Painting-the

Living in Southern California, I've always had a deep appreciation and love for the ocean and all the creatures that inhabit its waters. I'm also fascinated with the vast wonders of timeless space and am in constant awe of the moon and the stars and the clouds and the sun.

Christian Riese Lassen is a brilliant artist and he incorporates all those things in which I adore (although he has a popular motif for having whales and dolphins in his work), breathing life into the beautiful, mystical paintings. As I peruse this book, which I do quite often, it's as if I'm being pulled into the pictures. They're surreal yet familiar, like something from a distant dream, and ever so gorgeous.

I find it nearly impossible to choose a favorite among the 65 images provided here for my viewing pleasure but "Temple Of Light" seems to captivate me the most, causing me to stare the longest as I touch every inch with my seeking eyes, wishing I could step into the vibrant colors and live in the tranquil peace it exudes. But then I admire them all; especially how the full moon looks behind some thin pink clouds on "Home From The Sea" and how the intermingling of the cosmic universe and the majestic blue on "Whale Star" seem to go hand in hand, as if they belong together, which is used for the cover. There are also several pages of Christian talking about his passion for the sea and how it became the source of his art. A couple pictures are also included of him surfing and painting.

I tend to be mesmerized with fantasy art so I love how Lassen expresses that through reality with metaphysical standpoints and he's quickly become high in the ranks with some of my other favorite artists, such as Amy Brown, Brian Froud, David Delamare, and Josephine's Wall.

I love Lassen's work, and this book shows why. He is a master at beautiful scenic paintings. The colors are brilliant and keeps me wondering on how he gets his paintings to look like that. Although I think Wyland is the master when it comes to painting whales, Lassen is the master at painting dolphins. A must have to any art collector who loves oceanic art.

"LASSEN ISLAND" IS A MUST OWN! It includes "sixty-five of Lassen's most evocative works...[and Lassen] captures the romantic allure of the Hawaiian Islands where he makes his home and pays tribute to the sea's great and endangered mammals."[commentator] His work spans from 1983-1997. My (newest) favorites are: "GALAXY OF LIFE", "COSMIC VOYAGERS", "WHALE STAR", "OUR PLANET", "SERENITY", "SEA OF TRANQUILITY", "PARADISE", "ANCIENT MYSTERIES" and "TEMPLE OF LIGHT". (Just to name a few!)

Also included is a fascinating essay writen by Christian himself about "THE SEA AS THE SOURCE OF MY ART", "NATURE ENERGIZES ME AND MY ART", "THE HIGHLY DEVELOPED MAMMALS OF THE OCEAN", and "OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THE FUTURE." Christian writes with such sensitivity and style that even if you already have all of his art (books) this essay alone gives you a reason to buy this.

"LASSEN ISLAND" is the culmination to date of Christian's expertise. I never thought he could get any better but I was wrong! He has taken his art to the outermost level that I can imagine. "The images I paint are no longer simply representations of the forms of animals but the representations of their spirit" Lassen states in his essay.

"Ranked the number nine surfer in the world, Lassen is intimately acquainted with the mother ocean's ever-changing moods and awesome power." [commentator] Christian is one-in-a-million; not to be compared with anyone else. That is what a true artist is; in a class by himself.

During my doctoral work in Leadership Studies, my literature review on Creativity that led me to Kent/Steward's coloful and wise book. Corita Kent was a woman way ahead of her times, and Jan Steward did the world a favor by collaborating with this amazing artist to share with the world her engaging and charismatic teaching methodology.

This book is a must for all teachers of art, women's studies professors, and anyone interested in creativity, multiculturalism, and leadership. Why don't they republish this treasure so that new readers can access it for a reasonable price? It is worth the $..., but unfair to the humanities!

Rarely have I met a book that invites me to join in such a luscious romp in creativity. Since this book found its way to me 10 years ago, I keep it close at hand and revisit its pages with the same pleasure as visiting a dear friend. The writing style and images are inviting, informative and inspiring.

This is a valuable tool abundant with ideas for the artist as well as the educator who dreams of a rejuvenation in their teaching and learning. I wish to see this book in print once again, to continue to inspire the joy found in true creativity.

As Education Director for a large arts organization, I desperately need 30 copies to pass on to our teaching artists to ignite the fires we all kindle deeply inside. And then of course, I'll need a spare to takes its place alongside my own rather tattered and loved - Learning by Heart.

Since I bought this book about eight years ago, I've loaned it to many who have been loath to return it to me. I continue to hope that it will be republished. I think it deserves a revival. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in exploring their own creativity or enabling others creativity. This is a resource that should be availble for a long time. Please let me know as soon as it becomes available again.

