Recommendations of several books on art, photogr., arch., etc.
Steve Brock
fine art, architecture, and photography.
Recommendations by Steve Brock
EXTRAORDINARY JEWELS by John Traina. Doubleday Publishing, 1540
Broadway, N.Y., NY 10036, (800) 223-6834, (212) 492-9862 FAX.
Illustrated (more than 150 color photographs), bibliography. 222
pp., $60.00 cloth. 0-385-26644-8
Forget those tiny one-carat diamonds, cloudy emeralds, and that
washed-out blue topaz. Triana displays large faceted stones in
many elegant settings. Also included are histories of many design
houses (Cartier, Tiffany, etc.), notable auctions and jewel heists,
and legendary settings (the Hope Diamond, the Crown Jewels, etc.).
Grade: A-.
GREAT ART TREASURES OF THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, ST. PETERSBURG, essay
by Boris B. Piotrovsky. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 100 Fifth Ave.,
N.Y., NY 10011, (800) 345-1359, FAX: (212) 645-8437. Illustrated
(1573 photographs total, 1546 in color), index, bibliography,
glossary. Two volumes, slipcased, 1500 pp., $195.00 cloth. 0-
8109-3428-0
A luxuriously produced two-volume set from one one of the greatest
museums in the world. The Hermitage contains more than three
million artworks, and only the best were chosen from each of the
museum's principal departments: Early Cultures, Classical Antiqui-
ties, Works from the Orient, Coins and Medals, Arms and Armour, and
collections from Western Europe and Russia. Each illustration is
accompanied by a short commentary. Grade: A+.
OPEN COUNTRY by Jay Dusard. Gibbs Smith, Publisher, P.O. Box 667,
Layton, UT 84041, (801) 544-9800, FAX: (801) 544-5582. Illustrated
(40 laser duotone plates). 72 pp., $49.95 cloth. 0-87905-612-6
Dusard is the Ansel Adams of the flatlands. His 40 photographs,
many on double-page spreads, depict southwestern scenes, from far-
off summer storms to N. Scott Momaday in front of an abandoned
Indian school at Rainy Mountain. Also included are Dusard's
drawings and sketches, and excerpts from the writings of Wallace
Stegner, Gretel Ehrlich, and others. Grade: B.
OKLAHOMA II by David Fitzgerald. Graphic Arts Center Publishing
Company, P.O. Box 10306, 3019 NW Yeon Ave., Portland, OR 92710,
(800) 452-3032, (503) 223-1410. Illustrated (166 color photo-
graphs), map. 144 pp., $39.95 cloth. 1-55868-198-1
A followup volume to "Oklahoma" (1979, also by Fitzgerald),
"Oklahoma II" portrays Oklahoma's legacy with, among others, full-
page color photographs of Edmond's "Old North Tower," the same
abandoned Indian school at Rainy Mountain that Momaday stands
beside in the Dusard volume above, Katy Depot in Checotah, the
Ardmore Courthouse, the Santa Fe Depot at Shawnee, the library at
the University of Oklahoma (Norman), portraits of Indians, and
numerous landscapes from both the ground and the air. Grade: B.
THE CAMBRIDGE ATLAS OF ASTRONOMY, edited by Jean Audouze and Guy
Israel. Cambridge University Press, 40 W. 20th St., New York, N.Y.
10011-4211, (800) 221-4512, FAX: (212) 691-3239. Illustrated,
index, sky map, list of further reading, glossary. 471 pp., $100
cloth. 0-521-43438-6
Science elevated to an artform. The richly-illustrated atlas
begins with our sun and solar system and moves out to the stars,
galaxys, and the extragalactic domain. Other subjects include a
discussion of cosmology, an impartial debate on extraterrestrial
life, and a round-up of the latest astronomical observations.
Grade: A+.
THE STORY OF PAINTING: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE HISTORY OF
WESTERN ART by Sister Mary Beckett. Dorling Kindersley, 232
Madison Ave., N.Y., NY 10016, (212) 684-0404, (212) 684-0111 FAX.
