No comments about A Brief History of Curating.

1 comments about Photographs of Dorothea Lange.

1. A wonderful book of eighty-five, beautifully printed, Dorothea Lange photos. I think the best ones are forty-seven from the thirties when Lange was part of a small group of photographers employed by the Government to record the plight of the rural poor. Their output (now in the Library of Congress and accessible to all) was the most complete photographic record of a nation ever undertaken. Lange and Walker Evans were, depending on your point of view, the most talented of this group and you can see why by looking at her photos in this book. Keith Davis says in the introduction... "Her photographs are at once bluntly factual and deeply sympathetic. While Lange recorded innumerable scenes of destitution, she consistently evoked the resilience, faith and determination of her subjects". I think her point-of-view comes across in all the work shown in this book. After the thirties the remaining photos cover her work up to 1958.
   
   All the photos have dated captions and many have background information about what is being shown plus the thoughts of Lange and her subjects. The back of the book has a chronology, bibliography and print source. This is a lovely record of her photographic work but if you want to know more have a look at Dorothea Lange: The Heart and Mind of a Photographer, a really comprehensive look at her photos with excellent essays which include several reproductions of spreads from her photobooks.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
   
   BTW: This is the second book of American images I have reviewed in the last few days, the other one was a selection of photos taken over a number of years by British photographer Nick Waplington of a small town in New Mexico called Truth or Consequences (also the books title) but what a contrast, the Lange book has captions and other information, the photographer's thoughts, chronology, bibliography, sources while Waplington's book has none of this, not even page numbers! It raises questions (least to me) about how publishers regard their readers.

2 comments about Milton Avery: The Late Paintings.

1. Pictures reveal an interesting approach, quite different than predecessors with its flat shapes and distinctive coloration. The text, however, remains a pedantic driven piece of trivization of analyses upon analyses that resemble nothing more than a laborious exercise of an overinflatted academic egotism lacking, for the most part, informative substance.



2. Anyone who has seen Milton Avery's work knows why he is called the American Matisse. He still has an American flair in his color choice and extra simplicity. This book is an important addition to any art history library. Professor Hobbs did the world a great service in documenting the life and work of Avery,
   who is becoming more and more well known following his death. There are many color pictures throughout the book.

2 comments about Sugimoto.

1. This book is divided into four parts. The first, "Mathematical Forms: Surfaces" and the second "Mathematical Forms: Curves" consist of photographs of models that were created to illustrate trigonometric equations for mathematical study in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, like conic projections and spheres. The third part, "Mechanical Forms" shows models from the 19th century that demonstrated mechanical movements like cams and gears. The fourth part consists of photographs taken of an installation of the pictures from the first three parts as well as Sugimoto's reproduction of Marcel Duchamp's "Large Glass, or The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even". This last part is so different from the first three that it must be considered on its own.
   
   The first three parts show the models, in black and white prints, all apparently illuminated by a single light from the left, and because of this light, modeled in a way similar to the first drawings of a shadowed apple, made in a drawing class to teach the student how to create three dimensions on a two dimensional surface. The backgrounds to the models are completely in black. Sugimoto has said that although these models were created without artistic intention, they illustrate that "Art is possible without artistic intention and can be better without it."
   
   Certainly the models are quite beautiful in their own right, but I suspect that if we saw, for example, one of these sets of gears, encrusted with grease in a machine, we might pass by it without a second glance or thought. Clearly, as far as these photographs go, it is the photographer's intention to portray the beauty of these objects, and to impose form on the content, that makes them beautiful and that makes the photographs art.
   
   Each of the pictures is accompanied by text which describes what formula is portrayed (including the actual equations) or how the mechanical device works, but in most cases I suspect only mathematicians and engineers will understand this text. In any event, the pictures stand out on their own. There are also essays talking about the works, and to the extent they describe how the models came into being they are quite interesting. Once the essays get into aesthetics, and wander into semiotics, they became less useful to me.
   
   I find the fourth part of the book as enigmatic as the original Duchamp. The pictures of the installation, in color, show it to have been a striking and beautiful setting. Sugimoto's reproduction of "The Large Glass" combines negatives and prints of the original work and sandwiches them between two pieces of glass, like the original. Unlike the original, where the figures were clearly made of bits of metal, the figures in the reproduction are clearly in black and white, and the object itself is smaller than the original. The inclusion of this work, so completely different from the first three parts, seems likely to be making a statement about the first three parts, but I was completely unable to puzzle out what the statement is.
   
   Whether Sugimoto has succeeded in showing that "Art is possible without artistic intention and can be better without it." is not clear, but it is clear that these photographs are art.



2. I was first introduced to Sugimoto about five years ago when I saw his Theatre series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His photos captured a kind of ghostly emptiness - white screens framed by the darkened outlines of seats. To capture the exposures he would leave the camera shutter open at a low aperture for an entire sitting of a film. I was really impressed at how he could transform two hours of motion into one eerily still exposure.

   This new series of seascapes does not disappoint. At first, each of the prints seems tediously the same- the same horizon placed at the center of the frame, the same gray tones. Later, as you begin to explore each print and compare them, you realize the qualities of light vary tremendously from one to the next, as does the mist and the clouds and the shape of waves on the water. Once again, Sugimoto has captured a stillness that goes beyond ordinary experience.

   Enjoy it.

No comments about Cities and the Arts: A Handbook for Renewal.

1 comments about Women of the World : A Global Collection of Art.

1. I am a pretty artistic person. This book was an wonderful inspiration. I felt like I had just visited a world class art museum, and I have now started some wonderful new projects based on my encounter with this book.

1 comments about Picasso Painter and Sculptor in Clay.

1. WACK!!?? The author could of told more about him then ,rather what the man then did in his life !! But dont get me wrong it wont so bad . But the author should try again.

   I'm out...... Rashawnna

1 comments about Conservation Concerns: A Guide for Collectors and Curators.

1. This book is and excellent resource for institutions and collectors, who handle art. Put out by the Smithsonian Institue, the leader in art preservation, it lists how to protect art objects, in terms of: climate control handling, lighting, and general care. The book covers what objects can be damaged by what outside sources, and how to best prevent from enviormental damage, through proper storage techniques. It also gives resources for conservation suppliers and conservation centers.

No comments about John Warner Norton.

1 comments about The Taste of Provence: The Columbe D'or at Saint Paul De Vence.

1. I enjoyed this book very much. The Colombe d'Or comes up again and again in guide books covering the Provencal/Cote d'Azur regions. This book takes an in depth look at the history of this restaurant/hotel, including historical photos of loyal patrons like Picasso, Yves Montand, and Francois Truffaut.

   The book is printed in France, the the paper quality is very good. The focus of the book is on the visual rather than the written word, containing mostly photographs (black and white as well as color).

   The book also includes photographs of artwork owned by the Colombe d'Or. As well as being a top notch restaurant and hotel, this establishment could also be counted as a museum.

   My only complaint is that there were not more photos of the hotel itself, or the surrounding town. The focus seems to be on the social life of this establishemnt.

   This would make a beautiful gift for a Provence-ophile, cook, or art lover.