celebrating wall-to-wall architecture illustrations

books:

Designs on the Heart: The Homemade Art of Grandma Moses

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard University Press, 2006

Designs on the Heart
Interesting and lovingly written by Karal Ann Marling on the life of Grandma Moses...Viewing the numerous pictures throughout were a treasure to me. This book will have a special place in my home library.

Looking North: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Illustrations : The Potlach Collection

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

Afton Historical Society Press, 2003

Embodying the spirit of a Canadian yesteryear
Compiled and presented by curator and writer Karal Ann Marling, Looking North: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Illustrations - The Potlatch Collection is a full-color artbook collection showcasing classic illustrations of Canada's famous traditional mounted police, men who embodied the virtues of the Victorian era. A thoughtful introduction and an informative commentary fully enhances this bold and ...

Designing Disney's Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance

19 reviews

Flammarion, 2001

Engaging Thoughts about Disney
Many books on Disney's art and achitecture try to convey its appeal primarily through the visual. Other books, particularly those that whole-heartedly criticize Disney, try to ignore the appeal of Disney altogether. This book attempts to integrate the visual evidence (photos, concept art) with academic writing on Disney (Karal Ann Marling, Erika Doss, Greil Marcus, etc.). Together, these aspects ...

As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s

3 reviews
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard University Press, 1998

Very interesting book with wonderful photographs
Very interesting reading. It is amazing to actually see how television has changed American life. I can't even fathom how life would be today, without TV. A great read for all who are interested in American pop culture in the 1950s.

Graceland: Going Home with Elvis

4 reviews
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard University Press, 1996

Elvis and his homes.
Elvis was the unique product of a very specific time and place; a cultural expression of that sweaty, hardscrabble slice of Mississippi River Delta biracial culture which has produced so much of the authentic in American music. The singer's unusual and deep attachment to his context is well understood in this perceptive biography, whose author views and interprets Presley through his homes, from ...

Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story

2 reviews
Leigh Roethke

Afton Historical Society Press, 2005

The story of Minnesota state house located in St. Paul
Enhanced with more than one hundred color and b/w illustrations, Minnesota's Capitol: A Centennial Story by Michele Hodgson tells the story of Minnesota state house located in St. Paul. Architecturally designed by Cass Gilbert, this impressive building took nine years to build from groundbreaking to dedication. It's magnificent dome was modeled after St. Peter's in Rome and utilized marble from ...

Greta Pratt: Using History

2 reviews
Greta Pratt

Steidl, 2005

wry commentary
If you like driving across America in search of the surreal, the goofy, and the oddly moving, then you'll love Greta Pratt's new book, Using History. Pratt is a master of the affectionate double-take, gently exposing American pretensions without mocking the people she documents. Her bemused photos of dead-serious practioners of "living history," offer a wry commentary on US history that you ...

Money In The Bank: The Katherine Kierland Herberger Collection

2 reviews
Corine Wegener, Karal Ann Marling

Minneapolis Institute Of Art, 2006

More Than Little Piggies
Did you have a piggy bank when you were a kid? Most of us did, and it eventually got robbed of its coins through the cork in the piggy's stomach, or by filching the coins from the slot if there were no such cork, or by simply breaking the bank to get at the hoard. Kax Herberger may never have had a piggy bank as a child, but sixty years ago, she bought a mechanical bank for her son's birthday. ...

Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Moran: Tourism and the American Landscape

1 review
Barbara Bloemink, Sarah Burns, ...

Bulfinch, 2006

Travel Paintings from Early America
I am a big fan of American Impressionism and I like all three of the artists featured in this book. It's a scholarly review of the images that made Americans travel to see if the scenery was as magical as these artists depicted. From the New England coast, Niagra Falls, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite these artist were engaging in a recording of scenery that would soon be altered by the hordes of ...

Behind the Magic 50 Years of Disneyland

1 review
Karal Ann Marling, 2004

Celebrates Disneyland's first 50 years!
Description on back cover... He began as a Midwestern cartoonist with big dreams. As a successful, young Hollywood filmmaker, he imagined a new type of entertainment -- a family park -- where he could create a world of pure, uncompromising fun and fantasy to share with his daughters. Fifty years after the realization of his vision, Disneyland, the name Walt Disney has become synonymous with ...

Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the Minnesota State Fair

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1990

fair lover
This is a great book if you are an avid fair goer. It shows a lot of great photos and has some great history articles . If you are over 30 you will appreciate this book even more, as you can look back on then and now. Loved it!!

Merry Christmas! : Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday

7 reviews
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard University Press, 2000

Equal parts nostalgia and scholarship, but entertaining from start to finish
I must admit to being rather shocked that two of this book's few reviews are so negative. I adored this book, and found something to savor on almost every page. This is one of those books to curl up with on a quiet evening during the holiday season, and to enjoy during those moments of perfect contentment. Marling's book devotes a chapter to the history of each of various Christmas ...

Debutante: Rites and Regalia of American Debdom (Cultureamerica)

2 reviews
Karal Ann Marling

University Press of Kansas, 2004

Okay, but it should have been longer
This book was a fun and quick read, but it wasn't really what I had expected. Since it is published by a University press, I assumed that the book would be a serious history of a rather fun subject. However, I was disapointed that there was no analysis whatsoever on anything that Marling discusses. Instead, it was basically a list of anecdotes, many of which we've heard before. In addition, I ...

The Colossus of Roads: Myth and Symbol along the American Highway

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

University of Minnesota Press, 2000

Folk Art Meets Capitalism
Titanic fish, overgrown birds, and a victory statue involving an impaled insect aren't likely to be found in the Louver, but they're a part of the American landscape, particularly in the north-central region. Despite introductory passages which reveal a solidly academic background and viewpoint, this book is a useful and entertaining guide to the out-sized outdoor sculptures designed to draw ...

George Washington Slept Here: Colonial Revivals and American Culture, 1876-1986

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard University Press, 1988

Funny and Irreverent
For those readers unfamiliar with Karal Ann Marling, this book is as good an introduction as any. A professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Minnesota, Marling, in "George Washington Slept Here" gives us a well-researched and amusing account of how Americans have used the image of the "Father of our Country" for a variety of social, economic, and political purposes. ...

As Seen on TV
Karal Ann Marling

Harvard Univ Pr, 1994

Wall-to-Wall America: Post-Office Murals in the Great Depression

1 review
Karal Ann Marling

University of Minnesota Press, 2000

Wasted Effort
While the text provides some interesting information all the art work is in mostly poor black & white images. The book is a major disappointment.

In Search of the Corn Queen

4 reviews
Greta Pratt, Steve Doetz, ...

Distributed Art Pub Inc (Dap), 1994

Wonderful photos
If you recall with fondness the great old Louis Marx & Co. playsets of the 1950's & '60s then this book is a must. David Levinthal's color photographs are superb, bringing life to these little plastic people and animals at their eye-level, much as we saw and remember them when we were kids. The color photographic layouts of various playsets are divided into three chapters. "Our World" contains ...

Iwo Jima: Monuments, Memories, and the American Hero

2 reviews
Karal Ann Marling, John Wetenhall

Harvard University Press, 1991

Interesting study of the famous photo's rise and fall
Having recently finished "Flags of Our Fathers", Marling & Wetenhall's "Iwo Jima: Monuments, Memories and The American Hero" is a great companion to "Flags" (although it was written over 10 years earlier) because it concentrates less on who the men were in the famous photo and more on how Joe Rosenthal's photo was used in post war society. Where the book really shines is all the information ...

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