2 comments about Lee Friedlander: Apples & Olives.

1. Each of these photographs is expertly composed. Friedlander has a knack for taking matter that is apparently chaotic (such as trees and branches) and framing his shots in a way that imposes perfect balance and order. This book is probably the best example of that, and is--to me--his best work. I can't recommend it highly enough. The reproduction quality is excellent (there is one shot that is imperfectly printed, however, and exhibits "ghosting"). The matte prints look like high-quality RC prints suitable for framing.



2. I'm still thinking about this one.
   
   I'll put the landscapes of Friedlander's "Cherry Blossom Time in Japan" and "Flowers and Trees" up against any landscape pictures ever, for their sweep, their grace, their wholeness.
   
   These pictures are not the same; there is less clarity here, less direction, more crowding, as trees and leaves and branches fill the frame.
   
   Maybe it's switching to a square format camera; maybe it's the subject matter. Whatever, there isn't much peaceful here.
   
   What there is, is the suggestion of a world of infinitely many details, one that you can only get a glimpse of.
   
   This is a more private, more wintery Friedlander. The pictures are richly rewarding, but best viewed after you've seen his earlier works.
   
   Scott Atkinson
   Watertown NY

1 comments about Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period.

1. It's a wonderful collection for a variety of reasons: the beautiful reproduction, the many poses and practices it shows, the many artists and styles, the scholarly but interesting commentary, and attention to a print-lover's details.
   
   The depictions cover the whole range of possible couplings, plus a number of impossible ones. Most of the pictures focus on coupling of one man and one woman, but men together, women singly or together, multiples of each, and even mythical beasts appear in various samples. At least a few pictures show use of toys, genital kisses and caresses, and even cleanup tissues - a little touch that lends familiarity to this unfamiliar culture. Another point appealed to me as well, that all or nearly all scenes show happy, consenting partners.
   
   The historical notes are what such notes should be. They explain the unfamiliar or point out details, without belaboring the obvious. Descriptions of the prints themselves could have been a bit better, especially regarding foxing, fading, and other signs of age. I was glad to see the damaged images, though. It gives viewers a more realistic idea of what to expect when the see prints in galleries or stores, and I'd rather see the image damaged that never see it at all.
   
   In terms of printing and image-making techniques, this book spans a very wide range. The collection is dominated by 17-19th century woodcuts, in the familiar colored style or simple linear images. The authors have also included some of the cartoons that would have been used to guide the artisan cutting the blocks, as well as pencil drawings made for their own sake. There are a few clever fold-outs, including one where, upon lifting the tablecloth on the print, we see lovers playing footsie under the table. Another series (cat. 87) shows a lovely set of prints in a style new to me, one that imitates traditional ink drawings. Others (cat. 84) use "blind impressions" to emboss patterns into the print. Careful photography shows how the indentations enhance the patterns of the fabric, or (in a second print) describe the modeling of the figures and their musculature. In a few cases, the authors show multiple impressions of a given image, to show how instances of the "same" image may differ.
   
   If you have just one book of Edo-era erotica, make it this one. It's beautiful, broad, and informative in many ways. Best of all, it gives a very happy impression of the players and their play.
   
   //wiredweird

5 comments about Americans in Paris 1860-1900 (National Gallery Company).

1. The subject and it's information is fine, but I found the DVD to be too short. It's about 30 minutes and I would have liked it to have included more information on the paintings and the artists. This was my first time buying a DVD on art, rather than a book. Not totally satisfied but it's a good short DVD on Impressiontists in Paris for those who prefer to watch rather than read a book on it.



2. I think Art Guy misses the point of this exhibit and catalogue. This is intended as an entry point for a general audience not as a serious contribution to new scholarship. The show was easily the best thing I saw in London last year, and the book does a fine job of providing an overview to the lives and interests of young American artists looking to pursue a fresh direction for their painting.The discussion of the 'refinements" and synthesis of their academic experiences with their response to the Impressionist palatte is of particular note. For the most part these are artists who are given short shrift by the academic establishment because they are "followers" rather than innovators. For our current generation of new realists these artists are a valuble harbinger of a new direction. I suspect that for painters like Jeremy Lipking and his ilk, the artists in this catalogue are the very models of their own endeavors.
   This is a beautiful book, even if you only look at the pictures.



3. very informative regarding the american artists who gravitated to France.
   It follows the show at the metropolitan museum with wonderful photographs and text.



