The Artbook Shelf
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THE ARTBOOK SHELF
African Royal Court Art
Michele Coquet
University of Chicago Press
5801 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637
0-226-11575-5 $55.00
Court art is popularly associated with France: this displays wealth and
technique not normally associated with the arts of Africa, focuses on how
African court art symbolized local power and regimes, and using over 150 color
images to provide quite a different view of the nature and content of African
court art.
Ritual Art of India
Ajit Mookerjee
Inner Traditions
One Park St., Rochester, VT 05767
0-89281-721-6 $29.95
Over 100 color photos captures the ritual art of India, differing vastly from
the usual Western religious art presentation in its blend of spiritual figures
and its focus on involving the viewer in the religious event's significance.
Explanations of ritual worship processes accompany an excellent guide.
Maxfield Parrish
Collectors Press
Box 230986, Portland, OR 97281
1-888054-23-9 $39.95
This fine 4-book mini-library is limited to 7,500 and arrived too late for
holiday mention; but deserves recommendation as a fine lavish display of
Maxfield Parrish classics in small book form. Each spotlights a given genre of
Parrish art history, accompanied by 30 color plates and packaged in a slipcase.
The appealing presentation and clear artistic presentations allow for a much
more in-depth review of Parrish's works than competing collections allow.
Painted Wood: History and Conservation
Valerie Dorge & F. Carey Howlett
Getty Trust Publications
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1682
http://www.getty.edu/publications
0-89236-501-3 $75.00 1-310-440-6795
Beautifully illustrated throughout with 102 color photographs, 104 b/w
photographs, and 94 lines drawings, Painted Wood offers new insights into the
complexity, beauty, meaning and preservation of painted wooden objects. as
drawn from a November 1994 symposium of conservators, historians, curators, and
scientists at Williamsburg, Virginia. Here is a wealth of interdisciplinary
scholarship on the conservation of painted wooden objects from polychrome
sculpture and altar pieces to carousel horses, Native American totems,
Victorian garden furniture, French cabinets, and horse-drawn carriages. Forty
articles address the historic significance, compositions, deterioration
process, and methods developed to preserve painted wooden objects. Painted
Wood is a seminal work and will be of immense interest to art historians and
collectors, preservationists, antiquarians, and non-specialist general readers
with an interest in the subject.
Hans Hofmann
Helmut Friedel & Tina Dickey
Hudson Hills Press
230 - 5th Ave. #1308, NY NY 10011
1-55595-154-6 $35.00 1-212-674-6005
Hans Hofmann is known for his postwar abstract paintings and his influence upon
artists in both Germany and New York: this catalog features essays on his life
and work, along with full page color photos of his abstract pieces. Excerpts
from his statements, bibliographic references, and a well-rounded presentation
mark an excellent survey.
Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60603
Sylvia Wolf's Julie Margaret Cameron's Women (0-86559-169-5) provides an
excellent catalog of Cameron's artwork, pairing full-page reproductions of
Cameron's works with in-depth reflections on style and achievement. Chapters
cover the evolving history of Cameron's technique and approach to women's
portraits and provide an excellent set of insights into the extent of her
works. Judith Barter organizes Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman (167-9), a survey
which begins with Cassatt's education and moves to her evolution as an
important contemporary American artist. Articles by a variety of scholars and
historians provide a well-rounded view of Cassatt's background and
achievements, with examples from her works liberally embellishing the written
word.
Currier & Ives: Portraits of a Nation
Alexandra Bonfante-Warren
Friedman/Fairfax Publishers
15 West 26th Street, NY, NY 10010
http://www.metrobooks.com
1-56799-589-6 $19.98 1-212-685-6610
Established in 1834, Currier & Ives reproduced America's best, least expensive
and most popular pictures. The firm closed in 1907 with more than seven
thousand different prints chronicling the life and times of America as the
nation came of age. Currier & Ives: Portraits Of A Nation re-creates the
excitement of the era of rapid industrialization, as technology changed the way
Americans lived. This handsomely illustrated volume is filled with more than
100 full-colored reproductions of Currier & Ives prints drawn from such
collections as that of the Museum of the City of New York. Currier & Ives:
Portraits Of A Nation also tells the story of how Nathaniel Currier and James
Merritt Ives turned the technology of lithography to their advantage. There is
also a brief history of printmaking and advice on collecting. Currier & Ives:
Portraits Of A Nation is a welcome addition to personal and public Americana
art collections.
North Light Books
1507 Dana Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45207
Douglas Purdon's Color Secrets For Glowing Oil Paintings (0-89134-831-X,
$27.99) provides an excellent art technique guide which will appeal to any
interested in adding zip to their oil painting. This combines tested techniques
with modern alkyds, with Purdon building 12 paintings from original sketch to
polished product. Artists can follow his step-by-step techniques. Paul
Leveille's Painting Expressive Pastel Portraits (815-8, $27.99) provides eight
complete painting lessons which illustrate the steps involved in producing
portraits. From understanding color values to moving from sketch to finished
portrait, this will please any aspiring novice. Use Robin Landa's Thinking
Creatively (843-3, $32.99) to unlock artistic creativity. This presents
designers' top ideas for unlocking creative impulses, also including tips on
how to apply visual thinking to projects. Artists will find this packed with
practical applications.
