1 comments about The Art of Small Things.

1. The Art of Small Things by John Mack
   Reviewed by Laurel Hunter [...]
   
   It is no small thing to read through this book. Every time I picked up The Art of Small Things, I became totally absorbed in the beautiful color photographs that illustrate the book - the objects shown are incredibly varied and engaging, and the photography and printing exceptional. I found myself running to the internet to search for more pictures of ganjifa cards or historical chessmen, netsuke and brass weights. The text itself, of course, has information, but I needed more pictures to satisfy my curiosity. It is hardly a flaw for an art book to have pictures that are too beautiful. So perhaps it is a flaw of this reviewer that cannot resist miniature eye candy.
   
   Another difficulty in finishing the book is the density of its prose. Written by the Professor of World Art Studies at the University of East Anglia, this is most definitely more academic text than page-turner. How did I read all that theory and criticism in graduate school? Discipline at last prevailed. I did not read the chapters in order, but I read them all!
   
   Truthfully, the book is a bit dry. However, it is thick with knowledge of many, many cultures and their art and artifacts. It is no small feat to link figurative Aztec jade figures with Italian micro-mosaics with Japanese woodblock prints. However, I did find myself skimming, at times, the lengthy paragraphs that describe technical process. How the Ghanaians cast objects in brass or gold is not quite as interesting to me as the objects they chose and the way that they are arranged to imply meaning. Mack gets to all of this, of course, and the strength of this book lies in the incredible breadth and details of cultural information. For sure the prevailing message is the power of the miniature object to far outweigh its physical presence. Not just the intimacy that we often associate with small works of art, where one is required to move close to the work to engage with it fully. Mack takes on the secrecy of small objects and the power that comes from being hidden, ranging from the religious to the romantic. He also takes his discussion far beyond analysis of the objects and into the cultures that produce them. For example, in a chapter called "Small Bodies" he talks about dollhouses and toys, as well as a cultural fascination with dwarves and a culture of child marriage. In another chapter we learn why brass weights from the Asante culture used for measuring gold take on such a variety of forms - and these are truly amazing casts of birds, men drumming, horses, etc.
   
   What is made especially clear in this book is how small objects are necessarily attentive to details, and therefore venues for fascinating conceptual messages. The variety of objects explored in The Art of Small Things is astounding and the author's knowledge broad, if the means of conveyance a tad academic. And there are, of course, the beautiful reproductions, which are the reason this book stays by my bed at the top of the stack.

1 comments about Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980-2005.

1. This volume is one of the best written books about a living artist in our time with an informative timeline of the artist's life and achievements. Artwork is beautifully reproduced and delineated. This volume will soon be out of print.

5 comments about Gardner's Art Through the Ages (Non-InfoTrac Version) (Gardner's Art Through the Ages).

1. Simply the best art book there is around. It is detailed without being wordy and gives you exactly what you need to know.



2. As a high school sophomore using this book as a reference source for art history AP class has been quite an experience. While encompassing many of the major aspects of art history, there are some points it fails to acknowledge and which can only be addressed by a teacher who actually knows his stuff. The only other complaint that at 13 1/2 lbs., it's very hard to trudge up four flights of stairs.



3. Short review: ... buy it. If it requires selling vital organs or loved ones to pay for it, it's worth it.

   Long review: I enrolled in an Art History course with no idea what I was going to get as a textbook. This book is well-written, intelligent, informative without being overly esoteric, and above all beautiful. The prints are generally in color and always well-reproduced. Historical context is always provided, which gives a solid background for anybody looking to learn about the time any artwork was created. The text also offers insightful commentary about each piece selected for display. This book is so good, in fact, that it's become known as the semi-official Art History 101 textbook. Even if the history's not your thing (and for crying out loud, why not?), the book provides untold hours of beauty.

   One word: perfection.




4. This is lushly detailed book with fine reproductions. However, I found the book to be full of editorial errors and blunders. Why should consumers be asked to pay one-hundred dollars for a book that is this poorly edited? Profits should go towards finding new editorial help. Let's hope the new edition finds someone in charge that is more organized and observant.



