american art

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 176 pages. Before there was Martha Stewart, there was Russel Wright (1904-1976), the great mid-century modern American designer who pioneered the concept of "easier living" for the middle class, a uniquely American lifestyle that was gracious but contemporary and informal. Yet despite Wright's enormous influence, there has been no major survey of his work until now. This handsome volume-which accompanies an exhibition at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City-showcases more than 125 of Wright's best designs for inexpensive, mass-produced dinnerware, textiles, and furniture. As the flurry of Wright auction activity on Ebay shows, there is a thriving collectors' market for his designs. 125 illustrations, 65 in full color, 176 pages, 71/2 x 10".

Hardcover. NY, Arcade, 1st , 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 221 pages. Hardcover. B&w photographs throughout. Red gilt titles on spine. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Follows the rise and fall of Iraqi-born Jewish brothers from London, Charles and Maurice Saatchi, who created some of the most memorable ad campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s, and then in 1994 were ousted from their firm by an American shareholder revolt.

Hardcover. Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1st, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket with light edgewear, 419 pages. Saint-Gaudens was one of the major artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; his outstanding craftsmanship remains a tremendous influence on American sculpture to this day. Fifty-five b/w illustrations throughout.

Softcover. NY, Vintage Books, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 101 pages. Interview with American artist, David Salle by Peter Schjeldahl. 65 pages of text (interview) as well as color and black & white plates by Salle. In very good condition. Cover is a black & white photograph of David Salle.

Hardcover. NY, Little, Brown and Company, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 763 pages, b&w illustrations. From the author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography: Last Train to Memphis brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who singlehandily steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records. The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black and white voices passionately proclaiming the vitality of the American vernacular tradition while at the same time declaring, once and for all, a new, integrated musical day. With extensive interviews and firsthand personal observations extending over a 25-year period with Phillips, along with wide-ranging interviews with nearly all the legendary Sun Records artists, Guralnick gives us an ardent, unrestrained portrait of an American original as compelling in his own right as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, or Thomas Edison.

Softcover. Denver, Denver Art Museum, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 112 pages, 95 color plates. Softcover exhibition catalog. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Barnes & Noble, reprint, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 194 pages. Includes a bibliography of Bannerman's books and 47 reproductions of the first British and first American editions and her illustrations for them. Phyllis Yuill and Justin Schiller helped with the publishing history and supplied illustrations. Hay shows that it was the illustrations of later artists that provoked the controversy over THE STORY OF LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, not Bannerman's original text or pictures. Bound in the original gilt-stamped red boards. From the dust jacket: "This first biography of Helen Bannerman covers much new ground and is based on the vast collection of letters to the children, usually lovingly illustrated, in the possession of the Bannerman family. As well as telling the story of one of the most popular children's books of all time, Elizabeth Hay's biography offers an intimate picture of the daily life of a British memsahib in the heyday of the Raj." Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 160 pages, 120 illustrations including 54 plates in full color. Nice clean copy with tight binding and flawless dust cover. Printed in association with The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Hardcover. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 298 pages. B&W and color illustrations throughout. Nice clean copy with tight binding and dust jacket in good condition. Preface by David M Sokol. This is the definitive study of one of America's major artists and inventors, Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872). It covers his prodigious achievements in painting and technology, his passionate cultural ambitions, and his key role in the historic development of American art. The book imaginatively combines intellectual biography with interpretation of more than one hundred pictures. Three chapters consider Morse's most extraordinary artistic achievements: The House of Representatives, The Gallery of the Louvre, and The National Academy of Design. In a final chapter on the electromagnetic telegraph, an invention that imprinted his name on our language, there is a special discussion of the conceptual relationship between artistic and mechanical inventions.

Hardcover. New York, Abbeville Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 256 pages. b&w and color illustrations throughout. Takes us away from Sargent's famous society portraits and enters a world of open air studies and landscape paintings. Includes exerpts from Sargent's travel diaries. Light gray cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Beautiful, clean, crisp and tight copy in MINT condition. Looks brand new.

Hardcover. New York, Abbeville Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 256 pages. b&w and color illustrations throughout. Takes us away from Sargent's famous society portraits and enters a world of open air studies and landscape paintings. Includes exerpts from Sargent's travel diaries. Light gray cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Beautiful, clean, crisp and tight copy in MINT condition. Looks brand new.

