4 comments about Goddesses of the Celestial Gallery.

1. In this case size doesnt matter, there is none of the range or diversity of the first version....not much variation.
   
   Assuming you make it through to the end without being TARA-fried!!!!..you will find the size and color ends up being themes of Tara in what amounts to redundant tantric victorian wallpaper.
   
   It leaves the realm of art and takes on a Buddhism gone Peter Max type of pop commercialism..... oh look another swirly over stylized Tara.
   
   This must have been a very rushed commercial decision as we know the exceptional skill range of the artist involved.
   
   Page after page of stylized designs...and not enough range or coverage of the complete pantheon .....a few gratuitous goddess tossed in, but none of the exceptional diversity of the first in this series.
   
   Color quality has a waxy look so dont really know if this is a pure digital ink printing process....can have an almost over saturated waxy color at times.
   
   If on the other hand Tara is your girl, then these will provide you with an endless supply of Taramate of the month glossy pinups....just a tad too slick leaving the realm of religion and entering the domain of victoriam tea room wallpaper. It almost has a calculated contrived aesthetic based on formula art and design.
   
   Only two steps away from using paisley step and repeat patterns.
   
   I am sure there will be an enormous amount of people who will love the huge size and over the top color.....so for that group it is a great book you wont be disappointed if you are a pop Buddhist.
   
   I would not have misused a great artist this way.
   
   But lets keep going as the great art skill is there and the concept is great.
   
   So lets try this next time:
   
   1) Do the complete Tibetan book of the Dead, all stages, all days, and focus more on the vast range of deities and not so much on ornamental stylization. Cut the size in half but increase the range, number, and diverstiy of images.
   
   2) Tackle the complexity of the variation of zoomorphic deities in the Heruka late stages....communicate the energy of the theme not the cliche of tha artistic style.
   
   3) Tone down the splash color and pick up more details and compositional variation.
   
   4) Follow that up with the Kalachakra but break that down to the deities and symbols at all the layers.....and take a walk through the cemetaries.
   
   The first book was great, this book is just too narrow and redundant.and over commercially stylized.
   
   The first book seemed a more authentic attempt....
   
   Actually my criticism is complimentary, I know there is greatness here....I think things like the book of the dead would push this into an area of a broader range of creativity.



2. Beautiful book more than two feet tall! The pages can be detached for posters, although the opposite page has wonderful information about each Goddess.
   
   This book is the same as ISBN 1932771972, although the cover art is a slightly different picture of White Tara. The version 1932771972 has 12 large, full-color Goddess cards included.



3. I am really disappointed to see the poor edition of this book the images are not complete and they cut the buddhas over the head of the Goddesses, I have bought Celestial Gallery before and thought "Goddesses" will be of the same quality but it is very far from it.
   The editors must take care that all the paintings' details appear correctly.



4. it is an art piece that inspires, open our vision toward another dimension. It invites us to feel the Beauty within and around us..

5 comments about The Essential Titus Burckhardt: Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations (The Perennial Philosophy).

1. Titus Burckhardt, whether fixing his attention on the proper philosophy, or the proper architecture, or the proper occultism, brings a liberal yet formiddable intelligence to whichever of these works he sets his hand to.
   Burckhardt, when laying out a sacred temple, would have it oriented north-south with one door leading in and one door leading out, ensuring it's earthly and squarely relationship to it's heavenly and circular origin. The language and ideas both sound archaic due to a radical loss of traditional forms and even degenerate customs to the point that what is old now sounds new. Burckhardt, I'm sure, would delight in such a circular manifestation of tradition. In a society where number has lost it's gender, where sacred art has lost it's object, and philosophy it's inner meaning, Burckhardt's plaintive sentences recall all of this and brings the perennial philosophy to bear in many of it's traditional manifestations. This philosophy, this perennialism is shown by virtue of man's loss of meaning when he attempts to abandon it, quite simply will not go away. Or will it?



2. Titus Burckhardt's brilliant works brings the reader virtually into the domain in which he is writing about. An anthology of the world's great religions and cultures. I read his book Fez City of Islam and was also very impressed. But this is vintage Burckhardt. This is top notch. Burckhardt's works contain a treasure chest full of info. on Morocco & the Moors. He was a Sufi so that explains his writting style, I might also purchase his book "Introduction to the Sufi Doctrine"



3. _Titus Burckhardt was one of the great expositors of the perennial philosophy, along with the Traditionalists Rene Guenon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon. It is obvious to me that he truly experienced what he wrote upon. To him Intellection was not an abstract metaphysical principle. This is the miracle of true contemplative thought in the modern age.
   
