1 comments about The ABC's of Bauhaus, The Bauhaus and Design Theory.

1. This thin volume is a wonderful collection of essays on the typography, design and graphic design of this school that can be considered the heralding in of moderism.

   The layout of the book, sparse and clean, was designed by the editors, Joanne Savio and Mike Mills in a manner that adheres to Bauhaus design principles. Well illustrated throughout with examples of the works of Bauhaus artists, the book is a pleasure to look as well as to read.

3 comments about Costume Jewelry for Haute Couture.

1. I haven't finished reading this book but the images of jewelry are beautiful and inspiring.



2. I've been keeping an eye on 'high fashion' for 25+ years as my own one-of-a-kind bead & jewelry business evolved. I could never figure out why some of the very unusual and creative jewelry I saw in couture and pret-a-porte' runway shows was rarely covered in detail in the fashion books or magazines. Finally this book was created to begin answering my prayers! Bravo - I love it, get lost in it!
   While I love all kinds of jewelry, I'd gotten my fill of the books featuring more traditional gold/diamond-type jewelry! If you like the more unusual side of the universe, then you will treasure this book.... and I say all of this before I've even studied the text!
   I hope publishers will pay attention and give us more, more, more! This is the tip of the iceberg and I'm delighted.



3. Expertly co-authored by fashion historian and consultant Florence Muller and haute couture costume jewelry collector Patrick Sigal, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" is a profusely illustrated compendium showcasing dazzling, one-of-a-kind jewelry designed by skilled artisans to complement and adorn individual couture pieces for fashion shows and photo shoots. Representing outstanding examples from Coco Chanle in the 1920s to Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s, to the creation of Lanvin today, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" highlights some of the greatest jewelry creations by some of the greatest artists the fashion industry has every known, including examples by Balenciaga, Diro, Schiaparelli, Givench, Vionnet, and so many others. Beautiful and informative, "Costume Jewelry For Haute Couture" is enthusiastically recommended for personal, professional, academic, and community library Art History, Fashion History, and Jewelry reference collections.

2 comments about Egypt's Sunken Treasures.

1. Eine Sternstunde der Unterewasserarchaeologie wird in Wort und Bild auf hoechstem Niveau spannend und auch unterhaltsam dokumentiert.



2. The price tag's a bargain for an oversized presentation of nearly five hundred pages perfect for both general interest public library holdings and those specializing in Egyptian history or archaeological discoveries. The ruins of not one but three ancient cities off the coast of Egypt have contributed important clues to the culture, life and sentiments of early Egyptian civilization, and author Franck Goddio as key discoverer of these relics is in a prime position to present images of the excavation process in EGYPT'S SUNKEN TREASURES. His survey not only documents the process of excavation and research, but Goddio's role as founder and president of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology in Paris lends an authority and background to the discoveries which is unique and well detailed. One would think this would result in a survey too weighty for general audience interest, but the extensive color photos and historical background is accessible to all.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

1 comments about Picasso: 200 Masterpieces from 1898 to 1972.

1. Nice hardcover book with many color and black & white reproductions of the history of Picasso's work.

2 comments about Great French Paintings From The Barnes Foundation: Impressionist, Post-impressionist, and Early Modern.

