Book Description

* Features hundreds of detailed illustrations from actual period millwork catalogs.
* Demonstrates how to properly specify millwork.
* Include a glossary of key terms. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Over Priced & Better References
This book is quite overpriced relative to similar books. Better titles are available from Dover (Universal Millwork Catalog), Lee Valley (Home Interiors of the 1920s), Linden Publishing (Modern Practical Joinery), Fredionia (Modern Carpentry) that cover the information and provide more information at about 1/3 to 1/4 the price for each book. It looks like that many examples are out of these books commonly available. Furthermore, this book has relatively few examples for each catagory. Before you spend the money on this book, check it out from your library or have them get it through interlibrary loan along with the other books mentioned.

Good book, but overpriced
This is a wonderful book detailing how millwork evolved from the 1870s until about 1940. It provides a good overview, and is more of a history without getting really in depth. It could just as easily have been titled "An History of Millwork from 1870 to 1940". There are some molding cross sections and quite a few pages out of catalogs of the time. However there could be many more. On the other hand there are many reprinted catalogs available. If I were doing period work, I would consult this book but definitely have old catalogs on hand to have a large selection of details to pick from. Both the architect and the carpenter can find some use in this book.

A Perfect Companion For Any Carpenter
It looks like carpentry is finally getting due respect if books like this are being published. As an aficionado of architecture and millwork, I've often wondered why we have largely ignored the rich history of carpentry in this country. While many eighteenth and nineteenth-century pattern books have been re-printed, few new books have been devoted to the history of our craft. This is a fine collection of inspiring material from late nineteenth and early twentieth-century millwork catalogues combined with a rich narrative that will add to anyone's understanding and appreciation of woodwork. ... Read more

Book Description

The authenticity of visual art has always commanded the attention of experts, dealers, collectors, and the art-minded public. Is it 'real' or 'original' is a way of asking what am I buying?What do I own?What am I looking at? And today more sophisticated questions are being asked: just how is authenticity determined, and what weight does this determination have in court? This book of essays proposes to answer those questions. Three lines of inquiry are basic to determining authenticity: a connoisseur's evaluation, historical documentation or provenance, and scientific testing. A connoisseur is an expert who evaluates the 'rightness' of a work based on much careful scrutiny of many works by an artist and familiarity with that artist's usual manner of working with materials. In determining provenance, a researcher traces the physical object from the artist through a chain of ownership to the present owner--simple enough in concept, though it assumes that the documentation is not faked or inaccurate. The goal is to ensure that the object is the same one that left the artist's hand. Scientific testing, although sometimes useful, is often longer on promise than result. Dating paint or wood samples, for instance, can show that a painting was made in Rembrandt's lifetime, but it cannot prove that it is by Rembrandt's hand. If expert opinion is divided, and large sums of money are involved, a dispute over authenticity may end up in a court of law, where evaluation of expert opinion evidence can be problematic. The essays in this book clarify the nature of the methods outlined above and to explain, based on case law, the present status of authentication issues in court. Contributors include experts from the Frick Collection, Christie's, London, and Sotheby's, New York, as well as leading art historians and art dealers, an art conservator, a forensic graphologist, a philanthropist and collector, and an art lawyer. Their collective knowledge on issues of authenticity will be invaluable for anyone interested in the world of visual art. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The beautiful catalog Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting accompanies the Museum of Modern Art's retrospective of this prolific and important German artist. Richter's many artistic achievements vacillate between pure abstraction and a kind of realism. His realistic paintings, based primarily on personal photographs and images from newspapers, range in subject matter from the banal, like rolls of toilet paper, to the extremely potent, such as famous Nazi "doctor" Werner Hyde. The paintings have in common an emotional remove; the re-creating of photographic images points us toward our own possible emotional detachment to the influx of images in the world. A blurred chair, Jackie Kennedy, burning candles, family portraits--Richter lays them all out before us as if to say, Here, they are all the same. The insightful text by MoMA curator Robert Storr provides an in-depth look at Richter's life in postwar Germany, tracing the influences and environment that made his work possible. The book includes a revealing interview with the artist and a detailed chronology of his life and work, plus 138 color illustrations and 165 duotones. --J.P. Cohen ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A great artist thumbs his nose at high art
A lot of words been written lately about the 'unexpected revival of painting' fueled by the current Gerhardt Richter painting retrospective captured in this book. It seems, according to some influential art scribes writing in the trail of this traveling exhibition, that the much heralded demise of painting, much like Mark Twain's death, has been greatly exaggerated. Showcasing about 120 works over a 40-year period, this book is one of the most comprehensive retrospectives ever mounted about a contemporary painter in recent memory, and that by itself is a strong enough reason to buy it. However, it is what has been proven by Richter's career and accomplishments, and unexpected stature in the art world (Sotheby's recently dubbed him the 'most influential living artist in the world') and now driven home here, that makes this a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn some lessons about the contemporary art world. You see, Richter doesn't fit the formula for success that many art curators and influential critics and other art powers-that-be have carefully crafted in the rarified atmospheres of the upper crusts of the art world. In fact, Richter breaks every 'rule' that often starts being pressed upon 18-year old art students and then is hammered home in reviews and lectures by many contemporary art critics and curators. Rules like 'you better have your own recognizable style!' or 'only new is good' and the oddest rule of all: 'painting is dead!' But Richter is not only a painter in an era forced to focus on video artists, performance stars and PhotoShop wonders, but also Richter wanders from style to style with an ease and speed that makes this book a lesson on half a dozen art movements of the last century beautifully continued onto the current one. Thumb through the pages here and you'll soon discover that Richter is as much as ease with photorealism ' some ultra sharp and some foggy in detail -- as he is with pure abstraction and with romantic paintings of pretty clouds and scenic waterfalls. This is an artist who is not just happy with thumbing his nose at the well-enforced rule that a good artist has to have a clearly identifiable style and do something 'new', but who also seems intent on destroying the other forced formulas of the modern art world: he copies other artists' works, works directly from photographs, blah, blah, blah ' all sins that would make all my art professors and most art critics sigh in disgust. But above all, Richter paints, and he paints in a time when painting has been dismissed as 'ailing' and 'ancient.' New is good, technology is good' painting is dead.' Why does Richter paint? Doesn't he get it? NOPE!! It's because it is all about painting! And managing to make fools of critics who forget that their job is to follow the artist ' not to lead the arts. What those who consider painting an 'ailing' form will never understand (mostly because they are not painters), is that Richter can't and won't stop painting, because through his veins runs the same intoxicating venom that fueled their ancestral kin in the caves of Altamira and which will continue to drive painters long after today's critics and curators are forgotten dust. This book shouts: Art does not have to be 'new' to be good, and technology is not the only venue to deliver great new contemporary art - it also continues to prove that painting will never die.

