Artists Books

Focuses on the romance and idealism of the artist and his art rather than just functioning as a clinical review of his work... as of this review date (2001), new hardcover copies are still available from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Online Store. I've purchased two.

This is a portrait album of a sampling of Christian Dior's masterpieces shown in the 1996 New York Metropolitain Museum of Art's retrospective. Every garment is beautifully captured. The detail photographs are exceptional.
But this is more than just a picture book about the 11 years Dior designed under his own name. The text offers a balance of historical costume references that Dior used in his creations against the social and economic era he designed in. It is both interesting and informative--two words that usually don't co-exist in most fashion references.
As a coffee-table book, this is a must-have for fashion afficianados. For those who can visualize and appreciate the complexity of drape and construction in some of the garments, there is no excuse not to own this book

The photographs of Christian Dior's magnificent creations are breathtaking. But the writing is unbearably pretentious. Unfortunately, this characteristic is a hallmark of most academic writing. But get the book anyway. Dior was an artist, a seeker of Beauty, and we're all the richer for it.

This book is gorgeous--fabulous photography, lots of detailed shots (I love the way they concentrate on the dresses and don't feel obliged to get the manniquin's head in every shot)--glorious! Get this book now!

Excellent reproductions and very informative text. A good resource book for artists and students. Worth the cost to have this one in your collection.

This book is large! And it has excellent reproductions and bio of the life of this magical man. Chuck Close has made a career,while battling disabilities that would have stopped lesser men.Christopher Finch noted art writer,assists Close in making this book autobiographical and personal,like the unpretentious Mr. Close.
The author and the artist together guide you through the evolution of Chuck Close noted modern portrait artist. You follow from air brush, to finger painting,collage disc painting, to the new color geometric masterpieces.
Chuck personally supervised color choices in the lay-out and it is truly impressive. 95 percent of his major work is here. Self portraits,friends , his wife etc. are all vividly executed. Seeing Chuck in action shows the scale of the major works!The works are huge,and the pictures show the studio environment he works in.
I was fortunate to attend his lecture,with both men ,and it Chuck says this is the definitive book!

This really does not need to be that long. I am a huge fan of Chuck Close and have been so for years now. My personal library reflects this, with four other books and catalogs spanning his career. These books get brought out on a semi-consistent basis, as they all have something important to say about this mans art.

"Chuck Close: WORK" is a definitive piece that fills in any small holes about the story of this artist that might be obscured in some out of print catalog, as well as talking heavily about his process. If you are in the market for a book that gives the full Chuck Close biography while supplementing itself with beautiful illustrations and plenty of dialog about his process, do not hesitate to purchase this book.

Christopher Finch has done a wonderful job of revealing both Chuck Close the man and the artist. This one of the best art retrospectives I have ever actually 'read' and enjoyed.

I too had a chance to hear both artist and author speak this week. While Chuck did say this is the definitive book on his work one can hope that he still has many productive years left to continue to awe and amaze his many admirers.

This is my favorite book and has been for about 10 years now. So happy to see it's back in print.

In "The City, Not Long After," Pat Murphy has written an engrossing tale of post-apocalyptic Northern California, where a plague has wiped out most of the population. Much of San Francisco has become a giant canvas on which artists have used the city's resources to create works of wonder. A military dictatorship in Sacramento, however, is working to "reunite the country" and threatens to use force to add the jewel of the Bay Area to its empire.

A young woman named Jax has been given the task by her dying mother to warn the citizens of the coming storm. She is somewhat distracted by her personal search for her mother, who had promised her daughter that she would be going ahead to San Francisco to prepare the way. Jax must learn some her mother's secrets in order to help the community of scholars and artists find a way to repel the invasion. Exactly how should artists respond to the menace of guns and bombs when such things are abhorrent to them?

Murphy's characters and their artistic creations seem so full of life - in my mind's eye I can almost envision them inhabiting the various neighborhoods of the City by the Bay. The story itself is sad at times (but not overly depressing), haunting and quite memorable.