   _His emphasis tended more to the nature of what constitutes sacred art. That is why this volume is so well illustrated with both color plates, as well as, black and white images. His central message is that Tradition possesses a secret power that is communicated to an entire civilization; even in those arts and crafts whose objects include nothing particularly sacred. In a theocratic society, the humblest activity participates in heavenly benediction. In contrast, "sacred art" in the West since the Renaissance is essentially profane art with only a superficial religious theme.
   
   _There are some thick, but important, volumes that you find yourself despairing that you will ever get to the end of. However, this thick volume of the essential Burckhardt (like its sister volume on the essential Schuon) is such a joy to read that you never want it to come to an end. Unlike drier works, every page restores your soul instead of draining it.



4. Wisdom and tradition were the most important aspects of the writings of the distinguished Swiss art historian Titus Burckhardt.
   
   THIS BOOK PUTS AT THE DISPOSAL OF A WIDER PUBLIC SOME OF THE BEST OF BURCKHARDT'S ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART AND RELIGION.
   
   This wide ranging book offers to the reader much relevant work. It will delight both the student and the general reader.



5. "Burckhardt's thought (as expressed in The Essential Titus Burckhardt) is clear and soberingly articulated, his argumentation intuitive and profound"

2 comments about Drama, Skits, & Sketches 2.

1. Though I have not been through this book in depth, I had a hard time finding something that was not too preach-y, and with interpretive and doctrinal spins of the author. I will have to spend quite a bit of time adjusting material for a more open view. The scripts give start points to do this, though. Those with similar interpretations and doctrines will likely not have issues with this material. I notice the high schoolers I work with dislike being characterized as teens, in which adults develop material to speak to them on their ground, but frequently miss it. This book seems to do just that in many places.



2. This book has many wonderful skits and sketches for youth to use in youth group. Most of them are funny and will keep your youth intersted. The skits are a good length, most are between 5 to 7 minutes long and deal with a good number of youth issues. I particularly like the one entitled "Bible Broadway." This skit takes some Broadway tunes and gives them a spiritual message!

1 comments about Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art.

1. I find this book of Hans Belting an authorized work and a remarkable profound study in its field. I think this book is very inspiring to understand what images make on us.
   
   I am very grateful for your help. It was very easy to purchase through your service. Many many thanks
   Pedro

3 comments about Van Gogh and God: A Creative Spiritual Quest (Campion Book).

1. Eventhough my studies do not allow me a great deal of time to read books of my choice, I could not deny the work of Dr. "Cliffy-baby" Edwards. His book, "Van Gogh and God: A Creative Spiritual Quest" was just that. It was, in every sense of the phrase, a creatively spiritual page turner. His language and content captures the reader's mind and by doing so, captures the reader's spiritual core. Once mesmerized by the life, work, and creative madness of the artist, the reader becomes smoothly inundated with the thorough biographical information that Dr. Edwards so eloquently puts to page. At the risk of sounding mildly educated, I had never realized the influence Zen Buddhism had on the artist until reading Dr. Edwards' book. I did, of course, realize the "oriental" aspect of Van Gogh's approach to painting but I never knew of his "Zen Buddhist" approach to living. Sometimes the samurai leaves the monarchy and spends his life in caves painting. Congratulations Dr. E. for a fine work indeed.



2. I recently heard the author of Van Gogh and God, Dr. Cliff Edwards, speak about Vincent. At this particular gathering, he also showed wonderful slides of the artist's work. As a result of that encounter with Dr. Edwards and Vincent Van Gogh, I bought Dr. Edwards' warm and accessible book, Van Gogh and God. While reading it, much like the disciples who spoke to Christ without recognizing him on the road to Emmaus, I felt my heart burn within me while Vincent's life opened up before me like a lotus flower. I especially connected with Van Gogh's insistence that he was "not an admirer" of biblical subjects (to paint). Apparently he felt that paintings such as The Nativity and Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane avoided getting to the "reality of things" and gave him "a powerful feeling of collapse instead of progress." To paint biblical material must have felt inauthentic to Vincent as he journeyed on his spiritual quest. Lois Lowry in her book, The Giver, addresses this very issue of authenticity. Jonas, the hero, lives in a community where sameness and conformity are valued. Jonas sees things differently, though, and is chosen to become the one who acts as receptacle and transmitter of the community's collective memory. Jonas receives these memories/stories from the Giver, someone who currently has the task of holding memory. One of the questions the book raises in the reader's mind is, "When does a story become MY story?" People in Jonas' community lived without authenticity because the locus of memory was institutionalized within an individual. I couldn't help but think that Vincent, striving for authenticity, wanted to show that those sacred memories (institutionalized in the Church and in biblical paintings) gave him "a powerful feeling of collapse instead of progress." For a story (either word or image) to have meaning, it must first connect with an individual's experience. Vincent Van Gogh, like Jonas, saw things differently. Both struggled in a world that would have preferred their acquiesence to the status quo. Dr. Edwards convincingly shows that Vincent imaged God outside the parameters and conventions of the Church. Dr. Edwards suggests that "[p]erhps such profound power revealed through one's life task was a more accurate description of the divine than the word 'God.' " Another powerful image is "the child in a cradle as best evidence for God." As Dr. Edwards points out, "Vincent experiences God in the concreteness of his own most intense and significant personal history." We all do. Vincent found meaning in his life's work, his care and concern for the prostitute Sien, her daughter, and newborn son, and also in nature--wheat, flowers, olive groves, cypress trees. To image and paint a Christ that has no personal connection is, again, to live inauthentically. It would appear that Vincent would have none of that. One of my favorite parts in Dr. Edwards' book is in the Preface. "[M]ost Judeo-Christian scholars...[take] the unyielding position that religion must be expressed primarily as hearing and obeying, and cannot be expressed significantly as seeing and creating. Dr. Edwards shows how Vincent navigated those waters. It gives hope to those of us who have felt stifled by the Church's insistence that memory/story resides within its embrace.