Fine Art, Well Published
Gerhard Richter is one of the finest Pop artists of the 20th century. ("Pop" because he is highly non-ideological, even depicting ideological subjects in a completely neutral fashion. His works are plain-old nice to look at.) This book is a beautiful representation of his work, chock-full of his painting, from his earliest works to his most recent, printed nicely in full color. It is specifically the catalog for the exhibit of his works at MOMA in early 2002 (which this reviewer attended, with great delight), but the exhibition was so broad, with a wide range of paintings across Richter's full career, the number of paintings in this book is satisfyingly broad.

Richter has dabbled in many styles, and continues to produce works to this day, but most often works with abstraction or semi-abstraction. His sense of color is wonderful, and his sense of vision is superb, by which I mean his paintings force you to stop and stare for long periods of time. Many of his paintings are like photographs taken just slightly out of focus. (He uses a projector, but modifies the image just enough to make you know a human did the work.) Their beauty truly makes you look long at them, and their skill makes you wonder how a person can achieve such subtle effects of lighting in painted oil on canvas.

This book also contains good explanations of Richter's work, but these can become tiresome at times. The worst is that the reviews and the plates are not indexed very well, so it is frustratingly difficult to find a given work, either in the list of plates, or in the various texts. This is a major disappointment, but never mind. The reason to purchase this book is the art. The text is explanatory enough to teach the reader about Richter's career and work, and serves its purpose well enough.

It is not clear whether the reader unfamiliar with Richter's work, or who has not seen it in person, can enjoy this book on its own merit, but for the reader even slightly aware or curious of Richter's career, this is a welcome volume for the library.

beautiful pictures, questionable text
This was a gorgeous show, but kind of conservative -- made Richter into the new "master" of painting, sidelines all his weirder and more "conceptual" work. And why does Robert Storr have to try so hard to put himself at the center of everything?? I saw the Richter show in SF around 1990, so no, this is NOT "the frist American retrospective." And Storr's dismissive (and often really uninformed) treatment of other critics (especially German critic Benjamin Buchloh, who's written on Richter for like, decades) shows what a limited writer and scholar Storr really is. But for better or worse, the pictures are great, and a lot of the other material is really good.

Amazing Retrospective
Richter has garnered a lot of attention this past season in New York with a retrospective, and judging from this book, quite deservedly so. There is a wealth of examples from Richter's work from the past forty years, and the quality of the prints are uniformly excellent. Storr's critical stance and biographical introduction run about 70+ pages, and they are very helpful for a person who is just learning about Richter's work, and still remain informative for his old fans. The interview included is enlightening, too. This is one of the better artist retrospectives to have come out in the past few years. Highly recommended.

the unblinking blur
Behold, German painting! In a country whose artists tend to lay the paint on blut and thick, Richter is a notable contrast. He represents, along with Sigmar Polke, the best of a school of European painters who assimilated the American Pop Art scene. Don't expect the blazing cartoon colors of Lichtenstein though, Richter is a painter's painter, who has more depth and soul than Warhol ever could (surely by his own admission). But Richter's subject matter also comes from the mundane: a faded family snapshot, a clipping from a newspaper. Bits of emphemera blown up a hundred times and immortalized in oil paint. Clement Greenberg might abhore Richter's work more than the American Pop Artists: here is grand kitcsh by the hand of a master painter.
*note that I speak mostly of Richter's representative work, of which the book mostly focuses on. Also, the large Richter retrospective, having left N.Y., is still touring America for those interested ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Coffee table book
I have been reading reviews by one Mr Noshir Khambata who rates every book he reviews as 5 stars and this raises the issue. His reviews do not help and it seems that he is out to please everyone and hence his reviews of all books are without any value

