Book Description

Hailed by readers and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky; her association with the Communist Party; her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture; and her dramatic love of spectacle.

Here is the tumultuous life of an extraordinary twentieth-century woman -- with illustrations as rich and haunting as her legend.

Reviews (21)

The Best Book on Frida Kahlo
One cannot live in the modern world without regularly encountering self-portrait images of the beautiful and tragic Frida Kahlo. Whether on coffee mugs, t-shirts, posters, or Mexican artifacts, Frida's exquisite face with its darkly joined eyebrows and beribboned hair is immediately familiar to most observers, even if they do not know who she was. Yet Frida Kahlo's popularity in the twentieth century can be wholly attributed to her brilliance. Unlike the work of most modern artists, almost all of her 200 paintings depict realist, surrealist, and primitive self-portraits symbolizing the concerns and agonies of her life. Hayden Herrera's fine biography is still, seventeen years after its publication, the champion text on one of the most important, original, and phenomenal painters of our time.

Frida was born in 1910 (the year the Mexican Revolution began)to a Mexican mother and German father in the same cobalt blue house in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City, where she later worked and shared her life with the great muralist Diego Rivera. Ironically, it is the house where her life also ended. Today it is a museum, open to the public and still festooned with her beautiful collections of retablos, pottery, and Mexican folk art. Frida's life was consumed by pain as a result of suffering polio at age 6 and a bus/trolley collision as a teenager when, thrown from the bus, she was gored by a steel rail. Frida spent most years of her life bedridden and in body casts (which she also painted)after some 30 surgeries meant to alleviate her suffering. Throughout her life,and even while prone in a bed with a mirrored canopy, she painted herself because of the focus created by chronic pain and said, "I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone." Her self-portraits suggest deep meanings as her face is always encircled with images derived from her physical and psychological life. The paintings are vibrant and, typical of many of her women contemporaries' works, tiny.

Hayden Herrera's book presents a comprehensive life study of the great artist, incorporating photographs, diaries, letters, painting reproductions, eye witness accounts, and local history and politics in the most readable, enjoyable, intelligent work available. An art historian, Ms. Herrera is thoroughly knowledgeable and writes beautifully, as well. One will be as engrossed by this book as by any great novel. Her work convincingly recreates the scenes from Frida's life and populates them with important contemporaries Frida knew and loved, including Andre Breton, Leon Trotsky, Tina Modotti, Pablo Picasso, and, of course, her own Diego Rivera who called her the greatest painter of our time.

There isn't a more engaging biography available about Frida Kahlo (in second place is Herrera's other text, Frida Kahlo:The Paintings), and one need not be an art student to be enthralled by this work. Ms. Herrera's compassionate, energetic account will capture anyone who wonders just what Frida Kahlo was like--her inspirations, occupations, and truly vivacious approach to her one very painful and amazingly productive life.

Thanks to this book, I discovered Frida!
It was thanks to this wonderful book that I discovered Frida Kahlo, who is now my heroine. I have read many books about her, but this is absolutely the best one. It made me laugh - and weep, too, because I could really feel Frida`s pain in my own body...
Today I am probably Sweden`s biggest Frida - fan, and I drive everybody crazy talking about her all the time! Thanks to her, I have started to paint and draw a lot, I dare to wear crazy clothes - and I dare to be my self.
Thank you, Hayden Herrera, for writing such a great book...

Complete and Complex Like Frida
Hayden Herrera has written an excellent portrait of the great artist Frida Kahlo, complete in thought and tender in describing a woman well lived.

Frida Kahlo is the ultimate survivor and represents women for their strength, tenderness, fierceness and suffering compassion. She lived during a time when women had few rights, especially Mexican women, she faced the dreadfulness of the Mexican Revolution in her early years, a bout with polio, a horrible bus accident that attempted to cripple her for life, an often unfaithful husband, criticism of her dreams, activism, accused Communism and many exciting adventures in life. She lived a true artistic life and her paintings represent the complicated nature of her inner soul. She loved hard and fought often, for her rights, her dreams and her man. While bed-ridden and suffering in the severest of agony she taught herself to paint, her body encased in a huge white cast, she painted to survive and reached the other end with a unique perspective on art. Her life and home were surrounded with color, a rainbow that never needed the promise of something golden at the end. She danced her own rhythm and never stopped walking her own path. This is a woman to be admired!

Herrera does an excellent job as the biographer of this phenomenally complicated woman. Her research is thorough and her suggestions entirely believable. You will be transported back in time into the life of a controversial woman who deserves every ounce of recognition that Herrera has given us.

A thorough rendering of an artist's life
This biography is a complete, engaging 440-page effort of sheer reportage. Herrera, an art historian and curator, has also written a book on Kahlo's art, and books on Mary Frank and Matisse, and you can see evidence of her thoroughness on every page. The book traces Kahlo's life by setting up the lives of her parents (her father was an Austrian immigrant to Mexico) all the way to her death and funeral with great detail. As Herrera follows the path of Kahlo's life, she includes letters to and from Kahlo, Kahlo's journal excerpts (illustrations, words and poems) and explicates Kahlo's art as it becomes relevant to the storyline of her life, either because paintings were done around the time of narrative points or because they illustrate incidents or themes in Kahlo's life. There are two color-plate sections and two black-and-white photo/painting sections to which the reader may refer.

