No comments about The Parthenon and Its Sculptures.

No comments about Alexander Calder: Sculptures: Sculptures.

No comments about Alice Aycock: Sculpture and Projects.

No comments about Robert Graham: The Great Bronze Doors for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

1 comments about Waterfowl Carving With J.D. Spankle: The Fully Illustrated Reference to Carving and Painting 25 Decorative Ducks.

1. This book should be in the library of novice as well as professional carvers everywhere. It gives a lot of tips that make carving details a lot easier.

   The many pictures are extremly helpful and well done. They are close up shots that show what is being explained and leave no question in your mind as to what is being done.

   More color photos of finished birds would be more helpful.

   I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Hewing Contemporary Bowls With Rip & Tammi Mann (A Schiffer Book for Woodcarvers).

1 comments about English Silver Hallmarks.

1. There are two books on English silver hallmarks available on Amazon, the other being Pocket Ed. Jackson's Hallmarks, and of the two books, this is my favourite. Both books are almost identical in content: both provide illustrations of English, Irish and Scottish silver, gold and platinum hallmarks, and illustrations of the more important makers marks, which allow for the dating of silver, gold and platinum items. However, this book is the easier to use of the two, with the information presented in a way that makes it easier to find what you are looking for. This book also includes a section on Sheffield plate marks and an index of the makers marks, which are not included in "Jackson's Hallmarks".
   
   The periods of time covered by these two books are slightly different. This book gives hallmarks for the period from 1554 to 2004, whereas "Jackson's Hallmarks" covers the period from 1300 to 1991. However, as I have never had any need to date items made prior to 1554, and most of the items that I have dated have been more recent items, I find the period of time covered by this book to be the most appropriate for my needs.
   
   Although both books are very useful and both are likely to satisfy the requirements of the average silver collector, if you are only going to buy one of these books, then this is the one to buy.

4 comments about Road Through Miyama.

1. This publication was helpful to me while I learned about the current world and US population and many of their aspects.



2. You don't have to care about pottery to enjoy this book. I don't and felt bereaved when I finished it. I found Leila Philip's tactfully discrete description of her life in Miyama a joy. If you've spent some time in Japan you can appreciate how very difficult her experience was, yet she lived it with grace and patience. I love that she understood that to learn she had to accept the way things are or were which is unusual for someone as young as she was.
   
   Part of my sadness in finishing the book was knowing that the Miyama now is probably nothing like the Miyama in the mid-1980's. I'm sure most of the older people she wrote about are gone and that the town has probably become ugly with modernization. There probably isn't much truly artisan pottery made either. I hope to get there some time soon to find out.
   
   I wanted so much to know how the pottery turned out after some of the firings Miss Philip described. It seemed important to me, but it wasn't to be. That's okay, this book is still a "5" and it would be a "10" in a ten point system.
   
   I have ordered her second book about the family farm in upstate New York. I'm looking forward to receiving it.



3. When a blond, blue-eyed American spends 2 yrs as a potter in a small Japanese village, a good story is bound to result. The Road Through Miyama is full of the history and personalities of this small town originally settled by Korean potters brought to Japan at the beginning of the 17th century. In her walks about the village, American Leila Philip comes to learn about art and life in this country. Through lyrical and spellbinding prose, Philip takes her readers on a tour of a world most of us can't even imagine. Far more than a travelogue or a discussion of the ancient art of pottery, The Road Through Miyama gently shows us how to lead a different life.



4. Very clearly illustrates some important aspects of Japanese culture through the eyes of a Gaijin. Made me fall in love with pottery and life in Japan all over again.

1 comments about Donald Judd.

1. If you only buy one Donald Judd book in your lifetime, this may be the one to have. Beautifully designed and produced, with gorgeous full-bleed color reproductions, it is comprehensive in covering all the major aspects of his production (prints possibly excepted), including early paintings, the transition to sculpture, the late work, and the work on major art environments, i.e. Marfa and Spring Street. Most effectively, it groups major aspects of Judd's work into categories (stacks, linear wall pieces, series of boxes, etc.) clearly laying out his initial concepts, their evolution over time, and their relationships to other categories of work. In my brief time with this book, I have already come away with a much greater understanding of Judd's oeuvre and ways of thinking, thanks largely to the wonderfully didactic quality of the entire enterprise. I am assuming Nicolas Serota, the director of the Tate Modern and the book's editor, is largely responsible for this. Of the several intriguing essays, I have only thoroughly read the one by David Batchelor, a British Judd-ologist who addresses the issue of color. It alone is worth the price of the book, tracing aspects of the work back to initially wan late-nineteenth century attempts at the artistic representation of machinery, and then bringing us forward to Judd's thorough (albeit fascinatingly undocumented) familiarity with the technology and varieties of contemporary car paints (apparently his selection of [always impure] colors referenced specific automobiles, i.e. 1958 Ford Galaxy Celeste Green). The essay is full of wonderful observations such as Batchelor's equation of traditional brushes with organic nature, actual embodiments of their classical subject matter, that had to ultimately be abandoned by Judd (and of course others) in his search for artistic tools reflective of mechanization and urban modernity. Furthermore, Batchelor illustrates how the tools may have changed but Judd's concern with color, texture, and composition remained rooted in art-historical and even painterly considerations. Judd vehemently rejected the minimalist label, such label in Batchelor's view having contributed to critics' failure to recognize the sophisticated color and sensuality of the works. And finally, we are led to consider how the works may be as much about problems of painting and even (gasp) allusion and representation as about problems of sculpture. Great stuff.

2 comments about The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland.

1. The book is well illustrated, yet the text is constantly cross referring to other items, some of which are in the book, pages away, and some of which are not in the book at all. This can be frustrating when you would like to do the comparisons to understand the point the author is making. Also, please be forewarned that this is written from an art history perspective, not so much from an historical or archaeological perspective. To me, the book would have benefitted from text which blended these disciplines a little better. Perhaps the authors presupposed that readers would already be familiar with the other disciplines, and therefore just concentrated on art history. Still, if you love Pictish art, this book is probably a a must-have.



2. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. A fine presentation of Pictish studies from an art-history perspective. It includes a superb collection of 300 b/w photographs of Pictish jewelry and sculpture. Extensively footnoted and thoughtfully argued, it's a great resource. Some crucial monuments are depicted without the glass enclosures that now obstruct them. It's a great asset to have these clear images.

   If you're new to Pictish studies, many of the references and concepts may not be meaningful -- but the photos alone are worth the cost of the book.

   Quibbles: (1) The photographs aren't individually credited, (2) None of the photos are in color, and (3) The stated locations of some monuments don't identify their current placements. (I'm writing this within a few months of publication, so it's not that they've moved since then.)

   But don't pass up this book for these paltry reasons. I plan to lose myself in it for quite some time.