3 comments about Stubbs & the Horse.

1. This book is outstanding. The plates are all in color and large enough to see easily. Stubbs anatomical drawings are very detailed. I had been having trouble understanding how horses moved before I saw those drawings. Seeing the skeleton and muscles helped considerably. When I took it to class and showed my professor, she got online and bought one for herself. She draws/paints horses beautifully and owns horses herself.
   
   Reading the background information about George Stubbs and the symbolism used in his paintings was very interesting and educational.



2. Excellent purchase. I saw this book in the National Gallery, London having just viewed Whistle Jacket. I wanted it because my own passion lies in painting Horses. The book is full of fascinating information on Stubbs himself, his love of horses and has his excellent illustrations / studies of equine anatomy. A useful and beautiful book filled with his striking paintings.



3. Although arguably the greatest painter of horses to date, British artist George Stubbs (1724 - 1806) would never imagine the prices his canvases would some day command. Some 40 years ago the late Paul Mellon added to his collection of Stubbs's work with a check for tens of thousands of dollars, today anyone lucky enough to come across an available Stubbs had better have a million to spare. London's National Gallery paid 11 million pounds for a life-sized painting of the thoroughbred "Whistlejacket," a monumental work breathtaking in majesty and beauty.
   
   Those fortunate enough to visit the Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum though early February of this year will be able to see not only this incredible piece but the finest works of Stubbs in the first major collection to fully capture his genius as a painter of horses.
   
   Almost as good as being at the Kimbell is leafing through "Stubbs & The Horse," an exquisite 256 page volume holding 200 illustrations. Authors Malcolm Warner and Robin Blake present a comprehensive portrait of Stubbs, as Warner discusses the low regard in which the British held horses in Stubbs's time, the surprising connection the artist's horse-and-lion compositions, and the evolution of the English thoroughbred. Offering a different perspective Blake tells us of the Whig nobles who were Stubbs's initial patrons and offers insights into the inclusion of the grooms, jockeys, trainers and other figures in the artist's paintings.
   
   As Warner notes in his Preface, "The horse was at once the mainstay of Stubbs's success and a problem for his reputation. In his lifetime he attracted much praise for his abilities as a painter of horses.......But this won him little prestige in his profession." In fact. During Stubbs's time British artistic tastes ran to paintings of historical events, myths, the Bible, and allegory. A painter of horses was rather low in popular opinion.
   
   Nonetheless, Stubbs persisted in his study of equine anatomy eventually rendering remarkable ink drawings which presaged his later paintings. He would later take these anatomical drawings to London where they were well received, and resulted in several commissions. Eventually he acquired an enviable reputation as an equestrian painter and earned a comfortable living from equine enthusiasts.
   
   Stubbs lived to the age of 81, and died in 1806. Throughout his life many considered his incredibly beautiful lifelike work to be second class. History has deemed it quite differently.
   
   - Gail Cooke

3 comments about O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection.

1. This is an excellent gift for someone who wants the art but also a little bit of background. Nicely done.



2. This is a great overview of OKeeffe's work. I love her desert work and recommend this coffee table book which is full of her work.



3. Georgia O'Keeffe died in 1986 owning more than half the approximately two thousand works she had produced during the eighty years she was active as an artist. Four hundred of those works were oils, charcoals, pastels, pencils, and watercolors. Additionally there were more than seven hundred sketches in her personal collection. O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes: The Artist's Collection explores and showcases the significance of Georgia O'Keeffe's collection of her own work and comprises seventy-five seminal works reproduced in full color and dating from around 1910 down through the 1960s. Unique, impressive, O'Keeffe's O'Keeffes is an essential volume for students of American art history in general, and the life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe in particular.

5 comments about Spectrum 8: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art.

1. this book is such a great collection of artwork with artists ranging everywhere from well known designs such as those from the resident evil, spawn and a little of the sandman comic to many unknown artists who are just as highly talented. they use every different medium in this book, each with their own distinct praises. some of this artwork inspired me to start my own drawing and painting again, that's how good it is. i highly recommend this to any true fan of fantasy art.



