2 comments about Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of Renaissance Culture.

1. The book promises a really focused study of the effect of Roman art on the development of the Renaissance artist, but I failed to find this. Although there is a lot of really interesting information about Roman art and Renaissance art, there is an emphasis on information as opposed to knowledge or understanding.

   The book tends to be focused, but not always on the topic at hand. For example, the section titled "Artists" is almost exclusively about Bandinelli, with an occasional aside to Michelangelo, and Botticelli appears to be non existent. This tends to be typical of the book where the focus on detailed knowledge tends to destroy any attempt to impart understanding.

   The style is dry and the use of Latin ( and on one occasion French ) terms throughout the text does not add to readability. This reflects the assumption that the reader has a thorough understanding of both Renaissance and Roman art. As such it is really a book aimed exclusively at an academic audience, which is a pity because the information presented is significant.

   There is one really beautifully written passage where the author describes the joy of living in Rome, and how new works of art were being discovered near his hotel. Unfortunately, he never really imparts this sense of wonder anywhere in the book, and that is a pity of the book. The joy and wonder of Michelangelo being present at the discovery of the Laocoon sadly is lost in an inventory of historical facts.




2. For those of us who first view the Forum in Rome, the crumbling structures of the Palatine Hill, and the many other rich fragments of a (then-known) world-spanning empire, the discontinuity is perhaps the greatest shock of first encounter. Gibbon,unlike us, who observed the barefoot friars of Christianity moving through its remains, had a synoptic and often mordant view of what those fragments of imperial glory represented, one that is difficult for us to comprehend because we do not bring his sensibility and contemporary understanding to the task. Imagine, then, what puzzles and wonders the remains of the Roman world, not to mention the Hellenic, presented to those earlier on in the Renaissance who unearthed those monuments, sculptures, and glories which had been razed and plundered in ages past-- and used, literally, as convient building materials. Attempts to understand what those remains signified, the culture of which they were emblematic, have been part of a continuous, fascinating effort from the 15th century up to the present day. How those concrete "clues" were to be read and used to reconstruct the life, realities and values of the classical, ancient world of the West is a question that has faced Popes and artists, scholars and speculators right up to the present day. Like the German and British scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries, we continue to employ such unearthed evidence to justify our imagining of what "Rome" was. Our imaginings tell us as much about ourselves as they do about that cruel and enlightened, economically foredoomed and incredibly ambitious accretion of post-Etruscan civilization. I can't do justice to Barkan's subtle exploration of how a particular "present" uses the past for its own ends. This is truly the work of a scholar adventurer, a trip to the Greco-Roman (inextricably intertwined) past that can be taken on the wings of his scholarship and vision. By the way, if you go there, take Barkan and avoid Alitalia. The food is terrible and the seats worthy of the Inquisition.

5 comments about Style & Splendor: The Wardrobe of Queen Maud of Norway 1896-1938.

1. I never tire of this gorgeous book. The clothes are breathtaking and the photographs of very high quality. The text is informative and well edited. My taste runs more to mid-20th century clothing, except when I have this book in front of me.



2. Great book!! another Bible for me for great design and detail for young designers .



3. Beautiful book. Beautiful images. I wanted MORE images but that's just me.
   Cool to see some other designers works besides the greats like Dior and Balenciaga. There are a few outfits that really take my breath away. If it had more images I would have given it 5 stars! but it really is a 5 star book for most people.



4. This book is excellent for costuming ideas. It has large, sharp pictures that show the details on the dresses beautifully.



5. All of the books on historical fashion published by the Victoria & Albert Museum are beautiful, and this is no exception. I saw this exhibition while I was in London this summer and I was pleasantly surprised at liking the book because I always assumed that publications wouldn't be able to measure up to seeing the garments in person. Instead I found that the book gives me a chance to appreciate each beautiful garment at my leisure, and read the history about Queen Maud (which gives a context and feeling of `realness' to the clothing). The book features Edwardian coronation gowns (literally, Maud wore one for the coronation of Edward VII, her father), sportswear (riding gowns etc.), and dresses and suits through the late 30's all beautifully photographed and described.

5 comments about Visions of Spaceflight: Images from the Ordway Collection.

1. This large-format book brings together paintings, etchings and other visual images of how humans envisioned travel to the moon and the planets from early Renaissance times to the 1950's. Most were illustrations accompanying published works of fiction. These images, collected by Ordway, are very well reproduced and have useful captions.

   Until the second half of the nineteenth century, these depictions of space vehicles, other worlds, and their possible inhabitants were wildly fanciful. After Jules Verne, improved astronomical observations and better engineering made these visions increasingly recognizable for those who grew up with the Space Age. The book, which includes photographs of early rocket experiments, ends with an extensive section on the 1950's, covering the ideas of Wernher von Braun and illustrated with paintings by Chesley Bonestell and Fred Freeman.

   Readers may wonder why there are no visions from non-western cultures; were none sufficiently interesting, or do they really not exist? The foreword by Arthur C. Clarke is disappointingly flippant.




2. Beautiful "coffee table" book. The author's love for the pictorial material in his collection and this book shows at every page. The author is at his best with the "post-Goddard" material and 20th century representations of space flight. Being the proud owner of some of the original, older material, I did notice that a couple of captions for Flammarion and Terzi are wrong but I am just being picky... Enjoy!