The underlying message of the novel can be phrased as a question: How much of a price are people willing to pay for peace? Though written nearly 20 years ago, the novel's message seems particularly resonant today, in a time when many Americans are willing to sacrifice personal freedoms and human lives in the name of finding peace and security.

After a plague that killed most of the population, San Francisco has become an artists' colony. A young woman goes to San Francisco to find her mother and to warn the residents of the coming invasion. The artists must fight to defend their city, but they'd rather be painting the Golden Gate Bridge blue.

This is an entertaining, unusual, and well written post-apocalyptic story that gives new meaning to the phrase "the art of war." It includes magical elements that I could've done without, but all in all, I really enjoyed it.

It's half a century after a goodwill gesture has spread plague around the world, and San Francisco's surviving residents populate a haunted city again at risk. This time it's power-hungry men who are invading, and Jax and Danny-boy lead the battle - using magic and the city's own underlying powers - to solve mysteries and gain power for the future. Highly recommended on its initial publication, the paperback of The City, Not Long After is a pick for any who missed this winner.

Perfectly perfect -- This catalogue of Clemente expects total satisfaction of the senses to achieve self-definition.
And it gets it, definitely.

Clemente quoted De Chirico once in an interview with Vanity Fair, "What Shall I love if not the enigma." Clemente's paintings, indeed, exhibit a mysterious charm that invites the viewers into the artist's inner world of Indian mysticism and physcial beauty. Juxtaposed with Robert Creeley's poetry, this volume of fantastic and sensual paintings clearly is a must for all Clemente fans. From Napoli to New York, Clemente has wooed the jet-setters on both sides of the Atlantic, establishments such as the Guggenheim in New York, and me, a Yale College student.

I was lucky enough to catch his show at the Guggenheim several years ago and have been desperately coveting this book since. Clemente works on a large scale, so capturing his imposing imagery can be tough (to be mild). However, in an endeavor to capture the man through his works, this large-scoped voluminous edition works wonders at the foot of the mountain. The best of the attempts, it's like a conversation with the man himself.

A must have for art lovers, a must have for romantics, a must have for any library or coffee table. It's a lovely book, full true color, and a ripe collection of his works. A good work, and well worth anyone's time.

This is a must have for anyone intersted in beautiful and thought provoking material. It is a thorough look at this imaginative artist's work. It will be a source of inspiration I will look to time and again!

A few of my favorite painters are contemporaries of Still, so I saw it as my duty to see the Hirschhorn exhibition. Well, I picked a dead day and had the show to myself and simply put I am now a fan. The book is great and David Anfam's addition to the book is especially enlightening about the work of Still.

I am a painter who has largely avoided Clifford Still but this book has turned me into a great admirer. Particulary influential was the contribution by David Anfam, the art historian who was responsible for the magnificent, award-winning Mark Rothko catalogue raisonne. Anfam's essay is insightful, far-reaching, beautifully written with poetic underpinnings, a pleasure to read. All you'll ever need to know about Clifford Still, his work, and his place in art history is covered in this essay. The color plates are also wonderful and, even as reproductions, offer a great chance to appreciate the paintings.

Clyfford Still is one of the giant figures of the art world and this book puts his paintings in a proper perspective. The book contains many color reproductions of his large non-objective canvases. Still himself wrote the book and gives us a very good insight into his life and thinking process. He discusses what went into his paintings and how his unique canvas numbering system worked absent dates and titles to identify his work. It is also a journey through his body of work. His paintings were skillfully balanced with positive and negative spaces and his unparalleled use of color is well documented. This book is a must for any art lover in general and for students of American art in particular. I liked this book not only for the well reproduced paintings in color but also because it let's us into the painter's mind to get a glimps of his true genius.

