ART / Art History

San Francisco, California, U.S.A.: North South Books, 1994. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/Near Fine. Gantschev, Ivan. Gantschev's beautiful, sometimes abstract artwork is featured here along with a small note of the medium(s) used. Often paints are done in water color, often colored pencil is added. "The world is wonderful and I want to paint it again and again. We walk through this world with our three-dimensional faculty of thought. Some say that there is a fourth dimension. Is it possible to make the invisible visible by painting the visible, concrete things? Is that the fourth dimension or is that art?" About half of the illustrations were done for books, and as such are particularly inventive. The binding is heavy cardboard using the rippled portion. There is a cut-out in this where part of a painting on heavy cardboard shows through. This cover is covered with a heavy clear cover, which has a tiny dent in it at the top, and some rubbing on the back. This book is one tht is pleasant to page through, the paintings are beautiful and some have surprise elements that are also attractive. 91 pages. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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United Kingdom: Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1970. Hard Cover. Fine/Near Fine. Photographs. From the time of the first Pacific explorers, the Western World has been fascinated by the romance of the South Seas. The natives of this earthly paradise inhabit a world of surprising complexity. Their lives are bounded by myths and legends which vary from area to area but are intimately dependent on the power of supernatural forces.This book is the key to this enthralling world where a prow ornament becomes the guardian spirit of a ship, a statuette becomes an ever-watchful ancestor and a painted mask becomes the temporary residence of a god. 159 pages, including 71 full color plates that depict the drama and mystery which are the essentials of Oceanic art. The heavy paper is glossy and the plates are bright. The binding has yellowed a bit on the edges. The binding has a tiny tear on the left front bottom near the spine. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002. First Thus. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Photographs. ArtNews said of this book: "Likely to be the Whistler biography for some time to come. . . a generally absorbing, readable, and informative book." From Whistler's childhood in Tsarist Russia to his military training at West Point, then on to a Bohemian lifestyle in Paris during the 1850's and a controversial career in Victorian London as a painter and printmaker, he himself continually cultivated the myth that has long clouded his artistic achievement and misguided his biographers. Now, in a probing revisionist account, the authors seek out theprivate man and uncover the serious artist beyond Whistler's fabulously crafted public persona as a witty, irascible dandy endlessly feuding witht he art establishment or anyone else who stood in his way. Exploring his friendships with painters like Courbet, Fantin-Latour, Rossetti, Millais, Manet, Monet, and Degas as well as poets and aesthetes such as Baudelaire, Swinburne, Oscar Wilde, and Mallarme, the authors illuminate in full Whistler's pivotal role in bridging the prolific and immensely different art worlds of London and Paris in the 19th century. 544 pages including notes and an index; 20 pages of photographs, six in full color. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Parkstone International, 2007. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Photographs. Through his eclecticism, William Morris (1834-1896) was one of the most emblematic personalities of the 19th century. Painter, architect, poet and engineer, wielding the quill as well as the brush, he jolted Victorian society by discarding standards established by triumphant industry. His commitment to the writing of the Socialist Manifesto was the logical result of the revolution he personified with his habitat, the form of his design and the colors he used. Forerunner of 20th century designs, he co-founded with John Ruskin the Arts and Crafts movement. As an independent man, William Morris led the way to Art Nouveau and later Bauhaus. Through the essential body of his written and visual work, Arthur Clutton-Brock's masterwork depicts the narrow relationship between ideals and creation, as well as between evolution and revolution. 255 pages with bibliography and list of illustrations; profusely illustrated in full color. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. more information

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North Dighton, MA: JG Press, 1990. Reprint. Hard Cover. New/New. Color Plates. In a Victorian age when most women were confined to the circumscribed world of marriage, homemaking and motherhood, Mary Cassatt blazed like a shooting star across the firmament of the male-dominated international art world. She was certainly the greatest American female artist of her time, and arguably she was the greatest produced by any nation. She was the only American, male or female, to become a member of the group that perhaps more than any other revolutionized western art, the French Impressionists. And to this day the example of her courageous independence and fierce deducating to nurturing her talent remains an inspiration to artists everywhere. In this book art historian Sophia Craze both gives us an intimate look at Mary Cassatt's extraordinary life and provides us with a valuable introduction to Cassatt's work, the greatest of which is here faithfuly reproduced in full color. 112 pages, 75 full-color plates; bound in pictorial boards. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. more information

