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

2 comments about Andrea Zittel: Critical Space.

1. Andrea Zittel is a remarkable artist and this book is proof of it. It looks effortless, the way she explores her world and turns reality into art and art into reality. Her art combines the abstract with the concrete, the uniform with unique, the wise with the simple truth. It is not critical space, it is critical living (where a living is a space too).



2. This is a high quality print art book, is well edited, with the artist's career and thoughts organized into chapters, somewhat chronologically. Zittel is only in her late 30s and is super prolific so this book is really like an early mid life summary and not a true retrospective.
   
   Zittel's lists of ideas are handy. When I am feeling down about the messiness, the lack of space, urban decay, and my relative poverty, I just need to look at one of her lists to get cheered up (e.g., matte surfaces hide dirt, how much space does one need, anyway?) She has such a sense of humor about stuff that most people get too serious about (today, everyone wants more space, more clothes, more variety.... Zittel makes you laugh and question, why? And to recognize that too much choice, too much stuff becomes oppressive).
   
   I predict that Zittel will be as recognized one day as a Knoll, a Perriand, a Schindler-type epoch-maker, a messiah, a visionary for modernist design. Under the terms of our mass consumer culture, she cannot become really popular, but she has the right critical outsider attitude, and with such a happy, cheerful twist. I wish Target or some mass market producer would adopt some of her ideas and sell them to the masses (the bowl-in-the-table, the carpets made to look like furniture, the "uniform" outfit, the A-Z living unit, etc.).
   
   Zittel has the vision to improve the average person's life through simple changes, and even allow people to spend less money for fewer, but better designed, "re-thought" products.

5 comments about The World of Ripley's Believe It or Not!.

1. All real. Yep.

   All believable? Hell no.

   That's the point! Gotta love it!

   This has so many cartoons and pics and stories, it's really well stocked with fun info. I've had it for years and keep stumbling across new fun stuff!




2. This would be a great book for a coffee table - except that it is HUGE! It's hard to figure out wherer to keep it. The book itself is good.



3. This book really brought me back to my childhood. Back to the days that my brother and I used to fight over a Ripley's book that we had when we were young. But then again, my brother and I fought over a lot of stuff when we were kids. I enjoy the book much more than any of the T.V. shows they've aired.



4. needed more pictures of circus freaks in it. that would have helped.

   plus my copy smelled a wee bit funny but that's most likely not true for all of them, so forget i mentioned that.

   great pictures...hilarious pictures...i just thought it could have used a few more large photos of bearded women, tatooed men, and the like.




5. This is the first Ripley's book I've ever purchased, and I love it! It makes a wonderful coffee table / conversation piece. Great for readers (or readers-to-be) of all ages! Even young children will enjoy looking at some of the bizarre pictures and having an adult read the captions/short blurbs to them.

1 comments about To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasure from the Brooklyn Museum.

1. The notable Brooklyn Museum collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts serves as a steppingstone to a look at the burial practices, concerns, and options of ordinary ancient Egyptians. Referring only briefly to the Egyptians' belief in the afterlife which has been covered many other places, this work is decidedly different in that it concerns primarily practical decisions and burial options facing average Egyptians. Thus it brings in material which most readers will find entirely new on the always-fetching subject of Egyptian religion and burial customs.
   
   The funeral practices of the middle-class and poor Egyptians are not commonly known as are those of Egyptian royalty and upper class because the elaborate, often golden, artifacts of the latter and the large amount of statues, amulets, and possessions in their tombs have understandably attracted the most attention of the public. Besides, the metals and other materials of the tombs of royalty and upper classes did not deteriorate so much over time as the wooden sarcophagi, identification tags, and crudely-made base metal and stone artifacts which the lower classes used because they could afford them. Nonetheless, enough of the middle- and lower-class artifacts have survived for archaeologists, historians, and curators such as Bleiberg to realize differences in funeral practices.
   
   Royalty or commoner, ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife. Funeral practices reflected this belief according to an individual's means. Surviving relatives would make the practical decisions about the elaborateness of a funeral, the quality of embalming, type of sarcophagus, and crafted and personal items to be buried in the tomb. Upper classes for example would usually have their internal organs removed and placed in stone jars; whereas middle and lower classes would have injected into them a fluid which would liquify their organs, thus avoiding the expense of their removal and storage. Bleiberg delves into the realities and practices of funeral practices of average Egyptians to the point of giving costs for different kinds of coffins. In his reader-friendly visual and writing style, this author draws the curtain back on a fascinating area of ancient Egyptian society.

No comments about Hundertwasser: Complete Graphic Work 1951-1976.

