1 comments about Fake? The Art of Deception.

1. In the interest of what accounts for a 'fake' this book offers some good insights and essays. It explores the issues of artist copies, deliberate forgeries, wartime counterfeiting, and historic fakes vs. contemporary. The book gets muddled in its handling of layout and captioning: images are often on separate pages than their captions - and the captions often reference objects that aren't in the pictures. This is maddening when you are trying to visualize the description between the fake and the real object, for most often the real object is not shown for comparison.

1 comments about Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor.

1. Silver in America 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor is a highly readable, well-documented overview of the of the development of the American silverware industry. The author, Dr. Charles Venable, has skillfully woven into this study the historic, economic, and social factors that impacted this industry as well as the influence that the silverware industry had in shaping the social rituals and customs of the era. Venable also provides a great deal of detail on the production, technology, and marketing of silver. This book, although replete with marvelous photographs and illustrations, is not a pattern identication guide and readers interested in such reference material would no doubt be disappointed. For those readers who are serious lovers of American silver this book is must reading and a necessary addition to one's library.

2 comments about Japanese Prints: 16 Art Stickers (Pocket-Size Sticker Collections).

1. I recently purchased a number of items to use in my Japanese scrapbook.
   Most of my purchases have been very disappointing, but this purchase was quite the opposite!
   The stickers were exactly as was shown on the front cover and on-line.
   There are four stickers to a page with the average IMAGE size being 2"x1.5"
   Each image is surrounded by a white border and is labeled at the bottom with the title of the piece of art as well as its author.
   This makes each sticker approximately 1.7"x2.1"
   There were numerous pieces of art included in the 16 stickers.
   None of the images were repeated and they were acid free for scrap booking.
   
   What I liked:
   Great images of geisha and oiran (courtesan).
   Two famous pieces of art containing Mt. Fuji.
   Four images of everyday landscapes with cities, bridges, or window-scapes.
   Coloring was not overpowering and had NO glitter!
   
   What I did not like:
   I need to remove the white borders because they clash with the scrapbook style I use.
   As mentioned by another reviewer, two of the images are a little blurry.
   I did not like "lovers becoming familiar" sticker.
   
   Overall it was a good price of $1.50 from target and the stickers were worth it = )



2. The stickers may be larger than a postage stamp - but not by much. The 4 1/16th by 5 3/4 size quoted is the size of the actual book, and the pages hold four stickers each. For the price I suppose it's decent enough, being acid free and adhesive, but the actual reproduction leaves a little something to be desired. I was upset to find that the reproduction of Hokusai - Kingfisher, Irises and Pinks was blurry. The other included prints are:

   UTAMARO - The Courtesan Hinazuru at the Keizetsuro

   EISHO - The Courtesan Midorigi
   EISHI - A Beauty from the Pleasure Quarter
   HIROSHIGE - Asakusa Rice Field
   UTAMARO - Three Beauties of High Fame
   CHOKI - Hanaogi with Maidservant
   HIROSHIGE - Drum Bridge and Sunset Hill
   HOKUSAI - Peonies and a Canary
   EISUI - Somenosuke of the Matsubaya
   EIZAN - Snow
   HIROSHIGE - Maples at Mama
   SHUNSHO - Lovers Becoming Familiar
   HIROSHIGE - Crossing the Yoroi Waterway
   HOKUSAI - A Favorable Breeze and Clear Weather
   HOKUSAI - Stormy Sea Off Kanagawa

No comments about Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Concise Global History (with ArtStudy Online Printed Access Card & Timeline).

2 comments about The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion.

1. As a visitor enters the nave of the Episcopal church I attend, his gaze is immediately drawn to the stark pentagonal brick wall behind the raised altar, and to the large cross on it with a life-size statue of a crucified Jesus, naked except for the loin cloth about his hips to satisfy the normal decency criteria of the Church. Although we do know that crucifixion victims were stripped of all their clothing, and that the Bible specifically describes the Roman soldiers gambling for Jesus' garments, good taste forbids us to show Jesus naked. Yet there was a time when this was not true.
   
   This book examines the Renaissance period (14th to 16th century) when artists presented Jesus either completely naked or covered by a simple loincloth that accentuated a rigidly erect member. Three hundred beautiful plates show this state of undress of both the baby Jesus and of the dying or resurrected Christ. What caused the artists to break the normal decency codes, asks the author, and he advances various theories to answer his own question. The first half of the book was written in 1983 and is divided into two parts: the main analysis and 39 excursuses (appendices to you and me) that amplify various points made. The second half was written thirteen years later and presents the author's newer thoughts plus a detailed refutation of the arguments put forth by his critics.
   
