Book Description

Vito Acconci is a key late twentieth-century pioneer of performance, video, installation and the exploration of architectural space. His work has expanded art's boundaries, moving beyond the gallery or museum into shared public spaces. Initially a poet, Acconci began making Conceptual art in the late 1960s. He devised actions, enacted them and documented them with texts, photographs or video. In 1972 he produced the most famous performance installation of its time, Seedbed. In an empty gallery he built a low ramp, concealed beneath which he stimulated himself with sexual fantasies about viewers walking above, speaking his fantasies into a microphone linked to loudspeakers. Startled spectators found themselves implicated in an intimate power relationship between artist and viewer. Since the mid 1980s his work has turned towards experimental architectural projects. In 1988 he set up the architectural practice Acconci Studio, which has public commissions around the world and was featured at the

Venice Architecture Biennale in 2001. Acconci's work remains of vital importance not only to Conceptual art and performance, but to contemporary architectural theory and practice. ... Read more

Book Description

Extremely popular today, decorative ceramic tiles have graced the exteriors and interiors of Western buildings since the Middle Ages. This lavishly illustrated book offers a wealth of information and inspiration as it surveys tiles in architecture, gardens, and interiors from Delftware and the Moorish style to Art Deco and the Omega workshops of the Bloomsbury group. Many exquisite examples are displayed along with photographs and paintings showing tiles in various period settings from Renaissance to Gothic Revival.

No other book provides such a comprehensive account of tiles and tilework. Focusing on techniques as well as design, it will appeal to architects, designers, and ceramicists, as well as to collectors. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

Fun projects, impressive results.
While it is nice to see the completed projects with full plans, the most important thing we took away from this book is technique. We feel we can pretty much mosaic anything that comes across our path now! As a result, we looked at a particularly ugly cement slab that was under an outside faucet and saw an opportunity. We mosaiced it (that's mom and her 7 year old) and it is now a focal point instead of a eye sore.

If you're just getting started this is a great way to go. It worked with us!

Let your creativity soar in the garden!
This book is an excellent sequel to Ms. Sheerin's first offering, Mosaics In an Afternoon. If you haven't had the opportunity to peruse either book, you are missing out on the chance of a lifetime to add pizazz to your home!

Most of the projects offered in this book would make excellent gifts, art pieces for sale, or decorations to grace your own home. Not only will you find the complete instructions for each project, you'll find informative lessons on how to be a mosaic designer yourself!

Highly recommended book! ... Read more

Book Description

In 24 colorful, stylish projects for home and garden, Mosaic Workshop offers a complete course in mosaic design and technique. For both novices and those more experienced, featuring 20 templates and 200 color photos. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Very impressive
I have acquired quite a few mosaic books and written reviews for them on Amazon, and although all of them are useful to some extent, this mosaic book has really impressed me! There are many photos of absolutely gorgeous mosaic designs which follow a more traditional style, using only tiles and not other objects such as rocks, shells, marbles, etc., like you find in some mosaic books. The designs are exquisite in color and workmanship as well. There are many "gallery" items which are examples of professional work, and there are quite a few featured projects with a form of instructions called "Method Tips" which, rather than giving explicit step-by-step instructions, give instructions with advice, suggestions and options for color, materials, positioning, etc. Because of this, and because the designs are rather sophisticated and complex, this is not a mosaic book for beginners. However, truly motivated beginners could get started trying out a couple of the simpler projects.

Besides the gorgeous designs, this book is impressive in its extensive teaching about design, light, color, contrast, background, and several methods of laying mosaic. I get the feeling I'm in the hands of a skillful and professional mosaicist, and that this is a book to be studied to gain useful insight for building my own skills. These are not designs for someone to quickly throw together; rather this book is an excellent resource for serious mosaicists.

Mosaic Workshop : A Guide to Designing and Creating Mosaics
If you want to learn about mosaic, this is a good book. Many ilustrations help you to understand how easy is create a mosaic.