1. I recall reading a major art critic write that only in last few years did he visit the Barnes Foundation for the first time. Only if you've been to the Barnes and seen the overwhelmingly great collection amassed there can you understand what a strange admission this was for someone to make. But, not exactly surprising because there has long been a prejudice in the big time art world against "vanity museums". These words don't truly fit the Barnes, though there seems to have been considerable intellectual vanity in Dr. Barnes's make-up. But even allowing for that it seems a shame that Barnes' prickly personality kept his collection from the same central place of influence that, say, the Phillips Collection has occupied in art history. I think that it is really too bad that there is a judgment against private museums, especially given the strange fate that collections suffer in major museums.
   Let me avoid flippancy here, yet still I must wonder what in the world curators in major museums do with their
   time. They certainly don't spend it re-hanging things to accomadate the bountiful wonders they have in their storage, The National Gallery in DC has the same things in their basement year after year. And while I knew one collector who gave such important things that paintings have remained part of that eternal parade, no doubt others with beautiful but not so blue-chip offerings would do well not to give to such museums. Meanwhile, Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross has been up so long that they literally have mold spots growing on them. So I ask you, why isn't a vanity museum a good idea? I think there should be many more of them. This wonderful catalogue which is actually one of the few art books I look at regularly amongst the many I have bought, commemorates the spectacular appearence at the National Gallery. Many Washingtonians loved it, and I hope the new building for it in Philadelphia will be a success. For coincidentally I believe it was the same art critc mentioned above who wrote on seeing the the Tate Modern for the first time wrote that what inspired it was "hatred of art". Whatever one thinks of Dr. Barnes and his Deweyan approach to aesthetics, one thing is clear: he loved art. Paintings may be crammed together in the old Barnes building but that muchness says nothing against his devotion. That it is poor arrangement, and that everything looked better hung normally at the National Gallery I have found few to dispute. But it speaks to why Art Criticism as a discipline seems to have died, that critics are indistinguishable from style-gurus whose main function is to teach people how to de-clutter. No doubt a maven from the Home Channel or regular papers like the Post, would make-over the Barnes as they propose to do for collectors whose dedication they scarcely understand. A collection is a logic of sorts, not a decoration scheme. That the Barnes has been treated so shabbily over the years, show that the critical tendencies which have now destroyed criticism itself have been around for a while.



2. We discovered the Barnes Foundation while on vacation in Philadelphia. Dr. Barnes amassed an amazing art collection, in both depth and breadth from the 1920s-1950s. Our main interest were the Impressionists, and with over 100, we were impressed. We were also impressed by the number of French citizens that were visiting the Foundation to view the artworks.
   
   This book does a very good job of conveying the art that he brought together. We would recommend this book to anyone that wants to have a complete knowledge of French Impressionists. It will merely whet your appetite to visit the Foundation and see it for yourselves.

1 comments about In Focus: Edward Weston: Photographs From the J. Paul Getty Museum (In Focus).

1. The Getty Museum has been putting out this series of booklets, each on a noted artist or photographer. This item shows many photographs taken, or perhaps more fittingly, composed by Edward Weston. The Getty had amassed originals of many of his best works, only some of which are reproduced here. They were made from 1900-50. Some have a timeless quality. Often imbued with a deliberate haziness in the background.
   
   The text that accompanies the photos provides a short biography of Weston's life, and a context to the photos.

No comments about In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..

2 comments about Treasures of the Louvre: 30 Postcards.

1. They are just okay. I am not thrilled with any of them. They are a little grainy. They are also not perforated, so you have to be careful when removing them from the binding. They are oversized too, so they require a regular first class stamp. I would look for a different set if you can find one.



2. I am an art instructor who works primarily to introduce pre-school and elementary age children to fine art. There are many fabulous reproductions found in this postcard book, such as Rembrandt's "Self-Portrait in Front of an Easel", Raphael's "The Holy Family", and Poussin's "Rape of the Sabines". Any person would be delighted to receive almost all of these postcards as a means to hear from friends and family. As a teaching tool, however, the 30 reproductions as a whole did not contain the breadth of art forms or artists I was hoping to find.

   The introduction to the book led me to believe it would include samples from all over the world, however it's focus was European painters (particularly heavy on the late 16th and 17th centuries) and consequently no female artists were included. The majority of reproductions had similar dark color schemes (reds, yellows, and browns, and all of the 30 reproductions were paintings, no other forms of any kind.

   The selection is a fine selection of postcards for the sake of postcards. It is also a fine tool for teaching European art, but as a sample of world art it does not contain the variety I was looking for.

4 comments about Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Prints and Drawings.

1. ... A special feature of this book is that many of the drawings and engravings are on facing pages, or else on the same page so that they may be compared. As the engravings were done by others, the chance to make comparisons is delightful. The drawings have a warm light brownish tint from both the ink and paper and the engravings are black and white. There are days and hours of visual interest here.
   ... The text is informative; both scholarly and readable. The main catalogue has a huge 16 page bibliography (3 columns per page) and an index. The first 84 pages contain 5 chapters, by different authors on aspects of his work. Detailed information on provenances, literature and sizes are also provided. there are 274 illustrations.
   ... Also quality paper has been used in the book; highly recommended for the 'Pieter Bruegel the elder' lover.



