Book Description

Art in Theory (1648 - 1815) provides a wide-ranging and comprehensive collection of documents on the theory of art from the founding of the French Academy until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Like its highly successful companion volumes, Art in Theory (1815 - 1900) and Art in Theory (1900 - 1990), its' primary aim is to provide students and teachers with the documentary material for informed and up-to-date study. Its' 240 texts, clear principles of organization and considerable editorial content offer a vivid and indispensable introduction to the art of the early modern period.Harrison, Wood and Gaiger have collected writing by artists, critics, philosophers, literary figures and administrators of the arts, some reprinted in their entirety, others excerpted from longer works. A wealth of material from French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Latin sources is also provided, including many new translations.Among the major themes treated are early arguments over the relative merits of ancient and modern art, debates between the advocates of form and colour, the beginnings of modern art criticism in reviews of the Salon, art and politics during the French Revolution, the rise of landscape painting, and the artistic theories of Romanticism and Neo-classicism.Each section is prefaced by an essay that situates the ideas of the period in their historical context, while relating theoretical concerns and debates to developments in the practice of art. Each individual text is also accompanied by a short introduction. An extensive bibliography and full index are provided. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Solid conservative info
Not particularly advanced, but good for the collector and many bronze artists. Slightly repetitive, but affirmative of very good bronze finishing/conservation practices in a variety of enviroments. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

This book presents vintage, often whimsical, and one-of-a-kind wooden figurine carvings by ANRI, the world-renowned company founded in 1912 in the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy. Among the more than 2,500 carvings featured are bottle stoppers, bottle openers and corkscrews, bar sets, calendars, letter openers, bookends, humidors, ashtrays, lighters, cigarette boxes, pipe rests, salt and pepper sets, pepper mills, napkin rings, timers, toothpick holders, brushes, salt and serving spoons, spoon and key racks, door knockers, and figurines, including monks and characters from novels by Charles Dickens. Collectors with a wide range of interests will be delighted with the amazing number of woodcarvings shown. This book will amuse and inspire todays woodcarvers and collectors, novices and experienced devotees alike. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Carving Inspiration
This book is written for collectors but as a woodcarver, I appreciate the history of woodcarving that is a part of this book. The book is filled with great color photos of carvings done over many years. On the downside, it cost me more money because after reading it, I ended up going to ebay and bidding on several anri carvings. I did note than a number of the carvings for sale were being sold by the books author. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Sculptor Charles Cordier (1827-1905) captured attention worldwide when he exhibited a bust of a Sudanese man at the Paris Salon in 1848, the very year slavery was abolished in the French colonies. From 1851 to 1866 he served as the official sculptor of Paris's National History Museum, creating a series of spectacularly lifelike busts for their new ethnographic gallery (now housed in the Musee de l'Homme, Paris).

The Musee d'Orsay in Paris has organized an unprecedented exhibition of Cordier's work, highlighting seventy-five sculptures and almost forty ethnographic photographs. Filled with several texts on his life and work compiled by the exhibition's organizers, this book serves as the official exhibition catalogue but also includes a catalogue raisonne of six hundred of Cordier's works, of which four hundred are reproduced. ... Read more

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modern thinking without fuss
Modern Sculpture takes us through the thoughts and ideas that finnished a stagnated era and gave birth to true creativity. It is written in a clear, very understandable way... without loosing its depth of insight. Beautifully presented and with a magnificent choice of sculptures.... fantastic reading!!!! ... Read more

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early American architectural ornamentation
UTILITY AND BEAUTY - Robert Wellford and Composition Ornament in America by Mark Reinberger. U. of Delaware Press, Newark, DE/Associated Univesity Presses, London, United Kingdom. 2004. 190 pp. $65.00 hardcover/8-1/2" x 11", ISBN 0-87413-760-8. photographs, illustrations, map, appendices, notes, bibliography, index.
In the early 1800s in America, composition--or "compo"--was a plaster-like material pressed into intricately carved, detailed ornaments for interior woodwork in homes and buildings, particularly mantelpieces. Robert Wellford (1775-1844) of Philadelphia was the leading maker of compo in the U. S. during this period. The neoclassical flourishes, forms, and mythological and other figures of composition along with patriotic imagery became popular in well-to-do homes along the coast from South Carolina to New Jersey because of the sense of elegance it added to rooms, but also because it was affordable by not having to be imported. Reinberger gives a full account of this American decoration which became prevalent in the early decades of the new nation. His account complemented with many photographs of varying detail deals with the manufacture of the composition, its different styles, the spread of it, and the fading of this "feminine" art form with the coming to favor of the "masculine" style of decoration modeled on the Doric Greek classical style. Wellford's career as a talented and ambitious businessman is also covered. This is a thorough work for architects, decorators, historians, and artists on the relatively brief period of a few decades when compo was the ornamentation of choice in buildings along the East Coast and embodied ideas about high style and desirable expression of the virtues and ideals of the new democracy. Reinberger is an associate professor in the College of the Environment and Design at the U. of Georgia. Historic preservation is one of the courses he teaches. ... Read more

