Book Description

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is generally considered the majortwentieth-century realist. Such paintings as House by the Railroad, EarlySunday Morning, and Nighthawks seem to embody the loneliness of theindividual in the cities and open spaces of America. Hopper stronglyinfluenced contemporary American art, and there are countless photographsand films inspired by his work. The forty paintings in this volume give arepresentative overview of Hopper's art. ... Read more

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one of the most imporant painters of the 20th century
I think that E. Hopper is one of the most imporant painters of 20th century. I was fanscinated at the works embodying human's solitude. ... Read more

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Besides being the catalog of a marvelous exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo is the definitive study of the last series of landscapes produced by the Japanese woodblock-print artist Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858). These designs of Edo, or modern Tokyo, are among the most familiar images of Japanese art in the world: copies were printed by the thousands until the wooden blocks wore out. The Brooklyn Museum's set is of the highest quality, early impressions with extraordinarily skilful and subtle use of printing techniques, especially color gradation. Each of the designs, which ultimately numbered 118, is shown in the book full-size with a long caption on the facing page. The author's descriptions, impeccably researched, take us on a guided tour of the old city. Many of the locations are shown at festival time and demonstrate the richness of daily life and customs in premodern Japan.

A notable feature of the series is its use of what we would now call cinematic effects: abrupt framing that cuts a figure in half, or extreme juxtapositions of near and distant elements. Examples include an "aerial" view of the environs of Edo dominated by a close-up image of an eagle, and a study of the Horikiri iris gardens in which sightseers are seen through stalks that seem only inches away. Such imaginative and daring effects must have startled contemporaries. Sudden Shower at Ohashi Bridge uses slashing lines to indicate rain--it was copied in oils by van Gogh, who, like several other impressionist painters including Monet, was the proud owner of many Japanese prints. Hiroshige is a beautifully produced book; with individual designs of the series costing tens of thousands of dollars; owning a copy is a consolation for not owning the prints themselves. --John Stevenson ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Absolutely magnificent.
In college I met one of the sons of George Braziler, the publisher, and feel that the wonderful quality of their art books reflects the generous and thoughtful nature of their family. The prints are meticulously reproduced, complete with woodgrain. The written text takes the reader back to another time within a totally different culture with subtle details explained. More generally, Japanese prints represent an effort to provide art to the normal working people, not just wealthy aristocrats. Hiroshige memorializes the exquisite and delicate mood of ancient Japan and lets you feel their experiences.

