4 comments about Matisse Picasso.

1. This is an excellent book with great reproductions of artwork. It also compares the two artist's. This is a good book for any artist to have.
   It arrived as described in a timely manner.



2. A perfect (necessary) match for Jack Flam book Matisse and Picasso: The Story of Their Rivalry and Friendship (Icon Editions)



3. A blockbuster exhibition and a blockbuster catalogue. This book is hugely informative, very well organized, chronologically, with a constant comparison of both masters. Every masterpiece by Picasso is followed by one by Matisse and vice-versa. It is a break-through study on the mutual influence of both artists, an attempt once tried by the critic Yves-Alain Bois with less success. This book is required material for any arts library. The authors are all authorities in this particular field and vouch for the quality of the acompanying text.



4. Huge, very heavy book of almost 400 pages. Wonderful reproductions in color of their work, and, for the most part, easily understood prose. I think I learned a lot. I know I learned that I like Picasso better than Matisse, whom I found to be basically cold and severe, too intellectual in his art. How he was personally this book does not say. You do get a little more sense of Picasso than Matisse. The book focuses on how these two artists played off each other's work almost all their artistic lives. And as such, it definitely succeeds. It was actually printed in conjunction with a major exhibition of these two, in Paris, London, and New York. A must for all art lovers.

2 comments about Paper Rad, B.J. And Da Dogs.

1. They gots comic cred, art cred, now they puttin out books. Glorious, mind bafflin books. Books to read books. By read, I mean devour. The humor, the characters, the colors, the composition of page and panel. Full course meal right there. Seriously.



2. this is the best art book ever

1 comments about Roman Art from the Louvre.

1. Cecile Giorire and Daniel Roger's ROMAN ART FROM THE LOUVRE covers the Roman art works at the Louvre, a huge collection of objects, and accompanies a traveling exhibition organized by the Louvre. Any in-depth art library specializing in antiquities will appreciate the detail, which blends photos of each piece with extensive background history covering both artistic focus and developments and general historical background. The scholarship is exquisite: any college-level collection strong in Roman history or art will relish it.

No comments about Spider Webb's Classic Tattoo Flash Book 2.

2 comments about Lost Lhasa: Heinrich Harrer's Tibet.

1. Most of LOST LHASA documents the peaceful years that Heinrich Harrer spent in Tibet. The map of Tibet and its border with northern India is shown inside the front cover, with a line marking Harrer's route from Dehra Dun near the Ganges River in India, up into the Himalayas far northwest of Mt. Everest. After escaping from a prison camp in April, 1944, and climbing for 18 days to Tibet, then stuck in Traduen until December, 1944 while they waited for permission to travel further, they waited in Kyirong on the border of Nepal until November, 1945, when they escaped again. "To avoid large cities, we decided to move even farther north, into the Changthang region--the famous Tibetan Plateau. Here we would see only nomads and brigands; government officials avoided the area." (p. 43). Walking into Lhasa like starving beggars on January 15, 1946, "We thought of our adventures and of our comrades still in the internment camp at Dehra Dun." (p. 47).

   Heinrich Harrer is famous, now, as the author of the best-selling book, SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET, which told the same story. LOST LHASA was not published until 1991, when the 2000 negatives which he had kept became the best reminder he had of the years he had enjoyed most. There is a lot of writing in this book to tell the entire story again, and in places where there aren't many pictures, the people are still fascinating. A young couple, who had given Peter Aufschnaiter and Harrer each a dried apricot on a 20,000-foot pass two months before, had much to complain about after they reached Lhasa. "They were surprised that they had to work for daily necessities, even if it was only a place to spend the night or a cup of tea. They felt that people in Lhasa were greedy, demanding things that in the Changthang you wouldn't think about. . . . We invited them to our modest home, where we had lots of barley, rice, and butter, and we supplied them for their return to the Changthang, their nomadic home, where they had plenty of meat, butter, cheese, milk, and where nature would provide for all their needs." (p. 65).

   Picture captions are jumbled together. The caption under the picture on page 116 explains "Noblemen and women . . ." with everyone in winter clothes "in front of the Kumbum monument in Gyangtse [above]. The girl [right] sits behind three fancy teacups, complete with stands and cover." also explains the picture of a young child on page 117 with very short hair and a necklace of beads sitting behind a table with four teacups. My first clue that it was a picture of a girl was the covers on the teacups. The 7-inch-square picture on page 116 shows plain cups and saucers. I did not realize that four teacups with stands and covers were on the table in front of the kid until I tried to measure the height of each cup to see if they were taller than the kid's head in the picture. Allowing for perspective, it might be possible for a knob on top of the fourth teacup to be mistaken for an earring, just below one of the kid's ears, but the earring pictures are elsewhere in this book.

   Several trips to Lhasa are described in this book, including "When I returned in 1982, I found that the Chinese had destroyed the medical school that perched atop Chagpori and replaced it with a radio tower." (p. 208). A Glossary on pages 218-219 explains terms like Dob-Dob (monk-police) and Tsampa (parched barley flour, the Tibetan's staple food). Notes on the pictures on page 220 identify two of the people in the picture on page 116 and explain that the picture following it is of the daughter of Surkhang Wangchuk, the governor of Gyangste. Harrer had fled Lhasa and was staying with the governor of Gyangste when the Dalai Lama with a caravan that contained more than a thousand animals came through on the flight from Tibet to the Chumbi Valley. Harrer left there in March, 1951. "Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa to find posters of Mao plastered against the walls of the Potala." (p. 207). Among the brighter aspects of the nostalgia in this book is the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Dalai Lama in 1989 because he "opposed the use of violence. He has instead advocated peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect, in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people." (pp. 216-217). This book is a monument to that tradition.