   The paintings examined in the book relate to three periods of Jesus' life: his infancy, his baptism, and his crucifixion. Those depicting his infancy show a progressive diminution of worn apparel with passing time: in the 12th century Jesus is shown covered completely by a long philosopher's tunic; in 13th century paintings he appears in short child's dresses; and in the next two centuries he is painted either completely nude, or wearing short, sometimes see-through shifts, that are pulled up by either the baby or his mother to reveal his genitals, while the actions of the surrounding figures direct the viewer's attention to them. Whether it is Mary's mother poking at them (in Hans Baldung Grien's "Holy Family" 1511) or a magus staring at them intently (in Monticello's "Adoration of the Magi," c. 1470), or even the baby himself holding or pointing to them, these treatments of a baby's, let alone baby Jesus' genitals seem to transcend good taste.
   
   Steinberg explains it as an effort by the painters to bring to the viewer's attention Jesus' full humanity, and to remind us that as a true Jew he shed his first blood for us during his circumcision. It is, "I, your Creator, have come to share your humanity"; or, "See how I have not delayed to pour out for you the price of my blood." The Magus's almost indecent examination is just an effort to certify the sex or the circumcision status of the child. St Anne's poking, in Grien's woodcut, is explained away as some type of the artist's preoccupation with fecundity and miracle-working spells.
   
   The manner in which the adult Jesus was painted relates to the beliefs regarding original sin held by the Eastern Orthodox and the Western Catholic Churches. The Orthodox Church believed that there was no sex in Paradise, and that there never would be. "God did not need marriage to fill the earth," preached St John Chrysostom. The Church maintained that Adam and Eve had been created sexless and it was only after they sinned that they were endowed with procreative organs. The author presents an 11th century Spanish drawing showing Adam acquiring a penis after he sinned. Since Jesus was not subject to the original sin, he resembled the original man having no genitalia. So this is how he was painted in Medieval times (12th and 13th centuries); during his baptism, or on the cross, he was shown naked and sexless. Since there were no sexual organs to give rise to feelings of shame these naked paintings of Jesus could be freely exhibited in and out of church.
   
   In later years, the Catholic Church in the West was influenced by St. Augustine's theory of original sin. According to him Adam and Eve were created with all their genitalia intact, but after they sinned God punished them by removing from them conscious control of these organs. Instead of performing the procreative act in a calm and emotionless manner, they were now subject to the vicissitude of their lustful emotions; Adam could no longer control the erection status of his member. (Charitably the author did not mention St. Augustine's sexual history: as a young man in Africa he took a concubine and produced a son; then he turned to his childhood boyfriend Alypius; and finally moved to Rome where, with five other friends, he took a vow of celibacy, upon which his concubine took his son and left.) The question then became, how did this affect Jesus since he was not subject to original sin?
   
   Michelangelo's response was "Risen Christ," a work more resembling pagan Greek and Roman works than Christian Church statues, a completely nude Christ holding onto a cross. It seems, however, that Michelangelo was not very interested in this work since he had one of his pupils finish it. Even so, at least seven copies of it were produced during this period, but in all of them Christ was suitably covered. So why did Michelangelo produce such a statue? Before they sinned Adam and Eve had walked naked in the Garden without feeling shame. It was only after they sinned that they became ashamed of their private parts and covered themselves. By this reasoning, since Jesus was without sin he did not need to feel ashamed and cover himself. Most other paintings of the period, however, do not show this much frontal nudity. Although Christ's naked body may be shown removed from the cross, one of his hands is usually placed strategically to prevent exposure. This can be explained, argues Steinberg, by the common belief that a dying man often tends to place his hand on his groin.
   
   Perhaps more shocking to the viewer are those paintings where the dead Christ's loincloth clearly shows a massive underlying erection. In the first part of the book, the author advanced various explanations for this practice: in pagan days the phallus was equated with power; in the Egyptian Osiris myth the erection and resurrection motifs were almost combined. But by the time he wrote the second half of his book the author had come up with his Theory of Penile Erection. Since, according to St. Augustine, after the Fall man lost his ability to control this member of his body, what better way for a painter to show that Jesus is unaffected by the original sin than to depict him in control of his erections. And to dissociate it from any sexual involvement, and thus sin, these erections occur either after his death or during his infancy.
   
