4 comments about Blue and White Japan.

1. I really loved this book. It has wonderful photography and is an interesting read. I particularly like the fact that the author grew up in a western country, and now lives in Japan, because she shares her outlook from a Western eye, which is helpful to a Western reader who loves antiques and collectables, along with blue and white. I love the way the photos blend the simplicity of Japanese style along with a little Western taste in collecting things. It has a nice balance of not over doing the display of cherished things, while still enjoying them in the home. To me it had a very "Zen" feel of harmony and beauty, and had a feeling of "coming home" to things I love when I looked at this book. I felt inspired to rearrange my collections and cut clutter while still displaying favourite items in a complimentary way.



2. This book was enjoyable, but as I already had some knowledge of Japanese interior design and related subjects, I found this book to be largely a quick skim over the various crafts, with the exception of the moderately useful guide to Imari porcelains. The concepts and photos are largely the author's own collection of pieces, which are lovely, but I would have liked to see more variety. No sources for purchase were listed for those of us living outside Japan, which is regrettable but understandable. The book is also concentrated on southern and Okinawan styles of decor, which are lovely, but not always suitable for colder climates.
   
   My largest quibble was with the book's blithe assurances that blue and white items can be thrown together in any fashion and still look great. While it's true that a solid color scheme can harmonize an otherwise non-matched set of items, this really isn't sufficient advice for a decorating scheme. I would have liked to see more well-thought-out ideas for incorporating Japanese motifs into Western or modern decor, using blue and white along with any other colors or materials (little is mentioned of the constant presence of wood in Japanese decor), and so on.
   
   The photography is lovely, and I did come away with a few new ideas, but I would recommend other books either to someone surveying Japanese decor for the first time or to someone looking for an in-depth examination of Japan's blue and white crafts.



3. I live in Japan and purchased this book to see how people inter mix all the different blue and white dishes, materials and clothing. Great book to have for decorating your home. Can not wait to get to a few more Shrine Sales to pick up some more Blue and Whites.



4. This book is wonderfully photographed and written, focusing on the history of blue-and-white textiles and pottery of Japan. Just turning the pages gives a Zenlike feeling of rightness. Table settings, linens and furnishings don't have to match to give you a feeling of eating and living in calm and harmony

No comments about Marvelous Mosaics for Home & Garden.

No comments about New Spas and Resorts.

1 comments about In Bed with David & Jonathan.

1. This is gay erotica at his best, "functional"as it fulfills the ultimate fuction of erotica-yes, you guessed right. And stylish as Tom Bouden subtly satyrizes the world of erotica on the Internet, and the somewhat dark aspects of searching for sex partners.The somewhat nightmarish nocturnal walks in a park full of disquieting sex offerings and scenes are maybe the most interesting pages of this book. I loved it!

No comments about Lacan Reframed: A Guide for the Arts Student (Contemporary Thinkers Reframed).

2 comments about Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China.

1. Maybe it wasn't altruism that led Bertholet share his collection in this book. I'm grateful anyway. It's an outstanding collection of Chinese erotic art, from about the end of the 17th century to the late 19th. The works here are all silk paintings, except for a few drawings. They are printed in beautiful color, large enough for easy reading, with expanded details of a few. Bertholet adds plenty of useful commentary (much of which I skipped, I admit). He also adorns most pages with brief extracts from classic Chinese poetry, all on the topic of physical love.
   
   Two things stand out in every artwork and in the collection as a whole. First is the gentle, consensual tone. The closest thing to aggression is a jealous wife twisting the ear of a husband caught 'in flagrante,' and that's more humorous than anything. Voyeurism, whether peeking in on a lady's solitary pleasure, secret viewer of a couple's engagement, or the reader's own participation with the artwork, is always un-threatening. Humor is always close to the surface, the natural good humor of happy people.
   
   The second thing that strikes a Western eye is the very non-Western conventions these artists followed in rendering men and women. The figures are very similar - women aren't given the guitar figure one might expect, and men have rounded and nearly hairless bodies. Women's breasts get only a little attention, and are covered by a bandeau or bib in many scenes. Genitalia aren't exaggerated, and their realistic scale may jar an eye that expected size and importance to go together.
   
   But that's why these works are so enjoyable. They aren't Western, they're a very different look at the thing all people have in common. They're still beautiful, both in the Chinese tradition and in the visual celebration of sex.
   
   //wiredweird



2. This stunning collection of more than 100 color illustrations from the Bertholet Collection is a magnificent achievement. Prestel has created a thoroughly engaging publication here, and never before has the world been able to view most of these breathtaking visions of love and sex from pre-modern China. Much of the visual works date to the 18th century. But, in addition to the visual feast, the entire book overflows with verses that match the age and mood of each work of art, as well as essays on the history of the art form, the effect of Taoism on erotica, Confucianism, the trials a husband undergoes getting his wife to accept a concubine, and even the history of Bertholet's collection itself, and lots more. This is a fascinating read! Intellectual, artistic, and even at times, quite humorous, this is a superb collection of erotic imagery and one of the most enjoyable publications one will find in this genre. This is one book that owners should proudly display on their "coffee-tables" for all to enjoy.

No comments about Daniel Buren.

No comments about Make Your Own Damn Art: to form the world according to one's own rules.

1 comments about Bridging Time & Space: Essays on Layered Art.

1. In separate, but harmonious, voices, eleven writers describe layered art as an expression of a holistic perspective. Each chapter addresses a theme, illustrated in color with artworks related to: alchemy, the spirit, earth metaphors, cosmic forces, healing, archaic traces and the millennium. Layered art reflects the forward edge of syncretic thinking, the recognition that the universe is held within a matrix of shared consciousness. Everything is connected with everything else.

No comments about Goldscheider: History of the Company and Catalogue of Works.