Amazon.com

Bringing an entirely new slant to the concept of the coffee-table book, SUMO is a suitably enormous homage to 79-year-old Helmut Newton, the master of subversive and erotic photography. "I wanted to build a monument to the most important photographer of the 20th century," comments Benedikt Taschen, the publisher behind SUMO. He delivers. Weighing over 65 pounds, measuring more than two feet long, and breaking any previous size record in book publishing, SUMO contains 480 pages of every aspect of Newton's outstanding career in photography. Each copy of the book is bound by hand and numbered and signed by the artist. In order to showcase this colossus, the book is packaged with its own stand designed by Philippe Starck.

This outsized volume contains the body of Newton's controversial yet iconographic work, documenting fashion, fetishism, and above all an overriding obsession with voyeurism that can make the viewer feel complicit or uneasy by turns. Newton himself describes SUMO as "terrifying and outrageous. I don't even look at it as a book.... I look at it as an object." --Catherine Taylor, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (12)

a Monolith
Well, as everyone else says, there's no other book like it. I had a look at a copy in an art photography store and thought it was ok, but would I pay two grand for it? Nah, I don't think so. Admittedly, the cover shot from the series 'Big Nudes' is impressive when you first see it, but these pictures were never meant to be printed at this size. Newton shoots fast and produces grainy photographs; at this size the pictures start losing clarity because of the extreme grainyness. There are also slight scratches and imperfections on some of the negatives, which at a normal size are miniscule, but here the tiniest scratch is blown up into a great white worm crawling over the page.

Don't get me wrong, Newton is one of the great lensmen of recent decades. The work displayed here is of itself, brilliant. Even so, you could save yourself a packet and buy a quality 'normal' book of his work, where the pictures can be appreciated more easily. This book's merit lies in it being an art object in it's own right. If you actually want to savour and enjoy Newton's work, give it a miss.

Don't Let the Critics Wrestle Sumo
This book is not meant to collect dust on a coffee table but to lay open atop its stand the way Starck designed it. It's an interactive art piece that can be changed daily, weekly, etc depending on your mood (or the company you expect). How can these arresting and haunting images ever get boring? Would a Helmut Newton hung on a wall slowly become mundane? I can tell you from experience that the answer is a resounding NO.

A work of art.....
This book is by far a conversation piece....I have had company that spends hours turning the pages. Even after having the book for several months, I flip through it and see photos I don't recall seeing the first time. I absolutely love this book and would highly recommend it to everyone. According to the folks at the Taschen bookstore in Beverly Hills, CA, there are fewer than 100 books left out of the 10,000 printed.

A MUST HAVE!
ANY Helmut or June fan must have this anthology!!

Record sized & worth every $, more than a book...
coffee table book with it's own coffee table / stand,
emormous, the biggest book I ever seen,
big & heavy, record size, over 65 pounds,
expensive, high dollar item,
nothing for prude people, but - it's one of a kind,
even if you don't like nude photographie, THIS is the BOOK,
you got to have it...,
just great !!! ... Read more

Book Description

Henri Matisse's ancestors had been weavers for generations: textiles, a key to his visual imagination, were in his blood. Although he was to outgrow every other influence, textiles retained their power for him throughout his life. His studio in Nice was a treasure house of exotic Persian carpets, delicate Arab embroideries, richly hued African wall hangings, and any number of colorful cushions, curtains, costumes, patterned screens, and backcloths.