You can never have too many mosaic books!
Wow - this is an amazing book that explores colour, tone, texture and technique in sufficient detail with great photos to match. Excellent for inspiration and learning the finer points of the mosaic art but not really suited for beginners. It only loses a star because the format is not the easiest to follow even though it is well laid out, and at first glance, it doesn't appear to be a workbook. But mosaic afficienados should really include this book on their "must-have" list, if not for the photos alone. Definitely recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Julian Bell's refreshingly simple What Is Painting? considers, as its title suggests, basic questions relevant to the practice and contemplation of painting. As a successful painter in his own right, it is fascinating to watch Bell's mind cut through the dense foliage of art history to produce a compelling account of the ways in which the personal and social significance of painting has changed over the centuries. Beginning with Aristotle and ending with the so-called death of painting, Bell boldly tackles ideas and concepts central to an understanding of the medium. Imitation, representation, form, modernity, abstraction, and deconstruction are all explored through Bell's accounts of painters ranging from the early Greeks to Lucian Freud. Running throughout the book is a passionate belief in the importance of painting as a means of private and public expression. For a book by a painter, it is rather light on color illustrations (only 16 in all), and the subtlety of Bell's arguments can sometimes diminish their force. Still, a very interesting read for both artists and art lovers. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Enlightening!
This book gives a fascinating view on art from an author who knows very well what he is talking about. Read it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Exploring a number of unexpected mosaic materials and surfaces, The New Mosaics utilizes basic mosaic-making principles to create soft furnishings, journal covers, jewelry, and more; even the more common choices such as tabletops, frames, boxes, and vases often take a less traditional and sometimes downright funky approach. Besides stone, glass, tile, and metal, materials include fabric, paper, buttons, eggshells, cork, seashells, cardboard, magnets, and found objects. A business-card holder constructed from an old camera housing becomes a travelogue of souvenir plates accented with costume jewelry; a game table sprouts a multitude of playing pieces and small toys; hundreds of bottlecaps unite to form a tramp art wall hanging; tiny rhinestones and faux pearls adorn a delicate toiletry set. A gallery of creations by various artists provides further proof that mosaics can be taken to unusual and often interesting extremes: a staircase, a shower tiled to look like a library, clothing, buildings, and even cars sport a vast array of mosaic motifs, and then of course there's South Dakota's famous Corn Palace, entirely covered with elaborate mosaics of the state's history.

The instructions and illustrations are generally adequate, and in most cases the photographs themselves serve as enough of a guideline to assemble the piece. A few templates are included, but crafters less sure of their artistic abilities may be frustrated at the lack of templates for several of the projects with more intricate designs. Better proofreading would have helped, too: directions for a detailed set of faux-jade jewelry made of polymer clay refer to "the patterns on page 000," and no such patterns appear anywhere in the book. --Amy Handy ... Read more

Reviews (2)

It's exactly what the title says!
If you're looking to learn the ins and outs of mosaic making, if you're looking to glue shards of tesserae to boards and lamps and things, this isn't the book for you.

If, on the other hand, you simply love the"look" of mosaics, this book will teach you how to recreate itusing beads, bottle caps, dice, and everything else listed in the subtitle. Though many of the projects are attractive (like the "LuxuriousJournal," made of velvet squares), many are also a little tacky (likea clock made of beans).

A few of the projects involve creating mosaicswith actual glass and tile tesserae, but these are generally quickies-forbeginners.And although the gallery in the back of the book contains a fewterrific pieces, almost all of them are in dozens of other books onmosaic.

It's a nice book for your mosaics library, but it's less thanessential.

40 Projects to Make With Glass, Metal, Paper, Beans, Buttons
This book show you that you can use many materials to do a mosaic. If you want differents ideas, this is the right book. ... Read more

Book Description

Mosaic is a medium of glorious expression, endurance, and timeless beauty. In Modern Mosaic, Elaine Goodwin inspires readers to pick up a fragment of stone or glass and start an exhilarating journey of exploration and expression.

Readers will marvel at the outstanding mosaic styles featured from around the world. The art deco of New York City, Gaudi's surreal creations, Hundertwasser, and more.