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Cambridge, MA: Suhrkamp Publishers, 1986. Hard Cover. New/New. Still in publisher's plastic. "Among Goethe's essays and commentaries, those on visual art are lucid, pithy statements that exhibit a romantic concern for understanding individual artistic expression in conjunction with an environment and a transient historic moment. He reveals himself as one of the first "modern" art historians - and wrestles with problems of comparative quality, of the relationship of technical procedure to subject matter and level of artistic meaning. Goethe's brief formulations, stated so simply, answer profound questions and raise others that still remain today." Richard Shiff, Professor of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 268 pages, cloth bound. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Prestel-Verlag, 1995. No Edition. Hard Cover. New/Near Fine. Photographs and Drawings. Under Tsarist rule, Jews interested in pursuing artistic careers were educated locally or found that opportunities to attend urban academies severly limited. Nonethless, a significang Jewish presence existed on the Russian art scene before the Revolution. Most artist welcomed the Revolution and the lifting of sanctions, and found jobs in culture, or as influential teachers, designers and photographers. Given the present state of research into the Jewish artists of Russia, this book - which documents an exhibition organized by The Jewish Museum, New York - purposely proposes more quetions than it answers. A lucid historical overview by historian Michael Stanislawski is followed by seven thought-provoking essays by an international roster of art historians who address, in chronological sequence, the difficult, frequently uplifting history of Jewish art in Russia in the modern period. 267 pages including an index, 46 color plates and 311 black-and-white illustrations. A beautiful and interesting book! The jacket has a few wrinkles on the lower left and on the spine. Bound in red cloth. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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New York: Walker & Company, 2003. First American Edition. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Various. This is the book about how Michelangelo came to be involved with the Sistine chapel, how the chapel came to be, and his relationship with Pope Julius II. The Pope had planned to have his body kept in a great tomb designed by Michelangelo. However, when it was discovered that the Vatican was out of true by six feet, he determined that the place he had chosen, St. Peters, was in no fit state to accomodate such an impressive monument. In his usual grand way, Pope Julius II had St. Peters demolished, and the Sistine Chapel was built upon that site. So the story begins, fascinating from the first chapter to the last. 373 pages, including notes, a bibliography, and an index. Black and white illustrations can be found throughout the book, and there are seven pages in color, and a diagram of the paintings, including the artists' names. The front cover has a very minor bend in the upper right-hand corner. Written by the author of Brunelleschi's Dome. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Lebanon, Indiana, U.S.A.: Abradale/Abrams, 1997. First Printing. Hard Cover. New/New. Okamura, Takashi. Michelangelo's The Last Judgment (1534), painted on the rear wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, is one of the most important works in the history of art. In this book, the newly cleaned and restored fresco is presented in all its powerful complexity. Richly illustrated iwth 150 mangificent full-color plates - showing the painting in its entirety and many close-up details - this book offers an in-depth study of the work itself. Clothbound, 207 pages with a selected bibliography. Two small tears at the bottom front of the jacket. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. more information

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Middlesex, England: Viking Penguin, 1985. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. This book opens up the perspective and gives insight into the twentieth century in arts. Kenneth McLeish takes, in turn, the arts of Architecture, Fiction and Poetry, Film, Music, Painting and Sculpture, and Theatre, and describes more clearly and untechnically what's been happening inthe last hundred years, who the finest practitioners are and what they did. The bulk of the book consists of alphabetical articles on 800 of the dentury's greatest creative figures - the range is from Picasso, Sartre, Le CorBusier, Bergman and Stravinsky to Gershwin, Ben Travers, John Ford and P. G. Wodehouse - and sets their work in context. 604 pages including an index. The inside back cover and blank pages show some sign of what appears to be a coffee spill. The jacket shows stains on the inside, back inner flap and back of jacket at the ISBN box. The book is crisp and feels unread. The inside ffep has written on it information on where it was bought, and a large label with the prior owner's name written on. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. No Edition. Hard Cover. New/Near Fine. Photographs and Artwork. Celebrating the Virgin Mary as both an object of religious devotion and a focus of civic pride, 14th century Sienese artists established within their city a vibrant pictorial tradition that continued into the early decades of the next century. Such celebratory images of the Virgin were also common in Siena's extensive subject territories, the contado. This richly illustrated book explores late medieval Sienese Marian art - how it was commissioned, created and understood by the Sienese. Drawing extensively from unpublished archive material the author reconstructs the circumstances surrounding commission of Marian art in the three most prestigious location of 14th century Siena: The cathedral, the Palazzo Pubblilco and the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala. Casting new light on such topics as the original site for the reliquary tomb of Saint Cerbone and the identity of the patrons of the marian frescoes in the rural hermitage of San Leonardo al Lago, Norman deepens our insights into the origins and the meanings of Sienese art production of the late medieval period. 251 pages including notes and index. Richly illustrated in full color, including some illuminated manuscripts. Heavy oversized book. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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Rutland, Vermont, U.S.A.: Tuttle (Charles E.) Co Inc.,U.S., 1997. 6th Printing. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Japan, Kakuzo Okakura wrote more than 60 years ago, is a museum of Asiatic civilization, and yet more than a museum, because the singular genius of the race leads it to dwell on all phases of the ideals of the past, which welcomes the new without losing the old. He wrote of that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritence of the Asiatic races, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world. In writing of the national reawakening, Okakura worried about "that portentous danger with which Western encroachment on Asiatic soil threatened our national existence." This little classic undoubtedly reflects his concern - but it is also one of the best assurances that Japan will remain true to the Asiatic soul even while it flourishes as one of the industrial giants of the world. 244 pages with drawings at the top of many pages. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. more information