Illustrated (over 650, with over 400 masterpieces), index,
glossary, chronologies. 400 pp., $39.95 cloth. 1-56458-615-4
Sister Beckett, a lifelog lover of art, guides the reader through
representative works from cave paintings through the gothic period,
the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo, Neoclassicism and Romanticiam,
Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, with an emphasis on the 20th
century (expressionism, abstraction, abstract expressionism,
minimalism, and pop). Beckett also provides analysis of the
components of several masterpieces, from the mysterious two-headed
woman in Laocoon's "El Greco" to the vivid fleck of green under van
Gogh's eye in "Self Portrait." Grade: A-.
BERT GEER PHILLIPS AND THE TAOS ART COLONY by Julie Schimmel and
Robert R. White. University of New Mexico Press, 1720 Lomas Blvd.
N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87131-1591, (505) 277-2346, (505) 277-9270
FAX. Illustrated (39 color plates and 70 halftones), 2 indexes,
bibliography, seven appendices. 377 pp., $50.00 cloth.
0-8263-1444-9
When Phillips arrived in Taos in in 1898, he immediately wrote to
friends. "Send some artists," he said. "There is a lifetime's
work for twenty men." Phillips founded the Taos art colony shortly
after, and Schimmel and White document his life in the land with
the "unique mix of light, landscape, and culture." Includes a
checklist of Phillips' paintings and excerpts from his letters.
Grade: A-.
MIGRATIONS by Art Wolfe. Beyond Words Publishing, Inc., 4443 NE
Airport Road, Hillsboro, OR, 97124-6074, (800) 284-9673, FAX: (503)
647-5114. Illustrated, bibliography, list of resources. 167 pp.,
$60.00 cloth. 0-941831-98-1
This ninth title in the "Earthsong" series is a celebration of
species who respond to "primordinal stirrings" that cause them to
travel from one place to another on a seasonal basis. Elephants,
bald eagles, beluga whales, zebras, bats, penguins, flamingos,
butterflies, crocodiles, and many other varieties of wildlife are
pictured in the midst of their trek, as Wolfe explores the meanings
of positive and negative space and the patterns they summon.
Grade: B.
CELEBRATING THE NEGATIVE by John Loengard. Arcade Publishing, 141
Fifth Ave, N.Y., NY 10010, (212) 353-8148, (212) 475-2633 FAX.
Illustrated, index, sources, commentary. 112 pp., $29.95 cloth.
1-55970-282-6
The negative as an artform? Loengard thinks so, since innumerable
photographs may be reproduced but there is always only one
negative. He displays thirty-seven well-known negatives, both
historical and contemporary, viewed through a light-table, most
with a pair of (sometimes famous, themselves) hands holding the
edges. Grade: B-.
AMERICANS WE by Eugene Richards. Aperture, 20 East 23rd St., N.Y.,
NY 10010, (212) 505-5555, FAX: (212) 979-7759. Illustrated (100
duotone photographs). 144 pp., $40.00 cloth. 0-89381-594-2
Strength in the face of pain. Photojournalist Eugene Richards'
latest collection features the homeless, Cuban refugees, heroin
addicts, an Indian father who returns to the scene of an accident
that killed his son, and the aftermath of the L.A. riots, as well
as a Texas beauty queen and several families. His commentaries on
several of the shots set the mood for each scene. Grade: A-.
INTERACTION OF COLOR by Josef Albers. Yale University Press, 302
Temple Street, New Haven, CT 06511, (203) 432-0960, FAX: (203) 432-
3111. One CD-ROM (Macintosh version), installation disk, guide-
book, licensing agreement, registration cards. Requirements: at
least 2 MB RAM, CD-ROM drive, color monitor, system 7.0 or later.
$125.00. 0-300-05995-7.
