MBR: The Art Shelf
MWBOOKREVW
Lethal Elegance
Joe Earle
MFA Publications
c/o Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
0878466797 $50.00 1-800-338-2665 www.mfa-publications.org
Lethal Elegance: The Art Of Samurai Sword Fittings by Joe Earle is an
impressive and seminal artbook showcasing 150 rare and beautiful masterwork
fittings for Japanese swords. The full-color photographs reveal beauty and
exquisite craftsmanship, while the informed and informative text aptly
discusses the effects achieved with various alloys, how fitings changed in
response to advances in warfare, symbolism, standards, and more. Nearly all the
artworks presented were once owned by trained swordsmen, yet their elegance
reveals as much of individual style and personality as they do lethal
functionalist. Lethal Elegance: The Art Of Samurai Sword Fittings is a truly
unique and captivating gallery which is especially commended to the attention
of students of Japanese History in general, and samurai culture in particular.
New Mexican Tinwork 1840-1940
Lane Coulter & Maurice Dixon Jr.
University of New Mexico Press
1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
0826315259 $29.95 1-800-249-7737 www.unmpress.com
Ornamental tinwork from the mid-1800s began in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a
sardine can and worked its way into other applications: so begin Lane Coulter
and Maurice Dixon Jr. in their history of the tools, techniques and products of
New Mexican tinwork. Relatively little has been documented in this area, making
New Mexican Tinwork 1840-1940 a compilation of history and color photos of
particular interest to anyone working in this particular medium.
Uncovered
Douglas Ellis
Adventure House
914 Laredo Road, Silver Spring, MD 20901
1886937745 $40.00 www.amazon.com www.adventurehouse.com
During the 1920s and 1930s girlie pulp magazines were sold 'under the counter'
and hidden away, with talented pulp artists producing pin-up art which was
largely hidden from public view. The story of these artists, their publishers,
and their fight against censorship is told in Uncovered: Hidden Art Of The
Girlie Pulps with over 400 covers reproduced in color and over fifty artists'
works receiving in-depth representation and background history, making for an
unusual and exceptional gift for any fan of pinup or pulp art.
Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction
Oliver Leaman
University of Notre Dame Press
310 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
0268033706 $25.00 1-800-621-2736 www.undpress.nd.edu
Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction is a scholarly, college-level discussion of
Islamic art throughout history. Adopting the viewpoint that the criteria
applied to Islamic art should be no different than that applied to art in
general, and that any attempt to put Islamic art in an especial category of its
own is at best misguided, Islamic Aesthetics strives to explore issues of
philosophy, history, theology, and technical considerations concerning the
analysis of classic art and to portray a solid understanding of the art
produced from the interplay of these powerful forces. A non-judgement,
technical, in-depth discussion, and a welcome contribution to art history and
artistic interpretation shelves, whether for private study or college
libraries.
Constantin Brancusi
Carmen Gimenez & Matthew Gale
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
100 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10011
1854375458 $40.00 1-800-759-0190 www.abramsbooks.com
Published to accompany the first expedition of skilled sculptor Constanti
Brancusi (1876-1957), Constantin Brancusi: The Essence Of Things is a colorful
showcase of his work with an extensive commentary on the pieces and their
philosophy, his redefinition of the partial figure, and much more. A remarkable
and collaborative work by Carmen Gimčnez (Curator of 20th-Century Art at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York) and Matthew Gale (Curator at Tate
Modern), Constantin Brancusi: The Essence Of Things strikes to the heart of the
meaning found in the simplest of sculpted forms.
Three Decades Of American Printmaking
Halima Taha, et al.
Hudson Hills Press
National Book Network, dist.
PO Box 205, Manchester, VT 05254
1555952410 $50.00 www.hudsonhills.com
Founded by master printer Allan Edmunds in 1972, The Brandywine Workshop has
instructed students and artists in the Philadelphia community in the art and
craft of printmaking for more than thirty years. Three Decades Of American
Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection draws upon Brandywine's
impressive archival collection to showcase 147 color and black/white
photographs of work by a series of such renowned artists as Eugene Grigsby,
Woodsworth Jarrell, and Margo Humphrey to reveal printmaking as an innovative
contemporary art form. Informative Essays by Halima Taha, Lois H. Johnson,
Patricia Smith, Keith A. Morrison, and Claude Elliot highlight the history and
contributions of Brandywine. Enhanced with a glossary and a bibliography, Three
Decades Of American Printmaking is a welcome and highly recommended addition to
personal, professional, and academic library American Art History reference
collections and Art School curriculum supplemental reading lists.
Art Deco New York
David Garrard Lowe
Watson Guptill Publications
770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
0823002845 $40.00 1-800-451-1741 www.watsonguptill.com
Art Deco New York by cultural historian and author David Garrard Lowe (who is
also President of the Beaux Arts Alliance and lectures in such noted forums as
the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the American Academy in Rome, and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) offers a superbly organized and
presented tour of seminal decorative designs during the transformative decades
of the 20s and 30s when the art style known as "art deco" was affecting
architecture, fashion, furniture, textiles, graphics, trains, automobiles, even
Hollywood movie and Broadway theater stage sets. Profusely illustrated with
period photography and artifacts, Art Deco New York is an impressive, "reader
friendly", coffee-table book that would significantly enhance any personal,
professional, academic, or community library architectural studies, art
history, or American popular culture collection.
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