Frida's life is certainly compelling, and Herrera doesn't need to resort to emotional language or hyperbole to make her interesting -- and, thankfully, she doesn't. The narrative is quite matter-of-fact, and illustrated with the subjects' own words, one feels that one can get to know Frida, and her husband, Diego Rivera, pretty well, for being somewhat removed from them (at least I feel that way living in the twenty-first century in Arkansas). The book incorporates the commonly known facts of Frida's life -- her devastating tram accident as a high-schooler in which she was impaled on a shaft of metal handrail, her turbulent and deep connection with and TWO subsequent marriages to Diego Rivera, her Mexicanista loyalties and sensibilities, her affair with Trotsky, her personal flamboyance and her great talent -- with the over-arching idea of Frida's alegría -- or happiness, joy -- in the face of her many hardships. As one of her friends said, Frida was a woman who "lived dying." Her many health problems and her problematic and sometimes painful relationship with Rivera were great obstacles to her, but her flamboyant alegría appears throughout her life as a constant, a will to enjoy, to overcome.

I think what the book offers most is Frida's personality, explicated as carefully and well as the paintings, and the effort helps inform the viewer's assessment and response to her work. Using Kahlo's own words often, Herrera allows Frida to tell us herself her reactions to incidents, events, her successes, her health problems.

She writes to her dear friend and medical adviser, Dr. Eloesser, in the United States when she is struggling with the decision to amputate her increasingly problematic foot: "My dearest Doctorcito: [The doctors] are driving me crazy and making me desperate. What should I do? It is as if I am being turned into an idiot and I am very tired of this f---ing foot and I would like to be painting and not worrying about so many problems. But, it can't be helped, I have to be miserable until the situation is resolved..."

This passage is emblematic of Kahlo, mixing her crass language with her charming endearments to her friends, her concern for her health and her resignation to the situation, "it can't be helped..." She often curses, refers to her reader as "kid" and to money as "dough," in English.

Herrera points out points at which Kahlo is not completely forthcoming with truthful details, for instance her age, the length of time she spent hospitalized at various stages, and her changing view on whether she was a Surrealist painter or not. She also illustrates Kahlo's changes in terms of the political situation of the international Communist party, her views about Trotsky, and her public vs. private comments on Diego's never-ending philandering.

In a book on Kahlo, these life details are relevant to her art because her art is confessional and personal. She's a "Sylvia Plath" of painting and mines her life and emotions for subjects until the end. Not long before she died, she had resolved her priorities, telling a friend, "I only want three things in life: to live with Diego, to continue painting, and to belong to the Communist party."

The people around her were deeply important to Frida Kahlo, and to the end of her life, she adored her friends, wrote winning and charming, caring notes to them, and wanted them around her at the end. Her love of others plays itself out in her political beliefs; she toured the world as an artist, but she drew her subjects and methods from Mexicanista traditions, and popular as well as pre-Columbian culture. Her personal illustrations are appealing because of that understanding of others, and Herrera's sound biography renders Kahlo's work and life even more poignant and remarkable. It's a good book. I recommend it.

(I do wish that this book had Frida Kahlo's own art or a photo of her on the cover, rather than a photo of Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo.)

Frida Kahlo is Alive and Well
The greatest compliment one could offer a biographer is that she has brought to life her subject with honesty and insight. Well, I offer this compliment to Hayden Herrera. It is supreme understatement for me to observe that the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, was a complex person filled with great contradictions. Yet, through liberal use of Frida's letters coupled with Herrera's own insightful analysis of her painting, "Frida" brings this great artist to life for us to bask in her brilliance, energy and strength. "Frida" is one of the most remarkable, illuminating and fulfilling biographies I have ever read. I highly recommend this magnificent book. ... Read more

Book Description

Paris, the City of Light-its beauty and romance are matched only by its cultural riches. This stunningly illustrated book offers, in one definitive volume, the entire history of Paris's art and architecture, from the Gothic magnificence of Notre Dame with its renowned stained glass, to the engineering marvel of the Eiffel Tower, to the endlessly popular paintings of the French Impressionists, housed in the former train station now known as the Musée d'Orsay. In more than 800 color photographs and 720 pages, this book leaves no doubt as to why Paris is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world.

Paris, City of Art reveals the myriad treasures its artists and architects have created during the city's long and illustrious history, from the soaring cathedrals and the extravagant royal residences of Versailles and the Louvre (today one of the most important museums in the world) to the paintings of such neoclassical masters as Jacques Louis-David and such modern revolutionaries as Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso. This deluxe, oversize volume is sure to appeal to every art lover, every Francophile, and every Parisian at heart. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Reviews (23)

10 out of 10 no doubt
this book along with spraycan art,getting up,stylewars,wild style,beat street,countless video clips & so on started the world wide graffiti and hip hop culture. when i first got this book seven years ago ive spent a good 20 hours studying it. this book is well known as the most stolen book in the u.k from the set of two " graff bibles " spraycan art being the other one if you don't have this book and you like old school ny trains from where it all started you really need to get this book MUST BUY.