This sumptuously illustrated book, which accompanies a groundbreaking exhibition at the Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis; the Royal Academy of Arts, London; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, explores for the first time Matisse's relationship with the textiles that surrounded him from his earliest days. Charting how the fabrics he painted became the very fabric of his painting, the authors examine the ways in which one of the greatest pioneers in modern art history used what he called his "working library" of textiles to furnish, order, and compose his extraordinary works of art. AUTHOR BIO: Ann Dumas is an independent exhibition curator. Jack Flam is professor of art and art history at Brooklyn College and New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. Rémi Labrusse is professor of contemporary art history at the Université de Picardie, Amiens. Hilary Spurling is working on the second volume of a biography of Matisse. Dominique Szymusiak is director of the Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Breathtaking paintings, sketches, and art objects
The collaborative publishing project of art historians and expeters Ann Dumas, Jack Flam, Remi Labrusse, and Hilary Spurling, Matisse: His Art And His Textiles is a stunning, full-color artbook showcasing how Henri Matisse, an artist descended from weavers, was influenced by his personal collection of vivid textiles - Persian carpets, Arab embroideries, African wall hangings, cushions, curtains, patterned screens, backcloths and more. Over 100 of Matisse's artworks along with numerous colorful fabrics, displayed as the catalogue of an exhibition at the Musee Matisse, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The text explores the connection that Matisse had to beautiful textile works, though the latter half of Matisse: His Art And His Textiles is devoted entirely to breathtaking paintings, sketches, and art objects. An enthusiastically recommended addition to library collections and art shelves.

GLORIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXCELLENT SCHOLARSHIP

What does the name "Matisse" bring to mind?For most, it would probably be the fact that he was a great artist, perhaps some would think of his use of color, the Fauvist movement, or perhaps his cut-outs, works that marked his late career.Textiles, fabrics would probably notcome to many minds.Now, this sumptuous volume published to accompany an exhibit that traveled to France, Britain, and New York sheds light on how very important these elements were to Matisse personally and to his oeuvre.

Matisse's unique visionwas astounding.In addition to his paintings, he sculpted, illustrated books, and designed sets for Diaghilev.Born in the north of France, which is the core of that country's textile industry, Matisse was exposed early on to the beauty of fabrics.. For many generations his family had been weavers, perhaps his love of textiles came to him naturally.It's been said that he was particularly attracted to Islamic art, the intricate patterns and colors that arrested the eye.What is known is that his Nice studio held a veritable trove of exotic carpets, embroideries, wall hangings, and all manner of brilliantly colored cushions and curtains.

His use of textiles is evident in his paintings in which he uses fabric as a backdrop or simply to drape a model.It was, indeed, part and parcel of his art.Consider the use of fabric in his "Purple Robe and Anemones" - there is, of course, the purple striped robe worn by his model but also the two wall coverings in golds, red, blue.Amazing.Or, consider his "Interior, Flowers, and Parakeets," in which we find the table covered by a colorful, intricately patterned runner above a diamond patterned ruby rug.

Many of the fabrics on display in the exhibit and brought to vibrant life in this marvelous volume have been stored away since Matisse's death in 1954."Matisse, His Art, and His Textiles, " in addition to being superbly illustrated, explores the relationship of Matisse'sfabrics to his paintings, and thus adds considerably to our knowledge and appreciation of one of the forerunners of modern art.

- Gail Cooke
... Read more

Reviews (7)

A thought-provoking collection of Mapplethorpe's sex picture
This collection of pictures is bound in a good quality cover and printed on a glossy paper of reasonable quality.

The images themselves are, in the main, sex pictures; S&M pictures; and a few portraits. The sex pictures are quite grotesque, concentrating as they do on the pain, blood, urine, bondage and so on. Whether you'll enjoy these depends on your view of the subject. Personally, I didn't find them uplifting or illuminating. The models were sullen, looked unhappy, or downright sad: but then I suppose if your... has been nailed to a plank you're entitled to be a little shaken!

The few portraits included in this volume were entirely unpleasing, and not representative of Mapplethorpe's better work. They offered no real insight ot the subjects, who remained cold and aloof, detached it seems from the process of making art.

This is a collection of many of Mapplethorpe's more 'sensational' and 'shocking' images. Whether you are affronted or not they do deserve inspection, if only to see what the 'conservatives' tried to ban. You might actually feel repulsed and agree that these pictures are not art but pornography.

