1 comments about Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance.

1. This book provides those who are more likely to have believed the Harlem Renaissance to be entirely literary and entirely Harlem-centered with evidence of the all-encompassing scope and international import of this crucial, modern, blackened artistic surge. The exploration of black identity and construction of black nationality called the Harlem Renaissance is insightfully revisited through the social and artistic problems enacted in the works, within the voices, and upon the bodies of protagonists: Josephine Baker, Paul Robeson, and surprisingly, Orson Welles. This book is a fine complement to books which focus on literary-hitsorical aspects (such as David L. Lewis' _When Harlem was in Vogue_) and those which focus on music such as Angela Davis' _Blues Legacies and Black Feminism_ and Albert Murray's _Stomping the Blues_). It is a a fabulous expansion of the artistic territory encompassed in black art. Maya Angleou has said: "I am human, and therefore nothing h! uman can escape my grasp." I believe that black art has languished too long in the storage bin where fads and fanices go to die. _Black Rhapsodies_ rescues the Renaissance from this fate by positing black art as a philosphical stance, therefore attainable in varied ways throughout the post WWI world--not as the exotic and undisciplined, irregular expressions of primitive black jungle souls on the drum-pulsing streets of 20s Harlem. I couldn't agree more, and I hope that the idea that black art is both a real category and a complex one full of contadictions is adopted in the teaching of the Renaissance.

   My one complaint is minor and may stem from my own unfamiliarity with the indexing system of books on art. I found it difficult to locate quickly the visual art being described in certain passages. If there were a more convenient way on idexing the art or of expaining the system to the novice reader, it would be appreciated.

No comments about No.1: First Works of 362 Artists.

1 comments about Great Expectations: John Singer Sargent Painting Children.

1. The book of children's paintings by Sargent is sold in many book stores. An excellent book, its list price is $60. Amazon lists it at nearly 50% less. Thus, the sale was not so much for a superior product, as for a far cheaper price.

5 comments about Fairfield Porter: A Life in Art.

1. I started this book knowing nothing about this important painter and finished it with a great understanding of both the man and his art.



2. Fairfield Porter's paintings have a strange pale quality, and they are flooded with light.His subjects are upper class domestic,and many of them are pale and etherial. He painted his family friends,and their pvt haunts beautifully. Little did most people realize he was a torn person,and probably can be better understood by this reading.I think what amazed me the most about this book was the incredible latent homosexual exsistence that paralled and co-existed within Porter's very homey and simmering homogenous realism.The bio details his social, artistic and private relationships with a younger generation of artists. This book is a portrait of a man at war with his sexuality. His ptngs are beautifully orchestrated, sensual, understated. A must for those that want to know more about Porter's life, and the different sides that lived inside him. A good read!I love artist bios.This is a worthy effort.



3. Justin Spring's biography on Fairfield Porter, A Life In Art, is one of the most difficult and disturbing biographies I've read in some time. It's incredibly thorough, as if no piece of information was left out.

   Most biographies are bound to reveal new information, but the amount here is overwhelming. Other reviews here on Amazon bring out the detail, so there's no point repeating it. If you're only familiar with Porter from an artisitic standpoint the biography of his family life, lifestyle, manners, and politics will be shocking and difficult to bring together.

   While in the middle of reading this book I had to let it go for a few months and read other things then go back to it. Porter's activities in the late 1940's to the mid 1950's were especially difficult to reconcile considering the subject matter of his output.

   It seems the frankness in tone of the biography is totally in tune with Porter's ways of communicating. I suspect if Porter had lived longer then such an autobiography probably would have been as revealing.




