Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Lovers and other Strangers. Paintings by Jack Vettriano., 04 Jul 2004
I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive, 24 Jan 2003
If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA, 05 Dec 2001
This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction., 15 Aug 2000
A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book!, 27 Jun 2000
For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Lovers and other Strangers. Paintings by Jack Vettriano., 04 Jul 2004
I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive, 24 Jan 2003
If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA, 05 Dec 2001
This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction., 15 Aug 2000
A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book!, 27 Jun 2000
For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Splitting Attractive Hairs, 07 Jul 2007
This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual.

When I first saw this book at Birkbeck College (2003 History of Art MA) I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia.

This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and the ability to judge quantities by eye.

The only reason this book works as a book is that the Renaissance is such an attractive period that Baxandall's painstakingly dull technique receives a charming counterpoint in the endearing trivia of the period. Unfortunately this effect is not replicated in other works by Baxandall that I have looked at. To college students getting a dose of this, I would say, 'Enjoy the period, but think about how relevant this kind of hairsplitting really is.'


Lapis at 4 ducats the ounce..., 28 Jul 2004
As well as being a splendid introduction to the paintings and the philosophy behind them, this book is particularly good on the relationship between the artists and their rich patrons, and between the artists and their materials. It's full of intriguing details. Why, for example, pure blue is so rare as well as so rich -- at this period, all the lapis lazuli that European painters could use was mined from one mine (somewhere in Afghanistan) and imported solely through Venice... So it's no surprise to see patrons putting clauses in their contracts with their artists: "use the best blue at 4 ducats the ounce; don't try palming me off with any 2-ducat rubbish!"

If this is the sort of thing that makes you go "yippee!" and grin, as the past comes alive for you, then this is definitely the book for you.

A wonderful read, 04 Mar 2004
This is one of those books you can read (after believing you have a good grip on the subject) to discover how much you have missed! Excellent for those starting to study Italian fifteenth century art and very readable.

Almost uniquely among fine art books this one fits in a jacket pocket as it is a standard sized paperback. I disagree with the other reviewer who complained that it was lacking in illustrations (it isn't) but its small size does make the provision of sensible illustrations impossible and if you have other books on the period (or can use the Internet or a public library) you should have no trouble finding illustrations of any of the works mentioned.

Highly recommended, 24 Nov 2003
This tiny book is immensely helpful and interesting. It focuses on the ways in which critics in the fifteenth century judged paintings, and provides tools which can be used in analysing paintings from pretty much any period. So many art books are pretentious or difficult: this one is really informative and enlightening. It is educational in the best sense of the word.

An interesting perspective, 25 Aug 2003
I very much like this book. Although obviously an academic text, it's written in an easy-to-read style that's not overwhelming. I've studied this period of art history at some length, but the information provided in this brief work provides a fresh perspective, and I've seen some of my favourite paintings in a fresh light. I especially like the chapter on the 'language' of body posture - the idea that every posture had a specific meaning which viewers of that period would have immediately understood. It's made me go back and look at lots of works from the period and 'translate' their gestures! Great fun for lovers of art history! Recommended.

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Lovers and other Strangers. Paintings by Jack Vettriano., 04 Jul 2004
I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive, 24 Jan 2003
If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA, 05 Dec 2001
This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction., 15 Aug 2000
A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book!, 27 Jun 2000
For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Splitting Attractive Hairs, 07 Jul 2007
This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual.

When I first saw this book at Birkbeck College (2003 History of Art MA) I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia.

This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and the ability to judge quantities by eye.

The only reason this book works as a book is that the Renaissance is such an attractive period that Baxandall's painstakingly dull technique receives a charming counterpoint in the endearing trivia of the period. Unfortunately this effect is not replicated in other works by Baxandall that I have looked at. To college students getting a dose of this, I would say, 'Enjoy the period, but think about how relevant this kind of hairsplitting really is.'


