5 comments about Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye.

1. Good book, but I was expecting more images with description of contents rather than general theory.



2. This book is a treasure for all artists, and architects.It is a good book with many illustrations and analysis. If You need to know how to deal with forms, shapes, and their parameters as a professional, this is the right book to buy. Sometimes I think that it is too late to read again about form,but Arnhiem's book is not only about form perception it is about life experience in how to read things in scientific and detailed approach.



3. Arnheim's book on the creative eye has survived well over half a century, for a reason. This is a truly seminal work on "seeing" and composing artistic images. He deals primarily with painting. I am a photographer. This book means as much to the current photographer with digital camera as to the artist with easel canvas and brush. Fascinating reading illustrated with classic examples. Re-shapes the mind. I bought copies for all of my friends who are, like me, serious shooters.



4. Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye
   by Rudolf Arnheim is a work of great importance to any serious artist. In a nutshell, Arnheim tells us in language only we (artists) could fully appreciate and comprehend how our brains and our eyes do so naturally what they do. This is a left brained guy who is fascinated by we right brained people. This work and his other masterpiece "Visual Thinking" make me delighted to be a visual thinker.



5. The problem that I have with this book is that there are so many other books out there that are so much better in terms of describing art concepts and perception concepts. This book has had its run. Cognitive science, studies of synesthesia, the amygdala, you name it, have progressed far beyond the scope of this book. As an artist of thirty years who is on the lookout for books to consider as textbooks for my teaching, I would feel like a sadist making my students read this.
   
   Arnheim meanders in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style of writing. He may be entertaining to some, but I find him hard to follow and his points moot. Also, the illustrations are, beyond the artwork reproductions, pretty bad. A much better illustrator could have been hired to do them.
   
   I find his choice of topics to convey his message to have such a personal feel that I am left thinking that it wouldn't be the best choice for art students to learn either their craft or history. And, as I said earlier, there are much better books available. If this book at least touched on contemporary scientific theories, I could give it more stars. As is, it probably ran out of steam thirty years ago.

5 comments about Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light (Art Institute of Chicago).

1. This book was by far the best book I have read about any of the well-known artists who have preferred watercolor as a medium. I am an artist getting back into the field after around 30 years, and I took up watercolors about 3 years ago. The book has most definitly contributed to my understanding of this medium, mostly because it was written for artists and therefore contains loads of information about the daring ways in which Homer experimented with this little understood medium. There is a lot of detail about each work, both scientific and technical, and besides, I got to know the man. I understand now why Winslow Homer is important the in history of watercolour -- he was corageous in the use of the medium, and did not limit himself to the European tradition of watercolor. He was an excellent draftsman (confirming my insistence to become a master draftman too), and set the standard high for any aspiring watercolor artist. A MUST for any professional who would become an expert in this difficult medium. Judy Moraga, Caracas, VenezuelaWatercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light (Art Institute of Chicago)



2. This is an invaluable book on Winslow Homer's watercolors with superb color photographs and technical details.
   TEDESCHI, MARTHA; DAHM, KRISTI; WALSH, JUDITH; and HUANG, KAREN.
   
   Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light
   
   The Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press, New Haven and London2008
   
   978-0-300-11945-9
   
   228 pages, index of technical terms, extensive references and bibliography, copiously illustrated with excellent color plates.
   
   This catalogue accompanied an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in spring 2008. Technical information about Winslow Homer's watercolor technique is woven throughout the entire text. Homer's career in watercolors is carefully traced beginning with his self-taught, trial-and-error early watercolors. He began using watercolor as an independent medium in 1873. His method was often to paint quickly in the open air or to develop a watercolor from a careful pencil study. He seems to have informed himself by reading treatises on the medium. Favoring papers of moderate texture, he opted for opaque watercolor at first but sometimes combined transparent washes and opaque passages. He usually began by laying out the central motif with graphite lines. Technical variety was established early and would endure throughout his career. Homer's "Bible" was Chevreul on Colors.
   
   By the early 1870s Homer was an accomplished draftsman. To achieve brightness and opacity he used zinc white watercolor, mixing it with and layering it under transparent watercolor. By 1878 he carried out some works entirely in transparent watercolor. For "Weary" he selected an off-white, medium-thick sheet with a rough, twill texture and used a dry brush method for sunlight hitting the tree trunk. In the fall of 1880 he dedicated himself to painting in transparent watercolor and appropriated a new range of transparent pigments including three blues: Antwerp, indigo, and Prussian. A chart is provided of his pigments from 1878 to 1903.
   