Modern Mosaic features:

- A short history of mosaic including art nouveau, public art and private expression
- How to set up a workspace: equipment, tools, and adhesives
- Materials: glass, gold, found objects, ceramic, and more
- Design: inspiration, drawing, images, symbolism
- Projects: 15 projects with step-by-step instructions and photographs
- Gallery: inspiring work from leading mosaic artists from around the world ... Read more

Book Description

Charles and Henry Greene are key figures of the American Arts and Crafts movement. This large-scale monograph on the Greenes' life and complete range of works features new scholarship, newly commissioned photography, and previously unpublished archival material including recently discovered projects. Charles and Henry Greene's work is concentrated in California - where they practised architecture together from 1906-22 before establishing separate offices - and they have become closely identified with the popular regionalist "Craftsman" style. The elegant houses of their peak period, such as the Gamble, Blacker and Thorsen houses, are masterful in their design and execution. No detail was overlooked: the whole interior including furniture, fittings, and glasswork, as well as the building (down to pegs, airvents, and bracing) were conceived as an organic whole, and finished exquisitely. Following the lead of the chronology of their intertwined personal and professional lives, the monograph begins with how the two brothers were raised to be architects and to practice together. they were sent to MIT (then the finest architecture school in America), where their natural artistic skills were combined with an excellent technical grounding, before apprenticing with liberal architects in Boston. After establishing their own practice together they quickly allied themselves with the progressive Arts and Craft movement, a movement they were soon to be shaping as much as responding to. Their distinctive and innovative designs were all-encompassing, treating every component of a house (both inside and out) as an element to be designed. Their work drew prestigious and wealthy clients, but their high fees and exacting (and therefore slow) process eventually led to the break down of their joint practice. The projects of their individual offices, while excellent examples of the Arts and Crafts style, never reached the same aesthetic and architectural!level as the fruits of their symbiotic partnership. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Could have been the definitive history, Although??
Above normal production with some very nice touches. Very well written and complete text, although there is a painful flaw to this publication. The floor plans and a vast number of the desriptive pictures are improperly sized for viewing. Greene & Greene's art-like floor plan drawings have been reduced to something impossible to read and interpret. Considering the price of this volumn, this is an inexcusable flaw. As a coffee table publication this might be acceptable but for the money its a shame the publisher did not catch this oversight.

best on greene and greene
I grew up in Pasadena and have been waiting for a book like this on the greene and Greene brothers. This book makes all the other previous books look naive, fawning, and lame.This book treats the subject, that is, the architecture, properly. ... Read more

Book Description

For eight years after her untimely death in 1991, the evidence of artist Candy Jernigan's life was stored in a quiet Manhattan basement. Drawers and shelves were crammed with paintings, collages, drawings, journals, and eclectic installation pieces like Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall-composed of, well, ninety-nine small laboratory bottles of beer on a wall. Little known until now outside a circle of New York's artistic avant-garde, Jernigan's one-of-a-kind talent is finally brought to light in Evidence. The works collected here reveal a fierce and funny creative spirit, an artist whose commitment to documenting life as she really found it led her not only to record sample swipes of the food she consumed, but also to stuff a roadkill rat and lovingly arrange it in a diorama. Jernigan's method-using the precision of a scientist to reveal the souls of discarded objects-makes her advocacy of the overlooked at once surprisingly charming and thought-provoking. Including four gatefolds, Evidence is an art book that gives readers a witty, transformative vision of the stuff that composes our lives-and bears witness to the genius of a truly original thinker. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Revolutionises the mundane!!!
This book has become one of my bedside companions, and certainly will make you reflect upon the world in a manner that is foriegn. It is nothing like you will have ever seen, and it is more wonderful than you can imagine.

In Candy's world, everything; the smears of sauces, the crusts of bread, the crack vials found in New York, a crushed saucepan, a dead rat and the bottletop nearby Jim Morrison's grave, become worthy of attention and transformed into art.

She will make you peer at the sidewalk, wondering about the origins of that dust, make you pocket that docket in the desire to transform into a collage of your day's events.

While much of this book is her collected items, there is life to be found in her minute drawings of bugs and sausages, her tiny print and evidence of her personality is found within her dream based art.

