Prebles' Artforms (8th Edition)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Prebles' Artforms (8th Edition)
    Patrick Frank , Duane Preble , and Sarah Preble
    Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    1. ArtNotes to accompany Prebles' Artforms, 8th edition ArtNotes to accompany Prebles' Artforms, 8th edition
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    Accessories:
    1. Supplement: Discovering Art CD-ROM Stand Alone - Prebles Artforms 8/E Supplement: Discovering Art CD-ROM Stand Alone - Prebles Artforms 8/E
    2. ArtNotes to accompany Prebles' Artforms, 8th edition ArtNotes to accompany Prebles' Artforms, 8th edition

    ASIN: 0131930818
    Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts, Revised (7th Edition)
    Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    • 8th Edition:
    • too much highlighting
    • Artforms by Preble and Preble
    • worth it
    • Great introductory book
    Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts, Revised (7th Edition)
    Duane Preble , Sarah Preble , and Patrick L. Frank
    Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0131830902

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars 8th Edition:.......2006-03-06

    This book is, as far as I can tell, the same as the 8th Edition. The only difference is the cover of the book. Page numbers are the same, pictures are all the same. I accidentally purchased the wrong book, but turned out it worked just fine and I paid 1/10th of the price.

    2 out of 5 stars too much highlighting.......2005-09-25

    From the outside, the book appeared to be in great condition, but when I opened it, it was full of highlighting on almost every line of every page. I guess I will not be able to sell it back at a reasonable price. Had I known that it was full of highligting, I probably would not have purchased it.

    5 out of 5 stars Artforms by Preble and Preble.......2005-09-14

    This is an exciting excellent book in the area of art and the forms that art is inpacted by. The illustrations to this book are exciting and colors are radiant.

    5 out of 5 stars worth it.......2005-09-13

    great condition. like new. shipped on time in a good manner. very satisfied.

    5 out of 5 stars Great introductory book.......2005-01-14

    This is a super book for anyone looking to get a quick introduction the the basics of art history. It also has beautiful picture pages.
    Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts (7th Edition)
    Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    • ARTFORMS
    • Want to know about art? This is the book
    Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts (7th Edition)
    Duane Preble , Sarah Preble , and Patrick L. Frank
    Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0130899798

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars ARTFORMS.......2002-01-24

    Last semester i had taken a visual arts course at my college, Artforms was the text that we use and that the school still uses. If you are wanting to familiarize yourself with past and modern works of art from all cultures then this is a complete introduction to the reasoning behind specific artforms. After reading it you will get an overall gist of what art was in societies before ours and how it continues to live on and how it is viewed in present day societies.

    5 out of 5 stars Want to know about art? This is the book.......2000-10-18

    This book deserves to be in any person's library. It tells you the different thecnics of painting, the differents colors, how they divide, how to recognize the paintings. If you are studiying art or just like it, you must get this book.
    Vintage Rolex Sports Models: A Complete Visual Reference & Unauthorized History
    Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    • Cant miss this book for Rolex fans!
    • Everything you need to know about Rolex sports models.
    • Nice book to add to the collection
    • Nice book, although outdated?
    • A "must-have" for all fans of vintage Rolex sports watches
    Vintage Rolex Sports Models: A Complete Visual Reference & Unauthorized History
    Martin Skeet , and Nick Urul
    Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    ASIN: 0764322486

    Book Description

    This comprehensive and detailed reference guide to Rolex's sports model watches is an indispensable asset to watch collectors and dealers. The only work of its kind, it covers the history of the Submariner, Explorer, GMT-Master, Turn-O-Graph, Milgauss, and Cosmograph watches, from 1952 to 1990. The history of more than a hundred and forty vintage models is described in detail, with the watches shown in chronological order. Color photographs illustrate every watch model, with hundreds of diagrams providing clear and useful information. Twenty-two rare Rolex brochures from private collections are shown, in addition to numerous catalog photographs and the sale prices of sports models sold at Christie's and Sotheby's over the last four years. Also included is a current price guide for every model shown in the book. At a time when Rolex watches dominate the collecting market, this authoritative volume is an essential and timely addition to the library of the Rolex collector and dealer.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Cant miss this book for Rolex fans!.......2007-08-26

    This book is completely stated sports models and really can help user when buying a vintage Rolex!