2. Really nice collection of all sorts of fantasy art..from the cliche "dragon with muscle man" stuff to really really abstract images.Even has a few nice sculptures! Get it!



3. There's a lot of imagination and talent in this book, and with such a varity of styles it's sure to appeal to a wide range of tastes. Personally, I enjoy the edgier, more contemporary material, but there is also plenty of more traditional "faries and unicorn"-type stuff as well. I especially like seeing some comic book covers being treated as the art they are, w/o the title covering up a good chumk of the work.

   All in all, a GREAT collection! May it inspire you to write, drwa or create something outstanding of your own...




4. As with every year, the Spectrum series has proven itself to be an indispensible resource for any fantasy art fans. It doesn't matter if you're a casual fan, like myself, or an art connoisseur... There's something in here for you.

   Spectrum 8 is more or less just like previous Spectrum books. The art is broken down into sections (Books, magazines, unpublished, etc.) and each section has a Gold & Silver award for the best pieces of art in that section (based on what the Spectrum jury thinks). You can spend hours looking through this book, only to pick it back up again a month later and spend another hour or two reading through it.

   I suggest you purchase the hardcover edition and stash it away in your bookcase, because you'll be looking through it for years to come.




5. I just got my copy of "Spectrum 8". What a great collection of fantastic art. The series gets better with each volum and I like the fact that sculpture pieces is also included. I can spend and hours just observing the colors and details of the images, not to mention the fact that Moebius is finally recognized as 2001 Grandmaster. Well worth the price I paid for the hardcover. I don't need to mention much about the reproduction quality of the artwork, because it is superb. Enough said.

2 comments about The Collected Best of Watercolor.

1. This book has some really amazing works!! Great to have it. I do not get tired of checking it over and over again.



2. this is a fine book with many examples of different artists. as an artist i benefit from seeing a variety of paintings and approaches to subjects. i have given copies of this to friends who are at a plateau or just "stuck" for inspiration. enjoy.

4 comments about Sophie Calle: Did You See Me?.

1. I wanted this book since I first saw it at the Tate Modern. It is an incredibly satisfying read. Sophie is a genius.



2. Sophie Calle uncovers gender relations as well as human qualities in her "explorations". She is an artist that inmerses herself in a situation and through th experience creates the content of her art. Magnificent artist. I do think there is a big deal of "womanhood" in her aproach to "situations". I believe she is one the few artist that have made me aware of gender relations in a very viceral and sublime way. This book takes you to the multidimetionality of her work while showing the work on itself. Is a book to read and and enjoy. Besides the book is really beautifull: different papers, and layouts within the same book. A substantial book of art.



3. Published to accompany a 2003-2004 Pompidou Centre retrospective, this is a wonderful overview of the artist's 1978-2003 work. The book is chock-full of photos and text, and is divided into front matter, "shadows, investigations, vanishings", "hotel rooms, sleepless nights and other true stories", "games and ceremonies", "journeys", "absence", "Unfinished, 2003", and appendices.
   
   The front matter includes a brief foreword and preface, a thoughtful essay "The author issue..." by Christine Macel, and a rather haphazard essay "The paper tigress" by Yve-Alain Bois. There are also 15 pages of excerpts (mainly in French) from Calle's 1978-1992 diaries.
   
   The body of the book gives excerpts from about 30 of Calle's projects that take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. "Shadows, investigations, vanishings" starts with "Paris shadows, 1978-1979" in which Calle "followed strangers on the street." Then there's a "Biographical interview with Sophie Calle" by Christine Macel. "Suite venitienne, 1980" documents an intense following of a man visiting Venice. Calle contacted people listed in "The address book, 1983" that she found. "The shadow, 1981" and "Twenty years later, 2001" concern detective work. "A woman vanishes, 2003" is about the mysterious disappearance of a museum guard. "Beet, alfalfa, etc." by Oliver Rolin concludes this section.
   