Contrary to the previous reviewer, I find this book marvellously and wonderfully beautiful. In the tiny collections and wry but subtle observations of Candy, her life is documented and her personality radiates to the reader.

This book, seemingly a collection of food scraps and other tidbits, is evidence of her life, yes, but evidence of the beauty we can find within the seemingly mundane, the tiny, if only we give that bread crust, the leaves in the Pere La-Chaise and that dust a chance to be noteworthy.

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan
This weekend I read and looked through "Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan." It's a fast biography with lots of pictures from Candy Jernigan's journals. It's an amazing and inspiring book.

Jernigan's journals aren't pretty but they are witty and wry and artistic. Candy included smears of food from her meals, dust collected from the steps of the Parthenon, and crack vials collected from the streets of New York. Toward the end of her life, she chronicled lists of the medications and treatments she took to fight liver cancer. (She died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 39.)

Candy's journals show that she LIVED and lived big. It's a pity she's gone but we're lucky she was here and left her wonderful journals behind.

Unique, fascinating look inside an artist's mind
Evidence gives a glimpse of how Candy Jernigan viewed the world. The images, many taken from her travel notebooks, burst with the fragments of everyday living. The artist collected the small incidental throw-away parts of life and arranged them in her notebooks, making these mundane, ordinary objects come alive on the page. This is a truly remarkable work to which I repeatedly come back for inspiration.

How well do you remember your last vacation?
How well do you remember your last vacation? Or a great meal? What do you do to record the beauty around you? Do you notice the horrors of everyday life to which so many people are oblivious? Ms. Jernigan was a consumate story teller. Her stories are not of the obvious, but of the things most of us overlook, ignore and wish we could remember. Absorb this book and you'll never take a trip again without thinking of her work. This book is a true delight. The visual content is wonderful, the text informative and reserved, and the book's design and construction is almost as unique as the subject matter. If you are an artist, traveller - if you are alive - this book should be in you library. More importantly, in you life.

An intimate book about a little known artist
This book is an absolute treasure! Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan, is an illustrated and collaged journal of her travels--around the world, as well as around the city. One feels almost like a voyeur--the book is that intimate.

The book is FILLED with pictures; photocopies of her travel journal, as well as assemblages and paintings from her daily travels around the city. It is beautifully put together--so much so that it evokes a great deal of emotion. I wish I'd had a chance to meet her!

This book came from Jernigan's wish to have "proof that I had been there." There is some irony in this statement, because she died in 1991 at the age of thirty-nine, and the book was published eight years after her death.

As much as I DON'T like to compare artists, Candy Jernigan probably isn't a familiar name to many people. Having said that, I'll add that her art is reminescent of Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenburg, and Jasper Johns--but from a woman's point of view. ... Read more

Book Description

A comprehensive new approach to self-instruction brings out the artist in all of us!

Turn the pages of An Introduction to Mixed Media -- and discover an exciting art course that teaches you how to combine a variety of versatile and expressive media. an Introduction to Mixed Media is a practical guide to a range of artistic techniques. More than 300 photographs guide the beginner through a series of exercises designed to teach all the essentials of working in mixed media. Revealing projects focus on professional works of art, all shown in the making so novices can follow the creative process step-by-step. Unique gallery pages display works of masters -- pictures that will instruct and inspire every student of art. Packed with specially commissioned artworks, clear instruction, and easy-to-follow exercises, The DK Art School offers idea courses for "armchair" art students. The DK Art School series is a new way to learn, improve, or master drawing and painting skills. Carefully constructed courses ensure that you gain both the confidence and the know-how to create imaginative, beautiful pictures. With individual volumes on subjects like still life, portraiture, or landscape, in specific media such as oil, watercolor, or acrylic, The DK Art school series offers something for everyone, and builds into a unique collection of practical art books. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good general overview
This book is designed to open the reader's eyes to the various types of mixed media art and how the techniques are used by different artists to achieve a wide range of effects. The photographs, especially those of the tools and supplies used in the techniques, as well as the photographs of artwork are especially informative, and useful for a beginner. However, if you're looking for specific technique instructions, or tips on how to combine the various mixed media techniques into your own artwork, you may be disappointed. This book left me wanting more, but it is still a valuable addition to a beginning artist's library. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

