5 comments about Lucian Freud.

1. beautifully presented, great price, a must book for all artists interested in painting the human figure.



2. Probably the most complete available study on Lucian Freud to date, this book, which is the catalogue for a 2002 retrospective at the Tate Gallery, benefits from wonderful illustrations and a text which traces the artist's career from its beginnings in the early 1940's to 2001.Particularly interesting is the demonstration of how Freud's art is linked to some of the greatest ancient masters, like Velasquez, Chardin, Titian or Courbet. A short and impressive text by the painter Frank Auerbach gives an interesting view of Freud seen through the eyes of one of his most brilliant admirers, an artist himself.



3. Excellent book on Lucien Freud, with good illustrations & nicely presented. Freud is one of the leading painters of our times - his often harsh depictions of family & friends are not always easy to digest, but this book helps explain the artist & his times. Perhaps the element I missed was information on his teaching at the Slade (why do books on artists so seldom cover this aspect of their work, surely the influence & development of artists through teaching is an important part of their lives?).



4. While I spent hours enjoying the color plates in this book, I spent an equal amount of time frustrated with the text. The author is clearly familiar with Freud, knows him, and understands his world and his sources. One problem is that he assumes the reader has a similar kind of knowledge. He refers, for example, to Freud's early fascination with certain comic strips (some apparently dating from the mid-19th century)and how they affected Freud's development. These are illustrated with a very few marginal reproductions that do nothing to enlighten the reader about the nature of these influences. At another point, the author refers to one of Freud's early paintings (not reproduced in the book that I could find) which he argues was based on color plate III from a book on Egyptian art (which Freud owns), but the color plate is not reproduced either... so the reader is left to consider the influence of an unillustrated source on an unillustrated painting. Some of the paintings referred to in the text are reproduced in thumbnails in the margins of the book, which is extremely helpful when one is trying to follow the flow of the argument, but others are not. Plate references are given; unfortunately, the plates are not in numerical order (for example, illustration 63 may or may not be before 64, which might in turn be followed by 69 and then 65) which leaves you hunting around trying to match image with text. The author refers to many of the people who knew and interacted with Freud. Some of them are well known in their own right and require no identification. Many, though, were people I, at least, had never heard of --- a female English aristocrat who was evidently peeved that her daugher had not been invited to a coronation or wedding or some other royal function, a bewildering variety of people who (in a sentence or two) are described as marrying and divorcing before Freud married and/ or divorced (or maybe just bedded, it's never really made clear) the women in turn. People are identified as the sister or the in-law of another person previously unmentioned in the text, and so on. If you've ever been to a party with a group of people who have all known each other for a long time, with you a newcomer, you'll have some idea of the effect of this ... they're all talking about things that happened and people they knew years ago, and you have absolutely no idea what's going on. And, when all is said and done, the author actually writes relatively little about the paintings as paintings. He does provide some fascinating quotes from Freud which give you some grist for your intellectaul mill, but that's about it. Frankly, I gave up on the text and simply enjoyed the pictures, a good number of which I had not seen reproduced before.



5. LUCIEN FREUD is certainly one of the most talked about contemporary figurative artists around the world. Most people are familiar with his greater than life-sized portraits of corpulent male and female nudes and of his much talked about protraits of friends such as Francis Bacon and David Hockney. But few of us have been exposed to the gamut of this artist's output to the extent that this very fine book by William Feaver investigates the entire career of the grandson of Sigmund Freud.

   The book is a catologue for the exhibition currently in Los Angeles, having opened in London and travelled to Barcelona. But to classify the scholarly and intensively detailed tome as an 'exhibition catalogue' simply does not do justice to the scope of this volume. The writing by Feaver is wise, witty, and thoroughly readable - the essay portion that opens the book is more a biography and an analysis of Freud's position in art history than a resume. The color reproductions are superb, spreading as they do across two pages for the very large paintings. As a catalogue the editors can be forgiven for not including sufficient 'detail views' that enhance understanding, but this is a minor point. The supporting data in the back of the book is as fine a catalogue raisonne as has been published to date.

   Those of us fortunate enough to live in Los Angeles allowing multiple visits to this impressive exhibition can use Feaver's book as a Master Class on Lucien Freud. But the book stands alone in its mastery of the life and work of this exciting painter. Highly recommended.

No comments about Conservation of Leather and Related Materials (Conservation and Museology).

No comments about Great Self-Portraits (Dover Art Library).

No comments about The Art of David Ireland: The Way Things Are (The Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Imprint).

No comments about Fashion Source Book.

No comments about The Stage of Drawing: Gesture and Act.

5 comments about Classic Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties.

1. I first came to classical Chinese furniture through the work of Gustav Ecke, who photographed Ming and early Qing pieces in the 1930's, about the time that George Kates was living his "fat" years in Peking. As a furniture builder I was fascinated by the incredible sophistication of the genre and also by the inexplicable abilities of the cabinet makers of the time. But looking at these pieces through Ecke's work is a pale experience compared to looking at it through that of Dr. Wang. Here is a Chinese scholar, working all his life in China, having access to the most beautiful extant pieces and in possession of the taste and technical skill to select and showcase the best of the best. My copy of this work is always at hand, and whenever I plan to build a new piece it is this one I pick up first. Dr. Wang's understanding of not only the aesthetics, but also the technical details is communicated to the reader in the clearest and most pleasing way imaginable.
   
   I visited the "Red Sandalwood Museum" which is near the classical furniture district in Beijing recently. The first thing one sees is a placard with the face and words of Dr. Wang. His imprimatur assures the visitor that these walls hold value (as indeed they do.) This book is not only fascinating and educational, but beautiful. It's expensive, but well worth the money.



2. Classic Chinese Furniture has wonderful illustrations and goes into introductions of the furniture any layman can understand. Mr. Wang has given many details to the reader so that a better understanding, what to look for and and how to judge the quality of a piece can be learned. Pen drawings of the pieces help to illustrate the different parts and clearly show the reader how the piece is put together. I travel to China often and purchased this book in Shanghai. It was more expensive in the bookstore in China than what Amazon charges...



3. If you truly appreciate antique Chinese furniture for its grace and beauty, but like me, you can't afford a zitan Southern official chair or huanghuali opium day bed, Wang Shixiang's book, with loads of gorgeous photographs, is the next best thing to owning the actual pieces. More a coffee table book, than a reference book for antique buyers. Still, it's one of the best books around on Chinese antique furniture.



4. Truly beautiful coffee table book, with plenty of photos of Chinese furniture. A must-have for anyone who loves Chinese furniture. A bargain at the [low] price!



5. I have read this book over and over again. Being in the Antique Furnitue business, it has helped me with all my favorite collections. I have met Mr. Wangshi Xiang before, and I do respect and appreciate his hard work for studying the topic for almost 40 years. It is my belief that this book has reinforced the wave of collection of Chinese Antique Furniture. It is really sad that there are more authentic and rare pieces despered overseas than in China now.

No comments about Art in Action: Nature, Creativity, and Our Collective Future.

No comments about The Fine Art of Wood: The Bohlen Collection.

1 comments about Edna Boies Hopkins: Strong in Character, Colorful in Expression.

1. Edna Boies Hopkins was a part of the art colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts during the early part of the 20th Century. After traveling in Europe and Asia she was part of the group experimenting with innovations in woodblock printing, in her case, with stunning results. This books brings to life her work, done in many parts of the United States and adds mightily to the biographical information available which had not been examined in depth until now. Mr. Vasseur is to be commended for his superlative effort.
   
   Stephen Borkowski, Chairman, Provincetown Art Commission