1 comments about Masterpiece Paintings: From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

1. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts contains one of the most pleasing permanent collections in America. This book is a fine sampler of some favorites among the paintings, lavishly reproduced in color and featuring intelligent commentaries about each one. Highlights include famous works by Sargent, Rembrandt, Munch, and Renoir, although you may also discover some hidden gems that you were not previously aware of. If you have ever visited the musuem, this book makes a fine souvenir. If you have not, it will certainly whet your appetite. For anyone intereted in art, or wishing to be, this makes a good gift.

2 comments about Dream of Santa: Haddon Sundblom's Advertising Paintings for Christmas, 1932-1964.

1. It didn't take the world long, in the thirties, to accept that the man in the Christmas Coke ads was Santa and this delightful book displays Haddon Sundblom's paintings over thirty-three years. If you see a tall, thin man dressed in red and carrying a sack of toys the chances are that it was painted before 1933. Sundblom wisely thought a fat jovial looking guy had more credability than a thin one.
   
   Wonderful though this book is I wish the authors had gone the extra mile and made it a comprehensive study of his Santa paintings, his work for the years 1941, 1957 and 1963 are missing. The text refers to alternative paintings created in some years to fit the various media used (billboards, magazines ads and retail unit cutout figures etc) some of these paintings are shown but not all. Most of the paintings are shown without advertising copy, I would like to see how the copy or headlines were used, a small reproduction would have been useful. They could have reproduced the back cover of the The National Geographic which Coke used every December for a Sundblom Santa ad.
   
   A lovely book but I am disappointed that the full potential of the subject was not realised.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



2. I've been searching for years,for a book about Haddon Sundblom's Santa's. The people who really should buy this book are art lovers,who think that Victorian/Edwardian Santa's were the best. I would rate Sundblom's Santa's with the masters of long ago, and personally think he was a genius of OUR time. The text against each large colourful picture is short,and very informative. The only reason I have'nt given it all 5 stars,is because it does'nt have all the Santa's Sundblom painted. I do hope there will be another volume containing all the missing paintings.

   Best wishes, Ray. P.S.It's Christmas every day in my house!

No comments about Shark-Infested Waters: The Saatchi Collection of British Art in the 90s.

No comments about Frieze Art Fair Yearbook 2008-9.

3 comments about Egyptian Art: 16 Art Stickers (Pocket-Size Sticker Collections).

1. It like a slice of the pyramids taken down and captured on a sticker, if the pyramids still had all of their colors and were not eroded by time and sand.



2. We like the stickers. The price on the back of the book says $1.50, however it was sold to us at $3.49.



3. I figure these stickers can be used to seal letters and birthday cards. But the stickers of WWI and WWII posters are better.

3 comments about Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

1. Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew presents nearly one-hundred full-color photographs capturing Dale Chihuly's botanical garden exhibitions. Chihuly's work, which is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide, includes an extraordinary panoply of bright colors, unusual shapes, stunning accents amid lush greenhouse plants, dazzling water displays, and more. Most of Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is devoted entirely to full-page photographs untouched by text other than the photograph's location and date; brief introductory essays preface the main sections. An amazing compilation, ideal for garden designers in search of inspiration or anyone interested in the awe-inspiring limits a dedicated cultivator can reach for.



2. Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew presents nearly one-hundred full-color photographs capturing Dale Chihuly's botanical garden exhibitions. Chihuly's work, which is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide, includes an extraordinary panoply of bright colors, unusual shapes, stunning accents amid lush greenhouse plants, dazzling water displays, and more. Most of Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is devoted entirely to full-page photographs untouched by text other than the photograph's location and date; brief introductory essays preface the main sections. An amazing compilation, ideal for garden designers in search of inspiration or anyone interested in the awe-inspiring limits a dedicated cultivator can reach for.



3. For his first botanical garden exhibition outside of the United States, Dale Chihuly indulges his perpetual fascination with glasshouses by installing an elaborate collection of glass at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Inside grand Victorian conservatories and amongst outdoor plant collections, these twenty-five installations come together to transform completely the 132-hectare (some 325 acres) World Heritage Site. Elaborate orange and yellow Asymmetrical Towers accent the entrance to Kew's elegant Palm House and a brilliant Sun adorns the modern Princess of Wales Conservatory. Brightly colored Walla Wallas rest in an outdoor lake and graceful Herons rise from a calm waterlily pond. Many other works nestle within planting beds to surprise visitors expecting to see purely botanical beauty. Altogether, these vivid colors and otherworldly shapes placed against Kew's magnificent landscape make the Gardens of Glass: Chihuly at Kew exhibition a captivating and memorable experience.
   
   Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew features more than one hundred photographs that capture this event and Chihuly's previous exhibitions in locations around the world. The book also contains a chronicle of the rich history of the gardens and the evolution of its design over the centuries, while an an essay by Todd Alden gives conceptual insight into the exhibition.

2 comments about A Child is Born (Phaidon Miniature Editions).

1. This is a small but lovely collection of Madonna and Child artwork.
   The previous reviewer-Craig Pike's review obviously is with the wrong book as this book has nothing to do with the birth process.



2. A must have. From the male and female hormon to fertilization to birth, a comprehensive look at the birth process. You WILL ask the question, "How'd they take that picture?" Fantastic.

No comments about Checkpoint Charley.

No comments about Recent Pasts: Art In Southern California From The 1990S To Now (Soccas Symposia).

No comments about Esopus: Number 6.