1 comments about The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present.

1. The Color of Life is a good surprise. An enjoyable and educational book that I find quite inspiring. Ancient and contemporary works of art with polychromy. The quality of the photography is excellent. But the most impressive aspect is the selection of unique sculpts.

1 comments about Pricing for Profits: Estimating Costs and Setting Prices for the Textile Screen Printer.

1. This book directly answers the question, "How do I price my product?" Even though it is written specifically for screen printers, anyone who wants to understand pricing theory would gain insight from the book. Included inside are formulas for figuring out shop ratios used to price your jobs. It was an eye-opener for me as I struggled to price potential jobs. I was able to set up the formulas in Excel and now have a great estimating tool!

5 comments about Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts.

1. Being aware of the influence that Japanese print making had on European artists in the 19th century, but not having had much exposure to Japanese prints, I found this book to be a wonderful introduction. The essays that opened the book and the explicatory text that accompanied each print helped to establish a dialogue between the ideas that were exchanged between Oriental art and European art. I found this to be an excellent addition to my personal collection, and would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this area.



2. I have not "finished" this book, nor do I intend to for a long time. I take it out to admire, print by print, sometimes reading the informative text, sometimes not. This is not a comic book to rush through. Linger, enjoy.



3. I have not "finished" this book, nor do I intend to for a long time. I take it out to admire, print by print, sometimes reading the informative text, sometimes not. This is not a comic book to rush through. Linger, enjoy.



4. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Europeans and Americans discovered the world of Japanese woodblock prints and thus began an enduring love affair. One result has been the publication over the last century of literally hundreds of books and thousands of articles about the prints known as "ukiyoe," with a particular emphasis on such giants of the genre as Hokusai and Hiroshige. How then, in this crowded field, does one manage to create a must-have publication for readers who may already have well-stocked libraries on Japanese art?

   One answer is to be found in "Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts." Issued by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in conjunction with an exhibition, "Hokusai and Hiroshige" is typical of a new wave of "ukiyoe" books that combine excellent design (of layout and typography) with clear and interesting text. Every page displaying a print has a near equal amount of space devoted to text, and the book benefits as well from introductory essays by three established experts. The text in particular appeals to me, providing not only insights about the compositional nature of each print but also detail on the locales depicted by these two great landscape artists and appropriate historical information. There is room for improvement in "Hokusai and Hiroshige"--I would have preferred more standard romanizations for some Japanese words and the inclusion of an index covering well more than just print titles--but overall this is an excellent and valuable volume.




5. This volume was the companion for the exhibits at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. It covers all the lerge number of works shown there, each with descriptions of what is depicted and some in the points of interest that highlight each artist's rendering of the scene. There are sections on the lives of each artist and the fairly primitive tools used to create these intricate multi-colored (and thus multi-pressed) prints. The full collection of sets, such as the Hokusai views of Mount Fuji, are very well done and would in themselves make this book worthwhile. The sum total of both these woodblock masters is awe inspiring and sumptuous.

No comments about Curiosity and Enlightenment: Collectors and Collections from the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Century.

1 comments about The Care of Bronze Sculpture: Recommended Maintenance Programs for the Collector.

1. Not particularly advanced, but good for the collector and many bronze artists. Slightly repetitive, but affirmative of very good bronze finishing/conservation practices in a variety of enviroments.

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.

No comments about Art and Its Publics: Museum Studies at the Millennium (New Interventions in Art History).

3 comments about The World Of Robert Bateman.

1. If you love wildlife and want to have a collection of photographs that are such good quality it's almost as if you are there in real time, buy any Robert Bateman book. You won't be disappointed. But you will be awed and amazed.
   Browse this link to see limited editions of his work. http://www.artandnature.com/bateman/a-z.html
   
   Amazing beauty in nature. And Bateman knows how to capture it for all time through the shutter and to the page.



2. This book, together with "The art of Robert Bateman" is one of the best wildlife art books ever published, and truly shows Bateman at his best. The later collections (especially the very last ones) don't even come close to the beauty of the paintings in these two books. In most paintings the animal is just one character, sometimes not even the main one, while the landscape and the surroundings (depicted in marvelous and maddening detail) almost always plays a central role. Here Bateman shows to be a master of the techniques he uses, and creates pictures of stunning beauty who truly come to life. Both books are highly highly recommended if you life "realistic" wildlife art.



3. Very nice artwork. I especially like the polar bear in the white-out.

1 comments about Italy by Bike: 105 Tours from the Alps to Sicily (Dolce Vita).

1. Good route descriptions for the touring cyclist. The routes are a bit short and unchallenging for the expereinced cyclist or the cyclist seeking challenging training terrain. This is a good guide, and I have not found anything better. Recommend.

No comments about Conservation of Leather and Related Materials (Conservation and Museology).