Artists Books

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!

The book is the next best thing to actually visiting a working ranch and smelling leather, sweat or burning hair -- or visiting Willie's gallery on a fine December evening for a showing of new works.

Willie Matthews does wonderful work depicting the lives of cowboys today. Much of my family have been in the cattle ranch business for generations. Being a cowboy is hard work and generally low pay. They work so hard day in and day out, with little vacation time. It's people like Matthews who appreciate this profession and record it for the world to see. My brother also happens to be one of the cowboys in this book. This is a great book of selected paintings of a dying trade

Collected here are 100+ watercolors of mostly cowboys and western themes by painter William Matthews. First inspired by readings at the Elko, Nevada, Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985, Matthews became fascinated by the lives of working cowboys, their manner, attitudes, and spirit. Unlike the more dramatic renderings of Charlie Russell and Frederic Remington, Matthews' cowboys are often quietly at work or caught in moments of contemplation, often astride their horses. His images focus attention on the body language of cowboys, their clothes and hats, and rarely on faces.

A number of paintings are beautiful landscapes, rivers, ranch buildings, a rodeo grounds against a sunset-colored outcropping of rock. The book includes a remembrance of cowboys from his family's ranch by writer William Kittredge and an accounting of the buckaroos of the Great Basin. Another essay by Dyan Zaslowsky tells of the career of William Matthews, born in 1949 and growing up in San Francisco. This is a handsomely designed oversize book, and an excellent addition to any bookshelf of Western art and literature.

This is a BEAUTIFUL book!! I've had it for several years and I never put it away. I keep it out within easy reach so I can look again and again at the stunning watercolors within. In fact, the reason I was looking at Amazon for this book was to send it to friends for a Christmas present.

Nita Leland's book not only gives ideas to develop your understanding and appreciation of art, but quotes artists' thoughts about their art and even their difficulties in achieving what they were looking for. She gives"tips" to release the creator in you, encourages hard and constant work as a way to loosen up and discover your skills beyond shape and color. She explains how after an accidental stain or assemblage of papers, fabrics and objects, you can get to artistic creation by emphasizing and developing the "accident" by means of color knowledge, tehnique and sensitive approach.

This book has been a great inspiration to me in revisiting my talents in art and many other things such as graphic design & music. The Creative Artist has opened my mind and helped me to reach farther goals through its guidence and activities. There is also some very inspirational quotes. I highly recomend this book to beginners and those who have gotten caught up in daily life and need to refind themselves.

I haven't been able to put this one down. This book has given me the courage to begin making my art again. Every time I pick it up, I get ideas for paintings, drawings. I like how it is written like an art class, and has activities to get you unstuck. The activities are just vague enough to get you thinking of possibilities. This is far and away the best book to get you going!

I have been painting in watercolor & teaching watercolor for over 15 years and find this to be the most inspiring, motivational, & instructional book on the market.

This is the best book on a major contemporary artist and belongs in the library of anyone at all interested in his work. Truly exceptional illustrations of many works in large format, with over 300 plates, virtually all in full color (!) including fold out pages showing close-ups of some of his paintings, allowing one to see individual brush strokes, pencil marks, etc. The reproductions extend to the edge of the page in many instances; the detail shots are particularly rewarding.

When this first came out, it seemed fully priced at $75 after Amazon's discount. In retrospect, it was a bargain and if you can get one of those copies offered at $100 now, new in hardcover, this reviewer would suggest you consider its purchase. The French edition is currently offered at $500 and more. Books on Cy Twombly wind up selling at high prices, as O.D.Jones pointed out in his review. I suspect this is a book like the Guggenheim's tomes on Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly and David Smith that not long after going out of print (and being recognized as the best book on a major artist) wind up selling at large premiums to their original price.

This is not a book which is bought for the text, which yields space to allow more illustrations. Good idea. You can read the Varnedoe book if you want insight and in depth analysis; he's one curator/critic who actually made sense when he wrote and is sorely missed for that reason. Buy this book principally for the aesthetic delight of looking at the work.

