MBR: The Art Shelf
MWBOOKREVW
Stephan Pace
Marticia Sawin
Hudson Hills Press
PO Box 205, Manchester, VT 05254
0555952275 $50.00 hudsonhills.com
Art historian and contemporary art expert Marticia Swain's 144 page, coffee
table style artbook Stephen Pace showcases the life and life of an American
artist that arose from a childhood spent on Indiana and Missouri farms, to
survive the Normandy Landings in World War II, and studied art in Mexico, Paris
and New York on the G.I. Bill. Attracting critical attention for his abstract
expressionist canvases, Stephan Pace through the use of 93 color plates and 45
black & white illust-rations, provides the reader with an informed and
informative perspective that continues through to Pace's luminous
representational paintings of the past several decades. Informed and
informative, Stephan Pace is a truly core addition to any personal,
professional, art school, or community library 20th Century art history
collection.
On The Strange Place Of Religion In Contemporary Art
James Elkins
Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, NY, NY 10016
0415969891 $22.95 www.routledge.com
James Elkins (Professor of Art History and Theory at the School of the Art
Institute in Chicago), presents On The Strange Place Of Religion In
Contemporary Art, an in-depth exploration of the complex dilemma of the modern
artist concerning to what extent his art should reflect his faith. Even as art
historians separate art from spirituality, the long history of art has been
intertwined since long, long before the Renaissance. On The Strange Place Of
Religion In Contemporary Art explores the dichotomy through the stories of five
individuals, and turns over key terms and ideas scholars express when analyzing
religious themes and motifs found in the art world. Highly recommended reading
especially for art critics and art history students, seeking to better
understand both their knowledge base and their descriptive vocabulary of the
great works they view.
Savannah Sketchbook
Jeffrey Eley
Pelican Publishing Company
1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, LA 70053-2246
www.pelicanpub.com
1589801024 $29.95 1-800-843-1724
Savannah Sketchbook offers the experience of twenty-one artists who applied
their impressionistic vision to watercolor paintings of Savannah, Georgia. The
full-color illustrations on almost every page have a slightly sketchy feel, yet
evoke a profound sense of warmth, and the text offers the rich history behind
each of the locales captured on brush and paper. An amazingly unforgettable
tour of a charming American town, blending talent and love for scenery into a
beautiful whole.
American Fancy
Sumpter Priddy
Distributed Art Publishers
155 Sixth Av, 2nd fl, NY, NY 10013-1507
www.artbook.com
0972435395 $75.00 1-800-338-2665
American Fancy: Exuberance In The Arts 1790-1840 is a stunning coffe table book
focusing upon all forms of physical art - from paintings to furnishings to
clocks, glass panels, coffeepots, and much more that could be found American
households circa the early 1800's. The full color photographs display a truly
remarkable assortment of classic antiques, and the text brings the reader on an
in-depth tour of not only the works themselves, but the lives and sweeping
historical changes surrounding the men and and women who cherished them.
American Fancy is a veritable treasury of vintage creations, many of which were
pragmatic as surely as they were beautiful.
In The Gardens Of Impressionism
Clare A. P. Willsdon
The Vendome Press
1334 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021
0865652325 $60.00 1-212-737-5297
In The Gardens Of Impressionism is a beautiful artbook exploring the
fascination that Impressionists have had with gardens, from examining classic
works of Monet to delving into the personal letters and testimonies of
individual artists. Packed with full-color, soothing works of Impressionistic
tranquility on almost every page, In The Gardens Of Impressionism is a splendid
blend of art history, criticism, theory and speculation, offering detailed
information on the backgrounds of the many works showcased in its pages and
insight into the hearts, minds, and motivations of those who created those
works. In The Gardens Of Impressionism is as much a joy to simply browse
through and savor the artwork as it is fascinating to read.
Contemporary International Glass
Jennifer Hawkins Opie
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
100 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10011
www.abramsbooks.com
1851774262 $50.00 1-800-759-0190
Contemporary International Glass: 60 Artists In The V&A by Jennifer Hawkins
Opie (V&A's curator of contemporary glass and a leading expert in this
specialized field) is an impressively beautiful introduction and survey of the
V&A's outstanding collection of glass art. Each showcased piece is presented in
a full-color photograph, along with a statement (if any) by the artist,
information concerning its composition, the training, professional, and
teaching experience of the artist, and notable critical commentary. A wide
variety of modern images, colors, suggestions and themes from classical design
to abstract sculpture fill this remarkable display of uniquely modern art.
The Complete Guide To High-Fire Glazes
John Britt
Sterling Publishing Company
387 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016
1579904254 $29.95 1-212-532-7160
The Complete Guide To High-Fire Glazes is a highly practical reference
especially for ceramic artists - potters and sculptors who glaze their work,
put it in a kiln, and then wait and see what comes out. Written by a practicing
ceramicist of 20 years' experience, The Complete Guide To High-Fire Glazes uses
full-color photographs, charts, and extensive detail to instruct artists in
exactly what to expect when placing their work under fire. From technical
information about the oxides that make up glazes, to a walkthrough of all
aspects of cone 10 glaze-making including mixing the glaze and firing
procedures for fuel and electronic kilns, to means of controlling a kiln's
firing temperature and atmosphere for each type of glaze, hundreds of glaze
recipes, and much more, The Complete Guide To High-Fire Glazes is a "must-have"
for any dedicated ceramicist and a treasure simply to browse for its wealth of
beautiful ceramic works for everyone else.
Joel Greene: New Mexico Modernist
Gussie Fauntleroy
New Mexico Magazine
Lew Wallace Building, 495 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501
0937206814 $38.95 1-505-827-7447 www.nmmagazine.com
Written by a neighbor of Joel Greene who has written professionally about art
and artists since 1986, Joel Greene: New Mexico Modernist is a full-color
gallery of vibrant oil paintings by Joel Greene, which reduce scenes down to
their simplest shapes with a striking flair reminicent of the efforts of Pablo
Picasso, yet which offer their own individualist spin on landscapes and still
lifes. Comments and essays on the artist's life and creative process fill out
the captivating images in this treasury of modern art especially recommended
for personal browsing and collections. A truly adventurous compendium offering
a gateway into a parallel world of profound images that bring out the dormant
truth underneath complex layers of everyday detail.
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