One word: Ouch
You can always debate whether this book is "art" or not, but the fact is I am worried about what happened to some of the subjects. Helmut? Are you okay? I think Mapplethorpe wanted to shock, and he did, but I found the pictures had too much pain in them to be appreciated. I was deadened to what Mapplethorpe wanted to say, if he wanted to say anything at all. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

very good book
artistic and powerful, i recommend it

Art Or Trash? The Book Which Will Decide Your Vote!
Probably the most reviled book at Amazon because of its sexual explictness of the "out there" gay life led before AIDS, complete with bondage, S&M and even torture. Yet Mapplethorpe was artist enough to make many of the images compelling and haunting plus horrific yet eye/heart stopping. There are even self portraits of Mapplethorpe at the height of his own physical beauty before he too would be ravaged and killed by AIDS. I come down solidly on the side of the "This is art" contenders but caution you that this book is not for the rigid, the squeamish or minors. Mapplethorpe captured an extreme moment in time, when controversial sexual behavior came out to the public and shoved itself in the public's face, clamoring to be viewed and defying us to look away. I, for one, could not look away.

Another Posthumous success, whether you like it or not!
This is a fabulous collection of the very subject matter that turned the art world on end. These pictures, however explicit and extreme in subject matter push the more important issue of artistic freedom. Without this freedom we all suffer. Censorship has somehow told us that we can be harmed by the images we look at...more harmful is the forced conformity that ensues when creativity is left for others to decide what is or isn't done in the name of artistic freedom. Having left his flowers and portraits in their own respective niches, his artistic freedom rings clear as a bell with this collection. ... Read more

Book Description

A magisterial presentation of all the works of Barnett Newman, along with fascinating new insights into his artistic achievement

Barnett Newman (1905–1970), one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, has captivated critics, scholars, and the general public for decades. This highly anticipated catalogue raisonné presents Newman’s entire oeuvre—paintings, drawings, sculpture, graphics, an architectural model, lost and unfinished works, and ephemera—in one stunning and definitive volume. Featured elements include color reproductions of unparalleled quality; extensive provenance, exhibition, and publication histories; and a listing of the contents of the artist’s library at the time of his death.

In addition to the catalogue raisonné prepared by Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, the book offers revelatory essays on the artist, his career, and his working methods and features fascinating photographs of Newman, his studios, and his installations. Richard Shiff draws on new documentation to explain why Newman chose to create abstract art, how he achieved “fullness” in his paintings, and how his works exemplify the social functions of an artist. Carol C. Mancusi-Ungaro reveals extraordinary details about Newman’s studio practice and materials and techniques, information not available to the public before because Newman only allowed his wife to observe him at work. Mancusi-Ungaro also discusses the fate of works that were damaged while traveling to exhibitions or by vandals.

Produced and designed to the highest possible standards, this magnificent catalogue raisonné is a critical purchase for anyone interested in twentieth-century art.

Richard Shiff is Effie Marie Cain Regents Chair in Art and Director of the Center for the Study of Modernism at the University of Texas; Carol C. Mancusi-Ungaro is Director of Conservation at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and Heidi Colsman-Freyberger is an independent scholar, researcher, and bibliographer.
... Read more

Book Description

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), an Italian painter and printmaker renowned for his simple yet stunning still lifes, is also famous for his legendary reputation as a recluse, an artist who resided in a world bound by the walls of his Bologna studio. Giorgio Morandi: The Art of Silence dispels this myth and is the first and only study in English to cover Morandi's career in its entirety as well as in the sociopolitical and cultural context of Italian art.

Janet Abramowicz, Morandi's former teaching assistant, takes the reader through half a century of Italian art history and its most significant movements-Futurism, Pittura Metafisica, Valori Plastici, Strapaese, Novecento-most of which have received scant attention from English-language scholars. Abramowicz shows how Morandi worked in close proximity to mainstream contemporary European art and tells the story of his relationship to the Fascist politics and patrons of his time, illustrating how his connections to this period were muted after the fall of the regime in post-World War II Italy in an effort to establish the artist as apolitical. Morandi was the only Italian modernist to emerge from Fascism unscathed.

An important new addition to scholarship on twentieth-century Italian art history, this book features many rare and previously unpublished images and will fascinate admirers of Morandi and his transcendent work.

