No comments about Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492-1819.

1 comments about Bridging Time & Space: Essays on Layered Art.

1. In separate, but harmonious, voices, eleven writers describe layered art as an expression of a holistic perspective. Each chapter addresses a theme, illustrated in color with artworks related to: alchemy, the spirit, earth metaphors, cosmic forces, healing, archaic traces and the millennium. Layered art reflects the forward edge of syncretic thinking, the recognition that the universe is held within a matrix of shared consciousness. Everything is connected with everything else.

1 comments about Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War.

1. Gad! Ack! Is there anything so tedious as the self-righteousness of a Stalinist?
   
   Yes, the self-righteousness of a Trotskyist.
   
   Especially when enshrined in a gallery.
   
   "Facing Fascism" is the catalogue of an exhibition (which I did not see) at the Museum of the City of New York, which was sponsored by -- surprise! surprise! -- Abraham Lincoln Battalion admirers and the government of Spain. It was an interesting, but depressing, show.
   
   The 16 academic contributors try, not very successfully, to show an even hand. Their problem is that they are all committed to the view that the show is about, in Eric Smith's words, "the obvious struggle between democracy and fascism." Spanish democracy was a fleeting thing, and by the time the Americans -- under the lash of the Popular Front (that is, Stalin) -- got organized to "help," the democrats were on the way out.
   
   The struggle was between two totalitarianisms.
   
   Nor was it a "prelude to World War II," as several of the essayists aver. The Spanish tragedy was a postlude, not a prelude, the second-to-the-last war of the European 19th century (the war among the South Slavs in the 1990s being the last, I hope).
   
   Some naifs may have fallen for the claptrap about fighting for Spanish democracy, but few of the hard-bitten veterans of New York's savage infighting among Stalinists, Trotskyists, Lovestoneites etc. were under any delusions about being on the side of democracy, on either side of the ocean.
   
   The exhibit is a paean to New York's lively leftism -- the area provided up to half of the American contributions of soldiers, money and aid workers to Republican Spain. And, since it was New York, where you can get anything you want, also the source of most of the support for Franco and his buddies Mussolini and Hitler.
   
   The story of the brigadistas has been often told before. One would have liked a bit more about the anti-Republican side, the Catholic Church and the newspapers, who were anticommunist without being antifascist.
   
   The Catholics, except the group around William Buckley and his National Review, would like us to forget how cozy they (many of them, and all the bishops) were with Franco, Mussolini and Hitler back in the day. Here was an opportunity for the curators to make hay out of real grass, and they, surprisingly, took only modest advantage of it.
   
   The biggest single section -- obviously because it is the most graphic -- is devoted to the "response" of the visual and, to a slightly lesser extent, textual artists. The curators, of course, want us to see this as the voice of the conscience of freedom, as presented to us hoi polloi by the noble creative artists.
   
   Well, as compared with the same moral imbeciles offering up the same fetid lessons today about Iraq, at least some of the 1930s artists had the courage to go fight and (in too many cases) get killed. But to my eye, page after page of drawings of suffering Spanish peasants demonstrates not the flaming concern for freedom and humanity of these creeps, but the absence of any similar collection of drawings of Ukrainian peasants who had had the bad luck to own a cow.
   
   The exhibit carries the Spanish tragedy down through the years, where it still resonates, ever more weakly, with "progressive" (that is, antidemocratic) thought in New York City today. Steven Jaffe quotes socialist Michael Harrington, too young to have been there, as saying in 1977, "I had read and internalized my Orwell, I knew the crimes committed by the GPU in the name of antifascism in Spain; and yet, I never cease to thrill at the songs of the International Brigade."
   
   So do I. "La Quinta Brigada" stirs the blood. But after 70 years, it should have cooled enough to allow a more grown-up assessment of what editor Peter Carroll calls "the complexities and nuances of the years leading up to World War II."
   
   "Facing Fascism" offers all too much nuance, all too little realism.

No comments about Beautiful Loot:: The Soviet Plunder of Europe's Art Treasures.

4 comments about American Flintknappers: Stone Age Art in the Age of Computers.

1. After reading the book, I was disapointed that it did not contain more "how to" flintknapping info.The author has written an excellent book on flint knapping methods.This book was very ' folksy' With too many anecdotal stories about knap-ins, and the modern flint knapping world,with almost no methods on flintknapping.Again ,not what I expected, and I wish I could have read my own review, as I would not have purchased the book.I gave the book a two star rating only for the photos of knapped peices.



2. American Flintknappers is an American classic. This book is an amazing journey through the strange subculture of American Flintknappers. From an
   anthropologists set of eyes. A journey through the past, of men who followed the way of the stone. From Ishi to flake over grinding, the whole experience is here and when you read it you will be there too. Ray Harwood, Western Lithics.



3. Very interesting view of the "inside" of the knapping circles..including knap-in's ...lots of great color photographs of beautifully knapped points in exotic materials, as well as close reproductions of American Indian points. Lots of photos of well known knappers, interesting statistics on knapping. Lots of really neat stuff if you are interested in knapping at all, you should buy this one.



4. John C. Whittaker never fails to capture the essence of scientifically studying modern day flint-knapping. This new book is a progression from his 1994 work on how to make stone tools. It is a leap forward in a fascinating area of archaeology and anthropology, especially when there is a growing concern for the depletion of silicate resources. Dr. Whittaker is a pure scientist who is always thinking of how stone tools can be scientifically studied, and is always innovative in his research approach, rendering his work successful and resourceful. It is also nice to see that Dr. Michael Stafford is well represented, a master flint-knapper whom I`ve had an opportunity to study under. Dr. Whittaker also has in his new book, raw demographic data from sociological surveys, continuing a tradition that he and Dr. Stafford started in 1998 with their research on Fakes. This sociological approach reveals a great deal of important data for student researchers, and should not be overlooked when writing on the subject of stone tools. This book has wonderful color pages in its' center and shows an amazing variety of raw materials commonly used by knappers. John C. Whittaker is fast becoming the leading professor on this subject, and deserves all the attention he receives. Great work John!