An excellent catalogue written by leading authorities on a great artist whose unique body of works has remained hidden in the estate (only about 150 paintings are scattered in public and private collections), and who, as a consequence has been neglected by the general public. It is the only such publication on Clyfford Still to be published since the late 1980's and I strongly recommend it to any art lover interested in the Ab-Ex movement.

I was very pleased with the delivery time and the perfect condition my book arrived in. I also was pleased with the price. I recommend this book!

"Was there any issue this week that felt significant to you in your self-discovery?" Cameron's questions and exercises are very helpful for someone getting started in an artistic pursuit - or someone who needs to reactivate after a period of not working in this arena for a time. The book is written in short essays, some of which have tasks to do. The exercises help reduce the rigidity of our mental constructs, and so open the spirit path. It is a book one may pick up and read at any moment... find a gem of an idea to build upon, or an understanding of what's at work in all of the arts. This book is a treasure for me. It never fails to remind me of the creativity that is always ready to be stirred in every human being.

The exercises in the first part of this "trilogy" is more than worth the price of the book. If you choose to do the exercises, your creativity will be released/unblocked. What a positive response this book is for really anyone who wants to live more creatively. If you want to think of yourself as an artist, or if you never thought of yourself as an artist before, this book is for you. I have already given it as a gift and I'm not even half way through with the reading/journaling/pondering. It would be a tremendous book for your local library. Then, use it on a solo journey or work through it with a group. Gigi

The Artist's Way books are inspiring, and this pretty book containing three of them is worthy of a prime space on the bookshelf (while keeping it handy for check-ins!). Nicely done.

I was paid a lot for this book and it was well worth it. I am a photographer and find art books useful. This is one of my favorites!

This book is the perfect follow up to Brown's "Eternal Truths." He tells what he endured to find those truths. He talks about being kicked out of art school, dealing with acute shyness, addiction, barely able to support his family. Even more important, how he soared above all the hair raising tales with the right attitude. As an artist I've made some bad decisions that have bogged me down; this book helped me understand my insecurities and take better control of my life. I've never read a more honest, and because of that helpful artist's autobiography in my life. One more thing, there's a killer step by step demo that I wasn't expecting. My colleagues and I are discussing this book like few others. It's the one to get. Harley Brown, thank you again.

Halfway through the book I decided I must seak him out and take a class or workshop from him. Unfortunately he no longer teaches. So the book is all we have and I must say it is absolulely essential for any artist. Or any creative person who ever doubted themselves or just needed a kick in the pants to make them try a little harder and enjoy the heck out of what they're doing.
Thanks Harley, for sharing.

I knew Harley Brown wouldn't let me down after having read his first book and numerous articles. His first book is from the mind but this one comes right from his heart. I ejoyed it thoroughly - enough to briefly reveal to you some of the stories he tells:

1. The moment he decided to become an artist. At the age of seven. Parents take note.
2. There's a story about an enigmatic woman named Paula. Where is she? I'm in love with her!
3. How he dealt with what he felt were his plain physical features and his shyness. I can relate.
4. Going on an alcoholic bender for 15 years. How did he stop?
5. Why he got kicked out of art school. It really made sense.
6. He even makes a toothache into a monumental saga. Soon to be a major motion picture.
7. Selling his art door to door. It was that or "work" for a living.
8. Establishing his first art gallery just a few minutes after staggering out of a bar.
9. Down and out in London, England. But not for long.
10. Dealing with the pompous of the art world.
11. How he tried to get his wife to "take the rap." This took courage to reveal.
12. "The General Theory of Mary" gives all newcomers in the art world extra hope.

These are only a few of Harley Brown's one of a kind stories. It is not your typical autobiography. This book really connected with me and others. I was a student of Harley's many years ago at the Scottsdale Artists' School. I learned so much from him in just two weeks. I hear he teaches no more. This book brings him alive again.

I'd originally given the book a 4-star rating, but it really does rate a full 5.