Book Description

Reviews (11)

A Beautiful Book, Highly Recommended
I found this book to be a wonderful experience. Sally Mann has shown so many different 12-year-olds in her hometown of Lexington, Va, and she has captured their stories and what makes each girl so unique. I loved this book and found that some of the photographs, especially "Doll House" reminded me of myself "At Twelve".

Wonderful
I give Sally Mann a thumbs up for capturing her beautiful children when they were young, being what they are: beloved children. How fast we grow and turn into adults!
As I studied each page my memory was jogged several times of my childhood in southern Georgia. Humid sunny days and muggy rainy evenings; I couldn't wait to strip what little bit of cloths I wore and play outside in the rain or in the woods. I never gave it a second thought being nude. And apparently neither did my parents. Needless to say Sally Mann and her beloved childern are dear to my heart. Thanks for bring back so many innocent fond memories.
I recommend this book if you have an open mind and love children for what they are.

At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women
At Twelve is Sally Mann's revealing, collective portrait of twelve-year-old girls on the verge of adulthood. The way many of these reviews are written (i.e. like revealing) you think your getting something for the money but you're not. There is no nudity in this book (except for one picture of a 2 or 3 year old). I strongly recommend you stay away from this trash and stick with the David Hamiltion books.

Solidly beautiful pictures
Maybe I missed something. The pictures are beautiful, and they are supposed to be an attempt to capture the essence of young women on the cusp of becoming adults. What I got was pictures of young women-- missed the whole "becoming" thing. I could just be thick, but this one just passed me by devoid of any emotion.

Exploitative!!
This is not new ground. Mann is better than this. She could be a "contender," by taking a different route than she has - the exploitation of her own children in the nude. Not recommended!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Focusing on the period 1905-1913, this provocative and groundbreaking new book refutes the popular view of Matisse as the painter of relaxed pleasures, the master of decorative line and sensuous color. Alastair Wright discovers a darker, more complex side to Matisse: an artist whose work, caught in the uneasy space between modernism and tradition, was fundamentally engaged with the most pressing of modernity's artistic and ideological debates. Presenting a series of brilliant and highly original analyses of Matisse's most important early paintings, Wright locates the artist within a wider cultural field in which the identities of modernism--and of its viewers--were highly contested. Wright offers a penetrating examination of the public response to Matisse's work, arguing that his early-twentieth-century audience found in his painting a deeply disturbing challenge to contemporary concepts of the self, of the nation, and of the West.

This sumptuously illustrated book positions the work of Matisse and a number of his contemporaries in relation to key aspects of modernity--the commodification of the individual, the dislocation of cultural identity, and the effacement of racial boundaries under the pressure of imperial expansion--and provides a compelling account of how these contradictory historical materials fused to give birth to Matisse's modernism. What emerges is a renewed sense of the rich complexity of an artistic practice suspended between the seductive potential of pure color and an always ambivalent engagement with tradition. Tracing the interplay between Matisse's painting and discourses of art and subjectivity, Wright offers a significant new reading of one of the central figures of early-twentieth-century modernism.

... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Claude Monet is commonly considered to be the most consistent and representative of Impressionist artists.His painting, Impression, Sunrise (1874) inspired the official name of this movement.This book portrays Monet's work and vast influence in its historical perspective as it charts his life and career.Over 300 paintings illustrate his artistic experiments as well as his most successful works. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent presentation of Monet's works through his career
This is an excellent book. Sproccati's comments in the beginning are clear and engaging. The best part of the book is the collection of color plates. This is a large book, allowing for large reproductions of many of his paintings. High quality paper, well-focused colorful plates, almost none of which are split over two pages, and well-organized and thought-out order make this an outstanding value. ... Read more

Book Description

Bruce Nauman's art has ranged across a variety of media that includes drawings, sculpture, performance, photography, neon, film, video, holograms, texts, and large-scale mixed media installations. This book features a comprehensive catalogue raisonne with illustrated entries for more than five hundred works, including films, videos, performances, and photographic pieces. ... Read more

Book Description

Explore Claude Monet's life and art, and the influences that shaped his work.

