UNIVERSITY
OF WASHINGTON PRESS: Rubens: The Adoration of the Magi (Ed.) Alejandro Vergara. 244 pp48; 9 1/2 x 11; 48
Color Illus, including 3 fold-outs; Appendix; Bibliography; Index. $95.00
Softcover. Gorgeously illustrated
with its many close-up details of this famous painting, The Adoration
of the Magi offers a wealth
of historical information about the making, placing, influence, restoration
and significance of Rubens and his work. A handsome addition to any
art library. *****
Yup’ik Elders at
the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin: Fieldwork Turned on its Head by Ann Fienup-Riordan. 352 pp.; 9 x 12; 362 Illus.,
330 in Color; Appendix; Notes; Glossary; Reference3s; index. $50.00
Hardcover. Author Ann Fienup-Riordan,
an accomplished scholar in native-Alaskan art, re-visits the famed Johan
Adrian Jacobsen’s collection of Yup’ik artifacts at the Ethnologisches
Museum in Berlin with Yup’ik translator Marie Meade and, this volume
yields the fruit from that new perspective. Handsomely produced and
beautifully illustrated, Fieldwork Turned on its Head offers a groundbreaking study of a little-known people.
****
Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights: Early Chinese
Art from the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Collection by Donald Jenkins and Jay Xu. 112 pp.; 10 x 12; 70 Color Illus.; Checklist
of Exhibition. $39.95 Hardcover. The accompanying catalogue to an exhibition of the same name at the Portland
Art Museum (thru Oct 2), Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly
Delights offers up an exotic
potpourri of Chinese artifacts from the so-called “Warring States period
(481-221 BCE) when the country was unified under one emperor. Lavishly
and beautifully illustrated. *****
Amalia Amaki: Boxes, Buttons, and the Blues by Andrea D. Barnwell et al. 128 pp.; 9 3/4 x 12;
90 Illus., 70 in Color; Catalogue of the Exhibition; Checklist; Biography
of the Artist. $35.00 Hardcover. Published
as accompanying catalogue to a traveling exhibition of the same name
that opened at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington,
DC, Amalia Amaki offers
an extended overview of the life and work of this prolific African/American
artist/historian/curator/scholar. Excellent reproductions of Amaki’s
colorful work. ****
Painting Ethiopia: The
Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw by
Raymond A. Silverman. 120 pp.; 10 x 10 1/2; 78 Color Illus.; Catalogue
of Exhibition. $30.00 Softcover. Published
in conjunction with an exhibition at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural
History, Los Angeles, Painting Ethiopia offers an overview of the life and work of the Ethiopian artist, Qes Adamu
Tesfaw. Colorfully illustrated, this handsome little book with its intriguing
subject matter will be a revelation to many. ****
Five Thousand Years of
Chinese Ceramics from the Robin and R. Randolph Richmond, Jr. Collection
by Lisa Rotondo-McCord. 144 pp.; 11 x 13; 123 Color
Illus.; Map; Selected Bibliography. $29.95 Softcover. Large-scale, profusely annotated, and beautifully illustrated,
Five Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics shares and celebrates this rich collection of ceramic
artifacts coming from almost the entire history of Chinese civilization.
A treasure at your fingertips at a very modest cost. *****
Charles E. Heaney: Memory, Imagination, and Place by Roger Hull. 128 pp.; 8 1/2 x 11; 93 Color Illus.;
Notes; Selected Bibliography. $29.95 Softcover. The accompanying catalogue to an exhibition at the Hallie
Ford Art Museum, Willamette University, Memory, Imagination, and
Place presents an overview
of the life and work of print-maker/painter Charles E. Heaney. **
Celestial Images: Antiquarian Astronomical Charts and Maps from the
Mendillo Collection by Michael
Mendillo et al. 80 pp.; 9 1/2 x 13; 82 Color Illus.; Plates; Catalogue
of Exhibition. 25.00 Softcover. Published
in connection with an exhibition at the Boston University Art Gallery,
Celestial Images offers up an array of artistic images portraying the
heavens gleaned from the collection of the author, Michael Mendillo.
Who were the artists who labored over these maps and charts? Though
named, how come they are rarely known by art historian or critic? A
lovely book. ****
Over + Over: Passion for Process by
Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox. 72pp.; 6 x 8; 28 Illus.,
20 in Color; Catalogue of Exhibition. $25.00 Softcover. The Accompanying catalogue to an exhibition of the same
name at Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois earlier this
year. Different. *
The Odyssey of China’s Imperial Art Treasures by Jeannett Shambaugh Elliott w/David Shambaugh. 192
pp.; 6 x 9; 45 B/W Illus.; Notes; Bibliography; Index. $24.95 Hardcover.
