“A newly discovered Vermeer – it would rock the art world.”
Indeed it would.
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is the poignant and compelling tale of the prove“A newly discovered Vermeer – it would rock the art world.”
Indeed it would.
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is the poignant and compelling tale of the provenance of a fictional undiscovered Vermeer that the current owner, for reasons of his own, is unwilling to disclose to the art world or present to experts for validation. Eight short stories, linked to one another through the painting, trace its life backwards in time from the present owner, through Holland under Nazi occupation in World War II all the way back to the 17th century when a financially challenged Vermeer sought to put brush and his own ground colours to canvas in the creation of a painting of … well, you’re just going to have to read the stories for yourself!
GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE is entertaining, informative and as easy to read and comfortably sink yourself into as looking at your favourite Vermeer painting and allowing his trademark treatment of light streaming through the ever present upper left window to wash over you. Full disclosure … Vermeer is definitely my favourite classical artist so I’ll admit that made the novel even more enjoyable. What a wonderful treat the art world might have if a new Vermeer were discovered.
What a delight! A selection of 500 works of art, paintings and sculptures alike, from 500 different artists w“… a whole new way of looking at art”
What a delight! A selection of 500 works of art, paintings and sculptures alike, from 500 different artists with no reference to nationality, school of thought, medium, date or topic. The works are presented alphabetically by artist and each work is accompanied by explanatory information on it and its creator. THE ART BOOK is “an unparalleled visual source book and a celebration of our rich and multi-faceted culture.” For those fans particularly taken by any given work of art who might like to find an opportunity to see it in the flesh, each work and, of course, each artist, is cross-referenced with an international directory of galleries and museums to visit.
A sublime bit of toilet reading for me. At two or three paintings per trip to the washroom, the enjoyment will last for the better part of a year! How nifty is that?
GRAFFITI WORLD is a collection of photographs of graffiti from around the globe! Look at it in order frA breathtaking collage of world class graffiti!
GRAFFITI WORLD is a collection of photographs of graffiti from around the globe! Look at it in order from the first page to the last or open it up at any random page. Read through it like you would a regular book or savor it one page at a time over the course of months or years! It’s all the same and the quality level is undeniable.
The book is organized by major global area first and, within that, alphabetically by the artist’s name or pseudonym. Considered individually, the quality of the graffiti on show in GRAFFITI WORLD is somewhere between top drawer and breathtaking. But considered as a book length montage of hundreds of pieces, there’s an unfortunate sameness to the photos and an entirely unnecessary emphasis on the art of 3D graffiti lettering that showcases, in many cases, nothing more than clever variations on the artist’s name. I’m a fond lover of graffiti with hundreds of vacation photographs of street art from every city I’ve visited. So I know firsthand that the imagination, the quality, the satirical political and social commentary, and the breadth and scope of graffiti artists’ work around the world is mindblowing and goes far beyond the typical graffiti lettering that you see on highway underpasses or passing railway cars.
Enjoyable in spite of my particular criticism but I certainly would have done it differently.
The Italian term "belvedere" refers to a vantage point where there is a beautiful view into the distance. The site of a baroque summer paBreathtaking!
The Italian term "belvedere" refers to a vantage point where there is a beautiful view into the distance. The site of a baroque summer palace built by Johann Kupetzky, Prince Eugene of Savoy, known as The Belvedere in Vienna certainly qualifies. From the summit of the Upper Belvedere, one has a magnificent view of the city. The Lower Belvedere, built at the opposite end of a large, modestly declining tract of land, is divided from the Upper by a series of gardened terraces, parterres, basins, cascades and stone sculptures.
BELVEDERE VIENNA (the book) is a small but beautiful souvenir memento of the building, its architecture and history as well as the magnificent art collection it contains.
This superb collection was first opened to the public in 1780 by Emperor Joseph II. The collection, which of course has grown significantly over the years, has moved from place to place and was for some time housed in Vienna's new museum of art history, the Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum.
In its current incarnation, the exhibit could be called an incredibly impressive and eclectic survey of Austrian art based around many important works of excellent artistic quality. The collection is broken down into the following broad groupings:
Medieval Art Baroque Neoclassicism, Romanticism and the Biedermeier movement Historicism, Realism and Impressionism Art at the turn of the Twentieth Century Art after 1918
The book is beautifully illustrated with a generous number of colored photographs of a major selection of paintings from the collection and each painting is accompanied by a detailed critical analysis that talks about the artist, the painting's style, its importance to the particular art movement it represents and its context in Austrian history.