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

5 comments about Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas.

1. Opening the package as it arrived from Amazon, easing this massive catalogue from its slipcase triggered a memory: walking to the edge of the Grand Canyon. With similar impact: awe. David Anfam brings the reader with him to encounter, view, & experience Rothko's work. His ten-year dedication paid off with the discovery of "lost" titles, setting the chronology of 836 works on canvas, (he couldn't have been afraid to get his hands dirty) & analyzing the slow struggle, sporadic leaps engendered by the painter in the evolution of the oeuvre. As scholar, teacher, critic, curator, & especially writer, Anfam proves the perfect choice to perform the daunting, almost impossible task of bringing Rothko into focus.

   The author insightfully tracks the early representational beginnings, (his foray into narrative linked with crossing boundaries is totally appropriate for the artist from Dvinsk, Portland, New York) through the mythological (application of Kermode's distinction between "Chronos" & "Kairos" is utterly intriguing), & makes a case for Rembrandt as the source for Rothko's obsessions with tragedy & darkness, Vermeer his source for color's sensuality. Anfam traces in detail, using numerous examples of the brilliant reproductions, how the multiforms foreshadowed the work of the classic period. The architectural contexts for the Chapel are pure genius: Vincent Scully's, "The Earth, the Temple, & the Gods"; Joseph Rykwert's, "The Dancing Column"; & Leo Bersani's, Ulysse Dutoit's, "Arts of Impoverishment."

   Anfam's breadth of vocabulary is English, yet he has benfitted from years in the States with a rapid, laconic language that impels the reader forward, informs succinctly. Purposely parrying time-worn quarrels, he unearths the more "thorny," "shady" aspects of dilemmas presented by such a complex art.

   Two things happened as a result of reading MARK ROTHKO / THE WORKS on CANVAS / CATALOGUE RAISONNE. During a recent visit to C&M Gallery in NY for a show of eight Rothko's, alone in the second room, I heard them. A few nights ago I had a dream of a handwritten note on a table in the front room of an auction house that said, "The Last Painting." Rereading Helene Cixous's essay by that name (subtitled, "Or the Portrait of God"), she writes, "I think of the last Rembrandt. A man? Or a painting?" [in Cixous', "Coming to Writing and other Essays."] Anfam has presented us with the triumphant Rothko.




2. This is the first publication with his entire collection of works on canvas. Even lost paintings are represented by old black and white photographs. The images are not large, but the quality of this book is wonderful. By far the best buy for any Rothko fan (besides an original...)



3. Anfam's study is a great deal more than a much-needed reference book. Anyone interested in the history of modern art would find this study illuminating and exciting. Not only does it provide the first complete catalogue of Rothko's paintings on canvas (almost all in gorgeous color reproduction), it also includes numerous fresh and original insights concerning Rothko's intellectual and artistic sources. A monumental scholarly achievement, this volume will long remain a model for the field.



4. David Anfam has given students of twentieth-century art the much needed and previously missing in-depth study of Mark Rothko, a key figure in understanding the esoteric art of this century. Lesser studies by lesser minds have failed where Anfam has not -- scholarly attention to detail; carefully informed visual analysis of ALL the works on canvas; subtle conclusions; historical context. Anfam's rasionne is a must read!



5. A work of major importance in the history of modernism, David Anfam's catalogue raisonne is brilliant, lively, entertaining, and handsome. Combining vigorous scholarship with creative imagination, it offers the best ever understanding of Rothko and must be considered a prerequisite to any and all encounters with Rothko. Anfam's eloquent text takes the reader through the paintings in a most delightful way while the paintings themselves are a joy to see thanks to what surely were monumental efforts on the part of all those involved with design and production. This book is the best of its kind in every way and a bargain at the price!

1 comments about Picasso: Painting Against Time.

1. As an artist and art book collector I carefully examine a book before I buy it. I saw a damaged copy of this book at a Barnes & Knobles Book store in Seattle and really liked the pictures but even more so I enjoyed the way the author explained what they thought Picasso was thinking towards the end of his life. My favorite part is about the two hundred paintings Picasso did in the last three years of his life, pretty extraordinary. The pictures of Picasso's work are clear and clean. An outstanding well done job. If you enjoy Picasso and/or art, then secure yourself a copy of this fine book. You won't be dissapointed.

No comments about The American Lawn.

1 comments about Faces of Discord: The Civil War Era at the National Portrait Gallery.

1. I found this 300 page volume of portraits and information on many Civil War persons englightening because there are pictures of the Famous and not so famous people who I have read and written about. I will treasure this volume for many years