I have doubts about this book also and it looks like a coffee table book fit to be kept as a showpiece

A Zarathushtrian Labour of Love and Sacrifice.
The Editors of this magnificent and massive volume (762 folio pages) deserves the deepest thanks of the Parsee community of Bombay in particular, and Zarathushtrians in general on a global basis, for compiling for us, what is truly a "labour of love and stupendous sacrifice". The high quality of paper, printing, the selection of the articles, the magnificent coloured illustrations, the comprehensive glossary and chronological tables, truly makes this volume as one of a kind, that every Parsee household would do well to have on their prized book-shelf. The list of article contributors to this volume almost constitute a who's-who in the field of Iranian studies. Many of the reproduced photographs and illustrations are made available to the public for the first time. Every page delights a reader with uncanny information or stunning pictures or a fact of odd rarity. However the list of "Select Bibliography" at the end could undergo a substantial upgrading.

Very easily this work deserves a five star rating and beyond. But it breaks my heart that under the magnificence and glitter of this entire volume lies buried a grievous faux pas. This is not so much a judgement of error on the part of the very industrious Editors, but rather on the number of individuals who collaborated on this project and even contributed scholarly articles to it. The faux pas is the continued usage of the three most unfortunate words, i.e. Zoroaster, Zoroastrians and Zoroastrianism, when the correct designation Zarathushtra, Zarathushtrians and the Zarathushtrian Religion as dictated by the syntax of the English language have long been in existence and used by scholars of the highest intellectual calibre. Little, if any, is achieved in perpetuating an unfortunate error
steeped in ignorance and arrogance.

Congratulations to Mapin Publishers and Grantha Corporation and their massive editorial team for undertaking so massive a work and giving us a magnificent volume to treasure for years and beyond. It would be a great blessing if after some time the full volume can be accessed on the Internet with more stunning photographs and information. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Just one question!
Having spent some ten years in Libya,I found this to be an enjoyable, and very readable book on a most significant, though generally overlooked area of Greco-Roman antiquity. There is still a vast amount of excavation needed, and politics have not helped. There is one point on which I should take issue, however: The author refers to the city of 'Lepcis' in Tripolitania. Either she knows of an alternative spelling, or this is a serious typo. To my knowledge, she is referring to the city of Leptis Magna.

Fascinating topic marred by poor photos
The Roman ruins of Libya have been seen by very few Westerners in recent decades. They are in a remarkable state of preservation. The enormous basilica of Septimus Severus at Leptis Magna, while a ruin, looks like it could easily be put back together to it's former glory. The excellent state of preservation is due both to the desert climate and to the near complete absence of tourism. Eric Newby writing in "On the Shores of the Mediterranean" describes the difficulties he went through in arranging a visit under the Quadaffi government. This book was produced by Italian archaeologists who remarkably have been able to continue their field work during Libya's current international isolation. The book is marred by the poor reproduction of the photos. The pictures are almost all underexposed with muddy shadow areas, flat highlights and an overall lack of contrast. A pity but the book is still worthwhile for a look at sites that most people will never be able to see.

Roman Civilizations-Buried by Sand
This book is magnificent.The first 180 pages are devoted to the western province of Tripolitania, where ruins of the Roman cities of Sabratha, Oea(present-day Tripoli),and Leptis Magna are located along the North African coastline in the Gulf of Sirte. The next 50-odd pages cover the eastern province of Cyrenaica toward Egypt where the Greco-Roman cities of Cyrene, Apollonia, and Ptolemais are found.

The photographs of these cities are without a doubt some of the finest in existence.Heretofore,I have only seen random scenes of these ancient cities, but nothing organized in a book like this.

Unless one has been to Lybia,as I have,it is difficult to imagine the splendor of these ruins.Greco-Roman ruins in Europe pale in comparison.A primary reason for their preservation is the dry climate,and their burial for 1000 years by the shifting sands of the Sahara from the 9th century A.D. Excavations began in the early 20th century.

The Italian authors are experts in archeological research of the Roman era,specifically in North Africa where they have conducted many missions. Their knowledge of the rise and fall of these wealthy,elegant,and powerful cities and their importance to Rome is well presented in the text throughout the book. The writers describe what life must have been like in these cities,and provide accurate maps and reconstructions of their original dimensions where still buried by sand.

For anyone interested in the period of history when these cities flourished-7th century B.C. to about the 4th century A.D.-this book is a must. If you don't like to read-just look at the pictures.

Good-looking picture book on Roman ruins
This is a beautiful book showing some of the extensive Roman ruins left in North Africa. Highly recommended for enthusiasts and browsers.