Hardcover. New York, Watson-Guptill, 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 88 pages. 32 plates in full color. Takes us past the image of Sargent, portrait painter of Edwardian and Georgian high society, and views instead his vast talent as a watercolorist. Blue cloth, silver lettering to spine and front color. Price clipped. Previous owner's inscription in front. Pictorial dust jacket with two minor sealed up tears, otherwise a very clean, tight and crisp copy.

Hardcover. London, Laurence King, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 428 pages. This is the first book to be published on one of the greatest American designers of the 20th Century, who was as famous for his work in film as for his corporate identity and graphic work. With more than 1,400 illustrations, many of them never published before and written by the leading design historian Pat Kirkham, this is the definitive study that design and film enthusiasts have been eagerly anticipating. Saul Bass (1920-1996) created some of the most compelling images of American post-war visual culture. Having extended the remit of graphic design to include film titles, he went on to transform the genre. His best known works include a series of unforgettable posters and title sequences for films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo and Otto Preminger's The Man With The Golden Arm and Anatomy of a Murder. He also created some of the most famous logos and corporate identity campaigns of the century, including those for major companies such as AT&T, Quaker Oats, United Airlines and Minolta. His wife and collaborator, Elaine, joined the Bass office in the late 1950s. Together they created an impressive series of award-winning short films, including the Oscar-winning Why Man Creates, as well as an equally impressive series of film titles, ranging from Stanley Kubrick s Spartacus in the early 1960s to Martin Scorsese s Cape Fear and Casino in the 1990s. Designed by Jennifer Bass, Saul Bass's daughter and written by distinguished design historian Pat Kirkham who knew Saul Bass personally, this book is full of images from the Bass archive, providing an in depth account of one of the leading graphic artists of the 20th century.

Hardcover. NY, Prestel, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 152 pages illustrated in color and b&w. Featuring many rare works and a large- scale, previously forgotten masterwork, this wide-ranging yet intimate book reintroduces readers to one of the most versatile and beloved artists of the post-war era. Romanian-born Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) had one of the most remarkable careers in American art. While renowned for the covers and drawings that appeared in The New Yorker for nearly six decades, he was equally acclaimed for the drawings, paintings, prints, collages, and sculptures he exhibited internationally in galleries and museums. Through these parallel yet integrated careers, he crafted a rich, playful and constantly evolving visual language. Known to the larger public as the creator of the iconic View of the World from 9th Avenue, Steinberg lamented being most famous as "the man who drew that poster." This beautiful volume goes a long way toward correcting that limited perception. It brings together more than eighty works in a variety of media: collage, drawings, objects, and photographs. It also features Steinberg's astonishing mural, Art Viewers, a gigantic assemblage that was shown on a single occasion in 1966. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. New York, Rizzoli International Publications, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 202 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Extensive color photographs throughout. Introduction by Liz Smith. Related articles laid-in. Light shelf wear to dust jacket, otherwise clean, tight copy. With former New York Times fashion editor Morris, fashion designer Scaasi looks back over his glittering career. Born Arnold Isaacs, the son of a Montreal fur merchant, he first made his mark in 1955 when, at the age of 20, he revolutionized the American fashion industry with luxurious imported fabrics and dramatic designs featuring almond-shaped coats and split-level jackets. Changing his name to Scaasi (Isaacs spelled backwards), he quickly rose to fame, first with ready-to-wear creations and later with extravagant couture for women willing to spend $6000 -$20,000 for a dress-stars such as Joan Crawford, Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor; socialites Charlotte Ford, Blaine Trump and Brooke Astor. First ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Barbara Bush have been dressed by him. Replete with 100 color photographs of models and celebrities wearing the designer's exuberant clothes, this lavish book, which includes brief descriptions of Scaasi's working methods and accounts of his friendships with his affluent clients, provides a tantalizing glimpse of the world of high fashion.