Essential and important
The epitome of classic NYC graffiti, Subway Art has become the veritable Bible for this particular subculture that has exploded around the United States, and also the world ( just to name a few: Germany, Iceland, Denmark, Amsterdam, France, and Japan ). Contained herein are the masterpeices by the Kings of the Line, Dondi ( R.I.P. ), Blade, Lee, Kase, Seen, Lady Pink and a host of others. The pictures are large and there are some fold-outs, capturing the SIZE and LENGTH of what are basically moving steel masterpeices. There is a brief line or two about tags and throw-ups, but the book concentrates more on top-to-bottoms, window-to-bottoms, and whole cars. What is important about this book is its documentation of an up and coming subculture that basically gave a big EFF YOU to an environment that was comparable to some 3rd world countries by creating an art that was not only dangerous ( in its execution ), but creative, and beautiful. The message that "we are here, and WE SHALL BOMB", in SPITE of Transit Authoriy and the indifferent system which placed them there is characteristic of adversity which spawns creativity ( the same adversity that created Hip-Hop ) . An important peice of work, and a must for art afficiandos and graf & hip-hop heads alike.

review for hard-working graffheds who sketch and learn style
If you're a graffwriter it's very important you see this at least once, which doesn't mean you should buy it. If you're a writer and you've adopted a sort of scholastic approach to learning style (ie observing style in photos and trying to sketch what you see to learn), then read this:
If you've already mastered the basics (ie letter proportions, basic connections, simple letters, blockbusters) and you're counting on this book to teach you some new tricks, don't.
All this media hype about the bible of graffiti has influenced a lot of people to overestimate this book. Let us not forget that this book is only what the photographers saw. These guys were not writers. Many crews which contributed to the evolution of style (fba, tc5, tds) are not documented. Books can only reflect the writer's quality but not quantity of pieces done. So who was king where and when is another question. Where are the real style burners in the book??!! They're not there.
Well that's up to you to look for them, if you're a true writer, document yourself, dig for those gems, this culture is underground, and there are many wack pieces in this book.
Now don't get me wrong, it still is essential to have seen it at least once to understand what old skool is. But just get it from a friend, or check it out at the bookshop. What you really should be looking out for though is old issues of tight magazine, and old underground graff zines having new york specials, there are a lot, and especially in european magz.
And if you're new to this culture, then this book won't bring you the initial spark to start your career in writing. You're better off watching Style Wars by the same author, that is worth your money at 200%, trust me. This is it ! This is it !

FOR GRAFFHEADS!!
This is a CLASSIC,features KING's seen,dondi,cap,kel,iz,..
This book shows how writers got up back in tha day..
Whole car flix, crew interveiws,HUNDREDS OF FLIX..
The real deal..
Brooklyn 2004

Not a Bible
This is no BIBLE but it is a good book. It shows some of the most reputed artist in NYC in their golden years of spray painting artwork on the subway. (which is no longer done due to metallic trains and buffing) The reason why people were pissed off about graffiti in those days was because most of it sucked and few could write...most people were tagging up NYC and making it look like a slum. A lot of guys scratch the glass on the new subways in NYC. ... Read more

Book Description

This invaluable reader brings together the core writings on architecture by key philosophers and cultural theorists of the Twentieth Century.

This careful selection of the very best theoretical writings offers a refreshing take on the question of architecture and provocatively rethinks many of the accepted tenets of architectural theory from a broader cultural perspective. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Mis-reading architecture
I read this book and was instantly struck by the mis-representation and editing of the theories of some of the centuries most important thinkers. The discourse is limited to a one-dimensional view of architectural theory that seems to dismiss the most potent ideas of critical theory and radical critique. The book is structured around themed chapters containing several extracts with a logic of "this is a critique of this" in a rather naive way. The author's ommission of Heidegger's thinking is bizarre and his critique of Loos misses out the crucial influence of the intellectual milieu of early 20th century Vienna (Kraus, Wittgenstein etc.). Some interesting lesser known figures are brought to light (Kracauer for example)and there is some fantastic material here extracted from larger works, but be warned! this is a book with its own agenda.

Rethinking Compilations
This book is a compilation of essays on architecture from a very distinctive and unique point of view, which shows people involved with architecture or its related fields the perspective of recognised sociologists, communicators, semiologists et cetera, and which constitutes a very valuable tool for a deeper understanding of our everyday proceedings in such a globalizing practice as the art of designing works of art where we can dwell. ... Read more

Book Description

This magnificent book is the key to understanding one of the world's most important architectural traditions, one that spawned major masterpieces throughout the near east, and particularly in Persia, India, Turkey, North Africa, Southern Russia, and Spain.As human representation is forbidden in Islamic religious monuments, design and ornamentation reach unparalleled heights of expression through mosaics, stucco, brickwood, and ceramic.Brilliant colors are used everywhere to enhancedesign.

This monumental study is a close collaboration between Dominique Clevenot, a distinguished scholar of art, and Gerald de George, a renowned photographer.Together, they visited and photographed hundreds of monuments, selecting their most noteworthy features.Unlike other books, which divide the subject geographically or chronically, the authors have approached this complicated topic from four different and interconnected angles: the history of Islamic architecture, materials and techniques, ornamental design, and the aesthetics of ornamentation.

Each of these topics is presented through a number of outstanding examples and comparable monuments from all over the Islamic world.Travelers overwhelmed by the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra will gain greater understanding.Architects and designers will find endless inspiration and ideas.Historians will be illuminated.Anyone interested in the vast world of Islam will find new knowledge in this magnificent full-color publication. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A must companion
If you are someone who is involved in arhitect or interior decoration, this book is a must to guide you in creating something splendor from the Islamic culture, and it's a good refrence on a cofee table top.

