No comments about Wilhelm Von Gloeden: Photography.

5 comments about Land of the Firebird.

1. I bought this book in a bookstore in Hollywood,(my friends said I was the only person they knew who could go to Hollywood and find a bookstore). "Land of The Firebird" is one of my all-time favorite books. Suzanne Massie, the wife of Russian historian Robert Massie, (Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandria), has a great love for Russia and its people and it glows from every page. As a historian, I hate to admit it but too many history textbooks can bore one to the point of tears. No one who reads this book can be bored. In its pages you meet characters from Russian fairy tales like Maryushka and the wicked sorcerer Kaschei the Immortal, Prince Vladimir of Kiev who became a Christian and changed the course of Rusian history forever, the tragic Ivan the Terrible, and the titanic Peter the Great who brought Russia kicking and screaming into the modern world.
   But along with the history of the great rulers of Russia is the story of how they all added to the body of work that makes Russian art some of the most beautiful in the world. Russians loved to live on a grand scale, and their art was as lavish as the lives they led. Even the common people had a great love for vivid colors and rich peasants made their wooden homes into works of art. The book comes with beautiful illustrations and leaves the reader wishing for more. It is great as a textbook in art history and history classes or for anyone who wants or needs to know more about the Russians. My copy of the book is worn and falling apart. I am going to order a new copy from [...] so I can keep this treasure for years to come.



2. A comprehensive pursuit of pre-Revolutionary Russian history, well crafted and beautifully written. In my view, this is one of two distinctly outstanding single-volume histories of early Russia available. The other is Orlando Figes' "Natasha's Dance". The first six chapters proceed up to the first Romanovs, granting Ivan the Terrible a captivating revealing that is clearly informed by good scholarship. Chapter 10, "Catherine: A Mind Infinitely More Masculine", delivers a riveting, provocative look at Catherine and her Russia, with probably the finest chapter in the book. The VERY best thing about Land of the Firebird is the profusion of illustrations, all meticulously chosen. Photographs are plentiful (including an amazing snow-covered Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour), but three ample sections of color plates pour out a stunning array of Russian paintings, which, if not unrivaled by other comparable single-volume efforts, is remarkable for an exquisite discretion. Land of the Firebird is a knowing work with respect to Russian art history. Here are Ryabushkin's "Russian Women of the Seventeenth Century in Church", Repin's "Ivan the Terrible at the Death of His Son", Serov ("Peter II and Princess Elizabeth Riding to Hounds"), Levitsky, Argunov, Kiprensky, Shibanov's "Celebration of a Marriage Agreement" (beautifully reproduced), Briullov, Venestianov, Chernetsov, and Sadovnikov (the darkly beautiful "View of the Winter Palace at Night"). Indeed, there are multiple paintings by Repin, F. de Haenen (five paintings c.1912, including the exuberant "Ice Slide"), Serov, Larionov, Malevich and Kustodiev (1916), including his bewitching "Moscow Tavern". The final plate is Serov's heartbreaking "Nicholas II". I mention these artists' names (and more are included) for those familiar with art history, to say to them this is a very worthwhile book. But the magic of pre-Revolutionary Russian art is unreservedly here for us all in a masterfully drawn Russian history primer. Useful bibliography in appendix. Absolutely recommended.



3. This is a very detailed book on Russian History by Suzanne Massie and I greatly admire it. It is certainly a must have for those who are interested in Kievan Rus, the Mongol Invasion, Ivan the Terrible, or any of the Russian composers like Glinka and Stravinsky and the Mighty Handful. Just don't expect any Soviet history. This is all about the times before the Revolution.
   
   A+



4. I've had this book for years and it's one of my all time favorites- a must read, insightful. Beautiful- exquisite illustrations.



5. I first read this magnificent tome on Russian history and culture in 1997. As it was part of a history class in college, the first read was a bit of a drag...page after page of description concerning the minutia of Russian life: clothes, churches, meals, religious & superstitious rituals, architecture, commerce, political strife, and so on. Really, with the whirl of the Social Circus of that college year, trudging through all this obscure information brought me no end of grief and silent lamentation! To think of all that time I could have been out with friends looking to score whatever cheap release was on hand or burning inside...spent instead sludging through *detailed history*!

   Cut to four years later...

   I'm going to Russia. In two weeks. Like so many other unplanned affairs that seem to formulate out of nowhere and take one by the lapels, shoving one screaming into the storm of life, this reviewer took it in stride and decided to find some quick-but-informative text on the destination in mind--especially one with such contradictory reports as Mother Russia. Thus, I dug this out of my library and began anew, stifling a faint unpleasant feeling no doubt inspired by those long sleepless college nights. There had to be some merit here, yes?

   Oh yes.

   'Land of the Firebird' is a WONDERFUL and ENGAGING in-depth look of Russian history from 987-1917, spanning the ascension of Vlad and the Orthodox Church to right before the Revolution. With colorful prose Suzanne Massie details the variety of Russian existence--tsars and serfs and merchant-princes and babushkas--no stone is left uncovered as she cross-references nearly a thousands years, writing with equal consideration of art, poetry, country-life, court-life, politics and its myriad games, myths and legends, influence "outside the sphere." It would be impossible to truly set down the full range of Russia experience for this time in the 450 pages allotted the reader, but the author does an admirable job in covering the major shakers and movers and events while sparing a considerable amount of print for the minor peoples and patterns that set the foundation of this ancient, troubled country. It certainly put an interesting light on what I saw come the spring of '01.

   Indispensable for the casual student of Russia.

1 comments about Beyond Recognition: Representation, Power, and Culture.

1. I ordered this am awaiting it's arival. I went to the Barbara Kreuger exibit at the Whitney and It's the best art show I've ever seen. Her work is topical and cutting and an accurate criticism and contempt of societial standards in the Western world. If you want to be smart understand Barbara Kreuger.