Cy Twombly is the typical "my-kid-could-do-that" artist...and yet being face to face with one of his best paintings is always a mysterious, entrancing, exhilarating experience. This book, through its many high-quality reproductions (close-ups even succeed in rendering the thick brushstrokes, a trademark of the artist), manages to convey some of this experience to the reader. It is a very well written work which deciphers Twombly's art better than any other publication on the artist as far as I know (I own more than 20 books on the artist...).
I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the work of this great artist.

Basically, works on Twombly seem to come and go out of print, and become rather pricey collectors items quickly. This book contains an excellent selection of reproductions, including foldouts, of all phases of his career. The only thing that prevents this from being a five star book is the rather pedestrian (although well researched) text, in the usual obfuscating artspeak that passes for deep insight today. The out of print Varnadoe book from the major restropective of the 90's has a far more lucid outline of the works in question...but, really, you're probably buying the book for the reproductions anyway, and there are plenty of them, including some nice full page close up details of the often massive works. Not an inexpensive book, but well worth it for anyone interested in this "painter's painter" works.

Cy Twombly is an artist who remains on the playing field, creating much the same type work over the years, yet still inspiring artists and audience alike. There is something gloriously spontaneous and innocent about his seemingly random 'scribblings' on canvas or paper. Perhaps he connects with the nascent artist in each of us: 'if this man can do this, I could, too!'

Perusing this well constructed monograph quickly suspends delusions of being able to recreate Twombly's art. In generous foldout pages and richly reproduced examples of works from 1950 to the present we find hints of symbols, fragments of words that hold as much mystery as cave paintings or hieroglyphics, just variations on themes that serve to nurture excitement for the idiosyncratic work of this fine artist.

The visuals are what make this book. The essay contributions by Richard Leeman who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Twombly are a bit on the dry side but as secure information as one is likely to find on this fascinating artist. Highly Recommended for all who have fallen under the spell of Twombly. Grady Harp, December 05

If you're looking for a book of a photographer who single-mindedly captures fashion, portraiture, landscape and still life flawlessly with his unique style, Albert Watson's Cyclops is the book for you. Included in the book is a brief overview of Watson the man who since birth has had only sight in one eye and has been given the gift of dazzling every other eye known to man. In the interior you can indulge yourself with black and white photographs that can instantly give rise to a feeling of sensuality, pain and pleasure. Whether it be celebrities or artifacts Watson manipulates the subject to create a vision only he can see and we can enjoy and recognize as his signature style. The book is a bit small but beautifully made.

When I first saw the book, I was transfixed. I must have spent quite a number of hours going through the pages, standing up, the world dissolving around me. My particular favorite is one picture of Gary Oldman lying in a coffin. It captured him perfectly. I don't know much about photography, but the beauty of his works is that it can be understood and loved by anyone - there is a human association within every shot. For a while I was reluctant to buy it - the price was a bit too much for me, but I kept on returning to the bookstore to see it, taking a half an hour bus ride each time at the other side of the city. I grew restless when I didn't take the ritual visit. Eventually I did get it - and I finally feel complete. He captured perfection.

Cyclops is more than a vision, but some of the most emotionally moving frames one will ever look upon. He is a genius and can capture beauty, pain, anger, and delight all in one single image.

Albert Watson's images in this book are quite simply some of the best images of Black & White photography in any book! They are technically perfect and arrestingly beautiful. His images are powerful, moving, creative, and always well composed. Furthermore, the printing in this book is one of the best I've ever seen.

If you appriciate masterful black & white images you would probably be happy with this book even if you had paid 5 times what this costs!

This book is truly a must-have for anyone who appriciates great photography

This was the first time I had ever ordered anything from the web and I found Amazon's service to be very good, the item arrived within 10 days, well packaged. The item itself is of the best quality and I am very pleased with the service I received. Indeed I ordered another book recently which arrived within 48 hours. Full marks!