Consequences in the third novel in the Retrieval Artist series, following Extremes. In the previous volume, Miles Flint discovered that a murder during the Armstrong Marathon was committed by a psychopathic Disappeared. When she fled the Moon, he chased her in Paloma's yacht and caught up while she was delayed in destroying a space cop ship. In the ensuing encounter, they shot each other, but Flint survived. Meanwhile, Noelle DeRicci had also learned the real identity of the murderer and discovered the plot to release a deadly virus into the Armstrong Dome. She managed to quarantine the Marathon before the virus could spread to the Dome itself and thus saved thousands of lives.

In this novel, DeRicci has been promoted to Assistant Chief of Detectives and is assigned to a murder case with political implications. She discovers that Flint has a connection with the case and goes alone to talk with him. Flint refuses to discuss his professional relationships with the victims, but offers to work on the case as a detective for his usual fees. DeRicci declines this offer, due more to budget problems than otherwise.

After DeRicci departs, Flint remembers his efforts to retrieve Carolyn Lahiri for her parents after she has been pardoned. Unlike most Disappeared, she had been fleeing a human government. She and four other college students had joined the rebels in the civil wars on Etae, an alien world that had been invaded by other aliens for its resources and later settled by humans. Ten years before, the rebels had conquered the planet and established an unaligned human government. Now they are negotiating for inclusion into the Earth Alliance and the talks are being held in Armstrong.

While investigating Carolyn's parents, Flint had inserted taps into their security system. Using his backdoor, he viewed the crime scene and then checked the log files. Although most of the relevant logs had been scrambled, one redundant backup file shows the actual murder. The act had been committed by a hired assassin using killing enhancements not detectable by standard weapon scans.

In this story, Flint searches for the assassin, but DeRicci soon finds herself dealing with the political situation. Anatolya Dobryn, the Butcher of Etae, is the Etae representative to the negotiating session. The Earth Alliance diplomats are biased against admission of Etae into the alliance, so Armstrong has been chosen for the conference just to inconvenience the Etae delegation. However, this inconvenience turns into riots and deadly violence against the Etae party. Then a former Etaen settler escalates the violence to disaster level.

This story shows Dobryn as a talented propagandist who has only done what she considered to be necessary to achieve justice. It is surely no accident that her name invokes Balkan associations, for the Etae situation strongly resembles that of Bosnia. As the author points out, most governments were founded in violence -- as was the United States -- but the rebels later changed their image to that of peacemakers. How, then, should successful revolutionaries be judged, as butchers or heroes?

Highly recommended for Rusch fans and for anyone else who enjoys police procedurals with good characterization and unexpected plot twists.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Rusch's multi-racial galactic civilization is enthralling, and she also knows how to tell a compelling story. Flint, the Retrieval Artist who specializes in bringing people back from being Disappeared, is an interesting mix of noir private detective and high-tech hero, constantly weighing his actions in the moral scales, thinking through what he does. In this case, events spin out of his control rather quickly, and dire happenings are revealed. First I've seen of Rusch's work, but I'll soon be reading everything she's written.

Rusch loves to write characters, both protagonists and antagonists, in shades of gray. And the reader, often used to choosing sides and rooting for or against characters always ends up, like her characters, with niggling doubts as to the choices they've made.

Consequences continues the tight suspense of the entire Retrieval Artist series by drawing us into the lives and motivations of complex, richly drawn characters, including Miles Flint, a good man forced to make dark choices, and DeRicci, a reluctant hero who believes in only one thing: that she will always fail.

This book, nay the entire RA series, belong in any serious sci-fi reader's collection.

In the far distant future, mankind has spread throughout the stars colonizing worlds and making treaties with alien species to trade goods. Part of each treaty includes a clause that when humans deal with aliens, they must obey alien laws and if they don't they will be punished according tothe penal code of those they have beleaguered. Many humans who break alien laws become the Disappeared, changing their identity and going to planets to escape alien justice.

