collecting concerning surrealism contemporary

books:

6 reviews
Joe Earle

MFA Publications, 2004

Simply the best book on fittings
On top on anything else, this book has the best pictures of japanese sword fittings that I've had the chance to see so far. There are many good close-ups that show well the work done by the craftmen. Earle goes through explaining the evolution of sword fittings by presenting the influence of History upon the samurai, and their needs. He also exposes techniques, although not in depth - it is not ...

Future Retro

1 review
Frederic Sharf

MFA Publications, 2005

A 'must' for car fans and students of Americana
The drawings comprising Future Retro: Selected From The Jean S. And Frederic A. Sharf Collection consider a fine era of American auto design: the 1940s through the 1960s, when the focus was on futuristic vehicles from Detroit. Over fifty color drawings - many seeing print here for the first time, so don't anticipate repeat performances - capture futuristic, retro and sometimes downright odd ...

Imperishable Beauty
Yvonne Markowitz, Elyse Karlin

MFA Publications, 2008

"A new, imperishable beauty," was how the artist and architect Henry van de Velde described it. European Art Nouveau jewelry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries embraced a new aesthetic characterized by sensuous forms, dramatic imagery and vivid symbolism. Many of the designers associated with the movement sought their inspiration not in traditional jewelry, but in the work of the pre-Raphaelites and Impressionists and in the ...

Concerning the Spiritual in Art

13 reviews
Wassily Kandinsky

MFA Publications, 2006

"to break the bonds which bind". . . "to an impoverishment of possibility"
Kandinsky had risen to positions of influence in other disciplines (political science/economics and law) before directing his considerable intellect to painting. His insights extended into the historic 'meta' trends of the arts and sciences, including the physical sciences, and had his interests been directed more to the history and philosophy of science instead of the history and philosophy of ...

Karsh: A Biography In Images

1 review
Malcolm Rogers

MFA Publications, 2004

Karsh Did Other Photographs Besides His Portraits of the Very Famous
This book contained many pleasant surprises. I've been a long time fan of Karsh since he was a guest lecturer at Ohio University in 1966 and flattered me by asking to have copies of some of the candid photographs I'd taken of him interacting with the students of the O.U. Art School. I still have some of the nice notes he sent me on his specially made stationary (which is mentioned in the book) ...

El Greco to Velazquez

1 review
Laura Bass, Antonio Feros, ...

MFA Publications, 2008

Illuminating study of a critically important period
In addition to the artistic renaissance that was underway in late 16th and early 17th century Italy, a comparable movement was flourishing in Spain from 1598 to 1623 under King Philip. A time of cultural and political fervor, Spain was experiencing the evolution of a naturalistic style of painting that showcased detail and space in court portraiture, still life, religious themes, and the ...

Contemporary Clay

1 review
Joe Earle

MFA Publications, 2005

An outstanding presentation recommended for art library collections.
Over fifty works by modern clay artists are profiled in CONTEMPORARY CLAY: JAPANESE CERAMICS FOR THE NEW CENTURY, a catalog which follows the most innovative of Japanese ceramists. Puts range from porcelains with Chinese inspirations from the past to contemporary modern designs and provide a survey of different uses of modern forms, along with artist reactions to the new clay works. Each artist ...

Material Journeys: Collecting African And Oceanic Art, 1945-2000

1 review
Christraud M. Geary, Stephanie Xatart

MFA Publications, 2007

A powerful survey
MATERIAL JOURNEYS is a strong pick for any college-level art library serious about African or Oceanic art representations. This catalogue of holdings comes from the Genevieve McMillan Collection and supplements a study of how African and oceanic arts were brought to Europe with the items in the McMillan Collection, using the collection as a foundation for examining collection strategies as a ...

Edward Hopper

8 reviews
Carol Troyen, Judith Barter, ...

MFA Publications, 2007

An Excellent Look at Hopper
One of the highlights of my summer was attending the Hopper exhibition at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, for which this volume (published by the MFA) was the companion text. At 288 pages, mostly filled with suberb reproductions of Hopper's paintings and sketches, this volume is comprehensive enough for even the most devoted Hopper fan. Perhaps only Gail Levin's "Catalogue Raisonne" offers a more ...

Antonio Lopez Garcia

2 reviews
Cheryl Brutvan

MFA Publications, 2008

Pre-review.
Why so inexpensive when the Rizolli book is $500 - $1000!!! Size. This book is 6 3/4 by 8 1/4. I appreciate anything I can get on the artist, but the person who put this book together should be shot. Metaphorically.

