No comments about Boccioni's Materia: A Futurist Masterpiece and the Avant-garde in Milan and Paris.

1 comments about Hickory Furniture.

1. Another Beautiful and informative book by the World's Authority on this Style and its manufacturers. Learned much and enjoyed the rare items even more!!

5 comments about I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children's Drawings & Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp,1942-44.

1. Only three of the poets and authors whose work is represented in this volume survived the Nazi Holocaust.
   
   These works, however, are no more dead than the wings of butterflies mounted in a natural history museum.
   
   They fly: They give the children voices for all time---not just the authors and poets' voices, but the voices of all 14,900 children who perished in Terezin from the arrival of the first transport in November 1941 to the ghetto's liberation in April 1945. Indeed, voices for all 141,000 Jewish people transported here from Germany, Holland, Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere, including the relative handful---16,832---who survived.
   
   The works here are a testament to the human spirit.



2. This book is a must for teachers, parents, and children 10 years old and up. It should read with children and an adult together and should have some Holocaust background explained first. If we want future generations to know what happened, we must tell them



3. This is a really good book. It was a great tool for teaching my daughter about the Holocaust. The best thing about the book is that you are seeing pictures and poetry that was created by the children of one of the most terrible tragedies in history.



4. As a school teacher, I found a wonderful use for this book in my classroom. My 6th grade history class studies the Holocaust and was participating in the Houston Holocaust Museum's Butterfly Project. This book helped my students understand some of the feelings and problems faced by children housed at Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII.



5. It is a historical masterpiece of creative resistance during a horrible period when part of mankind became monsters and trough this book we can see how children and adolescents lived with sensitivity and hope!

4 comments about Thomas Mann: Metal Artist.

1. I confess, I am a Thomas Mann fan! This is a wonderful book that anyone who loves Mixed Media, found objects and unique jewellery will love. A wonderful variety of "essays" written by others about Mann at different times in his career, starting in the 1970's including pieces written by Mann on his creative process. It is a wonderful read and you can see clearly how his unique style has developed.
   
   The glorious images that adorn the pages of his work are beautifully taken and reproduced in page after page of work that you can not help but gasp at, sigh at and hopefully appreciate this remarkable artist's talent. The book may be "old" in terms of publishing (2001) but you just have to track this book down and keep it before it is out of print. This book is one of my most loved.



2. This is a wonderful book. I was not familiar with Thomas Mann at all until I purchased this book. To say the man is a creative genius is almost an understatement.



3. A book well done for the fan of Thomas Mann. It gives LOTS of detailed photos of all his work through the years, as well as an account of his life. I'm glad he gives acknowledgement for all the people who contributed to his success. Well done!



4. This book displays a beautifully photographed representation of Thomas Mann's creative genius that is not to be missed. Thomas Mann is a true modern master and this book details his life's work and inspiration from the past three decades. From the use of non-precious metals, found objects, and objects that are created to look old, Thomas's highly recognizable industrial style is an inspiration to many, and he will be remembered for his contribution to the world of jewelry arts, for many years to come.

5 comments about The Museum of Bad Art: Art Too Bad to Be Ignored.

1. I have not only read the book, and enjoyed it thoroughly, but my local watering hole has been blessed to have several pieces from the collection on loan. There is nothing like sipping a beer with a clown and monkey (with "bette davis eyes") looking over your shoulder. I have many art books, and often find myself disappointed with the reproductions, but there is no worry here. They are just as bad in the book as they are in person.
   
   If you are in the Brooklyn, NY area... Stop into The Pioneer Lounge (Bar?) in Red Hook, Brooklyn to see a few select pieces. I don't know how long the MOBA exhibit will last, but it is really worth seeing.



2. I visited the MOBA at its cinema basement location in Massachusetts, and was enchanted. I am so glad that this book came out to help make the collection visible to a larger audience. Like bad poetry (see "Pegasus Descending" by Waldrop), bad art at its best is unbelievably hilarious. Some bad art is merely bad, but the utter sincerity with which the works in this collection were painted accounts for much laughter. If by some chance you can't tell why the thing is so bad, there are helpful titles and captions by the authors to explain it to you. My favorite is one called "Pals," in which a sad clown with five o'clock shadow is comforted by a monkey that has "Bette Davis Eyes!"



3. The Museum of Bad Art is a long overdue book, and I was so happy to finally get a copy. This is the one art exhibit I would gladly pay to see in person.



4. This is incomparable bathroom reading of the highest order. Do not read in public as your laughter will undoubtedly mark you as insane.



5. One of the funniest books I've ever seen. All my friends loved it- I'm an high school art teacher, and after years of perusing tedious, high concept modern dreck, Tom and Marie's book is just what the doctor ordered.My colleagues and I agreed that we've all done at least one artwork that should be in MOBA! There are so many bad pieces here, it's hard to say which is the worst ( or is the best?) Encore!

No comments about The Norman Rockwell Treasury.

2 comments about Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen.

1. The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.

   Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."

   Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions."

   ...




2. The book, "Devices of Wonder: From the World in a Box to Images on a Screen", is the catalog for an exhibition that has just opened. The first two reviews provide perspectives and understanding that are quite different from those offered in the preceding review from Publishers Weekly.

