No comments about Quilt National: Contemporary Designs in Fabric.

2 comments about Cy Twombly: Fifty Years Of Works On Paper..

1. Purchased as a gift for my son who is a graphic arts designer. He was very pleased with it. An easy transaction.



2. I was pleased with the quality of the reproductions. The introduction and details of Cy Twombly's life and work was informative and gave a clear picture of the man and his art. I would reccommend this book to anyone interested in the free thinking and essence of comtempory art.

No comments about Historic Houses & Gardens: Castles and Heritage Sites.

No comments about Conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago (Museum Studies (Art Institute of Chicago)).

No comments about Mouton Rothschild: Paintings for the Labels 1945-1981.

5 comments about Couples: Found Photos.

1. I recently came across this book, and I love it. I work in the Graphic Design Department for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon. As a keen photographer and lover of traditional photography, I find this book refreshing and uplifting. It is full of images that have captured a particular moment between man and woman. It reminds the viewer of a time when a photograph was a valued possession and a keepsake. I like that the images represent an intimate, personal moment between two people. Page after page depicts a different couple in a different time and place, but with the common them of togetherness and intimacy.
   
   As a keen photographer I love that the book shows the prints in their original form. The old polaroids with the white borders, the photo booth prints depicted at actual size, black and white, and hand tinted prints are all represented. This helps the honesty of the images and processes, and the realness and truth of a captured moment.
   
   This book is a wonderful collection. It is a little treasure of intimate moments between couples and now because of Karin Elsener and Roger Handy, these moments are shared with anyone who is lucky enough to page through it.



2. Though "Couples" is more than a coffee table book, if it were, it would certainly stimulate conversation. Mr. Handy and Ms. Elsener prove to possess keen eyes for the witty and purely romantic in their photographic survey of American couples in years past. The fact that the pictures are found photos makes them all the more alluring in their mystery.



3. The book's premise is good enough to make me want to buy it. A collection of found or thrown away photographs, rescued and compiled to try to "capture the essence of being a couple" or something foolish sounding like that
   
   what you actually get are plenty of photo's of couples, some of them interesting or unusual, but many of them bland or almost impossible to make out
   
   None of the other reviewers mentioned this, but several of these photos are about 2" x 2", like the actual size of a photo you'd get from a photo booth. Many of the other ones are 3x3" or 4x3". That's fine for close ups, like actual photo booth pictures, but many of them are shot from 20 feet away or farther, and all you can see is 2 tiny people kissing or holding hands
   
   I don't know what that's supposed to teach me. Chalk that up to my own ignorance and un-refinement, if you want
   
   Some of the other ones are large enough, and have something about them that's eye-catching or interesting, maybe half of the book or so. That's why I gave it 3 stars, just because some of the photos do make you curious about the people in them, and you spend maybe 20 seconds thinking about whatever happened to them or laughing at what they're doing or whatever
   
   But you don't learn anything about couplehood, and all in all this collection is pretty forgettable. Do yourself a favor and pick it up at a garage sale for cheap. At least that way you'll have something kitchzy, a collection of photo's rescued from garage sales and antique stores that you rescued from a garage sale. Don't pay full price for it though, its just nothing special and you most likely won't flip through it a second time



4. A wonderful compilation of photos that capture the essence of relationships. Kudos and accolades to Roger Handy & Karin Elsner



5. Roger Handy's project in this book and his other two is a good example of how much talent and intelligence exists outside of the orthodox mainstream. Roger has spent years developing his vision and consequently has explored the unexplored territory of vernacular photography before anyone knew it was there. He has honed and re-honed his collection of snapshots in a way consistent only with his peculiar genius, a genius for constructing an atmosphere that is pure poetry, a poetry based on an individual, subjective interpretation of life. In Roger's books, a vision of life in America between 1900 and the present, is constructed out of raw materials supplied by the very people who lived through this period: us, our parents and our grandparents. In other words this is the real deal, the American experience: the good. the bad and the ugly. Never have works of art been available for so little for so many. May Roger continue forever to enlighten us to the banal poetry of the 20th century. This is history, this is art, this is our collective life and experience. Bravo!!!

No comments about George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings.

1 comments about Lee Mullican: An Abundant Harvest Of Sun.

1. Thought this book was an easy read and enhanced my visiting the actual Mullican exhibit at Los Angeles Museum of Art. I would recommend it.

No comments about To Fly: Contemporary Aerial Photography.

2 comments about Henry Moore: Sculpting the Twentieth Century.

1. This book radiates with the beauty of Henry Moore, and helps us to recognize those more recent sculptors such as Donald Wright, who have perhaps surpassed the master.



2. Moore is one of the most beloved sculptors of the 20th century, yet his work has fallen out of favor with the modern critics: this seeks to reassess Moore's crucial contribution to art of the last century, examining his early experiments with primitivism and his later probe into modernist pieces. The focus on his early works in particular provides Moore enthusiasts with a body of works and approaches not seen in many other considerations of his works.