   All in all this is a very interesting book that can be appreciated by even non-artistic types like me. It obviously contains much more that I have space to comment upon. The only thing that I failed to understand was another reviewer's description of breaking up with hilarity while reading it. Perhaps it is because I am neither an artist nor a trained theologian but, with the possible exception of Joos van Cleve's "Holy Family" where Joseph is portrayed reading a book with his spectacles on, I didn't see anything particularly funny in this book.
   
   (The writer is the author of "Christianity without Fairy Tales: When Science and Religion Merge.")



2. Several art historians of my acquaintance, experts in the period, say that this is the best art history book ever written. I'm not an expert, but I can say that it's terrific, and one of the few academic books that, at first reading, had me lying on my back on the floor with my feet in the air, laughing hysterically. Steinberg had the audacity to wonder, looking at a Renaissance painting, why is it that Jesus's male member is so, well, *prominent*? Instead of averting his eyes (which is what most of us would do) he started looking for other paintings with which to compare it, and lo and behold, he discovered lots of them where indeed the painter seems to be deliberately *accenting* a part of the anatomy which normally one would expect to be concealed. He concludes that the painters were trying to show that the son of God had become Incarnate as a man in the most literal sense. In that sense, what seems scandalous to us is simply a manifestation of Renaissance humanism.

   Beyond the screamingly funny prose lies a serious argument, about the Renaissance, and the way to do art history. Finally, Steinberg teaches the reader's eye how to look at a painting.

No comments about Arts of the Pacific Islands.

3 comments about Max Beckmann.

1. Max Beckmann edited by Sean Rainbird, published by Tate Publishing in conjunction with the Centre Georges Pompidou and the MoMA. ISBN 0870702416 clothbound, ISBN 0870702426 Paperbound. 296pp, 11.5"x9.75" (29x25cm). - Check these details as Amazon sometimes get their cross-listings for other editions wrong.
   
   The dust-jacket flap describes this as "the first comprehensive English language catalogue on the artist published since ... 1984. It contains new research by German, British and American scholars." The book comprises thirteen essays, including several by practising artists; it concludes with an extensive and detailed Chronology, a Select Bibliography, List of Works and an Index.
   
   The many essays make fascinating reading, some deal with more general subjects or a period in the Beckmann's development including the difficult times of his exile; others discuss perhaps a specific work. There are extensive Notes for each essay. It illustrated profusely throughout in full colour (174 illustrations), including many of the drawings; the images are of a good size with many full page or larger. In addition there are 40 black and white illustrations which include examples of the work of other artists, a few of Beckmann's drawings, and many photographs of the artist. The illustrations run with the text and appear on or close to the page upon which they are discussed, this rule appears at time to be followed so closely that some works appear more than once.
   
   It is a very well produced book; the illustrations are of high quality and reveal the texture of the paint surface and the colours are rich and bold. It is a worthy book providing a broad coverage of the artist, his work and his life.



2. intelligent text and many illustrations, sadly however, none are in color. Beckmann deserves more.



3. This book is the catalogue for the largest Beckmann exhibition ever held, in 2003,at the Centre Pompidou, the Tate Gallery and the Moma. All the masterpieces of this great artist are illustrated and explained, following a clear chronology and putting them in the historical and social context in which they were created. High-quality texts (especially the analysis of Beckmann's influence on contemporary artists like P.Guston)make this an indispensable work. Highly recommended.

2 comments about The Happy Little Book of Labs: A Visual Appreciation.

1. This small picture book functions as a great resource for anyone interested in owning a lab and finding out more about the breed, or as a delightful display piece for owners and devotees of the labrador. The illustrations and photography are the focal points as you flip the pages, but it is a surprising source of valuable information. Place it on a side table and watch as guests, intending to idly scan through the pictures, end up reading it cover to cover.



2. To all the dog lovers out there ( and especially Lab lovers), this book is a must have. Ms Schuckhart really captures the essence of Lab life and lore. Fun to read and look at I found myself chuckling and nodding in agreement at every spread. As a fan of many dog breeds, I can't wait to see more in the series. Beautifully designed as well.

No comments about Art History, Aesthetics, Visual Studies (Clark Studies in the Visual Arts).

No comments about Terry Rodgers: Apotheosis of Pleasure.