Lapis at 4 ducats the ounce..., 28 Jul 2004
As well as being a splendid introduction to the paintings and the philosophy behind them, this book is particularly good on the relationship between the artists and their rich patrons, and between the artists and their materials. It's full of intriguing details. Why, for example, pure blue is so rare as well as so rich -- at this period, all the lapis lazuli that European painters could use was mined from one mine (somewhere in Afghanistan) and imported solely through Venice... So it's no surprise to see patrons putting clauses in their contracts with their artists: "use the best blue at 4 ducats the ounce; don't try palming me off with any 2-ducat rubbish!"

If this is the sort of thing that makes you go "yippee!" and grin, as the past comes alive for you, then this is definitely the book for you.

A wonderful read, 04 Mar 2004
This is one of those books you can read (after believing you have a good grip on the subject) to discover how much you have missed! Excellent for those starting to study Italian fifteenth century art and very readable.

Almost uniquely among fine art books this one fits in a jacket pocket as it is a standard sized paperback. I disagree with the other reviewer who complained that it was lacking in illustrations (it isn't) but its small size does make the provision of sensible illustrations impossible and if you have other books on the period (or can use the Internet or a public library) you should have no trouble finding illustrations of any of the works mentioned.

Highly recommended, 24 Nov 2003
This tiny book is immensely helpful and interesting. It focuses on the ways in which critics in the fifteenth century judged paintings, and provides tools which can be used in analysing paintings from pretty much any period. So many art books are pretentious or difficult: this one is really informative and enlightening. It is educational in the best sense of the word.

An interesting perspective, 25 Aug 2003
I very much like this book. Although obviously an academic text, it's written in an easy-to-read style that's not overwhelming. I've studied this period of art history at some length, but the information provided in this brief work provides a fresh perspective, and I've seen some of my favourite paintings in a fresh light. I especially like the chapter on the 'language' of body posture - the idea that every posture had a specific meaning which viewers of that period would have immediately understood. It's made me go back and look at lots of works from the period and 'translate' their gestures! Great fun for lovers of art history! Recommended.

Wonderful book with necessarily limited scope, 26 Mar 2004
This is a beautiful, sumptuous book, crammed with detail and excellent colour reproductions. Other readers mightn't go for all the technical information but I can't get enough of it. I also prefer the discussions of individual works which occupy a large part of this volume -- its companion, 'Dürer to Veronese', takes a more synoptic view, which tends to obscure the fact that these are surveys of a collection.

That's my only quibble, and it isn't really with the book, which is about as accomplished at it could be -- so good, in fact, that it's tempting to read it as a textbook of the whole period. Much of the material is of general relevance, of course; but don't forget that many of the major works from this period aren't in galleries at all: they're still in the places they were meant to be.

Giotto to Durer, 05 Feb 2004
Not cheap, but excellent value for money for anyone interested in the period and especially those who can get to the National Gallery to look at the works in detail.

Well printed and with good illustrations. The text covers not only the technical details of art production but also provides explanations of the stories shown in the pictures, so it works well both for both beginners and more advanced readers.

Discussions of technique dominate the artworks themselves, 03 Feb 2001
I have to say I'm really in two minds about this book. On the one hand, it explores the world of the early renaissance artist (primarily in Italy, the core of the Gallery's collection) in fascinating detail - the workshop, the methods and techniques, from the preparation of the panels through grinding the paints to the sequence of activities in preparing the finished work. On the other, it becomes almost possible to lose sight of the overall impact of the artworks in this welter of close-up detail. I don't for a minute regret buying this book; but I don't return to it as often as I'd hoped.

Nicholas Poussin once said that Caravaggio had come into the world to destroy painting. Helen Langdon's marvellous new biography Caravaggio: A Life suggests that rather than destroying painting the Milanese painter gave it a new lease of life. Upon his arrival in Rome Caravaggio boldly ended a tradition of Italian Renaissance painting, and created a radically new naturalistic style which continues to dazzle and influence today. Beautifully poised between biographical scholarship and artistic appreciation, Langdon's biography provides the reader with a complex, fascinating Caravaggio, still the rebel and outsider of the popular imagination, but also immersed in the Roman world of art, politics and patronage. Some of the finest sections of the book vividly bring to life the streets and brothels of early 17th-century Rome, which provided Caravaggio with the inspiration for so many of his early works. By contrast, the later sections which deal with Caravaggio's exile and commissions in Naples, Malta and Sicily seem rather brief and truncated, giving the final third of the book a rather unbalanced feel. This is however partly due to the elusiveness of Caravaggio himself--with little direct contemporary documentation on the painter, he often slips into the shadows, evading the scrutiny of the biographer.