3. All of the paintings in this volume are dated, the paintings are for the most part not accurate as we see spaceflight today, but their historical value is immense. For example, early paintings of the lunar surface often exhibit sharp peaks on mountains, of course we now know eons of cosmic bombardment smoothly rounded most features. Text at the beginning of this book explain how these paintings were collected over many years, they date from before the 1600's to the 1950's, a fascinating story in itself, and there is also a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke. Each painting is accompanied by a caption in this large-format book.

   From our perspective today many of these paintings look very quaint, though when they were first published they must have appeared very futuristic. Buy this book for it's historical and art value, not for scientific accuracy.




4. Author Ordway's absorption with rockets and spaceflight began before NASA even existed: he was one of the first to work in the space industry and assembled a beautiful collection of images relating to astronautics and rockets. Five centuries of spaceflight images are presented here, in a stunning collection of both real rockets and illustrations of imagined creations. Many a science buff as well as science fiction fans will find Visions Of Spaceflight fascinating.



5. Fred Ordway has to be the world's leading space historian. If he isn't recognised as such he darned well should be! True to form Fred delivers an outstanding book filled with beautiful reproductions of some of the greatest space art ever painted. In the past fifty years Fred Ordway's contributions to the documentation of man's preoccupation with the heavens has to be unsurpassed. This book is a brilliant and perfect addition to any space enthusiasts collection. Trust me...buy this book!

3 comments about Sailor Jerry Tattoo Flash, Vol. 1.

1. Excellent Book! Amazing art. BookMistress did a great job with communication and delivery. Thank you so much. I will definitely buy more books from them in the future. Thanks Again!!!!!



2. This book is unbelievable! I love it! It is great for the aspiring tattoo artist or anyone else interested in tattoo art. Each page contains full page pictures of Sailor Jerry's flash art. I highly recommend this book. It is definitely worth the money.



3. This book features outtakes from a journal by Sailor Jerry. Itproves that he was not only a terrific tattoo artist, but also a manwith an intellectually stimulating mind. I was amazed at how his sence of humor jumped out of the pages and laughed out loud more than a few times. I am sure that if you love the art of tattooing you would love to hear the quips that Mr. Collins puts in this amazing book! END

1 comments about The Worlds of Nam June Paik.

1. Nam June Paik accompanies the first American retrospective of the Korean multi-media artist's work since 1982, bringing together the major works which define his many artistic contributions. While this was published to accompany an exhibition, it stands well on its own as a gathering of 300 illustrations and an essay, accompanying text descriptions of Paik and his works. It's a special challenge to bring multimedia works to life in print: this succeeds in capturing the gamut of Paik's creations.

No comments about The Book of Schuiten.

4 comments about Holbein Portrait Drawings (Dover Art Library).

1. Nice series of books, these Old Master Portrait Drawings from Dover Art Library. Good material if you want to study portrait drawing. Good reproductions of the drawings. No text, only a short introduction from the publisher and titles with the drawings. The drawings say it all.



2. I found this small book to be just the item I needed to help me make the most accurate Tudor period gable hoods for SCA events. The details of the portraits are quite impressive. All are done in B/W, but this actually goes a long way to show contrasting elements of various garb. This particular book is my most valuable resource (and I have quite an extensive collection!). The book is very well suited to those who would be interested in portraiture, historically based costume creation, and plain old artistic curiosity.



3. All of the Dover books have very good reproductions of drawings. These books are just the best deal for the money, and I use them all the time in the college where I teach to show students examples of great drawing and fantastic line. All the background an artist needs is there: size, media, year -- very little personal background; it's just a catalog of drawings (words would only slow you down anyway). There may be people who can draw as well as Holbein, but there's nobody better. His work, except for the give-away clothing, looks so modern that you could swear you've seen these people. His line and his observation are perfection. I have expensive books on him, but this book is my favorite.



4. This was the third Dover Art Library book I bought; it covers the work of one of the most recognized names in Renaissance Art - Hans Holbien. If you don't recognize his name , you've probably seen one of his paintings in one of your history books back in High School. His subjects, as seen in this book, include many members of the court of Henry the VIII. As in the stylistic tradition of Renassiance portraiture, these are contour drawings, and Holbiens craftsmanship is evident in every line. If you can, I also recommend you buy his book of paintings.

No comments about Crimes and Splendors: The Desert Cantos of Richard Misrach.

1 comments about Laura Owens.

1. The book contained fewer pictures and more information than I had hoped for, but completely makes up for it by including all kinds of little doodles in the margins. The book gives good background of Owens, and the overall feel of the book gives you a real sense of her as an artist. It had enough pictures to keep me happy, and the right information to make me want to read.

2 comments about Hopper Drawings (Dover Art Library).

1. This budget priced book contains many lovely and enlightening examples of Hopper's drawings including some studies for some of his well known paintings. This slim volume contains no text at all, not even an introduction, with the single exception of a short blurb on the back cover. The quality of the paper reflects the price of the book but Hopper fans may still find this a valuable addition to their art library.



2. I own a lot of Dover art series books. They are excellent books for beginning artists in that they show how the old masters did their early works using different media. Much can be learned from the Dover art books in the use of subject, form, and shading. The Hopper Drawings is one of my favorite Dover art books. Most of the drawings in this book have been made using the Conte crayon. I prefer the Conte crayon over charcoal. It is very sleek, clean, and smooth. The drawings show how masterful Hopper is with the Conte crayon and much can learned by studying his drawings.