Once a strategic trading post that channeled the flow of riches and ideas among countries situated along the South China Sea and places as far away as India and Rome, Viet Nam has a fascinating history and an artistic heritage to match it. This lavishly produced catalogue will help introduce English-speaking audiences to Viet Nam’s amazing body of artwork, ranging from the first millennium B.C. to the 18th century.
The authors begin by discussing, for example, the elegant burial jars, iron axes, bronze artifacts, and jewelry of the early Sa Huynh culture; the bronze ritual drums of the Dong Son; and the jeweled gold pieces, excavated from the walled center of Oc Eo in the kingdom of Fu Nan. New scholarship investigates the trade in gold and Chinese ceramics between Cham and the Philippine kingdom of Butuan. The final section is devoted to art from Hoi An, once a major international port. Of note are the ceramic wares produced in northern and central Viet Nam from the 16th to 18th century.
Arts of Ancient Vietnam review
This beautiful work is the result of more than twenty years of research, diplomacy and tireless effort by Nancy Tingley; and it shows. The photography is gorgeous,the writing is beautiful and the research is flawless. This definitive work on the art of ancient Viet Nam is a must-read for anyone interested in the art of south or southeast asia.
educational and visually dazzling
Printed in Italy, this is a lavish coffee table book, weighty and with thick glossy pages.
Written and extremely well researched by Doretta Davanzo Poli, it is in large, double-spaced type, making this history of Venice and its artisans a quick and easy read. It describes how the palaces and churches were built, the materials used, and how its famous glass making was developed.It has classified the arts of Venice into four categories:
"Solid" (stone, tiles, wellheads and chimneys).
"Ductile" or "Malleable" (wood and metals).
"Fragile" (glass, ceramics, stucco).
"Soft" (silk, tapestries, lace, embroidery, leather).This is a wonderful book to read and learn from, but it is the work of Mark E. Smith, who with few exceptions did most of the photography, that makes it so spectacular. His close-up views of marble and wood inlays, ornate jewelry, brocades and laces, often in 2 page spreads, are breathtaking.
An all-color, profusely illustrated book, it will educate as well as delight the eye with its luxurious beauty.
An important story beautifully told
The Finnish authors and their translator have done a beautiful job in telling the story of the recording industry from its beginnings to the 1990s. More or less any record-collector or music lover will enjoy reading this book, which traces the story through a series of sketches of particular artists or particular moments. It is one of those books that demands to be read over and over again.
Contemporary concerns about food such as those stemming from mad cow disease, salmonella, and other potential food-related dangers are hardly new-humans have long been wary of what they eat. Beyond the fundamental fear of hunger, societies have sought to protect themselves from rotten, impure, or unhealthy food. From the markets of medieval Europe to the slaughterhouses of twentieth-century Chicago, Madeleine Ferrières traces the origins of present-day behavior toward what we eat as she explores the panics, myths, and ever-shifting attitudes regarding food and its safety. She demonstrates that food fears have been inspired not only by safety concerns but also by cultural, political, and religious prejudices.
Flour from human bones and pâté from dead cats are just two of the more unappetizing recipes that have scared consumers away from certain foods. Ferrières considers the roots of these and other rumors, illuminating how societies have assessed and attempted to regulate the risks of eating. She documents the bizarre and commonsensical attempts by European towns to ensure the quality of beef and pork, ranging from tighter controls on butchers to prohibiting Jews and menstruating women from handling meat. Examining the spread of Hungarian cattle disease, which ravaged the livestock of seventeenth-century Europe, Ferrières recounts the development of safety methods that became the Western model for fighting animal diseases.
Ferrières discusses a wealth of crucial and curious food-related incidents, trends, and beliefs, including European explorers' shocked responses to the foodways of the New World; how some foods deemed unsafe for the rich were seen as perfectly suitable for the poor; the potato's negative reputation; the fierce legal battles between seventeenth-century French bread bakers and innkeepers; the role of the medical profession in food regulation; and how modern consumerism changed the way we eat. Drawing on history, folklore, agriculture, and anthropology, Ferrières tells us how our decisions about what not to eat reflect who we are.
An Important and Groundbreaking Book
Kobena Mercer has long been an important figure in the world of cultural theory and identity politics. He has more recently turned his attention to the fine art object itself. In this groundbreaking book Mercer and a range of other art historians and scholars examine the place of the black artist in the fine art arena. Contrary to art history artists of the African diaspora have played an ongoing and important role in advancing the high art paradigm of painting. Abstraction does not only mean Jackson Pollock! Here Mercer and his critical cohorts examine the role that black artists have played and continue to play in making painting and abstraction an engaging and meaningful conceptual practice.
An Insightful Look at One Artist's Enuring Contribution
Kobena Mercer has long been a strong presence in the ongoing debate and discourse around issues of race and representation in the practice of artists of color. Much of his work has focused on the postmodern moment. With this important book Mercer now brings his incisive intelligence to bear on one of the premier African American modernists, Romare Bearden. It is no surprise that Mercer has brought the same high level of intellectual acuity and observation to Bearden's work, casting him in a new and exciting light. Mercer is joined here by a host of other art historians and theorists, each taking a moment out from the continuing din of Postmodernism to reflect on how we might bring a seemingly moderninst artist into the current discussion. In doing so they rescue Bearden from the dustbin of history, and make him once again an artist worthy of continued--and renewed--attention.
This book is an important and valuable addition to the ongong discourse around the place of African American artists within both the modernist and postmodern canon. That this work was undertaken by Mercer--with his impeccable Postmodernist pedigree--makes it that much more impressive.
Up To Date Puppetry
When I got this book I thought; may be is just another book full of pictures. On the contrary the book starts on with a brief puppetry history and then gives an overview of the different types of puppetry. It gives an in depth summary of the puppet theatre since the 1960's and the overhaul that Jim Henson gave to the art of puppetry. It talks about puppetry as a new art an avant-garde entertaiment that has been around for centuries. A great book with a brilliant compilation of ideas and photographs.