   Many of his watercolors were on Whatman paper, handmade from linen fibers and infused with gelatin size. This size sometimes attracted mold which appeared in scattered spots of foxing. The Whatman paper was bound in a solid block with a gumlike adhesive and gauze on four sides. His brown laid papers, containing red and blue fibers were made by the French manufacturer "Saint Mars." Among the remains of Homer's studio materials are two Winsor and Newton "Japanned tin boxes" containing moist watercolor cakes. They contained glycerin, a wetting agent that retains moisture and causes the immediate release of color when touched with a rough brush. Two of his watercolor brushes are pictured; they are made from sable bristles set into a swan quill that was stripped of its feathers.
   
   Homer sometimes transferred designs using carbon paper. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals the artist's use of madder lake; in "Two Boys Watching Schooners" of 1880, the madder lake was used over the figures and rocks to convey the sun's warmth. He sometimes used blotting to create atmospheric textures or would wet, blot, and scrape areas. Scraped passages are recognized when viewed at an angle; the broken and disrupted paper fibers in these areas have a softer look than the uninterrupted surface. Homer sometimes used sandpaper to abrade both pigment and paper to reveal the white substrate below; this method created a speckled texture, taking away pigment only from the highest points of the rough paper while leaving it in the surrounding interstices. Occasionally, Homer abandoned his brushes and tools and manipulated watercolors directly with his fingers. Other techniques discussed include applying broad flat washes for sky and water, painting wet-on-wet to create atmospheric effects, spattering to produce the effect of salt and humidity hanging in the air, tamping the brush to construct thin wispy tops of pine trees, using a knife to create white highlights, and using a resist, possibly of white lead, a drying oil, and a resin, to block off areas. Alterations were sometimes made by scraping. Infrared images of the graphite underdrawings may reveal significant changes in composition. Homer sometimes cropped the works; the trimmed edges appear slightly uneven and lack the adhesive residue from the watercolor drawing block.
   
   Homer would sometimes place tracing paper over a watercolor, outline the main elements with a soft graphite pencil, and place the tracing face down onto a copper plate to transfer the image for an etching. Some of the red lake pigments in Homer watercolors have faded. The original color may be preserved where it was covered by a window mat or frame rabbet edge.



3. Winslow Homer - The Color of Light is a work of amazingly penetrating scholarship on many levels that examines the techniques and the pigments and papers used by this foremost of native American watercolorists, as well as much else. Every time a book on Winslow homer comes out, one assumes it will be the last, then yet another emerges that is nevertheless of immense value in understanding this painter. Winslow Homer - The Color of Light is such a book.



4. For those of use who revere Homer as a great American artist and who particularly love his watercolors, this book is what we've waited for. I only wish some of the details and close-ups (which are stunning!) were larger.
   One reviewer said that her watercolor teacher is considering a course with this book as a basis. Great idea. I've taught watercolor at Fullerton College for sixteen semesters and I would love to do the same. For years my students and I have conjectured on how Homer worked. This book answers almost every question that can be answered. And the reproductions are excellent. And the work is breathtaking.



5. Apart from featuring paintings from the exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute, it provided a lot of information about the watercolor techniques. A great reference book.

5 comments about Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down.

1. This book is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and deservedly so. Thank goodness it's still in print!
   
   From cover to cover, the book is packed with deep and valuable insights into the behavior and design of structures, including the natural structures "designed" by evolutionary processes. And at the same time, the book is written in a delightfully chatty and unpretentious style which makes it a joy to read, and often even something of a page turner.
   
   The ideal audience is probably structural engineers, and even seasoned ones are sure to learn a thing or two. But most interested lay readers can also benefit from the book, and the author has clearly made a sincere effort to help bring the subject within their grasp.
   
   This book gets my highest possible recommendation, and the price is so low that there's no reason to hesitate to purchase it.



2. I'm a starting-out engineer with a degree in aerospace. This is the sort of book that I would've "wanted" to read while in school. I personally haven't had chance to use 90% of what I've learned in school. But this book has opened my eyes to the root of what we do as engineers. Not something that'll get you a better grade in school. Instead, it will motivate you to really learn the most basic and important thing in engineering and to realize how important and crucial what we do at work are. 100% recommended for all my fellow engineering geeks out there!



3. The author, who worked as an aeronautical engineer during the war, was fond of asking his colleages "but shouldn't we put feathers on the wings". That his answer effected an instrument design of my own is strange enough, but it's his persistence in asking such a question well into middle age that is perhaps of higher value. It illustrates the childlike joy that marks the pleasures of engineering. In another example, a drawing of a wing feather showing the quill not centered but close to the leading edge provides a vivid punchline to the story of the development of the mono-plane. How putting struts in the center of their wings made them twist off when pulling out of a dive - resulting in the deaths of many Fokker pilots. He deepens our understanding of shear stresses through examples of form-fitting cocktail dresses made of fabrics cut 'on the bias' - heightening my appreciation both for the human form and Poisson's Ratio. That a book on structural enginnering was a pleasure to read was a surprise. That it was un-put-downable boggles the mind. He enables what we most hope for and least expect from a book: to see the world afresh.