Whether it's the Louvre in Paris, The Tate Modern in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or the Belvedere in Vienna, there is no way a tourist can absorb and appreciate such magnificent collections on a single tour through that spans only a few brief hours. It takes a well thought out book such as BELVEDERE VIENNA to memorialize the collection and allow a fan like myself to return time and time again to absorb the beauty and meaning of the artists' efforts.
One of my favourites, Gustav Klimt's THE KISS, actually left me quite cold when I first saw it. It's only through repeated visits and repeated re-readings of the editor's analysis of this wonderful painting that I've grown fond of it. Indeed, it's become one of my favourites and I would relish a second opportunity to see it for real in Vienna.
The Italian term "belvedere" refers to a vantage point where there is a beautiful view into the distance. The site of a baroque summer paBreathtaking!
The Italian term "belvedere" refers to a vantage point where there is a beautiful view into the distance. The site of a baroque summer palace built by Johann Kupetzky, Prince Eugene of Savoy, known as The Belvedere in Vienna certainly qualifies. From the summit of the Upper Belvedere, one has a magnificent view of the city. The Lower Belvedere, built at the opposite end of a large, modestly declining tract of land, is divided from the Upper by a series of gardened terraces, parterres, basins, cascades and stone sculptures.
BELVEDERE VIENNA (the book) is a small but beautiful souvenir memento of the building, its architecture and history as well as the magnificent art collection it contains.
This superb collection was first opened to the public in 1780 by Emperor Joseph II. The collection, which of course has grown significantly over the years, has moved from place to place and was for some time housed in Vienna's new museum of art history, the Kunsthistorisches Hofmuseum.
In its current incarnation, the exhibit could be called an incredibly impressive and eclectic survey of Austrian art based around many important works of excellent artistic quality. The collection is broken down into the following broad groupings:
Medieval Art Baroque Neoclassicism, Romanticism and the Biedermeier movement Historicism, Realism and Impressionism Art at the turn of the Twentieth Century Art after 1918
The book is beautifully illustrated with a generous number of colored photographs of a major selection of paintings from the collection and each painting is accompanied by a detailed critical analysis that talks about the artist, the painting's style, its importance to the particular art movement it represents and its context in Austrian history.
Whether it's the Louvre in Paris, The Tate Modern in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City or the Belvedere in Vienna, there is no way a tourist can absorb and appreciate such magnificent collections on a single tour through that spans only a few brief hours. It takes a well thought out book such as BELVEDERE VIENNA to memorialize the collection and allow a fan like myself to return time and time again to absorb the beauty and meaning of the artists' efforts.
One of my favourites, Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss", actually left me quite cold when I first saw it. It's only through repeated visits and repeated re-readings of the editor's analysis of this wonderful painting that I've grown fond of it. Indeed, it's become one of my favourites and I would relish a second opportunity to see it for real in Vienna.
Stunning photography combined with valuable commentary!
VISIT VERSAILLES is an absolutely stunning photographic essay; it's a concise description in teStunning photography combined with valuable commentary!
VISIT VERSAILLES is an absolutely stunning photographic essay; it's a concise description in text of a world class living museum that will take any visitor's breath away with its splendor; it's a brief time-line history of the French royal families and aristocracy from 1624 until 1837 when Queen Victoria ascended to the British throne; it's a fascinating description of daily private and public life as it would have been conducted by the palace's residents in its heyday; it's a satisfying (albeit somewhat cursory) overview of the enormous quantity of art and frescoes that currently adorn the walls of the Versailles Chateau; and, finally, VISIT VERSAILLES is a room-by-room and path by path walkthrough of the entire palace and its grounds - the State Apartments, the Private Apartments, the Apartments of the Princes, the Chapel and the Opera, the History Galleries, the walks in the gardens and the Trianon Châteaux.
Oh yeah ... of course, it's a fabulous souvenir of a not-to-be-missed tourist attraction of a visit to Paris. Like any other attraction of this magnitude - the Louvre, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tower of London or Buckingham Palace - it really is almost impossible to do the venue any justice with a single visit even if one undertakes to spend an entire day working at it in detail. A comprehensive souvenir book like this is really the only way to allow yourself to go back over and over and over again, enjoying it, savoring it and, indeed, learning about it in greater detail with every return visit.
Béatrix Saule, Versaille's head curator, and Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, its Director General, have prepared a beautiful book that faithfully reproduces Versailles. With the benefit of historical hindsight, I'll add the unsolicited observation that Versailles is an almost overwhelming example of royalty's ostentatious self-indulgence and overpowering sense of personal entitlement. Little wonder the noses of the 18th century French citizens and citizenesses were so badly out of joint!
