3 comments about Superman: Cover to Cover.

1. Superman is an Icon and that is what this book is all about. Superman was the first real superhero, he set the standard for everyone that followed and he continues to set the standard. The covers presented in this book provide a history not just of Superman but of comics themselves. It shows the changes that the man of steel has gone through over the years, it also shows covers selected by individuals involved with the Superman legend and you get to find out what Superman means to them. This is a fantastic book for Superman fans and comic book fans in general, because even if your not a fan of Superman himself, whoever you are a fan of has been influenced by him, and you'll see those influences in the beautiful covers presented in this book.



2. Can you imagine to have in your own hands a selected collection of Superman covers?
   This book has 270 of the must beautiful front pages in the almost 70 years of the character's history. From the original Shuster's art of the 30's and 40's to the amazing Alex Ross' illustrations, the book is like have a time machine to review the best moments of the superhero.
   Plus it have a covers' colection from the people in the world of Superman. The writers, the illustrators, the editors and even the actors who portrait the Superman's Mithology pick their favorite cover and explains their choice.
   This book is a legacy.



3. This is a fun, bright coffeetable book. For the most part, this edition is a great deal lighter in tone and color than it's sister edition, Batman: Cover to Cover.
   
   The editors did an excellent job selecting covers from different decades and genres and even managed to include most of my favorites. One strong asset is getting picks from Brandon Routh, Jack Larson, Marv Wolfman, Richard Donner, and so many people who contributed to the Superman mythos. Kudos!!
   
   Conversely, it's sad that we'll never know which covers Julius Schwartz, Curt Swan, Joe ShusterJerry Siegel, and others who have passed on might have chosen, but excellent choices.
   
   Superman: Cover to Cover also shows how American's culture and society have changed since the fourties, and boy does it show as the fourties have war times colors move unto the brightness of the fifties and the sixties, and then later on to grittiness of the more lifelike Byrne version.
   
   Still, I wish they could have included a few more covers from the sixties and seventies, back when the DC Comics and the Character was on "cheese" mode, but I loved the era and I would have liked to have seen more of the Lois Lane covers from the period where she declared her independence.
   
   With over two hundred covers chosen, it's hard to believe the thousands that had to be passed over for this effort. Perhaps DC will decide to release a Superman: Cover to Cover volume II.
   
   Sincerely,
   
   JThree
   carolyn@dia.net
   

No comments about Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty: Tapestries at the Tudor Court (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).

2 comments about Oil: Horses (HT228).

1. This is basically a how to paint horses in oil book but it shows you how to mix colors and can be used with watercolor. Also shows briefly how to draw horses for paintings. Good book for the money. Worth it in figuring out how to mix breed colors.



2. For starters , the art work is stunning . The information and hints are very easy to follow . The information on anatomy and different breed types are very detailed and well worth the look .
   Karen H

No comments about Self/ Image.

1 comments about The Roads of the Romans (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum).

1. I visited the Getty Villa and their antiquities collection this month. In their bookstore, I was reminded of how many great books about Ancient Rome and Greece have been written with the support of the Getty. This is one of them. It was very thorough yet didn't bog me down in dry academic verbiage. I could easily choose which parts interested me and skip the rest. What I skipped were the descriptions of which roads went where. I was interested in the background of why and how the roads were made and maintained, what rules existed about useage by whom and when. You get a real sense of what life was like for the citizens and slaves of the Roman empire as they all lived their daily lives using these roads. For some reason, I found the fact that Rome had serious traffic jam problems reassuring! This book was chock full of quality photos and contained a few drawings for clearer explanations. It also had a couple of nice, colored maps showing the Roman road system in what is now present day Italy and also the system that stretched across the entire Roman Empire. I have been to several Roman ruins in Rome, Turkey and Syria so have a general interest in the subject but didn't pay too much attention to the paved paths I walked on. I was very pleased to find this book much more interesting than I expected and wish I had paid much more attention to what was under my feet. The book's cover is very attractive and its overall material quality is high. It would make a wonderful addition to the library of anyone interested in Rome or be a great gift to any modern civil engineer.

No comments about Matisse in Tahiti.

5 comments about Japanese Prints (Big Art).

1. I don't really know anything about Japanese artwork or famous artists-I bought this book a couple years ago for the pictures of the Samurai. Because of this, all I can really say is that it is a well laid-out and attractive book full of beautiful Japanese art depicting all kinds of scenes and subjects. It makes a great coffee-table book.



2. Don't get me wrong, the book is well produced, with a lovely dust jacket, and it's inexpensive. However, if you're looking for Hiroshige and Hokusai and the kind of pictures that I in my ignorance associate with that school of art--landscapes, cityscapes and depictions of the natural world--you will be as disappointed as I was.
   
   There are roughly 160 pages of color plates. Great! Except that about 25 of those pages are devoted to the kind of pictures I mention above. The other 150 pagesor so are devoted to depictions of human figures, mainly women as they get dressed and apply makeup. This is an important element of Japanese art, I suppose, but it is one that does not interest me. The cover of the book, which depicts Hokusai's famous tsunami wave in front of Mt Fiji, is misleading in the extreme. Yes that picture is in the book, but as I say, for every such picture there are literally five or six pictures of geisha women combing their hair. Yawn.
   
   I'm no expert in Japanese art; I just happened to see a small exhibit in a local museum, thought it was great, and ordered this book because I wanted to see more. I'm not interested in human figures. If you are, go for it, it's a great book. But if you're hoping for landscapes, koi fish, snowy mountainsides, views of Edo, etc, avoid this book. Or you can look for a copy at the local used bookstore, which is where I'm taking mine this afternoon.



3. This is a really good book on the ukiyo-e art of Japan. The more celebrated of artists are represented, including Hiroshige and his views of Edo (Tokyo), Hokusai's Mt. Fuji work, and Utamaro's geishas. Taschen is always good with its reproductions and the art looks great on the page. There are good essays on the origins and history of the style, along with a glossary to help with unfamiliar terms. This is a very beautiful art form that is represented well in this collection of works.



4. Beautiful reproductions and informative text.
   
   For ten bucks!
   
   A great introduction to the floating world.



5. Taschen's products have always impressed me. The high quality of these art books seems incongruous with their low prices, and most of them are expertly arranged and written. But this overview of the Ukiyo-e phenomenon is especially notable: every one of the exceptional print reproductions featured in this volume is accompanied by an excellent summary of the print's characteristics, as well as the technical, cultural and commercial circumstances in which it was created. This permits the reader to not only marvel at the exquisite, lively beauty of these prints, but to also learn more about the Edo-period culture in which they were first produced and appreciated.
   
   An extensive glossary of technical terms and biographies of every artist whose works are featured here are included; in a pinch, these serve as excellent reference resources. Fahr-Becker's familiarity with Ukiyo-e is exhaustively thorough, almost intimate. If you only have enough space and money to purchase one book concerning the visual arts of the Tokugawa era, this is the one to buy.

No comments about Missing Arms of Venus de Milo: Reflections on the Science of Attractiveness.

1 comments about The Art of Glass: Art Nouveau to Art Deco.

1. Fine pictures with solid historical copy. I would rate "The Art of Glass" five stars if it were't for the exclusion of the glass of Frederick Carder, not only a major contributor to the genre, but designer/maker of some of the most beautiful glass objects of any period ever made.

No comments about Flatweaves of Turkey.