4. I must confess I had a terrible time in the U making my degree in mechanical engineering.. stregth of materials almost made me mad.
   
   But as Twain said it, I have not let my schooling interfere with my education... and this are the books that educate.. for education can only be self-education... this is what I was after in the U and I never received it!!!
   
   I go futher with this assertion, the progress of the US (and some other advanced nations) above all the rest lies in the fact that popularizations of science and technology are readibly accesible to everyone (for all of those who want to use it, of course).. if anyone ever doubts the positive effects of globalization and the internet, I can testify that ever since I can use Amazon I can tap into the resources of knowledge previously denied by geographical barriers and help the system that produces this books.
   
   Getting back to the book, no matter what your schooling is, if you are into design and need to know about structures you cannot go wrong with this wonderful book.



5. I'M PROBABLY THE ODD MAN OUT ON THIS ONE BUT I HAD TROUBLE WADING THROUGH THIS BOOK..IN FACT I THOUGHT THE WRITING STYLE WAS GROPING AND STUMBLING AT BEST. WRITING ABOUT STRUCTURES IN SIMLPE TERMS IS A TOUGH TASK INDEED AND I'M NOT SURE GORDON HAS SUCEEDED HERE. I FOUND THE BOOK TO BE A REAL "YAWNER".
   
   FOR MY MONEY I WOULD BUY SALVADORI'S BOOKS OVER THIS. SALVADORI HAS A KNACK FOR MAKING THE SUBJECT TRULY GRIPPING READING. HIS BOOKS HAVE A MUCH MORE PRACTICAL BENT, AND IMHO THEY ARE WRITTEN MUCH BETTER, NOT TO MENTION THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE TOP GRADE. TRY STRUCTURE IN ARCHITECTURE OR WHY BUILDINGS STAND UP.
   
   THE 2 STARS ARE FOR GORDON'S DISCUSSION OF STRESS AND STRAIN, THE BEST PART OF THE BOOK FOR ME.

5 comments about Alphonse Mucha.

1. I concur with everyone else's opinion on this book and want to add what a great value this is for the money. All the reproductions are beautiful. As someone else has said, the book has a fine text and it also shows the breadth of Mucha's work showing sculpture and sketches as well as his famous posters. This book is jam packed with the best of Mucha and I can't recommend it highly enough for true Mucha fans. I sometimes cut up books like this for framing, but there are TOO MANY great pictures to separate them. A marvelous vision of all of his life's work with many hard to find reproductions.



2. Wonderful book, very good bio of the man plus a great many examples of his work. Only downfall to me is i wished the images would have been larger. But thats just me nitpicking, because i absolutely love this book. I think anyone who's a fan of Mucha should own this book. Cheers, enjoy.



3. I was extremely happy with this. The only negative thing I have to say about this book is I wish some of the prints were larger.
   
   This has a great collection of Mucha's artwork, and an in depth look at the mans life; including photo's of models and photo's of his own family.
   
   If you enjoy Alphonse Mucha, this is a must own.



4. This book is great for those who do not have a great book on Mucha. The book contains a superior history of Mucha's life and intro the Art Neuvou period(Art Nuvo). Mucha should be credited with the entire period in my opinion.
   
   There is wide sampling of his works, beyond that in other books. There are examples of jewelry, metal works, paintings, prints, furniture, and architecture. The images are printed very well.
   
   All in all, this is the second best book; The best book was purchased in Prague at his museum (can't find in US...or remember name). This book had mostly paintings but I miss the superior color quality and few pictures run across two pages (a pet peeve of mine and occasional issue in this book)...this book seems to be as good as it gets here.



5. This book has it all lots of pictures as well as interesting information on Mucha and his work. I feel that it shows how he and his work became an icon of Art Nouveau. It is not just posters and panels that are covered it goes into every aspect of Mucha's work. There is information and pictures on "The Slav Epic", jewellery, lead light pastels, drawings and more. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves Mucha or Art Nouveau.

No comments about Publication Design Workbook.

No comments about Reinventing the Museum, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift.

4 comments about Internet Art (World of Art).

1. This book offers the very best of the World of Art Series' reference-based scholarship. Parallelled in the series only by the contributions of Hans Richter and Roselee Goldberg (most likely because Greene shares with these scholars the distinction of being a firsthand participant-observer in the phenomena she describes), this book is a wonderfully comprehensive and readable introduction to an arcane, subterranean art history. This will surely be considered the guidebook for a largely uncharted territory in contemporary art.