Almost as exciting as an adventure novel, The Odyssey
of China’s Imperial Art Treasures traces the intertwined history of how the art was collected, saved from
Japanese occupation, and ultimately distributed over two of China’s
major museums in Beijing and Taipei. As impressive as this story is,
it might have been even better served if the reproductions were rendered
in color. ***
Jacob Lawrence: The Complete Prints (1963-2000), A Catalogue Raisonné
by Peter T. Nesbett. 96 pp.; 9 x 0; 107 Illus., 101
in Color; Selected Bibliography; Index. $24.95 Softcover. First published in 1994 under the title Jacob Lawrence:
Thirty Years of Prints (1963-2000), A Catalogue Raisonné, this second edition revises, updates, and includes
a new preface and new work. Excellent reproductions. *****
The Romantic Vision of Michael Brophy by Rock Hushka. 80 pp.; 8 x 10; 80 Co9lor Illus.; Artist’s Biography;
Select Bibliography. $19.95 Softcover. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington,
Romantic Vision offers
up the sometimes-quirky vision of Michael Brophy, an interpreter of
nature that takes far from the ordinary. Interesting. ***
YALE
UNIVERSITY PRESS: Nationalism and French Visual Culture, 1870-1914 (Eds.) June Hargrove and Neil McWilliam. 336 pp.;
9 1/4 x 11 1/4; 161 Illus., 17 in Color; Index. $65.00 Hardcover. Some fifteen distinguished scholars take the reader
on a visual tour of French history through a comprehensive survey of
French art produced during a period of over five decades. Nationalism
and French Visual Culture, 1870-1914 offers
a stunning range of artists and mediums influenced by a strong spirit
of patriotism. Lavishly illustrated. *****
Casta Painting: Images of Race in Eighteenth-Century Mexico by Ilona Katzew. 252 pp.; 8 3/4 x 11; 200 Illus.,
100 in Color; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index. %40.00 Softcover.
A paperback reprint of a book originally published in
hardcover in 2004, Casta Painting offers
a comprehensive analysis of 18th-Century Mexican paintings,
many portraying mixed racial families. The first such study of its kind,
Katzew’s book had been received with high acclaim. Beautifully and lavishly
illustrated. ****
Degas at Harvard by Marjorie
B. Cohn and Jean Sutherland Boggs. 128 pp.; 8 5/8 x 10 1/2; 90 Illus.,
50 in Color; Checklist; Provenance. $19.95 Softcover. Degas at Harvard
presents the over seventy works by Edgar Degas in the
Harvard University’s collection. The book, which includes reproductions
of paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs, accompanies
an exhibition at Harvard University Art Museum (thru Nov 27). ****
POMEGRANATE
COMMUNICATIONS, INC.: May Stevens by Patricia Hills. 160 pp.; 12 x 9 1/4; 25 B/W & over 80 Color
Illus.; Plates; Selected Bibliography; Exhibition History; Index. $40.00
Hardcover. The life and times
of artist, poet, teacher, activist May Stevens as told though the words
of Patricia Hills, Professor of Art History at Boston University and
intimate friend of Stevens. May Stevens features
an excellent array of reproductions that document the artist’s wide-range
of mediums and subjects. ***
PRESTEL:
Auguste Rodin: Images of Desire by
Anne-Marie Bonnet. 159 pp.; 9 1/2 x 11; B/W & Color Illus.; Notes;
List of Plates. $39.95 Softcover. Images of Desire features a collection of Rodin’s erotic watercolors, drawings and cut-outs,
the first time such a collection has been brought together under one
cover. Art historian Bonnet offers an introductory essay firmly placing
the works in historical context. Intriguing. *****
UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA PRESS: Robert Smithson: Spiral Jetty (Eds.) Lynne Cooke and Karen Kelly. 208 pp.; 9 x
12; 115 B/W Photographs; Appendices; Selected Bibliography. $39.95 Hardcover.
An exhaustive study and review that includes related
works and writings (including Smithson’s) on his groundbreaking earthwork,
“Spiral Jetty.” Everything you wanted to know — and more —
about this 20th Century phenomenon. ****
UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS: Crystalline Glazes (2d Ed) by Diane Creber. 128 pp.; 6 1/8 x 9 1/4; 115 Illus.,
106 in Color; Glossary; Bibliography; Supplier’s List; Index. $26.50
Softcover. Author/potter
Diane Creber offers a fully comprehensive guide to the materials, process,
and recipes for producing crystalline glazes. After detailed instruction
and guidance on all aspects of the technique, she introduces some fourteen
craftspeople using these glazes who, in turn, offer their own tips and
suggestions. *****
UNDERWOOD
BOOKS: Everett Raymond Kinstler: The Artist’s Journey Through Popular
Culture 1942-1962 by Jin
Vadeboncoeur, Jr. & Everett Raymond Kinstler. 228 pp.; 8 1/2
x 11; B/W & Color Illus.; Index. $24.95 Softcover. If,
like this reader, you are a comic/pulp book enthusiast, this full-scale
look at the genre through the eyes of one of its masters is right up
your alley. Chock-a-bloc full of illustrations, Everett Raymond Kinstler:
The Artist’s Journey Through Popular Culture 1942-1962 serves up twenty years of the artist’s work in the industry, offering a
wide range of his “cowboys & cleavage” for which he was justly famous.
Hugely entertaining. *****
WATSON-GUPTILL
PUBL.: Creating Artists’ Books by
Sarah Bodman. 128 pp.; 6 1/4 x 9 3/8; 108 Color Illus.; Appendices;
Index. $19.95 Softcover. An
acknowledged expert on the subject, author Sarah Bodman offers a comprehensive
guide to the ever-widening trend of the making of “artists’ books”.
Includes sources for materials, marketing tips and suggestions garnered
from the many artists already “pros” in the field. Comprehensive. *****