But Langdon's achievement is to produce a compelling portrait of the artist which throws new light on his paintings. Here is a painter who is proud, difficult and arrogant, yet highly intellectual in his appreciation of the changing face of both Catholicism and scientific enquiry. Written with great historical clarity, and supplemented by 42 magnificent colour illustrations, Helen Langdon's Caravaggio is a worthy contribution to scholarly study of this artist. --Jerry Brotton

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Lovers and other Strangers. Paintings by Jack Vettriano., 04 Jul 2004
I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive, 24 Jan 2003
If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA, 05 Dec 2001
This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction., 15 Aug 2000
A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book!, 27 Jun 2000
For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Splitting Attractive Hairs, 07 Jul 2007
This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual.

When I first saw this book at Birkbeck College (2003 History of Art MA) I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia.

This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and the ability to judge quantities by eye.

The only reason this book works as a book is that the Renaissance is such an attractive period that Baxandall's painstakingly dull technique receives a charming counterpoint in the endearing trivia of the period. Unfortunately this effect is not replicated in other works by Baxandall that I have looked at. To college students getting a dose of this, I would say, 'Enjoy the period, but think about how relevant this kind of hairsplitting really is.'


Lapis at 4 ducats the ounce..., 28 Jul 2004
As well as being a splendid introduction to the paintings and the philosophy behind them, this book is particularly good on the relationship between the artists and their rich patrons, and between the artists and their materials. It's full of intriguing details. Why, for example, pure blue is so rare as well as so rich -- at this period, all the lapis lazuli that European painters could use was mined from one mine (somewhere in Afghanistan) and imported solely through Venice... So it's no surprise to see patrons putting clauses in their contracts with their artists: "use the best blue at 4 ducats the ounce; don't try palming me off with any 2-ducat rubbish!"

If this is the sort of thing that makes you go "yippee!" and grin, as the past comes alive for you, then this is definitely the book for you.

A wonderful read, 04 Mar 2004
This is one of those books you can read (after believing you have a good grip on the subject) to discover how much you have missed! Excellent for those starting to study Italian fifteenth century art and very readable.

Almost uniquely among fine art books this one fits in a jacket pocket as it is a standard sized paperback. I disagree with the other reviewer who complained that it was lacking in illustrations (it isn't) but its small size does make the provision of sensible illustrations impossible and if you have other books on the period (or can use the Internet or a public library) you should have no trouble finding illustrations of any of the works mentioned.

Highly recommended, 24 Nov 2003
This tiny book is immensely helpful and interesting. It focuses on the ways in which critics in the fifteenth century judged paintings, and provides tools which can be used in analysing paintings from pretty much any period. So many art books are pretentious or difficult: this one is really informative and enlightening. It is educational in the best sense of the word.

An interesting perspective, 25 Aug 2003
I very much like this book. Although obviously an academic text, it's written in an easy-to-read style that's not overwhelming. I've studied this period of art history at some length, but the information provided in this brief work provides a fresh perspective, and I've seen some of my favourite paintings in a fresh light. I especially like the chapter on the 'language' of body posture - the idea that every posture had a specific meaning which viewers of that period would have immediately understood. It's made me go back and look at lots of works from the period and 'translate' their gestures! Great fun for lovers of art history! Recommended.

Wonderful book with necessarily limited scope, 26 Mar 2004
This is a beautiful, sumptuous book, crammed with detail and excellent colour reproductions. Other readers mightn't go for all the technical information but I can't get enough of it. I also prefer the discussions of individual works which occupy a large part of this volume -- its companion, 'Dürer to Veronese', takes a more synoptic view, which tends to obscure the fact that these are surveys of a collection.