2. L'artiste est un grand maitre lorsque ses oeuvres sont impactants, d'un gout eternel. En fait, le Paysage d'hiver de Pieter Bruegel pere se trouve entre les oeuvres d'art les plus copies et imites du monde. La plupart des quarantaines de ses peintures survivantes datent de la derniere decade de sa vie. Il est le peintre incomparable de la comedie humaine, dans l'Ane a l'ecole; des paysages flamands au style italien, dans Paysage emboise avec une vue lointaine; des paysans, dans Kermis du St George; et des proverbes, dans Des grands poissons mangent des petits poissons. Il honore les manuscrits enlumines et les miniatures, dans la Tour de Babel. Ses dessins destines aux gravures sont des chefs-d'oeuvres de details, grains, nuances et textures.



3. Arguably the greatest Netherlands painter and draftsman of the 16th century, Pieter Bruegel was a well traveled artist. Documentation shows that between 1515 and 1553 he made an enviable journey through France and then to Italy. While in Rome he worked with a miniaturist, and was inspired by the Alps that he saw during his return to Antwerp.

   A quiet man he was, nonetheless, given to pranks of a slightly frightening nature, very often surprising his students. What comes as a surprise to many today is the recent scholarship which sheds light on not only his life but his work as a draftsman and printmaker, extending to the social and political ramifications of his creations.

   This magnificent volume is the catalogue for an important exhibit of more than 140 Bruegel prints and drawings. Included are scholarly essays as well as comparative illustrations. It is a valuable contribution to the annals of art history. For laymen it is a work to be savored and treasured.

   - Gail Cooke




4. Proof of art is in strong impact on later generations and timeless appeal: both describe this first major exhibition of PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER: PRINTS AND DRAWINGS. His art had been the source of many copies, of which the most often copied was "Winter landscape with skaters," and late 16th- and early 17th-century imitative works, such as dotted atmosphere and forms around grainy ground and trees by Master of the Mountain Landscapes and Jacob Savery, thick forest wildernesses by Gillis van Coninxloo, and winter skating by Hans Bol. We mainly know him through his art and that of sons Jan and Pieter the Younger: most of his 40+ surviving paintings are from his last seven years, such as "Fall of the rebel angels," "Sermon of St John the Baptist," and "Wedding dance"; and terror against heretics, Protestants, and subversives by the Duke of Alba in Brussels wore away his final two years, finding expression in "Blind leading the blind" and "Magpie on the gallows" bitterness and sorrow and in many, ominous "Summer" knives. We think of him immortalizing peasants with "Kermis at Hoboken" and "Kermis of St George," proverbs with "Big fish eat little fish," and winter scenes with "Ice skating before the gate of St George" and "Winter landscape with bird trap": he has been admired for applying an Apelles-type imagination to Hieronymus Bosch-type allegories, with the reptile lying down in "Luxuria" and upside-down frog in "Superbia," and to Eupompas-type nature. He was one of the first Northerners to take on post-Leonardo da Vinci Italian landscape style, coming up with distinctly Flemish scenes, stocky peasants and wide open naturalism, with Sistine Chapel sacrifice of Noah-type hugely solid countryfolk in "Beekeepers," Federico Barocci-type line-flowing tree trunks and white stippled foliage in "Wooded landscape with a distant view," and Cornelis Massys-type commonplace woodland scene and Titan-type balanced composition, broad-reaching lines and cotton-wool foliage in "Wooded landscape with mills." He kept manuscript illumination and miniature painting traditions going in "Tower of Babel" with Giulio Clovio-type teeming, tiny figures. He touched on religion, but by uncommon subject with the Christ-told "Parable of the good shepherd" and "Parable of the wise and foolish virgins" from the New Testament and with "Suicide of Saul" from the Old Testament; and by unusual presentation with the contemporary, stagelike "Death of the virgin." He dipped into comic genre without ending up second-rate with the carefully cross-hatched and solidly outlined "Ass at school." The lasting, widespread popularity of his art was partly due to his designs for prints, whose final look he controlled with Maarten van Heemskerck-type highly specific detail and with printmaker-friendly shading and textures: "Landscape with bears" was the first of 32 drawings directly modeled for prints; and "Rabbit hunt was the only print that he created, with distinctly outlined, light-filled foliage and imposing mountains broadly hatched and finely speckled and with its dark theme of soldiers distressing peasants the same as his "Massacre of the innocents" painting and "Milites requiescentes" print. So Nadine M Orenstein has edited a clearly organized, compellingly written, and wonderfully illustrated book which pools excellent examples of art, along with PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER books by Walter S Gibson, Rose-Marie Hagen et al, and Wolfgang Stechow and PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER AT THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM IN VIENNA by Pieter Bruegel.