    5 out of 5 stars Everything you need to know about Rolex sports models........2007-08-23

    A most impressively comprehensive and finely detailed reference that will prove to be of great usefulness and interest to me when handling Rolex watches, and when talking to and advising collectors and enthusiasts.

    4 out of 5 stars Nice book to add to the collection.......2007-08-18

    Pictures are of good quality. A good book to add to the collection, each watch has good description and on the watch movement.
    It is a limited market, you have to remember its a book on the vintage watches and not modern Rolex watches.
    Saying that I would not be without it, But I am a watch Nut.

    3 out of 5 stars Nice book, although outdated?.......2007-08-15

    Great book for watch enhusiast. Although it only takes us up to 1997, so I was dispointed, The pictures are good, the history covers the basics. I would recommend to add to the collection

    5 out of 5 stars A "must-have" for all fans of vintage Rolex sports watches.......2007-01-17

    The authors describe this book as a "comprehensive and detailed reference guide to Rolex's sports model watches" and "an indispensable asset to watch collectors and dealers". Modest? No. Correct? Absolutely!

    The book is divided into 18 chapters, starting with Rolex chronology and the tool watch concept, followed by chronological descriptions of all models in the Submariner, Sea-Dweller, GMT-Master, Explorer, Milgauss, Turn-O-Graph and Cosmograph model ranges respectively. More brief chapters are dealing with bracelets, boxes, paperwork, and movements. Statistical data in the form of production dates and a price guide is also included.

    What I particularly like
    First of all, the great advantage of this book is the fact that all watches depicted are from the authors' own collections - this has allowed them to photograph all watches in the exact same position and size, making comparisons between the different model variants very easy. This is important when comparing with other books on Rolex, that mainly use 3rd party photos.

    All models are described in chronological order, with information on model number, production period, movement number, bracelet type and size, and some 5-15 lines of specifics for that particular model, pointing towards the - often small - details distinguishing it from previous or later models. I.e. for the 6263 Daytona such text reads: "In 1971 the 6263 model replaced the 6264 model. The model was available with either the standard or exotic dial, and had T Swiss T at the bottom of the dial. On this example, the word Cosmograph is written in a semicircle around the upper half of the lower recording dial." Essential knowledge, really ;-)

    Secondly, all models are accompanied by a detailed profile drawing, allowing comparisons of the shapes of glass and bezel, as well as case thickness. Important, when you want to identify the "Superdome" glass profile.

    Third, there are 40+ pages of reprints of vintage Rolex brochures, advertisments, owners booklets, catalogues etc. For Sea-Dweller afficionados it will be great to see the 1981 owner's booklet reprint on page 178, showing the 1665 with acrylic lens and 2000 feet rating, alongside the 16660 with sapphire crystal and 4000 feet rating. Later that year, the 1665 was discontinued, leaving only the 16660.

    Last, but not least, I really enjoy chapter 18, "Watches sold at Auction" - 50 pages of pictures and details of Rolex watches sold at auctions at Christie's and Sothebys's, in the period 1997-2004. In 1998, a "Red" Submariner 1680 was sold for mere USD 2165. Read and weep... or start collecting right away.

    Ahh - not to forget - this is a relatively new book, published in 2005.

    Any drawbacks, then?
    Not really - or at least nothing major. Although given the title "COMPLETE Visual Reference", one would expect the book to contain pictures of ALL known model variantions. This is apparently not the case, as the military issue of the Submariner 5513 is shown only with the special "high visibility" hand design - while Rolex collectors, as well as James Dowling's Rolex book, will tell, that the military models were also available with the standard "Mercedes" hands. This would have been nice to know, before one accuses eBay sellers of vintage Rolex watches for selling un-original or Frankenstein watches. I won't do that again...

