5 comments about Wisconsin Death Trip (Wisconsin).

1. Michael Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip, originally a doctoral thesis, is one of the most touching, poetic, beautiful, harrowing, moving and dislocating works I have read. Basically a compendium of found glass plate negative photos taken by the (himself knock-knees odd) Charles Vam Schaik in and around the rural community of Black River Falls WI, and leavened by snippets taken from the Badger State Banner newspaper and the Mendota State Record Book (an insane asylum), as well as a few personal reminisces, the book instead is a commentary and an indictment of a brutal time of economic dislocation, social upheaval, religious confusion and obsession, and personal decay in a farming community. It is an endless repitition of suicide, madness, arson, children dying of disease, and of a mostly sternly religious people living the grimmest of lives of back breaking work in the country. The photos by their sheer repetition and some of the games played with them by the author, pound out a tattoo of strain, people only barely suppressing their madness, and a society truly on the edge of collapse. Hardly the bucolic paradise so often evoked in our time.
   
   The afterword by the author provides some backstory and statistics backing the point up, and illustrating in numbers and facts what the pictures and excerpts made clear by anecdote, and is also well written.
   
   This was something of a cult book in the mid 70s, a most unusual way of looking at local history, lifting up the rock under which society had crawled. It is haunting, tragic, striking. You will never forgot it.



2. Buying a classic again. This is the U of New Mexico Press version. The earlier publisher had the picture of the baby in a coffin on the cover. That was better, but the contents are the same.



3. "Wisconsin death trip"is an accurate documentation,not only of "agrarian white"culture at the end of the 19th century but,in many ways,the whole of white culture in america at that time..Contrary to popular belief,the"good"old days were not really so good..Yes,they may well have been less complex,but infant mortality was very high,illnesses which today are highly treatable being killers not only of children but of adults as well,daily life being,for most,a drudgery,with little to show for one's efforts...There were few saftey nets,no antibiotics,no pensions to speak of,no recourse against the harshness life,or against a system that,like today,favors the wealthy..
   Insanity was not understood,and "treatment"such as it was,often did little to help the afflicted...Wisconsin did not have a monopoly on such things,anymore than,say,los angles has a monopoly on street gangs,or newark has a monopoly on ghetto housing...
   The novelty is perhaps in the seeing of the photographs and the documents all together in one volume,so that one can peruse the sorrowful aspects of that period as it affected one particular area...



4. This is an interesting and slightly macabre book which is strangely beautiful. My son, who is Sam Witt, the poet, told me about it because he had been so moved by it that he wrote a poem associated with it in his soon to be published book, SUNFLOWER BROTHER. The old photos are stunning from the horses to the dead children. I am hoping to get the dvd soon.



5. I read this book over 16 years ago. It left a lasting impression that will stay with me forever. It may not have the same affect on others but reading some of the reviews posted here, I know that it has on most. You can't really ask somebody "did this really happen?" becuase they either died then or in the 100 years that have past. We have no perspective on these people, places and times other than to read books like this. If any of these folks were alive today and heard someone say, "those were the good old days." They might be inclined to give the speaker a quick education. This book will do it for them. I have pictures just like this in a family archive. You wonder how anybody lived into middle or old age. Disease, starvation, hypothermia, and farm accidents all took their toll. Winters are hard enough in the south. Why did these people decide to stop the wagon in Wisconsin or if they lived thru their first winter there, why didn't they head south? I went to a Brewers baseball game at the end of May some 25 years ago and wore a down parka and was cold. You can still see houses in small towns outside of Milwaukee that look like the houses in this book and you can feel the desolation, pain and suffering looking out at you thru 100 year old panes of glass.

5 comments about Good Faeries Bad Faeries.

1. I checked this book out because I liked the book Faeries by Froud and Lee, and found this one to be equally enjoyable. Froud's artwork is absolutely beautiful, and the world he creates in which these faeries live is so interesting, fun at times, and at other times scary, I couldn't help but loving the book. Faerie lovers ought to take a look at this book.



2. I absolutely LOVE this book, as I have his other two, "Lady Cottinigton's Pressed Fairie Book" and "Good Fairies, Bad Fairies." Froud's fairies seem more real to me than the cutsey fairies you see elsewhere, and I love his stories and descriptions. Had me giggling for hours.



3. This serious of books is amazing if you like the artists style, which i love, a great addition to your art book collection.



4. This is another great book by Brian Froud. Beautifully illustrated, as I've come to expect. I like the way that the good fairies are on the front of the book, and the bad fairies start the same way, but on the opposite end / side. Very interesting idea.