Bridging the gap between Edo and Tokyo.
Darcy Kishida (midk@crisscross.com) Anyone who has ever visited modern Tokyo knows what a dreary and uninviting place it can be. Monotonous rows of offices, apartments with no charm whatsoever, and a shocking lack of architectural originality conspire to rob the metropolis of most of the character it once had. "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo" will, if not completely change your opinion of Tokyo, at least make you see the city in a new light, enabling the reader to look past the run down buildings and aging neon and view the city as it used to be: an enchanting place virtually untouched by foreign influences and filled with ancient shrines, women in kimono, swaggering samurai, Kabuki theaters, the pleasure quarters, and everything else we associate with old Japan. It will also, if you're not already, make you fall in love with the art of ukiyo-e. "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo" succeeds in two ways. First, from a purely artistic point of view, it is a stunning collection of all 118 prints in Hiroshige's "Meisho Edo Hyakkei" series (One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo), full-size and faithfully reproduced from the Brooklyn Museum's high quality set of mostly first edition prints. The book is unique in that it includes, in addition to the acknowledged masterpieces such as "Plum Estate, Kameido" and "Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake," many inferior prints which are rarely, if ever, seen. Here though, every print, even the obscure ones, is given its own commentary. Henry D. Smith II, a professor of Japanese history at Columbia University, wrote the commentaries accompanying the plates and explains in his introduction that only focusing on the stronger designs "discourages the appreciation of the many strong features of the lesser designs, and it also distracts attention from the descriptive qualities that clearly appealed to Hiroshige's audience and that can teach us much today about the city of Edo and its culture." Also significant is the fact that "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo" shows us the series as it was meant to be seen. Those who are familiar with Hiroshige already know that this was his last series and it was enormously popular. As was the case with most ukiyo-e prints, the first edition copies were generally of the highest quality, with sharp, clear lines and delicately graded colors. In later printings, which are comparatively plentiful, a sharp drop in the subtlety of color becomes obvious and the once clean lines begin to blur. The majority of the prints from the Brooklyn Museum fall into the former category. As Professor Smith notes, the great success of the series "led to countless later impressions of far inferior quality, eliminating the most refined printing effects and transforming the color schemes in ways that utterly destroyed the expressive intent of the first impressions." Even to the untrained eye, a side-by-side comparison between a high quality, early impression and a hastily made later one will quickly make this clear. Any ukiyo-e connoisseur will tell you that there is really nothing else like a well-preserved, first edition copy of a favorite print and these are in abundance in "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo". As impressive as the prints are, however, the commentary is what steals the show here, giving the reader fascinating glimpses into what was the city of Edo and its inhabitants. It has the effect of turning the prints into virtual postcards, which, in the absence of Edo era photographs, serve as a precious visual record of the city and its customs. In his commentary, Smith has the uncanny ability to make even the most mundane details fascinating. Mediocre plates, which would normally hold your attention for only a few seconds at most, are given substance and life by Smith, whose keen eye and attention to detail turn these lesser designs into mini history lessons, travel guides, or short biographies. A good example is plate 70 (Nakagawa River Mouth), which, artistically, this writer considers among the worst of the series. Here were are given a short history of Edo's canal system, learn where its citizens procured their salt, and discover how the scene has changed in the last 150 years. The print is thus saved from obscurity by, ironically, acting as a sort of visual supplement to Smith's text instead of the other way around. The amazing variety of the locations and subject matter of the 118 views and their astute commentary combine to bring Edo alive for the viewer, making it seem strangely familiar and real. We regret the loss of so many beautiful places to modernization and cherish the few precious gems that remain. "One Hundred Famous Views Of Edo" will make those who have never been to Tokyo want to go and former residents want to return for a visit. As for the fortunate who live there now, this book can only increase their appreciation of the city and its unique history. ... Read more

Book Description

An exquisite presentation of unique sketchbooks by the great Japanese master Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858). While Hiroshige's splendid woodblock prints, in particular his Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road, are among the most widely reproduced and best-loved prints in Japanese history, his sketches have rarely been circulated or seen. The sketchbooks date from around 1840 and were created as Hiroshige traveled around Japan. They contain subject matter that ranges from serene landscape and rural scenes to delightful renderings of interiors, historical figures, and animals. The colors are fresh, the renderings fluid, and the use of space astonishing, allowing a sort of fantasy not always possible in the harder lines of woodblock printing. Most importantly, these drawings are of enormous charm to the eye; even those unacquainted with Japanese art will find them an enchanting example of Japanese color, design and subject matter. This one-volume edition has been printed in Japan to ensure the highest quality in reproducing the nuances of Hiroshige's masterpieces, which are reproduced to size and in their original order. 100 pages of color illustrations, 50 black-and-white illustrations. ... Read more

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Entertaining!
Another great expressive book of a almost unheard of artist. If like me you stumble across this book you must pick it up and read it as I ensure you, you will be pleased. Not only just for the brilliant, modern pictures contained within but for the amazing life and work that Brzeska belived in and lived for. A must for all budding artists. ... Read more

Book Description

A complete catalogue of the 871 paintings and a detailed monograph on his life and art

This study of Vincent van Gogh represents a rare and happy chance in art history, combining a detailed monograph on his life and art with a complete catalogue of the 871 paintings by one of the greatest modern artists. This volume also reproduces most of van Gogh's paintings in colour for the first time. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

All the Van Gogh you'll ever need.
This is an excellent book. I scoured the net for the perfect book on my favourite artist and settled on this one. Definitely the best buy.