    One should note, though, that this books deals with "vintage" models only - that excludes any model currently in production, obviously. For the reason of comparing model evolution, I for one would like to see the current version (i.e. the one on my wrist) pictured alongside it's ancestors, in order to compare those small, but essential details on the dial layout. But then again...

    How does it compare to other Rolex books, then?
    This will depend on how BROAD one's Rolex interest is, and in which STAGE of Rolex ownership one is.

    John Brozek's "Rolex report" provides excellent value for money for the first-time buyer of a modern Rolex, who doesn't want to get "eScrewed" - John's expression, not mine. Lot of stuff on identifying fakes, as well as tons of statistical data and pricelists - showing retail as well as wholesale amounts. Quite good to know the latter, when someone is offering you a never worn NIB Rolex for less... Why, it should make you wonder.

    Many people praise James Dowlings book "The Best of Time" as THE Rolex book to get. Maybe so - but not my cup of tea. Far too much emphasis on the very early Prince and Bubbleback models and only brief descriptions of the tool watches.

    For some buyers, the overall Rolex history in this book will be too brief, or the statistics on production dates incomplete (as they end in 1998). Do not despair - buy this book anyway, and read the rest on the various Rolex internet forums.

    So, my personal view is, that if you are a current or potential owner of a "Professional" series model, Martin Skeet and Nick Urul's excellent book will give you the most relevant insights. It's certainly my favorite, and the one I would chose over all other Rolex books I have seen so far.

    Buy and enjoy - You will not be disappointed!
    Art as the evolution of visual knowledge
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Art as the evolution of visual knowledge
      Charles Joseph Biederman
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Unknown Binding

      GeneralGeneral | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: B0007DR1IY
      Field Guide to American Antique Furniture: A Unique Visual System for Identifying the Style of Virtually Any Piece of American Antique Furniture
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • Great Info book!
      • Good Reference
      • Hundreds of detailed drawings!
      Field Guide to American Antique Furniture: A Unique Visual System for Identifying the Style of Virtually Any Piece of American Antique Furniture
      Joseph T. Butler
      Manufacturer: Owl Books
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      Furniture DesignFurniture Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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      2. The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Chests, Cupboards, Desks & Other Pieces The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Chests, Cupboards, Desks & Other Pieces
      3. Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture
      4. The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Tables, Chairs, Sofas, and Beds The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Tables, Chairs, Sofas, and Beds
      5. Price It Yourself! The Definitive, Down-to-earth Guide to Appraising Antiques and Collectibles in your Home, at Auctions, Estate Sales, Shops, and Yard Sales Price It Yourself! The Definitive, Down-to-earth Guide to Appraising Antiques and Collectibles in your Home, at Auctions, Estate Sales, Shops, and Yard Sales

      ASIN: 0805001247

      Book Description

      With more than seventeen hundred superb drawings, this authoritative book offers a unique visual system for identifying the style of virtually any piece of American antique furniture.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Great Info book!.......2006-01-13

      Get this one. It shows and tells what a novice needs to learn about antique furniture. Also...a great refresher for long-time antiquers.

      4 out of 5 stars Good Reference.......2002-01-29

      This book is good for a quick reference. It is filled with sketches that are grouped into categories (chairs, tables, beds).
      It can help you identify the style of a piece of furntiture, but doesn't help authenticating the piece.