5. Like several others, I bought the book for the illustrations. They are not disappointing. There are color illustrations and pencil sketch illustrations in quantity.
   What I did not expect was a dose of depth psychology. Faeries are manifestations, according to the author, of unconscious aspects of a person. Faeries are not purely good or purely bad. A Little Panic, who is a cute boy-goat hybrid, causes confusion and free-floating anxiety but also reminds one s/he is part of nature. By accepting and befriending faeries in both their good and bad aspects, one has a easier time of it. Faeries ignored will do all sorts of things and it is best to see to it the faeries do not have to work as hard to get one's attention.

1 comments about Art and Love in Renaissance Italy (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

1. The catalogue for the current show at the Met in NYC, which will later go to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, this is a beautiful and scholarly publication, centered on that most human of passion, love, and the relationship between bride and groom during the Renaissance. Present here are not only paintings (masterpieces by Lotto, Titian or Lippi), but also numerous artefacts such as glass vessels, plates, vases, books, etc, all made to commemorate the weddings of the rich (always) and famous (sometimes) of the time. The text, often based on ancient records (inventories of dowries, description of the "negociations" between the two wedding parties, private letters...)succeeds in setting the works of art in their social and economic context, showing how a wedding in Renaissance Italy was much more than just the outcome of a mere love affair.
   
   High-quality illustrations and a text that tackles a rarely studied sociological aspect of the Renaissance make this book a valuable addition to any arts library.

No comments about Marlene Dumas: Measuring Your Own Grave.

No comments about James Castle: A Retrospective (Philadelphia Museum of Art).

5 comments about Collecting Contemporary.

1. I loved this book! Nicely written, easy to refer to, good mixture of examples. If you're going to buy a work of art because you like it, or because you hope it'll grow in value have a read. No book will change the colour of your wall-paper, or give you prophetic foresight into the future value of the art market, but this book will give you valuable insights to deal with the main players (artists, dealers,etc), & understand the mechanisms that move the market.



2. Great book, well worth the read. I liked all the interviews with the dealers and collectors and every art lover who is thinking about starting a collection should ready this book first.



3. Excellent book. Gives inside information on how the whole contemporary art market system works. Very helpful for emerging contemporary artists. Good buy.



4. Adam Lindemann, is an art collector who has written a book, Collecting Contemporary. It is a good reference material and serves as a basic road map for the burgeoning art collector - and possibly an even better one for emerging artists.
   
   Since I am founding a new theory of art (UnGraven Image), which includes a written manifesto booklet on the theory, I am exceptionally interested in reaching other artists with what will help them. This book will.
   
   I appreciated the information I found within so much I devoted a whole weekly blog to it (and longer review) at my web site. Other reviews here and in the press have dealt with the information for collectors -- and it is useful for them. However, emerging artists get a good overview of the gatekeepers and movers and shakers in the art world. What motivates a collector -- a curator -- or a gallerist to select the work of an artist?
   Read this book to learn more!
   -- Judy Rey Wasserman, Founder & Artist, UnGraven Image
   
   



5. Starting with the positives: you can read the entire book in about 15 minutes.
   Here's the bottom line: buy what you like and can afford.
   Dealers and critics try to make artists famous because that is how they make their money.
   If you buy something from a dealer and later decide that you don't like it, it is considered hoyle (by dealers) to give the dealer first dibs on the re-sale.
   Instead of buying this book, save your money and buy a work from a local artist you like - all will be better served.

5 comments about Hiroshige, 100 Views of Edo.

1. This is a stunning book. From the moment you feel its silk cover, undo the ivory-like closures, unwrap the book from its casing, I had the sense that this was something special and breathtaking. The detail and color of the prints are beautiful. You can see into the images that Hiroshige created right down to his technique.
   
   Taschen produces books that are as brilliantly executed from a production point of view as the body of the book is brilliant from a content point of view.



2. Yes, there are cropped images at the start of this huge and beautiful book to add illustrations to the informative introduction, but the main body of this publication is made up of full size, uncropped excellent reproductions of all 118 of the "100 Views". I give it the full 5 stars for the Japanese style binding, single sided printing and silk effect covered portfolio slipcase... and it's uncropped reproductions.



3. The new Hiroshige tome is wonderful. The colors are bright and the images are focused even including the wood grain from the original woodblock. I have a few of the original prints in my collection and am impressed with the quality of the "new" images. I liked it so much that I gave a copy to friends who also value the artist and genre.



4. This book has a nice and interesting manufacturing job with lots of very large pictures. However, the real essence of an art book is the pictures. The large images are all drastically cropped. Lost is the meaning given to the prints by their context and composition. In Asian Art the "empty" space is at least as important as the image. The editor of this volume seemed to think that the objective images are the essence. To magnify these he cropped. Bad taste! Being such a heavy book, this was expensive to return. I would be embarrassed to even have it on my book shelf.



