MBR: The Art Shelf
Midwest Book Review
The Rembrandt Book
Gary Schwartz
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
0810943174, $65.00 www.abramsbooks.com 1-800-759-0190
Compiled and written by one of the world's leading experts on the life
and work of Rembrandt von Rijn as part of the 400th anniversary of his
birth, "The Rembrandt Book" is a 384-page compendium of biography and
history of the Dutch master's life and art. Beautifully and visually
enhanced with 700 full-color illustrations, "The Rembrandt Book" also
provides interested readers with an introduction and analysis of all
the various controversies and debates over Rembrandt in terms of just
how many paintings and drawings can be accurately and definitively
attributed to him. A core addition to personal, community, art school,
and academic library Art History reference collections, "The Rembrandt
Book" is most especially recommended to the attention of art
historians, art students, art enthusiasts, and non-specialist general
readers with an interest in the colorful life and personal mysteries
involving one of Europe's most famous and influential painters.
Andy Warhol Portraits
Tony Shafrazi, editor
Phaidon Press
180 Varick Street, 14th floor, New York, NY 10014
0714846678, $69.95 www.phaidon.com
Andy Warhol is one of the best known American artists of the 1960s and
renowned for his uncoventional life and art as well as is enduring
influence on American pop culture. An influence that continues down to
the present time several decades after his death. Famous for his
iconic images of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell Soup Cans, he also made
art out of the facial images of political, social, entertainment,
sports, and music celebrities of his day. This particular body of his
work has been compiled and edited by Tony Shafrazi, who enhances this
320-page coffee table art book with 350 color illustrations and
informative essays by art critic Carter Ratcliff and art historian
Robert Rosenblum. The men and women whose images were made immortal by
Warhol range from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Giorgio Armani, Truman Capote,
Jimmy Carter, Joan Collins, Clint Eastwood, Herman Hesse, Alfred
Hitcock, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Lenin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Liza
Minnelli, Princess Diana, Yves Saint Laurent, O.J. Simpson, Elizabeth
Taylor, Tennessee Williams, Natalie Wood, Mao Zedong, and hundreds of
others. An important contribution to academic library 20th Century
American Art History reference collections, "Andy Warhol Portraits" is
a 'must' for the personal collections of Warhol's legions of admirers.
The Jesuits And The Arts: 1540-1773
John W. O'Malley, SJ, et al.
Saint Joseph's University Press
3600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
0916101525, $70.00 www.sju.edu/sjupress
Meticulously compiled and deftly edited by the team of John W.
O'Malley, SJ (Distinguished Professor of Church History at the Weston
Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge, Massachusetts), Gauvin Alexander
Bailey (Associate Professor of Renaissance and Baroque Art at Clark
University in Worcester, Massachusetts), and Giovanni Sale, SJ (Direct
of the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome, Italy), "The Jesuits And
The Arts: 1540-1773" is a beautifully illustrated historical survey of
the Jesuit's artistic enterprise in Europe, North America, South
America, and Asia from the foundation os the Society of Jesus in 1540
to its suppression in 1773. Of special note is John O'Malley's
introductory essay "The Cultural Mission of the Society of Jesus"
which lays the Jesuit involvement with the arts in historical
perspective. A second essay describes the tension between the Jesuits
and Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the imperious patron of Gesu - the
Jesuit's most important church in Rome). Richard Bossel provides an
informed and informative architectural tour of Jesuit churches,
chapels, schools, residences, and meeting halls throughout Europe.
Gauvin Baily provides a wealth of information on the influence of
Italian painting upon Jesuit art. Heinrich Peiffer discusses Jesuit
iconography. An important and core addition to academic library Art
History and Jesuit Studies reference collections, "The Jesuits And The
Arts: 1540-1773" is an impressive compendium of erudite scholarship
that is as accessible to the non-specialist general reader with an
interest in art history, as it is of seminal value to students of
Jesuit history and their influence on Catholic church art and
architecture.
An Introduction to Painting Landscapes
Ted Gould
Chartwell Books, Inc.
c/o Book Sales, Inc.