Discover the genius of Claude Monet through this highly informative guide, which tells the fascinating story of the life and work of one of the most famous figures in the history of art. Superb, specially commissioned photographs show the methods and materials Monet used to create his masterpieces, while art historian Jude Welton offers a unique "eyewitness" view of the painter's distinctive canvases, and the complex personality behind them. See close-ups of Monet's vigorous, textured brushwork, how he captured the ever-changing effects of light on water, the lavish garden he created at Giverny, which inspired over 500 paintings. Learn how the trains at the Gare Saint-Lazare were stopped for Monet to paint them, how he created the celebrated Cathedrals and other "series" paintings, how he was influenced by Japanese art. Discover how the term "Impressionist" was coined, Monet's links with Manet, Renoir, Sisley, how doctors battled to save his failing eyesight, and much, much more! ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Visual Treat!
This Claude Monet art book is a great book, I received it as a gift over 10 years ago and I think it's very well put together and has beautiful images of Monet's best artwork and the book also gives some info as well. I recommend this book which is a good read, a visual treat and makes an excellent coffee table book!

Water Lily Heaven
If you are in love with Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond paintings, this is the best book for an explanation as to their origins and where Monet found his inspiration. There is a photograph from 1926 showing the bridge covered with climbing plants.

The Japanese Bridge at Giverny, 1924 is just one of the outstanding paintings in a series of works devoted to the bridge that preoccupied Monet during his final years.

Monet loved his garden at Giverny with such a passion that one could say it bordered on obsession. Harmony in Green, The White Water Lilies, The Water Lily Pond are all explained in detail. There is even a picture of Monet photographed in his beloved garden in 1917.

In every life there is beauty and sadness. The beauty of the water lilies contrasts with the pain Monet felt when he painted Camille on her death bed.

When Monet's wife died, she not only left him without a companion, he then had small children depending on him. He spent most of his meager earnings on his wife's medical treatments and he was also deeply depressed and alone.

This type of revealing information makes him so very human and the paintings then contain a certain depth when these secrets are revealed.

Comprehensive tour du force
A must-have for any student of Monet. Volumne I contains covers his biography proper, while volumes II-IV provide a COMPLETE record of the artist's body of work.

Wilderstein protrays Monet life for the most part as that of a debtor. However to his credit, he tempers the romantic "suffering artist" idealism with insight into Monet the creditor. By illustrating what a jackass the artist could also be, the author creates a deep and lively narrative.

Most of the personal insight into Monet come to us by way of coorespondance with Alice Hoeschede. Due to 'appearances' however she requested of Monet her letters be destroyed immediately and thus we're sadly left with a one-sided portrait of the man. While his artistic talents we're unparalled, it's his devotation to correspondance that allows Wildenstein to bring him back to life. Without giving away the ending, it's Monet's inability to write rather than paint that signals the end.

Outstanding book!!
I loved this book! The pictures were wonderful and the readings that went with them were as well. Learned many things that I did not know about his artwork. VERY informative...give it a try, it would make a great gift book!

Little substance, fair reproductions
Another book on the overblown impressionists. Little commentary and fair reproductions. A perfect book to put on your coffee table with your Renoir coasters. Souveneir book only. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

My oldest possession.
It's true, this book is my oldest possession, from an earlier printing, I've had this book since the early 70's. If you are a painter and want to learn how to put space and light into your work then this book is your greatest resource and greatest challenge. For those in the know, Morandi is THE ONE for creating a palpable space in two demensions. The space shimmers and moves - it's real!

Excellent book
The prints are excellent - both in terms of variety and quality of print. I use them in classes and they are really a treasure. The text is very readable and enjoyable as well (though I care more about the print quality). ... Read more

Book Description

Acclaimed American documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark (b. 1940) made her first iconic pictures when living in Turkey on a Fulbright Fellowship in the mid-1960s. Her photographs of Bombay brothels, shot in the late 1970s, were published in 1981 in Falkland Road, a book that became legendary and confirmed her status as one of the most prominent and provocative documentary photographers working today.