Book Description

Looking at how artists from all over the world have modeled the human form in ceramics, The Figure in Fired Clay provides lavish full-color illustrations and examples from prehistoric times to the present, along with the historical, mythological, and methodological background to this fascinating subject. Stunningly beautiful drinking vessels and pottery, some fashioned in the shape of people or animals, some with these figures painted on their exterior, have enhanced the domestic rituals of all cultures, and are brilliantly depicted and examined alongside the experiments of the modern masters-Picasso, Mo Jupp, Eric Mellon, and others. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A new view by a famous potter
Betty Blandino's new book, The Figure in Fired Clay is spectacular. The collection of gorgeous photos alone make it a very thumbable coffee table book, but--make no mistake--it is more than that.

Blandino reviews the history of the seemingly universal tendency of people all over the world to take a lump of clay and mold it into a recognizable figure. Many of these artefacts come from civilizations of which we have no other surviving record. I loved the section on the earliest clay figures, and also the wonderful photographs of the work of contemporary ceramicists, many of whom were quite new to me.

Betty Blandino is a distinguished potter herself, and this is what brings this book to life. As she says in the Foreword: "Nothing but a small lump of soft clay accompanying these paper pages could have allowed those who have not used it to understand and feel the pleasure of this tolerant, flexible material as well as appreciating the wilfulness of its character."

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in pottery, and/or the human form, and perhaps like me have not seen how these two interests go together. ... Read more

Book Description

Visitors to the 2001 Venice Biennale were highly impressed with the sculpture Boy--a child who stood five meters high--by the London-based artist Ron Mueck. Harald Szeemann called the sculpture "the sphinx of the exhibition," and it soon became its landmark. The monumental, crouching figure of a youth makes a vulnerable, defensive impression and yet, its watchful eye seems to miss nothing. Mueck's human figures are always technically perfect, absolutely realistic, deliberately undersized or oversized. He first models them in clay and then takes a hollow cast which he fills with silicone or fiberglass. The finished sculptures show delicate networks of veins, fine hairs; they even seem to breathe. Their perfection is always in the service of content, however: Viewers are touched and set thinking by the emotional quality of figures like Pregnant Woman or Dead Dad--created by the artist after the death of his father. With great autonomous presence, exhibiting human features yet completely artificial, Mueck's artworks refer to fundamental questions and allow a wealth of associations. Edited by Heiner Bastian.~Essays by Eugen Blume and Susanna Greeves. Paperback, 8.5 x 11 in./80 pgs / 40 color 0 BW0 duotone 0 ~ Item D20285 ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Hibbard is a master sculpture historian:
Hibbard is one of the world's most respected and informed historians of sculpture. And he's a good writer too. That sums up my review. Enjoy the reading and the wonderful photographs!!!

For Intelligent Novices
I love this book! I've never explored any art history books before, but this was a great first experience. Hibbard has a gift for explaining all of the details of Bernini's works, without bombarding you with unknown lingo or being long-winded. I would highly recommend this book, especially if you plan on going to Italy someday. ... Read more

Book Description

Joseph Beuys in America: Energy Plan for the Western ManBy Joseph Beuys.Edited by Carin Kuoni. "A tasty collection of hitherto uncollected/unpublished writings by and about the legendary German artist." -FlashArtillustratedISBN: 1-56858-007-X ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent collection of original documents on Beuys
Joseph Beuys is a mythical figure in the art world; however, this books shows the real intetions of his art work and social sculpture. An excellent resource, a must read for anyone interested in challenging the fabric of society. ... Read more

Book Description

This richly illustrated volume is a study of the temples created in East Java between the tenth and sixteenth centuries, filling an important scholarly lacuna. The arts of Central Java, home of the great Buddhist monument, Borobudur, and Hindu Prambanan, have been given thorough scholarly attention. The architectural and sculptural treasures of the East Javanese kingdoms of Kadiri, Singasari, and Majapahit, are little known in comparison, yet beautiful and significant in Indonesian history.

The author presents the major sites of these three historical periods, and discusses their architecture and sculpture. The many narrative reliefs illustrating sacred and secular literature have been painstakingly identified. The reader is thus able to follow their stories and understand where, why, and how they fit into the visual program planned for each temple and their relation to historical events and the wayang theater. These descriptions are augmented by extensive site summaries. Superb color photography supports the text throughout and is a major contribution in itself.