Samplers from A to Z

2 reviews
Pamela A. Parmal

MFA Publications, 2000

Samplers Through the Centuries
This book was produced to accompany the special exhibit of samplers at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in the spring of 2000 and contains photographs of the samplers in the exhibition. Beginning with a brief history of samplers and with a sampler for every letter of the alphabet, it includes such treasures as a sampler fragment (1300) excavated in Egypt, a band sampler from Britain (mid 1600s), a ...

From the South Seas

2 reviews
Michael Gunn

MFA Publications, 2006

A simply beautiful presentation of Oceanic artifacts
Oceania is a region of the Pacific Ocean that ranges from New Guinea to New Zealand, and from Easter Island to Hawaii. The native populations have created a unique tradition with their sculptures, pots and paintings that are now acknowledged for their artistic values. Compiled, organized, and edited by Christraud Geary (Curator of African and Oceanic Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), From The ...

Utopia Parkway: The Life And Work Of Joseph Cornell

8 reviews
Deborah Solomon

MFA Publications, 2004

Examining the life and influences of an enigmatic artist
Deborah Solomon's biography of artist Joseph Cornell in Utopia Parkway: The Life And Work Of Joseph Cornell, joins other outstanding titles in the MFA's 'artWorks' series but stands well independently, providing a reprint of a 1977 original examining the life and influences of an enigmatic American artist. Analysis blends with personal insight to probe the influences of man prized for his ...

Rhythms of Modern Life

2 reviews
Stephen Coppel, Thomas Rassieur, ...

MFA Publications, 2008

Beautiful graphics; fascinating history
Gorgeous book on graphics and history; beautiful and fascinating for the student of the subject. Based on the museum exhibit, which should be seen in conjunction with reading the book.

André Breton: Surrealism and Painting
Andre Breton, Alain Masson, ...

MFA Publications, 2002

Originally published in 1928 and augmented throughout the author's life, Surrealism and Painting is the single most important statement ever written on Surrealist art. While many pages have been devoted to visual Surrealism, this is the only book on the suject by the movement's founder and prime theorist. It contains Andra Breton's seminal treatise on the origins and foundations of artistic Surrealism, with his trenchant assessments of its ...

Drama and Desire: Japanese Painting from the Floating World, 1690-1850

1 review
Howard Hibbett, Masato Naito, ...

MFA Publications, 2007

A top pick
DRAMA AND DESIRE: JAPANESE PAINTINGS FROM THE FLOATING WORLD 1690-1850 blends a history of Japanese paintings and painters with a catalog of full-page color reproductions of paintings representing the best and most classic works of the period from 1690-1850. Thanks to a grant, nearly thirty scholars traveled to Boston to study over four thousand paintings, sculptures, textiles, masks and lacquer ...

Paul Gauguin: Letters to His Wife and Friends
Paul Gauguin

MFA Publications, 2003

"May the day come--and perhaps soon--when I can flee to the woods on a South Sea island and live there in ecstasy, in peace and for art," Gauguin wrote to his wife, Mette, in 1890. As both art history and enduring legend have shown, Gauguin's life in the South Seas was anything but ecstatic or peaceful, even as he created some of the most revolutionary and iconic objects of his time. This book, to date the most comprehensive volume of the ...

American Folk

2 reviews
Gerald W.R. Ward, Abaigeal Duda, ...

MFA Publications, 2001

A gorgeous presentation
Folk art is of ongoing interest, and American Folk accompanies a major ongoing exhibition of folk art at the Museum of Fine Arts, gathering over 50 objects from across the country and adding background history and enough biography for even newcomers to appreciate their significance. A gorgeous presentation.

Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture of the 16th and 17th

1 review
Wang Shixiang, Malcolm Rogers, ...

MFA Publications, 2000

Fine Book on Fine Furniture
BEYOND THE SCREEN is an apt title; it describes this book both literally and metaphorically. Nancy Berliner and fourcontributing writers dissect both the life and furniture of sixtheen and seventeenth China in a work that combines art, craft and social history. My husband, an amateur woodworker, was fascinated with descriptions of workmanship and digrams of joinery. I preferred the sections ...

Gauguin Tahiti

3 reviews
Paul Gauguin, Claire FrEches-Thory

MFA Publications, 2004

Gauguin: The Artist, Author, Ethnographer, and Promoter
Most art books give you lots of gorgeous plates and a view from 50,000 feet of the artist's entire life. Gauguin Tahiti was a pleasant and positive exception from that generalization. The book does contain lots of gorgeous plates, but also shows a tremendous number of sketches and source materials backed with extensive notes on what the author wrote and said. This enables a careful reader ...

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