and splintering of many styles).

   The Oxford History of Western Art is must reading for anyone nominally interested in art, but also religion, history and philosophy. We cannot understand art without understanding the context in which it was created. The flip-side, however, is also true. Our understanding of our world is enhanced when we see it through the eyes of our best artists.

1 comments about Ronson's Art Metal Works (Schiffer Military History).

1. This is one of a series of books by the same author covering "unique" manufactured items including cigarette lighters, ballpoint and fountain pens, and flashlights among others. It is also a collector's price guide. One should read the Introduction and History sections carefully because the rest of the book consists primarily of pictures and captions.
   My interest was piqued when the dust jacket blurb listed hood ornaments. L.V. Aronson started doing business as The Art Metal Works in the 1880's. They are said to have made the first hood ornaments manufactured for sale in the U.S. in about 1909. Since I am helping the San Diego (CA) Automotive Museum catalog its hood ornament collection, and we have one of these, I bought the book.
   Unfortunately only one hood ornament (of several they made) is covered. It is a 1915 Uncle Sam with "America First" emblazoned on it. While I think the author has confused "patriotism" with "isolationism" in his discussion of it, nonetheless it is an interesting piece. But even more interesting is the picture on page 100 of a 1909 Smiling Baby Buddha figurine which became the first U.S. hood ornament, "GOBBO". My source informs me they came in three sizes - large (trucks), medium (cars) and small (bicycles). He owns a complete set. The author informs us that it wasn't unusual for companies to "borrow" figures they (or others) made for one use and change it to another.
   About 1923, GOBBO's head became an incense burner (page 110) with "I am GOBBO - God of Good Luck" inscribed on the side with L.V. Aronson's mark on the bottom. This same inscription appears on the hood ornaments.
   When WWII ended, the various items the company was producing such as incesne burners, bookends, aquarium stands, figurines, etc., were discontinued and the company focused on making cigarette lighters and associated items which were the most profitable,