1 comments about Egon Schiele: 1890-1918: Desire and Decay (Taschen 25th Anniversary Series).

1. This is another welcome addition to Taschen's 25th Anniversary Series of large, hardcover collections. You get excellent reproductions of many of Egon Schiele's finest work along with Wolfgang Georg Fischer's expert commentary.
   
   Besides the works themselves, I found the most valuable part of the book to be the historical and biographical information. Fischer gives the necessary perspective with which to view Schiele's sometimes difficult work without being excessively wordy or academic. I love academic writing as much as anyone, but I think the intended audience here is not going to want to wade through pages of theoretical discourse.
   
   In addition to the paintings, there are some photographs of Schiele, his family, and his colleagues. After looking at his numerous self-portraits and (especially) the paintings of his wife, it's fascinating to see photographs of them in a casual context.
   
   Schiele's style may not appeal to everyone, but this book is an excellent place to begin your appreciation, especially at Taschen's extremely low price. When you look at all the $3-12k limited edition books they release, it's nice that they remember that poor college students enjoy great art books too!

5 comments about Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross.

1. From story board to stunning completed product, an overview of Mr.Ross' DC comics work, focusing particularly on the big three; Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman, with loving attention to the rest of the JLA as well.
   
   Lots of beautiful 'work in progress to completion' pictures and even a few that never got to see the go light of editors.
   Inspirational for the new painter or seasoned storybook artist - makes quite the case for gouache!
   
   Please note! this is NOT an 'origins' book or even a story, this is meant to specifically address the artwork itself and the processes by which it is done.
   
   By the by, many a comic book irritates me no end with its sexist imagery -this book is a rare exception in supehero comics.
   None of the women are bimboes and the men are, dare I say, as beautiful as the ladies.
   
   For my part, the explanations of the new Kingdom Come versions of the classic DC cast were the finest aspect of this book.
   If you're at all a fan of Alex Ross' incredible way with a brush, you must own this, if only for the most drool worthy versions of beloved heroes.
   
   If you love the classic DC pantheon, you need this book, 'nuff said!



2. Mythology collects the stellar art work of Alex Ross showcasing the worlds finest images of the major DC characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. This book highlights key points of the characters beginnings and evolutions with clear and informative writing. Gorgeously illustrated by Alex Ross coupled with wonderfully laid out design work the reader will find it quite difficult to put down this handsome book.Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross



3. An amazingly illustrated montage of Ross's work. A beautiful book for fans of comic book art and art in general.



4. AMAZING. Totally worth buying. If you like Alex Ross, you will not regret this purchase. The book includes Ross' comments on inspiration, collaborations, thoughts, insights, and much more. Truly inspiring.



5. It's a great work, detailing all the work of Alex Ross in DC Comics. In this book, we get the notions of how he figures out the characters, their concepts and ideologies, etc. Moreover, with this book we can see how the Art is transported from the artist's mind to the paper.
   There's just one book better than this one: it's hardcover version, much more beautiful.

2 comments about The Optical Unconscious (October Books).

1. Kraus's "The Optical Unconcious" is a good companion, as it were, to Martin Jay's "Downcast Eyes." Both discuss the dilema of visuality in Modernist thought and then -whoa - bring out post-modernism just by speaking about the eye and seeing. While Jay gets technical with his notion of "occular centrism," Kraus lets us feel what it means to watch or be watched. Her approach to the male gaze, the fashionable term for good old fashioned voyerism, is that it is natural. Sure, it one can analyse it as a by product of the failure of the industrial revolution to liberate people from work and to bring about more leisure time for the masses (by implication create greater equality - fewer people watching each other in the negative sense). Krauss is right when she insists that looking is a normal, natural occurance in contemporary society. She is also on target about the obsession Americans have with time, and that sight is the quickest method of human understanding. A great book!



2. Through a carefully structured narrative agenda, Rosalind Krauss is able to foreshadow, a compromised and descriptive text, about the contemporary use of the word "understand", specially if applied to the modernist arts and its criticism. Greatly to the advantage of us, lesser audiences, every thesis is exhibited with both academic rigor and narrative richness, permiting thus, the emergence of rich and useful images, powerful to illustrate, vinculate, even sometimes explain, many of the contemporary works of other theorists, that come to the text sometimes to expose, sometimes to poison, the general arguments around modernist production and the understanding of arts. Great for abbandoning oneself into insomnia, it is common to find provocative images, greatly to the advantage of self-involment in the arguments, and to the further underdstanding of the actual state of simbolical exchange, in the present tense. The involment in contemporary thought and debate, and the well constructed historical narrative, provides the text with an surprisingly effective mirror to look at our culture at an compromisingly close viewpoint, in wich many constitutive arguments of contemporary culture today are reflected just as the many of the historical lies that are still at use now at the "explaining" of the artistic pulsions, and its assimilation by the artistic institutions.