      4 out of 5 stars Hundreds of detailed drawings!.......2000-04-13

      Excellent and easy to use reference book, illustrates styles in thier purest form. Does not treat the subject of authenticity but notes characteristics and idiosyncracies of various examples.
      Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • perfect
      • illustrated survey of the influence and diversity of visual culture
      Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places

      Manufacturer: Gestalten Verlag
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

      GeneralGeneral | Commercial | Graphic Design | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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      ASIN: 3899550846

      Book Description

      Hidden Track shows how contemporary visual culture is breaking out of the second dimension and printed form and entering into three-dimensional space, where it can be experienced. The book demonstrates how rooms are being occupied creatively and how items are being transformed. It presents the diverse exhibition possibilities that currently exist - a spectrum ranging from live painting to installations and 3D objects.

      At the same time the book illustrates how urban and street art have recently moved even further out of the subculture and are now being featured more often in galleries and museums worldwide. It analyses how these public art forms are being perceived in an international art context and investigates the fundamentally different forms of presentation that this new context demands.

      Through abundant images and incisive text Hidden Track also introduces the artists and exhibition spaces that are taking current visual culture out of the underground to the level of high culture.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars perfect.......2007-01-10


      O livro é ótimo!

      Tem referencias ótimas. Do mundo do grafite, stickers e afins!


      5 out of 5 stars illustrated survey of the influence and diversity of visual culture .......2005-11-10

      HIDDEN TRACK - How Visual Culture Is Going Places, edited by Robert Klanten and Sven Ehmann. Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin, Germany; [...]. 2005. 208 pp. xxpricexx 9-3/4" x 11", ISBN 3-89955-084-6. color photographs.
      "Hidden Track" demonstrates that "quite often works of extraordinary artistic quality come into existence in the context of design, advertising, and entertainment" by featuring over four pages on average works of 49 contemporary artists and art businesses in these areas. Office reception areas, street corners, lobbies, showrooms and store windows, walls, signs, and in a few cases art galleries are among the many and varied places where the works are seen. Besides briefly showcasing the work of the many contemporary, mostly commercial, artists, the anthology is meant to make the point of how much such art is already a part of public spaces playing a role in generating their ambiance and working toward both social and business purposes. The implication of the title is that this "track" of art has not been given sufficient attention or appreciation. The title can also be taken ironically in that this ubiquitous art making for the visual culture of contemporary life is so taken for granted that it is "hidden," and its influence on noncommercial artists and the public's preferences in art has been only barely explored. With the wide range of imaginative art styles hardly different and in many cases indistinguishable from works exhibited in many galleries and museums, one cannot disagree with the book's central point that the line between art work in design, advertising, and entertainment and art by pure artists outside of these areas has become porous and all-but-eroded. While this is not a new point, "Hidden Track" decisively, informatively, and visually attests to it.
      Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980
        Jean Robertson , and Craig McDaniel
        Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        ASIN: 0195162153

        Book Description

        Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 is a unique introduction to several important themes that have recurred in art over the past few decades. Examining visual art from 1980 to the present, it takes an intriguing and accessible approach that motivates students and other readers to think actively about and discuss contemporary art--what it means and how it means what it does. The opening chapter provides a concise overview of the period, analyzing how four key changes (the rise of new media, a growing awareness of diversity, the influence of theory, and interactions with everyday visual culture) have resulted in an art world with dramatically expanded boundaries. Reflecting the paradigm shift from a formalist way of teaching studio art to more varied and open-ended concepts, the remaining six chapters each deal with a key theme--time, place, the body, language, identity, and spirituality. Each chapter features an introduction to the thematic topic; a brief look at historical precedents and influences; a detailed analysis of how contemporary artists have responded to and embodied aspects of the theme in specific works; and an in-depth and fascinating profile of an artist who has extensively explored aspects of the theme in his or her work. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 shows how art can be interpreted from several different angles: techniques and materials, historical circumstances, aesthetic qualities, theoretical issues, and an artist's ideas and intentions. Writing in a lucid and engaging style, the authors skillfully reveal the multiple levels of meaning in artworks, drawing connections between contemporary art, art of the past, and everyday existence. The volume is enhanced by 87 illustrations--19 in full color--that demonstrate an immense variety of materials, subjects, and styles. These well-chosen examples will help readers learn to critically describe, interpret, and evaluate contemporary visual art. A bibliography and a timeline that situates contemporary art in the context of major events in world history, art, and popular culture are also included. An ideal core text for courses in contemporary art history, Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 can also be used as a supplement in modern art, art appreciation, art criticism/theory, and studio art courses.
        Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture
        Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
        • Michael Kammen's Visual Shock
        • An outstanding survey.
        • A History of the Culture Wars
        Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture
        Michael Kammen
        Manufacturer: Knopf
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 1400041295
        Release Date: 2006-09-26

