The Art Bookshelf

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The Art Bookshelf

Arts and the Internet
V.A. Shiva
Allworth Press
1-880559-40-4 $18.95

The Internet can provide all artists with further resources blending technological advancements with art, offering access to even disabled artists and creating new marketing and production opportunities. This covers everything from artistic expression to locating jobs on the Internet, providing a unique artist focus for any professionally involved.

Mystery of Love
Sister Wendy Beckett
HarperSanFrancisco
0-06-060679-7 $17.00

Carmelite nun and art critic Sister Wendy is an expert in classic and contemporary art alike: here she reviews the appearance of saints in art through the centuries, considering how the saints were depicted, the lasting importance and influence of historic masterpieces, and the subject of each painting. Excellent color plates of the paintings accompany Beckett's appreciative and critical comments, which include plenty of background for novices.

Oils
Perramon
Barron's
0-8120-6615-4 $9.95

This publisher's series of art handbooks aren't your usual beginner's guides, and Oils will thus appeal to a wider audience of serious art students, teachers, and graphic arts writers. Oil painting techniques are discussed in detail, from composition to contrasting pigments and materials for producing colors. The result looks slim and basic but is actually packed with advanced material for any involved in oils.

Paintings by Masami Teraoka
James T. Ulak, et.al.
Weatherhill
0-8348-0352-6 $29.95

Pop art blends with traditional Japanese woodcut style in a fine volume which displays the extent of Teraoka's talents in blending modern concerns with traditional representations. Any studying Japanese art will find Teraoka's style an intriguing blend of choices, using historical precedence to create strong renditions of modern subjects. An exciting presentation.

Collectors Press Inc.

The Collector Press "Vignettes" series is a celebration of the American pin-up artist and presents four small paperback books packed with color and surprising detail. Kent Steine's Billy Devorss (1-88054-02-6 $8.95) covers the rich poses of his classic models; Ben Stevens' Rolf Armstrong: The Dream Girls (03-4 $8.95) presents his turn-of-the-century models; Gil Elvgren: The Wartime Pin-Ups (01-8 $8.95) provides the models of the 1940s and 50s; and Alberto Vargas: The Esquire Years (04-2 $8.95) reveals the Varga Girl's appeal in the 1940s. All are excellent, revealing little books suitable for both collectors and artists with an interest in pin-up works.

Margaret Mee: Return to the Amazon
Ruth Stiff
Stationary Office/Seven Hills, Dist.
0-11-250113-3 $29.95

Botanical artist Mee's works are profiled in a collection of paintings which coincide with a three year, traveling exhibition of her work in this country. Mee first visited the Amazon in 1952 and dedicated her life to painting its flora: this surveys her works and includes her written observations.

The Cigar in Art
Terence Conran
Overlook Press
0-87951-693-3 $35.00

This is the first book to celebrate the cigar in art, providing a gallery of cigar art works accompanied by quotes and poems reflecting on the cigar and the life it represents. Its use as a gift book will be ongoing and specific to cigar affectionados.

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Midwest Book Review
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
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