2 comments about Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition.

1. For anyone who has any interest in pottery this is a "must read" and this also incudes whoever may have an interest in US History.



2. this book is an archival wonder. the author brings us into intimate contact with the potters of a generation past. production, studio, and industrial potters alike should read and absorb the severe trials these men(and women)had to go through to make a living during a time when living wasn`t gauranteed. details such as kiln construction workshop layout and techniques make this book intresting for anyone involved in the pottery field. give it ten stars!!!

No comments about Stained Glass Pattern Book.

1 comments about Rembrandt (Erotic Sketchbook).

1. So let's start with what to enjoy: the art. Most pieces are etchings; Rembrandt didn't invent etching, but arguably reinvented it. Others are drawings in sanguine, graphite, charcoal, or ink wash. Most aren't overtly erotic as I use the term, they're just nudes - as if R's artwork could be "just" anything. Among other things, those figure studies show how body fashions change over time. Back then, understated busts and fleshy figures defined the "It" girl; today, it's understated figures and fleshy busts. Go figure. Even if only a few drawings have clear sexual content, the others help sustain a likably physical mood.
   
   The biggest things not to enjoy are the things not included in this pricey book. R's wonderful painting, "The Jewish Bride," wasn't a sketch, so it was cut - too bad, since I have happy personal associations with it far beyond any objective analysis of its content. And, although a man relieving his bladder was somehow considered erotic, R's famous sketch of a woman doing the same did not make it into this collection.
   
   High production values make this book a solid artifact. Fine, dense printing on opaque, glare-free paper carry the images well. A delicate buff tone to the paper creates an ambience of age. Heavy stock gives it a substantive feel. It's short, though, just 31 numbered reproductions. Thick boards for the hardbound cover act a bit like a restaurant's fat-bottomed wineglass - they give the illusion of a big payload, but only an illusion. And, even if it's cute and gives that "top shelf" sense of exclusiveness, the die-cut covers and red ribbon tie-shut are just a bit precious. This is a very nice collection, but not quite as nice as it makes itself out to be.
   
   -- wiredweird

3 comments about Michele Oka Doner: Natural Seduction.

1. Saw Ms. Oka Doner on a TV spot and googled her book to buy immediately.



2. This book gives a thrilling sense of Michele Oka Doner's life and work, starting with her exposure to marine and plant life as a child in Miami, and details how this seminal experience continues to guide her artistic production. Gorgeous color illustrations complement scholarly essays lending insight into her encyclopedic imagination, her vast repertoire of sources, and her personal lexicon of images and text. Of particular interest is Suzanne Ramjlak's use of the marriage between Vulcan and Venus image to describe the union of opposites so prevalent in Oka Doner's oeuvre. Tracing her career of four decades, Natural Seduction explores the artist's exquisite craftsmanship, her ideas of beauty, pleasure, and grace, and her ties to nature and mythology as they apply to her functional art, her sculptures and installations, and her public commissions.



3. Enhanced with informed and informative essays by Morris Lapidus, Suzanne Ramljak, and Arthur C. Danto highlighting the central themes of the art, Michele Oka Doner: Natural Seduction is a full-color photographic showcase of the work of internationally acclaimed artist and designer Michele Oka Doner. Grand architectural projects, clay sculpture, drawings, cast silver, and many other types of media offer a broad spectrum of her artistic inspiration; including works celebrate the human figure, natural elements, and sweeping lines which are a recurring theme. Michele Oka Doner: Natural Seduction is an important and very welcome contribution to personal, professional, and academic 20th Century Art History/Art Appreciation collections.

2 comments about A Sourcebook of Nasca Ceramic Iconography: Reading a Culture through Its Art.

1. Donald A. Proulx's book begins with a brief overview of the people who produced Nasca pottery. It then describes the rules or canons used by Nasca potters to form and decorate their pottery. It summarizes the discovery of the first Nasca pottery. It describes how 800 years of Nasca art are divided into various periods and the basis for the chronology. It also describes the methodology of both Proulx and other experts in organizing Nasca art.
   