Four different approaches to Islam architecture
Islam expanded quickly within a few centuries, embracing a wide area and altering the political and cultural heritage of the entire region. Splendors of Islam examines the visual effects of Islam, considering the structures in contrast with other architectural traditions and examining the role given to various decorative choices and styles. Four different approaches to Islam architecture provide an exceptionally well-rounded view, with color photo examples packing an oversized coverage. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

ok, worth it cuz its cheap
This book is worth the money 'cuz its so cheap. The reproducions arent really that good, and there are some problems of provenance: the cover drawing attributed to Leonardo, but it is by his master/teacher Verrocchio.

drawing enthusiast, don't buy it
if you are a Da Vinch zealot, you should have it. but, if you need some drawings to study or copy it. don't buy it. the quality of print is not that good, there's a bunch of Da Vinch's memos though...i doubt it's useful for a drawing enthusiast..pretty sure that it's invaluable for people who are studying "Da VinchSTICS".if you are a drwaing enmthusiast you'd better buy da vinch's another drawing books.....

drawing enthusiast...don't buy it
if you are a Da Vinch zealot, you should have it. but, if you need some drawings to study or copy it. don't buy it. the quality of print is not that good, there's a bunch of Da Vinch's memos though...i doubt it's useful for a drawing enthusiast..pretty sure that it's invaluable for people who are studying "Da VinchSTICS".

Excellent insight into Leonardo Da Vinci
Interesting book detailing the life and thoughts of Leonardo Da Vinci. Historical context of the period and biographical information is included. Reading gets a little dry at times. Excellent resource book. Specific topics can be looked up to discover da Vinci's wisdom and insight.

Leonardo's Masterworks
This 2-Volume collection published by Dover wonderfully exhibits Leonardo's works with his sketches, designs and ideas. If you ever wondered what Leonardo thought, then these are the books to get. The book is set up with the text in two columns; the left in the original Italian, and the right side in the translated English. In those words are written of Leonardo's philisophical ideas, lives of where he lived and his surroundings, his theories on color, perspective, proportion, architecture, foliage, physiology and so many other things that the Great One was curious about. Througout the book and amidst the text are Leonardos sketches, thumbnail sketches, workings of famous pieces such as the Last Supper, some anatomical drawings - and in those pages you can see Leonardo's handwriting which he tended to write backwards. The value and reference is endless, especially for the artist. This edition is reprinted from the 1833 version originally entitled "Literary Works of Leonardo Da Vinci." This is a 2-volume set, which is sold seperately, but for the price, it is so worth the money. Highly reccomended! ... Read more

Book Description

Authoritative and insightful, Arnason’s History of Modern Art remains the definitivesource of information on the art of the Modern Era from modernism’s mid-nineteenth centuryEuropean beginnings to today’s divergent art trends. Now full-color throughout, this Fifth Editionhas been completely redesigned to make it even more elegant and easy-to-use. New heads,subheads, and a glossary have been added to help the reader navigate the material and quicklyidentify areas of interest. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Needs More & Better Color; Not Really Improved Over 4th Ed.
I borrowed the 1998 4th edition, which got generally excellent reviews here at Amazon and elsewhere, for comparison. Like the previous edition, this fifth edition is big (9"x12"x2") and heavy (9 pounds). The chapters, bibliography, glossary, index, and credits take up 832 pages, about the same as the previous edition. Arnason died in 1986; for this edition, Peter Kalb is given as the "revising author," although the preface states that Michael Bird revised chapters 1-24. I couldn't find either Kalb's or Bird's institutional affiliation listed on the book or the dust jacket, which is odd since the 4th edition had a photo of and a paragraph about revising author Marla F. Prather on its jacket.

The chapter titles are largely unchanged: 1 The Sources (was "Prehistory") of Modern Painting; 2 Realism, Impressionism, and Early Photography; 3 Post-Impressionism; 4 The Origins of Modern Architecture and Design; 5 Art Nouveau and the Beginnings of Expressionism (was just "Art Nouveau"); 6 The Origins of Modern Sculpture; 7 Fauvism; 8 Expressionism in Germany; 9 The Figurative Tradition in Early Twentieth-Century Sculpture; 10 Cubism; 11 Futurism, Abstraction in Russia, and de Stijl (was "Towards Abstraction"); 12 Early Twentieth-Century Architecture; 13 From Fantasy to Dada and the New Objectivity; 14 The School of Paris After World War I (was "...Between the Wars"); 15 Surrealism; 16 Modern Architecture Between the Wars; 17 International Abstraction Between the Wars; 18 American Art Before World War II; 19 Abstract Expressionism and the New American Sculpture; 20 Postwar European Art; 21 Pop Art and Europe's New Realism; 22 Sixties Abstraction; 23 The Second Wave of International Style Architecture; 24 The Pluralistic Seventies; 25 Postmodernism in Architecture; 26 The Retrospective Eighties (25 & 26 were swapped); 27 Resistance and Resolution (was "Epilogue").

As pluses, I have been unable to find any other book of this scope from the 1800s to the present, and the text is perhaps somewhat easier to read than in the previous edition. As minuses: (1) There is little discussion of artists with heavy non-Western influences, with some exceptions (such as Cai Guoqiang [China], Ghada Amer [Egypt], Shirin Neshat [Iran], Mariko Mori [Japan], Yinka Shonibare [Nigeria], Shazia Sikander [Pakistan], Mona Hatoum [Lebanon], and Yasumasa Morimura [Japan], the last two having been in the previous edition). (2) The 4th edition had color plates on pages separate from the black-and-white plates, with two distinct types of paper. All pages of the current book are on the same type of paper, obviating the need for separate color plates; however, many of the plates that were B&W in the 4th ed. are still B&W, which leads to an odd effect. What is the purpose of having two Matisses in color and one B&W on page 274; one work by Jasper Johns in color and one B&W on page 486; etc.? I would have liked to see less B&W. (3) Although the paintings are reproduced well, the quality of some color photographs is pathetic. Case in point: Jeff Wall's "A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai) on page 760, which looks pretty much the same in the previous edition. It's as though someone deliberately underexposed the photo and gave it a green color cast, compared with reproductions in other books. Other bad examples of color correction (guys, use some Photoshop!) can be found on pages 98, 341, 451, 490, 543, 544, 564, 614, and 633.

