2 comments about Designing for Children.

1. It's a good book to get ideas from but not that great if what you're looking for is theory.



2. For people who don't know much about children this is a good place to start. The book is divided into sections by age groups and lists what we need to keep in mind when creating products for the targeted age. It also has examples of products that are already on the market, in areas ranging from toys to food. I was very pleased with it.

No comments about Antique Trader Metalwares Price Guide (Antique Trader's Metalwares Price Guide).

No comments about Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas: Selected Readings.

5 comments about Art and Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light.

1. This literally exploded my understanding - not only of physics but of the interconnectedness of the brain, intuition, the universe. It may not be possible, as yet to totally understand how the art precedes science but as Dr. Shlian so beautifully illustrates, it does, it does in the same way that myth precedes discovery and sci-fi is preparing us to go into space. This book should be in every classroom in the country if not the world. it is required reading if you wish to be educated. Stupendous. Gift everyone you know with this book.



2. This is a wonderful book, a fantastic read. Those upset with Shlain and think his work twaddle don't appreciate the vision behind his words. Sure, he might not get everything right. Loosen up, science folks. The work is visionary - not proven theory. One thing he talks about that is incredibly fascinating is how the left/right brains of humans evolved. This man has a lot of fascinating things to say. He doesn't need to be perfectly perfect with his facts to interest me.



3. I understand the criticism many people have had for this book. There is some fuzzy thinking here. There is a lot of repetition, a tendency to bend concepts to fit the narrative rather than letting the art and physics shape the argument. Dr. Shlain overreaches here, perhaps trying to say too much about subjects he does not have an adequate grasp of. There is room out there for a more scholarly work approaching the subject of the intersection of art and physics. I'd like to see someone go into more detail about what artists' real grasp of physics has been at any given time, I'd like to see the zeitgeist of the periods discussed better analyzed to truly reveal the larger cultural trends at work and how they relate to both artistic innovation as well as scientific discovery. I think there are profound weaknesses in Dr. Shlain's book.
   
   All of that being said, I got a lot from this book. It provoked a curiosity in me for a large variety of subjects. Dr. Shlain's enthusiasm and curiosity is apparent, and also catching: I went to this site specifically to see what other books on the subject might be around, and what other people had to say and recommend on the subject. I think that is very positive and not to be dismissed. The book is certainly engaging, filled with interesting ideas (even if they are not all correct or entirely logical) and compelling: the basic premise is certainly worth considering, even if it is unclear on what level or to what degree an artistic "precognition" of scientific discovery is happening.
   
   So, would I recommend this? Yes, I would, with the caveat that one should tread carefully and be skeptical...which is good advice for just about anything you read.



4. I was hoping this book would be at the level of Louis Menand's "The Metaphysical Club." It's not. The core ideas grab the reader, but the writing is fuzzy and sometimes plain wrong. For example, on page 180-81 what begins as a fascinating insight into the "primitive" color words, black / white / red, quickly bogs down in error. Shlain claims that "only in the most mature languages... does a separate word for the color blue make an appearance..." Possibly technically correct, but conceptually wrong. "Indigo" has been around since at least Herodotus (450 BC.) I suspect Dr. Shlain is a delightful generalist who has written a book far beyond his knowledge.



5. Being that my day to day occupation involves no thinking about physics in any complex way, or composition of music, literature, sculpting or painting, I feel in some ways disqualified from making certain kinds of assessments about Shlain's book.
   
   I cannot find fault with his understanding of the Theory of Relativity because, quite frankly, I am a physics neophyte. Similarly, I cannot fault his understanding of certain works of art or periods in art history because I am not a specialist in that field either. Some discontents will point out that this makes it possible for me to be hoodwinked into believing something because of my lack of expertise and, more importantly, given that Shlain is also a novice in either field, should automatically disqualify him from talking about something he knows very little about.
   