Albers' love of squares ("Homage to the Square" is his best-known
work) goes full-circle. Originally written in 1963, Albers book,
both text and color plates, has been adapted to an interactive CD-
ROM. This version includes annotation and the ability for the user
to perform their own experiments with color palettes and shapes to
mingle and match. Perceptive throughout. Grade: A.
PRINTS OF THE WEST: PRINTS FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, collected
by Ron Tyler. Fulcrum Publishing, 350 Indiana St., Suite 350,
Golden, CO 80401, (800) 992-2908, (303) 279-7111 FAX. Illustrated
(50 color, 50 black-and-white prints), index, bibliography, maps,
notes. 207 pp., $39.95 cloth. 1-55591-174-9.
In this lithographic history of the western U.S., Tyler has amassed
a wealth of rare images from survey reports, journals, expeditions,
ethnologies, and individual artists such as George Catlin, Charles
Bird King, the Kern brothers, Albert Bierstadt, Charles M. Russell,
Nathaniel Currier, Frederic Remington, and many others. Includes
commentary on the contribution of lithography to the popularizing
of the West. Grade: B+.
BRAVI: LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO, "composed" by Victor Skrebneski.
Abbeville Press, Inc., 488 Madison Ave., N.Y., NY 10022, (800)
227-7210, (212) 644-5085 FAX. Illustrated, 1981-1994/95 cast list.
unpaginated, $67.50 cloth. 0-55859-771-9
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opera company, Skrebneski
has assembled a visual retrospective of productions since 1981, the
year Ardis Krainik begas her reign as general director. The book
is a montage of movement: swirling black-and-white production shots
and portraits of cast members such as Placido Domingo, Kiri
Tekanawa, Samuel Ramey, Marilyn Horne, and Eva Marton. Forget the
two essays. They are printed in a grey ink so light that they are
virtually unreadable. Grade: B.
ADOBE: BUILDING AND LIVING WITH EARTH, by Orlando Romero and David
Larkin, photography by Michael Freeman. Houghton Mifflin Company,
215 Park Avenue South, N.Y., NY 10003, (800) 225-3362, (617) 227-
5409 FAX. Illustrated (more than 200 color photographs), bibliog-
raphy, glossary. 237 pp., $50.00 cloth. 0-395-56693-2
Romero and Larkin trace the origins of contemporary adobe struc-
tures back to North African earthen buildings, Native American
pueblos, and Spanish churches of the southwestern United States,
which provide a perfect blend of utility and ecological harmony.
Packed with photographs of haciendas, churches, mosques, court-
yards, artist retreats, and private homes, "Adobe" is an inspira-
tional tribute to an enduring style. Grade A-.
THE BARBIZON SCHOOL & THE ORIGINS OF IMPRESSIONISM by Steven Adams.
Phaidon Press Limited, 140 Kensington Church Street, London, W8
4BN, distributed in the United States by Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth
Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, (800) 722-6657, (800) 445-7577 in
CA, (415) 777-8887 FAX. Illustrated (100 color, 80 black-and-
white), index, bibliography, index of works, notes. 240 pp.,
$49.99 cloth. 0-7148-2919-6
In the first extensive survey of the Barbizon School and its
contributions to French Impressionism in 20 years, Adams, a British
art historian, investigates the development of landscape painting
from 1822 to 1870. Displayed are the works of Jean-Francois
Millet, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Charles-Emile Jacque, Charles-
Francois Daubigny, and many others. In several instances, in order
to obtain a maximum breadth of subject, Adams sacrifices size of
illustration. Grade: B.
THE BULFINCH ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANTIQUES, Paul Atterbury
and Lars Tharp, consulting editors. Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown
and Company, 34 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02154, (800) 759-0190, (617)
890-0875 FAX. Illustrated (more than 1100 color photographs),
index, glossary. 332 pp., $50.00 cloth. 0-8212-2077-2
A guide to identification, as well as a presentation of examples
and standards, of pottery and porcelain, glass, silver, furniture,
clocks and watches, and oriental pieces, this book is for the
serious collector of decorative arts, not the investor. Most of
the photographs are from Christie's photographic library.
