1 comments about Yakimono: 4000 Years of Japanese Ceramics.

1. gorgeous photos, and a lovely selection of pieces. a must for anyone interested in japanese ceramics

No comments about French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington.

2 comments about Complete Mondrian.

1. Very good but some pictures are in black and white, not in color



2. "It is proper to the way of living," the man of letters Jean Paul noticed, "that one is polite also against himself ". However, Mondrian painted manically compulsively out of a fear against the chaos of the world daily. Although it did not feed him, he could not quit this activity, he continued to work, got a pneumonia in that cold New York winter [slaving away in the unheated studio for three days non-stop] and died before he could finish his "victory Broadway boogie-woogie" painting. A tribute to the city of New York which on the other hand almost let him starve, the money at least did not reach for having the heating on. Nevertheless he loved this town full of jazz, dance and boogie-woogie (he liked to dance there). His paintings are telling a tribute to this pulsating, dynamic Big Apple. Burst from the desert of the Dutch landscape, in saved to the liver Paris, escaping the racial world of the Nazis - like many other artists did. While however painters like Max Beckmann were getting a university-chair offered in New York, this luck did not fall to Mondrian. With an astonishing optimistic colour joy he managed to compensate the real sadness. His last work, Broadway boogie-woogie almost works like a city centre Map: Horizontally numbered the Avenues streets -- only the slash of Broadway breaking out of this grid is missing vertical. One is filled with consternation occasionally, out of which suffering art can arise. Mondrian may have been assessed compulsion neurotically -- however if he could set such harmonious works against this hell -- his compositions against the chaos of the world are fascinating forever. The effort must be done - though it has been a hard life for Mondrian ...

No comments about Treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings: Cultural Travel Guide (Rizzoli Art Guide).

No comments about Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony.

No comments about The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography 1960-1982.

3 comments about Return to Painting.

1. It came in a very timely fashion and in excellent condition. I am enjoying it.



2. This can be for you one of those life-transforming books. It is filled with ink washes of transcendental beauty. For the used prices available in 2007 you can't afford not to buy a copy! Yes, what he says about painting can alter your way of thinking about art. Have a look at my scan of "Earth and Sky" to give you a slight taste of what lies between the pages of this book.



3. Chances are if you've found you're way to this obscure page, in the dusty corners of Amazon's towering collections, then you are already familiar with the stormy melancholic work of Gao Xingjian. He was the darkhorse candidate who came out of nowhere to become China's first Literary Nobel Laurate, and the leading figure in avant-garde Chinese ink painting.

   This book vitaly chronicles the later. Although many of his literary works have been translated into English (notably Soul Mountain and One Man's Bible) there is still a great volume of his work that is yet to be presented to American audiences out side of New York, LA, San Francisco, or Seattle. He is best known in China as a playwrite and art critic as well as for his intense paintings executed in the traditonal Chinese medium of black and white ink.

   In this aspect he is a phenomenal innovator. He uses traditional mediums and techniques in abstract and disonant ways. The effect of his ink paintings is alternately jarring, serene, fearsome, lonely, jagged and placid. They are the perfect visual complement for his meandering yet meaningfull literary works. Infact, the Taiwanese editions of his books (they aren't published in the PRC for political reasons) include several examples of his paintings to set the tone.

   As I lived in the People's Republic of China over the last year, I found that visualy and literarily, Gao Xingjian captures the intensely varried mournfull extacies of life in Modern China, but his passion, regret, exhaltation and dispar are emotions that people of all countries can relate to.

   To reinvent your understaing of modern art, buy this book.

2 comments about CLAMP South Side.

1. My only complaint is the binding. it doesn't really let you open the book easily to really look at the artwork. However CLAMP does beautiful, intricate artwork and this is a must have for all fans of their art.



2. ~REVIEW~
   
   North...South...what path should you approach, fellow CLAMPER? Which side would you go to reach your temporary niche nirvana? What directions do you have to know which is the right way? I'm gonna help you with those directions. Tokyopop has pulled a Nintendo and release TWO different versions of "CLAMP no eshigoto": North Side and South Side (the "no eshigoto" is the japanese lettering on the title, meaning "artworks"). These Sides contain history of CLAMP's synonymous visual works, from the early years of 1989 to these art books' Japanese release in 2002; forget about looking for "Tsubasa" and "xxxHOLIC" designs on either side, they're from '03. Also, if you're hoping for illustrations of "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Chobits", "Angelic Layer", and "X(/1999)", you're out of luck on either side as well. The Sides are for the real CLAMP manga enthusiams, but those books are by no means a disappointment.
   
   If you read mostly CLAMP manga from Kodansha, then you're a northern bookworm. "Clover", "Magic Knight Rayearth", and others were part of the same company line-up, because "North Side" was released in Japan by Kodansha. Even though I mentioned there's no "Cardcaptor" or "Chobits" artworks here, it does have collaboration works with characters from those series mixed together. Surprisingly, even if Kodansha has more popular and exquisite CLAMP works, this Side is short with only 160 pages.
   