The book is pretty large, and the pictures are clear and give you a good sense of the urban spaces pictured. ... Read more

Book Description

Still the best, broadest, and most complete introduction to the colorful, lustrously glazed, exuberantly decorated 19th-century ceramic art called majolica, this classic book, first published in 1989, is now fully updated. A brand-new chapter includes the latest information and 27 added color photographs of recently discovered pieces; 18 fresh color illustrations replace older black and whites; and an updated bibliography and list of museums with majolica collections make this book invaluable for the ever-growing number of majolica enthusiasts. The result, as Cape Cod Antiques & Arts said of the original edition, is "a serious reference for serious connoisseurs . . . It's wonderful." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great resourcefor collectors and modern majolica-artists.
First saw this magnificent volume at a collector's home, and had to acquire a copy for my library as inspiration for my own artistic endeavors with majolica.

One of the definitive books on Victorian Majolica
People all over the world treat this as the "Bible" of Victorian Majolica.It is the best. ... Read more

Book Description

In art as in music, literature, philosophy, and political economy, the nineteenth century was a period of questioning, experimentation, discovery, and modernization. From Goya to Blake, from David to Delacroix, from Courbet to Cézanne, artists explored the links between perception and history, and in so doing challenged the prevailing definitions of art and the existing order of society. First published in 1994, this innovative and ground-breaking survey details the development of a critical perspective in nineteenth-century painting and sculpture. For the revised edition, a new introduction by Stephen Eisenman provides a cogent overview of the century, its issues, and its art. Three completely new chapters have been added, which discuss photography and its crucial role in nineteenth-century art; American and German landscape painting and its effect on the growth of romantic nationalism in each country; and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose popular appeal consists both in his work's novel technique and medium and in its exotic sexual perspectives. Nineteenth Century Art embraces many aspects of the "new" art history—attention to issues of class and gender, racism, and Eurocentrism—but it also emphasizes the remarkable vitality and subversiveness of the era's best art. Indeed, nineteenth-century artists addressed many of the aesthetic, political, and moral issues that preoccupy audiences and historians today, such as the relationship between popular and elite culture, and the representation of women and non-European peoples in Western art. This rich and diverse volume demonstrates that nineteenth-century art remains compelling today because its critical insights have rarely been surpassed. It will prove of interest not only to the specialist, but to anyone fascinated by the art, history, and culture of the era. 428 illustrations, 63 in color. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Academic overview of nineteenth century art
This is a text based overview of art in the 1800's.It has a text to picture ratio similar to that in Art by Hartt.It has a similar (but obviously more specific) audience.Reproductions are high quality.Most are black and white - maybe 20 percent color.Here the color plates are mixed throughout the book, instead of all together in one color section.So all the thematically similar pictures are grouped together with the information about them.Read through the chapter titles and if you like several of the artists in question then this may be a good book to have reproductions of their work.

Outline of Nineteenth Century Art:
Classicism and Romanticism
Patriotism and Virtue:David to the Young Ingres
Classicism in Crisis:Gross to Delacroix
The Tensions of Enlightenment:Goya
Visionary History Painting:Blake and His Contemporaries
Nature Historicized:Constable, Turner, and Romantic Landscape Painting
New World Frontiers
Old World, New World:The Encounter of Cultures on the American Frontier
Black and White in America
Realism and Naturalism
The Generation of 1830 and the Crisis in the Public Sphere
The Rhetoric of Realism:Courbet and the Origin of the Avant-Garde
The Decline of History Painting:Germany, Italy, and France
Modern Art and Life
Manet and the Impressionists
Issues of Gender in Cassatt and Eakins
Mass Culture and Utopia:Seurat and Neoimpressionism
Abstraction and Populism:Van Gough
Symbolism and the Dialectics of Retreat
The Failure and Success of Cezanne
chronology, bibliography, list of illustrations and index

This is a good book for university libraries.Because realistic art styles have traditionally been overlooked in favor of more abstract styles, there is a gap in history books that cover art.This is a good detailed overview of overlooked art.The sections on American art particularly valuable in filling a potential gap.American art in this time period had a documentary function.(European art had more of an idealized function as from Ruskin or acted more in the traditional way as a status symbol.Also European movements such as Pre-Raphealitism have recently become popular and widely available, so this is not such a big gap.)Having coverage of American art from this time period is especially desirable.

I don't think that this is such a good book for individuals to buy, unless you already know what it is.It is written and intended for academic study (so the writing is dense).Look through the book at a book shop or library first.

Shoot me please
You know a book is going to be mind numbing when the author praises their book above all others for about 4 pages.I understand that this is a college level book but it didn't need to use so much jargon.The paragraphs are almost impossible to decipher on the first, second, or even third read.The author obviously had to use ambigious language to make himself seem more academic. When explaining the works of Goya they devote an entire chapter to him.Pages upon pages which in reality could have been truncated down to perhaps 3 or 4. The pictures are on one page and the explanation of the pictures can be PAGES away.Making studying extremely difficult.My classmates and I believe that the true answers are in some other book, or perhaps you need a black light to find them.This book is like punishment from God.