        Book Description

        From the early years of the American Republic to the present, art and architecture have consistently aroused major disputes among artists, critics, scholars, politicians, and ordinary citizens. Now one of our most respected cultural historians chronicles these clamorous debates about the public appropriateness of paintings, sculpture, memorials, and monuments.

        Michael Kammen examines the nature, diversity, and persistence of major disputes generated by art and artists and shows what has changed since the 1830s and why. He looks at the role of artists and patrons, local and national governments, conservatives and liberals, and the media in creating and sustaining heated controversies. We see the notable acceleration of such episodes since the 1960s; the effect of the democratization of American museums; the quest for provocative shows to attract crowds; the increased visibility resulting from the public art movement that has stirred anger and created some of our stormiest battles; the desire of many artists and galleries to shock, provoke, and contest, engendering the perplexity, if not outright hostility, of audiences; the use of art as social criticism; the effort to include and appeal to minorities; the threat of litigation and the role of courts; and the commercialization stemming from dependence on corporate sponsorship.

        Kammen’s central themes include such questions as, What kind of art is most appropriate for a democratic society? What should our relationship be to Old World criteria of excellence in the arts? How can we achieve a distinctively American art? Why have so many controversies hinged upon issues of nudity, decency, and sexuality? Why has public art (most notably sculpture) become so politicized that began in the late 1960s? He explores the “death-of-art” debate since the 1970s and issues of censorship that have arisen over time. Finally, he asks whether art controversies have invariably had a negative effect—noticing the interesting ways in which minds have been changed and museums have overcome difficult episodes. He also reminds us that when New York’s Museum of Modern Art celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, President Dwight Eisenhower declared “as long as artists are at liberty to feel with high personal intensity, as long as our artists are free to create with sincerity and conviction, there will be healthy controversy and progress in art.” Kammen agrees.

        Customer Reviews:

        5 out of 5 stars Michael Kammen's Visual Shock.......2007-01-08



        As a national experiment able and eager to invent itself from a relatively clean slate, and as a democracy open to multiple voices, America has been and continues to be a country where the nature and purpose of art is hotly debated. In his recently published book, Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture, Pulitzer-prize winning cultural historian Michael Kammen turns his insightful attention to American controversies over the visual arts to discover what these controversies reveal about the nature of America and its public discourse.

        Kammen's examination includes controversies familiar to most informed readers -- Diego Rivera's murals for Rockefeller Center or the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe, for example -- but also finds lesser known controversies -- such as John Singer's Sargent's own troubles with murals or the initial Washington monument, a half-nude neo-classical statue -- equally fruitful for his scholarly inquest.

        This meticulously researched and cogently argued book is not another repeat of the history of American art. Kammen's book follows a unique trajectory because Kammen's interest in the subject is as a cultural rather than art historian. He is more interested in how the public talks about art than the art itself; so that in Visual Shock discussions of the art that changed the art world give way to the art controversies that changed the way Americans discuss art, and what those discussion say about America.

        Kammen divides his investigation into nine chapters, each of which follows a chronological examination of a particular form of art controversy -- from issues of monumentalism and memorialization and nudity and decency, which were prominent in the 19th century, to the debates on public art, political art and the nature of the museums in more recent times.

        Within the scope of the entire work, Kammen identifies four main themes that interest him as a cultural historian: the way art controversies are symptomatic of social change in the U.S.; the debate over art's role in a democratic society and expectation such a society has of art and architecture; the impulse for the origins of art controversies and how they have changed over time; and the outcome, negative or positive, of controversies.