5 comments about Dragons (Beyond Projects: The CF Sculpture Series, Book 1).

1. I just recently decided to dabble in polymer clay. I bought a previous book on "how to" and techniques. Then I bought this book. This is not a book for someone who has never dealt with polymer clay. She gives ideas on how to make dragons. As for things on mixing clays, tools, etc you will need to find in another book. After I read the first book I bought, I then read this one. I started and finished my first dragon last night. I used Christi's directions from beginning to end and was extremely pleased on how my dragon turned out. I couldn't believe that I made it myself. Christi's book is very detailed and explains what you need to do step by step. She also adds some humor to it which makes it a lot of fun to read. I highly recommend this book.



2. Christie Freisen/s claying books are entertaining, informative but above all, she encourages you to explore your own creativity and it works. I love all of her books. They are an entertaining read and a great how to books, full of humor and other good stuffs. Keep up the good works Christie....... We clayers here in St Louis, MO love you.



3. Such a fun book! Christi is highly entertaining. Her lovely personality comes shining through Loud and Clear!!! I have a great time pulling out these books and following along with her step by step. I am always very satisfied with the results. And usually I am not a step by step kinda person. I am more of the no rules/color outside of the lines kinda gal but, Christi makes it fun to follow along! I can't wait for the rest of the series. So far I've made a few frogs, a dragon, a sea-horse, and some flowers, vines and foliage.
   
   I recommend the entire series. Even my young nieces and my mother-in-law creating projects from these books!



4. Wow, this book is fun from front to back. I have it on my work table open to a favorite page even if I am not working on "whimsical, small creatures of polymer clay" at the time. It has very good directions and clear colorful pictures. It is "user friendly" and I hope there will be more like it. I would like to have a collection of her books. KF



5. This is the 3rd book I bought of this artist and it was just as much of a joy to read and study as the other 2. Her writing and her instructions make it a real joy to read and study. She really makes learning fun. Isn't that what we would like everything to be?! Fun?
   I wasn't a big fan of dragons until I bought this book. It just might change your mind too!

5 comments about The Acme Novelty Datebook.

1. beautiful drawings...no matter how self critical mr. ware was back in the day. the book really allows the reader into the head of a master illustrator. if you're looking more for a graphic novel, don't start with this one (try his first real freshman work jimmy c, or his ACME novelty library, probably my favorite - you get a real sense of what ware is all about - clean lines, insane, or better put, anal details). anyway, back to this one...great book, if you're a fan of ware, there's no reason not to get this one, and if you're not yet convinced, this is a nice piece just to have - these same drawings and doodles that once inspired ware himself, now get me thinking. love it.



2. I didn't think I would like this one. But after owning everything else the man ever made, I asked for this one for x-mas. Wow! I love it! There are spontaneous portraits of people on the bus, views from friend's rooftops, the rudiments of strips like: God, Jimmy the robot etc...
   If you are a Chris Ware fan YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK! If you are not familiar with Chris, best to start somewhere else.



3. The book is a record of an absolute monster drawing talent!
   It collects tentative investigations, as a scrapbook of ideas and odds and ends. The amazing thing about it is its vitality.
   Anything and everything becomes a source of inspiration and investigation into the nature of drawing. A coffee cup, a telephone in a waiting room, a washing machine, such mundane things seem to begin as notations but are transformed by Ware's observation of line and tone into their inner vitality - much like Van Gogh's peasant shoes. There are beautiful portraits. And beyond the observed notes, the book is positively brimming with characters, mutations, and cartoons from his eccentric imagination. The fantastical musings and the observed notations blend, merge together, separate like DNA strands through the book, adding up to a rich record of creativity



4. I just finished reading this, and it's a real treat. Fans of Jimmy Corrigan or Acme Novelty Library will enjoy drafts of these but expect differences in style. This gives a better look at Chris Ware than his other publications that I've read. You can really feel his frustrations in this work. I reccommend this to both fans and non-fans.



5. If you want to see inside Chris Ware's head, this is the book. There's next to no Jimmy Corrigan or Acme Novelty, just raw sketches of inspiration and internal struggle spanning 9 years of Ware's life (1986-1995). As an illustrator/designer, I found this book to be the most inspirational book I own, and I own many inspirational books. I definately recommend it.

5 comments about Amphigorey Again.

1. I bought this book full knowing It wouldnt match up with amphigorey and amphigorey again, though by no means 'bad' it is certainly not on par with the three it proceeded. I would recommend this to a Fan of Gorey, but if you're a neophyte read the earlier works



2. There's only one master of the macabre. Edward Gorey. This is a fantastic collection for those who find everything he did captivating and a joy to read. I love this. Hunker down with this tome in the Fall.