The book contains a wealth of information that is not available all together in any other publication. Not only are the descriptions of the monuments valuable, but the author identifies numerous sculptures in collections around the world that were once associated with the East Javanese temples discussed. The attempted reconstruction of sculptural programs at the sites is extremely important. To understand an ancient Javanese stone sculpture, knowledge of its original cultural context is required rather than its current location on a stand in some museum. Today, with the number of fakes appearing on the art market, such associations are invaluable for dating and authenticating stone sculpture said to come from unidentified East Javanese sites.

The author's understanding of indigenous Javanese ancestor-worship traditions and their integration with foreign Indian religious beliefs is especially helpful, as it explains many of the unusual local features of East Javanese sculpture. Highlighted is the coexistence of Hindu and Buddhist deities that appears to be a uniquely East Javanese religious trend. Worshiping Siva and Buddha: The Temple Art of East Java is a welcome and significant addition not only to Javanese studies but also to architecture, art history, comparative religion, Buddhist, Hindu, and Southeast Asian studies. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Worshiping Siva and Buddha
Their imposing neighbors in Central Java -- beautiful Borobudur, with its beguiling tale of rediscovery after centuries lost, the eerie, mysterious specter of Hindu Prambanan -- have often overshadowed the charms of the temples of East Java.

Kinney endeavors to set the record straight and give the East Java wonders their historical and cultural due in this copiously detailed, lavishly illustrated and fascinating volume.

She puts the construction of the temples in historical context, including the entry and development of Buddhism and Hinduism in Java, describing the unique characteristics of the temple architecture from the great East Javanese kingdoms of Kediri, Singosari and Majapahit. She also speculates on the reasons for the "reversal of fortune" that led to Central Java's temples gaining more prominence with contemporary scholars.

The author has a concise, interesting, inviting style: This is no pedantic roll call of facts, but neither is it the light-weight academic exercise of the usual glossy coffee-table book.

Kinney writes in the prologue that much of the information on the temples and their architecture is only available in scattered sources, and her intent was to bring it together in one readily available source. She succeeds admirably; every page shows her scholarly credentials, but the care and precision in which she details the story of each temple, great and small, also reveals a deep love of the subject (as she laments, many of the sculptures are no longer at their original sites, but have been spirited away to museums around the world).

For those with aspirations of writing a great tome to Indonesia and its wonders, Kinney has met the standard and then some with this gorgeous work. ... Read more

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Even when a famous artist's critical reputation has fallen on bad times, it's rare that the negative side of the legend finds its way into an elegantly designed and copiously illustrated monograph like Henry Moore: Sculpting the 20th Century. Yet those who deride the "civic trophy" aspect of Moore's ubiquitous bronze figures may reconsider their verdict in light of the perceptive arguments presented here by eight art historians. The scrutiny of Moore begins with the question of known and possible sources for the early blocky seated figures of the '20s, inspired by his fascination with African, Oceanic, and pre-Columbian sculptures. After investigating Moore's experiments with surrealism in the '30s, the text discusses the poignant drawings of people huddled in Underground stations during World War II that brought his work to the attention of a wider public.

The criticisms of Moore's work began when he shifted from the "truth to materials" embodied in his stone, wood, and cast-concrete figures to working in bronze and marble. Beginning in the early '60s, a younger generation of artists questioned the validity of his metaphors and his team of assistants. Critics singled out his repetitive forms and his failure to create site-specific work. ("I think you should make something that is right anywhere," Moore responded.) Yet the inherent warmth and tactile quality of Moore's often curiously androgynous figures has proved irresistible to many. This book is the catalog for an exhibition organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. --Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Outstanding!
This book radiates with the beauty of Henry Moore, and helps us to recognize those more recent sculptors such as Donald Wright, who have perhaps surpassed the master.

Provides Moore enthusiasts with a body of works
Moore is one of the most beloved sculptors of the 20th century, yet his work has fallen out of favor with the modern critics: this seeks to reassess Moore's crucial contribution to art of the last century, examining his early experiments with primitivism and his later probe into modernist pieces. The focus on his early works in particular provides Moore enthusiasts with a body of works and approaches not seen in many other considerations of his works. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Humor, Wit, and Genius
Bicycle wheel on stool. A urinal. A bottle rack. A comb. A mustached Mona Lisa. And other sordid odds and ends. Though his "Readymades" continue to shock the public as monstrosities to the art world, very few know the story behind the wit and audacity that is Marcel Duchamp. In this exhaustive album of Duchamp's oeuvre, Naumann gives compassion to "Duchamp's things," objects crucified by indifference and imperception, through his stunning layout of text and colored figures; the book itself is truly an aesthetic masterpiece. Albeit an art historian, Naumann does not digress into meditations on esoterica. Rather, he examines Duchamp's letters, interviews, speeches, notes, writings, and other primary source evidence to construct an enlightening and entertaining interpretation for each and every one of Duchamp's masterpieces. Exploring the philosophical questions at play in each work, Naumann explains to us Duhcamp's ideal of art and answers convincingly why the artist provocateur felt the need to abandon the jurisdiction of Taste and Aesthetics. For anyone brave enough to be enlightened about the complexity of a urinal or the phonetic pun behind L.H.O.O.Q (the mustached Mona Lisa), I urge you not to only read this book but to perceive it in its entirety. ... Read more