   Then, as Proulx writes on his website: "The centerpiece of the book is a detailed classification and description of the iconography along with an interpretation of their meaning in the context of the Nasca Culture. [Then] I use the iconography (along with archaeological evidence) to reconstruct the religion, political organization and everyday life of the people of this ancient civilization."
   
   For the general reader like myself, the images in the "centerpiece" are incredible, and stay in the mind well after the pages are closed. Images of realistic plants, animals, birds, and fish and numerous abstract anthropomorphic creatures persist in memory, even though even to experts, some of the forms and meanings are incomprehensible today. I was particularly struck by the comparison between the images on the pottery and the shapes of the Nasca Lines, which Proulx has also studied. I poured over the reconstructions with a sense of real excitement.
   
   I was fascinated with how Proulx created this incredible collection of images. 45 years ago as a student he was hired to catalog a collection of Peruvian artifacts. He continued his interest by photographing Nasca collections throughout Peru and the United States as well as key museum collections in Germany and Great Britain. He added all of the images he found in books as well as museum collections available on the Internet. He then digitized the entire archive and now has approximately 24,000 images in an electronic archive representing pieces from over 150 museums and private collections. There is no doubt that this book, and the conclusions Proulx reaches, are based on the largest collection of Nasca images ever assembled.
   
   As a consumer, I asked myself, so why, oh why doesn't this book include an CD containing all of these images? It would be so much fun to search and compare images from several different pages, and perhaps even find a connection that Proulx had missed.
   
   His answer, also perfectly comprehensible appears on his excellent website [Google "Donald A. Proulx"]: "It has always been my desire to share my archive with other scholars until I realized the legal prohibitions of distributing the disks. I would have to obtain permission from over 200 sources to be able to do this. I also discovered that the file names that I generated on my Macintosh computer are not all compatible with PCs, and many of these names would have to be modified to be used on these other operating systems."
   
   I am very disappointed that I can't play with these images on my own computer. Nevertheless, the book is a treasure. As a lover of art and a student of how art is integrated into culture, I was enchanted. I'll return to these images over and over again.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008



2. For those captivated by ancient Andean imagery Don Proulx's A Sourcebook of Nasca Ceramic Iconography provides an indispensable guide to the colourful world of the Nasca. Located on Peru's south coast in the first centuries A.D., Nasca potters left a visual account of their world view in an astounding array of depictive designs. Drawing on forty years of study, Proulx offers the first comprehensive catalogue of Nasca motifs, along with his own identifications and interpretations. In addition to the motif catalogue, Proulx provides the most extensive description of the nine-phase Nasca pottery sequence ever published in one place. This contribution alone makes this book a "must have" reference. The Sourcebook also contains Proulx's own overview of Nasca culture, covering special topics such as religion, subsistence, daily life, material culture, and dwellings. A Sourcebook of Nasca Ceramic Iconography is destined to be a standard reference for generations to come. It represents the crowning achievement of Proulx's long and distinguished career, though not, we hope, the last we hear from Don Proulx.

2 comments about Homo Art (Icons).

1. This is a beautiful and varied collection of artwork that glorifies, eroticizes, and celebrates the male body. It contains art (paintings, sculptures, etc.) from as early as the most ancient civilizations to as late as the present day, and from countries as far apart on the map as China and America. Even the subject matter is diverse, as the art covers everything from Greek mythology, to modern-day S&M, to, of course, the arrow-ridden body of St. Sebastian that no collection of homoerotic art could ever be complete without. My only complaint about this book is that the art is not categorized by year, country, or both. Not only would that make it easier to find specific artwork, but it would also be interesting to compare and contrast different cultures or see how the art has evolved. Still, if you're interested in the historical and artistic depiction of homosexuality and the male body, or if you just enjoy admiring beautiful artwork (and you don't mind the small size of the pictures), then this book is well worth the price.



