The Artbook Shelf
MWBOOKREVW
THE ARTBOOK SHELF
Wet-Wall Tattoos
Richard Maschal
John F. Blair
0-89587-215-3 $12.95
In September 1987 Ben Long took on the job of a fresco on an altar wall in
North Carolina - which was over 30 feet high and the size of a small house.
This recounts the fresco's birth and conclusion, telling of artistic dedication
and the frustrations involved in trying to convert a massive wall into a work
of art. Any involved in fresco work will relish this account.
Ivan Albright
Courtney Donnell, et al.
The Art Institute of Chicago
Hudson Hills Press, dist.
1-55595-136-8 $50.00
Ivan Albright (1897-1983) served as a medical illustrator during World War I,
he then went on to a successful career depicting humanity's decay, the
vulnerability of the flesh, the undernourishment of the spirit. Some of his
paintings took more than twenty years to finish, with the artist at times
completing only one square inch in a day to his satisfaction. Albright avoided
selling his work by setting his prices excessively high, assuring that his art
remained out of reach for most private, and even institutional buyers. He
preferred to donate his works to museums where he could be sure that they would
hang alongside examples by the Old Masters he admired and to whom he considered
himself the heir. Ivan Albright is the first full-scale monograph on the
artist, and the first to offer a comprehensive retrospective of the full range
of Albright's oeuvre, featuring some 120 works, including paintings,
watercolors, gouaches, drawings, prints, and rare bronze sculpture. Included
are more than thirty virtually unknown self-portraits, most done as part of his
last project before his death.
Low and High Style in Italian Renaissance Art
Patricia Emison
Garland
0-8153-2530-4 $66.00
College-level students of Renaissance art history will appreciate this in-depth
review of style in Italian Renaissance art: it describes how individuals
envisioned alternatives to the high style, how major Italian artists worked
within cultural and artistic boundaries, and how basic artistic concepts
translated between 'high' and 'low' style choices. An in-depth, intriguing
survey.
North Light Books
Two 'Discover Drawing' series titles by Lee Hammond ($12.99 Each) provide
beginners with basic art instruction key to producing professional results.
Unlike competing titles which may provide overviews of entire pictures, these
choose narrow topics: Draw Real Hands! (0-89134-817-4) thus provides a
step-by-step approach to rendering hands which are realistic rather than
cartoons, and Draw Family & Friends! (818-2) tells how to learn basic shapes to
draw the human figure, interlocking them for realistic results. Arlene Beck's
Painting Realistic Flowers In Acrylic (776-3, $24.99) provides clear
instruction on painting flowers from scratch rather than from patterns. The
emphasis, again, is on making flowers which 'look real': chapters tell how to
reinforce colors and shapes for maximum results.
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