No comments about Museums and Difference (21st Century Studies).

2 comments about Vermeer.

1. Perhaps I would not have been so disappointed had the other reviewer not produced such a glowing description of color plates and lucious images, but I just bought it new from amazon, and the book has 8 (count them, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) color plates- all of the rest are black and white. It looks like it will be interesting reading, and there are some lovely details in black and white, but this is an art book- on Vermeer, no less! There should be more color, certainly.



2. While only 35 paintings can be ascribed to Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), he is considered one of the most important painters in history. Vermeer captured the subtle depth of his subjects while in private contemplations, and recorded the delicacy of light and richness of color in a way that has probably never been surprised.
   
   This luscious volume, with over 80 illustrations-including 54 full-color plates-presents Vermeer's complete illustrious works. From his much-loved Girl With A Pearl Earring to his cityscape The View of Delft (which Marcel Proust lauded as `the most beautiful painting the world'), you'll find them all here and be astounded by Vermeer's innovative technique and mastery of perspective and composition. As a supplement to Vermeer's magnificent works, art historian Dr. Erik Larsen provides an authoritative study of the artist's life and art, and the much-discussed debate surrounding the attribution of his paintings.
   
   Vermeer, one of the first four titles in the Master Artists Library series, is the first series to include magnificent color reproductions of every painting by the featured artist. Written by some of the world's most important art historians, each volume includes a detailed analysis of the artist's paintings, along with an extensive biography. The first four books-Vermeer, Bosch, Masaccio, and Dûrer-are must-have additions to the bookshelves of all art love

2 comments about CLAMP South Side.

1. My only complaint is the binding. it doesn't really let you open the book easily to really look at the artwork. However CLAMP does beautiful, intricate artwork and this is a must have for all fans of their art.



2. ~REVIEW~
   
   North...South...what path should you approach, fellow CLAMPER? Which side would you go to reach your temporary niche nirvana? What directions do you have to know which is the right way? I'm gonna help you with those directions. Tokyopop has pulled a Nintendo and release TWO different versions of "CLAMP no eshigoto": North Side and South Side (the "no eshigoto" is the japanese lettering on the title, meaning "artworks"). These Sides contain history of CLAMP's synonymous visual works, from the early years of 1989 to these art books' Japanese release in 2002; forget about looking for "Tsubasa" and "xxxHOLIC" designs on either side, they're from '03. Also, if you're hoping for illustrations of "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Chobits", "Angelic Layer", and "X(/1999)", you're out of luck on either side as well. The Sides are for the real CLAMP manga enthusiams, but those books are by no means a disappointment.
   
   If you read mostly CLAMP manga from Kodansha, then you're a northern bookworm. "Clover", "Magic Knight Rayearth", and others were part of the same company line-up, because "North Side" was released in Japan by Kodansha. Even though I mentioned there's no "Cardcaptor" or "Chobits" artworks here, it does have collaboration works with characters from those series mixed together. Surprisingly, even if Kodansha has more popular and exquisite CLAMP works, this Side is short with only 160 pages.
   
   If you read some CLAMP manga from Kadokawa Shoten, then you're a southern player. Like Kodansha to the North, "South Side" was released in Japan by K-Shoten, along with the manga in this side: "CLAMP School Detectives", "Suki", "Legal Drug", and the anthologies that grabbed my heart. Personally, "Clamp School" along with its spin-offs are, to put it lightly, not great, and at worst, vomitatious (which CLAMP girl thought "Man of Many Faces" was a great idea?). Even so, there are others that love it, and these are in it for a treat with this side, with 40 more pages of illustrations than on "North Side."
   
   If you're buying a CLAMP art book for the abundance of extras, go for the North path. "North Side" has an exclusive CLAMP comic with one of the CLAMP artists as a princess trying to survive a whole day being a normal girl, and eventually got her ass towed up by her mishaps; funny stuff. Not only that, but it include a lengthy, though hard-to-read, interview with THE femme four. Storywriter Ohkawa, and artists Nekoi, Mokona, and Igarashi gave some standard facts of how they met, complications of their careers, and mostly discuss about their work, "Chobits." You might want to get some reading glasses because the text are small...REALLY small.
   
   If you're looking for a CLAMP artbook with some artistic diversity, head to the South path. While "South Side" has only one extra, the "How-to Art" section is plentiful. Three different CLAMP illustrations, three different methods of creating them with detailed instructions and materials needed to create them; reading glasses not included for those squinty text. It's very helpful for those who are following a career in art.
   
   For both sides, they include CLAMP's unreleased illustrations, including those that are titilating (who knew these girls can actually draw nipples in one of their designs), and columns to show where CLAMP's works of art have been (magazines, postcards, etc).
   
   Choosing between "North Side" and "South Side" is like choosing between the red and blue version of "Pokemon": they're different, but they follows the same core. Both sides contain a considerable amount of flaws, while having some advantages by the corner. It would be nice if both would include arts of such popular CLAMP series, but what both sides have is good enough. For CLAMP fans, I gave you enough facts to help you with your decision, but if you have the dough, you should get both, but if you can afford only one, that decision really depends on your taste.
   
