New
Art Books / Videos
ART
TIMES July/August 2007
YALE
UNIVERSITY PRESS: The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso
by Paloma Alarcó and Malcolm Warner. 352 pp.; 9 3⁄4 x
11 3/8; 220 Color Illus.; List of Works; Bibliography; Index of Names.
$75.00 Hardcover. Using Picasso as a focal point, The Mirror and the Mask
offers up a pictorial history of the portrait from its beginning as a
portrayal of a subject to its use as a portrayal of the artist him/herself.
Published in conjunction with an exhibition that opened at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza,
Madrid and presently at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (thru Sep 16),
this study includes a wide range of styles representing the work of up
to 60 artists. *****
The Art of Gandhara in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Kurt A. Behrendt.
128 pp.; 8 1⁄2 x 11; 115 Illus., 90 in Color; Glossary; Bibliography;
Index. $24.95 Softcover. Published in association with The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, The Art of Gandhara offers a scholarly and concise overview
of the culture and art of ancient Gandhara. Once a stopping-point on the
Silk Road, Gandhara, situated at the foot of the Himalayas (now parts
of Pakistan and Afghanistan), produced art and artifacts (some destroyed
by the fanaticism of the Taliban in 2001) that were a fusion of cultures
that included China, South Asia and the Mediterranean. Excellent reproductions.
****
PRESTEL:
Frida Kahlo: The Painter and Her Work by Helga Prignitz-Poda. 264
pp.; 11 x 13; 175 B/W & Color Illus.; Plates & Commentaries; Bibliography.
$65.00 Hardcover. Sumptuously produced and lavishly illustrated with
both photographs of the artist and her family as well as of her work,
Frida Kahlo by Helga Prignitz-Poda may well be the most comprehensive
overview of Kahlo we’ll ever get. Penetrating in its insights, the volume
offers up not only an analysis of her work, but includes reproductions
of approximately a third of the 143 works she produced before her
death. Impressive. *****
African Vision:
The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection by Christine Mullen Kreamer, et al. 240 pp.; 10 x 12; 180 Color
Illus.; Selected Bibliography. $65.00 Hardcover. Published to coincide with an exhibition
presently at the Smithsonian (thru Sep 7), African Vision offers
up a gorgeous array of stone, wood, and ivory artifacts from some 75 African
peoples and 20 different countries. Collected by Paul and Ruth Tishman
over some twenty-plus years and sold to the Walt Disney Company in 1984,
the entire collection was eventually donated by the Disney Company to
the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution in 2005 —
here catalogued and exhibited for public viewing. Handsomely produced
and lavishly illustrated. *****
Botero: Paintings
and Drawings by Werner Spies. 180 pp.; 7 ¾ x 9 5/8; 170
Illus., 110 in Color; Selected One-Man Exhibitions; Selected Bibliography.
$19.95 Softcover. The latest addition to Prestel’s “art-flexi” series,
Botero offers up a concise and informative overview of the life and work
of the Columbian artist, Fernando Botero. Includes a conversation with
the artist, a sampling of his short stories, and a wide range of reproductions
of his work. ****
ANGEL
CITY PRESS: Now Playing: Hand-Painted Poster Art from the 1910s through
the 1950s by Anthony Slide, et al. 160 pp; 11 x 14; Color Illus.;
Bibliography; Index by Artist; Index by Film; Index by Actor; Index. $50.00
Hardcover. Whether you are a film buff or aficionado of illustrative
art, Now Playing will prove to be a treasure-trove of nostalgia
and delight. Oversize with excellent reproductions, information about
the actors and artists and their techniques, this pictorial chronicling
of early filmdom is destined for many page-turnings. *****
PHAIDON
PRESS INC.: Ukiyo-E by Gian Carlo Calza. 512 pp.; 9 7/8 x 11 3/8;
635 Illus., 627 in Color; List of Works; Artist Biographies; Glossaries;
Bibliography; Index. $49.95 Softcover. A newly released paperback
edition of a hardcover volume published in 2005, Ukiyo-E is a richly-detailed
view of the Japanese art of the “floating world.” A wealth of illustrations
and information offers both scholar and general artlover as complete a
study of both the art of ukiyo-e and the cultural context from which it
was born. Impressively comprehensive. *****
UNIVERSITY
OF VIRGINIA PRESS: Selections from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by
Anne B. Barriault and Kay M. Davidson, 376 pp.; 8 ½ x 10; Color
Illus.; Further Reading; Index. $45.00 Hardcover. Modern and Contemporary
Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by John B. Ravenal. 256
pp.; 6 x 6; Artists’ Index. $19.50 Hardcover. These two volumes — the first a major overview of the holdings
of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the second a “pocket” guide to
its sizable collection of “modern” art — handsomely offer up the
wide variety of riches available to visitors to the museum. Although the
second book, the “pocket” guide, is more limited in its scope (yet still
including an impressive number of “name” artists), the first is a comprehensive
survey that includes art that spans more than five-thousand years, from
ancient Asian, Mediterranean, and American art to the latest modern and
contemporary American and European art. Both of these books comprise the
next best thing to a visit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts itself.
*****
UNIVERSITY
OF WASHINGTON PRESS: Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the
Marion and Henry Bloch Collection by Richard R. Brettell and Joachim
Pissarro. 144 pp.; 9 x 11; 94 Illus., 74 in Color; Index. $35.95 Hardcover.
Published to coincide with an exhibition presently at The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City (thru Sep 9), Manet to Matisse presents
a selection of some thirty impressionist works collected by Marion and
Henry Bloch. Though most are minor works by major artists (the most impressive
are those done by Camille Pissarro), the Bloch holdings still represent
one of the most extensive collections of Impressionist Masters to remain
in private hands. In addition to a history of this particular collection,
the volume offers an overview of “modern bourgeois” art collection in
general and commentary on each of the works included. ***
ABRAMS:
The Cat in Art by Stefano Zuffi. 360 pp.; 9 3/8 x 9 3/8; Over 250
Color Illus.; Bibliography. $35.00 Hardcover. From antiquity to modern-day,
The Cat in Art offers up a feast of images that will please both
art and cat lover, reproducing in full color a host of images that depict
the cat from Egyptian art, through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,
through Baroque and Romantic periods, and on up to the present day. Each
reproduction is accompanied by explanatory text; also includes a section
on the “possessed” feline. ****
THE
LYONS PRESS: Wolf Empire: An Intimate Portrait of a Species by Scott Ian Barry. 208 pp.; 12 x 9; B/W Illustrations.
$29.95 Hardcover. Whether
for nature artist or nature lover, Wolf Empire will prove a treasure
trove of “up close and personal” portraiture of one of nature’s most noble
animals. Including a wide range of “wolf moments” — from nurturer
to killer — Barry’s photography captures this little appreciated
denizen of the deep in all of its manifold roles. An impressive accomplishment.
****
Compiled by Raymond J. Steiner