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Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Princeton Univ Press, 1997. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Sloan, John; Henri, Robert . An introduction by Mrs. John Sloan is included. In the sata of American art's coming-of-age, Robert Henri and John Sloan stand tall among those in the vanguard of the campaign. These two major American artists were kindred spirits who maintained a special friendship throughout their lives, from the moment they met in 1892 until Henri's death 37 years later. This volume offers the first publication of the full correspondence between the two painters, capturing the opinions, work habits, and various traumas of Henri and Sloan, thus casting a new light on their lives and art. Many of the letters are illustrated with previously unpublished drawings - Henri's quickly sketched caricatures and Sloan's more carefully detailed compositions. As the leaders of the Ashcan School, they proclaimed that all life was fit subject matter for the artist, and organized a landmark exhibition of The Eight - a group that included Maurice Prendergast and Arthur B. Davies - in 1908. These letters also mention other prominent artists of the Henri-Sloan circle. 350 pages including a chronology and index. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Willoughby, Australia: Global Book Publishing, 2005. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Lamond, Stan. Did you know that it was only as recent as 2005 that a CT scan of Tutankhamun's mummy revealed that he could not have been murdered or died an accidential death, as has always been thought? Find out how he really died in Egypt, which is not only the most comprehensive but also the most up-to-date volume available in the world today. There have been many books devoted to specific elements of the ancient Egyptian culture - art, architecture, history, and mythology - but most only present a small franction of the ancient Egyptian realm. This volume seeks to take that one step further, exploring every facet of this ancient land. Written by an international team of experts in the fields of anthropology, Egyptology, archeology, history, and the visual arts, Egypt is a unique blend of engaging text and evocative color photographs, paintings, lithographs, sculptures, artifacts, maps, and illustrations. This stunning volume will take you on a journey into the past, bringing to life the peasants, priests, and pharaohs that peopled Ancient Egypt. 504 pages including a chronology, index, and credits.The top corners of the jacket are slightly bent. Illustrated with more than 750 full-color photographs sourced from leading museums, art galleries, and private collections from across the globe. **Includes a CD which is a great student resource, and will have your writing like an Egyptian!** Oversized and very heavy. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. more information