2. We have seen these same old prints to the nth degree!!! Acceptable for restroom reading/decoupage projects.

1 comments about Sol LeWitt: Incomplete Open Cubes.

1. This is a very good book. I enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures. I can't wait until he completes the open cubes.

1 comments about Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

1. this is not a picture book but a book that discuss about felix ideas and thoughts. beautifully presented. small format. 6" x 8".

1 comments about Tunisian Mosaics: Treasures from Roman Africa (Conservation and Cultural Heritage Series).

1. The short version of this review is that if you have any interest at all in Roman mosaics, you don't have to be an archaeologist or art historian to enjoy this book, but if you are one of the above, this belongs in your library. The writing style is easy to understand and informative. The photos are excellent. Buy the book!
   
   The long version is as follows: I've been learning about mosaics for less than two years and I am by no means an expert, but ancient Roman mosaics have become a passion so my knowledge is more than the average. When I heard that the Getty Villa in Malibu, California, was mounting an exhibit on Tunisian mosaics, I was excited. Before visiting the exhibit, I decided to read the two books published in conjunction with it. Not a catalog of the exhibit (I'll be reviewing that book, "Stories in Stone: Conserving Mosaics of Roman Africa," separately), "Tunisian Mosaics, Treasures from Roman Africa" is an overview of the artistry, history and preservation of the mosaics in that region.
   
   As a visual person, I found the photographs in this book to be stunning--the sharpness, detail and color is excellent. With the exception of three floor plans and a vintage black and white photo, all the images are in gorgeous color (with many full-page plates) so you are able to fully appreciate the beauty of the mosaics. Also, the layout and graphic design of the book is very pleasing. One of the reasons I never hesitate to buy art books published by the Getty is their consistently high visual quality.
   
   However, the book is not merely a feast for the eyes. As stated on the back cover of the book, the author, Aicha Ben Abed, is director of monuments and sites at the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Tunisia, and is one of the world's leading authorities on the mosaics of Roman Africa. Although originally written in French (and translated by Sharon Grevet), the book is easy to read and you don't have to be an archaeologist to understand it.
   
   Mosaics spread with the Roman Empire, and that included Africa Proconsularis, the area we now know as Tunisia. The chapter entitled "Ancient Tunisia" was interesting to me as I previously knew little about the history of the country, not realizing this was Carthage. The timeline running at the bottom of the pages in this chapter allowed me to keep track of events from 1110 BCE to the Proclamation of the Republic of Tunisia in 1957. Without understanding something of the history and sociology of an area, I don't feel it is possible to properly appreciate ancient mosaics, as they are so bound up in the context of their environment.
   
   Because of this belief, the discussions, and especially the photos, in the chapter entitled "Mosaics in Their Original Settings" was of the most interest to me. Viewing mosaics at the museum, as they are hung on the wall, is one thing, but seeing them in their original architectural settings (if only in photographs) the way they were intended to be seen, is another experience entirely.
   
   One chapter is devoted to the Bardo Museum which houses the world's largest collection of mosaics gathered from excavations all over Tunisia in the days when archaeologists, sadly, prized only figurative mosaics and lifted them from their surroundings with little thought to how they were destroying their significance.
   
   Another chapter, "Mosaic Treasures Throughout Tunisia," showcases other Tunisian museums including the Sousse Museum, housing my favorite mosaic of the region, the head of the Titan Oceanus, and El Jem Museum, which exhibits the exquisite tableaux from the House of the Dionysian Procession.
   
   The final (short) chapter is on a subject dear to my heart, "Preserving the Mosaic Heritage," which explains that after centuries of being considered a minor art, even an ignored one, mosaics are finally being taken seriously by art historians and archaeologists.
   
   My library on mosaics is growing quite rapidly, but I believe this book is one I will be referring to often, if only to look at the splendid photos of the individual mosaics and their architectural sites.

No comments about Imi Knoebel: Works 1966-2006.