New
Art Books / Videos
ART
TIMES January/February
2007
ABBEVILLE
PRESS: Hieronymus Bosch by
Larry Silver. 416 pp.; 11 ¼ x 13 1/8; 310 B/W & Color Illus.;
Notes; Bibliography; Index of Names; Index of Works. $135.00 Hardcover.
Availing himself of recent scholarship and the newest technology,
author Larry Silver, Farquhar Professor of Art History at the University
of Pennsylvania and a leading historian on Northern Renaissance art, offers
up the most definitive monograph on Hieronymus Bosch to date. Lavishly
illustrated, handsomely produced in oversized format, and meticulously
researched, Hieronymus Bosch carefully
explores the often-nightmarish mind of this ever-illusive artist. Enormously
impressive in its scholarly detail. *****
PHAIDON
PRESS, INC.: Dada by Rudolf Kuenzli. 304 pp.; 11 3/8 x 9 7/8; B/W
& Color Illus.; Artists’ Biographies; Authors’ Biographies; Bibliography;
Index. $75.00 Hardcover. Surely the most exhaustive survey
of the subject, Dada by Rudolf
Kuenzli offers up all you ever wanted to know — or didn’t care to
know — about the well-ballyhooed anti-everything art movement of
the 20th Century. Includes the whole array of notables and
the entire gamut of their “creative” output. Lavishly illustrated and
impressively oversized, Dada will probably serve as the definitive study of the movement
for some time to come. *****
UNIVERSITY
OF ROCHESTER PRESS: Seeing America: Painting and Sculpture from the Collection
of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester by Marjorie B. Searl et al. 336 pp.; 9 ¼ x 12 ¼; B/W
& Color Illus.; Notes; Index. $65.00 Hardcover. With paintings
from John Singleton Copley to Andy Warhol, the Memorial Art Gallery seems
to have representative of the entire range of American artists within
its walls. Handsomely produced with both full color and black and white
reproductions of their collection alongside commentary for each inclusion,
Seeing America stands as an impressive tribute to the University of
Rochester. *****
HAUS PUBLISHING/IPM INC.: Rembrandt: Images and Metaphors by Christian Tümpel. 304 pp.; 10 x 11 ¾; B/W & Color Illus.; Notes; Bibliography; Index of Illustrations. $60.00 Hardcover. Lavishly illustrated and handsomely produced, Images and Metaphors ignores the myths and legends that have grown up over the centuries about Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and replaces them with a hard look of the facts, creating thereby entirely new avenues into the creative genius of this painter. An impressive accomplishment! *****
YALE
UNIVERSITY PRESS: Claude Lorrain: The Painter as Draftsman: Drawings from
the British Museum by Richard Rand. 176 pp.; 9 7/8 x 10 7/8; 150 Illus.,
110 in Color; Maps; Checklist of the Exhibition; Select Bibliography;
Index. $55.00 Hardcover. The accompanying catalogue to an exhibition
currently at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Fine Arts Museum
of San Francisco (thru Jan 14, ’07) that will travel to the Sterling and
Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (Feb 4—Apr 29, ’07),
The Painter as Draftsman presents
a comprehensive overview of the drawings and sketches of Claude Lorrain.
Excellent reproductions (many for the first time published in color) and
a scholarly and informative essay by Richard Rand, Senior Curator at the
Clark Institute, make this an important contribution to our knowledge
of Lorrain and his painstaking techniques. *****
Da
VINCI: Extraordinary People Plus Unique, Above Average Children (Also
known as “A Few of the 6001 Ways to Train a Child That You Would Never
Think Possible) by Ginger Wallace. 167 pp.; 10 x 12; Color Illus.;
Index. $40.00 Softcover. Delightfully zany, this “painstakingly
researched and scientifically illustrated” book will dazzle you. Outrageously
funny, buying this book will not only make you (or someone else on your
holiday shopping list) happy, but
all profits (the author promises) will go to supporting such arts organizations
as the San Diego Art Institute that help support and encourage emerging
artists. *****
POMEGRANATE
COMMUNICATIONS, INC.: Robert Kushner: Wild Gardens by
Michael Duncan and Robert Kushner. 120 pp.; 10 x 9 ¼; Color
Illus.; Biography; List of Plates. $35.00 Hardcover. Delicate
floral decoration and subtle color harmonies characterize this sampling
of Robert Kushner’s oil and acrylic (some with gold leaf) works on discarded
Japanese screens. Handsomely produced. ****
UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA PRESS: The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air
(Ed.) Daniell Cornell, et al. 256 pp.; 9 ½
x 11; 200 Illus., 150 in Color; Checklist of Exhibition; Notes; Bibliography;
Chronology; Index. $34.95 Softcover. Published in conjunction
with an exhibition currently on view at the de Young, Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco (thru Jan 28, ’07) and which will then travel to the
Japan American national Museum, Los Angeles (Mar—Jun ’07) and the
Japan Society, NYC (Fall ’07), Contours in the Air chronicles
the life and sculptural work of Ruth Asawa. Elegantly visionary, Asawa
derives her inspiration from the Buddhist ethos inculcated by her parents.
Beautiful reproductions. ****
John James Audubon and The Birds of America:
A Visionary Achievement in Ornithology Illustration by Lee
A. Vedder. 100 pp.; 6 x 9; 47 Color Illus.; Endnotes; Selected Plates
and Commentaries; Reference Bibliography; Index. $24.95 Hardcover. This
lovely little book — sure to please art lover as well as dedicated
birder — makes use of Audubon’s own writings along with latest scholarship
to render a rounded look at his life and accomplishments. Includes some
435 full color reproductions selected from the Huntington Library folio
collection. *****
SCALA/THE
FRICK COLLECTION: Building The Frick Collection: An Introduction to the
House and its Collections by Colin
B. Bailey. 128 pp.; 8 ¼ x 9 7/8; B/W & Color Illus.; Select
Bibliography; Index. $14.95 Softcover. Connoisseurs of fine
art from around the world have long had The Frick Collection on their
traveling itineraries; now they can have an insider’s view on how it all
came together. Building The Frick Collection includes
full commentary on the architecture, the family biography, and the growth
of the institution along with a photographic chronicling that includes
a wealth of detail illustrations of both the building and of its art.
****