2. I read an article about this book/author in a recent issue of Time Out New York. At first I didn't think I would be remotely interested in the subject matter. It seemed pretty random. But the article really piqued my interest in the field. After reading the book INTERNET ART, I think internet art might be the most intriguing contemporary art practice out there. This book has a great balance of insider experience, 20th century art history, and handholding for novices (which I am). A really good resource.



3. I am an avid reader about contemporary art and I found this book pushed buttons and raised questions I had never even thought of... it's clear that the internet is a defining medium, especially for younger generations, and this book helped me think about the net in a more critical and expansive way. I love the World of Art series and recommend its titles to those trying to get their minds around art and art history. This book was great and I especially liked author's use of the non-net art examples including Tiravanija, Valie Export, and Cindy Sherman.



4. In the end, for all its fury (and New Mediasts and Anarchists worked side-by-side in the 1990s) revolutionary art was caught in contradictions. It could not or would not break free of the forms of bourgeois media culture as a whole. Its content and method could become transformations of the hierarchial media but, while net art remained imprisoned within the social spectacle, its transformations remained imaginary. Rather than enter into direct social conflict with the old media it criticized, it transferred the whole problem into an abstract and inoffensive sphere where it functioned objectively as a force consolidating all it wanted to destroy. Revolt against push media became the evasion of push media. Marx's original critique of the genesis of religious myth and ideology applies word-for-word to the rebellion of bourgeois network art: it too "is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people" [Marx, Contribution to the critique of Hegel's "Philosophy of Right"].

5 comments about Sailor Jerrys Tattoo Stencils.

1. A good source of very nice Sailor Jerry Stencils from the man who in my opinion did the best traditional tattoo flash ever.
   
   Not as good as the now difficult to get Sailor Jerry Tattoo Flash books (volumes 1 and 2), which give a better of idea of this man's talents drawing flash. It has some extra stencils of things not in those books, so it is well worthwhile.



2. I feel that every single tattoo artist,inspiring tattoo artist, or any kind of artists and even art historian should,must own this book. I will admit that when I read the first 15 pages cause thats all there is with any writting on. I had a tear in both my eyes. Every single page back to back is covered with Jerrys tattoo stencils. Also every page is in a very heavy duty paper and they are perforated so you can take each page out and laminate them and use in your shop or portfolio of flash to use for you customer/clients. Every page is full of history. I highly recomend this book and the otherjerrys stencil books they are a very big must have specialy for you buisness/shop you will be so excited to look at the tats not to mention the money you will make from the stencils. I noticed that every single Tattoo magazine has countless tattoos specialy the women are covered in this art. I recomend this book in a big way.
   You are very welcome for the big tip.



3. The book is good for simple, traditional stencils. The drawings are super basic (as they should be for that time), but I was hoping I can get an idea for what the stencils looks like with color and shading. The drawings are fun to mimic and be creative with your own shading and color.



4. I was looking for Pin Up Art Styles and found it all in this book. All the styles are for men & women. When You go into a tattoo shop and look at all the art work on the walls and books; this book has it all summed up. This cool book has it all.



5. Beautiful old school stencils of the original artwork of Sailor Jerry...what more could you want! :)

No comments about Kramers Ergot 7 (Kramers Ergot).

5 comments about Embroideries.

1. Embroideries is a wonderfully funny graphic novel detailing the romantic lives of women in Iran. Each woman's story spans just a few pages, but touching, amusing punchlines are delivered every time. The illustrations are lively and gestural, capturing the personalities of Marjane's family and friends. The book is very relatable. It would be a good discussion starter for a book club or a parent broaching the subject of love, romance and courtship to young women.
   
   One of the more amusing stories is told by a woman who, after noticing that her middle aged husband was being distracted from her middle age self by twenty-something women, had plastic surgery that took fat from her behind and used it to perk up her breasts. He loves her new breasts - but in fact is kissing her rear!



2. I enjoyed this novel, but felt it was more a snack compared to the meaty content of "Persepolis."



3. Funny, heart breaking, insightful look at women in Iran, but could be women anywhere. The author is very good at getting precise meaning and acute issues across with just the right words. My new favorite author.



4. I have read this book several times, it is the funniest Marja Satrapi wrote. If you are a female Middle-Easterner, you will laugh out loud at the stories these ladies share.



5. my purchase of this book was but an afterthought. i only wanted to avail of the free shipping having ordered the two persepolis books. and i was not disappointed. true enough, it gave me a better understanding and appreciation of iranian women. learning a thing or two in the process. yes, their travails are as universal as the other women's. thank you for the endorsement.