        Kammen's book reveals that America has a fairly short cultural memory and that what causes an initial stir and even ideological battle usually becomes, within a generation, an established part of our cultural framework. Many of us will know the controversy regarding Maya Lin's Vietnam Memorial, but fewer will remember or have learned that practically every other monument along D.C.'s Mall -- now endeared landmarks of our country's capitol -- was controversial as well.

        What moves America to discourse also changes over time. In the 19th century, issues of nudity and moral decency were hotly debated, even when, as in the case of Thomas Eakins' use of nude models in a classroom, the offending practices occurred in non-public settings. In our own time, nudity per se rarely causes a stir (BYU's selective editing of a Rodin exhibit in 1997 being an exception Kammen notes) and issues of moral decency spring up only in the case of government funding, as in the furor of NEA funding during the 80s.

        As a cultural historian, Kammen is particularly interested in public art, where the full force of community discussion takes place. His chapter, "The Dimension and Dilemmas of Public Sculpture," which examines controversial public sculptures such as Richard Serra's "Tilted Arc" in lower Manhattan, is particularly interesting reading. Another element of the public realm Kammen illuminates is the changing nature of the Museum, which Kammen examines in a chapter in its own right. The author demonstrates that museums recover rather quickly from any initial uproar over a controversial exhibit and usually achieve higher turnout because of the controversy. Many museums, galleries, and artists understand this and create their own uproar; and when they don't, the media, knowing controversy makes for good copy, often stokes the flames of discontent.

        Whatever part of his topic Kammen examines, his arguments are always well illustrated with particular cases. Too often, however, what he illustrates in prose is not illustrated by images, an unfortunate deficiency in a book whose main focus is the visual arts.

        For the most part, Kammen keeps his own feelings about the merits of the artworks discussed to himself and does his job as historian in parsing out the factors that influenced the controversies examined. At times Kammen's writing style can be overly academic and his expositions can be lengthy, causing the casual reader to wish for a condensed version. But whether skimmed over for its salient kernels or examined in detail for its double-helix intricacies, Visual Shock has a great deal to offer both specialized art audiences and general ones interested in American culture. The book will teach you as much about America as it will about art.

        5 out of 5 stars An outstanding survey........2007-01-04

        Art and architectural aspirations have long aroused disputes among artists, scholars and the common citizen over the appropriateness of paintings, memorials and monuments: for the first time these debates are surveyed in VISUAL SHOCK: A HISTORY OF ART CONTROVERSIES IN AMERICAN CULTURE. Here are the social and political disputes which have taken place from the 1830s to modern times, with central themes and relationships including questions on the types of art appropriate for a democratic society, and how to assess and possibly regulate its appearance. Changes in policies, opinions, and conflicts between trustees of the arts and the general public are chronicled in chapters surveying the wild world of art history. An outstanding survey.

        5 out of 5 stars A History of the Culture Wars.......2006-11-22

        Artist George Braque said, "Art is meant to disturb." This is a profoundly twentieth-century view of what art should accomplish, and clashes with the views of most Americans who enjoy going to a museum or contemplating a commemorative civic sculpture, and do not do so for any advantage of being disturbed. There has certainly been an acceleration of controversy in America regarding art; the Brooklyn Museum's notorious show "Sensation" of 1999, which Rudolph Giuliani tried repeatedly to close down, is a good example, as are countless shows picketed, boycotted, vandalized, or censored in the past couple of decades. But although art controversies in America may have increased, they did not begin only in the recent years, but have been ongoing for at least two centuries. In _Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture_, critic Michael Kammen has written a detailed account of the art and architecture that has bothered Americans. It is a surprise to learn how many buildings, sculptures, and paintings were notorious in the past and have become beloved icons, but it is no surprise to learn how indignation comes in various forms against the sexuality, politics, or religious feelings which the art portrays.