   "Hotel rooms, sleepless nights and other true stories" includes: "The sleepers, 1979" (people slept in her bed); "The hotel, 1981" (as a chambermaid, she photographed guests' belongings); "Bedroom, 2003," "True stories, 1988-2003," and "Appointment with Sigmund Freud, 1998" ("autobiographies" and associated places and objects); "Journey to California, 2003" (she sent her bed from France so a man could sleep in it); "Room with a view, 2002" (she spent a night in the Eiffel Tower listening to people's stories); and "Psychological assessment, 2003" (her mother, her friend, and she filled out forms which were given to a neuropsychologist and a psychiatrist to interpret).
   
   The first two projects in "Games and ceremonies" are "The graves, 1990" (which consists of large photos of "plots" and made-up headstones) and "The striptease, 1979." While those are perhaps depressing, the rest of this section is mostly delightful: "The birthday ceremony, 1980-1993" (she photographed all the presents she received on her birthdays), "Gotham handbook, 1994" (she "prettied up" a phone booth in New York), "The chromatic diet, 1997" (she ate foods of a single color each day), and "Days under the sign of B, C & W, 1998" (she spent time as a Big-time Blonde Bimbo, in the Cemetery, and on a Weekend in Wallonia).
   
   "Journeys" consists of "The Bronx, 1980" (an exhibit covered in graffiti); "Anatoli, 1984" (train ride with a Russian man); "Los Angeles, 1984" (Calle asked people in L.A. "where are the angels?"); "No sex last night, 1992" (movie about a road trip with a male artist); "The Eruv of Jerusalem, 1996" (public spaces that have private meanings); "The detachment, 1996" (people's memories of East German symbols removed from Berlin); and "Exquisite pain, 1984-2003" (Calle asked people about the worst times of their lives).
   
   "Absence" deals with the loss of sight or the loss of art. "The blind, 1986" and "Color blind, 1991" asked what is beautiful for blind people, or what they can see. "Ghosts, 1989-1991" and "Last seen, 1991" asked for recollections of artwork loaned or stolen from museums.
   
   The final project "Unfinished, 2003" is a sort of attempt to work through "writer's block." Calle documents her struggles to make something artistic from a 1988 series of video surveillance tapes from an American bank.
   
   Appendices include a list of Calle's works, exhibitions, books, articles, etc. In addition, in the body of the book are notes as to where to find more info on projects if available; for example, "The striptease, 1979" was published with more material in "The Doctor's Daughter" (Fille du Docteur) of 1991, "Les Panoplies" of 1998, and "Double Game" of 1999. It's nice to have such references, because the snippets of projects in this book make you want to read more about them. But many of the projects in this book were previously unpublished, which adds to this book's unique value. Get hold of it from Amazon.com!
   
   BTW #1, here's a note on the book's title, which varies across bookstores and libraries. The photographically illustrated front cover (showing Calle with her hand over her left eye) says only (on three lines in a box to the right) "SO / PHIE / CALLE". The spine says the same. The back cover (whose photo is a mirror image of the front cover) contains in a box to the left "M'AS-TU VUE / M'AS-TU VU(E) ?: / Did you see me? / ... Vain person. (fam.) show-off. ...". The half-title page (just before the copyright page) has the same box of text as on the back cover. The box on the title page (just after the copyright page) has five lines: "SO / PHIE / CALLE / M'AS-TU / VUE". I therefore conclude that the title of this book, whose ISBN is given on the back cover and on the copyright page as 3-7913-3035-7, is best rendered as "Sophie Calle: M'as-tu Vue". Although the book itself is mostly in English, this French phrase preserves the double meaning intended.
   
   BTW #2, the paper types and sizes used in the book vary considerably, which adds to its charm. The endpapers are salmon; the front matter is slightly gray; the diary pages are cream-colored; the section dividers (like "journeys") are pink; etc. Some of the pages with photos are glossy, but others are matte. Scattered between pages 84 and 281 are various pages attached to the spine but cut smaller than the 16.5x23.5 cm page size for the rest of the book. Examples include a postcard after page 122, and a number of installation views such as "Gotham Handbook, 1994" before page 273.



4. This book is much more satisifying than the usual exhibition catalog. It's dense and highly informational, but it's also very tactile and engaging in its presentation. Different paper stocks, postcard-size inserts and lovely puffy cover make it more of an artist's book. I'm so happy with it.

1 comments about Botanica Los Angeles: Latino Popular Religious Art In The City Of Angels.