Eisenman
This is an excellent book with lots of photos and historical details to make everything clear.Eisenman has put together interesting concepts and critiques as well.It may be a difficult read for some people though.

the HORROR 57 bucks can buy you!!
If you want to read one of THE dullest, stuffiest, not to mention stylistically ghastly books in all of art history, please read this one. These writers confuse ambiguity and meanlingless hodgepodge for intelligence.

An Ignorant Book
More regurgitated destructive orthodoxy from the arid soul of an academic hack, it's all here every careerist leftist's cliche there is.The arrogance of the previous reviewer could only come from a button down Yalie politically correct snob. ... Read more

Book Description

The Dynamics of Military Revolution bridges a major gap in the emerging literature on revolutions in military affairs. It suggests that two very different phenomena have been at work over the past centuries: "military revolutions," which are driven by vast social and political changes, and "revolutions in military affairs," which military institutions have directed, although usually with great difficulty and ambiguous results. MacGregor Knox and Williamson Murray provide a conceptual framework and historical context for understanding the patterns of change, innovation, and adaptation that have marked war in the Western world since the fourteenth century--beginning with Edward III's revolution in medieval warfare, through the development of modern military institutions in seventeenth-century France, to the military impact of mass politics in the French Revolution, the cataclysmic military-industrial struggle of 1914-1918, and the German Blitzkrieg victories of 1940. Case studies and a conceptual overview offer an indispensible introduction to revolutionary military change,--which is as inevitable as it is difficult to predict.Macgregor Knox is the Stevenson Professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of Common Destiny (Cambridge, 2000) and Hitler's Italian Allies (Cambridge, 2000). Knox and Murray are co-editors of Making of Strategy (Cambridge, 1996).Willamson Murray is Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis. He is the co-editor of Military Innovation in the Interwar Period (Cambridge, 1996) and author of A War to Be Won (Harvard University Press, 2000). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Technology alone just doesn't cut it....
This book contains an awful lot of wisdom for such a slim volume (it clocks in at just under 200 pages).

The authors examine the natures of military revolutions and RMA (a very hot topic that has arguably produced more hot air than substance) and provide a number of case studies examining the issues and testing the authors' views through history.

The case studies are;

- The English in the 14th century
- 17th century France
- The French Revolution
- The American Civil War
- The Prussian RMA, 1840-1871
- The Battlefleet Revolution
- The First World War
- Blitzkrieg 1940

The various case studies are backed up by an extremely satisfying introduction and a thorough, well argued conclusion which fires one or two shots across the bows of those residents of the Pentagon who may be suffering from technology-centric tunnel vision. The authors (very distinguished bunch, it should be said) warn against the idea that Clausewitzian truths regarding such issues as friction can be discounted thanks to the wonders of technology and indeed make clear that they are as important as ever.

The various case studies work extremely well as concise stand-alone works on their various historical periods, even if RMA is not your hot topic. Especially good are the chapters on the English in the 14th century and on the Battlefleet Revolution (and the inner workings of the Imperial German Navy and the Royal Navy during this period).

This is a well written, interesting book which should annoy all the right people.

Concise overview of military revolutions
This book is the volume one should buy if he or she is searching for the best, consise overvue of the history and processes involved in the military innovations of the Western world.

The Heart of Asymmetric Advantage is NOT Technology

This is the only serious book I have been able to find that addresses revolutions in military affairs with useful case studies, a specific focus on whether asymmetric advantages do or do not result, and a very satisfactory executive conclusion. This book is strongly recommended for both military professionals, and the executive and congressional authorities who persist in sharing the fiction that technology is of itself an asymmetric advantage.

It merits emphasis that the author's first conclusion, spanning a diversity of case studies, is that technology may be a catalyst but it rarely drives a revolution in military affairs--concepts are revolutionary, it is ideas that break out of the box.

Their second conclusion is both counter-intuitive (but based on case studies) and in perfect alignment with Peter Drucker's conclusions on successful entrepreneurship: the best revolutions are incremental (evolutionary) and based on solutions to actual opponents and actual conditions, rather than hypothetical and delusional scenarios of what we think the future will bring us. In this the authors mesh well with Andrew Gordon's masterpiece on the rules of the game and Jutland: we may be best drawing down on our investments in peacetime, emphasizing the education of our future warfighters, and then be prepared for massive rapid agile investments in scaling up experimental initiatives as they prove successful in actual battle.

The book is noteworthy for its assault on fictional scenarios and its emphasis on realism in planning--especially valuable is the authors' staunch insistence that only honesty, open discussion among all ranks, and the wide dissemination of lessons learned, will lead to improvements.

Finally, the authors are in whole-hearted agreement with Colin Gray, author of Modern Strategy, in stating out-right that revolutions in military affairs are not a substitute for strategy as so often assumed by utopian planners, but merely an operational or tactical means.

This is a brilliant, carefully documented work that should scare the daylights out of every taxpayer--it is nothing short of an indictment of our entire current approach to military spending and organization. As the author's quaintly note in their understated way, in the last paragraph of the book, "the present trend is far from promising, as the American government and armed forces procure enormous arsenals only distantly related to specific strategic needs and operational and tactical employment concepts, while continu[ing], in the immortal words of Kiffin Rockwell, a pilot in the legendary First World War Lafayette Escadrille, to 'fly along, blissfully ignorant, hoping for the best.'"