If you have any space left on your coffee-table, this is the perfect art book for you! Rarely do you ever find a more complete presentation of Dali's works, both popular and private, in a single volume. This collection presents both the whimsy and the nightmares that are characteristic of his work, giving an accurate depiction of his range. If you thought Dali was just another haunted artist, the paintings in this book will reveal his gift for humor as well. Filled with insightful comments by Lubar, this book is a great compilation for anyone interested in Dali.

i bought this book at the amazing salvador dali museum in st.petersburgh florida which i strongly recommend in itself.this the book of some of salvador dali's works on display at the museum is a detailed look into the life of the man and the myth. with each work is a detailed explanation describing their meanings and what dali was up to during the time of their production.i am grateful for having read this book as dali is my all-time favorite artist.with this book i've learned more about him and his works' meanings,in which i'm sure all of us have taken for granted.i knew that alot of dali's work is based upon sexuality but never knew before how freudian it all really is.the book explains dali's deep fascination with sigmund freud's writings and beliefs and they come out within his work.if you've never experienced THE man before and appreciate art than this is a good source.if you have the chance visit the salvador dali museum in st.pete,fl.with any look they will be showing the brilliant short film that dali made with another brilliant mind luis bunuel called,"Un Chien Andalou."

On a recent family visit I had the great fortune to visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. This excellent book cataloguing the museum's collection then makes for a very nice souvenir, of course--but it easily stands outside of this immediate context as a fine art book in its own right.

The main feature of the book is definitely the 94 large, carefully reproduced color illustrations of Dali's paintings held by the museum. These range from some of his earliest works in the late 1910's to his large scale masterpiece "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" of 1969. I had never seen the earlier works before, and these show some of his first halting steps and experiments as an aspiring artist and the gradual evolution of his distinctive style. Among all 94 illustrations there is a good mix of famous classics you've seen a million times and lesser known gems that are equally intriguing. And each illustration comes with a commentary by Robert Lubar that clarifies the painting, its significance and symbolism, and its context and place within Dali's artistic development over the years with great eloquence without explaining the picture away.

Lubar's Introduction (with 9 interesting black & white illustrations) makes for a nice, brief overview of the artist's life and career, and the Biographical Chronology in the back includes several photographs of Dali through the years (including him with the founders of the museum). There are other useful tidbits too for the serious art historian and Dali specialist.

In short, even if you haven't been to the Dali Museum, this is an excellent coffee-table book of weird, whimsical, and wondrous surreal art by one of the twentieth century's greatest and most eccentric artists.

My daughter and I absolutely LOVED this book when she was growing up. The story is beautiful and the drawings are fabulous. A book about the longings of a younger sister, who in her heart is ready to dance, even though she is told she's too little.
This is THE book I give to [kid] girls!! Their mothers will love it too.

Little Tanya loves to dance. Like her sister she practices plies, pirouettes and arabesques and the two often practice together, but as of yet Tanyette (as she is sometimes called) is too young for lessons.

This all changes one day when her family, celebrating the performance of big sister as a flower in Swan Lake, finds out that little Elise is no longer the cute toddler mimicking the actions of her older sister, but a little girl that is ready for academy

Five Stars. A delightful book that shows two sisters who share a love of dance. My five y.o. daughter loves the talk of `first, second, fourth and fifth' positions. Good read-aloud, the artwork is pleasing with it soft watercolor drawings.

A sample of text follows:

And while nobody was looking, Tanya found her tutu,
and her scarf. And Tanya danced too. All alone.

The music played loud and sweet, and she did a plie
and arabesque and five grand jetes right across the floor.

"Dance, Tanya," her sister said, and her mother held her breath.
Grandma looked over her glasses. "You have two dancers
in your family," she said. Everyone in the room clapped. Elise did too.

This was a childhood favorite of mine, and the pages are tattered from reading it over and over. A young girl wants to be a dancer and is saddened because her older sister can take lessons, but she is too young. She looks up to her graceful old sister and dances with her, but wishes she herself could be in the spotlight...The book is a wonderful story for all ages, young and old.

My 3 and 6 year old daughters enjoy the story for the talkabout dancing and for the "little sister looks up to big sister" and "little sister feeling left out" themes. The adults in the family get misty-eyed over a little girl's discovery of the beauty of dance (if you've ever shed a tear of joy when Linnea is finally atop the bridge in Monet's Garden, you'll know what I mean). This will be one to save for the next generation :-)

Beautiful water-color-ish illustrations appealed to all ages in our family.