3. If that description matches something enjoyable, it has to be Edward Gorey's work. This poshumous collection proves that even death can't stop a creative mind of his kind.
   
   Like the other Aphigorey collections, this presents over two dozen short pieces. Some, like "Cat[e]gory", arrive wordless, leaving the reader to assign meaning. Others, including "The Deadly Blotter" and "The Izzard Book," involve wordplay of some kind. In others, "The Admonitory Hippopotamus" in particular, the words seem to clutch theirs meanings closely as they fly by, without dropping those meanings where the reader can find them.
   
   But, even more than his stories (if the term 'story' in fact applies), Gorey's fame derives from his art. Fans of public television's "Mystery" know his style, whether or not they know that they know it: heavily textured pen drawings, people gazing off to the place where they might remember something terribly important, and amorphous little animals doing something mysterious and just a little desperate.
   
   This collection includes an unfinished piece, showing some of the progression from Gorey's pencil sketches to his nervous, distracted cartoons. It's a wonderful addition, and possibly the last, to any collection of this cult-favorite illustrator's work.
   
   -- wiredweird



4. Amphigorey Again is a wonderful addition to the now classic Amphigorey series (the others being Amphigorey, Amphigorey Too and Amphigorey Also).
   Said that this fourth volume is by far the weakest, but that's not to
   say it's bad (remember we're not talking about hacks):Gorey in his less inspired moments is still worth buying.
   There are a number of very short pieces here as well as some wonderful ilustrations but the most interesting pieces are the lenghty ones, even
   though some of them seems like an incomplete draft.
   Amphigorey Again is not the best introduction for those who wants to
   immerse for the first time in Gorey's demented genius but if you are a
   a Gorey addict this volume is ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE.
   
   AMPHIGOREY AGAIN:
   The Galoshes of Remorse (illustration) ==========
   Signs of Spring ================================= ***1/2
   Seasonal Confusion ============================== ***1/2
   Random Walk ===================================== ***1/2
   Category (illustration) =========================
   The Other Statue ================================ ****
   10 Impossible Objects =========================== -
   The Universal Solvent =========================== -
   Scénes de Ballet ================================ ***1/2
   Verse Advice ==================================== ***
   The Deadly Blotter ============================== ***
   Creativity ====================================== ***
   The Retrieved Locket ============================ ***
   The Water Flowers =============================== ***1/2
   The Haunted The-Cosy ============================ ***1/2
   Christmas Wrap-up (illustration) ================
   The Headless Bust =============================== ****
   The Just Dessert ================================ **1/2
   The Admonitory Hippopotamus ===================== ***1/2
   Negected Murderesses ============================ ***1/2
   Tragédies Topiaries ============================= ****
   The Raging Tide ================================= ****
   The Unknown Vegetable =========================== ****
   Another Random Walk ============================= ***1/2
   Serious Life: A Cruise ========================== ***1/2
   Figbash Acrobate (Illustrations) ================
   La Malle Saignante ============================== ****
   The Izzard Book ================================= ***



5. Surely this could not be the last of Gorey whose illustrations highlight television shows, books, and stories better than any other weird, offbeat or just plain strange artist.

5 comments about Designs by Erte: Fashion Drawings and Illustrations from Harper's Bazar.

1. This book shows why ERTE` was so admired and so popular during the 1920's-1930's and beyond.
   
   I have always wanted to see ERTE's drawings from Harper`s because those drawings are what ERTE` was (and is) known for. Well, this large paperback book introduces the reader to some of the exciting and creative designs that ERTE` created and printed in HARPER'S BAZAAR during the 1920's and 1930's.
   
   "WOW", is the word I have to apply to the Harper's drawings created by ERTE`!! His designs were ABSOLUTELY ahead of their time! His designs were completely amazing and creative! Erte's drawings showed the type of clothes worn by famous Hollywood actresses during the 1920-1930's!! (I can visualize Joan Crawford wearing a fabulous Erte` design!)
   
   There are a few colored HARPER`S magazine cover reproductions in the middle of this book, but the black and white line drawings that ERTE` included in the HARPER's magazines are what draws the reader to this book.



2. This book is great. Erte was a genius. I love looking through this book and only wish I could sew some of the fashions.