   If that was all there was to the story, I would agree and I would lambast the book, but this is not the only thing that is at play here.
   
   Many people take umbrage with Shlain for trying to make connections where they seemingly don't exist. Why should anyone believe that H.G. Welles stumbled upon the theory of relativity before Einstein? Why should anyone concede that the rediscovery of perspective in art would bring about revolutionary scientific and social movements? Why on earth should we buy into the idea that Duchamp's famous "Nude Descending Down a Staircase" presaged the advancements made by Feynman? Making connections of this sort is unconscionable, cries the critic, but is it really?
   
   The book is a work of fancy and curiosity. Right off the bat Shlain professes his lack of expertise. You know you're dealing with one man's inquiry into what interest him. Simply put, Shlain is open to wonder. "Is there a connection?" he asks and then he goes on to try to find one. Instead of complaining about him playing a questionable game of connect the dots, why not stop and consider what he is asking instead of what he knows?
   
   Is it not possible at all that the curious and gifted human artist wonders about the things that surround him in the world? Does the curious and gifted artist not question his own place in the universe? And what makes the universe work as it does? Is it really that hard to believe that the rediscovery of perspective (if not brought about) at least presaged the coming of the renaissance? Can we find no proof at all in the world that the rediscovery of perspective in Europe influenced and changed the makeup of the continent? When Shakespeare wonders about the "orbs from whom we are and cease to be" he is not giving a kind of consideration that will also interest other philosophers, scientists and artists? Is it not at all possible that the discovery of the number 0 came directly as a result of a need to represent nothingness or void by writers and artists?
   
   It said that the great books of mankind often talk to one another. This is very true. Every important book talks to Plato's books. All of Shakespeare's works talk to Dostoyevsky's. And every person who's ever wondered about anything at all will find their way into the conversation and discover this vast river of knowledge. Are we so proud as to say that man is nothing but an island? Is one field of inquiry so abstract and one so precise that they are mutually exclusive and therefore one could not have influenced the other? I find that very hard to believe.
   
   And even if Shlain is wrong to conclude that developments in art presaged those in science what he has done here is important for a number of reasons. For one, Shlain makes his arguments gently and the reader is never bullied into believing something he does not want to believe. Secondly, he has written a book for the masses and in this day and age, when most intellectuals write books for each other, that is an important achievement. And lastly, it is a book that raises questions every person should give consideration to.
   
   I, for one, enjoyed the book tremendously and have used it as a springboard or a torch light that is leading me to other artists, scientists and ideas. I hope that you give it a chance and should you find yourself in disagreement with it, be thankful that it at least dares to wonder and challenge.

No comments about The Pleasures of Antiquity: British Collections of Greece of Rome (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in Britis).

No comments about Branding: From Brief to Finished Solution.

2 comments about Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things.

1. I sent this book as a gift, based on the glowing review on this page. My donee/friend wrote: "What a wonderful surprise and delight the O'Keefe book has brought me today! It is indeed something very special, with elegant color illustrations, plus many photos from various times of her life, and biographical details all through the text. There is a wonderful photo of her (by Ansel Adams) -- she wears a dark sweater, and is sitting, sketching, at the rocky entrance to what may be a cave --- and all of her design ideas seem to be there in the photo: her own interesting form, contrasts of dark and light, austerity yet beautiful rhythms....I had no idea what a pathfinder she was, going her own road by interpreting objects in an entirely personal way. Everything has her magic touch. The color plates are excellent." I have her permission to send these comments to you.



2. This is the companion catalog to the O'Keeffe exhibition at the Phillips gallery in Washington, DC, and is a wonderful volume on O'Keeffe whether or not you were fortunate enough to see this exhibition. What impressed me most about the exhibition (and the book) is how intelligently it was put together. It examines O'Keeffe's development as an artist by tracking both her philosphy and her influences, and some rarely shown works were chosen to represent this in the exhibition (and are reproduced in the book). Of all the books on O'Keeffe that I've read, and of all the exhibitions I've seen of her work, this one by far does the best job of explaining both the artist and her work.