I have followed Philip Hitchcock's career for many years and welcome "Dark Impressions" as a brilliant -- and beautifully produced -- retrospective of his artistic achievements to date, as well as a prospectus for future accomplishments. His sculptures combine the elegant simplicity of Classical statues as they have survived from ancient Greece: shattered and fragmentary, but naked and stunning. The Medieval is invoked to produce a sense of threat, inhibition and visceral anxiety -- very much in the sense that Quentin Tarantino popularized as "getting medieval" in the film PULP FICTION. These historical elements are then fused in a sophistical and sexy form of the Postmodern, which invites entry into the deepest resources of erotic fear and fantasy. Already working at top form, Hitchcock has a career worth watching!

I am so pleased with 'Dark Impressions, The Art of Philip Hitchcock', that I wanted to say how glad I am that Ellis Publications and Mr. Hitchcock put together such an extensive compilation of his work, and that a favorite site, Amazon.com, is part of the distribution.

This full-color, beautifully designed book will please not only anyone interested in the human form, but also sculptors, artists, art edition bibliophiles and collectors. The color reproductions are excellent -- MY Hitchcock is the first page I turned to. It looks true to the original that hangs on my wall.

As an artist who also collects artists' books, I am inspired by Mr. Hitchcock's career that also includes mixed media sculpture (which lights up!), his viewpoint on what he does, and that he shares the body casting process in a special section in the back.

The works shown in 'Dark Impressions' run the range from disturbing to bright and alive. This is one book I keep on the coffee table.

Best regards,

Greg Vineyard

Having had the opportunity of seeing Mr. Hitchcocks unique art first hand, in both private collections and throughout various galleries here in Southern California, I was delighted to come acrross his handsome edition, Dark Impressions. Both beautiful and disturbing, Dark Impressions spans the past decade of work by the artist. Combining the fragmented, sometimes tortured, erotic figure, with a myriad of various mammal skulls, tattoos, restraints, hardware, and faux finishes, Mr. Hitchcock creates a contemporary mythology reminiscent to that of the Italian visionary, Tanino Liberatore, author of the US censored, masterfully drawn serial, Ranxerox. The two page spread of his twelve painted torsos, the cast resin and neon variations, give colorful accent to this flightful immerision into the complex mind of this riveting artist. For the aspiring artist and the curious, Mr. Hitchcock leaves us with a detailed, step by step, fully illustrated, inspiring, "how to," of his technique.

This was my first exposure to Philip Hitchcock's sculptures, and I was impressed. They are so lifelike you feel you are looking at real male models or photographs of live models. What a talented, brilliant sculptor.

This book is a work of art in itself. Anyone interested in the human form, especially male models will find this book fascinating. The color reproductions are excellent. Ellis Productions did a wonderful job in designing this book. Dark Impressions is very erotic, sometimes disturbing, shown with sculptures (models) that are in restraints, hardware, with skulls, ropes and horns; casted in resin, steel and copper.

This is a wonderful introduction to Philip Hitchcock's very original and awe-inspiring talent as a sculpturer. I loved this book and hope to obtain someday one of these sculpture's for myself. There is even a section about the processing of casting from "Life." A fascinating process shown with photos. If you are an art lover, or if you just appreciate the beauty of the human body, you will love this book. I certainly did.

I haven't seen any other books on this artist so i have nothing to compare it to. However I can say that there are great reproductions of art in here and some wel written, interesting essays. I def recomend this book

I bought this after spending some hours (but not enough to get my fill) at the Crocker, one of the venues that is hosting the Norman exhibition this summer (2007). The book is a very distant second to seeing this work in person, since even a magnifying glass on the book cannot give you an appreciation for the astounding detail in the works themselves, some of which are of stupendous proportions. One piece actually had to be exhibited on a slant, being too tall for the room!
Anyway, aside from seeing the exhibition or personal visits to many galleries and private collectors, the book is probably as close as we are going to get (for now) to Norman's work. Mrs. Norman graciously responded to my inquiry to say that prints are only a hope at this time.