1. I was really excited to see this book, as I am very intrested in learning more about Latino and Afro Latino religions and spiritual expressions, as well as the visual representations that come along with them (altars, dress, etc). The book itself has beautiful detailed pictures taken from the Los Angeles area botanicas and homes of practitioners of Curanderismo, Espiritismo, Santeria, and Palo.
   
   The concept of the book is documenting religious expression of Latin Americans in L.A. Unfortunately becuase of the very academic approach, the first two chapters (which are really the reflections of the ethnographer who visits various botanicas) are very dry and detached. They are definately written from the perspective of "an outsider looking in" to an extreme extent. The information is presented in a way such that someone who is completely unfamiliar with Afro Latino/Latino religions and spirituality is assumed to be the reader.
   
   Despite that, most of the other chapters (written by various authors) are very warm and include interviews with practioners, as well as personal knowledge and experiences of the authors themselves within various practices. Subjects included in the book are Puerto Rican Mesa Blanca (espiritismo), the Guatamalan saint San Simon, understanding what a botanicas are and why they exist, and a breakdown of the African origins and orishas of the Santeria and Palo traditions.
   
   This book is by no means comprehensive of Latin American spiritual tradtions, however it is a good introduction to the religious expressions of the Dispora found in "the City of Angels".

No comments about American Impressionist Paintings: in the Collection of the Florence Griswold Museum: 24 Cards.

No comments about Hirschfeld: Art and Recollections From Eight Decades.

3 comments about American Modern, 1925-1940: Design for a New Age.

1. This is a beautifully designed and printed book based on the exhibition `American Modern' at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 172 illustrations (142 are large color photos mostly one to a page) focus on objects rather than the wider visual aspects of streamline design such as architecture, transport, engineering. I like the idea of everyday items being used, here you can study, for instance, Lurelle Guild's 1937 Electrolux vacuum cleaner, Norman Bel Geddes' 1940 Patriot radio, Russel Wright's 1937 American Modern dinnerware or the stunning candleholders Wilbert Orme designed in 1938, there are four shown in four separate arrangements and I would really like to have a set!
   
   Author Stewart Johnson explains, in an essay at the start of the book, how a small group of American designers, several of them emigres from Europe, abandoned the ornamentation of Art Deco in favor of simple clean lines, using new materials and manufacturing techniques. Furniture designer Paul Frankl was one of this group and he became an active promoter of the new style. He tied it all down to six characteristics
   1 Simplicity.
   2 Plain surfaces.
   3 Unbroken lines.
   4 Accentuation of structural necessity.
   5 Dramatisation of the intrinsic beauty of materials.
   6 Elimination of meaningless and distracting motives of the past.
   Johnson adds one other point that Frankl would not have mentioned at the time: Streamlining. This was the idea that made the style American.
   
   The back of the book has several pages of designer biographies, a useful glossary (Aluminum to Vitrolite and I now know what Monel Metal is) bibliography and index. Joe Coscia Jr, of the Metropolitan's photo studio, should be congratulated on his wonderful photography of the exhibits, they leap right off the page.
   
   As this book only covers objects you might want to read about other areas of Streamline design, have a look at `The Machine Age in America' by Richard Guy Wilson, Dianne Pilgrim and Dickran Tashjian. I think this can be considered the standard work on the subject. Another book that I like is Martin Greif's `Depression Modern: Thirties Style in America', it has some excellent architectural (especially interior) photos that I have not seen in other books. Want to know more? Scan over my Listmania: 'Streamline' books selection.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



2. I saw the exhibition at The Met and this book captures the objects perfectly! It also serves as a great reference to the greatest period in American industrial design: 1925 to 1940.



3. This is a great book for anyone interested in or appreciative of modern design and aesthetics. The book itself is beautiful, and all the color reproductions inside are sleek, clean, and inspiring. The author has the works divided by interesting categories such as "Streamlined," "Geometries," and "Penthouse," groupings that really help illuminate different design tendencies during this period. A beautiful publication!

No comments about Kurt Schwitters: Catalogue Raisonne Volume 3 1937-1948 (Catalogue Raisonne).