I bought this book pretty much as an impulse buy. I was very glad I did! I love Leonardo's paintings, I've had the pleasure of viewing some in the Louvre. I think it is such an amazing gift to be able to reproduce observation, providing insight into an individuals sense of consideration and emphasis. These last two are a requisite for style, along with skill in execution, which almost like text must convey clarity with the gradual perfecting in time, we have something most profound. I often find myself contemplating the pictures in this book, and being a scientist more than an artist, I was curious as to how it affected me so. Our sense of achievement is in part appreciated on the point that we can follow a path to the point of completion with the appreciation of the process rather than the end point attained. Now to understand and appreciate anothers achievement would require a sound and deep empathy of anothers 'travelled path', with Leonardo and others I just cannot empathise and understand how one can attain to something so majestic and magnificent I'm literally in awe, hence the belief that it is something beyond the sum of its parts (its make-up) - a gift. This book presents the wonderful works of this man and what is conveyed in the art. It is a little understanding of the personality and character of a unique time and individual. A great book!

I don't know how daVinci did it. His artwork is so fantastic and its all so well presented in this rather impressive tome. He was such an amazing man and this book beautifully shows every tiny facet of his array of experiences and talents.

My dear fellow artists, You, like myself, have been blessed (cursed (?)) with an ability to draw and to dream, in the quest for beauty. This is it! As artists, nobody can outdo Leonardo. On Leonardo, this one is the best, the most complete. Read as many books on Leonardo as you wish, but make sure to own this one!

I interviewed Jacqueline Duheme when she was promoting this exquisite book, and one thing remains in my mind that she said about "The Grand Dame, Jacqueline" - that she could have been a painting woman!!!

As an ardent admirer of Mrs. Kennedy for the past 40 years, I have read every book on her that I could get my hands on. "Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad" is a refreshing change from the repetitive narratives and recycled photos that are the mainstay of so many other books about her life. Ms. Duheme's illustrations are elegant and sumptuous but also embrace a childlike purity and simplicity which capture the essence of Mrs. Kennedy's persona and mystique. The commentary has the simple charm of a beautifully written children's book. It is obvious why Mrs. Kennedy chose Ms. Duheme to accompany her on her more memorable trips abroad as First Lady. A truly enchanting book.

Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad is an adorable little book filled with colorful Fauvist-like illustrations. Anyone who likes Laura Stoddart's simple-chic illustrations for Kate Spade will probably enjoy this book. Fans of the recent exhibition at the Met that highlighted Jackie's White House clothes may appreciate it too. The commentary is kept to a minimum and black and white photos from Mrs. Kennedy's travels are included, but the focus is on French artist Duheme's amusing miniature paintings that capture Jackie in all those great pink sleeveless dresses and crisp suits in Paris, India, London and Italy.

As a side note: Duheme and Jacqueline Kennedy became friends who shared similar painting styles, and Duheme was invited to Cape Cod to give the First Lady an art lesson.

There was nothing cuter than my 9-year-old daughter guiding me through the Musee d'Orsay with this book. We're expats in Europe now, so museums can get a little tedious for the kids and for me. But with this book we were able to really learn something and had a lot more fun!! I'm going to buy a couple of the other books so that we make better use of our time here!

This is a wonderfully entertaining and a very informative book for kids, parents, school volunteers and teachers! There's something for everyone. I've used it as a parent and art volunteer in the classroom for our kids and the other presenters. My eight year old daughter reads from this and their other book on American Art. Wish there were more in the set besides, Impressionists, American and Egyptian Art guides!

It is a thoroughly engrossing overview of the artists and their artistic accomplishments written in a manner so easy to read aand remember. It really could be for any age tii use in any museum in the world which has Impressionist paintings. Fascinating! Informative!

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I purchased this book when it first came out and refer back to it often. A person could spend hours at a time pouring over the plates and fold-out pictures (pun intended). Not only does this particular book provide the best collection of absolutely superb quality Jackson Pollock reproductions that I'm aware of, but the narrative is extremely well written and essential to understanding many things regarding Pollock's thought process and artistic technique.

Pepe Karmel's chapter imparticular, in which he analyzes Hans Namuth's photographs, is nothing less than brilliant detective work. I found it fascinating to find that underlying the lacy layers of at least one of Pollock's drip paintings are figurative images which he made within a narrative context. Although the complete details of this "narrative" may never be fully known, Pepe speculates that Pollock may have been acting out the destruction of some of his inward demons by first physically acknowledging and creating them and then systematically covering them within the confines of the finished painting. I'll leave it to you to get the book and both read and see for yourself all of the findings which include the deciphering of some of the figures and their meanings. With this discovery, the creation of the painting involved (Number 27, 1950) becomes not only a very strenuous and at once both spontaneous and preplanned action - but a true "ritual." Was he destroying these figures or merely absorbing them into a larger and more complex environment? We'll probably never know all the details. I wonder if Pollock would have disclosed answers to these questions had he been confronted with them during his life? Perhaps this would have been too personal. But maybe he did confide the details of what he was doing to someone and another good researcher might come across a total revelation in a hidden diary someday. I'm sure this is just wishful thinking on my part, but how I love a good mystery!