No comments about Pull My Daisy.

No comments about Ichthyo: The Architecture of Fish.

4 comments about Zone System: Step by Step Guide for Photographers.

1. Read the stuff by A. Adams. This is an insult.



2. I have been studying zone system off and on for over twenty years. I have read numerous!!! articles on how to perfect you own personal zone system. I have always wanted to sit down and write my own personal "guide" to that system. "Zone System", by Brian Lav has created my guide for me; at least the first half. Brian's book is consise and steps right through and simplifies the calibration process. Thank-you, Brian.
   Hopefully Brian will step up to the plate and take us into an advanced guide. With his writing style I am sure it will be a hit.



3. I have read several books on zone system over the years, and have practiced the art as time has allowed. "The Zone System", by Brian Lav, takes all of the literature that I have read over the years, and condenses them all down into a simple and easy to follow format.
   I started out several times to write my own guide on the complete zone system process, taken from all of the multitude of articles I have read, fortunately Brian has written the first half of my guide.
   If I were to start out in the zone system or needing to start out again, Brian's book would be the one I would turn to first. The book from start to finish, steps you through the way of establishing your own zone system.
   Great work Brian, now for the second half of my guide please.



4. The Zone System is a system for getting "perfect" negatives and development of black-and-white photographs. For those of you who are familiar with the work of Ansel Adams and his remarkable black-and-white photographs, they are fine examples of the use of the zone system and he was a proponent of the system.
   Basically it details how to get the right lighting exposure for a photograph. By dividing the gray scale into eleven segments that are related to f-stops and shutter speeds it teaches how to place your subject in the right zone. In addition it teaches where the darkest areas should fall, how to determine where the highlights fall, how to compress or expand the zones in development, etc.
   If you want to rise above the average photographer then knowing how to use the zone system is a requirement. This is an excellent book on the system and details it's use in an very user friendly manner.

5 comments about Kiki's Paris: Artist and Lovers 1900-1930.

1. New information is always one of the factors I like to glean from a non-fiction book. Sometimes the new material is major, sometimes minor. I immediately liked this book because I found a tiny bit of information that I've been curious about for years. A famous unsung, middle-class patron of many of the world's great artists who resided in Montparnasse ran a "Cremerie" directly across the street from Academie Colarossi Art School. The tiny café was described in numerous biographies but the shop owner was always described simply as "Madame Charlotte." I'd done a little research trying to discover more about this fascinating businesswoman whose building was stuffed with artworks and who loaned money to Gauguin so he could travel to the South Seas, but was unable to find her last name. It seemed to have been lost to history. On page 22 of this book the mystery was solved. She was identified as "Madame Charlotte Caron." That discovery immediately led me to buy this book that is chuck full of interesting biographies as well as more than 700 photographs of the artists described and their work as well as information about the people around this legendary Roaring Twenties artist's community. This encyclopedia of information is tied together by featuring Kiki (Alice Prin) at various points. It could have been tied together by using anyone of several artists who were such an integral part of the "Camelot of Paris Art." Picasso or Man Ray would have done equally as well, but neither of them was French or as sexy to look at in the nude.
   This book is well worth reading. In many ways, it's like looking at a personal photo album with really good captions explaining the pictures and the people in them. Unlike most personal photo albums this one includes pictures of the "underside" of Paris along with pictures of its residents dressed and undressed. The residents apparently loved to party as demonstrated by the huge number of masked balls and other wild parties shown in picture after picture. This book is extra interesting because of the informal portraits of so many famous artists at work and definitely at play. With snapshots of the smoky world of the cafes, the brothels, the art schools, and the hedonistic picnics, the book makes that by-gone era live again. Kiki, with her cabaret dancing, nude modeling, infamous lovemaking and bubbling personality was the very personification of the hedonistic age that produced creativity the likes of which the world has seldom witnessed. She makes a perfect sexy trunk and limbs upon which to hang this elm tree-sized collection of colorful historic portraits.



2. A time long gone of the parisian model for the teeming artists. Lots of great photo's and listings of the people of that time period. Puts you " there " as soon as you open the book. A timeless book of a wonderful age.



3. This book gives a wonderful photo journal insight into the free-spirited years of early 20th century Paris. The photos and descriptions are magnificent. This book will take you there in an instant.



4. "KIKI'S PARIS: Artist and Lovers 1900-1930" faithfully evokes the era when Paris served as the nexus for the flowering of artistic movements as diverse as cubism, fauvism, futurism, and dadaism. Each photograph tells a rich story of the personalities and the city that shaped and inspired them.
   
   This is a book that you'll want to read and re-read again and again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.



5. This book gives both an excellent pictorial and verbal description of the evolution of the artistic life in bohemian Paris in the early twentieth century. Well researched and written, it brings the ongoing revolution in art (what defines art?) as well as society (the role of classes, women, etc) into both clear focus and understanding. The pictures are both numerous and superb and gives the book a real 'you are there' sense as well. The wealth of detail is sometimes almost overwhelming in fact. An very readable and enjoyable book!!

1 comments about The Nikon Master Handbook.

1. If you only get one book, this is the best one available to date for the older Nikon gear. I picked up 3 over the years, but this is the one I use.

1 comments about Luxury for Dogs.

1. I thumbed through this book at Barnes & Noble (where it sells for $50) and was flabbergasted. All this fuss for an animal?? It's outrageous. Clothing, fancy beds, fancy bowls, for a domesticated wolf. The children of Darfur should have it so good. Dog pampering is an insane fad that never should have taken off, and this book shouldn't exist. But it does, and I plan to buy it via Amazon just to add it to my collection of extremely bizarre volumes.

No comments about Ecological Houses (Architecture).