        It is hard to imagine that anyone could ever have objected to the Lincoln Memorial but it was not just die-hard Confederates that did so when the nation prepared to honor Lincoln at the centennial of his birth. Many hated the location selected, as if America was deliberately sticking its greatest president into a marsh. A Grecian temple was not a universally accepted choice; members of Congress pointed out, for instance, that Lincoln never would have even learned the Greek alphabet, so why honor him with a modern Parthenon? There have always been people who are convinced that any depiction of nudity is scandalous, despite the persistence of artists over the centuries who found the human form worthy of representation. It is surprising, however, that the first controversy over nudity mentioned here is for a memorial to George Washington. Horace Greenough got a commission in 1833 to sculpt the Father of Our Country to stand in the Capitol, and although Washington wasn't actually nude in the huge marble statue that resulted, except above the waist; he had a toga wrapped around the rest of him, and the statue was a figure of ridicule. Age did not bring acceptance to the statue, which after placements other than the Capitol, was condemned to the Smithsonian. There are, to be sure, other controversies of nudity in art described here, especially regarding such photographs as those of Robert Mapplethorpe, and the displays of performance artists who do shows in the buff. It does not take nudity to make controversy, however; sometimes just a style will do so. Until recent years, the most controversial art show in America was the Armory Show of 1913, which was literally set up in an armory building in New York City by an ad hoc group of artists. It was the first chance for the modernism that had grown up in Europe to be seen here, and people didn't like it. Influential critics did not like the exhibit, and their writings gave justification for the public to disdain modernism for two subsequent generations. Eventually in the witch-hunting years after World War II, the generally progressive politics of modern artists was decried, with anti-communists declaring that modern art was Marxist at its core, ignoring that Stalin could abide nothing but artistic realism.


        Art museums are more popular than ever, and one of the best bits of good news in Kammen's wide-ranging survey is that Americans cannot agree on what is good art, or even what is art. There has not been complete agreement on such matters in previous centuries or now. This is why reading Kammen's book is such fun; it is full of optimism. There were angry controversies about art in previous years, and those have been settled, with the controversial pieces now widely accepted and even loved. Freedom of expression is strong, and creativity is rewarded even when it is controversial. We can learn from art that is made deliberately to provoke. The controversies described here have not produced bland conformity and have resulted only in occasionally regional, not national, censorship. We can withstand the visual shocks, and we are ready for more.
        Anthropologies of Art (Clark Studies in the Visual Arts)
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          Anthropologies of Art (Clark Studies in the Visual Arts)

          Manufacturer: Clark Art Institute
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

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          ASIN: 0300103530

          Book Description

          Based on the 2003 Clark Conference, this new volume in the highly successful series Clark Studies in the Visual Arts examines the intersections and divergences between art history and anthropology. How do these disciplines understand the term “art”? What sorts of questions do they ask of the work of art? Is it possible to find a cross-cultural definition of art, or are such definitions inevitably Western in their origins and concerns? What implications do the answers to these questions have for the collecting and display of Western and non-Western objects in art museums? Fourteen leading art historians and anthropologists discuss these and other questions.



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          1. Princess Mononoke
          2. Reading Dancing: Bodies and Subjects in Contemporary American Dance
          3. Rene Magritte: Catalogue Raisonne - Supplement, Bibliography, Indexes
          4. Rodin: His Art and His Inspiration
          5. Rodin: His Art and His Inspiration
          6. Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing
          7. Spinoff to Payoff: An Analysis Guide to Investing in Corporate Divestitures
          8. Super Potato Design: The Complete Works of Takashi Sugimoto: Japan's Leading Interior Designer
          9. The American Accent Guide, Second Edition: A Complete and Comprehensive Course on the Pronunciation and Speaking Style of American English for Individuals of All Language Backgrounds / book and 8 CDs
          10. The Art of Portrait Drawing

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