No comments about Gifts of the Spirit: Works by Nineteenth-Century & Contemporary Native American Artists (Peabody Essex Museum Collections, Vol 132).

1 comments about Alex Colville: Return.

1. I am a little surprised that this book has yet to receive a review here; since it was published over 2 years ago.I must admit,I almost passed on reviewing it,but here goes anyway.Maybe it will trigger reviews by others.
   I have enjoyed Colville's work for many years and thought reading this book would give me an understanding of his work.Well,after all's said and done I don't think my understanding is any greater.I guess the old adage of "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" applies to me .
   If you are not familiar with his art,the cover of this book is a good example.If you like and enjoy this picture ,you'll likely enjoy more of his work.It so happens that I grew up in Kentville,just a few miles from Wolfville,where Colville lived and did much of his work.I am very familiar with the landscape around Blomindon,St.Croix,Grand Pre,Minas Basin and its tides,marshes ,warves,mudflats,etc.These are so common to people living it the area that Colville's ability to take these things and create art is amazing.
   I generally tend to like realism more than impressionist art and I liked the explanation of this being "Magic Realism".
   I am reminded of Andrew Wyeth,Pratt,Hooper as I look at this art.While in New Mexico, several years ago, I remember the rolling brown hills dotted with small bright green ,ball shaped bushes,that were so often portrayed in the local art.The artists created scenes more real than real.This is similar to what Colville does.
   So,I may not 'understand' what he is trying to convey in his art;but I know what I like,and I like his work.
   Maybe it is true of a lot of things;the smell of a rose,the
   sound of a foghorn,the cry of a gull,the Northern Lights,the stars in the sky;you can enjoy it without understanding why.

No comments about Conrad Weiser Homestead: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guide.

No comments about West of Camelot: The Historical Paintings of Kenneth Riley.

No comments about America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation.

No comments about Issues of Authenticity in Chinese Painting.

4 comments about Guide to Tolkien's World: A Bestiary.

1. I found this book very informative of Tolkien's world, from first to last, The First Age forward, I got this paperback and it is well made and the black and white drawings are descriptive. Like I said a plus for your Tolkien library.



2. This book is a must for Tolkien fans because of its utter comprehensiveness! Anything you need to know is in here and it is very user friendly.



3. Many people care for the art in Day's books. I don't. But still, the real problems are in the text. Day constantly goes above and beyond what Tolkien writes (when he doesn't simply get it wrong) ceating a world that is as much or more his than Tolkien's. This book is interesting as a faux medeival bestiary but as a guide or analysis of Tolkien's world it is very poor indeed. Robert Foster, J.E. Tyler, Micheal Martinez, Tom Shippey, and the like are simply much more careful scholars. Read their books instead.



4. In the Dark Ages, bestiaries were volumes (often illustrated) were written as allegorical or moralizing works on the appearance and traits of real or imaginary animals. They were often thick and lavishly illustrated, and their text described in detail such mythical creatures as griffins, gargoyles, giants, and dog-headed men.

   David Day's Guide to Tolkien's World: A Bestiary (also published as A Tolkien Bestiary) is a beautifully written and illustrated bestiary, containing entries on the 129 different races that inhabited Middle-Earth. Fauna and flora, ranging from the Athelas (kingsfoil) plant to the awesome Warg are vividly described, and all of Tolkien's major works (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion) are covered. The black and white drawings depict the various races (Elves, Men, Orcs, Istari, Vala, Maia...) and the color plates depict major events from the Creation of the World to the Ringbearers' departure to the West.

   A must have for Tolkien fans.

   Alex Diaz-Granados

1 comments about Frick Collection: Handbook of Paintings (Art).

1. Unlike the Louvre in Paris or its nearby cousin, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, just a few blocks away on Fifth Avenue in New York City, the Frick Collection is a much more intimate collection that can be viewed in its entirety in the space of one to two hours.
   
   Housed in the former residence of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), the Collection attempts to preserve the ambience of Mr Frick's private house but includes some of the best-known paintings by the greatest European artists, major works of sculpture, superb eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Limoges enamels, Oriental rugs, and other works of remarkable quality.
   
   The entire collection is lovingly displayed in a series of 19 rooms which can be viewed in order with this guidebook already in hand. Make no mistake - the museum is small but this in no way detracts from the astonishing value and depth of its collection. The visitor will thrill to paintings by Titian, Turner, Vermeer, Degas, Van Dyck, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Holbrook, Whistler, Gainsborough, El Greco and Rembrandt, to name only a few.
   
   This magnificent guidebook, produced in trade format with extremely high quality paper and covers, not only lovingly reproduces every single painting in the collection but also provides a brief interpretation of the painting as well as a short history of the artist. Such a beautiful memoir of this museum would still be inexpensive at twice the price.
   
   Highly recommended.
   
   Paul Weiss

1 comments about Max Beckmann: Exile in Amsterdam.

1. This catalogue accompanies an exhibition held in Amsterdam and Munich, centered on the ten years the artist spent in exile in Amsterdam (1937-1947), after being banned by the nazi regime in Germany. Many of his best works (triptychs, self-portraits, portraits of his wife) were painted during that period.
   
   Each work is wonderfully illustrated and an enlightening explanation is placed next to every illustration. This book is of great help in that it succeeds in deciphering some of Beckmann's most difficult paintings, as for example, the thriptych entitled "the Temptation of Saint Anthony", giving the roots and the sources that inspired the artist.
   
   Also very well described in the essays in the beginning of the book, is the changing attitude of the artist in the face of the historical events that were tragically changing his life and his country at the time.
   
   The book ends with photographs of all the places frequented by Beckmann during his stay in Amsterdam (his various homes, the grocery store where he used to shop...) and a very clear chronology placing Beckmann's life next to the historical events he went through.
   
   Highly recommended.

No comments about Mythology & History in the Great Paintings of the Prado.