2. What a lovely book! Engrossing illustration of a way of life destroyed by the Chinese conquerors. I love reading Buddhist writings, but I think this would appeal even to those who are not interested in Buddhism, as Harrer seems to be not particularly religious and he concentrates on the everyday life of Tibetans in Lhasa.

3 comments about Magritte and Contemporary Art.

1. Magritte is possibly the most influencial artist -along with Warhol- of the second half of the XXth century. This book, a catalogue for a ground-breaking exhibition held at the LACMA in 2006, thoroughly and vividly studies this influence by confronting his work to those of many of today's best artists (Jasper Johns, Ed Rusha, Vija Celmins and many more). All of them, either through their works or through the interviews carried out on the occasion of that show and published in this book, acknowledge their debt to the Belgian master who taught them to see in another way. The lesson to be drawn from this book is indeed that what we see may not be what we see, that the obvious may not be so and that the ones who can best make us understand this are the artists themselves.
   
   A treasure trove of illustrations, many of works belonging to private collections, enhance the already high quality of the text.



2. Good insights, written by a number of writers, on the art of Magritte. Some articles more insightful than others; some easier to understand than others. Covers why he is important and how he's influenced other contemporary artists. Overall, thumbs up.



3. Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a hit on its hands! 'Magritte And Contemporary Art: The Treachery of Images' is one of the most delightful and intelligent exhibitions to be mounted in a long time. Not only does the exhibition pay homage to Rene Magritte with some fifty examples of his paintings, but creatively juxtaposes the works of contemporary artists who in one way or another have been profoundly influenced by Magritte, if not by his imagery and facile wit, but by his impact on the art scene since his death in 1967. Stephanie Barron and Michel Draguet have made a museum experience that defies visual imagination and that feeling is fully transmitted to this superb catalogue.
   
   With an informative introduction by popular artist Ed Ruscha and articles by Thierry de Duve, Draguet, Pepe Karmel and Dickran Tashjian this richly colorful volume investigates the influence of the ever-popular surrealist painter on such luminaries of the art world as Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Vija Celmins, Joseph Kosuth, Sherrie Levine, Richard Artschwager, Jeff Koons, Martin Kippenberger, Jim Shaw, Raymond Pettibon, Robert Gober and Marcel Broodthaers. The side-by-side addition of works by these artists in tandem with comments from them makes for delicious reading and viewing.
   
   The design of the hefty volume is superb, maintaining the sophisticated ambience of the show itself. No matter the readers' relationship to art, this is a magical volume that is endlessly entertaining and informative. A very fine gift for art lovers! Grady Harp, November 06

1 comments about Song Dynasty Ceramics (Victoria & Albert Museum Far Eastern).

1. With its historical sweep of more than 4000 years, Chinese ceramics is one of the great achievements of world art. It was, after all, the Chinese, who invented porcelain, and that is why we speak of "china" generically today.
   
   In my judgment the wares of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) constitute the summit of this achievement. To be sure, they are something of an acquired taste, for their austerity lacks the immediate interest of the Ming blue-and-white and the spectacular show pieces of the Qing Dynasty. Still, in the splendid photographs of this book, one can attain a kind of secular mystical experience, which has no parallel that I know of.
   
   The text is good too, neither too long nor too short, not too technical, not too simple. Carefully, painlessly the author presents the information gleaned from recent research and excavation in the People's Republic. For anyone interested in Chinese ceramics this book is a must.

No comments about A Piece of My Heart/Pedacito De Mi Corazon: The Art of Carmen Lomas Garza.

2 comments about Andrew Wyeth: Master Drawings from the Artist's Collection.

1. 
   Really should have been a better book. Considering it comes from the museum practically in existence because of Andy. If you are used to repros such as those in the Helga book, or practically any of his other books (including the really old ones) those in this tome will utterly disappoint you. A great collection of drawings is here it should be said. The size of the book is the problem, but more so it is the photography of the art that is truly horrible. Several images are blurry, and no it was not the drawing itself, and no they did not rely on decades old photos. The photo credit for the book goes to someone who currently works at the museum and all of these images were in the show, available for shooting.
   
   The text, while informative, is really with a little searching, redundant info offered else where in Hoving's books and easy to find articles on the internet.
   
   Am not accusing them of trying to cash in, the book / catalog really should have had a more attentive eye trained on it during production. And for the money one would have to spend on it here, expectations should really be high.



2. I have had great admiration for the work of Wyeth for years now, but this book blew me away with its reproductions of Wyeth's pencil drawings. While most are unfinished pencil studies done as preparatory work for his watercolors and temperas, his skill and technique are awe inspiring. He has the ability to realistically render both the texture of an object and the effect of light on that object without appearing overworked or labored. There is a freshness, immediacy, and sense of spontaneity in all of the drawings.
   
   As someone who wishes to improve his own ability to draw, I found the unfinished nature of the drawings enlightening, allowing me to see the manner in which Wyeth works. It also highlights his ability to see the essentials of what interests him about a scene, and then capture that essence quickly and masterfully.

No comments about California Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style.