3. The author misleads the reader by perpetuating two myths about van Gogh's religious life 1) that he was raised Calvinist and 2) that he was Buddist. If the author had taken the time to research van Gogh's biography, he would have found that van Gogh's family rejected Calvinism entirely, particularly the notions of sin and limited salvation, for a more liberal theology, favoring universal salvation and the belief that God dwells within us all. The author continues his false representation of van Gogh by arguing that he became a Buddist after he left the Christian ministry. This is based on one simple painting that van Gogh made for his friend, Gauguin, with his head shaven like a Buddist monk. Although van Gogh was thoroughly fascinated with Oriental culture, he never visted the Far East, never studied Buddism, nor did he show any real understanding of its basic ideas. In fact, all he learned of Asian culture and religion came from what he saw in the Japanese woodblock prints that came into Europe in the late 19th century and also what he garnered from reading 19th century French novels. Mr. Edwards only clouds our understanding of van Gogh with his own personal interests. For example, his discussion of van Gogh's famous work, "Crows over the Wheatfield," reads "The painting itself enters the mode of being of all things in their impermanence yet transformation, becoming a koan that poses the Zen Master's question: 'If you call this wheat you cling to it; if you do not call it wheat you depart from the facts, so what do you call it then?'" (What does this have to do with van Gogh?) The reader is best to stay away from this book entirely.

1 comments about Saints and Their Symbols: Recognizing Saints in Art and in Popular Images.

1. Under the heading of the major section, "Historical Survey or Historical Atlas of the Saints," over 150 saints are included in rough chronological order, beginning with the parents of the Virgin Mary and ending with Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, who died in a German concentration camp in 1942. Along with key biographical facts, entries for each of the numerous saints discuss symbols, settings, poses, clothing, and objects commonly included in paintings or other artistic representations of the respective saint and why these details are associated with him or her. With each entry is a work of art in which the saint is pictured. The large-size, glossy-paged reference has the quality of a coffee-table art book. But its primary purpose is helping reader identify saints in works of art mostly from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but from other eras as well. The well-thought-out reference is useful in different ways. One can go through the "Historical Survey" in order or randomly to learn about the saints as they have been represented in works of art throughout history and look at the related works of art. The Index, on the other hand, lists the many details found in works of art on saints so that one can find a particular saint from details in a particular work--which one might have seen in a museum or public square in Italy, for example. And there's a third approach to coming to understand and appreciate the the portrayals of saints that have been a large part of Western and Near Eastern visual art in past centuries: The "Dictionary of Saints with Their Attributes" is a visual, alphabetical cataloguing of the saints in typical poses with typical garb and holding or alongside typical symbols or objects. The black-and-white illustrations of the Dictionary can be compared to an image one might have seen or recalled; and then one is directed to the written entry to learn about the saint and the work of art where one saw the image. For its comprehensiveness, attractiveness, and usefulness as a reference, this work is patently a leading work in its field. The authors are involved in different Italian cultural, art, and religious institutions.

5 comments about The Ajanta Caves: Ancient Paintings of Buddhist India.

1. If you, like me, have never been to the Ajanta Caves and would like to get a feel for the treasures they hold this is the right book to get. The quality of the prints is great - the artistry is beautiful. Very delicate and sensual in most places and quite bewildering in others. At times I wished the captions offered even more insight on the individual scenes but then I remember that this is not what this book is about. It is a delight to simply sit there, browse through this book and imagine what life must have been like in those faraway days. This book takes you places. If you are into ancient India you will not be disappointed.