Hardcover. Boston, MFA Publications , 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 192 pages in color and b&w Barbra Streisand, Natalie Wood, Arlene Francis, Diahann Carroll, Joan Rivers, Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Bush, Louise Nevelson... What these women have in common is that all were dressed by Scaasi. From his meteoric rise on Seventh Avenue in the late 1950s through his heyday in the boom decade of the 1980s, Arnold Scaasi has remained one of the most distinctive and successful designers in American fashion. With his signature combination of elegance, flamboyance, surprising colors and fabrics, and finely honed craftsmanship, Scaasi is both a bold American original and a couturier in the grand European tradition. Arnold Scaasi: American Couturier presents the best of Scaasi's fashions in a handsomely packaged, fluidly organized volume. Alongside sumptuous portraits of more than three dozen outfits, the book features numerous period photographs; sketches, notes and clippings from Scaasi's personal archives, most of them never before published; and interviews with Scaasi's famous clients, such as Joan Rivers, Mary Tyler Moore and Diahann Carroll, conducted specifically for this volume. A feast for fashion watchers and design aficionados alike, American Couturier contains all the glamour and thrill that for decades have been synonymous with the Scaasi label. Clean copy. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. London, Ashgate, reprint, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 248 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Silver gilt on spine. 'Like "the ring" itself, this book is viral: it gathers into itself literature and film, disease and survival, cultural studies and aesthetics, Japan and America, technology and the family. We won't read Suzuki's novels or watch the films in the same way again. A thoroughly readable and teachable text!' Steven Bruhm, Robert and Ruth Lumsden Professor of English, The University of Western Ontario, and author of Reflecting Narcissus: A Queer Aesthetic 'Taking as its point of departure the phenomenon of The Ring in all its manifestations"the Japanese novel, the Japanese film, the American film, and the various sequels"The Scary Screen offers an in-depth and sustained speculation about the anxiety created by the development of communication technologies. The collection introduces startling insights into the relationship between changes in media forms and widespread fears of contagion, while also identifying a new universal form of horror that has emerged in recent decades as the status of reproduction"both technological and biological"has undergone a profound transformation. The essays included here represent a powerful theoretical response to this transformation.' Todd McGowan, University of Vermont, and author of The Impossible David Lynch and The Real Gaze '... The Scary Screen is a useful contribution to studies of The Ring, horror film, and cultural anxieties evoked by technology.' Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.

Softcover. Flammarion, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Softcover, 223 pages, illustrated in color and b&w. Tracing the origins of Americanism back to the late nineteenth century, Scenes of the World to Come focuses on the European discovery of the American city--with its grand hotels, skyscrapers, and massive industrial plants, its new-found sense of efficiency and mobility, and its infatuation with domestic appliances and mechanization. The book analyzes the global structures and thematic strategies according to which American architectural forms and urban models migrated to Europe, bringing the promise of a new architecture and, along with it, the threat of a dissolution of European identity. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Simon & Schuster , 1st, 1935, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 239 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Eight two-color illustrations plus dust jacket art in color by Thomas (Hart) Benton. True account of a young school teacher in the Tennessee mountains. With a bright, unclipped dust jacket with light edgewear. Scarce in this condition.

Hardcover. New York, Harper, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 672 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, oblong format, color illustrations throughout. "Combining pictures, words, and a wealth of personal ephemera, scrapbook makers preserve on the pages of their books a moment, a day, or a lifetime. This illustrated book focus on the history of American scrapbooks - their origins, their makers, their diverse forms, the reasons for their popularity, and their place in American cultural life." Examines the evolution of scrapbooks from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present, concentrating on the first half of the twentieth century. She includes color photographs from more than two hundred scrapbooks, some made by private individuals and others by the famous, including Zelda Fitzgerald, Lillian Hellman, Anne Sexton, Hilda Doolittle, and Carl Van Vechten.

Hardcover. NY, Viking Studio, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 224 pages, illustrated throughout in b&w. SIGNED BY BASKIN on the front fly leaf. In a bright, unclipped dust jacket, a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Viking Studio, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 224 pages, illustrated throughout in b&w. Light edgewear, rubbing and scratching to dust jacket. Faint foxing to top edge, otherwise a clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Cambridge MA, MIT Press, 4th pr., 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 82 pages, b&w illustrations. The collected writings of the "dean of the New York School of Abstract-Expressionist Painting." "The creative process lies not in imitating, but in paralleling nature; translating the impulse received from nature into the medium of expression, thus vitalizing this medium. The picture should be alive, the statue should be alive and every work of art should be alive." Thus Hans Hofmann wrote nearly half a century ago. He left the Old World, Germany, for the New, at the age of 50. In 1948, when the retrospective exhibition was held at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Hofmann was 68; he had been in the United States for 18 years, a citizen for seven years. Yet he was scarcely recognized in Europe or America as an artist of significance and had never had a full-scale retrospective exhibition of his work. Beginning with a group exhibition in Germany in 1909, he had been given 12 one-man shows and had been included in four group exhibitions before the exhibit at Andover. Subsequently, he was to have 33 one-man shows and to be in over 60 group exhibitions, including the 1960 Venice Biennale, in which he was one of the four artists chosen to represent America. Clean copy.