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
Sarah D. Benson, editor, et al.
Hudson Hills Press/NBN, dist.
122 East 25th St., 5th fl., NY, NY 10010
0-9646042-80 $50.00 1-212-674-6005
Herbert F. Johnson Museum Of Art: A Handbook Of The Collection is a new
handbook published in honor of the 25th anniversary of the museum's move into a
landmark building designed by I.M. Pei. Beginning with "A History of the
museum" by the museum's Assistant Director for Education, Cathy Rosa
Klimaszewski, Herbert F. Johnson Museum Of Art relates a story that began more
than a century ago with the university's embryonic art collection. This
impressive artbook is also enhanced with a separate essay, "The Design of the
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: A Recollection" by John L. Sullivan III, the
architect-in-charge for the project at the Pei architectural firm. The heart of
the Herbert F. Johnson Museum Of Art is devoted to the museum's collection,
featuring 170 works from five millennia with colorplates and individual essays.
These objects are from every major world culture, from ancient China, Japan,
and Greece to contemporary America, Europe, and Africa. Herbert F. Johnson
Museum Of Art showcases the best of a unique museum and will be a much
appreciated addition to library art history collections.
Wendel August Forge
Bonita J. Campbell
Dragonflyer Press
521 North Mountain Avenue, Suite A, Upland, CA 91786-5016
0-944933-07-6 $34.95 1-909-981-9522
For collectors of decorative aluminum giftware and decorative arts historians,
Wendel August Forge: Hand Forged Aluminum offers a generously full color
illustrated work that relates the history of the forge and its place in the
decorative aluminum industry. Author Bonita Cambell has enhanced her exhaustive
research and articulate presentation with 347 photos, drawings and diagrams.
Wendel August Forge is a beautiful and informative contribution for collectors
and admirers of a unique artistic and creative metalurgical format.
Art Forms in Nature
Ernst Haeckel
Prestel/Te Neues Publishing Company
16 West 22nd Street, NY, NY 10010
3-7913-1990-6 $25.00 1-212-627-9090
The geometric shapes and natural forms captured in Ernst Haeckel's prints with
exceptional precision still influence artists and designers to this day. Art
Forms In Nature, enhanced with contributions by Olaf Breidbach, Irenaus
Eibl-Eiberfeld and Richard Hartmann highlights the research and findings of
this outstanding and artistically gifted natural scientists. Powerful modern
microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which, even in
their day, rightly became world famous. This edition of Haeckel's prints
features 100 full-color and 30 black-and-white illustrations and is a
remarkable and enduring contribution to the history of art in the service of
science.
Discover Art
Video Information (publicity)
PO. Box 262424, Sn Diego, CA 92196
$119.95 (4 volumes) 1-800-484-3653
Sandra Angelo is the author of "Colored Pencil Basics" and is a veteran
organizer of colored pencil workshops. Now she has presented her considerable
expertise as an artist and teacher in four superb instructional videos. Getting
Started With Colored Pencils (1-887823-19-0) offers demonstrations of four
basic colored pencil techniques, reveals the "inside secrets" of master artists
in the medium; and surveys the merits of various brand s of pencils and
accessories. Realistic Colored Pencil Textures (13-1) shows how to create
precise realistic textures with simple step-by-step techniques. Special Effects
With Colored Pencils (18-2) offers six easy methods for daring and painting
with watercolor pencils; shows how to work on black paper and how to draw metal
and glass. Time Saving Colored Pencil Techniques (14-X) will cut drawing time
in half through the application of a wealth of simple tips, tricks and
techniques used by professionals. This four video set provide a complete
workshop curriculum that will be greatly appreciated by novice artists wanting
to explore the challenging and creative medium of colored pencils.
An Artist's Book of Inspiration
Astrid Fitzgerald, editor
Lindisfarne Press/Anthroposophic Press
3390 Route 9, Hudson, NY 12534
0-940262-76-2 $17.95 1-518-851-9155
Gathered during one perosn's life of making art and studying the spiritual
traditions, Astrid Fitzgerald's An Artist's Book Of Inspiration: A Collection
Of Thoughts On Art, Artists, And Creativity presents a superb colleciton on the
best thoughts on art, artistis, and the crative process drawing from different
traditions, times, and places. What Fitzgerald has so ably accomplished is a
gude and inspiration for the reader wanting to access the sources of creativity
amid the fracctured confusion of the contemporary art world scene. Eclectice,
thoughtful, challenging, explorative and insightful, An Artist's Book Of
Inspiration is engaging, reflective reading that will appeal to those
interested in art, creativity and spirituality.
Hugh Lauter Levin Associates Inc.