Mark’s pictures are a celebration of humanity in its most diverse and eccentric forms. Circuses, gypsy camps, children yearning for adulthood, the poor and destitute are some of her recurring themes. Mark has the unique ability to capture gestures and expressions that translate the intense emotions of her subjects. Compassionate but never literal, her pictures can be humorous, tragic, enigmatic, shocking, and oftentimes all of these simultaneously.

This book presents for the first time a selection of the strongest pictures of Mark’s forty-year career, drawing from emblematic series such as "Falkland Road," "Indian Circus," and "Twins," as well as a selection of previously unpublished images. The photographs are accompanied by an introduction by Weston Naef, and an interview with Mark that provides context and behind-the-scene anecdotes. Together Mark’s images and words provide intimate insights into the lives of others, presenting compelling stories of human strength and suffering. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (23)

Disturbing and Transcendental Art
All of the photographs in this collection were taken with an 8x10 view camera, even those that have the appearance of candid, random snapshots. Many of the images are carefully manipulated in the darkroom to give one of the subjects an eerie, almost angelic luminescence in scenes dominated by hardship, tragedy, and crushing rural poverty. Sally Mann is a major artist, supported by Guggenheim, NEH and NEA grants, and this is some of her very best work. Readers should be warned that some will consider this work to border on child pornography. While this is absolutely not the case (and I vigorously support prosecution of those who exploit children in any fashion), in some localities this could almost be a "dangerous" book to own. Sally Mann's disturbing and transcendent vision will outlast our current hysteria and misunderstanding and will endure as photographic literature.

CHECK OUT these photos! Sally Mann is... um... the Mann.
POSSIBLY MY FAVORITE BOOK! I carry this book with me everywhere I go. I bring it with me on two-day trips. It's ridiculous. Sally Mann is an incredible photographer and in this book, contrary to previous criticism, she photographs her children in DECENT and human, natural poses (nudity reigns, but tastefully so). She is by far my favorite photographer and, as a photo major in college, constantly cures me of those dreaded uninspired days of my life. Every time I flip through this book, I'm crazed with new ideas and inspiration. Not to mention awe.

Rich and honest images
The summers of one's youth in the Blue Ridge are unmistakable. The heat comes up by ten. You head to the ponds and rivers for relief. By the blazing arc of midday you play jacks or Uno under an oak. Evening comes; hotdogs are grilled for miles, and an immense cool falls like a hush between the pines. Mann captures this reverie with utmost grace in her unalloyed images of her children. In Mann we discover a eye keen to the wonderful contrasts of black and white. Some images offer striking, ambiguous detail; others approach portraiture.
If her children's nudity draws criticism from those of a certain political stripe, I can only surmise it comes from that small, unlucky handful of Virginians who did not have the opportunity to march outside on an August dog day with nothing on. Frankly, it's all you want to wear in August whether you are eight or fifty eight.
These images tug strongly at the heartstrings of, not just those of us lucky enough to have spent our youths in rural Virginia, but anyone who has deep set memories of childhood and place. A rich and lasting collection.

Absolutely beautiful.....
I've read some of the other reviews for this book, and most of the negative ones seem to mostly criticize the expressions on the faces of these children, and how they must reflect a miserable childhood. However, I know that when I was a child, I did not go around constantly with a huge grin on my face, even though my childhood was overall pretty happy. I think that if these photos showed these children all at happy moments and always smiling, then they would be boring, and I wouldn't consider them to be art. I think that these gorgeous photos honestly reflect their childhoods, and the ordeals they went through growing up. Just because the child's faces are blank does not mean that they were unwilling participants in these photos. Also, just because they were raised in an environment where nudity was accepted and not an issue isn't a cause for critism here either, in my opinion. Some people are just raised differently and in different environments, and I think it is fascinating to see how open this family was. I don't find it dirty [...] in any way at all. It's just honest, real photography.