This breathtaking catalogue is simply the best single volume available on Jackson Pollock, and this is primarily--but not only--because of the number and quality of the reproductions it offers. Almost every one of the dozen or so Pollock books in my library contains a painting not available in the others, but this book collects and beautifully photographs the greatest number and variety of his canvases--outside of a catalogue raisonee.

As the other reviewers state, there are many generously-sized fold-out pages here, and the crispness and resolution of these big reprints and of the more modest pages are simply amazing. To take two essential examples, this book's reprints of "One: Number 31, 1950" and "Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952" are astoundingly clear, better than any of the many other versions I've seen in art books, even in Ellen Landau's large-format survey, a book which also includes gatefolds.

(Another reviewer, by the by, states that "Lucifer" is not available in any other book, which is not true. Among other places, it appears in Landau, in Elizabeth's Frank's concise volume, and as the sole color reproduction in the book for the 1965 MOMA retrospective. Anyway, it gets terrific treatment here.)

Another invaluable inclusion in this book is a great number of full-sized detail photos of the canvases. For example, on a page adjacent to "Lucifer" and "Autumn Rhythm" and "Full Fathom Five," we see another photo of just one small section of that same painting but in 1-to-1 scale; these details reveal much of the dynamic, kinetic, urgent quality of these works, their encrustations of sand, glass, pennies, paint caps--traits which even this book could otherwise never offer a livingroom Pollock-viewer.

Further, having seen the exhibit in January of 1999, I can attest to the generally excellent fidelity of the color-balance. (Curiously, no one seems to be able to capture "Autumn Rhythm"'s grey-teal passages in a book, but if you were at this show or have viewed the painting at the Met you've seen them.)

The accompanying articles are excellent. Kirk Varnedoe overviews of Pollock's life, artistic aims, his accomplishments, all illustrated with family and archival photographs and drawing on Pollock quotations. Pepe Karmel uses the extensive photographic and film record of Pollock painting to analyze Pollock's physical movements. Most wonderful are Karmel's computer reconstructions of early states of the painting "Autumn Rythm," based on Hans Namuth's photos of Pollock at work.

In sum, this book gives the finest, fullest offering of both Pollock's life and art.

I picked this book up at the MOMA Pollock retrospective a couple years ago and have used it extensively. Having seen many of the paintings in this book firsthand, I can say that these are some of the best reproductions offerred in book form on Pollock's work. Another plus is that several paintings are printed on fold-out pages, so that the work doesn't cross the book's seam. So many of his paintings are extremely wide that this makes a lot of sense (otherwise, there would be hardly any resolution in the height dimension).

If you're interested in Pollock and need to refer to the reproductions, I absolutely recommend this book above all others out there.

This book is a beautiful edition, and serves the purpose of explaining sybolism in art quite nicely. There is, though, one flaw: Most of the large color plates are spread across the spine of the book. This is not a problem for most, but as an art student, studying the paintings with 15% lost in the spine is a problem.

Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen have done their research in examining paintings throughout time and have created two extraordinary volumes that invite us into the Art Appreciation Theater of an honored university of learning. Their biographies are strangely missing from these books: we can only surmise that these two fine art historians have spent countless hours in the museums of the world. The fruit of their labor is a world of revealed details secreted within the masterpieces we 'thought' we knew.
The technique: Introduce a complete painting, give a thorough background about the time in which it was created and the artist who created it, and then from isolated windows, fill the remaining pages about that painting with details that not only address the painter's technique but also make commentary on the social mores, theological and philosophical concepts often at odds with the casual audience perceptual skills, and in general open vistas of enjoyment and insight to even the most experienced viewer. The Hagens have managed to gossip a bit, chide and joke a bit, and in the end offer us insights into exactly 'what great paintings say!.'
Most of the paintings scrutinized are the large panoramas of, for example, Rembrandt ('The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp', 'Balshazzar's Feast'), Rubens ('The Love Garden' with the foggy details of Venus milking her breats as fountains!) van Eyck ('Adoration of the Lamb') Poussin, Goya, etc. In addition to famous masters, the Hagens bring to light such lesser known greats as Francisco Pradilla y Ortiz, a "Netherlandish master," Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, and Ilya Repin to mention only a few.
One of the marvels of this collection is the consummate attention paid Courbet's 1855 "The Studio" which depicts a painter at easel, his model, the commissioners of the painting, royalty and peasants - all painted with adoring detail. It definitely is a statement of the artist's political standpoint!
Technically the books are rich in color, creatively designed and close to color-correct. There is much to be enjoyed here and even more to advance the understanding and appreciation of art. A true gift!