The book is beautifully printed and the paintings are clear and vibrant (very important). The writing style is intelligent, compelling and easy to read. Very well researched, offering an incredible insight into the life of Van Gogh.

Taschen have published a masterpiece - buy it now!

Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings
This is the Van Gogh book. If there is a van gogh lover in your life there would be no better gift than this set. nearly all the painting are in color, one will pop up in black and white but there is usally a "distoyed in WW2" next to the title. No complaints here though. Just watching Van gogh make the transition from the dark early paintings to the Paris Impressionism to the turblant final years. Not a better collection on earth!

Good text, bad picture prints
I bought this book, the paperback version. The text is good, it describes all his letters and tries to do a lot of explanations too. However the prints of his paintings are not that impressive. They are very dark prints. Go for some other book if you want to see the corect colors of his paintings.

Did Van Gogh use soy sauce to paint?
I am talking about the 2001 edition. The printing quality is HORRIBLE. The colors are WAY OFF. In fact, they are disgusting. Absolutely completely unacceptable! What an insult to Van Gogh! (The book was printed in Slovenia.) I am returning the book tomorrow. If we tolerate bad quality, the publisher will never learn a lesson and never improve their business.

Beautiful Book
Can't really compare this book to any other Van Gogh books, don't have any others, and haven't done a lot of research for alternatives. But this is a hefty book, gorgeous, colorful, and chronologically written. The pages are matte (or semi-matte) finish, not glossy, which I believe makes the paintings look even better. And the price is great. I wish I could find other books, similarly priced and produced, of other artists; I'd buy them in a second. ... Read more

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beautiful!
I have been looking for a book on Mr. Van Gogh for quite some time that successfully conveys the texture and vivid color that he uses. This book gave me everything that i had been looking for. The "colour library" series that it is a part of is filled with other volumes that depict paintings by various artists in the glory that they were meant to, stopping just short of the vividness of seeing the actual painting in a museum. Not only are they wonderfully done, but they are a steal at the low price they are selling for. While most art books out there cost you an arm and a leg, these volumes give you pure beauty at a very low price. ... Read more

Book Description

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Good, Artistic, and usable
It is real good to have giftwrap paper related to Van Gogh's painting. The cost is cheap and is worthful. ... Read more

Book Description

Choice drawings—from early impressions of peasant life to studies for Starry Night, other masterpieces. 44 b/w illus. Captions.
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Book Description

Born in Cologne in 1936 and based in New York since 1965, Haacke’s strong political, cultural and social concerns are reflected in his installations, texts and sculptures.Throughout his fifty-year career Haacke has frequently changed the presentation of his art to get his message across. Often borrowing from non-art sources such as corporate advertising, questionnaires or scientific experimentation, Haacke is probably the most successful and best-known late twentieth-century artist to create a political art that manages to hit its mark with succinct elegance.

Haacke sometimes works almost as a sleuth-like reporter, uncovering museum politics in his art. This practice has famously led on occasion to museum officials cancelling his exhibitions. For example, his 1971 one-person show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was cancelled in response to his proposal to present the questionable real estate dealings of several New York companies. ... Read more

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Compassionate View of Child Labor, Sweatshops and Tenements
Review Summary: Lewis Hine was a pioneer in documenting the working conditions of children. His poignant images of coal mines, sweatshops, and factories shocked America into passing its first legislation to regulate and reduce child labor. Generations of Americans have benefited as a result. Review: The foreword by Walter Rosenblum describes Lewis Hine as being "a born teacher." Mr. Rosenblum recounts Mr. Hine's generosity in writing a letter or recommendation for him saying that Mr. Rosenblum was "a new and better Hine." This example captures his compassion and generosity towards others. He never saw a person he didn't respect and have compassion for. Each image in this fine book contains that "compassionate vision." His subjects included immigrants at Ellis Island and in their first tenement homes, working conditions in sweatshops and factories, the everyday life of the working poor, and the building of the Empire State Building (with views from the 100th floor girders).