The Princely collections - a place to pause and reflect!
"In the unique setting of the Liechtenstein palace, visitors are surrounded by a composition oThe Princely collections - a place to pause and reflect!
"In the unique setting of the Liechtenstein palace, visitors are surrounded by a composition of paintings, sculpture, precious objects and furniture and are transported into the breathtaking world of the Baroque."
Like New York's eclectic and stunningly gorgeous Frick Museum but distinctly unlike its larger and much more ostentatious cousins such as the Louvre in Paris or New York's Metropolitan Museum, Vienna's Liechtenstein Museum is a collection of galleries that can be lovingly viewed in its entirety, piece by piece, in the span of only two to three hours.
What is probably the world's most important still extant privately owned art collection has been returned to its original historical location and displayed with a personal character that distinguishes it from other less interesting museums.
"The sober clinical impression of a collection assembled on scientific criteria was deliberately avoided. The interior was enlivened and made less austere by the diversity of the art objects on show. The mixture of furniture, tapestries, craft objects, sculpture and paintings created the refined warm atmosphere of a family house that set the Liechtenstein Gallery apart ...".
This book is a brilliant and visually beautiful guide to the collection that will take interested but naïve and uninformed art lovers like myself through the history of the artists and the individual pieces. Short, thoughtful essays on virtually every piece in the collection, be it sacred or secular, somber or lighthearted, discuss theme and style as well as placing the artist, the individual painting or sculpture as well as its subject into the broader context of European history and geography.
Consider this single example that discusses Jean Valentin de Boulogne's Cheerful Company with Fortune Teller painted in 1631. This particular painting was shown as a fine example of one of the great Italian Baroque schools, the naturalism of the Caravaggists:
"The fortune teller is surrounded by musicians, quarrelling boon companions and other tavern folk. In works such as this, the painters also wanted to stir the viewer and gratify the senses. Boulogne exercised great care with the light effects in his pictures. He handled light and shadow with particular care so as to achieve striking contrasts. Such modeling of figures and objects by means of light is termed `chiaroscuro'."
Sturdy heavyweight, high gloss paper, a high quality binding and beautiful colour reproductions that do ample justice to the beauty of their subjects make this a wonderful souvenir of a visit to the museum or a fantastic way to prepare for a visit in advance. No matter how you choose to digest the book - one painting at a time, read it from cover to cover, open it anywhere and sample a piece at random - you'll return to this book time and time again. And, every time you do, your breath will be taken away by the beauty to which it will treat you.
BERLIN STREET ART 2 isn't fancy! It's short, it's sweet, it's simple and it's gorgeous. Nothing more than one introductory page oThoroughly enjoyable!
BERLIN STREET ART 2 isn't fancy! It's short, it's sweet, it's simple and it's gorgeous. Nothing more than one introductory page of text, about 100 full page photos of graffiti from the streets of Berlin and a final page of links to websites for those who would like to explore the artists' work more fully.
A single line from that introductory page sums it all up, "Whereas to many people street art is still a manifestation of vandalism and as such willful damage of property, it has established itself as a subculture and urban form of art, leaving a lasting impression on the cityscape." Well, "Amen" to that and more power to you. It's a 21st century form of beauty that I adore.
If you have little more than 10 or 15 minutes and a desire to put a smile on your face, BERLIN STREET ART 2 is worth a flip-through.
A complete reproduction of a fabulous collection of art!
Unlike the Louvre in Paris or its nearby cousin, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, just a few blA complete reproduction of a fabulous collection of art!
Unlike the Louvre in Paris or its nearby cousin, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, just a few blocks away on Fifth Avenue in New York City, the Frick Collection is a much more intimate collection that can be viewed in its entirety in the space of one to two hours.
Housed in the former residence of Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), the Collection attempts to preserve the ambience of Mr Frick's private house but includes some of the best-known paintings by the greatest European artists, major works of sculpture, superb eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Limoges enamels, Oriental rugs, and other works of remarkable quality.
The entire collection is lovingly displayed in a series of 19 rooms which can be viewed in order with this guidebook already in hand. Make no mistake - the museum is small but this in no way detracts from the astonishing value and depth of its collection. The visitor will thrill to paintings by Titian, Turner, Vermeer, Degas, Van Dyck, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Holbrook, Whistler, Gainsborough, El Greco and Rembrandt, to name only a few.