Grade: A-.
CINDERELLA'S REVENGE, by Samuele Mazza. Chronicle Books, 275 Fifth
Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, (800) 722-6657, (800) 445-7577 in
CA, (415) 777-8887 FAX. Illustrated (over 200 color photographs),
short artist biographies. 192 pp., $16.95 paper. 0-8118-0681-2
Women's shoes go undomesticated in this fanciful tribute that has,
in most cases, only a passing resemblance to the female foot.
Based on an exhibition that Mazza created in Italy, these "shoes"
run the spectrum from high-heeled stairs to those that can only be
worn standing in the first ballet position to a boot made of lead
and wire netting. A few of the displayed creations can actually be
worn for a short period of time, but you definitely won't see women
playing basketball in them. Grade: A.
MASTERS OF IMAGINATION: THE COMIC BOOK ARTISTS HALL OF FAME by Mike
Benton. Taylor Publishing Company, 1550 W. Mockingbird Lane,
Dallas, TX 75235, (214) 819-8100, FAX: (214) 819-8580. Illustrated
(over 250 in color), index, artist guide and checklist. 176 pp.,
$29.95 cloth. 0-87833-859-4
We all remember and revere vintage comics featuring Batman, Captain
America, Hulk, Pogo Possum, the Disney characters, the Fantastic
Four, the Amazing Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel, but few will
recall Panic (a MAD take-off), Johnny Thunder, Minstrel Maverick,
Pot-Shot Pete, Powerhouse Pepper, Tom O'Shanter, or Wun Cloo the
Defective Detective. All of their stories are commemorated in this
grand tribute to a medium that has provided imaginative entertain-
ment for over sixty years. Included are Will Eisner, Jack Kirby,
Carl Banks, Walt Kelly, Harvy Kurtzman, Wallace Wood, and others.
No Stan Lee? Shazam! Grade: A-.
RICHARD ROGERS by Kenneth Powell. Artemis London Limited, 37
Alfred Place, London, WC1E 7DP, distributed by Artemis-AIDC, Box
20, Williston, VT 05494. Illustrated (over 400 black-and-white
photographs), selected bibliography, chronology. 208 pp., $24.95
paper. 1-874056-55-2
In its continuing series of studio paperbacks, Artemis showcases
the works of British architect Richard Rogers, builder of the
Pompidou Centre in Paris, Lloyd's Building in London, the tower of
the First United Methodist Church in Seattle, and many others.
More than 60 works are profiled in a career that spans over twenty
years, with commentary in English and German. Grade: B.
AURORA: THE MYSTERIOUS NORTHERN LIGHTS by Candace Savage. Sierra
Club Books, 100 Bush Street, 13th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104,
(415) 291-1600, (415) 291-1602 FAX. Illustrated (34 color, 37
black-and-white photographs), index, references, notes, map,
glossary. 144 pp., $25.00 cloth. 0-87156-419-X.
Savage provides a scientific and cultural history of the meteoro-
logical phenomenon from the ancient Scandinavian Sami belief that
battling spirits had stained the sky with their blood, to contempo-
rary suggestions that the entire biological world is affected by
the disturbances. Grade: B+
OTHER EDENS by Nick Waplington. Aperture, 20 East 23rd St., N.Y.,
NY 10010, (212) 505-5555, FAX: (212) 979-7759. Illustrated (50
color photographs). 88 pp., $40.00 cloth. 0-89381-587-X.
A romp through numerous locales around the world, Waplington, head
shaved and naked, emerges from each photograph in arrangements
sometimes comic (standing, half-submerged in a swamp, reading a
book that is on fire), sometimes dramatic (placing his head on the
shoulders of an Easter Island figure), but always fascinating and
perceptive. Disconcertingly, in several double-page shots he
appears in the gutter. The metaphor for this placement escapes me.
Grade: B.