114 Northfield Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837
0785803939 $12.90 www.amazon.com
Practicing artist and tutor Ted Gould presents An Introduction to
Painting Landscapes is an instructional and practical guide for
artists of all experience levels, though familiarity with the most
basic fundamentals of art is presumed. Chapters cover the materials
and equipment needed, basic painting techniques for different media,
sketching, handling the complexities of color and light, issues of
composition, and more. Full color illustrations on every page walk the
reader through the creation process, and give examples of techniques
discussed. An excellent, hands-on guide.
Marylyn Dintenfass: Paintings
Lily Wei
Hudson Hills Press
3556 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05254
1555952798 $50.00 www.hudsonhills.com
Marylyn Dintenfass is a leading artist known internationally for her
paintings and prints. She blends minimalist techniques with abstract
imagery and her modular grid-based sculptures have appeared around the
world and gained her much recognition. Marylyn Dintenfass: Paintings
comes with some seventy full-page color plates and is accompanied by
New York curator Lily Wei's essay on painting. Its revealing images
are a 'must' for any serious art library seeking representation of
acclaimed modern artists, especially those working in minimalist and
abstract forms.
The Artist's Muse
Betsy Dillard Stroud
North Light
c/o F&W Publications
4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236
1581808955 $26.99 www.fwpubs.com
THE ARTIST'S MUSE: UNLOCK THE DOOR TO YOUR CREATIVITY isn't just
another book on the topic: it's an actual tool kit that pairs a book
with three decks of cards with creative prompts for ideas. By mixing
and matching the deck, artists will find about 15,000 inspiring ideas
for better art, from paintings and new subjects to new color ideas.
Any with a creative block will find THE ARTIST'S MUSE the perfect
toolkit for unlocking the block - and while the card/book combo may
not lend to library lending, it will provide working and aspiring
artists with something they can't be without: a kit for ongoing
inspiration.
You Can Draw Star Wars
Bonnie Burton
DK Publishing Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York NY 10014-3658
075662343X $19.99 www.dk.com
The foundations of the penciling and drawing techniques needed to draw
Star Wars characters is explained in an easy beginner's guide YOU CAN
DRAW STAR WARS. Tutorials show how to draw all characters from droids
to heros Obi-wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, while foldout pages,
overlays and stencils enhance the instruction. Perfect for any
illustrator Star Wars fan who wants to learn from his heros.
Photofile titles
Thames & Hudson
500 - 5th Avenue, New York NY 10110
$15.95 Each www.thamesandhudson.com
Thames and Hudson's 'Photofile' titles are outstanding: they each
offer up some 60 pages of a portfolio of selected artists' works, with
black and white shots and facing identification page making for a hit
introduction lacking the usual detailed historical and biographical
references. A succinct introduction for each serves this point - the
rest of the book allows newcomers to examine the extent of each
artists' work without interruption. Perfect for public libraries as
well as art libraries is MAN RAY (9780500410653), HELMUT NEWTON
(978500410691), HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON (9780500410608), and SEBASTIAO
SALGARDO (9780500410860).
Circling Around Abstraction: Georgia O'Keeffe
Jonathan Stuhlman
Hudson Hills Press
PO Box 205, 74-2 Union Street, Manchester, VT 05254
0943411491 $50.00 www.hudsonhills.com
So much has already been written and published about Georgia O'Keeffe
that one might wonder about the need for yet another book, but she's a
celebrated pioneer and was the cor of a group of artists fostered by
Alfred Stieglitz, and one of the first to develop her own abstract
idiom. This narrows the usual generalist focus on O'Keeffe's art to
cover her experiments with circular forms across her career, offering
both well-known and rarely seen paintings. Two essays analyze O'Keeffe
from a exhibition curator and museum curator's viewpoints. It's a pick
that any serious college-level art library - even those with extensive
references on O'Keeffe already - must have.
Material Journeys: Collecting African and Oceanic Art, 1945-2000
Christraud M. Geary & Stephanie Xatart
MFA Publications
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
0878467157 $35.00 www.mfa-publications.org
MATERIAL JOURNEYS is a strong pick for any college-level art library
serious about African or Oceanic art representations. This catalogue
of holdings comes from the Genevieve McMillan Collection and
supplements a study of how African and oceanic arts were brought to
Europe with the items in the McMillan Collection, using the collection
as a foundation for examining collection strategies as a whole. Any
interested in museum holdings, the arts, and African and Oceanic arts
in particular will find it a powerful survey embracing many modern art
debates, from issues of authenticity to the social, political and
commercial forces underlying holding choices.
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