4. This book displays great beauty: the paper is beautiful, the writing is flawless and the subject matter (the art work) is cool and elegant. But the artist's life was a difficult & complex equation of contractions: he was born patrician, yet he was a leftist (he attended Socialist demonstrations in a chauffeur driven limousine); he was highly verbal and intellectual, yet he painted the coolest (visually abstract) emotion; he made realist art in an abstract art time; he was married yet he had sex with men; he was surrounded by a loving family, yet he remained remote and distant; he lived in the country, yet he was always running to the city; he was bright and balanced, yet his best (lifelong) friend was mentally deranged; he made the most stable art from the most unstable life; he was slender and active, yet he died early of a surprise heart attack; he was on the verge of greatness (and nearly penniless much of the time), but cared little for fame and less for money. This assortment of profound conflicts make for a great story, and the art works themselves tower above everything in their lofty remove, quiet dignity, and timeless spirit. Find out why that is so (and what it may mean for the history of 20th century art criticism) and read this haunting and very personal book you'll not forget.



5. Justin Spring's Fairfield Porter: A Life In Art provides an excellent literary and intellectual biography, drawing important connections between Porter's social, artistic and personal lives and considering both his art and his position in the art world. Black and white and color photos pepper this in-depth biographical and artistic coverage.

No comments about Beatrix Potter: The Artist and Her World 1866-1943.

No comments about 120 Great Paintings of the American West Platinum DVD and Book.

1 comments about Velazquez (National Gallery Publications).

1. This book is the catalogue for a blockbuster exhibition that was held at the National Gallery in London in 2006. Pictured and analysed here are 46 of the artist's paintings, mostly court portraits (the Spanish royal family) and biblical scenes. The text is divided into five chapters; especially interesting are the one on the technique of Velasquez and the one on the historical and sociological context in which his famous nude turning her back to the viewer, the Rockeby Venus, was painted. The last chapter deals with the reception of the artist in Britain and the way he was much sought after by British collectors early on. Even though his famous masterpieces Las Meninas and the Surrender of Breda were absent from the exhibition, they are evoqued and illustrated in the book's detailed chapter on the life and art of the painter. The illustrations are of a high quality, with many close-ups and details.
   
   It is therefore a must-have for anyone interested in Velasquez.

1 comments about Art Works: Place (Art Works).

1. Dean & Millar's text will be a very helpful text not only for artists but those from other disciplines as well who are exploring the complexities of place/space. The chapter "Entrance" is a fine introduction for artists and others to the idea of place, its relevant discussions and thinkers. Those well versed in the conversation of place and those interested in the variety of artistic manifestations of place/space will find the remainder of the text a delightful introduction as they explore specific artists and their works.
   Chapters include:
   1) Place - The First of All Things
   2) Urban
   3) Nature
   4) Fantastic
   5) Myth/History
   6) Politics/Control
   7) Territories
   8) Itinerancy
   9) Heterotopias and Non-Places

No comments about The Revolution Continues: New Art From China.

1 comments about Andrea Zittel: Critical Space.

1. This is a high quality print art book, is well edited, with the artist's career and thoughts organized into chapters, somewhat chronologically. Zittel is only in her late 30s and is super prolific so this book is really like an early mid life summary and not a true retrospective.
   
   Zittel's lists of ideas are handy. When I am feeling down about the messiness, the lack of space, urban decay, and my relative poverty, I just need to look at one of her lists to get cheered up (e.g., matte surfaces hide dirt, how much space does one need, anyway?) She has such a sense of humor about stuff that most people get too serious about (today, everyone wants more space, more clothes, more variety.... Zittel makes you laugh and question, why? And to recognize that too much choice, too much stuff becomes oppressive).
   
   I predict that Zittel will be as recognized one day as a Knoll, a Perriand, a Schindler-type epoch-maker, a messiah, a visionary for modernist design. Under the terms of our mass consumer culture, she cannot become really popular, but she has the right critical outsider attitude, and with such a happy, cheerful twist. I wish Target or some mass market producer would adopt some of her ideas and sell them to the masses (the bowl-in-the-table, the carpets made to look like furniture, the "uniform" outfit, the A-Z living unit, etc.).
   
   Zittel has the vision to improve the average person's life through simple changes, and even allow people to spend less money for fewer, but better designed, "re-thought" products.