MBR: The Artbook Shelf
MWBOOKREVW
Bright Earth
Philip Ball
Farrar Straus Giroux
19 Union Square West, New York, NY 10003
0374116792 $30.00 1-800-242-7737
In Bright Earth, science writer Philip Ball presents a fine guide that examines
the practical side of art throughout history. From its gains from technological
advancements to cultural influences on art directions, Bright Earth surveys how
color is invented, reinvented, and presented. A literary, absorbing work.
Juan Munoz
Neal Benezra, et al.
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 So. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603
0865591903 $24.95 1-312-443-3600
Produced by the collaborative efforts of art experts Neal Benezra, Olga M.
Viso, Michael Brenson, and Paul Schimmel, Juan Munoz is an astounding companion
to the exhibition of Munoz's remarkable, three-dimensional art on exhibition at
the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution.
Black-and-white and color photographs abound in this lavish work, featuring
extensive and informative essays that look deep into the heart and soul of the
sculptures, figures, and prints. Juan Munoz is highly recommended as a rare
treat for the both the eyes and the artistic intellect.
Degas And The Dance
Jill DeVonyar & Richard Kendall
Harry N. Abrams
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
0810932822 $49.95 abramsbooks.com
Collaboratively produced by independent curator and ballet instructor Jill
DeVonyar and art historian Richard Kendall, Degas And The Dance is a gorgeous
volume filled with from cover to cover with spectacular color photographs of
art and sculpture celebrating the dance, particularly ballet, as created by
19th century artist Edgar Degas. An insightful text provides informative
commentary about the man called "the painter of dancers", and his body of work
,enriches this vivid presentation of pieces that blend realism with occasional
softening or abstracting elements. Degas And The Dance is enthusiastically
recommended as being beautiful book just to page through, and a "must" for
anyone who appreciates the immortal art of Edgar Degas.
Create Greeting Cards With Glass Painting Techniques
Joan Dale
Parkwest Publications
451 Communipaw Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304
1870586395 $22.99 parkwestpubs.com
By considering the many creative ideas and following the simple step-by-step
instructions that comprise Joan Dale's Create Greeting Cards With Glass
Painting Techniques, even the most novice reader can create vibrant, colorful
designs with personalized greeting cards using effective glass painting
techniques. Each of the card making projects comes with its own full size
template. Dale also shows how to utilize glitter, beads, ribbons, and other
decorations for additional enhancements. Highly recommended for the
do-it-yourself enthusiast, there are greeting card projects for every occasion
are to be found here including birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, Valentine,
Easter, Christmas, New Year, Halloween, Fathers Day and Mother's Day, as well
as cards for good luck, bon voyage, a new home, a new baby, and all purpose
blank cards.
Impressions Of Light
George T. M. Shakelford, et al.
MFA Publications
c/o Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
0878466475 $35.00 1-800-338-2665
Impressions Of Light: The French Landscape From Corot To Monet is a lavishly,
richly, spectaculrly beautifully, illustrated art history showcasing one
hundred years of French art and 56 French artists. Included area wealth of rare
and unusual monotypes by Degas, three states of a softground etching by
Pissarro, and numerous illustrative works by lesser-known by equally
significant contemporaries. Of particular interest is the attention paid to
intersecting developments in French art from the Barbizon school through
post-Impressionism. Enhanced with more than 80 paintings and 70 works on paper
drawn from the MFA collections, showcasing the French landscape through
painting, prints, and photography, Impressions Of Light deftly explores
individual artists' perceptions as well as the manifold ways that influenced
each other. Also available in a hardcover edition (0878466460, $65.00),
Impressions Of Light will prove to be a welcome and much appreciated
contribution to Art History collections in general, and 19th Century French
landscape art and photography in particular.
Insurgent Images
Paul Buhle & Mike Alewitz
Monthly Review Press
122 West 27th Street, NY, NY 10001
1583670343 $27.95 monthlyreview.org
Insurgent Images: The Agitprop Murals Of Mike Alewitz by muralist and labor
activist Mike Alewitz in collaboration with historian and academician Paul
Buhle presents a vibrant, full-color presentation of the vivid and powerfully
themed mural artworks done by Alewitz, an outspoken labor activist since the
1940s. Presenting a strong political theme of worker's rights and solidarity,
capturing the imagination with its outspoken message, and offered alongside a
sensible commentary that places pieces in context to the labor and humanitarian
issues they illustrated, Insurgent Images is a stunning collection of art
created to serve showcase and advance the cause of worker and human rights.
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