That's my only quibble, and it isn't really with the book, which is about as accomplished at it could be -- so good, in fact, that it's tempting to read it as a textbook of the whole period. Much of the material is of general relevance, of course; but don't forget that many of the major works from this period aren't in galleries at all: they're still in the places they were meant to be.

Giotto to Durer, 05 Feb 2004
Not cheap, but excellent value for money for anyone interested in the period and especially those who can get to the National Gallery to look at the works in detail.

Well printed and with good illustrations. The text covers not only the technical details of art production but also provides explanations of the stories shown in the pictures, so it works well both for both beginners and more advanced readers.

Discussions of technique dominate the artworks themselves, 03 Feb 2001
I have to say I'm really in two minds about this book. On the one hand, it explores the world of the early renaissance artist (primarily in Italy, the core of the Gallery's collection) in fascinating detail - the workshop, the methods and techniques, from the preparation of the panels through grinding the paints to the sequence of activities in preparing the finished work. On the other, it becomes almost possible to lose sight of the overall impact of the artworks in this welter of close-up detail. I don't for a minute regret buying this book; but I don't return to it as often as I'd hoped.

An interesting read into his life, 01 Aug 2004
This is a very well-written book about the life and times of Caravaggio, paying a considerable amount of attention towards even the smallest details. Although I did find this book paid more attention towards what happened in his life as opposed to his paintings, this is a biography and not an art book. Although the level of detail is astounding and anybody looking into Caravaggio should consider this book an absolute must.

Interesting read, 19 Feb 2004
This is a good read - both for students of art history and for the more casual reader interested in the rugged and unusual life of an art superstar. I would have preferred a few more illustrations and Langdon's editor could have helped her out more with her sentence construction - she can sometimes be a little ambiguous due to clumsy phrasing. But overall an interesting, readable and not too 'high brow' work.

An excellent biography of Caravaggio, 24 Nov 2002
I enjoyed reading this book immensely. Caravaggio's life was an exciting roller coaster of intrigue and adventure and the author has managed to convey this throughout the book. The history is very well researched and written with a good level of detail.

One useful aspect of the book is that it is small enough to be carried onto a plane which is unusual for a book about art and being a frequent traveller I read this book while travelling.

On the other hand the illustrations are rather poor. Most of the painting's are only shown in black and white. The colour pages are grouped together in 3 sets and this means that you nedd to keep flipping through the pages to refer to the painting that you are reading about.They are also rather small.

In summary, a great biography.

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimensional forms expressed in concrete walls generate a special fascination in Ando's architecture.

The interlocking relationship between site, structure and empty space provides a formula for bringing a confined area to life.

Ando's architecture is simple, strong and gentle. It joins simplicity of form to complexity of space. It uses naked materials delicate to the touch. Ando's architecture is considered the culmination of Japanese aesthetics. Because the place of nothing is the essence of Japanese culture. A container of aesthetic emotions.

What Ando's buildings always communicate to us is the conviction that architecture is able to give order to the world only when it is based on strong emotions, and the faith that strong emotions are born only by taking up challenges and prevailing. Beauty is not the goal of architecture, only the result.

Lovers and other Strangers. Paintings by Jack Vettriano., 04 Jul 2004
I would have liked to give this beautiful book 5 stars as the quality of the art was exactly as I would have expected of Jack Vettriano, it looses a star because of the layout of the gallery section of the book where a number of the paintings are layed out across the centre crease. I would rather have a smaller reproduction on one side of paper than a larger reproduction part of whose detail is lost in the book's crease.

But don't let my critism put you off this book, there are a lot of painting reproduced on a single side and therefore have not spoilt by the book's formatting.

Powerful and Evoctive, 24 Jan 2003
If anyone out there once had the oppertunity to purchase one of this man's paintings, but passed on it because you couldn't afford it and eat at the same time, this book is a real treat. Jack Vettrano's paintings are possibly some of the best art work to come out of the 20th Century, and, as the introductions states, now outsell any other poster images available. Quite right too. Each painting is a captured moment in time. The back story is yours to define and the moments after are too. What he manages to capture is that amazing turning point in a story, where, for a moment, you can't imagine what's going to happen.