1 comments about On the Grotesque: Strategies of Contradiction in Art and Literature (Critical Studies in the Humanities).

1. In this book, Harpham develops his own theory of the grotesque by exploring its history and previous critical works. Since the grotesque is present in many different forms of art it is impossible to present a wholly functional definition. Harpham traces the origins of the grotesque back to our mythic past, as autochthonous mans deal with a reality steeped with myth, in which Nature and Chaos, Will and Logic, Eros and Thanathos, coexist. Harpham applies anthropology, psyhology, religion and literature in his analysis of the essence of the grotesque. The primary references of his own definition are to Leach, Auerbach and Freud. Harpham avoids both the negativity of Kayser and the positivity of Bakhtin that others have related themselves to. Harphams presentation is thorough and interesting and is a logical extention of the traditional views on the grotesque as a dual element of horror/humor. He presents a fresh angle on a difficult subject that has had few serious contributions since Kayser and Bakhtin. This book is an excellent starting point for any study of the theory of the grotesque and should be considered a valuable work in its own right. Harphams own analysis is thoroghly presented and he explores different applications of his theory through the analysis of four literary works: Wuthering Heights, The Masque of the Red Death, Death in Venice and, finally an analysis of Joseph Conrad's works. This also makes it an good tool in further use of the grotesque in other studies.

4 comments about 1001 Paintings at the Louvre: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century.

1. This book has a cover price of 65 Euro or 80 dollars.
   After it was published, the dollar began to weaken.
   So if you buy it AT the Louvre (or anywhere in France) while you're traveling there you'll pay 65 Euro... which with the exchange rate is about 100 dollars!
   
   You're better off to buy it in the States for $80 (or perhaps less here on Amazon) than in Europe!



2. It's stunning to think how much the creators of this book had to leave out in order to confine themselves to just 1001 works in the Louvre, and limit those to paintings. The Winged Victory of Samothrace. The Venus de Milo. The ancient Egyptian collection's Seated Scribe, alertly awaiting, down the centuries, further dictation. The building itself, the 16th century palace of the Louvre on its massive medieval foundations that can still be visited, mysteriously caverned beneath the miles of corridors where the paintings hang.
   
   But the greatest masters of painting are here: Ingres, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, El Greco, Velázquez, Jan van Eyck, Goya, Raphael, Giotto, Hals...Vermeer's Lace-Maker and Astronomer glow from these pages (the latter painting, interestingly, acquired in 1983 by donation in payment of estate taxes). Here one may wonder whether the insightful Van Dyck's Charles I, King of England replaces mere haughtiness in the monarch's bearing with nobility. Rubens' The Landing of the Queen at Marseille, 3 November 1600 portrays Marie de Médicis, about to become the bride of Henri IV of France, disembarking from a ship wearing an expression of wide-eyed utter blankness, surrounded by allegorical figures including typically Rubensian enormous naked females roiling the water below; the picture makes the viewer gasp at his phenomenal technique while perhaps repressing a grin at the writhing cellulite among the waves. Given the crowds that invariably jam the space in front of the Mona Lisa at the museum, you may be glad of a chance to get a closer look at her - how did Leonardo make the painting look as though he'd smoked it onto the panel? - in the book. Contemplating enigmatic wall paintings from Pompeii, you will be drawn into a time in which we partly recognize ourselves, but are baffled by unanswerable questions.
   
   "He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it," runs a line in Shakespeare's Henry V. Through the wars that have shaken France since the Louvre's beginnings, it has hidden its irreplaceable treasures when it had to, and survived. Today it houses such a stupendous collection of art objects that no lifetime of visits could be long enough to absorb them all.
   