I bought this book hoping that it will explain to me why some painters are so highly regarded and other copy caps are not. Book basically goes over mostly Renocence pictures and tell the story behind each painting either what it depicts in terms of symbolism or history behind it or resons and financing behind it. It is a combination History book and paintings. It tells yo that for example Boticelli's Birth of Venus is first in Ronecance for nudity but it does not tell me why her feet is crooked, why anybody else who probably did similar paintings at the same time did not get this much fame. That is what I was looking and could not find. Still looking for the right book but this book by itself is very good for the purpose of its design.

Marguerite's father Jacques is the most famous manuscript illuminator in Paris, when he is injured and cannot finish the book he is working on, Marguerite sets out to do it for him. We see Marguerite travelling round Paris buying the things she needs to complete the book, then we see her preparing the pages, mixing the paints, and completing the picture her father was working on. The story is accompanied by beautiful illustrations showing life in medieval Paris and details of illuminated manuscripts. This charming book is an ideal intoduction to the middle ages for children (especially girls) showing that there was more to the period than knights in armour and plague. A lovely and unusual book.

600 years ago, Lady Isabelle of Paris ordered a book from Papa Jacques, a famous book maker and he has only three days left to finish it. However, Jaqueses' eyeglasses is broken. So Jaqueses' daughter, Marguerite finished the book for him. Margurite went to Master Raymond's house for gold leafs, a farm for parchment, the market for eggs, goose feathers,parsley, and a pot of honey, and finally the apothcary for dried saffron flowers, madder roots, a cake of vermilion, some wax, pine pitch, and some lapis lazuli stone. At her house, Marguerite prepared he pens and paint. Then Marguerite started to paint. On one page, which was decorated with Lady Isabelle's favorite daises Marguerite colored Lady Isabelle's robe and hair. When Isebelle came to check on the book, she was very impressed.

Wow, this book has the most beautiful illustrations I have seen in a long time! My daughter and I just love the story and the fold out pages! We have been inspired to do more digging into this topic. I am going to share this book with my Grade 2 and 3 art students. A definite must for little artists.

First published in 1978, Peter Spier's story of the well-meaning Noonan children stands up well even after 25 years. The story of the three children who overhear their parents talking about the house needing painting and decide to surprise them will have you and your children turning the pages with bated breath as you wait to see what that house looks like! It's worth the wait -- a laugh-and-a-half for kids and their adults. As you'd expect, the illustrations are colorful and fun. This would be a great companion book with Daniel Pinkwater's 'The Big Orange Splot'.

I truly do wish this book would come back in print... We love it at Thanksgiving when we do our family unit. it is so difficult to get it from the library anymore, because there copies were either never returned or they are damaged from so much use. PLEASE REISSUE THIS BOOK

My copy is tattered and torn and all forlorn but it is still a hit in first grade. We use it as a jumping off point for creative writing...sometimes I copy the text and the children illustrate; sometimes I copy the pictures and we write our own text. We love it! This particular book has set more readers on fire than I can count.

Exercises that make you want to rush to your easel, plus dozens of eye-catching paintings make this a primo book. I wish it had more narrative about selling, more "must have" qualities for a painting that begs to be bought, etc., and that an editor had paid more attention when they were finalizing the book. The text skips here and there, but it's nothing that you can't make sense of after doubling back.

Of particular interest is the emphasis on values. If you, like me, need to concentrate more on putting interesting patterns of value in your paintings, YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

Love the work displayed -- it's quite inspiring. (I'd buy it!) I wonder at the reproduction, as the text sometimes names a color and when you look at the painting, it doesn't quite look like that (like a green that looks quite blue). Even so, there are lots of new ideas and ways of approaching painting. Don't know about you, but I'm working on exercise #2 right now!

This is one great book. Have been painting for about 4 years and have given away paintings to friends and family members rather than selling them. I did not buy this book for advice on selling but rather because the cover caught my eye. His style is semi-abstract and very graffic. His colours are bright, bright, bright and this suits me just fine. Have been using his paintings as start-off points and then veering off into my own interpretation of them. Mike Svob tells it like it is. There is no pussyfooting around here. I love his straitforward way of thinking and the fact that he does not pull his punches. At the moment it has become a bit of a bible for me and am really loving working with this book. Can highly recommend it to artists of bright, graffic work.

Mike Svob's book is one that I can't put down. It's full of hands-on, practical advice, written in an honest and often humourous manner. It's a great book for an impatient artist like myself who wants superb painting advice without boring theory. The overall design of the book is very appealing. Highly recommended!