Lest the above be greeted with some skepticism, let us note the 26 October 2001 award of $200 billion to Lockheed for the new Joint Strike Fighter calls into serious question whether the leadership in the Pentagon understands the real world--the real world conflicts of today--all 282 of them (counting 178 internal conflicts) will require the Joint Strike Fighter only 10% of the time--the other 90% of our challenges demand capabilities and insights the Pentagon is not only not capable of fielding, it simply refuses to consider them to be "real war." Omar Bin Laden beat the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, and he (and others who follow in his footsteps) will continue to do so until we find a military leadership that can lead a real-world revolution in military affairs.... rather than a continuing fantasy in which the military-industrial complex lives on regardless of how many homeland attacks we suffer.

... Read more

Book Description

In Life Studies, Susan Vreeland has written a deeply moving, richly textured collection ofstories that explore art through the eyes of ordinary people. Rather than focusing directly on greatImpressionist and Post-Impressionist artists like Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, and Modigliani,Vreeland shifts her lens to those on the periphery—their lovers, servants, children, andneighbors—showing their personal stories as they play out against the artists’ lives.Counterbalancing these historic stories are an equal number of contemporary tales in which hercharacters—a teacher, a construction worker, and an orphan—encounter art in meaningful,sometimes surprising ways.

When a disillusioned banker sees his daughter through the eyes of Renoir, his senses andzest for life are awakened. Morisot’s wet nurse sacrifices her own child so anothermother can paint. By modeling nude, a wife discovers her deeper, more compassionateself. In one enlightening summer, a young girl encounters Picasso and death. Together,the stories in Life Studies are a fascinating exploration of human frailty andresilience. These tales marvel at the lasting strength and meaning of art in our lives,revealing art’s healing effect on the soul. Crafted with the skill of a master painter,Life Studies is a dazzling addition to Vreeland’s outstanding body of work. ... Read more

Book Description

The discoveries in Crete, Greece, and the Aegean islands that began a century ago were nothing less than stunning, and seemed to give shape and substance to tales of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, of Theseus and Ariadne, of Minos and Icarus.Ancient Aegean Art is the first comprehensive historical introduction to the art and architecture Crete, mainland Greece, and the Cycladic islands in the Aegean, beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and ending at the close of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age of Hellenic Greece (c.1000 BCE).

Covering a broad range of objects and artefacts, from sealstones to pots to buildings and settlements, Preziosi and Hitchcock discuss both the historiography of the field of ancient art history and explain the artefacts original intentions and functions.In chronologically organized chapters, the authors emphasize the more widely known images and structures, with a glimpse at the lesser-known but important discoveries, explaining their design, uses, meanings, and formal developments.Ancient Aegean Art incorporates the latest archeological discoveries and theoretical and methodological developments, in the only volume to examine both Crete and the mainland. ... Read more

Book Description

EXPLORING ART offers a thematic and global approach to teaching art appreciation. It balances Western and non-Western approaches to art, unlike competing books, which concentrate much more on Western art, artists, and historical styles. This global approach acknowledges the diverse backgrounds of today's art students, and explores the similarities that unite culture, as well as difference or distinctions. In doing so, EXPLORING ART ultimately reveals the universality of the human impulse to create art, as well as the persistence of basic themes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This book is crap-tacular!
If my sock drawer was organized like this book...there would never be a matching pair of socks. The old socks and the new socks would cling together in a wad of static electricity, making it painful to dare try and pull them apart and match them up in any other way. The book lacks fabric softener, and reading it is itchy torture.

But seriously...this book tries to be "smart" by organizing the chapters into "subjects for art",and it doesn't work.
It's stupid! ... Read more

Book Description

This unique anthology brings together material from 38well-knownwriters, artists, and scientists who attempt to describe the process bywhichoriginal ideas come to them. Contributors include Albert Einstein,WolfgangAmadeus Mozart, Amy Lowell, Rudyard Kipling, Max Ernst, Katherine AnnePorter,Henry Miller, Carl Gustav Jung, Mary Wigman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, HenriPoincar andmany others. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

By an Art Student
I was reffered to this book by my mentor. He is aging but took on the challenge of teaching a young man the art of stone carving. I am not a big reader. Of the many books he had me read that year, this one was the most influential. The basis for any advancement can be found with in its covers. IT has helped me with everything from goal planning, to the importance of building off what others have left. Read it! Memorize it!

Top book. Buy it.
This book is a survey of the creative process over artists and scientists across different fields and times, including Mozart, the mathematician and philosopher of science Henri Poincare etc. The book gets to the heart of what life is all about.

This review refers to the first edition of this book: more may have been added in the reissue.

A "must" read in one's life and quest
I'm very touched to find this book again as i browsed through the net, 25 years after i first bought it in a flee market in New York. The essay by Henry Miller, literally blew my young artist mind back then. It inspired me to follow on his crazy steps. I quit my civil service job(without official leave) and went to Paris ,where I lived for ten years. I read and re-read that essay on creativity and it just kept giving me the courage to step further into the unknown, thus changing my life completely.

