2 comments about Art of the Gold Rush.

1. I found this book to contain a dry discussion of art during this time period. For someone who claims to have the expertise of a true connaisseur of art of this time period, the analysis of the purpose of mirgrating artists seems to remain too general to derive any real meaning. In the future I would suggest that you include the purspose of these geographically migrating artists in the text if it is to be as informational as claimed.



2. The Art of the Gold Rush was written, I believe, as a companion to the art exhibit that toured the nation in commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the gold discovery at Sutter's Mill.

   To scholars of California history, the reproduced paintings and text in the book are worth more than all the Gold dredged out of California's Motherlode. The images are stunning, depicting scenes of early California in the detailed, realistic style of the pre-impressionists. The paintings show us San Francisco as a bucolic village at the mouth of a beautiful bay. They also give us a clear, in-color idea of how the 49ers looked, what they wore, and how amazing a wilderness California was before it was logged and paved over.

   The text in the book is as riveting as the paintings it describes. The authors introduce each painting with a discussion of its historical context, a brief biography of the artist, and an analysis of the paitning's structure and use of color and symbolism. Even for someone who, like me, slept through art appreciation, the text is fascinating.

   In summary, if you are at all interested in California History, you will relish every page of this book.

No comments about Van Gogh: A Self-Portrait.

No comments about Wildlife Landscapes You Can Paint: 10 Acrylic Projects Using Just 5 Colors.

1 comments about Flight and Rebellion: Slave Resistance in Eighteenth-Century Virginia (Galaxy Books).

1. Gerald W. Mullin argues that slaves resisted slavery in Virginia from the spread of plantation slavery in the 1690s to the conspiracy hatched by Gabriel Prosser in 1800. Mullins contends that all slaves fought to undermine slavery, whether they were a majority of the African-born slaves in the early-1700s or an elite of American-born artisan slaves in the late-1700s. Based on their cultural background and their work environment, however, slaves encountered different forms of slavery and responded with different forms of resistance. Mullin also mentions the religious and ideological influences on slave conspirators and their possible white sympathizers late in the eighteenth century.

   Stanley Elkins, in Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life, argued that American slavery, unlike Latin American slavery, psychologically infantilized slaves so that resistance was uncommon. This book by Mullin, and Black Majority by Peter H. Wood, should be understood as rebuttals to Elkins. The 3rd revised edition of Slavery contains Elkins' brief rejoinder to both Wood and Mullin.

   For those interested in the possible influence of African heritage on African responses to slavery, see Daniel C. Littlefield, Rice and Slaves; David Eltis, et al., Routes to Slavery; Robert Ferris Thompson, Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Art in Two Worlds; and Michael Angelo Gomez, Exchanging Our Country Marks. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana, includes an enlightening chapter on Senegambia during the era of the slave trade. Those interested in North American slave revolts should also consider Wood's Black Majority on the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina. Seek also any books on Gabriel Prosser in Virginia, or books on the slave revolt in New York.

No comments about The Arte of Limning: A More Compendious Discourse Concerning Ye Art of Liming (Fyfield Books).

No comments about Kurt Kauper: Paintings 2001-2007.

No comments about You Can Paint Still Lifes (North Light Studio Series, No 7).

1 comments about Watercolor Free & Easy.

1. Wiegardt's style is classical in his use of the correct basics while still being very expressive and loose. His step by step instructions are understandable and easy to follow. His style is right on the mark for those interested in learning how to develop that elusive "loose" style. If you like Edgar Whitney and Skip Lawrence you'll love Wiegardt!

2 comments about Victorian Fairy Painting.

1. This is a serious art book about the Victorian passion for fairy art. It includes information about fairy plays, musicals and most importantly the prominent painters of the day. I found the paintings very beautiful and the writing by Jeremy Maas first-rate. You won't find any pictures from the popular C.M. Barker here but you will find many from lesser known artists like John Anster Fitzgerald, Joseph Noel Paton and Richard Doyle.



2. I thought this book would be like a invite to fairy land. but i was very disapointed. dont botherbuying this book.

No comments about The King's Head: Charles I, King and Martyr.