As you can now find his pictures on everything from calenders and biscuit tins to mouse mats and coasters, this book is a wonderful insight into the man and his painings, reprducing far more than you will ever find in the art cards section in Smiths. From his beautiful beach settings, to the more erotic, sometimes disturbing nightlife scenes, you are taken to a place that could have existed if George Orwell and Edward Hopper ever went into business together. (Surreal I know, but...)

A note to the publishers however: Please don't print across two pages, we want to see the whole picture without breaking the book's spine!

Other than that, this is a wonderful book. If only I had the money to buy that painting all that time ago...

Great artist! Great book! Why won't this man show in the USA, 05 Dec 2001
This is a great book and I am in love with this artwork! I live in Washington, DC and there's a a great art gallery here called FRASER Gallery, owned by a British expat - they show a lot of great contemporary realism - which is what Vettriano paints - the book really allows him to flex his artistic muscles too----- anyway, I asked Ms. Fraser about showing Vettriano in DC and she said: "I'd LOVE TO!" - but then she added that she has been truing to contact him or his agents or his London gallery without results! JACK COME TO DC!!!!!!!

First Class read, first class reproduction., 15 Aug 2000
A quality hardback with first-rate Vettriano background and excellent print reproductions. As an intro to his classy 30's-style, cigarette card reproductions this couldn't be bettered. The prints show the full humour and sensuality of his art, and the whole book makes a classy gift for the art lover.....and even those who aren't!

You bought the birthday card, now get the book!, 27 Jun 2000
For the (many thousands) of people who will recognise Vettriano's work from the very successful cards and prints of his paintings, this collection offers a mixture of the familiar and the surprising. His well-known and evocative images of a too-perfect bygone era are here, alongside work which is a little more 'raw' in both style and content. As the subject matter shifts, the underlying mystery and restrained sexuality which have proved so captivating and popular give way to an earthier style. As his subjects become less refined, so the brush strokes become broader and the light less luminous. In either style, the element of voyeursim is present; what differs is the amount of license that the painter is prepared to grant us.

If some of the images stray very close to the edge of cliche, they just about get away with it because that same sense of mystery, and of a story going on within each picture, is still present. All of this work is tremendously atmospheric, and the best of these pictures positively leap off the page (hence their success in card racks and poster shops).

Altogether a rewarding and successful collection, preceded by an interesting and readable account of an unusual and interesting guy and his work.

Splitting Attractive Hairs, 07 Jul 2007
This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual.

When I first saw this book at Birkbeck College (2003 History of Art MA) I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia.

This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and the ability to judge quantities by eye.

The only reason this book works as a book is that the Renaissance is such an attractive period that Baxandall's painstakingly dull technique receives a charming counterpoint in the endearing trivia of the period. Unfortunately this effect is not replicated in other works by Baxandall that I have looked at. To college students getting a dose of this, I would say, 'Enjoy the period, but think about how relevant this kind of hairsplitting really is.'


Lapis at 4 ducats the ounce..., 28 Jul 2004
As well as being a splendid introduction to the paintings and the philosophy behind them, this book is particularly good on the relationship between the artists and their rich patrons, and between the artists and their materials. It's full of intriguing details. Why, for example, pure blue is so rare as well as so rich -- at this period, all the lapis lazuli that European painters could use was mined from one mine (somewhere in Afghanistan) and imported solely through Venice... So it's no surprise to see patrons putting clauses in their contracts with their artists: "use the best blue at 4 ducats the ounce; don't try palming me off with any 2-ducat rubbish!"

If this is the sort of thing that makes you go "yippee!" and grin, as the past comes alive for you, then this is definitely the book for you.

A wonderful read, 04 Mar 2004
This is one of those books you can read (after believing you have a good grip on the subject) to discover how much you have missed! Excellent for those starting to study Italian fifteenth century art and very readable.