5. A superb reference book, excellent color reproduction, but too complicated and wordy for a textbook for beginning Art History
   students.

1 comments about Manny Farber: About Face.

1. For fans of the great Manny Farber (and I count myself among them), you will love this book - his paintings are extraordinary, and reflect in many ways his pre-painter life as one of this country's greatest film critics. You won't be sorry if you purchase this book.

No comments about Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks.

5 comments about Unexpected Journeys.

1. My first encounter with the work of Remedios Varo made me hungry for more, so I eagerly ordered this book. And I wasn't disappointed -- Janet Kaplan gives us a thorough, insightful look into the life & work of this amazing painter, as well as an informative overview of her times & artistic circles. The biography alone is fascinating, the stuff of a rich novel! But it's the art that brings us back to these pages over & over again, so that we can savor its intricate detail & dense symbolic power. Varo achieves a dreamlike quality of vivid clarity, as if painting with a single-haired brush of golden light. The recurring images & themes have a strong cumulative effect, taking us into a deeply personal vision. While Varo certainly falls within the penumbra of the Surrealists, she travels to a place that's exclusively her own in these paintings. A volume to treasure, highly recommended!



2. Remedios Varo is simply a wonderful painter with a very interesting life that you will discover in these easy to read pages... If you are interested in her art and want to go deeper to understand "hows" and "whys" of Remedio's... then this book is for you.



3. One of my favorite books. The visuals are unmatched and the thoroughness of her research really gives you an understanding of Varo both as an artist and a women. Will treasure it always.



4. I go to Moore College of Art and Design in Pliladelphia and Janet Kaplan is a teacher there so needless to say i read this book and Remedios Varo is ALWAYS taught in art history classes in my school. But the book is amazing. I love the artist and if you like surrealism I would highly recomend it.



5. If you have stumbled upon this wonderful book, then I congratulate you. The next step is to buy it, because it is the only comprehensive book on Remedios Varo I know of. If you are not familiar with the work of Varo, she was a Surrealist painter and a contemporary of such artists as Dali, Magritte, and Leonora Carrington (to whom she is frequently compared, though in my humble opinion Varo's work is much more fantastic and delicate). Her work, though shamefully underrated, establishes her as an extremely talented artist with an eye for incredible detail and an imagination that rivals that of Bosch and Dali. As for the book itself, Janet Kaplan has done an incredible amount of research (she actually had to travel to Spain and Mexico to get the information) for this book, which offers Varo's biography and some excellent interpretations of her paintings, which are reproduced on the pages in gorgeous, large color plates and even more black and white sketches and prints. Please buy this book and familiarize yourself with Remedios Varo, despite the brow-raising price: to allow her to remain unnoticed would be a travesty.

No comments about Tomma Abts.

4 comments about The Artist-Gallery Partnership: A Practical Guide to Consigning Art.

1. I have a small space for a gallery. This book taught me that running the gallery myself was more involved than I had thought. I will leave the operation itself to a lessee. Essential first step for people who think it would be simple fun to open an art gallery.



2. Whether you are a gallery owner or artist, I suggest finding a book that goes much more in depth. The Artist-Gallery relationship is much more complex and has many nuances not covered. The artist once again gets the short end of the "stick."



3. This book is regarded by many as the "bible" for artists who consign work to galleries. All the pitfalls and potential problems you can imagine are cited here, along with practical, simple advice for making the most of an artist's relationship with a gallery.
   
   Tad Crawford, who has written extensively on the legal and other business aspects of artist practice, has scored again with this great work.



4. I own a small gallery because I love art and artists, but I was not prepared for the variety of business and legal headaches that this field could produce. During yet another frantic call to my attorney, she recommended this book to me and life has been considerably calmer ever since.

   Let's face it: art is a business and if you are an artist or a gallery owner, you can't afford to be without this information. I use this book to maintain records; I check paperwork against it before visiting my accountant; I use its sample forms and agreements every time I get the place ready for a new exhibit; and I follow this book's advice with every sale and display we make. This book should be required reading for everyone who has anything to do with art consignment...