Timeless Insights Into the Nature of Creativity
Like a previous reviewer, I read this book when it was simply "The Creative Process". I was just a kid and bought the paperback version when they were much less expensive. I still have it and it is falling apart now. It is a book to keep. A previous reviewer mentioned his (her?) favorite parts. I can only add mine to that list: Mozart describing the "completeness" of his musical idea; Thomas Wolfe's "Story of a Novel" in which the writing of a novel is as gripping as the novel itself; R. W. Gerard, whose "Biological Basis of Imagination" breaks down the barriers between Gestalt Psychology, Biology, and esthetics; the concreteness of Stephen Spender's poetry; glimpses into the tactile imagination of Henry Moore; Max Ernst on the art of the collage. Lots of content in a small package.

Excellent means of decalcification your imagination...
I read this book under an earlier title -- but find it the samebasictext. Then it's title was simply, "The Creative Process" I think it more fitting because it deals with more than just art. The creative principles cross-over into all areas of life. Herbert Spencer reflects on the use of intuition, Henri Poincare explains eloquently why everyone is not a great mathematicion, & much much more. I think the piece I enjoyed most was "Remembering Hart Crane": "...Hart tried to charm his inspiration out of its hiding place by drinking & laughing & playing the phonograph." ... Read more

Book Description

"Now that we do not have priests and philosophers anymore, artists are the most important people in the world. . . . Art is wretched, cynical, stupid, helpless, confusing." -- Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter, born in Dresden in 1932, is one of the foremost painters of his generation. A great deal has been written about the bewildering heterogeneity of his work over the past 30 years. His seemingly willful and defiant movement between abstract and figurative modes of representation and his seemingly inconsistent methods of applying paint to canvas are consistent, if nothing else, with Richter himself -- the master of the paradoxical statement. Although he has emphasized that he is first a painter and has never been a theorist, he has, throughout his career issued provocative, contentious, and memorable statements. Over seven years in preparation, this book makes available a selection of Richter's texts from all periods of his career, many translated for the first time. There are public statements about specific exhibitions, private reflections drawn from personal correspondence, answers to questions posed by critics, and excerpts from journals discussing the intentions, subjects, methods, and sources of his works from various periods. The writings are accompanied by 87 biographical illustrations of paintings from the artist's personal collection. Published in association with the Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A genius.
I really enjoyed this book. I bought it at the Ricther exhibit I just saw at the SFMOMA a few weeks ago. I wasn't familiar with his work until then. I was awed at the different themes and usage of what would seem to be everyday normal moments caught with an unearthly feel. He's even using music and video installations now. This book does uses his collected notes, interviews and letters as an insight into the thinking behind the artist. Richter's philosophy of not subscribing to any ideaology is very evident here. He seems especially disdainfull of Communism as it does not afford the freedom for individual creation. He's been grasping to make sense of his art all his life and its what has been driving him. You can see it in his paintings. The work itself becomes a question. Why this subject. What is relevant? What is the importance. Why this style of painting? What is the meaning of the photograph it's based on? The book is chock full of interesting ideas on art, art history and the current state of society and the culture. Even if you don't agree with it all - it's still a very interesting read. I do recommend that you first familiarize yourself with Richter's various works first. You'll enjoy the book all the more.

Class Act
Ironically, this book - that decries idealogies - could be a Bible, speaking almost always on deeply conceptual issues not only of artmaking but of living. Fortunately, for those with a pulse, there is sufficient comic relief in the form of absurdities, parodies and self-aggrandizement.

It is tempting to skip the early writing and go straight to the wisdom through maturity (the notes are chronologically arranged.) That would be unfortunate for there are tremendous nuggets scattered among the contradictions in the earlier pages.

If you're familiar with his work, much will be self-evident; but I found surprisingly astute reflections from the "young" Richter (ie:'66): "I like continual uncertainty". On the issue of changing style/form every 3-4 years, Richter claims that "historically speaking, changeable artists are a growing phenomenon". Even back in '77, he says "Painting has a brilliant future. Hasn't it?" Strong words, and brave for the time. If only the irascible Kuspit had read this before he slammed Richter (as "profoundly nihilistic") and believed such statements as "I want pictorial content without sentiment, but I want it as human as possible" or "the pleasure of painting proves the necessity of it".

I hope future editions of this include the charming interview with Robert Storr in Art In America Jan. 2002 - which clued me into the fact that Richter had a set of writings out. There are a few photos that show the various painting forms he's explored so if you don't know his work, you can get some idea what all the discussion's about.