Help Needed in making this book
I am so sore that I bought this book. I wonder why it is even printed at all. The photos are unartistic snapshots of a couple of hillbillies families and a few are out of focus and taken with shaky hands. I wish Sally would learn how to shoot.

The subject of most photos are uninteresting. Look toward Jock Sturges or David Hamilton's books instead ... Read more

Amazon.com

In Mexico in the early 1920s, a growing, collective social consciousness gave rise to a revolutionary furor focused on liberating the country's workers from harsh conditions and poverty. In 1921, Mexican artists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros were all commissioned by the government to create educational paintings on the walls of public buildings. After that initial experience, they devoted themselves almost exclusively to painting these large-scale murals--forming the foundation of a movement that would last 50 years. The muralists' work took up the themes of society and revolution. Often the paintings depicted historical vignettes like the story of Cuernavaca and Morelos crossing the barranca, or Mexico's ancient Indians. They satirized contemporary society, created ideal visions of peaceful families, and built up dark, imposing industrial cityscapes then leveled them by depicting the debauchery and death of the capitalist industrialists.

The paintings themselves reflect diverse artistic influences--surrealism, cubism, and illustration, most notable among them.Their bold colors and strong imagery practically bound out of the 150 color plates in this book. Mexican muralist and scholar Desmond Rochfort lucidly traces the development of the movement to place the work in context and provides a solid history of each of the artists' social and artistic influences. This is an excellent overview of work that should appeal both to fans of the individual artists and Mexican art in general. --Jordana Moskowitz ... Read more

Reviews (4)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I OWN!!
This is definitely one of the best books out there for anyone interested in Mexican art. Few books can inspire as much as this one, especially for people from Zapotlanejo, Jalisco. It's loaded with many pictures and chronicles the lives of these three muralistas and has in depth coverage of specific murals, i especially enjoyed the coverage on "History of Mexico" mural by Diego Rivera. This book is definitely worth the price and a great addition to any collection. Orale!

A Masterpiece!!
Rarely have I been as moved and inspired by an art book.

The work of Orozco, Diego and Siqueiros is required study for art students and art enthusiasts.

Thank you Dr. Rochfort for presenting their magnificent work within your brilliant historical analysis.

best outlook on the murilists of mexico and their beliefs
Shows a great variety of each artists pieces and movements through out their career.

very informative
outstanding full of historical views ... Read more

Book Description

Volume 3 of three-volume set includes studies of horses, domestic and wild animals, and birds in remarkable stopped-action photographs by pioneering master photographer. Also includes the original prospectus and a catalogue of plates for the entire work. Essential for artists, animators, photographers, cinematographers, anyone interested in the mechanics of people in motion.
... Read more

Book Description

Agnes Martin has spent every morning for the past 40 years working in her New Mexico studio, producing square abstract paintings that consist of graphite horizontal lines across fields of white, gray, or pale colors. Though her work superficially belongs to the history of Minimalism, Martin considers her paintings the abstract expression of positive inner states of existence. Published on the occasion of her 90th birthday, this catalogue presents the iconic serenity and elegant geometry of her canvasses from the past decade, in a format complimentary to Martin's own immutable aesthetic.
Essay by Ned Rifkin.

8.5 x 9 in.
50 color, 10 b/willustrations ... Read more

Book Description

Renowned for her candid portrayal of family life (Immediate Family), her revealing study of girlhood (At Twelve), and landscapes from the American South (Mother Land and Deep South), internationally acclaimed photographer Sally Mann has produced a powerful new body of work on the one subject that affects us all. In WHAT REMAINS, a five-part meditation on mortality, Mann focuses her lens on the ineffable divide between body and soul, the means by which life takes leave of this earth, and the manner in which it rejoins it. Mann's new photographs are by turns shocking and sublime. An armed fugitive is hunted down by police. She photographs the scars left on her property after the incident. A series of brooding, otherworldly landscapes made at the Civil War battlefield of Antietam is followed by a group of close-up portraits of Mann's own children, floating in the inky black atmosphere of the nineteenth-century ambrotype; another series taken at a forensics study site offers an unflinching look at the process of decomposition, as do images of a beloved pet greyhound--long since departed. Made with the collodion process, using glass plates, the resulting images are at once painterly, sculptural, and photographic. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

it was the kids
i always wondered if mann was a truly gifted artist or if her subjects and locations were just so compelling that anyone could have captured incredible images if they happened to be present.

this book confirms the latter.

these photographs are flat, uninteresting, not compelling for me in any way.