5 comments about Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry.

1. Received book that was listed in Very Good condition--Book arrived with binding completely torn away from book-front and back pages glued together for what reason I am not sure. Wrote seller, never received reply. Would not buy from this dealer again. This was a purchase that virtually needs to be thrown away.



2. I recently became interested in a pair of pearls and did a lot of research on them. I bought a pair of Mikimoto pearls and then bought this book. I really enjoyed learning more about pearls and other famous jewelry.



3. I paid $175.00 for this book before I discovered amazon.com and the wonderful prices. Even so it is worth every dollar I paid and it is a book to treasure. Elizabeth Taylor has a truely stunning collection of jewels and such a vast amount but she knows each piece and the story behind it. The book is filled with stunning photos and is interesting to read. I was not a great fan of Elizabeth Taylor before reading this book but since then I have read more about her. You will not be dissappointed.



4. This book has many expensive pieces of jewelry in it, and the stories behind the pieces. Most of it was bought by Mike Todd and Richard Burton, the "two loves of my life", as Elizabeth puts it. Her two greatest loves were the ones who bought her the most jewelry. I admit, I was touched by the stories of what Richard Burton was like as a husband. I think those two would've been the greatest together, if only they could've worked through their problems and conquered them.
   
   I also think most of this jewelry is big and gaudy, not something I'd want to wear. I often wonder what it was about Elizabeth Taylor that made men want to buy her so much jewelry. Beautiful? Certainly. A compassionate, loving woman? Sure. But was she worth that kind of outrageous spending? Make your own judgments.



5. This book surpasses any written bios of Ms. Taylor. She has masterfully catalogued her acquisitions with quality photographs and a synopsis of who gave her each of the gems and when. I have never appreciated the art and beauty of jewelry until I've seen this book (I never could afford to!).
   Elizabeth Taylor and her life has always intrigued me but this book is mesmerizing: Imagine, a man will tell a woman he loves her with extravagant jewelry. And, let's face it, don't we all fantasize that?
   By the way, she also catalogues the Cartier-Burton Diamond of which she no longer possess.

4 comments about A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft.

1. I only accidentally stumbled upon this book not long prior to its publishing, but after half a second's consideration, placed my order at Amazon with quite the discount. Having read the works of HP Lovecraft since I was about 13, I simply could not resist this. Incidentally, my first book was "The Road to Madness", who's cover a teenage boy could not resist, a cover that I found in this book. Small world indeed. What can one say about this book? It includes literally hundreds of pages of supreme quality art, both black and white and in full colour inspired or related to the literary works of Lovecraft and to a certain degree his milieu. Some of the pieces are even spread over fold-out pages, and the binding and covers is of supreme quality. It just doesn't get any better than this. The book is about half a meter tall and I guess about 5 kg's, so don't expect to sit and hold this while you read it!
   
   There are small introduction texts for all the artists; some perhaps a bit excessively long, but oh well. Having Stuart Gordon write an introduction is a complete miss, Lovecraft must be turning in his grave considering what Gordon has done to wreck Lovecraft's work in all his "great films". That being so, I found so much great art in this book, I enjoyed myself immensely in its company for hours on end, and it is certainly a prize item to show your friends and loved ones. Granted, making it fit in a normal bookshelf might be hard, but if you can cough up the money, I can hardly recommend this book enough. Annoyingly, it has a lot of spelling- and editing-errors, enough of them to almost make me take away a star, but it is in the end a book with paintings, so it doesn't really matter. Buy it before it is too late, if you have even the faintest interest in Lovecraft's work, a book of this quality is something we don't see often in our shady circles. I think my favourite ones in the book might be Les Edward's excellent Innsmouth-related paintings; wow! 5 stars plus!