(4) Finally, I don't see a definite improvement in coverage over the 4th edition. Let's take chapter 26 ("The Retrospective Eighties") as an example. Compared with the corresponding chapter in the 4th edition, the following artists were deleted: Arneson, Burton, Greenblat, Hodgkin, Hunt, Kapoor, Otterness, Saar, Snyder, and Wilmarth. The following artists are still in the chapter, but with fewer works of art reproduced: Arnajani, Baselitz, Bleckner, Chia, Clemente, Cragg, Cucchi, Fischl, Haring, Holzer, Levine, Lipski, Lupertz, Murray, Penck, Pfaff, Puryear, Scharf, Scully, Sherman, and Spero. The following artists have been added: Antoni, Bickerton, Fleury, McCollum, Osorio, Prince, Steinbach, Taaffe, and Wong. So although this edition is "different," it's not necessarily "better." If you already have the 4th, you don't necessarily need the 5th ed.

But if you have only the 3rd edition, or have never had a previous edition, buy the book from Amazon.com!

BTW, it's unclear whether the Prentice-Hall people have read their own book. Their Web site says the book uses "full color throughout," that chapter 27 on Resistance and Resolution "includes a section on Feminism," and that the "Section in Chapter 24 on Art and Politics brings the story of modern art up to the year 2000." None of these statements is entirely true. The first I've already discussed; feminist art is largely covered on pages 599-604 in chapter 24, with only one feminist artist (Amer) in chapter 27; and pages 683-684 in chapter 25 cover post-9/11 work from 2002, with the sections on politics in chapters 24 and 27 dealing with the 70's and 90's respectively. ... Read more

Book Description

At a time when more and more travelers are discovering Cuba, which has been locked away from the outside world for more than 40 years, this lavishly illustrated, absorbing volume offers a completely different view of the island from the one seen by most visitors. This book presents not the picturesque Cuba of Castro's era with its derelict buildings and peeling paint, but the opulent world of the Spanish Creole aristocracy of the colonial period, which has continued to influence Cuban taste and cultural life on a more modest scale even to this day.

Emphasizing the palatial homes and elegant furnishings of the island's enormously rich sugar, cotton, and tobacco barons, Cuban Elegance relates the social, cultural, architectural, and interior design history of Cuba, and of the Caribbean region in general. With an engaging text and gorgeous photographs taken especially for this sumptuous volume, Cuban Elegance offers a fresh, surprising perspective on an intriguing country. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Beautiful photos and fine writing about Cuban furniture
This book is the first comprehensive review of Cuban furniture from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. Connors and Buck, the author and photographer, spent months touring Cuba and doing detective work to gain access to relics of past eras.

Connors stays clear of the contentious times of Cuba, avoiding this battleground of American politics over the past 50 years. He gained the cooperation of American and Cuban authorities, no mean feat, and produces a veritable feast. He also used archives and collections of Cuban artifacts from other Caribbean countries to gain this masterful view which he presents in a prose that is descriptive but not ornate.

The color and style of Cuban furniture needs only an honest narrative for its story to be told. Connors cites Hispanic-Moorish, African and French influences on the many pieces of furniture sited in rooms lit through mamparas (tinted glass swinging doors) and mediopuntos (fanlights, semicircular windows made of complex forms of stained and plain glass set above doors and windows) of old Cuban haciendas.

This is a beautiful book designed to bring a touch of our hemisphere's elegant beauty into everyone's living room and even our lives. It does to ours and to anyone who owns it.

Cuban Elegance
Cuban Elegance is one of those rare books that combines gorgeous photography with knowledgeable scholarship about the architecture, furniture and decorative arts it features. So often, books that are big on style are fluff to read, and books that are written by academics are heavy going and not fun to look at. As someone who writes in this field, I appreciate when people get it right. Michael Connors and Bruce Buck nailed it on this one -- the images throughout the book are as beautiful as the one on the cover, and the text is informative, readable and engaging. They have made it possible for people to have a glimpse of an incredible world that so few get to see -- 500 years of Cuban history and culture as expressed in buildings and their furnishings. Five stars. As folks in the antiques business say, this one's a keeper. ... Read more

Book Description

A lifelong love of art is one of the greatest gifts an adult can bestow on a child-and no period of art is better loved or more available to children than Impressionism. Monet and the Impressionists for Kids invites children to delight in Cassatt's mothers and children, Renoir's dancing couples, and Gaugin's island scenes; 21 activities explore Monet's quick shimmering brush strokes, Cezanne's brilliant rectangles of color, Seurat's pointillism, and Degas's sculpture-like circles of dancers. Kids will learn how the artists' friendships sustained them through repeated rejection by the Parisian art world, and how they lived, painted, and thrilled to the vibrant life of Paris at the approach of the 20th century. A resource section guides readers to important museums and Web sites around the world. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A superb art activity book about the Impressionists for kids
The invention of photograph had a profound impact on painting. At the start of the 19th-century the goal of painting was realism, but with a camera that became a moot point. Eventually the art world decided the only rational thing to do was to go in the opposite direction and to find an alternative to reality. The Impressionists represent the first successful movement by paintings to capture the public imagination with "non-realistic" art. "Monet and the Impressionists for Kids" not only introduces young readers to Impressionism but also follows up with 21 activities that will allow them to try their hand at painting. These activities are what makes Carol Sabbeth's book stand out from others on the Impressionists in general and Claude Monet in particular, because it is pretty much impossible to be exposed to these paintings and not want to try to do it yourself.