4. There was a time when serious American artists felt the need to travel to Europe's art centers to study in order to become validated as 'well-schooled' craftsmen. During the nineteenth century this was especially true, not only for painters, but also for composers, singers, writers and those in all branches of the arts. This superb catalogue celebrates the painters from America who studied in Paris from 1860 to 1900 and in examining their work the book also shows the influence of the remarkable teachers of the time - Jean-Léon Gérôme and William Bouguereau among them - and carries us through copious reproductions of paintings through the transformation of the 'Parisian school' into the unmistakably American look.
   
   Writers Kathleen Adler, Erica E. Hirshler, H. Barbara Weinberg, David Park Curry, Rodolphe Rapetti, and Christopher Riopelle offer insights as well as succinct historical documentation of the forty-year periods that saw the emergence of Impressionism and Modernism. They ably remind us of the important Salon des Refusés and its part in the beginning of a movement that would result in a distinctly American style.
   
   The book is rich in sharing the works of John Singer Sargent, James Abbott, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, and Winslow Homer, Jefferson David Chalfant, John White Alexander, William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux as well as others who were either directly or tangentially influenced by the French school. Though this book is not the first to address this period and influence it is certainly one of the better designed and catalogued of those available on the market today. For sheer pleasure of enjoying this fascinating group of painters this fine book is one of the best. Grady Harp, November 06



5. The quality of exhibition catalogs ranges from poor to excellent. In this case, we have a catalog that fulfills all most important requirements.
   For one, although some snobs describe it as "pretty pictures', the reproductions are accurate, and their size is good. Especially when it comes to paintings that belong to private collections, the only hope to be reminded of the emotions one felt in the presence of the real painting, is to enjoy a decent reproduction. So I consider it a very important quality for a catalog to present well sized, good quality reproductions of all the works of art being exhibited.
   Although this catalog is not a treatise about the subject of the exhibit (and I don't believe it should be), the texts are very accurate, while at the same time they are short and concise. This is what a catalog should provide, as opposed to being the space to host infinite, boring, and cryptic prolusions by some solipsistic scholar.
   Last but not least, the structure of the catalog is very good, with the last few pages providing small reproductions of all the artwork organized by author, with short explanation blurbs that perfectly serve their purpose.
   Overall, a very good catalog for a fantastic exhibition that brought together, in some cases for the very first time, some of the most wonderful masterpieces ever created.

No comments about Blur of the Otherworldly: Contemporary Art, Technology, and the Paranormal (Issues in Cultural Theory).

1 comments about The Silk Road and Beyond: Travel, Trade, and Transformation (Museum Studies).

1. A collaborative project of The Art Institute of Chicago and the Yale University Press, "The Silk Road And Beyond: Travel, Trad, and Transformation" is expertly edited by Karen Manchester and features a two-page colored map illustrating the land and sea routes between Europe and Asia from 200 BCE to 1500 CE. Of special note are the icon symbols identifying the locations of ancient cities and archaeological sites of interest. An informed and informative essay by Milo C. Beach introduces readers to the history of the Silk Road and the way in which is fostered a two-way flow of goods, styles, and ideas between East and West. Also featured in "The Silk Road And Beyond" is a conversation between Chicago Art Institute present and director James Cuno and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Mar as they discuss the Silk Road as a metaphor for the circulation of ideas, motifs, and techniques both visual and musical. An extended and beautifully illustrated catalogue section features fascinating entries on forty objects in the Art Institute's collection ranging from ancient Chinese tomb figures to the works of contemporary artists including Lalla Essaydi. "The Silk Road And Beyond" is a beautifully crafted and presented history that would make a fine addition to personal, academic, and community library Art and History reference collections.

5 comments about Henry Clay Frick.

1. One step above a vanity press endeavor. A family member's gothic tale about the wealthy business tycoon Henry Clay Frick and his two daughters, Martha and Helen. Martha dies in infancy (too many words in this book are spilt on the details of the accidental ingestion of a pin that caused her demise) setting the stage for a psychological drama playing out over decades and apparently worthy of Freud.
   
   The great works of art contained in Frick Collection are used here merely to illustrate the strangely introspective, maudlin, or near crazy behavior of this dysfunctional family.
   
   Only if you have a very deep need to know about the Frick family should you trouble yourself with this tome.



2. I found this book fascinating as it covered not only the events that made Frick stand out as a leading industrialist, but also details his painful family life, including the loss of two children, that shaped his thinking and way of life.
   In addition, this book details Frick's passion for art collecting and goes into vivid detail about the meaning behind some of his purchases as contrasted with his life events.
   I am looking forward to touring the Clayton home preserved in Pittsburgh in the future.
   Beautifully written.