5. Hiroshige is a very well known Japanese artist who worked in the style called, ukiyo-e, wood block prints whose name translates as pictures of the floating world. Floating, fleeting, ephemeral world, the world of transitory pleasures. Just as cherry blossoms last but for a brief time, so are our lifes. Since they are gone so quickly, they must be cherished all the more while they are still here.
   
   This series of 100 shows Edo, which is the city now known as Tokyo. There are lots of pictures that depict the man-made dwellings and buildings of a thriving metropolis, but also, in virtually every print, there is also the natural world. The juxtapostion of the man-made and natural is what fascinates Hiroshige in this collection, and what will also fascinate the viewer. Though Hokusai is a more prolific and iconic artist in this genre, Hiroshige has his fans. This reprint is made from one of the finest complete original set of woodprints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo.
   
   Other items of interest:
   
   Hiroshige's Journey in the 60-Odd Provinces (Famous Japanese Print Series)
   
   The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido
   
   Hiroshige's Views of Mt. Fuji
   
   Hiroshige
   
   Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts
   
   Hokusai
   
   Hokusai's Mount Fuji: The Complete Views in Color
   
   Hokusai, First Manga Master
   
   Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty
   
   The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Penguin Classics)

5 comments about The Artist's Marketing and Action Plan Workbook.

1. We discovered this book through an Amazon search, looking for a
   good but approachable marketing text for our first Art as Business
   course in 2006. We liked the tone of the book as well as
   the content. It offers solid market and business info for artists while
   being written for the "right brained" individual. Also we liked how
   Jonathan had broken the content into nice, easily digestible chunks.
   It works well with our business counseling structure.
   
   Connie Lorenzo / Program Director, North Coast Small Business Resource Center



2. This book is highly recommended for the artist who is either unorganized and just hasn't put much thought into the financial side of things. If you are highly organized or have done some planning regarding the financial side of the art business, skip this book. And if you are looking for actual information on marketing your work, skip this book.
   
   This series of worksheets will help you recognize and organize your personal and business goals. It will lead you through the steps of calculating how you should be pricing your work and how to determine what your liveable wage is. It will not give you any ideas on how to acheive this other than a short checklist of different venues you can sell your artwork.
   
   Personally, I hoped for a bit more marketing inspiration than this book was able to offer me. But I speak as someone who has already spent long hours calculating the dark financial side of the art world. If you haven't done that, go ahead and buy this book, it's worth the small amount of money. Otherwise, you're better off scouring the internet for marketing ideas.



3. I am a believer is seeing is believing...and in Real Estate we had forms on how to make money monthly and the steps to get there...this travels the same path...Mr. Talbot has put between the covers of this book...forms, structure, interaction....and personal insight in to ones self.....You have Income/Expense Summaries, Goals, Promotions and every conceivable type of form you need to get from the beginning of your path as an Artist to a well marketed and Profitable Functioning Artist.....if you only do the work....and fill in the blanks you will be given insight...After just attending Mr. Talbot's workshop....yes, I took his recommendation and also bought the compendium book, "How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist by the brilliant Ms. Caroll Michels...... Both Michels and Talbot have refired my knowledge ( initially acquired via Real Estate Broker and Horse Breeder/Trainer) on marketing and the new applications in their books follow the same thought now applying to my Art....What a great base with which to return to my greatest love, "Art"...Carolyn's by Design



4. This book was very helpful in identifying everything an artist must really think about in trying to make a living from their art. Many excercises and worksheets help to narrow the focus of the artist's intent in order to be more successful in promoting and selling their unique artwok. Based on my relationships with many artists who are lacking in business training, this would be an excellent resource to get them on the success track!



5. It's always been too easy for me to focus on producing my art and let the financial and marketing side slide. This book made me aware of new ways to promote and market my work and helped me make plans to do so. Some of the questions in this book caused me to face "tough" realities about making and selling art, like the question about "if I sell everything I make at the prices I'm currently charging, will I make money?" But the book also showed me how small changes in price can make big changes in profit. I found it helpful that the book isolated the issues of promoting and selling my work just for the satisfaction of seeing it out there in the world. And then I could also focus on the promotion and sales sections, the parts which deal with expenses, variable costs,
   fixed costs, and profit.

3 comments about Soviet Posters: The Sergo Grigorian Collection.

1. This book is an excellent collection of Soviet posters. The entire book is full page images of posters with English translations. The range is early 20th century to '85 or so. Small snippets of background accompany certain ones that have special significance. WELL worth the investment.



2. I was intrigued to read in the intro of this excellent book that the posters shown were printed in quantities of between five thousand and a hundred thousand and mostly had a rather short lifespan so we must be grateful to Sergo Grigorian for having the foresight and enthusiasm to create his collection.
   