This magnificent guidebook, produced in trade format with extremely high quality paper and covers, not only lovingly reproduces every single painting in the collection but also provides a brief interpretation of the painting as well as a short history of the artist. Such a beautiful memoir of this museum would still be inexpensive at twice the price.
Like the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum is a fabulously wealthy storehouse of incalculable value, "a living encyMemories to cherish forever!
Like the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum is a fabulously wealthy storehouse of incalculable value, "a living encyclopedia of world art. Every culture from every part of the world - from Florence to Thebes to Papua New Guinea - from the earliest times to the present and in every medium", "frequently at the highest levels of quality and invention", is represented. Also like the Louvre, its holdings are immense - "more than three million works of art, of which several hundred thousand are on view."
The guide, organized in the same fashion as the museum, suffers only by its inability to represent the museum completely. Choices had to be made. How incredible is it that the museum holds thirty paintings by Monet and the editors of the guide were forced to choose only four? How many museums in the world could lay claim to having five paintings by an artist as illustrious as Vermeer and yet be limited to including only three in their guide?
Having been fortunate enough to indulge in a recent visit to the museum, I can tell you that all five works by Vermeer and all thirty by Monet were as magnificent as one might imagine. The guide (a wonderful way to prepare in advance for any upcoming visit) will serve as a memorable souvenir and the descriptive text written by the curatorial staff of the museum will serve to elucidate the history and context of the individual pieces of art that were chosen to best represent the museum as a whole.
Highly recommended as a way of enjoying the world's art even if you think you will never be in a position to enjoy the visit in person.
A virtual tour that's almost impossible in real life!
"The Louvre is one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world, home to 300,000 worA virtual tour that's almost impossible in real life!
"The Louvre is one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world, home to 300,000 works of art". Think about what that number really means to a potential visitor. If one lives in Paris, attends the museum daily and takes the time, I mean REALLY takes the time, to soak up the beauty of 100 pieces of art every single day, it would take the better part of ten years to do justice to the Louvre. That sort of magnitude was a little bit intimidating when I felt, as a one-time visitor to Paris for only a week, I could really only justify a few hours out of a morning to visit this fabulous museum when all the rest of the city beckoned as well.
So it only made sense after what seemed like a cursory dash through a few wings to hit the souvenir shop and buy a good book that would allow me to savour some of the best of the museum's offerings at leisure and, blessedly, without the distraction of crowds in the bargain. What better sampling than 300 favourites selected by none other than Henri Loyrette, President and Director of the museum.
The book, like the museum, is broken down into eight sections - Islamic Art; Near Eastern Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Paintings; Sculptures; Decorative Arts; and Prints and Drawings. His goal in his own words - "By placing over three hundred major works in their historical context, it will provide you with a better understanding of the artistic movements out of which they grew. With its aid, you will take away an unforgettable memory of the Louvre's riches with you." I couldn't agree more and I plan to savour these memories for many years to come. (I thought it a rather sad irony that one of the paintings I most wanted to see in real life, Vermeer's "The Lacemaker" was in a wing that was closed when I visited the museum. Sigh!)
During a recent trip to southern France, I was privileged to enjoy a tour of Lascaux II, the replica of tAn awesome artifact of Cro-Magnon prehistory!
During a recent trip to southern France, I was privileged to enjoy a tour of Lascaux II, the replica of the original grotto whose dazzling white walls of calcite were decorated by Cro-Magnon man with a series of some 600 paintings and 1500 engravings. "Prehistoric man chose it as a sanctuary 17,000 years ago, decorating it with a breathtaking display of wild oxen, horses, bison, stags, wild goats and a multitude of enigmatic geometric symbols".
But the context of a very crowded tour conducted in French (a language I understand reasonably well but it is not my mother tongue) simply didn't allow for a full, quiet, contemplative appreciation of the wonders of this fascinating piece of live history. So it seemed appropriate to purchase a book to bring home as a memory and a way of better appreciating the paintings, the science involved in the discovery and exploration of the cave and perhaps the complexity of the lives of the Cro-Magnon artists who crafted this beautiful artwork so many millennia ago.
DISCOVERING LASCAUX is a short read that will occupy barely longer than the time it took to tour the cave but the enjoyment really rests with the photographs of the paintings and the etchings.
Whether or not you've been lucky enough to actually take the tour in the flesh, anyone interested in the cultural anthropology of pre-history will enjoy DISCOVERING LASCAUX. This "collection" of richly detailed paintings show that the residents of the Vézère river valley, despite their obvious intimate detailed knowledge of the fauna around them, chose to render them with an artistic style that was every bit as formalized as Picasso's cubism or Raphael's Renaissance works.
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