Galleries Books

I really enjoyed the book. Biography and work are handled in a well-balanced way, and the evolution of Klimt's art is linked to his life. The book has several articles, but the sense of unity is kept. The reproductions have good quality (the standard one in these types of books), and it is easy to understand for amateurs. I think it is a recommendable book if you like symbolism and modernism, and also if you would like to have a portrait of Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century.

Frank Whitford's biography is a more comprehensive examination of the social/cultural perspective. Other books examine Klimt's portraits of women and Klimt's landscapes in greater sophistication. The dust jacket, a tension-infused portrait of his friend and muse, "told" me this is a fair and balanced examination of his works and of his views of art. It is. Beware: some material is not be appropriate for young children -- and offensive to conservative relatives.

Kirk Varnedoe gives us, in Gustave Caillebotte, not only a beautifully reproduced compendium of the artist's major works, but an unusually insightful commentary on his place in the Impressionist movement. Perhaps most importantly, he offers a vision of Caillebotte that allows us to see him as more than a "minor" impressionist, but as an original precursor of modernism who remained true to his own unique vision despite the influences of his better known contemporaries. The importance of late nineteenth century photography, and especially the new, shorter 28 mm. lenses of the period, on Caillebotte's treatment of perspective are analyzed in detail through careful consideration of the preliminary studies for "Rainy Afternoon in Paris" and "Pont de l'Europe". While the author is forthright in his views of the "unevenness" of Caillebotte's oeuvre, he makes a strong case for viewing what Varnedoe refers to as Caillebotte's "internal personal dynamic" as a driving force behind the artist's shifting styles and artistic innovations. The illustrations faithfully reproduce the palette and nuances of Caillebotte's work, still evolving at his untimely death at age 45. An important appendix catalogues the gift of Caillebotte's extraordinary personal collection of impressionist paintings to the French state. These works by Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Pisarro and others are part of the core collection of the Musee d'Orsay, reminding us again of Caillebotte's role as not only a contributor to the impressionist movement, but as a supporter and champion of its promulgation.

My favorite artist - in a classy book. What a wonderful way to get to know a little bit more about him and enjoy his art! This book is worth the price and more!

This is the 20th Century gold collector's bible! I found that as I started collecting I was referring to this book hourly, to the point that I had it memorized within a year. The depth of Akers knowledge and hands on experience with just about every great coin from this era offers a perspective that is unique in every aspect. He's seen them all, sold half of them for the owners, bought another half for buyers and owns 2% of them! He refers to the greatest of the great with remarkable detail and rates each date by appearance, color nuances, strike and then goes into a detailed history of ownership of the best examples known. His rating scale of rarity is dated but at the time reflects the scarcity of every date; however numerous hoardes have appeared over the last 30 years which has changed these numbers. But considering that there was NO TPG grading, NO pop reports...Akers accuracy is almost psychic. It's simply put, his collective knowledge from a lifetime of experience, and as one who knows him he's a marvel with what his knowledge is today, 30 years later! He's the Rosetta Stone of 20th Century gold...and other series'. I could never have entered this exciting arena without Akers "guide". It's "the book"!!

David Akers is the ultimate authority on this subject. His extensive knowledge and research are evident in this comprehensive encyclopedia of US Gold coins.

This convenient volume explores Hans Hofmann's abstract canvases--especially during the 1950's and the 1960's. The reproductions are printed in glorious colors with easy-to-read text alongside. Plenty of visual surprises are found in many of Hofmann's paintings. Interesting note here: many of the illustrated paintings in this book are in the collection of the University of Berkeley Museum of Art in California. Hofmann's paintings turned triumphant in the late 1950's and his work even got better towards the end of his life at age 85.

This work helps to clarify the importance of Hans Hofmann's works and why he is considered one of the most important art teachers of the 20th century. This work is especially important to any artist wanting to become the best they can become in their field. The ideas presented by Hofmann can take a lifetime to "master", but well worth the effort. His ideas are more than just "theory", they are a basic understanding of how to enliven a flat pictorial space and how to infuse oneself in one's work.

This is a beautiful book and gives us the words and music to 18 popular Christmas Carols. The arrangements are for piano, guitar and recorder. I personally had less than a year of piano, but can slowly pick out a few of these pieces. I'm sure that someone with just a little more training would be able to play everything.

My friend Jan, gave me this as a Christmas gift because I love to sing and it reminded us of a time when a group of friends spent time around the piano singing carols together. One of the nice points about this book is that in many cases up to 6 verses of the songs are given so that you can spend as much time as you like on your favorite carols without repeating the words.

What really makes this book exceptional are the wonderful illustrations that accompany each composition. These are of paintings that are in the National Gallery in London. A few of the pieces are: Christ Glorified in Heaven by Fra Angelico; The Madonna of Humility by Lippo di Dalmasio; and A Winter Scene by Isack van Ostade. The index of the book gives the artist, and a bit of information on each of the paintings.