2507 Post Road, Southport, CT 06490
Michael Mallory's Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (0-88363-108-3, $75.00) is a winning
tribute to a studio which has long created classic cartoons for kids. Nearly 60
years of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters are relished in a title which tells
the stories of their cartoon associations and characters, blending full-page
color illustrations with insights on cartoon history. An impressive achievement
results. William Wallace's Michaelangelo (207-1, $95.00) arrived too late for
holiday mention: too bad, but it deserves year-round mention as not only an
outstanding gift choice but as an important art library holding with ongoing,
permanent value. Full-page color photos accompany an in-depth history of the
architectural accomplishments of the genius, including his extensive
renovations and powerful works. This profiles his sculptures and paintings as
well, providing a well-rounded view lacking in narrower collections.
Toward a People's Art
Eva Cockcroft, et.al.
University of New Mexico Press
1720 Lomas Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591
0-8263-1932-7 $27.95
This was first published in 1977: its reprint returns a classic to library
shelves as it charts the community-based mural movement which produced hundreds
of wall paintings across the country. From the muralists' works to the
involvement of the community and funding sources, this provides an excellent
survey of mural creation and politics.
The Nabis
Claire Freches-Thory & Antoine Terrasse
Flammarion/Abbeville, Dist.
22 Cortland St., 32nd Fl., NY, NY 10007
0-208013-503-1 $39.95
This survey of Bonnard, Vuillard and a select circle of radical young painters
who formed a brotherhood in 1889 Paris provides a fine history of the group's
work. Full-page color photos and many black and white prints of their
achievements supplement a history which covers all of the Nabis' activities and
achievements, adding an extra dimension of social and cultural commentary which
places their works in context. A fine history is presented.
Holland Mania
Annette Stott
The Overlook Press
386 West Broadway, NY, NY 10012
0-879510906-1 $37.95
This surveys a little-studied era in art history: the forty years between 1880
and 1920 during which Americans experienced a craze for Holland art and
culture. Popular cultural history, art history and social insights blend in
this probe of the cultural relations between the Netherlands and the United
States. Highly recommended.
Busy
Jim Avignon & DAG
Die Gestalten Verlag/Beeksbee Books
Mary Bisbee-Beek (publicity)
1489 Lincoln Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105
3-931126-17-X $38.99 1-651-690-0907
The art of renowned European painters Jim Avignon and DAG is the visual
equivalent of club music -- each work transmits mini messages, but reaches a
broad audience. "Paint much! Paint fast! Paint anywhere!" is their motto.
Avignon and DAG are concerned with the moment, with no time for long planning,
design, or circling languidly towards a solution in their pieces. The work of
these incredible artists fully races along as it moves into, through, and out
of existence. The distinctly difference approaches and styles of Avignon and
DAG to the actual act of painting are also disclosed, Avignon's paintings being
far more concrete than those of DAG. DAG's work creating rhythmic combinations
of abstract forms and colors. Busy is an ingenious collection of the art of
these two gifted painters and a remarkable contribution to the growing library
of contemporary western art.
Watercolor
Ross Bleckner
Arena Editions/D.A.P., dist.
573 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
http://www.arenaed.com
0-9657280-9-9 $55.00 1-505-986-9132
Ross Bleckner is well known for his large scale canvases and has for years used
watercolor as both a means and an end to his painting. While Bleckner's works
in oil deal primarily with remembrance and loss, his watercolors are symbolic
of transformation and transcendence. The beautifully reproduced images in
Watercolor reveal the depth of Bleckner's talent, and the degree to which these
little known gems represent a major part of Bleckner's oeuvre. Luminescent and
utterly unique, Bleckner's watercolor images possess a photographic quality,
and their brightness and shimmering surfaces attest to the artist's mastery and
technique. Watercolor is a highly recommended addition to any personal or
public library artbook collection.
Thames & Hudson
500 - 5th Ave., New York NY 10110
From the earliest achievements of black artists to productions of the early
20th century before the commercial art trade took hold, Jean-Baptiste
Bacquart's survey Tribal Arts Of Africa (0-500-01870-7, $50.00) considers both
European imperialist influences and unique cultural areas across Africa,
packing in color photos of artistic expression and analyzing early African art
according to type. Add tribal background and you have an impressive guide which
operates as both an art and African history. Peter Wildbur and Michael Burke's
Information Graphics (01872-3, $45.00) examines modern design and contemporary
solutions to problems. Graphics issues are taught and demonstrated in a series
of fine full-color examples with plenty of practical how-to references.
Art Information and the Internet
Lois Swan Jones
Oryx Press
4041 N. Central @ Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85012
1-57356-162-2 $45.00
Learn how to find and use art information on the internet in a title which
covers art search engines, methods for searching, basics of research, and
different archives and files for different art genres. A 'must' for any
involved in art, this focuses as much upon the basics of conducting art
research as upon the specifics of Internet sites, lending it a longer life than
most Internet guides.
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