The Mona Lisa with a mustache...
If you're one of those people who enjoy going to art musuems, but find yourself scratching your head at the piles of plastic bones, jars of fat, or sound boxes that endlessly repeat "chatter chatter chatter" installed in dark rooms, this book will be of great assistance. Conceptual art is simply a different world. It's not a pretty painting or a beautiful sculpture (though "pretty" and "beautiful" are relative to the extreme); it's more of a reaction to these things, a response to the notion of what art is, or a heightening and re-evaluation of the question "what is art?"

The best "explanation" of conceptual art in this book is by the philospher Arthur C Danto. He suggests that at some point art moved from the purely aesthetic to the purely philosophical; without a theoretical background it is very difficult to see why a Brillo box or a neon light that glows and pulsates the words "Eat and Die" is considered art. The "art" is in the concept, not necessarily in the physical work itself. Conceptual art is thus highly intellectual (usually), abstract, and typically doesn't aim for the mere appreciation of a physical object. That many of the artists mentioned in this book use concepts from philosophers like Wittgenstein doesn't refute the claim that conceptual art inhabits an almost purely mental or philosophical realm. To appreciate it, the viewer must go beyond the basic act of seeing.

The book begins with some introductory remarks concerning conceptual art, then discusses its origins in the work of Duchamp, Dada, and cubism. The bulk of the book concentrates on what is considered the peak of conceptual art, or the years 1966 to 1972. Apart from the artistic developments of the times discussed, political and social developments are detailed in parallel. This brings out the political side of conceptual art which many felt (and feel) is the true aim of all conceptual art. Along these lines there are some disturbing images such as the piece "Q: And babies? A: and babies" which is a photograph of dead bodies (adults and children) in a ditch taken during the Vietnam war. There is also an entire chapter dedicated to women and conceptual art - which contains another disturbing piece entitled "rape scene", a chapter about conceptual artists using photography, and a discussion about the dissolution of the art object, and almost the artists themselves, as a "progression" of art in the twentieth century. A particularly fascinating discussion revolves around the debate as to whether art is or is not a commodity, and that conceptual art's attempt to remove the commodity from art was doomed to failure from the start. Parts, smaller parts, of the book discuss art in other countries. These are mostly cursory discussions, but are still interesting for their own part. The final chapter discusses conceptual art in the 1990s, and conceptual art's legacy in general.

For modern museum denizens there are many familiar names mentioned here in connection with conceptual art: Duchamp, Man Ray, Magritte, Warhol, Bruce Nauman, Ad Reinhardt (with his great "What do YOU represent" cartoon of 1945), Piero Manzoni (who literally had his own excrement canned), Claes Oldenburg, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Frank Zappa, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, even Laurie Anderson, and many others far too numerous to list.

One of the more interesting projects discussed is Hans Haacke's "Manet-PROJEKT 74" in which Manet's "Bunch of Asparagus" of 1880 was to be displayed next to placards describing the political and economic status of the individuals that have owned the piece since its original sale. The Wallraf-Richartz museum in Cologne did not appreciate the concept and rejected it, likely due to the fact that the last placard described an individual's, one who had helped the museum acquire the Manet, known ties to the Third Reich. This is conceptual art being both political and self-referential (not to mention historically fascinating).

Throughout, the pictures and layout are incredible (as is typical for Phaidon). The text can get pretty thick at times when it describes some of the pieces. At other times it seems to brief, as if the author was trying to get in as much as possible. Overall the discussion is a good one and will enlighten anyone looking for guidance through the maze of bizarre objects that live in modern museums.