3. 
   The illustrations are glorious. The text is well-researched. The narrative flows effortlessly. The book is a treasure!
   
   This is the book you want to read if you want to know more than the basics about the true stories from Mr. Frick's life, his involvement with the steel industry of Pittsburgh in all of its ramifications, the accumulation of wealth and the intricacies of running a powerful corporation in those heady days.
   
   Thank you, Martha, for telling a bit more about the story of the South Fork Club and its members... And also for telling about the assassination attempt... Yes, we would have wished a bit more on the on-again, off-again relationship between Mr. Frick and Mr. Leishman. Perhaps you might consider making the story of their eventual falling-out the centerpiece to another good book?
   
   Because there is more to the story!
   
   Much of it has been discreetly hinted at in this book. The careful reader will find himself or herself looking into other books that tie in with this one, some of which I review elsewhere.
   
   One only wishes that we could eavesdrop on a long conversation between Ms Sanger, Patricia Beard ("After the Ball"), Teresa Carpenter ("The Miss Stone Affair"), Les Standiford ("Meet You In Hell") and - of course - the incomparable David McCullough ("The Johnstown Flood")!
   
   Oh what a treat that would be!
   
   It would have benn helpful had Martha chosen to describe the lives of those who interacted with Frick as members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club he established, in much more detail. They were his Pittsburgh friends and buisness colleagues, and many were related to him by marriage.
   
   If you find this review helpful, check out the others I have mentioned! Happy reading!



4. "Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait" is an excellent work of history, biography, and a stunning visual presentation of art. The result of a decade long effort by a Great Granddaughter of Mr. Frick, Martha Frick Symington Sanger, the book is a beautiful volume from its construction, to what is displayed and written within.

   This is not as scholarly a book as Simon Schama's "Rembrandt's Eyes", and so it should be judged with distinct criteria. This is a family history as related by one of its members, so in exchange for the objective view of the Historian, we trade a certain objective detachment for an intimate portrait of the man, his family, and the legacy of art he collected. I was amused to read that one person thought that some of the works bought by Mr. Frick were "Duds". I would agree that when your collection includes multiple paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Renoir, Veronese, El Greco, and Van Dyck, to name a few, some are perhaps "better" than others. I would also suggest no one would take a pass if offered a work for their own.

   Mr. Frick was a very tough businessman, at times brutal, and he never hesitated to employ these tactics when he perceived his business interests were threatened. This does not make him unique among the major Capitalists that built this Country, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Fisk, and many other were also notorious by today's standards, or were they? Private armies may no longer be used, but public welfare, and the fate of employees is not always at the top of the list today either. I do not attempt to justify what they did, rather to suggest a more dispassionate view is in order. Our "Robber Barons" are often compared to the Kleptocrats of today's Russia, and that truly is absurd.

   Fortunately many of these men amassed great collections of art whether rare books, paintings, historical documents, or something else that caught their interest, and we are the beneficiaries of their collections. The Morgan Library or The Frick Collection simply could not be duplicated today. Theoretically Mr. Bill Gates could pay the price, but where would you find a brace of Vermeer's offered for sale?

   The book is not perfect in it's history as others have pointed out, however on balance I believe the work to be excellent, and certainly the most personal insight into the life of Mr. Frick.

   Mr. Frick and others like him make easy targets, that they were flawed is not the issue, they were. They also gave back in a variety of forms a great deal of the wealth they accumulated. This may not be enough for some or even for many, but to have left no legacy other than that of brutal businessmen, I suggest, would be a great deal more disappointing.




5. Do not be fooled by the size of this book. Once you open the book you will not find it easy to close it.

   This book satisfies on many levels. If you are an art lover, you are amazed at the artwork and how beautifully the publisher reproduced it. It's the next best thing to being in Frick's art collections yourself.

   If you are interested in Frick or the post Civil-War industrial era, you will at last find a revealing biography of the man that finally acknowledges that he was a human being, albeit flawed in some ways. This book should shatter some commonly held myths about Henry Frick.

   My only complaint is some incomplete research. I have discovered several historical errors that a good editor should have caught. For example, and perhaps most blatant, many figures and stated facts relating to the 1889 Johnstown Flood are incorrect. But Frick's reaction to the Flood is an insight not known to many until now.

   Mrs. Sanger should be proud of her book. This will serve as a definitive history of both the man and his legacy. This will be a valuable addition to your library.

No comments about A Celebration of Birds: The Life and Art of Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

No comments about Theatre De La Mode.

No comments about Between God and Man: Angels in Italian Art.

No comments about The Art of Full Moon.