I highly recommend this book to musicians and anyone interested in art.

If you love sitting down at the piano and playing Christmas Carols, this book is a wonderful change of pace. The arrangements are quite unusual, with jazz influences, but quite recognizable, and singable. Since I love to sight read, these were challenging, but not difficult. Usually, by the third verse, I had all the notes right. The photos are beautiful, and all the major carols are included. In addition, there were a few unfamiliar carols. The words to all the verses are on the facing page if anyone wants to sing along. A real pleasure to the eyes and ears!

Harry est décevant. Pas l'histoire. Le personnage. Inévitable effet de l'explosion de l'adolescence chez lui et du renversement des appréciations qui l'accompagne. Effet dramatique d'une réalité humaine habilement et lucidement présentée par l'auteur. Celle-ci demeure cependant fidèle et lucide envers celui qu'elle a enfanté, pardonnant l'impardonnable, ouverte à son cheminement vers la maturité, et conduisant ses lecteurs à faire de même.

J'ai lu le livre (en anglais pour le moment, mais vous pouvez être certain que je me trouve le français dès décembre) et j'ai adoré... le caractère des personnage est très solide et j'ai bien aimé la façon dont jk fait s'interrelier les événements.

This book is my ideal in an art book - it provides the paintings without discussion, allowing the viewer to response naturally, then it provides a number of details from the painting much in the manner one focuses one's attention in a gallery.

The paintings are well paired with poetry - poetry that in some manner touches the same theme as the painting but in a separate media.

Example pairings: Sandro Botticelli's "Mystic Nativity" with the traditional English carol "Angels we have heard on high"; Duccio's "The Annunciation" with Edwin Muir's "The Annunciation"; an associate of Leonardo da Vinci's "An Angel in Red with Lute" with an extract of Edgar Allan Poe's "Israfel"; ...

This is an excellent meditational art and literature book.

This is a great little book that is smaller than the size of an average persons hand. The paintings come from the National Gallery in London and include masterpieces from such notables as Botticelli, Poussin, Baocci and Carravaggio. The literature used comes from masters of prose as well including such diverse writers as Edgar Allan Poe, St Augustine, Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas and Dante to name a few. The paintings selected are divided into four sections basically, angels, Jesus, Mary and the saints. The book is printed and bound in Italy and is of good thick stock and very sturdy. The color is very good and the detail is exquisite. This book is a perfect companion for those moments alone when contemplation takes one beyond the mundane ordinary existence. The beauty of this book is the matching of poetry with a painting. Every painting is matched up with a piece of writting. Each painting is shot from various angles, often for dramatic effect, getting extreme closeups of the expressions on the subjects. The details of the individual paintings are brought to full light. The paintings are all magnificent representaions of inspired art that has withstood the test of time, through wars, plagues and famines and the inherent beauty of the art comes to life anew in this marvelous little paperback. At just over 140 pages this book can be read in one sitting but it is one that deserves to be kept handy to reflect upon often. A great book for those interested in the works of the masters ala carte.

...for all those who are in love with Ukiyo-e. You don't necessarily need to like Kuniyoshi - though he is one of the most versatile and skilled masters of Ukiyo-e - to like this book. Its quality speaks for itself. Just beautifully made! Great prints, detailed comments on them and in-depth information on Kuniyoshi and his time. Go and get it!

Scholars speak regularly of Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige as the giants of the 18th and 19th-century woodblock-printing ("ukiyoe") tradition in Japan. Even so, for legions of "ukiyoe" fans, especially those in the West, nobody can match Kuniyoshi for the complexity of his drafting, drama of his compositions, and range of subject matter. And no publisher could have outdone Hotei, a Leiden-based company, in so beautifully reproducing Kuniyoshi's work and so meticulously explaining it in both introductory essays and individual plate captions.

Robert Schaap's "Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi" is one of three volumes Hotei has issued on the work of this artist. Of the three volumes, it is most wide-ranging in scope, and therefore "Heroes and Ghosts" is the logical book with which to begin your acquantaince with Kuniyoshi. Because the book accompanied a 1998 exhibition organized by subject category, the sequencing of illustrations will not readily provide a sense of how Kuniyoshi's work evolved. Still, there is much to fascinate here, and this is a book and an artist that have so much to offer that numerous readings will not begin to exhaust the rich possibilities for drawing out new information and gaining new insights.