Excellent summary of the Conceptual Art movement
This is a very good introductory book to Conceptualism. The book is very cleanly designed with lots of images and is extremely readable without sounding dumbed down. What I particularly liked was the way that Godfrey blended history with simple explanations of the works gently suggesting interpretations but not forcing them down the reader's throats.

one of the best art movement books i've read
For an overview this book is excellent. Most art historical books cram too much into a limited space and you walk away feeling you've learned very little. This book successfully covers a lot of ground without overwhelming you. I would highly suggest this book for anyone interested in conceptual art at any level

Best book ever!
This book is a superb introduction to not just Conceptual Art, but the way of thinking and looking at Art in general. It provides the reader with background information and contextualizes the artworks and the artists included. Covers the timeline from Dada to the recent yBa (Young British Artists) and describes the evolution of Art in this century. It was easy to read and understand. An inspiration!

A thorough, engaging look at the conceptual art movement
If you want to know anything about the conceptual art movement, chances are better than not that the information can be found here. This is an extremely detailed, sharply analytical book loaded with photographs. I found it a very enjoyable read, learning about the creativity of so many of the conceptual artists. ... Read more

Book Description

This monumental masterwork by the renowned nineteenth century scientist and authority on color, M.E. Chevreul, is unquestionably one of the greatest books ever written on color; the first English translation is reprinted here with the original color restored and an introduction and explanatory notes by Faber Birren, the leading color authority of the present time. Chevreul's book dominated the schools of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, and exerted profound influence on later schools of painting including today's Op Art. Chevreul set forth principles that have become basic in color training throughout the Western world. In his illuminating commentary Mr. Birren shows how many of Chevreul's ideas on color harmony, contrast effects, optical mixtures, and legibility have been validated by modern scientific research in visual perception. mr. Birren also provides a helpful glossary of Chevreul's terminology. Lavishly illustrated, the volume contains many color plates, including 15 plates from the original French edition, photographs of Gobelins tapestries, and full-page reproductions of outstanding Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist paintings. Essential as a reference book for artist and art educators, this volume will also be a source of fresh inspiration for fashion designers, interior decorators, and all others concerned with color in any medium-and it makes good reading for all those interested in the history of men and ideas. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A book on color printed in black & white???
I'm not sure about all editions of this book but the one that I own (paperback...) has NO color inside at all! Who ever heard of a book on the subject of color that didn't include any? What were they thinking? I'm sure it's a fascinating read but if someone is interested enough in color to read this hefty tome, you've got to think they might also enjoy looking at it too. This is an oversized thick book which is at least 95% text. There are very few black & white diagrams either. ... Read more

Book Description

Make your own mosaic creations.Thirteen fun and imaginative projects include a decorative mirror, an animal frieze, a table top, and a terracotta planter.Emma and Tessa explain all the basics about materials, tools, and techniques.Over 150 full-color photos accompany the step-by-step instructions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Stylish & Simple Mosaic
I have been interested in doing mosaic projects but did not know anything about how to get started. This book is very understandable, it tells exactly what tools are needed for each project. It also has a variety patterns to follow outside of the pictures. I highly recommend this book for the beginner or the experienced. There are a lot of great ideas! ... Read more

Book Description

Lawrence Weiner's art uses language in reference to materials. Language itself is a material and at the same time a means of presentation of his work. Weiner evolved this approach in the context of the Conceptual art of the late 60s, yet he does not see his own work as "conceptual." The "space" he works within is the entire cultural context, and his works are associated with various different media and forms of presentation: books, posters, videos, films, records, drawings, multiples, installations indoors and outdoors, and more.

Since his earliest days as a professional artist, Weiner has given written and verbal expression to questions concerning his work and its context. These utterances--statements, interviews, lectures, and conference contributions--have been collected together in this publication for the first time, and ordered chronologically. Taken as a whole they afford an insight both into a complex individual biography and into the wider development of art and culture and the challenge that this entails. Edited by Gregor Stemmrich and Gerti Fietzek. Paperback, 6.5 x 9.5 in. / 496 pgs / 190 b/w. ... Read more

Book Description

American sculptor, painter and printmaker, born in Paris in 1911, Louise Bourgeois is an exceptional figure in the contemporary art world. Her career spans some seventy years and touches upon such key moments as Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and feminism. After a lifetime of little artistic recognition, Bourgeois now enjoys cult status.