Caleb and Mimi Lahiri go to Retrieval Artist Miles Flint to hire him to find their daughter Carolyn who has been pardoned by the new ruling government of Etae who were once considered rebels. It isn't long before he locates Carolyn and reunites her with her parents but soon afterward the police on Armstrong, the domed city on the moon, find all three Lahiris murdered. Mike's former partner officer Noelle DeRicci wants his help but he has to work alone due to the nature of his job. He learns that he is being set up for the Lahiris murders and must find a way of clearing his name by solving the case without getting himself killed.

Part science fiction, part mystery and pure enjoyment are the words to describe Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest Retrieval Artist novel. What makes CONSEQUENCES stand out is that the Etae are humans although they are not part of the Earth Alliance because they are considered uncivilized warmongers who practice genocide on their own people. Though not enough attention is paid to the alien races except for a few very serio-comic scenes, this is a strong murder mystery in outer space story line

Harriet Klausner

this was in great condition and my daughter loved it would work with this seller again

First of all, my favorite person EVER is Corbin Bleu. I mean,he has mad skills! This book is my favorite! When I was on his website, I realized that Corbin Bleu: Up Close, had come out without me knowing. I had been waiting FOREVER to buy this book! I rated it a 5. Do the same. Corbin loves us all.

If you haven't heard of Corbin Bleu, I'm guessing you're either older than 132, or you've been living in a cave high up in the Rocky Mountains, where satellite reception isn't all that great. For those few human beings who don't know who Corbin is, I recommend picking up a copy of CORBIN BLEU: UP CLOSE, which will give you all the pertinent facts.

I first saw Corbin, a 17-year old actor, on the Discovery Kids show Flight 29 Down, Vol. 1. Although I didn't follow the show every week, I was always impressed by the acting and storyline. In a nutshell, it's a lot like the television show Lost - The Complete First Season, but for the teen and pre-teen set. Not long after that, though, I saw Corbin in High School Musical (Encore Edition), which, without a doubt, is one of my favorite movies.

What I didn't know about Corbin, though, was that I'd also seen him in a number of big-screen movies, without even knowing it! Corbin had parts in Mystery Men, Galaxy Quest, and Catch That Kid, all of which I've seen. In the case of Galaxy Quest, I've probably seen it way too many times!

Whether a die-hard Corbin fan or someone who is just discovering this talented teen actor for the first time, CORBIN BLEU: UP CLOSE is a great resource. Filled with pictures from Corbin's family photo album, shots from the different television and movie sets he's been on, and candid snapshots, you'll be happy to see how this actor has grown. The book also contains a rather detailed biography, how Corbin started out in modeling and commercials, and about his shift to television and movie acting.

If you're interested in learning more about this very talented actor, you won't go wrong by picking up a copy of this reference guide. We also get a peek into Corbin's upcoming projects, which include High School Musical 2, the Disney Channel original movie Jump In!, a music CD, and college.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

I love this book i learned so much about him and the pictures are nice to .

Ritch Rand made a hat for me in 1994 and I'm still wearing it today. His book is like his hats- authentic, of the excellent quality and dedicated to the history of the Old West. If you believe that a hat says something about the person who wears it, if you are of the opinion that a hat is more friend and traveling companion than garment, then this book is for you. Read the book then get yourself a hat!!

Bought this book for my Dad who always wears a hat. It was a big hit!

If you would like to know any, and everything about cowboy hats this books for you.

This coffee-table type book contains a detailed history of the cowboy hat, specific information about how to choose a hat, measure properly for fit, clean it, store it, travel with it, and much more. Even discusses "hat hair!" Numerous historical photos show the development of the cowboy hat across the west and around the world. Exceptional photos of famous hats (who doesn't recognize Festus' Gunsmoke hat or Hoss Cartwright's 10-gallon monster on sight?) and great hat-wearers such as James Garner, the Duke, Henry Fonda and Clint Eastwood. A must for Western lovers, cowboy buffs, and everyday folks who own their own Stetson and want to know how to keep it nice!