   If you read some CLAMP manga from Kadokawa Shoten, then you're a southern player. Like Kodansha to the North, "South Side" was released in Japan by K-Shoten, along with the manga in this side: "CLAMP School Detectives", "Suki", "Legal Drug", and the anthologies that grabbed my heart. Personally, "Clamp School" along with its spin-offs are, to put it lightly, not great, and at worst, vomitatious (which CLAMP girl thought "Man of Many Faces" was a great idea?). Even so, there are others that love it, and these are in it for a treat with this side, with 40 more pages of illustrations than on "North Side."
   
   If you're buying a CLAMP art book for the abundance of extras, go for the North path. "North Side" has an exclusive CLAMP comic with one of the CLAMP artists as a princess trying to survive a whole day being a normal girl, and eventually got her ass towed up by her mishaps; funny stuff. Not only that, but it include a lengthy, though hard-to-read, interview with THE femme four. Storywriter Ohkawa, and artists Nekoi, Mokona, and Igarashi gave some standard facts of how they met, complications of their careers, and mostly discuss about their work, "Chobits." You might want to get some reading glasses because the text are small...REALLY small.
   
   If you're looking for a CLAMP artbook with some artistic diversity, head to the South path. While "South Side" has only one extra, the "How-to Art" section is plentiful. Three different CLAMP illustrations, three different methods of creating them with detailed instructions and materials needed to create them; reading glasses not included for those squinty text. It's very helpful for those who are following a career in art.
   
   For both sides, they include CLAMP's unreleased illustrations, including those that are titilating (who knew these girls can actually draw nipples in one of their designs), and columns to show where CLAMP's works of art have been (magazines, postcards, etc).
   
   Choosing between "North Side" and "South Side" is like choosing between the red and blue version of "Pokemon": they're different, but they follows the same core. Both sides contain a considerable amount of flaws, while having some advantages by the corner. It would be nice if both would include arts of such popular CLAMP series, but what both sides have is good enough. For CLAMP fans, I gave you enough facts to help you with your decision, but if you have the dough, you should get both, but if you can afford only one, that decision really depends on your taste.
   
   FINAL W()RDS: Whichever wins, nobody loses.
   
   [Reviewer's View] I decided to buy "South Side" over "North Side", because...well, I'm from the south. Plus, it contains arts from CLAMP's manga anthologies, which I enjoy reading so much, even though their amount of arts were sparse.

No comments about Art 39 Basel.

4 comments about The Art of Jeffrey Jones.

1. This is an incredible book. 160 pages of color plates. As an artist, I really appreciate the detailed close ups of some of the paintings, where you can see every brush stroke. The color quality of the plates is very high. Lots of fantasy female figurative paintings in this book. Jeffrey Jones has a real gift for light and shadow, color, and painting the human form. Many of the color plates are 8" x 11" or 9" x 12". and could actually be cut out and framed.



2. Dozens and dozens Jeffrey Jones' wonderful paintings are beautifully produced in this fine book. Unfortunately, there is very little in the area of his sketches, and almost nothing of his comic work.

   It might be argued that Jones' most original creations were his *Idyll* and *I'm Age* strips for National Lampoon and Heavy Metal. Certainly his work with pen-and-ink is nothing short of extraordinary. (I work with pen-and-ink myself and am in awe of his modeling techniques.) This book gives us only one single page of Idyll and one single page of I'm Age.

   Because of these disappointing omissions I am tempted to give this book only two or three stars, but I give four stars in the hope that the Idyll and I'm Age strips will be collected together at a later time. They are brilliant, and from an artistic standpoint they are at least as important as the paintings.




3. Questions have always circulated about Jeffrey Jones and his place in the history of 20th Century fantasy art: was he a monumental talent or just another Frazetta imitator? I think this book finally provides a definitive answer: he was both. THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES is a beautiful showcase that effectively traces Jones' transition from a Frazetta-wannabe in the 1960s to the truly gifted painter of the 1990s be became.
   And I must disagree with Manfred's complaints and comparisons to previous Jones books: not only are Jones' earlier books long out of print, but THE ART OF JEFFREY JONES includes a great deal of work not included in any other collection (along with unpublished art credited as being painted in the '90s). While the text most certainly could have been expanded, I believe the editors have revealed more about Jones as an artist and person than any have previously and I came away with a better appreciation of this eccentric creator. A personal favorite.



4. This is one terrific book! It was a great trip down memory lane for me: Jeffrey Jones did the fantastic covers for many of the swords-and-sorcery paperbacks I read while growing up. In addition to the artwork for stellar talents like Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and Karl Edward Wagner, Jones' beautiful paintings also brought class to less distinguished (but still fun)books by authors like Lin Carter and Gardner F. Fox. The wonderful artwork for many, many of these books is included, as well as a ton of great illustrations based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan adventures. The cover illustration is one of the best (and most understated) pieces of vampire artwork I've ever seen. The paintings are enlivened by Jones' personal reflections on his career, and the book concludes with striking samples of Jones' non-commercial art. Jones' smoldering, doe-eyed brunettes are the stuff dreams are made of!