An extraordinarily influential sculptor, she has worked, often experimentally, with a huge variety

of materials. She is equally admired for her intimate drawings, often combining fragments of text, and her highly personal writings, which often address her long and complex life story. Themes such as the Other, the feminine and the masculine, and the body - as well as her own specific biography - spin a tangled and intense life-long body of work of unusual profundity. ... Read more

Book Description

Barnett Newman (1905-1970) was one of the most profound and influential artists of the twentieth century. A master of expansive spatial effects and evocative color, he pioneered painting that was both abstract and emotive, suffused with powerful philosophical and spiritual meaning. This landmark book surveys the breadth of Newman's career from his founding role in the New York School in the 1940s to his key influence on both minimalism and conceptual art in the 1960s. Featuring more than 100 of his paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, the book also offers significant new scholarly findings based on the archives of the Barnett Newman Foundation.Despite the apparent simplicity of his signature, the "zip," Newman's art is richly complicated and unexpectedly diverse. His works include such masterpieces as Onement 1 (1948), the series Stations of the Cross (1958-66), and the monumental sculpture Broken Obelisk (1967). Each work of art in this book is reproduced in full color and accompanied by its own entry. A comprehensive chronology of the artist's life based on new documentation, a selected bibliography, and a selected exhibition history complete the volume. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A beautiful book
This book is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the subject. It describes the various types of symmetries recognized by mathematics, and shows many examples of each of them, as used in design. It is not very mathematical, in fact, and if you're looking for a book more heavily oriented in that direction, you might be disappointed. But if you want to get a first introduction to symmetry, and treat your eyes to some wonderful illustrations, get this book!

Absolutely Wonderful!
This is a marvelous book for people of all ages. It has tons of wonderful photographs (most by the authors) and great food for thought. Pictures range from your own back yard (no, really, you'll be amazed at how this book changes your perception of the world around you) to fantastic beautiful images from across the world.. numerous cultures, numerous artifacts, geographical locations, it's a gem. I recommend it as a gift to anyone of any age or just for yourself if you want to go on a fun journey through the world around you and beyond. ... Read more

Book Description

On January 22, 2003 Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, announced that the city had given permission to New York artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude to realize their temporary work of art: "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005."

Christo is world-famous for his major artistic projects, including "Valley Curtain", "Running Fence", "Surrounded Islands", "The Wrapped Pont Neuf", "The Umbrellas", and "Wrapped Reichstag". For the past 24 years, he and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, also an artist, have been working on a magnificent project for New York City's Central Park, "The Gates". "The Gates" will involve the entire topography of Central Park, spanning approximately 23 miles. 7,500 glorious gates--each of which is 16 feet high with a free hanging, saffron colored, fabric panel suspended from the top--will create an undulating golden ceiling above those who walk along the park's paths. "The Gates" will not only reflect and enhance the park's beauty, they will make art a free and accessible experience to be shared by all.

The Gates is the artists' firsthand account of their monumental endeavor and a testimony to their dedication and perseverence. Through photographs and text, this book allows the reader to follow each step of the project--measuring the park, drawing plans to welding the 900 pound steel bases of the gates, life-size testing of the gates, meeting with lawyers, politicians, and city boards, and the final approval. Complete with maps, photographs, architectural designs, and Christo's own drawings and collages, The Gates provides the most comprehensive view of the scope and importance of this project.

Wolfgang Volz has been the exclusive photographer and technical director for Christo and Jeanne-Claude since 1971. He has been represented in more than 300 gallery and museum exhibitions around the world.