Maybe she needs to find some new prepubescent girls and go back to the child-erotica.

The controversial nature of her images were what vaulted her to fame.

it surely was not talent.

Disappointing ...
I was very disappointed in this book. If I want to see death photos, I can find them almost anywhere these days. I miss Sally's earlier work, which was focused more on people and children. Her landscapes and these death photos are made to look as if they were photographed 100 years ago and I find this too "gimmicky" for my taste. I think that her new subject matter, death, is on the level on the current supermarket tabloid mentality. A very disappointing book that I was looking forward to ... really wish she would return to her earlier topics, and printing techniques.

Thank you to Sally Mann.........
Thank you to Sally Mann for her frank discussion & photographs on death. I have long felt that American's are spending millions of dollars in the vain, dillusional and fear-driven attempt to ELIMINATE aging and death. It is frustrating & depressing to see so much money wasted this way. It also seems to have created an obsession with safety at any cost. I appreciate Sally Mann's beautifully done work on this "taboo" subject.

Shocking
The first time I viewed this book, standing over it for nearly an hour, I was left socked, so shaken that I had to go to my room and turn off all the lights, and just lie in my bed and rest myself.

What Mann has created is not definable, and doubtless each viewing experience will be different for each individual. She does not seem to be creating an agenda book as much as an human experience. As I moved through I kept on thinking about, or rather questioning myself. What is it to look at a dead body? Is it a sign of disrespect for the dead? Or is it a sign of reverence? After all, it is the easy thing to turn away from the rotting flesh of our family, but that does not mean that it is the respectful thing, right?

One would think that Mann, already an artist at the top of her profession, might be tempted to rest on her laurels. However, this new work proves that she has no intention of doing so. She bravely continues to take risks, as well as dive further into her subject matter, and what remains is one of the world's greatest artists functioning at the peak of her creative powers.

Outstanding!
Death has long been a subject for artists. Mann's depth and vision elevate even the photos of decomposing bodies several levels above the merely grotesque. Yes, the photos are "difficult". The techniques employed produce dark or washed out and unevenly exposed images. But this adds to the overall mood of the book. And the subject matter is not "pretty". The final section of tightly cropped family photographs sums up "what remains". This is an outstanding project from one of the finest practitioners today of the photographer's art. ... Read more

Book Description

Amedeo Modigliani (1884--1920) is one of the greatest-and most misunderstood-artists of the twentieth century. His incisive portraits, erotically charged nudes, beautiful drawings, and primitivistic sculpture have been admired for decades. Modigliani's work, however, has typically been examined in the limited context of his so-called "bohemian," anti-intellectual lifestyle. This groundbreaking book revises this approach toward Modigliani's art, presenting a convincing revisionist examination of the unique historical, social, religious, and cultural significance of his oeuvre.Modigliani: Beyond the Myth looks at the artist and his art from a variety of important perspectives: his proud heritage as a Sephardic Jew, whose spirituality embraced non-Western, classical, and Christian iconography while retaining his own ethnic identity; his critical engagement with the dialogues of the most radical of his avant-garde contemporaries (Picasso, Chaim Soutine, Henri Matisse, and Brancusi); the influence of tribal art and Judaism on his portraiture; the representation of the female nude in his works from a feminist cultural perspective; and the remarkable reception of his work in Italy during his lifetime. Lavishly illustrated and including a detailed chronology of his life, this fascinating book situates Modigliani anew in the history of twentieth-century art.BACKCOVER: ... Read more