Amazon.com

After David Smith's untimely death in 1965, row upon row of extraordinary abstract sculptures were discovered in the grassy fields that surround the artist's home and studio at Bolton Landing in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Fittingly, many of these works were subsequently acquired by Storm King Art Center, the world's quintessential sculpture park, which is set on 500 acres of rolling lawns, fields, and woodlands and surrounded by the undulating profiles of the Hudson Highlands. Smith's sculpture fields there provide the inspiration for this book, published to coincide with a three-year exhibition (1997 to 1999) of the works at Storm King. The human form in landscape, or "the artist in the world," is a consistent visual theme for this grouping of Smith's monumental planar and volumetric assemblages of geometric shapes and seamlessly transformed found objects. In Portrait of a Painter (1954), for instance, Smith created a figural silhouette in which flat bronze rectangles form a spinal column and pelvis, crescent-shaped arches delineate the curves of a body, and an actual cast palette serves as a head.

This large, colorful book is chock-a-block with images and information, collaged in the lyrical spirit of David Smith's diverse works. In her introductory essay, daughter Candida N. Smith recalls a magical childhood in the creative oasis of what the artist called his "sculpture farm," and writes eloquently of his art as an extension of his identity. A memoir by prominent art critic and historian Irving Sandler describes Smith's circle (which included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline), his deeply modernist roots, and his interest in cubism, constructivism, and surrealism. Throughout the book are quotes by many of Smith's artist friends, including Helen Frankenthaler ("A ribald and beautiful human being, with a roar of laughter"); Kenneth Noland ("When he did something, he did it absolutely. He meant for it to stand up to anything: nature, aesthetics, anything"); Anthony Caro ("He made his life around sculpture and I think he taught me that"); and Mark di Suvero, ("[He] had the animal energy of an industrial worker, the capacity, the craftsmanship and the will of an original artist, and he drank his booze ... in a way that made me shudder.... He was a master"). --A.C. Smith ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Sculpture of David Smith
When David Smith died in 1966 he left his own personal field of dreams at his home/studio in upstate New York. Over 80 gigantic sculptures populated the grounds, pitting man against nature and daring to compete in size and moxie with the mountains around them.

After an initial flirtation with New York City, Smith retreated to the solitude of the Adirondacks. These mountains formed a somber monumental backdrop to the brooding nature of the artist. The sculptures were the landscape of his imagination, his spiritual domain, and his homage to the majesty of being human. Additionally, Smith created drawings, paintings and collages that filled his home with the living presence of art.

This is a lavish book that clearly reflects the artist's magnificent obsessions. ... Read more

Book Description

An appraisal of the full range of work by one of the most significant British artists of the past fifty years.

Based upon a practice of inverted casting—making space tangible—Rachel Whiteread's work offers both intimate and public meditations on vital questions of history, memory, and social change. But these are also artworks with profound and carefully weighed formal concerns and an affiliation with the critical issues of sculpture raised throughout the twentieth century.

Whiteread's work is, perhaps, provoking because it so successfully melds artistic and historical issues, restoring to public attention neglected issues that more dominant interests would wish forgotten. Out of the solidification of space Whiteread creates an archive that compacts and makes legible those intangibles that comprise so much of ordinary life.

This collection of essays by leading authorities on contemporary art examines Whiteread's work from her earliest domestic objects of the late 1980s through controversial projects such as House to her recent, large-scale public works, including Water Tower in New York, Monument in London's Trafalgar Square, and Holocaust Memorial in Vienna. The book includes discussions of both Room 101, her cast of George Orwell's room at the BBC, and recent gallery installations. Whiteread's work is appraised both in terms of its relationship to art history and its social and political impact, and examined for theoretical approaches through which we may better understand this most complex and challenging of contemporary artists. 60 illustrations.

With contributions by: Angela Dimitrikaki, Jennifer Gross, Shelley Hornstein, Susan Lawson, Pamela M. Lee, Melanie Marino, Blake Stimson, James Young. ... Read more