Almost uniquely among fine art books this one fits in a jacket pocket as it is a standard sized paperback. I disagree with the other reviewer who complained that it was lacking in illustrations (it isn't) but its small size does make the provision of sensible illustrations impossible and if you have other books on the period (or can use the Internet or a public library) you should have no trouble finding illustrations of any of the works mentioned.

Highly recommended, 24 Nov 2003
This tiny book is immensely helpful and interesting. It focuses on the ways in which critics in the fifteenth century judged paintings, and provides tools which can be used in analysing paintings from pretty much any period. So many art books are pretentious or difficult: this one is really informative and enlightening. It is educational in the best sense of the word.

An interesting perspective, 25 Aug 2003
I very much like this book. Although obviously an academic text, it's written in an easy-to-read style that's not overwhelming. I've studied this period of art history at some length, but the information provided in this brief work provides a fresh perspective, and I've seen some of my favourite paintings in a fresh light. I especially like the chapter on the 'language' of body posture - the idea that every posture had a specific meaning which viewers of that period would have immediately understood. It's made me go back and look at lots of works from the period and 'translate' their gestures! Great fun for lovers of art history! Recommended.

Wonderful book with necessarily limited scope, 26 Mar 2004
This is a beautiful, sumptuous book, crammed with detail and excellent colour reproductions. Other readers mightn't go for all the technical information but I can't get enough of it. I also prefer the discussions of individual works which occupy a large part of this volume -- its companion, 'Dürer to Veronese', takes a more synoptic view, which tends to obscure the fact that these are surveys of a collection.

That's my only quibble, and it isn't really with the book, which is about as accomplished at it could be -- so good, in fact, that it's tempting to read it as a textbook of the whole period. Much of the material is of general relevance, of course; but don't forget that many of the major works from this period aren't in galleries at all: they're still in the places they were meant to be.

Giotto to Durer, 05 Feb 2004
Not cheap, but excellent value for money for anyone interested in the period and especially those who can get to the National Gallery to look at the works in detail.

Well printed and with good illustrations. The text covers not only the technical details of art production but also provides explanations of the stories shown in the pictures, so it works well both for both beginners and more advanced readers.

Discussions of technique dominate the artworks themselves, 03 Feb 2001
I have to say I'm really in two minds about this book. On the one hand, it explores the world of the early renaissance artist (primarily in Italy, the core of the Gallery's collection) in fascinating detail - the workshop, the methods and techniques, from the preparation of the panels through grinding the paints to the sequence of activities in preparing the finished work. On the other, it becomes almost possible to lose sight of the overall impact of the artworks in this welter of close-up detail. I don't for a minute regret buying this book; but I don't return to it as often as I'd hoped.

An interesting read into his life, 01 Aug 2004
This is a very well-written book about the life and times of Caravaggio, paying a considerable amount of attention towards even the smallest details. Although I did find this book paid more attention towards what happened in his life as opposed to his paintings, this is a biography and not an art book. Although the level of detail is astounding and anybody looking into Caravaggio should consider this book an absolute must.

Interesting read, 19 Feb 2004
This is a good read - both for students of art history and for the more casual reader interested in the rugged and unusual life of an art superstar. I would have preferred a few more illustrations and Langdon's editor could have helped her out more with her sentence construction - she can sometimes be a little ambiguous due to clumsy phrasing. But overall an interesting, readable and not too 'high brow' work.

An excellent biography of Caravaggio, 24 Nov 2002
I enjoyed reading this book immensely. Caravaggio's life was an exciting roller coaster of intrigue and adventure and the author has managed to convey this throughout the book. The history is very well researched and written with a good level of detail.

One useful aspect of the book is that it is small enough to be carried onto a plane which is unusual for a book about art and being a frequent traveller I read this book while travelling.

On the other hand the illustrations are rather poor. Most of the painting's are only shown in black and white. The colour pages are grouped together in 3 sets and this means that you nedd to keep flipping through the pages to refer to the painting that you are reading about.They are also rather small.

In summary, a great biography.

Fantastic! Reccomend to anyone wanting to be a manga artist, 16 Jun 2007
Right, OK, this is the third time I've written this now. ¬_¬ [Managed to click something the other two times that got my big fat review deleted] OK, let's begin..