   If you've been to the Louvre, you surely didn't see them all, however desperately you wanted to. This large volume will help you revisit and remember the paintings from antiquity to the 19th century that you did see. As for those you may have missed, you'll find here many of those most worth seeing. If you're going to the Louvre for the first time, 1001 Paintings will help you prepare to make the most of your visit. It's true that the more you know before you get there, the richer your experience will be. If you're looking for a gift for an art lover, this would be a good choice.
   
   At its list price of $80, this volume might be regarded as a fairly heavy investment. Available at a discount as you're likely to find it, though, it becomes more affordable. The better color reproductions of paintings are, the more expensive they are to produce; and this coffee table-sized book is crammed with decent full-color illustrations. There are souvenir art books available in museum bookstores from which one turns away in disappointment, the reproductions fall so very far short of the originals. The reproductions in 1001 Paintings, however, come acceptably, if not ideally, close to the original art they represent.
   
   The contents, organized by period and place of origin, include Oriental, Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities; Islamic arts; French, Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and Germanic paintings, as well as those of other Northern schools. The section on Graphic Arts encompasses the magnificent French pastel portraits which by themselves are worth a visit to the Louvre. (Those by Maurice-Quentin de la Tour alone, in fact, are worth a visit.) The section on Decorative Arts, extending the definition of "painting," displays, among other objects, stained glass windows, painted enamels, faience, shields, even ones that may have actually been carried in tournaments, covered with intricately detailed paintings; pictorially carved wooden furniture; and such a bemusing piece as a dazzling Byzantine lidded bowl, dating from the 10th-11th century, which entered the collection of Louis XIV before 1673.
   
   The accompanying essays are readable, instructive and helpful. Too many members of the Louvre's battalions of experts participated to name any here but the editors, Vincent Pomarède and Delphine Trébosc, and the photographer, Erich Lessing.



3. Innumerable paintings from the Louvre are pictured in bright colors on glossy paper catching all their details and shadings. "Painting" is used loosely, so that there are also many rarely-seen works from the famed museum's Cabinet de Dessins (Drawing Gallery) as well as illuminated manuscripts, murals, and works on decorative objects such as porcelain objects and watchcases in addition to the oils, watercolors, gouaches, and others on canvas or paper and usually framed. Beginning with works from the Orient, the organization moving through centuries and across cultures leads to more detailed sections on European paintings by centuries and ends with sections on graphic arts and decorative arts. There are many attractive, voluminous books of art from the Louvre and other outstanding museums. But this one is distinctive for its reach regarding the major genre of painting in the incomparable collection of this leading museum of international reputation. Also, with essays on cultural influences, styles, subjects, and leading painters of the eras and keenly observant, often incisive annotations on each of the numerous works by art historians, the book is especially informative and educating.



4. 
   If a trip to Paris including a day at what is arguably the most famous museum in the world isn't in your plans, this gorgeous volume is an excellent armchair visit. Further, it is a visit you can make whenever you wish with no walking, standing or climbing stairs involved!
   
   Edited by Vincent Pomarede and featuring gorgeous photographs (many full page) by Erich Lessing this volume is as the Preface states "a dazzling printed gallery of works selected both to please and instruct." The volume does, of course, contain many well-known and loved masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa and La Tour's The Adoration of the Shepherds, in addition it also holds lesser known paintings that merit our attention.
   
   Thumbnail captions by various curators accompany each painting often drawing the eye to an important attribute of the work or placing it in appropriate context with other artists and periods. Although I've used "painting" in its broadest term, also included are remarkable illuminated manuscripts, studies, stained glass, pottery, furniture and tableware.
   
   It is tantamount to impossible to describe the wealth of beauty housed in the Louvre and words are also inadequate to described the wonders found in the 576 pages of this exquisite volume. It is a rare book, one that will be enjoyed over and over again as well as by generations to come.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   - Gail Cooke

No comments about Tiffany Stained Glass Windows: 16 Art Stickers (Fine Art Stickers).