The book is divided into two halves. Part I: The Impressionists introduces readers to "A New Way of Looking at the World" and then devotes sections to the life and art of Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and Mary Cassatt. Monet is clearly the star of the book (he certainly defines Impressionism for me), and there are five activities devoted to his section. Part II: The Post-Impressionists looks at the painters Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Surat, with a final section devoted to "Lasting Impressions."

Sabbeth provides a concise biography for each of the artists, with reproductions of their most famous and important works, along with an Art Detective section that tells you how to spot their work in terms of distinguishing characteristics. Most of the activities are specifically tied to the paintings. Off of Monet's "Regattas at Argenteuil" we learn about Painting Reflections; from the cloisonnism of Gauguin we experiment by making a Cup of Gauguin. These activities explore the uniqueness of these painters, from Cezanne's brilliant rectangles of color to the sculpture-like circles of dancers by Degas. Some of these activities are truly creative, such as constructing your own little Monet haystack to appreciate the colors and light at different times of day. I especially liked the one for Seurat Sugar Cookies, where you make your cookies sugar-sprinkled masterpieces using the artist's pointillist technique.

I totally agree with the premise of this book, that there is no art form more appealing to children than Impressionism. If you are not a "real" Art Teacher (a distinct possibility in the wonderful new world of educational budget cuts) you will find "Monet and the Impressionists for Kids" both informative and instructional. Not only can you introduce children to the ballet dancers of Degas and the island scenes of Gauguin, but you can also find several activities for your students to do in class or at home. This is a very enjoyable and practical look at the great Impressionist painters. This book is for ages 9 and up, which is great because I qualify as being up.

monet and the impressionists for kids
This is a wonderful book with great ideas to do with kids so that they can get an understanding of the arts through hands on experiences.

As entertaining as it is educational.
Monet And The Impressionists For Kids is a book filled with 21 fun and educational activities to teach young people more about the classical painter Claude Monet and others in the grand and beautiful tradition of Impressionist art. Gorgeously illustrated in full color, Monet And The Impressionists For Kids features such activities as using colored construction paper to paint reflections, or painting the shimmering sky with watercolors. A wonderful biography and history, as well as a highly educational rainy-day fun book, Monet And The Impressionists For Kids is as entertaining as it is educational and highly recommended for home schooling and classroom curriculum supplementation. ... Read more

Book Description

Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli (c. 1430–1495) is a painter whose individuality of style and mastery of powerful line have fascinated many, but whose life and art have remained enigmatic. This absorbing book, drawing on extensive research in Venice and the Marches, the region of central Italy that Crivelli dominated artistically from 1468 until his death, examines his paintings in depth and traces the fundamental influences of the Vivarini, of Squarcione and Mantegna, and later of Flemish art.

Ronald Lightbown, eminent historian of Italian Renaissance art, interweaves stylistic and iconographical analysis of Crivelli’s work with historical and cultural background. The author uncovers the reasons that led patrons to choose the saints that figured in Crivelli’s altarpieces, discusses the initiations of new cults and the devising of an iconography for them, and demonstrates Crivelli’s independence from clerical dictation in the symbolism of his still-life pictures.

Ronald Lightbown was Keeper of the Library and, later, Keeper of the Department of Metalwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, until 1989.He is the author of the standard works on Botticelli, Mantegna and Piero della Francesca.

... Read more

Amazon.com

This user-friendly book is an alphabetical reference guide to 500 of the world's greatest painters and sculptors, from antiquity to the present. Measuring roughly 5 by 6-1/2 inches and now in paperback, The Art Book is not only affordable, but also light, compact, and extremely portable, completely reforming the concept of an art reference book. It is perfect for the coffee table or for the backpack or pocketbook as well. Each artist is represented by a full-color plate and by explanatory and illuminating information on both the image and the artist. Cross references are provided to other artists in the book, and glossaries of technical terms and artistic movements are also included, making the book a valuable reference tool in the art library. Presented are some of the most famous artists of all time and their greatest masterworks--never before have they been so accessible as they are in this format. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Excellent overview of centuries of art
Arranged alphabetically, which is very helpful. Sadly, it has generally but only one painting or photo for each artist, but then the intent here is to cover as many artists as possible, not to be comprehensive on any one artist, and it's quite heavy as it is already.

The Art Book is an EXCELLENT reference guide. How many times reading the Arts section of a newspaper, or an interview with an artist, etc., does one hear a reference to another artist and one has no idea who that person is? With this book, you can quickly check it out!

I also very much appreciate the cross-linking - since it's alphabetical, and not by style or school of thought, the editors have listed on each artists's page other artists who are similar or somehow related to that one. I have found the cross-referencing to be very helpful many times.

Unless one already has an encyclopedic knowledge of 500 years of art, this is a PERFECT book for one's art library as a reference tool. And it's also a GREAT jumping off point for exploring artists: page through randomly, come across something interesting, then go and look for a book of that artist, or head to the museum "in search of."