No comments about Experimental Vision: The Evolution of the Photogram Since 1919.

No comments about Jacob Van Ruisdael.

2 comments about Artists and Their Museums On the Riviera.

1. Barbara Freed takes us on a visit to the places along the Southeastern French coast from St. Tropez to Menton where now-celebrated artists have worked from the time of the pointillist Paul Signac onward. She also takes us to visit the very personal places where the likes of Renoir, Matisse, Chagall, Picasso and Cocteau lived and worked and where their work remains, often in such remarkably personal settings as their home, a museum dedicated to them, a chapel they decorated, and such.

   Dr. Freed first came to know this corner of France in 1960, she writes, when her artist father and family spent a year in Vence (across the street from Henri Matisse). This book is a labor of love for her, and it shows.

   Having lived in Nice for 3 years in the 1990s, we can attest to the quality of this book. It is a good guide to the artists and it is a good practical guide to visiting their marvelous museums along the Riviera, the Cote d'Azur. The price is modest. We recommend it.




2. I have visited some of the museums and locations mentioned in the book and Dr. Freed has managed to capture the essence and the feeling of the locales while, at the same time, provides an excellent insight into the artist and his time.

   I thoroughly enjoyed the information and the descriptions. A larger format would have been a major enhancement but still I found it an excellent reference as well as a moving experience.

2 comments about Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late.

1. This is one of the best books on Bonnard the color repros are good and sometimes enlarged.. Besides Antoine Terrase's book" drawing to color "this book shows how Bonnard worked up his paintings from little drawings from a daily diary he used as a sketchbook.The photos shows Bonnard's studio in Le Cannet.Also,Some of his shots of nudes. It has repros found in few other books. I have Bonnard books stemming from the MOMA exhibit after WW11 by John Rewald, Another book that had rare color repros was Bonnard edited by R.J. Beer.This is a good buy and a worthwhile study of the work. Winston Hough



2. "Early and Late" is the book that accompanied the Phillips Collection's 2002 exhibit on Bonnard's early and late works. The exhibitition was beautiful. The book, of course, doesn't do justice to the colors in the originals, but the book's prints, particularly the details, are very good.

   The book includes a chronology of Bonnnard's life, three excellent essays, and some notes from Bonnard's journals. One essay discusses Bonnard's innovations, especially early on and especially his use of photography as a way to prepare for his paintings. Another essay shows how Bonnard's paintings were influenced by his reformed education. A final essay demonstrates Bonnard's debt to Japanese art.

   Bonnard's longevity, I think, has kept him from having more of a reputation as an innovator. A quick overview of Bonnard's work shows that he was still painting postimpressionism toward the middle of the 20th Century. His use of different points of view and contrasting colors, and the subservience of the object to the idea make him more than a late impressionist. Basically, I like this guy's work, and this book helped me answer my question, "What is it about this man's painting that I like?"

1 comments about National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth-Century Italian Paintings, Volume 1: Brescia, Bergamo and Cremona (National Gallery London Publications).

1. Created by Nicholas Penny for the National Gallery in London (distributed by Yale University Press) The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Vol. 1 is an essential tool that will aid fine art scholars, curators, art restorers, and serious connoisseurs of Italian art. The cover states "The National Gallery Catalogues, the first of which appeared in 1945, have been justly regarded as among the foundation stones of scholarship in art history. This series is now being completely revised and extended. Within each School of painting, every picture is the subject of a full scholarly entry with discussion of technical matter, subject, authorship, provenance and art historical significance, and each volume is fully illustrated. The artists include Lorenzo Lotto, Moretto, and Moroni, along with less familiar ones such as Bartolomeo Veneto and Callisto Piazza. Distinguished scholar and curator Nicholas Penny provides detailed information about each artist's painting technique and materials, conservation and condition, and subject and iconography. What is important is the inclusion of the painting's original patronage followed by a discussion of changing tastes, interpretation, and how the picture was esteemed (or neglected) over the centuries."
   
   The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Vol. 1 has been highly anticipated in the art world as an important catalogue encompassing Italian artists active in cities often characterized by artistic interaction between artist and city, and the overall influence Venice had on both, cities including: Bergamo, Brescia, and Cremona. One third of the paintings catalogued are portraits. Entries include fascinating sections on contemporary dress, furnishings, and accessories. The volume also includes an appendix providing an illuminating account of some of the great collectors, and collections of the past. The volume also contains biographies of the artists providing valuable information for the researcher and collector alike as little is known of some of those included. These biographical sketches of the artist's character and career are a useful source to a comprehensive understanding of the artist's entire oeuvre.
   
   An interesting and important educational aspect included in this work is the detailed descriptions of frames and framing which reflects the growing interest in the field of antique frames among both curators, and private collectors. This comes at an important time when select dealers have emerged to market so-called rare 'antique' frames (once a reasonable addition to compliment a fine painting, today honest (as well questionable) antique picture frames are being offered (and sometimes reported sold) at extraordinary prices - at times surprisingly exceeding the value of the work being framed.) The information included in this particular work on frames and framing provides a solid base for both curators and private collectors to expand their knowledge, and distinguish to a degree on their own merit which frames reflect true rarity and quality, craftsmanship; an ultimate base for having the power or quality of deciding real value.