2. Like the others said before me, words will not convey the sheer volume and quality of this book. I can barely hold this book in my arms, much easier to look at and enjoy on a coffee table hah. Anyway, there is more wonderful Lovecraft-inspired art in this book than you could ever imagine. From the 1930's pulp comic art to current CGI enhanced portraits, this book has it all. It even has pictures of SOTA's Nightmares Of Lovecraft figurines that quickly went out-of-print last year! If the price of this book had been a grand, I would still have bought it. It is a one-of-a-kind item that Lovecraft fans will be talking about from here to oblivion. I can safely say that no Lovecraft fan's collection will be complete without this book. Simply amazing.



3. I received my hardbound slipcased edition of this last week. Jerad and Co. have done an absolutley amazing job in compiling, editing and reproducing at the highest quality level years and years of Lovecraft-related images. I cannot really add much more to Matthew Carpenter's review - he really covered everything and excellently so. The old paperback covers he alluded to were the same for me - my introduction to Lovecraft - and I was very excited to see them here. This is a one of a kind publishing event well worth the seemingly heavy money, but as was stated my Matthew, in a few years you won't miss the money and you will have a fantastic gem of art and craft that will be irreplaceable. Congratulations to all involved in the production of this piece, may it have a long long life.



4. A Lovecraft Retrospective is a stunning achievement. I truly do not have adequate skill with words to convey its magnificence. It is the most glorious book in my library. Everything about this books is larger than life, it seems. The dimensions are 16.1 x 12 .6 x 2.3, pages large enough that we may better appreciate in the artists' craftsmanship. Shipping weight was 13.6 lbs, indicating the high quality of the paper used. I do not have any of the special limited editions; my copy is cloth bound with a slip cover and a slip case. The cover is Michael Whelan's brilliant Lovecraft Mythos Diptych from 1980, which also appears in the book as a 4 page fold out. Production qualities are flawless; Centipede Press did not take any shortcuts with this books. Page count is 400. There is no index, well enough, as my copy has no numbering on the pages. Instead, and more usefully, each illustration is shown in the back in a large thumbnail giving the artist, the date of production, the context and the medium. Yes there is some text, including Harlan Ellison's introduction, Bob Price's essay on the Necronomicon and the afterward by Thomas Ligotti. There are some introductions to put the works into context and brief biographies of the artists. The largest part, however, of the pages are devoted to the art. Many paintings are given an entire page, with a generous number of double page pull outs to allow us to revel in the artists' visions. A Lovecraft Retrospective shows the art inspired by Lovecraft ever since the first publication of his works to the present day; the artists use very conceivable medium: ink, oil, acrylic, collage, brass. The incredible beauty of this book beggars my ability to describe it so I will just share some of my favorite things about it. Most of the covers from our favorite books are here. There is a depiction of a Pickman painting by Hannes Bok! Ever since I read Lin Carter's introduction to Beyond the Golden Stair I have longed to see Bok's paintings! If only there were more. I literally became breathless and choked up when I saw the reproduced covers of the Lancer, Beagle and Ballantine issues of Lovecraft's works from the 1970s. These are the books that introduced me to Lovecraft and my own copies crumbled away so very many years ago, read into oblivion. There is a very generous selection of HR Giger's illustrations from the Necronomicon, many as two page fold outs. Keith Evans' 2004 Cthulhu and Dave Carson's Cthonian show what may be done with digital media. Tim White's masterful covers get their due. Gahan Wilson's Wilbur Whately rubs shoulders with Jeff Remmer's Night Gaunt. Bob Eggleton's covers are here in all their glorious colors. Previously I have lamented that John Coulthart's R'lyeh was done an injustice in its previous reproductions. Here we see it as it was meant to be seen, and in full color. It is impossible to choose a favorite; it is impossible to do justice to this book.
   
   I am forever indebted to Centipede Press for A Lovecraft Retrospective. Much inadequate kudos goes to Jerad Walters and Joseph Wrzos, and the entire dedicated team who gave this to us. Some may balk at the price tag ($276.50, heavily discounted at Amazon) but it's only money. If you buy this book you will never regret it. Years from now you won't miss the money and you will have something irreplaceable.