Excellent book! Just as good as 'Draw Your Own Manga: The Basics' - it develops topics from there, as well as providing new information, for the more advanced manga artist.

All the tips are easy to follow, useful and interesting to read. Everything is in managable chunks so you don't get bogged down with too much info.

This book is especially great for those drawing Manga that is OK, but with something not quite right. It gives small details which make all the difference in your drawings and make it look a lot more professional. Also, it oftens give two examples [where needed], of one manga and one anime, this is great as it helps you to see more of a difference between the two and gives you info for if you want to draw both. =)

The layout. Fantastic. Most manga books out there are pages of dreary text with a few diagrams [sometimes not even well drawn], which ends up demotivating you, however this is completely different. There are two characters guiding you along the way, sort of like a comic, keeping it interesting and exciting, plus the drawings of the characters are always good for reference and seeing how techniques are used. They're well drawn too - which is always a good sign, if the drawings in a 'how to draw' book are bad then how can it possibly make you draw any better?

If you already know the basics, then OK, but I'd reccomend getting both books. Basically just because if there is a technique you don't quite "get" or doesn't look quite right when you draw it, the background for it will usually be in the first book.

I really can't praise this enough, deffinitely the best I've seen! =D

Great insight into Art Deco Architecture in London, 24 Apr 2003
If you like Art Deco, and detailed explorations with excellent photography then this publication is for you. The photography by Paul Riddle reveals the essence of this important movement in recent architecture. Many of the buildings listed, are not commonly known or accessible to the general public, so enjoy an exploration that can be done at home!

This book is excellent for anyone interested, and is suitable for students of art, design, fashion and architecture... A must

The Danish Vermeer, 08 Aug 2008
The catalogue for the first retrospective ever held in Britain on Hammershoi (at the Royal Academy in London), this book gives a fair idea of the mastery of light that the "Danish Vermeer" was able to infuse his paintings with.

The text is divided into three chapters, the first following the painter's career chronologically, the second setting his art in the context of a "golden age" of Danish painting in the second half of the XIXth century, and the third (and most interesting) studying the links and differences of Hammershoi's interior paintings with XVIIth century Dutch interior paintings.

On the whole a valuable publication - if only because it is the only one available in English on the artist - but which suffers from the poor quality of the reproductions.

The Beauty of Absence, 12 Aug 2008
The slim volume of less than one hundred pages and small format is in a way in harmony with the minimalist aesthetics of the charismatic architect. The book is a distillate of beauty.

The exquisite colour photographs display the magic of the spare aesthetics, elegance and strength of Ando's buildings and surrounding landscape. The accompanying text is succinct and incisive and does justice to the architect and its creations through dissecting and providing a penetrating analysis of the elements that characterize Ando's architecture and individual buildings.

In all, nineteen projects are presented covering a broad spectrum of Ando's work comprising houses, apartment buildings, churches, temples, museums, art foundations, the Japan pavilion expo '92 and the Meditation Space, Unesco.

Three are the primary characteristics in Ando's architecture: the geometry of walls, the geometry of sky and elements derived from the Japanese minimalist aesthetics.

Ando's architecture is an architecture of walls e.g. a freestanding wall, an angled wall piercing a concrete cube or a wall, bisected horizontally, encircling an inner courtyard like a medieval rampart.

Ando employs a limited range of materials and expresses their naked textures. His choice of materials gives his work its characteristic ascetism and tension. His buildings convey a feeling of purity, beauty and strength.

Ando though a master of poured concrete, still relies on natural materials for points that a human being may touch. He invariably uses natural wood for floors, doors, and furniture. As natural materials decay, they become repositories for memory.

Nature, especially the sky, plays a crucial role in Ando's architecture. He abstracts it to his purposes. In order to elude architecture's fundamental nature as a closed-off box, he relies on the sky as the natural element which most affects architectural interiors. In Ando's architecture, the sky is a crucial spatial-structural element. The interplay of light and shadow created by a sharply delineated sky and the three-dimen