The book itself, produced by Crocker and the Irving Norman Trust and printed by Heyday Books, is divided into 3 mains sections. A foreword by Michael Duncan (art writer), some acknowledgments and an intro by Scott Shields (Crocker Chief Curator), two nicely illustrated essays by Patricia Junker (Curator at De Young in '96) and Charles Eldredge (director at Smithsonian American Art Museum) make up the first part.
There follow about 140 pages of reproductions of this amazing fellow's stuff, divided into 5 sections whose names give you an idea of what you are in for:
Capitalist Enigma
Social Illusion
Cycle of War
Urban Transformation
Human Predicament
The third section is about 15 pages of appendices with a catalogue of works, a list of exhibitions and Collections, a list of the reporductions, and some comments about the contributors.

You will come to your own conclusions about who he is, but there were 2 blurbs at the Crocker that stuck in my mind. One, to the effect that Norman had sold all his posessions before joining the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, in the belief that he would not return alive from the Spanish Civil War; the other that he returned to school when he realized that he did not yet have the skill to lay down his visions.
There are a few photos of the artist, and some quotes as well. The alarming and pathetic story of the FBI tracking him for almost 50 years is well told by Junker, so if you are concerned that your web searches and Amazon purchases are now the guvvmint's business, you might want to find a suitable surrogate to make the buy.

I'd give it full stars but for a an irritating flaw (perhaps only in my copy) that has a few pages with grey printing on a grey background.
Still, it's an beautiful book, put together by some brave and talented people, about a much larger than life fellow from quiet Half Moon Bay who pulled no punches.

Dark Metropolis is an interesting collection of works of art by Irving Norman. The book contains several articles by different authors describing Normans and their impressions of his work as well as the symbolism behind the work. There s also a short biography of his life

More then one hundred of Normans paintings and drawings are displayed in the book along with an explanation of the work and what it represents as well as points of interest within the painting.

Most of the work is politically, socially, human condition or economically motivated in terms of the haves versus the have-nots scenario and the selections of artwork in the book really depict that. What you can't tell in the book is the amazing detail of his work. Having seen it in person the scale of some of his work is several feet tall and wide and so filled with detail that you could spend hours looking at his paintings and still not see it all. The paintings and drawings are in chronological order by year. There is a catalog that lists all of his public work. Norman's work is social surrealism in it truest form.

If you can see his work in person then the book is the next best thing and does a good job in representing his work and his ideas.

The book is very well designed in visual and literary concept and the layout of the book is nice.

If you've never heard of Irving Norman you may be in for a surprise. People didn't really paint like this at all in the middle of the 20th Century or much before that. Some Renaissance Masters had similar elaborations of the depth of perspective or of horrors of this world and the next. Some comic book illustrators in the 1960s had a similar deeply morbid whimsy. Who but Irving Norman could get up day after day, year after year for decades to detail such trenchant observations of city life under the thumb of the military industrial complex? I was lucky to see some of these paintings at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco in 1996. They drew me back to spend hours looking at all their details-not a world you'd ever want WALDO to get lost in!- and I made all my friends come,too. One, a prominent psychologist widened his eyes, shook his head and said,"They have PILLS for this now!" I didn't ask for his diagnosis of the artist's perceived disorders. I don't care why these paintings exist- whether psychological imbalance , OCD, paranoia or divine inspiration. IRVING NORMAN reaches well past what anything even most figurative artists would dream to attempt, flies worlds past the most wicked political satirist (eat your heart out, Steadman!)to make technically proficient canvases on a GRAND scale that glow like medieval stained glass and sparkle with wit and fury.
[...]
The reproductions are from new photographs. The book is big enough to see some detail. The production is excellent, a real tribute to an unknown American Master!
ps This book is published as a centenary show of Irving Norman goes up in Sacramento at Crocker Art Center. The show runs through Jan 7, 2007 then moves to Pasadena Art Museum through April 15, 2007. See it if you can.