I treasure my copy, and would not ever wish to part with it.

handy dandy
I've used this book countless times for research, etc. It's a reference guide to 500 artists, and on one small page gives what is usually their most famous piece (Leonardo da Vinci "The Mona Lisa", Klimt "The Kiss"), a description of it, a few major details of the artist's life, date and place of birth/death, and also the names of other artists that fall into the same category. At the end of the book there is a glossary of terms, a list of artistic movements, and a museum directory. The reproductions are of very high quality and take up about half a page. It's a great book just to look at, but for someone who wants to gain knowledge of the subject, and for students, this marvelous little book (it's only 5 + 6 1/2 but quite thick) is a must. Phaidon did a splendid thing putting out this volume...you'll love it !

Enjoyable, beautiful
A great book, simply said. Not too wordy, and great artwork to see. Introduce yourself to all kinds of art.

A Must for Every Personal Library
The Art Book catalogs, alphabetically, 500 artists spanning from medieval to modern. It also includes helpful glossarys of both techincal terms and artistic movements, as well as a directory of both domestic and international museums and galleries.

A must for any college bound student or art enthusiast, novice through professional.

More Visual Treats
This is a must-have for anyone with an interest in the history of art. Not only intelligently organized (alphabetically), but colorful & detailed. 500 artists from Agasse to Zurburan, each with one representative work and brief paragraph on art and artist, with the vital statistics as a footnote. Browse it and enjoy the gallery-like quiet of this well-designed book. ... Read more

Book Description

The sheer beauty of the elegant, lonely lighthouses along our shores — and their unspoiled, scenic natural settings — has captivated our collective imagination. More than simply picturesque, the lighthouse has become an enduring symbol of salvation, fortitude, and heroic folklore. The Ultimate Lighthouse Book is a panoramic, lavishly illustrated history of these legendary buildings and celebrates the rich heritage of our ancestors’ courageous efforts to guide mariners through treacherous seas and storms. Over 200 color photographs are featured in this fully revised, expanded and updated edition. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Home Again
The cover picture of the West Point Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island, Canada was of particular interest to me since my Grandfather Capt Michael Howard sailed his schooners out of Brae Harbor and used the light as his guide. The lighthouse is now a hotel and restaurant and reservations are a year in advance. I stay nearby several times yearly and have breakfast there regularly. it is a beautiful spot ad you have to be there to appreciate it. When I first saw the text I was so pleasantly surprised that of all the lighthouses in USA & Canada they picked the home area of my Mom & Dad!! ... Read more

Book Description

Chinese workers in the third century b.c. created seven thousand life-sized terracotta soldiers to guard the tomb of the First Emperor. In the eleventh century a.d., Chinese builders constructed a pagoda from as many as thirty thousand separately carved wooden pieces. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, China exported more than a hundred million pieces of porcelain to the West. As these examples show, the Chinese throughout history have produced works of art in astonishing quantities--and have done so without sacrificing quality, affordability, or speed of manufacture. How have they managed this? Lothar Ledderose takes us on a remarkable tour of Chinese art and culture to explain how artists used complex systems of mass production to assemble extraordinary objects from standardized parts or modules. As he reveals, these systems have deep roots in Chinese thought--in the idea that the universe consists of ten thousand categories of things, for example--and reflect characteristically Chinese modes of social organization.

Ledderose begins with the modular system par excellence: Chinese script, an ancient system of fifty thousand characters produced from a repertoire of only about two hundred components. He shows how Chinese artists used related modular systems to create ritual bronzes, to produce the First Emperor's terracotta army, and to develop the world's first printing systems. He explores the dazzling variety of lacquerware and porcelain that the West found so seductive, and examines how works as diverse as imperial palaces and paintings of hell relied on elegant variation of standardized components. Ledderose explains that Chinese artists, unlike their Western counterparts, did not seek to reproduce individual objects of nature faithfully, but sought instead to mimic nature's ability to produce limitless numbers of objects. He shows as well how modular patterns of thought run through Chinese ideas about personal freedom, China's culture of bureaucracy, Chinese religion, and even the organization of Chinese restaurants.

Originally presented as a series of Mellon lectures at the National Gallery of Art, Ten Thousand Things combines keen aesthetic and cultural insights with a rich variety of illustrations to make a profound new statement about Chinese art and society.

Reviews (1)

An indispensable insight into Chinese thought
This is one of the clearest and most insightful examinations of ancient Chinese aesthetics and related philosophical and philogical materials that has been produced in the English language. We owe Prof. Ledderose a great debt of gratitude for having taken the care to lay out in such a readable volume the gist of a pragmatic approach to the creation of art and artifact that came to predominate throughout thousands of years of Chinese culture. His examination of the modular construction of the Chinese written language is compelling. The book should be required reading for students of any and all disciplines that begin with the phrase "traditional Chinese", be they students of medicine, martial arts, meditation, music, painting, or any other of a long list of subjects that have been influenced by the approach to thought and logic that is revealed in its pages. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A benchmark for intelligent, engaging nonfiction, this superbly designed book is written and illustrated with a lushness that takes the breath away. Robert Cumming is chairman of Christie's education department: he knows his art history.But he also knows how to seduce you with the sheer beauty of the material, and the well-placed pointer to telling details.Fifty double-page spreads cover artists from da Vinci and Rubens to Monet, Picasso, and Pollock. Each spread is a concentrated master-class on the life, the style, and the influence. Check out the luminous full-color reproductions of "Bacchus" and "The Conversion of St. Paul," then read the opening sentence above them--"One of the few great artists to have a criminal record, Caravaggio was violent, loutish, and frequently under arrest"--and see if you can resist the temptation to read on. Great Artists is a dream of a book that adults and their older children will fight over. (Ages 12 to adult) --Richard Farr ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A gorgeous and informative book!
This oversized book has dovoted 2 pages to each important artist from the 1400's to Jackson Pollock. As with all D-K books, the reproductions are wonderful and the information is fascinating. The arthor gives a mixture of facts about the artist's life, painting of the period, key works of the painter, and other events happening in the world at the time. I love this book!