3. As a designer of embroidery designs, this one was a winner for me. I love all of the publicatins from Dover!



4. Great graphics, imaginative design, fabulous period reference. Outstanding in every way!



5. Vogue editor Diana Vreeland once said that no one in the 20th century had a greater influence on fashion than Erte, this desite the fact that he worked for a competitor, Harper's Bazaar. That's an indication of just how revolutionary his work was for the times. Working with virtually no direction to blunt his creativity, Erte published paintings and sketches of ingenious fashions that are as playful and lighthearted as they are luxurious and exquisite. He envisioned modern women (from 1915 to 1926) as goddesses, ultra-chic stars, children of nature, and totally feminine creatures to be adored and exalted. His fashions reflect this, individualistic and charming, colorful and startlingly functional. The 8 color covers and many B/W illustrations show insight into a dimension of fashion that one normally sees only on the show runways: the never-ending well of creativity brought to life by a truly inventive mind unhampered with concerns of marketability. Peruse the illustrations and notice allusions to gardens, paper-weaving, architecture, tennis, various members of the animal kingdom, ceremonial draperies, sailing ships, and flames. Dresses, coats, masks, swimming costumes, sleepwear, and gowns all ornamented with beads, fur trim, sheer draperies, corded lacings, silver embroidery, leather and straw. Practical? Not really. Mass manufacturing? Not in a million years. This is extreme fashion, the stuff of couture, such as would be worn to the salon of writers and intellectuals. Erte loved best to design for the stage, and the drama and fantasy of theater is in evidence in each ornate illustration. Although for 3 years he produced designs for Altman and Bendel in NY, most of his work was strictly conceptual, and many readers of Harper's saved covers and sketches to muse over as they would an art history volume, as evidence of another world. Ignoring fashion trends, Erte generated innovative and outre designs that still amaze and delight those of us who appreciate true originality. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in textile or fashion design, but also to graphic designers, sculptors, and those who really enjoy art for its own sake. This book is, in one word: luscious.

5 comments about Spectrum 13: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art ( (Underwood Books)).

1. Maybe Im kidding myself...but I bought this book on the basis that this book was supposed to represent the best in fantasy art. Unfortunately, what I'm seeing here is a lack of ideas. Strong technique in any work of art can only go so far. I bought this book because I wanted to be inspired. I didn't get that. What I got was a book where most of the pages are devoted to representing things like gnomes, elves, fairies, dragons, demons, psychopaths, robots, etc.--rather than representing worlds or ideas. This is really for artists working from a design standpoint rather than a creative one.



2. Staggering levels of talent in this arcane collection. Contains every imaginable fantasy style and sub-genre.



3. This is a high-quality volume with a wide variety of science fiction and fantasy art from many talented artists.



4. This book really does live up to expectations. Good quality images. If fantasy art is your thing would recomend this book.



5. Este libro es realmente una joya. Si estas estudiando ilustracion, arte, o si quieres ampliar tus horizontes, este libro te servira de ventana tanto para inspirarte como para observar como distintos profesionales del mundo aplican su metodologia y resuelven conflictos de composicion, tecnicas, etc. Son solo imagenes, no hay tutoriales de "como lo hizo", si buscas ese tipo de libros esta no es tu opcion... solo te sera util si tienes el deseo de analizar, y observar por cuenta propia. definitivamente una joya, un profesor en casa.

No comments about College Guide for Visual Arts Majors 2009: Real-World Admission Guide for All Fine Arts, Design, and Media Majors (Peterson's College Guide for Visual Arts Majors).

5 comments about Roman Art.

1. The Ramage's text is considered the standard in its field, and I purchased it on recommendation of my son, who teaches Art History. In my case I wanted to learn about Etruscan and Roman art in preparation for a planned trip to Italy. The book is well-written and has very clear illustrations, and I anticipate extra enjoyment of my vacation next Spring from having learned about this important cultural history.



2. I'm taking a Roman Art Course and it's an excellent text to start, great images and easy to understand information. I thought it was not going to be in the perfect conditions it came. I feel very satisfied :D



3. I wanted to refresh on a Roman Art History course I took in college, because I'll be going to Italy soon and wanted to remember all the great things I learned in that class. I found this book and it is identical to the book I study years ago. I'm extremely excited I've found this book. And it has brought back all those things I have forgotten about the history of Art is Roman.



4. "Roman Art" is easily one of the best art history books I have ever read. What really sets it apart is the writing style - rather than being dry and stuffy, the language is very clear, understandable, and *gasp* engaging! Be warned, the pictures are primarily black and white, but many of the objects covered, being marble statues and buildings, have no need for color. Those items that are printed in color, like wall paintings, are items that really benefit from it. I would highly recommend this book to those interested in Roman art, and even to those who aren't - I had no real interest in Roman art when I used "Roman Art" in an art history class, but this book has made it one of my favorite subjects.



5. This book is an absolute gem! It is thorough and very educational yet quite readable and even entertaining. The text is paired with brilliant photos that make the topic come to life. Even while cramming for a test, this book made my study time less boring and even enjoyable!
   A must for anyone interested in the topic of Roman art - provides a solid foundation.