5 comments about Winslow Homer.

1. I liked the book, has hundreds of oil paintings and many of the watercolors of Homer, about everything that has to do with the sea where it is a true master. The reason for placing four stars and not five is not that there are so many color illustrations of every page, as expect of a large book. But like is a very good buy for lovers of Homer



2. Too often museums and writers take the prodigious output of the 19th century American artist Winslow Homer lightly, even at times dismissing him as inconsequential in the mainstream of important art. This magnificent volume whould change that once and for all.
   
   Essayists and curators Nicolai Cikovsky and Franklin Kelly, with significant contributions by writers Judith Walsh and Charles Brock, have not only created a superb collection of Homer's works in all media, they have also taken the time to reevaluate Homer in terms of his place among his colleagues of his day, his subsequent isolationism when he communicated with nature along the coast of Maine, creating come of the most mystically beautiful works form an American artist, and an overview of how history has treated him.
   
   The result is a hefty volume with more valuable insights and well written essays that for once truly illuminate the images generously placed throughout the volume. This may have started out to be a catalogue to accompany a traveling exhibition, but its long shelf life is assured by the high quality of every aspect of the book. Highly recommended for art lovers and art historians alike. Grady Harp, January 06



3. I'd been looking for a book about Winslow Homer for a while and was delighted to find this one. Kate Jennings' copy about his life and art are very good and the 68 color prints are large and on glossy paper. The prints are not top notch, but very nice. If you're looking for a nice collection of Homer's work without breaking the bank, this is for you. (This review pertains to the Winslow Homer book by Kate Jennings. Alas,I havn't seen the one by Nicolai Cikovsky.)



4. As an Art student, venturing into watercolor recently, I received this book as a gift. I truly gained much information about the artist and the additon of color plates (90+) make this a complete reference guide. The author has separatedhis works into catogories by subject matter.The intro- duction reviews his travels, family life,interests,educa-tion,recognition and awardsduring his lifetime. A brief review proceeds each Chapterwhich then is visually supp-orted by wonderflul,colorful plates of Winslow works of that subject. The Chapters are Civil War, Sea PaintingsTropics, Adirondonck and Canada, and Prout's Neck,Me. He was an extraordinarypainter of various mediums,and always captured the 'atmosphere' in his workswhether it was stormy seasoff the coast of Maine, placid lakes in the mountains, clear skies in the tropics or children at play at that time. Fortunately, he was an artist who was noticed during his lifetime and rewarded with fame before his demise at age 74, having enjoyed his love of his work. I would highly recommend this hard cover version, to any art lover or student of the arts. I will plan to purchase this publication for my son, and perhaps a friend in the near future.



5. As an Art student, venturing into watercolor recently, I received this book as a gift. I truly gained much information about the artist and the additon of color plates (90+) make this a complete reference guide. The author has separatedhis works into catogories by subject matter.The intro- duction reviews his travels, family life,interests,educa-tion,recognition and awardsduring his lifetime. A brief review proceeds each Chapterwhich then is visually supp-orted by wonderflul,colorful plates of Winslow works of that subject. The Chapters are Civil War, Sea PaintingsTropics, Adirondonck and Canada, and Prout's Neck,Me. He was an extraordinarypainter of various mediums,and always captured the 'atmosphere' in his workswhether it was stormy seasoff the coast of Maine, placid lakes in the mountains, clear skies in the tropics or children at play at that time. Fortunately, he was an artist who was noticed during his lifetime and rewarded with fame before his demise at age 74, having enjoyed his love of his work. I would highly recommend this hard cover version, to any art lover or student of the arts. I will plan to purchase this publication for my son, and perhaps a friend in the near future.