Attractive Overview
Teachers commonly say that they learn more about a subject from teaching it than from being a student. In part this is because so much of what we practice is unspoken and intuitive, while teaching requires a certain explicitness and may be most effective when the essence of a subject is portrayed in a simple, impassioned, and powerful way. As a result, one can often learn a lot from brief, introductory overviews of a subject, as is the intention of this attractive, large-format picture book. Several years ago, the author (who is head of the education division at ChristieÕs) wrote Annotated Art (1994), a companion volume in which diagrams, close-ups, and marginal notes were used to analyze 45 key paintings; and, since then, a similar book was produced by the same publisher about the history of architecture (Neil Stevenson, Architecture (1997)). In this third volume in the series, 50 more paintings (different from those in the earlier book), are arranged chronologically, displayed, and discussed in annotations, using introductory paragraphs, marginal notes, biographical highlights, related works, quotes by and about the artists, and short lists of non-art concurrent events. While the result is necessarily superficial, it is also a welcoming, valuable way to be introduced to art history. (Review from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol 14 No 2, Winter 1998-99) ... Read more

Book Description

Jack Vettriano’s rise to fame has been meteoric. His painting, “The Singing Butler,” recently sold for a record $1,350,000. This sumptuous volume showcases more than 30 new pieces, some unseen earlier work, plus the best of his paintings published in Lovers and Other Strangers and Fallen Angels. ... Read more

Book Description

This introductory exploration of basic artistic concepts and terms applies them to a skeletal multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural history of artistic styles. It treats all the arts—painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, music, theatre, dance, film, architecture, literature—uniformly, and uses a common outline to reinforce the relationship of terms and concepts to the perceptual process. The book also ties both artistic media and history to the theme of art as a reflection of human realityThis examination focuses on the media of the arts, pictures, sculpture, music, theatre, cinema, dance, architecture, literature, the styles of the arts, ancient approaches, artistic reflections in the pre-modern world, as well as artistic styles in the emerging modern world and, the beginnings of modernism, pluralism in a post-modern age.For art enthusiasts and others interested exploring how artists express themselves. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Informative
I used this book for my introduction to fine arts class and thought it was very good. Easy to understand and follow, and gave good information straight out without haveing to search for defintions or other stuff.

If it were possible....
If it were possible to describe this book in stars it would be 0 stars. Here are just a few of the problems found within the text. 1) Writing is boring. 2) Some of the pictures are repeated in the black & white sections. 3) The usage of webpages instead of having illustrations & pictures makes the text boring. 4) No companion website for the web addresses noted.

In other words - it can bore a student to death! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Informative and Quite Interesting
I have finished reading a copy of Mr Bogle's latest book, and as always, I find it entertaining yet very interesting; For years, we have gotten via piecemeal, the efforts that African Americans have made in the cinema; This book brings it all together as well as telling us about L.A.'s famous Central Avenue, the various prominent black Los Angelenos such as architect Paul Williams, Dr John Sommerville, who built the hotel that eventually became the Dunbar; The only thing with this book is that the fifties spoke more about Nat King Cole, who although had a home in a predominately white neighborhood which was noteworthy for it's time, overshadowed it; despite it, I found it very informative of various people who worked in the industry including Madame Sul Te Wan, Noble Johnson, Stephin Fetchit, Eddie Anderson, Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers etc to name a very few; Please come and learn more; ... Read more

Book Description

Born in the final weeks of World War II--in what Germans who wished to erase it from collective memory called Year Zero--Anselm Kiefer has long sought to come to grips with his country's Nazi past. This monograph traces his development as an artist through four blocks of work which reflect the most important currents in his complex oeuvre. Moving chronologically from microcosm to macrocosm, from the intimate spaces of "Attic Images" in the 70s through the vaster "Stone Halls" of the early 80s and the archaic-looking clay architectures he created in the 90s, Kiefer's pictorial spaces climaxed in the endless universes of "Images of the Cosmos and Constellations," painted at the close of the century. With the monumental "Sunflower Paintings," the progression was complete and he returned to earth. Also included are photographs by Thomas Flechtner which document the greenhouses, underground corridor systems, and installations realized by Kiefer at his studio estate in Barjac since 1993. I think vertically, and Fascism was one vertical plane. Yet I see all these strata. I tell stories in my works in order to show what lies behind the story. I make a hole and I go through it. --Anselm Kiefer
Essay by Markus Bruderlin.
11 x 13 in.
62 color illustrations ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A high-quality gallery book
Anselm Kiefer: The Seven Heavenly Palaces 1973-2001 is a truly impressive volume showcasing Anselm Kiefer's paintings in full color. An essay by Christoph Ransmayr and contributions by three others offer insightful commentary on the period pieces, but the principle focus of Anselm Kiefer: The Seven Heavenly Palaces 1973-2001 is upon the art itself. Enthusiastically recommended for personal, art school, and community library art reference and history collections, Anselm Kiefer: The Seven Heavenly Palaces 1973-2001 is a high-quality gallery book filled with earthy architectural paintings and resounding emotion and spirit. ... Read more