2. although many of the old frescos hardly survived,
   their essence and perennial beauty remains intact in the excellent reproductions, taken without any flashlights of this masterly book
   I consider this book the most impressive in my big collection of works on Oriental and Buddhist art,
   the expression of the faces, their compassion and their gestures are so delicate
   and well represented in this book



3. If you are planning a trip to India, you should consider visiting the caves at Ajanta. If you are planning to visit the caves, you should read this book before the trip. You will get a lot more out of the experience of the caves if you know the Jataka stories and understand the Buddhist iconography described in this book.

   Even if you have no plans to travel to Ajanta, the boook contains beautiful photograpghs which will make a nice addition to any collection of art books or, for that matter, to any coffee table.




4. The Ajanta caves can be considered among the wonders of the ancient world, both in terms of their artistic and their spiritual value, and this book captures the beauty and detail of the remarkable murals. If I were to make one criticism, it would be that it emphasizes the murals at the expense of largely neglecting the sculptures, which are magnificent in their own right. The book might better be titled, "Murals of the Ajanta Caves." I ordered it without seeing it first, and I was a little disappointed to see how few photographs were included of the sculptures. Nevertheless, the beautiful and clear photographs of the murals alone are worth the price of the book, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone interested in the Ajanta caves, or in ancient Indian or Buddhist art.



5. This book offers the best color photographs of the Ajanta caves that I have seen. The text offers an excellent explication of the history and iconography of the images. Having been to the caves, I can honestly say that you see the paintings more clearly in this book than at the caves themselves. (This is due to crowded conditions and poor lighting at the caves.) This book is an important adjunct to any study of Buddhist art and inconography. If you're planning to travel to Ajanta, buy this book first.

4 comments about The Book of Exodus.

1. I first read a review of this coffee table book in New York Times and went on line to purchase it from Rizzoli. It was selling for list price of 40 plus dollars. I have purchased two from Amazon and given as gifts. The recipients were very pleased. It is a beautiful book depicting the story of Exodus, soft pastels for illustrations. Would highly recommend it for those interested in the old testament and this compelling rendition.



2. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL BOOK AT A BARGAIN PRICE. THIS BOOK MAKES A WONDERFUL COFFEE TABLE BOOK OR A FANTASTIC GIFT. THE ARTWORK IS WONDERFUL AND I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE!



3. This is an amazing book. It far exceeded my expectations. I purchased it for the 6 year old daughter of a friend. The little girl is just beginning to read Hebrew. I know she will love the paintings and will eventually be able to read the text in both languages.



4. We all know the story of Exodus. Now to see it interperted in these amazing skys gives new meaning to each chapter.The caligraphy in both english and hebrew superimpsed on the sky is amazing. This is truly a work of love and art by the creator of this book. We have bought several copies and given them as gifts to friends and associates.Everyone who has seen this book at our home wants their own copy

2 comments about The Meaning of Icons.

1. About icons and their meaning I already had (and read) a lot in the Russian language, but until now I didn't have content and illustrations in one hand. That's for me the meaning of the Meaning. It is short, gives the theological and canonical information about the role of the icon in Eastern Orthodoxy from inside, the themes are worked out and clearly arranged, the illustrations are big and beautyful. So, I am very glad that I sought for it and bought it.



2. Among the many books on icons, this is one of the oldest still in print. Why has it become a classic? Because it was written by one of the greatest twentieth century theologians, Vladimir Lossky, and by one of the greatest 20th century iconographers,Leonide Ouspensky who spent the whole of his artistic life in France painting icons and frescoes. Their approach is unique not only because of their deep experience of the Orthodox faith, but also because of the way they decided to describe the colour prints reproduced in this volume. What we have here is a superb commentary in the form of selection of poetry from the feasts during which these icons are placed in the middle of the church. Much of this Byzantine hymnography has no parallel in the West. It is what is heard in the eastern Christian church throughout the liturgical year which this volume beautifully illustrates both in word and image. The authors' feeling for the uplifting prayer of which icons play such a vital part is genuine and rarely found in any other book about the iconographic tradition. All Christians and many non-Christians will appreciate their respectful presentation of the revelation of God to man as it is presented in this book.

3 comments about Seasons for Praise: Art for the Sanctuary.

1. This book is full of ideas and inspiration. If you are looking for step-by-step banner solutinos, this isn't it, but if you want some great imagery and some useful ideas for decorating a church, this book is a treasure.



2. I loved this book. It helped me decorate my church in a non-traditional way. Banners can be so boring and two dimensional, the ideas in this book made those days very memorable.



3. No usable designs for banners. Just random drawings of butterflies, balloons, windsocks, flowers. I wasted my money.