   FINAL W()RDS: Whichever wins, nobody loses.
   
   [Reviewer's View] I decided to buy "South Side" over "North Side", because...well, I'm from the south. Plus, it contains arts from CLAMP's manga anthologies, which I enjoy reading so much, even though their amount of arts were sparse.

1 comments about Sex Collectors: The Secret World of Consumers, Connoisseurs, Curators, Creators, Dealers, Bibliographers, and Accumulators of "Erotica".

1. It is not surprising to come across a person who collects things: stamps, coins, books. No one considers such collecting remotely abnormal, even though a person might get so focused on collecting as to be unable to talk with interest about anything else. Then there are the people who collect erotic items, and that makes alarm bells go off. Of course, the erotica collectors are not as likely to bore us with their collections as, say, Barbie collectors are. For one thing, erotica is interesting to almost everyone who will admit it. For another thing, such collections are usually covert, and for yet another, even though the collectors might be obsessive, they don't get tedious with their stories about their treasures, since they are usually not a topic of conversation. Geoff Nicholson has seen lots of such collections, and gotten the collectors to talk, and reports back in _Sex Collectors: The Secret World of Consumers, Connoisseurs, Curators, Creators, Dealers, Bibliographers, and Accumulators of "Erotica"_ (Simon and Schuster). It's a funny, genial guide to odd (but not sociopathic) people and strange pursuits; Nicholson has seen plenty of eye-popping material, and while he candidly admits that there are some things he has seen that he wishes he could excise from his memory, he does not include such stuff in his descriptions. The book reflects his experience in researching it: "I've seen a great many things that were sexy and fun and beautiful and fascinating, and I wouldn't have missed them for the world." His enthusiastic book is much more about collecting than it is about erotica or sex. In fact, he dismisses the argument about differentiating between what is pornography and what is art by saying that it doesn't make a difference for the purpose of the book; what matters is that someone is collecting it.
   
   Who is doing the collecting? Generally, people with a lot of money, for originals are not cheap and the collections are often extensive. Take Naomi Wilzig, of whom the _National Examiner_ headlined, "GRANNY Proves You're Never Too Old for PORNO!" She enjoys showing the enormous collection in her home, but is having a museum built so that we can all see it someday. Another great collector was Alfred Kinsey, although he is better known, of course, for his interviews and his reports on the sexuality of Americans. "Kinsey believed in data," Nicholson writes, and was trained as a biologist; he collected hundreds of thousands of gall wasps, his specialty, and when he moved into investigating sex, he collected anything having to do with it. Nowadays, "People donate to the Kinsey having reached the stage of their lives when they want to get rid of their collections." Also, police departments donate sex-related materials taken from offenders.
   If there are collectors, there must be dealers, although "each considers the other a necessary evil". Some of them enjoy wonderful items going through their hands and being passed on (at profit) with no impulse to own any of them; others buy and sell to make a living, but also to improve their own collections.
   
   There are tales of many other collectors and collections here. Cynthia Plaster Caster has spent decades making plaster casts of famous people's penises, and has branched out into breasts. There's the small collection of lotus shoes, the kind that were worn by Chinese women whose feet had been bound. There's a collection of 80,000 girlie magazines. There is a large group of people who collect erotic book plates, and commission them. Nicholson eventually helps us realize that we are all sex collectors; we may not look for something to put on our shelves, but we do, if health and opportunity allow, amass sexual experiences. He also comes to the conclusion that he is a bit of collector himself, not necessarily of the type of item the more generous of the collectors profiled here sent him away with, but a collector of sex collectors, an activity that has involved such familiar endeavors as finding interesting examples, doing negotiations, lucking out on good finds, and other things that collectors here do. His is a unique collection, and it is generously shared in a breezy, amusing book.

1 comments about Frozen Light: The Eternal Beauty of Crystals.

1. This book is amazing. It is a great book to learn about crystals as well as to see brilliant artistic work. Lawrence is a master at his craft and I am thrilled he finally wrote a book to share with everyone. I highly recommend it to any crystal enthusiast.

2 comments about Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance Filippo Negroli and His Contemporaries.

1. This book has a lot of later period armour made for parades and other ceremonies. Very little of the armour in this book is functional combat grade armour. It is of minimal use to the reproducer of armour, but it is still worth having. It is rich with text on each suit, and the pictures are superb.

   If you want to make reference to pictures of armour for reproduction purposes, this book will be very minimally useful to you.

   If you want to do research on ceremonial armour, this is for you.




2. This book is an oasis of information on Heroic armor as it was well researched from 14th - 16th century documents, statues, and paintings. Including a collection of photographs of helmets, shields, breast plates, and all things concerning armor especially concerning the Filippo Negroli workshop and his contemporaries.

No comments about The Philadelphia Ten: A Women's Artist Group 1917-1945.

No comments about Arte No es Vida.

No comments about Renoir: 16 Art Stickers (Fine Art Stickers).

No comments about Modern Design in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1890-1990.