Because I am passionately interested in the legends and historical events that were reflected in Japanese art of the Edo period (1615-1868), my favorite section is that on "heroes;" happily this is also the most extensive segment of the book. It is just such heroic compositions for which Kuniyoshi is most famous, and these pieces offer the richest linkages between literature and art and the most action-packed of Kuniyoshi's compositions. Moreover, this body of work is notable because Kuniyoshi's manner of depicting these heroes set the style that continues to define Japanese tattooing.

Extracted from Donna McAlear's introductory essay: Performing Attitudes

The resources of the Hong Kong / Australian artist Hiram To are the formal and theoretical styles of late twentieth century art - minimalism, conceptualism, and post-modern photography -along with today's consumer marketing tactics, Hiram To - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood demonstrates his astute melding of high art conventions with populist material extracted from fashion, film music and advertising.

To uses high and low visual cultural references solely as ideological templates to position the artist and his audience inside the zone of cultural production, where self-representation is fashioned and reformed over time. In this respect, he does not offer a simple critique of self-representation; rather, he engages in a dual inquiry into the function of representation in culture and, by extension, the morality of individual choice in life with regard to public consumption and appearance. He is adept at creating a collusion of conventional art styles and the complicated ethics of an individual's social politics in a capitalist world. The Skin I'm In, In Visible Differences and Visible Difference, Crimes and Misdemeanors, and ....you don't know how I feel are highly atmospheric installations, multi-layered with images and quotes from art history, pop culture and advertising. The moods they evoke vacillate from rich, dreamy and glamorous to cool, distant, vacant. The artist creates scenarios in which the self appears to have exited the stage, leaving behind sumptuous traces of an 'identity' that never was.

Works by the artist can be readily interpreted as critiques of consumer culture; they sit comfortably within the norms of art museum practice where it is expected that artists demonstrate a critical agenda. Indeed, he deliberately exposes the codes of artwork aesthetics and values to elicit a principled response from a knowing audience. However, in many ways, his work seems to revere the sensuality and captivation of the mass marketplace and its communication styles. In this respect, Hiram To exposes the minute fragments which assist in the construction of a public self image and persona.

Hiram To is a Hong Kong-based artist with a substantial record of public gallery exhibitions in Australia, as well as internationally. His work is concerned with the cultural production of identity. Suggesting that we are all "high performers", his diverse installations articulate the ways we negotiate ethical codes in our everyday lives. How do we present ourselves in our public and private lives? How do our material possessions, fashion choices and social affinities reflects our values and beliefs? His materials are as diverse as his cultural references.

By incorporating elements of popular culture into the rarefied realm of visual art, To underscores the conflation of advertising, entertainment, and art in consumer culture. Film, fashion, academia, and art are all driven by the dollar. Scholarship and commerce may seem unthinkable bedfellows, but the institutions of cultural production and distribution (museums and galleries) are subject to the same economic realities as Hollywood and Gap.

'Love Like Diamonds' is a collection of designer T-shirts embroidered with artist names like Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ed Ruscha and Ken Lum. Visible Differences is a series of wall-mounted plates depicting Caucasian actors made up as Asian characters in popular Hollywood films. Cultural icons from Comme des Garçons to Wong Kar-wai converge in an œuvre that is at once opulent and passionate, witty and dry. This elegant and profusely illustrated publication is in itself testimony to a sophisticated artistic discourse.

Clothing and fashion, as metaphors for skin and self-image, are recurring themes in To's work. In 'The Skin I'm In' (1994, 2002), for example, photographs of clothing details form the five surfaces of a drum kit. The implied human body, the clothes it might wear, and the drums it might play become entangled in a concept where skin becomes surface becomes self. Five life-size photographs of a young sailor form a backdrop to the drum kit. They represent desire, but as sleek, staged, photographic echoes of the real thing. In a netherworld between substance and surface, we must consider whether it is even possible to speak of authentic identity anymore. The sailors also underscore To's concerns for sexuality, especially male sexuality, as it is constituted, like other aspects of identity, across the conundrum of contemporary consumerism.

After buying several books and guides I have found that Historic Houses Castles & Gardens is the perfect guide for anyone interested in travel to Great Britain and Ireland. It is jam packed with color photos of each location it presents. It provides acurate information on such topics as opening times, availible options, and location. The book also provides a very helpful listing of recommendations of properties by Johansen and a useful calender of events. Also included is a list of sites that perform civil marriages and maps showing all locations featured in the book. This book is wonderful for anyone that loves architecture or is planning a vaction. It is a very concise guide to some of the most wonderful treasures of Great Britain and Ireland.

Historic Houses Castles & Gardens is a wonderful guide for anyone interested in looking at beatiful architecture and for anyone planning a vacation. It has very accurate information and includes opening times, what is availible at each site, and interesting facts. The book also in includes reccomendations on where you can stay when in Great Brittian or Ireleand. It is a very comprehensive and wonderful guide to some of the treasuers of Great Brittian and Ireleand.