Accompanying Volz's photographs is Jeanne-Claude's engaging and informative text. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive book traces the career of Cindy Sherman, examining her achievements as one of the leading American artists of our time. Provocative and engaging, the vivid physicality of Sherman's photographs is the key to their dramatic power. By exploring the myriad constructions of female identity and the body in our culture, Sherman imitates and confronts assorted representational stereotypes, becoming for many an icon of the contemporary concerns of feminism and postmodernism. Essayists Amanda Cruz, Elizabeth A. T. Smith, and Amelia Jones offer keen insight and observations from several distinct vantage points, demonstrating that Sherman's work is a lens through which to view contemporary art and its ongoing concern with the profound issues of the structures of the self. More than 200 images show the breadth of Sherman's body of work, from the Untitled Film Stills of the 1970s to series such as Centerfolds, Fashion, Disasters, Fairy Tales, and History Portraits, as well as photographs influenced by surrealist artists. Also included are intriguing excerpts from Sherman's notebooks, selections from her contact sheets, and numerous Polaroid studies, all of which shed light on the artist's process. Cindy Sherman: Retrospective was first published to accompany an exhibition organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. 279 photographs, 145 in color. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Good Book-Not so good Art
Just recieved this item, the book gets 4 stars for layout and image quality, a good art book. The book gets 2 stars for the quality of the work it contains.

If you like Sherman than this is a good book for you,though I'd suggest re-evaluating you asthetic awarness :) If your looking for great art look elsewhere. Sherman is an overhyped artist. Popular because her work fits into the politically correct agendas and philosophies of the contemporary artworld, not because the work is good. Just read one of the reviews here. The book contains some good peices, some that are atleast interesting but far to many fall into the just plain bad category as represented in this book.

While recently attending a group critique an undergradute ceramics major stated she was a "process orientated" artist(said with artsy fartsy flair to make up for the fact she really didn't have anything to show). Sherman reminds me of her, a bad contemporary cliche masking itself behind feminist artworld dogma. If thats what you want, look at Jenny Saville, atleast she is a good painter, even if her content is often trite.

At last a superb compilation of a great artist's works.
I can't believe it's taken this long for a compilation of Cindy Sherman's body of work to appear. But maybe that's the real measure of a major artist in this place at this time. Sherman is one of the strongest,most meticulous and most original artists to appear since the early 1930s. I'm not going to analyze the photographs, they've been analyzed to death and are far beyond analysis in any case. Suffice to say the quality and layout are excellent. A thrilling book! I do have one reservation which has nothing to do with CS. The accompanying essays are highly ideological (which CS ain't) and serve Sherman far less than their own agendas plus at least one of them is almost unreadable mumbo jumbo.

loved it
A great overview of Cindy Sherman's art with very few gaps. A quick response to an above statement: The disgust you feel is a great part of how one should look at her work. One of the most fascinating aspects in all her photos is the ability she has to construct blantant lies that we react to almost as passionately as what we feel to be genuine. As for her dolls, it's more along the lines of her very merrily reconstructing versions of the human body that are obviously false yet we still search for their anatomical processes. The aspects of them that one finds disgusting are more like the silly goo of a cheap horror movie or the ridiculous body part shots of the sleaziest silicone laden porno. Despite our knowing it's inherent phoniness, we still are frightened, disgusted, and aroused. As I said before, that's a key to her work. Frankly, if you are that disturbed by plastic excrement and genitalia, but not phased at all by the phycological twisting and tension so prevelant in her earlier work, then maybe modern art overall just isn't your cup of tea.

Beware of the contents of this book!
While Cindy Sherman may be considered a very talented photographer, the later part of her career as portrayed in this book is without a doubt deranged. The photographs contained in this book are truly mortifying. It is frightening that ides like hers could come from the human mind. Her explicit graphics on violence and sex are repulsing to even the most open-minded of audiences. I reccommend using discretion when purchasing this book.

very informative, educational about women's rights
Cindy Sherman's Retrospective explains quite well the philosophy and fight about women and their struggle for equal respect in society. Her work, after reading the analyzation seemed very straight forward and is very easy to understand from a woman's perspective. ... Read more

Book Description

Typography 24 is the latest edition of the well-established graphic design annual of the Type Directors Club (TDC.) Devoted exclusively to typography, this book presents the 240 winning designs selected by the TDC from over 2,000 entries worldwide. Models of excellence and innovation, they encompass a variety of categories -- books, magazines, corporate identities, logotypes, stationery, annual reports, video & web graphics, and posters. This year's volume also features the 15 winners of the TDC's fifth annual typeface design competition, with each winning entry displayed in full color, accompanied by complete information about the designer, client, and type design.