No comments about The Mill and the Cross - Peter Bruegel's "Way to Calvary".

No comments about Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Vol.1.

No comments about More Than Words: Illustrated Letters From The Smithsonian's Archive of American Art.

1 comments about Dog in Art.

1. This book features photos of artworks from many time periods showing dogs. Most of the artworks are realistic in style. Towards the end, there are a few more modern paintings. I wish the author would have included more modern paintings. Anyway, this is a great book to introduce young children to art appreciation.

2 comments about Celtic Design: The Tree of Life.

1. this book delivers.not only from a technical viewpoint,but historically and culturally as well.as a result of reading this book i have gone on to the rest of the series and broadened my knowledge of the celts in general.



2. Unless, you are already familiar with celtic artwork, really familiar, I definitely would not recommend this book. This is definitely not for beginners. Directions are not very detailed. If you can figure out how to do the examples, though, it creates some very beautiful designs.

1 comments about Colored Pencils (Artist's Library series #07).

1. Has good examples for how to achieve different effects. Several use colored pencils along with other media (watercolor or felt pen). My main interest in the book was the four 6 to 10 step examples (including specific colors)to learn techniques using grapes, stawberries, apples and cherries.

1 comments about Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé.

1. When Peter Carl Faberge made the decision to move away from conventional jewelry and focus on the elegant and amusing baubles that were the conversation of their day, he probably never dreamed that his creations would set the standard of objets de luxe for all time. This book is a marvelous compendium of photographs, essays, historical details and commentary by the world's foremost collectors and purveyors of these fantasy creations. Gorgeous photography and rich printing on heavy paper stock make this book a collector's item as well.
   
   Excerpted from the inside flap:
   Alexander von Solodkoff, author of this book and an expert on Russian objects, formerly with Christie's, London, has seen many of the treasured Faberge pieces come up for auction. Here he tells the fascinating story of the rise of the House of Faberge and in particular of Carl Faberge, son of the founder, whom the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna once called "an incomparable genius."
   
   Christopher Forbes, who has himself written and edited several books on the subject, presided over this one, securing enlightening chapters by Paul Schaffer of A La Vieille Russie in New York and A. Kenneth Snowman of Wartski, London, the eminent dealers whose firms helped to form many of the outstanding Faberge collections of the world. A chapter on the reign of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, by historian Marilyn Pfeifer Swezey illuminates not only the subject matter of the Fifteenth Anniversary Egg but also the period and world of Faberge.
   
   A complete catalogue (as of publication time) of the growing FORBES Magazine Collection, a chronology, and a list of Faberge workmasters and their marks make this a useful reference book for the collector as well as a glittering presentation of some of the most dazzling examples of the jeweler's art created in the past century.

5 comments about Drawing the Human Head.

1. I picked up this book while taking a drawing class on portraiture, and I found it to be an excellent supplement to the material I was learning in class. Hogarth takes the reader through the basics of measuring facial proportions, shadow and light planes, and anatomical details that are important to keep in mind when trying to draw realistically. While some of it may seem like overkill at first, with practice it becomes clear how paying attention to such small details (such as the various areas of light and shadow on a nose, or around the eye socket) can help improve one's ability to create a convincing human head in any medium of artwork.
   
   There are reasons to be critical of the book, however. As my art teacher pointed out, Hogarth's illustrations are extremely high contrast, emphasizing light and shadow for teaching purposes much more so than they should be in a realistic drawing. Some sections are more filler than actual useful information as well, such as the "Gallery of Great Heads"; I could have used more detail on taking the anatomical information of the earlier sections and how to apply it to portraiture and creating a specific likeness.
   
   Overall, though, this is one of the better books I've found on the subject and I do find myself using it as a reference when needed.



2. ...A popular, intermediate-level effort- It's definitely *great* for memory drawing, and it's recommended *mainly* for this reason...
   
   In recent decades there have been 3 main teachers in learning to draw heads from memory. For cube-based construction we have George Bridgman. For ball/sphere-based construction we have Andrew Loomis. And for oval/ellipse-based construction, we have the famous teacher of the Dynamic Drawing series- comicbook artist Burne Hogarth. Many of today's Japanese animation & comicbook instructionals are using these very same principles, along with some of the teachings by the Famous Artists School. My current interest is in oval & cube-based construction, and it's exclusively *oval-based* construction that is emphasized in this book.
   For me, the *best* section in this book is the 2nd of its 6 sections- which is oval-construction simplified. It's just 21 pages out this book's 160- but it's actually worth getting if you're interested in drawing from memory. The rest of the book, in my opinion, is mainly filler- to justify an entire book on this subject. In fact, Burne Hogarth's 1st book, Dynamic Anatomy, gives us a *very* brief intro into this exact same oval-based construction, and I think many people will prefer getting Dynamic Anatomy for this reason. I highly recommend getting the *original* version of Dynamic Anatomy- since I'm not a fan of the new, 'revised and expanded' version available today.
   
   Really, the *main* sections in this book that seem interesting to me are that 2nd, 5th, and maybe 6th sections. In the 5th, many different head-types are depicted and compared, including about 30 specific ethnicities- giving this book a somewhat 'international' feel. The 6th section is a 'gallery' of heads as shown in ancient sculpture, as well as more modern western art. It's interesting information overall; just not really necessary in learning to draw heads from memory. In short: For *beginners*, I highly recommend Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm in addition to this. For everyone else, this book is *moderately* recommended.
   P.S. For photo-reference of different ethnicities, check out Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference For Artists; also here on Amazon!



3. I absolutely love this book. I learned a lot from it in a short period of time. Most definately I would recomend it to anyone who has an idea about drawing that is interested in drawing portraits.



4. This book is excellent! This is first and foremost a book on drawing no fat, face composition "blanks" of human face types. This is the most complete basic face composition book out there. Changing this into a certain person comes later on. If you're looking for a book on how to draw certain people, this is not a book for you. If youre merely looking for in depth info on aging this is not a book for you. If you're merely looking for a book on how to draw faces simple and easy, this is not a book for you. But if you have the desire to know what the form is really like, not just lines, this is the book for you. The illustrations are to be understood, not to be copied. This book is for understanding, not remembering. It's logic, not like a phone number. An instant classic.



5. Burne Hogarth takes you through his technique of measuring human proportions. Beware, at times you will feel less like an artist and more like a mathmatician. Hogarths work is better suited to my sculpture than my drawing as he tends to show all the planes in his work as very defined surfaces. For a beginner trying to draw you can do a lot better.

1 comments about Making Love with Light.

1. This book of nature photographs is just what I needed amidst all of the reports of anthrax, terrorism, etc. The essays and photo descriptions (reminiscent of haiku) are inspiring, and photos of nature (especially the rock forms) are incredibly beautiful. Several people who saw the book decided to purchase it for themselves.

1 comments about Idols Behind Altars: Modern Mexican Art and Its Cultural Roots (Economy Editions).

1. This book is of course dated, but it's well wort the read anyways. The Mexican muralists were so deeply tied to Mexico's revolutionary culture that having a contemporary account of their place in society such as this provides a unique source for understanding the relationship between art and society in that period. Later accounts may be more objective, but it's precisely Ms. Brenner's being caught up in the times that makes the book so interesting. She knew all these people and she was in a unique position to describe the movement to the english speaking world.
   The book is very well written. Brenner is a very polished writer. Her prose is very well crafted.
   The downside to the book is that it is written before many of the most important works of artists she writes about were executed. Also her emphases at time to seem slightly askew. For example her chapter on Goitia seems rather odd given the way in which he has become such a minor figure over the intervening years.