   Leah Ollman (LA Times, 11/18/01) comments that, "We want to know the world and have experiences beyond the ordinary. We want to extend our vision beyond its familiar capacity. These are timeless desires, born with the species. They thrive on wonder, ... 'Devices of Wonder' traces those impulses and the technologies designed to act on them during the past 400 years. Full of serious toys, marvelous instruments and art resonant with the theme of discovery, the show [and catalog] track a history of visual thinking, 'from the world in a box to images on a screen,'..."

   Speaking of both the exhibition and the catalog, the hard-nosed and insightful reviewer, Christopher Knight (Los Angeles Times, November 19, 2001) remarks that, "The Wunderkabinett is back, their show asserts--bigger, now nearly ubiquitous and considerably more far-reaching than any Baroque prince could ever have dreamed. Today's Wunderkabinett is sitting on your desk at home or in the office, or perhaps it's resting in your briefcase or on your lap." "Looking at wondrous things in a Wunderkabinett becomes the launch pad for the wonders of looking. Sight connects with insight. Mirrors facilitate reflection. Images are themselves ideas. ... Playful and unexpected connections get drawn. ... The show [and the catalog] is filled with these sorts of surprising delights, which can send your mind off in unexpected directions." (...)

4 comments about Soul in the Stone: Cemetery Art from America's Heartland.

1. Ok, so not everyone is into the "darker" side of life. We prefer to focus on sunflowers, streams and good old-fashioned values here in the midwest.
   To many people, gravestones are just plain creepy. Haven't we all watched horror movies where the dead crawl out from beneath a cracked headstone and kill innocent lovers?
   Mr. Brown's book made me look at the gravestones in a brighter (although not unentirely SAD) light. I saw the loss that families suffered through in the intricacy of massive stone mausoleums. I felt the emptiness of parents in the lifelike sculptures of their children. And I shook my head at the quirkiness of folks whose death markers are every bit as weird as they themselves must have been.
   I've had this book for 5 years and I STILL pick it up now and again to read the stories behind the cemeteries. I have also given it as a gift to people in my life who I know won't get totally freaked out by it. They LOVE it.
   It is a wonderful read/lookat/whatever.... just try it!--



2. My husband John and I love tombstone art and stomp around the countryside taking photos of cemeteries. This is one of our favorite books, with lots of wonderful photos of cemeteries around St. Louis and so forth. The author also writes a wonderful commentary on the nature of cemeteries, their conditions, and how we view them today as a modern American society. The photos of the children's graves are especially haunting. A must for collectors of tombstone art.



3. John Gary Brown, does an excellent job at showing the eccentricity and beauty of grave markers. He uses different angles, and points of view in his compositions, to bring out a morbid beauty, that is rarely seen by the naked eye. A truly impressive collection of masterpieces. Just when you think the works speak for themselves, Brown also includes wonderful poetry, which co-exists perfectly with the photographs. A must for anyone's artistic anthology collection.



4. While the photography is excellent, and the author offers several interesting insights into symbolism and customs, the facts about particular monuments are incorrect. He gives the wrong locations for several monuments (placing them in cemeteries across town), and the descriptions of the cemeteries themselves contain errors

No comments about Allan Kaprow--Art as Life.

5 comments about Egyptian Treasures from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

1. Im going to the museum and I know you cant take pictures inside and you can purchase this book at the museum gift shop.The book is large and heavy --so Im buying it now so I can read up on things and dont have to purchase it there and carry it all the way home



2. The artifacts are arranged from earliest to latest, which creates a greater understanding of the arts and their progression. The arts themselves are mostly jewelry, coffins, statues, and painted carvings. There are many other objects like beds, chairs, etc. A discription of the objects is listed with it's use, material properties, aerchaeological founder, and a story behind each item.



3. This is definitely a cheaper way of seeing the museum in Cairo! When I went to Egypt last fall, we spent an afternoon in the museum. People could spend days in there and see new things. It is so packed full of artifacts that we could only stand to be in there for a few hours. Our brains could only absorb so much! This book is a good way to go back and learn about all of the things that we saw.
   The pictures are large and unbelievably clear. I would recommend this book to everyone! Of course, I would also recommend a trip to Cairo...



4. IF YOU WANT TO VISIT THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM IN CAIRO BUT FIND IT INCONVENIENT TO GET THERE THIS IS THE SECOND BEST WAY TO VIEW THE OBJECTS. THE COLOR PRINTS ARE AS GOOD AS CAN BE PRINTED AND THE DETAIL IN DESCRIPTION IS VERY HELPFUL. I HAVE A LIBRARY AND THIS IS THE BEST AND MOST DETAILED BOOK I HAVE SEEN IN YEARS WRITTEN ON ARTIFACTS FOUND IN EGYPT. 5 STARS !!!



5. The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is whit out a doubt the greatest museum in terms of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. This book is filled with beautiful images of the most artistically amazing pieces as well as the most historically signifigant with a concise explination. On top of that the contents of the book are arranged in an easy to find in chronlogical order. A must have for all artists and scholars.