   I thought the early posters, from the 1918 onwards, are the most fascinating. There are several in the best Constructivist tradition, page fifty-four has a stunning typographic one designed by Sorbonski or page seventy-two with a movie poster showing a painting of two revolutionary peasants using a machine gun integrated into display headlines and text. However as you look through the pages the graphic style, especially after 1945, slowly morphs into safe predictable State style with plenty of happy children and contemporary versions of Stakhanovites leading the workers into the dazzling future.
   
   The last book section with posters from 1965 to 2001 do show however a rather wide graphic style with strong abstracts, even a bit of pop art, photo montage and on page 223 a very western European style poster for a Russian shotgun (in English for Raznoexport). The last poster in the book by Vladimir and Georgy Sternberg, from 2001, celebrates past Soviet culture with ten mini posters of famous movies.
   
   Overall I thought an excellent selection of posters presented in a well produced book (and good value for the price) but there were a couple of annoying editorial flaws. The page numbers are turned sideways and they assume a bit more importance than the average publication because the details about each poster are at the back of the book and it is rather frustrating to have to keeping turning backwards and forwards. Made perhaps more annoying because there is plenty of space on each page for the captions.
   
   I understand that Prestel will have a similar book of North Korean posters out later this year.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



3. With the majority of peasants illiterate when the Communists seized power in the Russian Revolution in the early 1900s, the communications system including the press primitive, posters soon took a prominent place in spreading the ideas and ideals of Communism and focusing the far-flung, heterogeneous population on central institutions such as the army. The poster never lost its prominent position in the Soviet Union. While the subject matter of the many posters was limited by government authorities to accepted propaganda themes and perspectives, considerable latitude and even considerable innovation were allowed and even encouraged. Suprematicism championed by the modernist Kasimir Malevich "created a new artistic alphabet, based on the languages of color and energy. Vladimir Mayakovsky and Alexander Rodchenko were two Russian artists who pored their skills and visions into poster art in lieu of other hospitable mediums in the totalitarian state. El Lisitzky introduced the style 'constructivism" in the 1920, followed by photomontage done by Gustav Klutsis and others in the early 1930s. Lafont, who was born in Moscow and is the author of "Pillaging Cambodia - Illicit Traffic in Khmer Art," cites such influential Soviet artists, whose influence spread outside of Russia, and follows the changing course of the Soviet poster according to changing artistic ideas, historical circumstances, and emphasis on certain propaganda in the Introduction.
   
   In groupings of a few years to as much as a decade or more roughly defining historical periods of the Soviet Union, two hundred and fifty posters are pictured in full-page size with details of some shown on facing pages. Translations of their exhortations and in some cases longer message or text are found in the notes following the extensive gallery. But for 14, all are from the collection of Grigorian, a Russian lawyer who is working to establish a museum for Soviet posters. This collection of his plus ranging widely over styles, subjects, and periods of the statist posters of the former Soviet Union makes an outstanding retrospective.

5 comments about John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882; Complete Paintings: Volume IV (John Singer Sargent).

1. Sargent excelled in all media and this book, the third in a series, clearly shows why he was the best of late 19th century American artists. Many of his paintings have become icons of American art, and here they are shown in the context of his life and artistic development. The color reproductions are superb and the book offers many hours of repeat perusal.



2. These books are the epitome of scholarly research into Sargent's work, made even better by the researchers inclusion of intimate personal and professional details. This presents a great background to viewing the well printed illustrations. One should not just purchase one of these volumes, indeed the experience palls UNLESS all three are not bought . One cannot praise this sort of in depth research and the resulting publications highly enough. The only quibble is one of size, given that Sargent revelled in life-size compositions, it is a a pity that pure economics forbid the printing of larger volumes- I mourn the death of the "elephant folios" so derided by librarians.



3. A wonderful collection of amazing images. This book will be looked at for many, many years.



4. The best book on a painter I have been able to buy for quite a while. As with the other three volumes so far published of Sargent's catalogue raisonne, this is absolutley stunning. Paintings are all in colour unless they have been lost, and the figures and landscapes are breathtaking. The text is anecdotal and interesting, with contemporary correspondence and criticism. This is what a catalogue raisonne should be, and never is - something exhaustively illustrated and investigated, rather than an artist's lifetime crammed into one volume with highlights followed by black and white "postage stamps" at the back (as long as the artist is worth it - and Sargent is worth it). A great tome on a great artist, and unbelievably good value. Go out and treat yourself.



5. The color reproductions are awesome. This books is a collection of Sargent's less known work which is refreshing. Some oils are not as polished as the more well known work which helps to show his technique in early stages---a plus to serious professionals and students. To me, this book provided a wealth of visual clues to understanding his thought process and technical principles. The writing, however, is the typical stuff used to fill most coffee table books. No insight whatsoever into Sargent's painting principles, tonal procedures or color palette. The author obviously knows little in that regard but there is so much information out there the text could have been more illuminating. Buy it for the reproduction quality and awesome collection of works. Worth every penny in that regard.