The reader will get a "fresh insight through his vision" because Mr. Hine takes you places you never imagined existed. The scenes speak for themselves and cause you to have a visceral reaction. My sense of vertigo at thinking about swaying on a girder was palpable as I looked over the Empire State Building construction photographs. In viewing the sweatshops, I could feel heat building up in my body. In the images of breaker boys, I could feel the dusty despair of the coal mines in my bones and lungs.

From a technical point of view, the compositions are very fine and draw the eye into the scene. You get a strong sense of the moment, even though the scenes are 70-90 years old. The images strike hard at you with their messages . . . without using captions. They are as gripping as anything you have seen about work or slum life on the front pages of a newspaper.

Sadly, Mr. Hine's career hit a major snag in the Depression. Stieglitz and he were on different paths, and those who were showing interest in art photography were uninterested in social realism. He was impoverished, had his house foreclosed on, and lived on welfare. His wife died on Christmas 1938. He died in November 1940 "impoverished, dispirited, worn out." He was "malnourished to the point of starvation." One cannot help but think that he moved closer to living the life of a saint than many of us will ever achieve.

My favorite images in the book include: New York City Sweatshop, 1908; Climbing into America, 1908; Young girls knitting stockings in Southern hosiery mill, 1920; Cigar makers, Tampa, 1909; Breaker boys in coal chute, South Pittston, Pennsylvania, January 1911; Playground in tenement alley, Boston, 1901; Cannery workers preparing beans, c. 1910; and Photographs of building the Empire State Building, New York City, 1930/32.

I suggest that you follow Mr. Hine's fine example and think about how you can visualize important messages that others can best appreciate as images. What images would you capture? How would you share them? Who would benefit?

Be prepared to help others see the injustices that you do!

... Read more

Book Description

This book of Howard Hodgkin's work by Andrew Graham-Dixon, one of Britain's foremost art critics, was published to great acclaim in 1994. Incisive and beautifully written, it illuminates Hodgkin's rich and complex art through its guiding themes and elucidates the passions and preoccupations that lie behind the paintings. Unlike most monographs, Graham-Dixon's focuses on the emotional and intellectual essence of the paintings as he explores their strategies. Hodgkin's complex use of scale and color, the nature of his pictorial language, and the subtle evocation in his painting of eroticism, time, and experience reveal a tension between exuberance and melancholy. This revised and expanded edition includes over twenty additional color reproductions and is brought up to date with a new chapter in which Graham-Dixon discusses the paintings created since the mid-1990s, works that are freer and more fluent, and often on a much larger scale than earlier ones. Enthusiasm for Hodgkin's paintings among art critics and historians, art collectors, and the general public has never been greater. He stands confirmed by this richly illustrated study as a master of the hesitant, truant nature of life and emotion, an artist whose great achievement is to have created equivalents in painting for the texture of memory itself. 121 color and 22 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A readable, sensitive and comprehensive treatment of Hodgkin
The very dust-jacket with its dynamic detail from Hodgkin's Old Sky strikes the right note in this intelligently presented and visually seductive review of the painter's career. The excellent quality of the illustrations, their logical placing directly opposite the pertinent text, marginal page references, the choice of type-face and the luxury-feel paper all make the mere handling of the book a real pleasure.
Far from being of mere coffee-table appeal, however, the author's cool authoritative voice makes one feel that here is a critic in whose hands one is safe. Such a gem of wisdom as 'whatever residue of inexplicability lodges in a work of art is also its only hope of an afterlife' establishes his impeccable credentials as a discerning critic. Graham-Dixon deals with Hodgkin's seminal influences, his eclecticism, his evolving theatrical style, his preoccupation with the vagaries of memory and its transmutation into art. 'Hodgkin does not set out to paint what the world looks like, but what it feels like.' His work has the quality of intimacy which makes its own demands on the viewer who would engage with it, Graham-Dixon observes in a book which is lucid and comprehensive without ever wearying the reader.