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Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.: Gibbs Smith, 2003. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Svendsen, Linda. Yes, linoleum is back! IN spite of the word linoleum having become a generic term for resilient flooring, it is not the same material as vinyl. Drawing upon her expertise in restoring old homes, Jane Powell forays into the world of sustainable flooring with humor, insight, and panache, sharing the history and evolvement of floor coverings and linoleum in particular. Paired with fabulous full-color photography, Lincoleum includes an array of the different types and patterns of this durable product as well as information on its care and maintenance. Powell also celebrates the wonderful and truly amazing designs produced in this material, from its invention in 1863 to its nearly complete eradication by vinyl in the 1960s. Complete with a resource list where you can find linoleum today, this is THE guide to this fabulous, versatily, recyclable and practical flooring material. 120 pages, with beautiful endpapers. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997. No Edition. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Hedgecoe, Julia. The magnificent roof bosses of the Norwich Cathedral are one of the great hidden glories of medieval art. There are more than 1,000 of these delightfully carved and painted keystones in the high stone vaulting, dating from 1300 to 1515 and measuring between eight and twenty-four inches wide. The vast majority are figure carvings uniquely linked together in storytelling patterns, reflecting a variety of pagan, Christian, and folk subjects. In quantity and quality, Norwich's bosses are among the most impressive in Europe, while their narrative arrangement makes them unparalleled in the medieval world. This book reproduces the most striking and interesting examples, selected from the hundreds of exquisite photographs taken by the distinguished photographer Julia Hedgecoe, under the auspices of the cathedral. They are introduced and fully described in a lively text by one of Norwich's foremost medieval historians, Martial Rose. 144 pages including a bibliography, listing of illustrations and an index. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Univ of California Pr; American Federation of Arts, 2001. No Edition. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Photographs. This volume features a selection of the most important and beautiful objects from ancient Egypt, a civilization of enduring fascination. Written by Edna R. Russmann, with contributions by a distinguished team of international scholars, the lively text examines over 140 works and highlights the extraordinary artistic achievement that they represent. This book was published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts and The British Museum and drawn exclusively from the collection of the British Museum. Lavishly illustrated in full color with the works in the exhibition, as well as comparative materials, Eternal Egypt is that rare book of interest and value to the general and scholarly audience alike. 288 pages printed on heavy stock, over 270 illustrations are included along with a chronology, glossary, abbreviations, bibliography, and an index. This heavy book is 11 7/8" x 10" wide. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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New York: Harry N Abrams Inc, 2001. Hard Cover. New/No Jacket. Gaugin, Paul. Still in publisher's plastic. To fully understand the scope and originality of the art of Paul Gauguin, one must consider not only his paintings but also his prints, ceramics, sculptures, and drawings. The Art Institute of Chicago's collection of works by Gauguin is one of the most important in the United States, including examples from nearly every material in which he worked and from every period of his career. This selection of almost 40 works of art are reproduced here in full-color. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York, New York, U.S.A.: The New Press, 1993. Unbound. Fine/Fine. Photographs. Which African artworks were made for religious and political leaders? How are African masks used? Why are the artists usually not identified when African sculpture is exhibited in the Western museums? These and other intriguing questions are explored in the handsome, full-color portfolio, designed to introduce newcomers to African art and aesthetics. In addition to twenty-four 81/2" x 11" unbound images, the African Art Portfolio comes with a twenty-four-page booklet that includes a brief introduction to African art and four short, well-illustrated essays that provide background information on each image. The essays titles give the portfolios' central themes: "African Art and African Ancestors," "Art of African Cities and Kingdoms," "African Masks: Forms and Uses," and "The Creativity of African Artists." 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.: Univ of Washington Pr, 2003. No Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Photographs. Ornament - "the art we add to art," as James Trilling defines it - makes people happy. This engaging, generously illustrated book - part visual guide, part cultural history - has a wide-ranging consideration of the cultural and symbolic significance of ornament, its rejection by modernism, and its subsequent reinvention. Trilling explains how ornament works, why it has to be explained, and why it matters. His discussion of ornament - in textiles, ceramics, metalwork, architecture, manuscripts and books - is enhanced by insights drawn from religion, science, ancient and modern literature, political history, and moral philosophy. The result is a resoundingly original, highly readable contribution to art history, and more broadly, to cultural and social history. 265 pages including notes, a bibliography and index. Bound in red cloth, the illustrations are mostly black and white and include 11 color photographs. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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Washington, D.C., U.S.A.: Counterpoint, 2004. First Edition. Hard Cover. New/New. Does art still matter? Frederick Turner set out to explore the role of art and human expression in what has quickly become known as the age of terrorism. His quest affirmed that it is still as undeniably necessary as air. He travels back to the very beginning of Art to assess anew its meaning in the long human story. Turner makes a personal investigation of sanctuaries in France and Spain that the great mythographer Joseph Campbell called the "temple caves," the earlies known of which contains paintings and engravings more than 32,000 years old, works of art more advanced than the hunting implements by which their creators lived. In this beautiful, multifaceted travelogue that puts France's land of temple caves and the inviting life above them on a timeless map, it becomes increasingly, movingly clear: Art does matter - vitally - and never more than now. 200 pages including references. There is a remainder mark on the bottom that is 1" long. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946. Ninth Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Van Loon, Hendrik Willem. First Edition. This is a fascinating survey of art through history. It begins with prehistoric art and moves through the ages and countries that made certain types of art famous. This book was written and illustrated by Hendrik Willem Van Loon to give the general reader (who perhaps had always considered this a rather remote subject) a better understanding and a greater appreciation of everything that has been done within the realm of painting and architecture and music, sculpture and the theater and most of the so-called minor arts from the beginnning of time until the moment we come so close to them that we begin to lose our perspective. The front endpapers chart the advances in art by time periods. The back endpapers chart it with associations to the type of clothing people wore. All is hand-written. 677 pages including a section on 'How to Use This Book', Musical Illustrations, and an index. Well-illustrated in color - an unusual book! The label on the spine has been taped at the vertical edges. A top corner is slightly bent in, and the spine ends have wear; the bottom is fraying a bit. The spine is slightly sunned. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. more information

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Bergenfield, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Overlook Press, 1997. No Edition. Soft Cover. New/No Jacket. Andy Warhol, mostly known for his pop-art, also did a number of drawings and photographs of nudes. This volume contains that material. Warhol said "Sex is so abstract." "You can get closer to your subject, one piece at a time." he said, apropos of some startling photo-collages of male and female nudes he created for Playboy in the 1970s. This volume includes simple drawing on flesh-colored paper and also white paper; some photographs, and full drawings of his models, although a face is rarely shown. 53 pages on heavy stock. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. more information

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