Compelling
A wildly compelling book that should appeal to artists, philosophers and other thoughtful people. It contains journal entries, interviews, and musings of Richer's everyday struggles to discover what it means to be an artist. I tried to start at the beginning, but found it much more interesting to open the book to a random passage and each time discovered thought-provoking ideas. At first glance, his ideas and declarations often seem quite ludicrous, but if you take one moment to consider his thoughts, his genius is revealed. His prose (sometimes scathing) is extremeley amusing when read aloud as it was by a group of artists working on a large project. We took turns reading a passage and then found ourselves discussing (and quoting) it for days. His writings include the impact of his early life on his artwork, critiques of other artist's work (Anslem Keiffer does not fare well here!), keen observations and interpretations from studying art and the human condition in modern society as well as ideas, form, materials, and content in art. I found that it opened up a new way of thinking about my own work and why I am driven to create. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

A shoe-reference from A-Z
Shoes - A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More by Linda O'Keeffe, represents a historic look and guide to the general styles of shoes and recognizing the most influential designers of them, including Salvatore Ferragamo and Manolo Blahnik. Any person reading this book could say `Hey, I had a pair of shoes... made by him?' Wonderful for fashion trivia.

Great Reference
I was truely impressed with this book. Small and inexpensive, the color photography is clear and unfettered with "ambient props" (the shoes are presented with no backgrounds). The text is concise, informative and witty. While the writing gives historical background, the book makes no pretense of being an indepth scholarly treatise on the history of footwear in the mode of Colin McDowell or June Swann. This is a great nutshell overview of women's shoes; fun and useful for scholars as well as students of shoe design (it includes works by both students and teachers at Fashion Institute of Technology), and your everyday shoe lover. Given the expense of producing books with color photography, this is a great bargain.

Yum!
Sandals,platforms,heels.A real feast of footwear is shown within the pages of this compact(but quite thick)book. Great fun to flip through and a great resource for research as well..!

tiny package, HUGE fun
This book contains fluent, erudite words about shoes, but who cares? The point of the book is the luscious photography -- beautiful, enticing images of a large number of shoes.

If you have friends who also love shoes, get a copy for each one and you can sit around for hours saying "omigosh, look at page 501!" and "wow, Carly Jane, page 347 is just what you need!" This is a whole lot more fun than it sounds, actually.

And you can always place the book on your coffee table where it will (a) take up very little physical space and (b) end up enticing everyone who sits down in your living room into developing a shoe fetish.

Seriously, this is a well-researched, beautifully photographed, elegantly written gem of a book. If you happen to like shoes, you really owe it to yourself to obtain a copy of it.

Enchanting!
This book is worth the purchase just for the forward! It features wonderful comments and quotes like, "When it comes to shoes, practicality and comfort are beside the point." And, "...You look down at your feet and wink at yourself." But the photos are stunning and the information delightful! Terrific fun for the footwear fancier. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

a guidebook of magnificent ideas on city
Perhapes part of Kostof's category for urban patterns( as organic, grids, grand manner....) is arguable, but his wonderful ananlyses for each individual sample lead us into deeper understanding of urban patterns and social meanings behind. Many cities familiar to most of us (Siena, Paris, New Dehli....) appear refreshingly unfamiliar in his book.

A Bible for an Urban Designer
Probably the most comprehensive guide to the thoughts, theories and practical aspects of designing a city. Buy it and weep for your boring grid plan cities.... ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Overview
I used this book for a graduate theory class and ended up reading pretty much all of it. The book provides an excellent overview of the major movements during the past 100 years but also misses out on a lot of the most current trends. I believe there were less than 3 articles dated after 1999. The writings seem to be obscure at times, with the editors trying to draw distant similarites between varying fields. Most of the passages used overly pretentious language, so keep a dictionary nearby. This book is not a beginner guide and it helps to have some knowledge of art history as well as a little world history. A better or easier read would have to be "Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art"... ... Read more

Book Description

In the late 1920s, conservative policies were the norm among traditional museums--that is, until three progressive patrons of the arts decided to establish an institution devoted exclusively to modern art. When The Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929, its first director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., dedicated it to helping people understand and enjoy the new visual arts of the time, his hope was that this new institution would offer New York " perhaps the greatest museum of modern art in the world." The public responded with enthusiasm--and has continued to do so over the history of the Museum's extraordinary development: from an initial gift of eight prints and one drawing, MoMA's collection has grown to include over 100,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects; 19,000 films and four million film stills; and 160,000 books, artists' books, and periodicals.

Published on the occasion of the Museum's 75th birthday and the opening of its new building, Art in Our Time:A History of MoMA, is a picture book of historical photographs and archival documents, many of which have never before been published. Included are images of the various Museum buildings and gardens, from its original home in the Heckscher Building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, to its present location in Yoshio Taniguchi's complex on 53rd Street; installation shots of major exhibitions and important events at the Museum, and photographs of curatorial staff and Museum officials whose discerning policies helped shape our understanding of modern art. Documents include excerpts from letters, invitations, and other archival material that tell the story of The Museum of Modern Art from its beginnings to the present. The book is divided into eight sections starting with documentation of the, modern art scene in New York prior to the Museum's opening; and then offering a chronology that covers the museum's 75-year history in seven parts divided into 10- to 15-year increments. Edited by Harriet Schoenholz Bee and Michelle Elligott.

Foreword by Glenn Lowry. Hardcover, 9.5 x 10.75 in. / 240 pgs / 300 color and 300 duotones. ... Read more