A passionate and scholarly study of Hodgkin.
Andrew Graham-Dixon's passionate book about the work of Howard Hodgkin, has the detail and insight serious students of this important artist want. This book is as the first monograph to be published on this artist,a very important purchase. If like me you thirst for really good reproduction,the colour plates are large and do justice to the paintings. ... Read more

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Solid
I am neither a poet, nor a visual artist, so I will provide for you the layman's review: I find this book to be a charming text, based on a very good idea (ask writers to create poetry inspired by the Hopper paintings reproduced herein). Like all books of poetry, I'm quite sure that - like me - you will find that some of the poetry speaks to you, and some of it does not, but you will find all of it to be of a very high quality. Likewise, one of the aspects I enjoy most about this book is the quality of the reproductions, which, perhaps because of the book's rather small physical size, shows off the richness and clarity of Hopper's work better than most other books that present his oils. I have given this book as a gift twice now, and the recipients have been very impressed... ... Read more

Book Description

Inspired by a primitive way of life, Paul Gauguin came to reject the world of the Impressionists, leaving Parisian society in search of paradise. Explore the life of this 19th-century French artist through his astonishingly vibrant and exotic paintings. The DK ArtBook series presents both the life and works of each artist within the cultural, social, and political context of their time. To make the books easy to consult, they are divided into three areas -- the life and works of the artist, historical and cultural background, and analysis of major works -- which are identifiable by side bands. Each spread focuses on a specific theme, with an introductory text and several annotated illustrations. Few art history texts contain such abundance of full-color illustrations. The index section is also illustrated and gives background information on key figures and the location of the artist's works. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Informative--great for students
Well, I won't waste your time. The bottom line-- is this book is worth buying. Its got great insight on many of Gauguin's paintings, and even discusses his background and influences. A must for any art student, or art buff. Your money will not be wasted! For ten bucks, you'll be buying a book you'll use time and time again. Good luck, and happy book buying! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Understanding Gauguin
This is a lovely book... and, brief though it is, helped me to understand more about Gauguin's reasons behind his actions. I read it at a perfect time - when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY was holding one of their most important exhibits on Gauguin and featured his wood cuts. It's a colourful, passionate and painful journey.

A Great Little Book
This is a great book detailing a few pages from his journal. It has great wood-cut reprints and is a quick read. It puts you into the spirit of Tahiti. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Tracing Thoughts
Mr. Giger, I have experienced your biomechanical drawings and such from your book. The theme "Tracing Thoughts" came to me from your drawing of No. 625 Pump Excursion, when suicide was an option. Then I gotten control of myself by expressing my thoughts, feelings, and for free lance of my own personal amusement. It inspired me (No.625) to pick up biomechanics and hopefully get the chance to meet you in person. Because of the biography on you, your intellect seems avanced to were I would enjoy an intelligent complex trade in art expressionism. Well life is short and so shall this review. Continue the well deserved talent and rake in the DOUGH .Signed, fellow artist Eric Everett.

A great book
This book have the personal design of Giger, and the quality of Taschen Books. The book includes very rare pieces like the first giger`s drawings and oleos, and explores every side of his work. The stereograms include Li II, and The cascade, in 3D.

5742976
Estoy Feliz de saber que estas bien!....ya estoy en linea....extrañando horrores al Indio Blanco!

Great Book, it has 3d images that are unbelievable
The Book is one of my favorite. The Necronomocon is my favorite book, but www.hrgiger.com has 3d images that are amazing. They use the same concept as the ones in the malls. but they are giger pictures that become 3d. Just amazing. Buy this book

Outstanding Art & Photo's
If you are an artist of any kind, you will surely love this most precious array of art, especially when it comes to the furniture designs. ... Read more

Book Description