american art

Hardcover. NY/Cambridge MA, The Architectural History Foundation/The MIT Press, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. This is the first complete biography of the inimitable society architect Addison Mizner, whose Spanish Revival buildings created a new style of resort architecture for Palm Beach and south Florida during the boom years of the 1920s. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York , Rizzoli, 1st, 2008-10-14, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 272 pages, profusely illustrated in color. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. In the current world of twentieth-century design collecting, the trend has shifted away from accessible, mass-manufactured modernist furniture and toward designs that were custom-made or produced in very limited editions, with emphasis on American studio design of the 1940s to the 1990s. In contrast to the mass-produced mid-century furniture by Knoll and Herman Miller, American studio designs of the same period focused on novel forms and exquisite craftsmanship. Ranging from the organic shapes of George Nakashima and Vladimir Kagan to metalworks by Paul Evans, these limited production designs were highly sought after in their days by original tastemakers and movie stars. In the last decade, a revival for these rare designs began with connoisseurs such as Tom Ford. Modern Americana is the first full survey of the designs of this prolific but forgotten period, bringing to life again the works of Samuel Marx, Billy Haines, Wendell Castle, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Karl Springer, James Mont, and many others -- including J.B. Blunk, Michael Coffey, Wharton Esherick, Arthur Espenet Carpenter, Sam Maloof, Jack Rogers Hopkins, Paul Evans & Philip Lloyd Powell, Vladimir Kagan, George Nakashima, Silas Seandel, Charles Hollis Jones, Philip & Kevin LaVerne, Tommi Parzinger, Harvey Probber, Edward Wormley, John Dickinson, Arthur Elrod, and Paul Laszlo.

Hardcover. Czech Republic, Kant, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 264 pages. Venturing across five decades of American culture, this landmark book explores how modern graphic design emerged in the United States and how it became an intrinsic feature of the country's identity. Author and design professor Christopher Long tells this story in a wholly new way, exposing many long-forgotten figures and movements and resurrecting the debates and conceptions that were integral to the new art. In a series of deeply involving portraits of American artists and innovators who helped shape the very look of the modern age, Modern Americanness offers a sweeping story of the country's visual culture and its distinctiveness across a variety of designed objects: magazine covers, food labels, event posters, chapbooks, advertisements, propaganda and much more. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, Original black lettered cloth quarter laid on pictorial boards, 184 pages. A fascinating exploration of how photography, graphic design, and popular magazines converged to transform American visual culture at mid-century. This dynamic study examines the intersection of modernist photography and American commercial graphic design between 1930 and 1960. Avant-garde strategies in photography and design reached the United States via European emigres, including Bauhaus artists forced out of Nazi Germany. The unmistakable aesthetic made popular by such magazines as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue--whose art directors, Alexey Brodovitch and Alexander Liberman, were both immigrants and accomplished photographers--emerged from a distinctly American combination of innovation, inclusiveness, and pragmatism. Beautifully illustrated with more than 150 revolutionary photographs, layouts, and cover designs, Modern Look considers the connections and mutual influences of such designers and photographers as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Herbert Bayer, Robert Frank, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Cipe Pineles, and Paul Rand. Essays draw a lineage from European experimental design to innovative work in American magazine design at mid-century and offer insights into the role of gender in fashion photography and political activism in the mass media.

Hardcover. Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico Press, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 238 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Blue cloth, pictorial blue dust jacket. Light bumps to corners, else a beautiful copy. Like new.

Hardcover. New York, John Day, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover. Non-Paginated. Illustrated with black & white photographs. INSCRIBED BY SIPPRELL on the half-title page and dated in 1966. Dust jacket shows standard wear. Clean, tight copy. Clara Sipprell (1885-1975) was a Canadian-born, early 20th-century photographer who lived most of her life in the United States. She was well known for her pictorial landscapes and for portraits of many famous actors, artists, writers and scientists.

Hardcover. New York, John Day, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover. Non-Paginated. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Dust jacket shows standard wear. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Chicago, Illinois, Mongerson Galleries, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 100 page catalog from October 1981 exhibition at The Mongerson Gallery. Numerous black and white prints and photographs. Brief artist biographies. Textured cover features color artwork and exhibits some wear, particularly along binding edge. Interior in near fine condition.

Softcover. Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 159 pages, with 72 illustrations, 52 in color. Light edge wear to wrappers, else a very clean, tight copy. These monotypes are presented by Cecily Langdale in this book which was published in 1984. It contains a brief Biography of the artist that describes his influences, travels and contacts, and a general discussion about Monotypes which summarises their chronology, style and technique. These two essays are illustrated by 28 b/w figures. The monotypes are then presented, in colour, with commentaries on each by Langdale that integrate factual information and artistic significance. Addenda include a further 3 monotypes by the artist and there is a Bibliography of relevant publications. Prendergast executed his last monotypes in 1901-02, probably because of his increased interest on the complexities of oil painting techniques that he continued to explore for the remainder of his life. For anyone unfamiliar with monotypes, the information provided by Langdale is extremely useful to enable a full appreciation of the works presented in this book. The artist used oil paint in the preparation of his monotypes and may have used a spoon to transfer the images onto the Japanese tissue support.

Softcover. Greensburg PA, privately printed, 1st, 1913, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, octavo, 25 pages, sparsely illustrated in b&w. Book near fine with mild general shelfwear to wrap, stapled binding tight, text clean and unmarked. Includes a b/w sketch by John Trumbull.

Hardcover. NY/Munich, Hirmer Publishers, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 208 pages, color illustrations. Monuments and Myths is the first publication to trace the intersecting work of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) and Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), the leading American sculptors of the Gilded Age. Featuring provocative essays, stunning photographs, and an in-depth illustrated chronology, the catalog brings a contemporary perspective to sculptures that have defined and defied notions of American identity. This critical look at the artists' public and private works considers evolving ideas about race and representation, Indigeneity, civic space, memory, and American history. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Syracuse NY, Syracuse University Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 142 pages, b&w illustrations. In 1950, future Hall of Famer Earl Lloyd became the first African American to play in a National Basketball Association game. A warm and gracious man, widely loved and respected, Lloyd has lived what he describes as an 'incredible journey' and has spent eighty years gathering passionate lessons from that experience. He was born in Virginia, a state he describes as 'the cradle of segregation', only sixty-two years after the end of the Civil War. Nicknamed 'Moonfixer' in college, Lloyd led West Virginia State to two CIAA Conference and Tournament Championships and was named All-American twice. One of three African Americans to enter the NBA at that time, Lloyd played seven games for the Washington Capitals before the team folded. He joined the Syracuse Nationals for six seasons and later played for the Detroit Pistons before he retired in 1961. Throughout his career, he quietly endured the overwhelming slights and exclusions that went with being black in America. Yet he has also lived to see basketball - a demonstration of art, power, and pride - become the black national pastime and to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. In a series of extraordinary conversations with Sean Kirst, Lloyd reveals his fierce determination to succeed, his frustration with the plight of many young black men, and his sincere desire for the nation to achieve true equality among its citizens. CLEAN COPY.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 184 pages. This is the sequel to caricaturist Drew Friedman's collection of portraits of famous comics creators.Spanning the birth of the industry to its first few decades, this book has approximately 100 full-color portraits of the legends of American comic books-publishers, editors, and artists. Its subjects are popular and obscure, men and women, and it includes several pioneering artists of color. Full-color illustrations throughout.

Softcover. New York, George Braziller, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Softcover, 174 pages. This catalog, featuring 130 b&w illustrations and 40 color plates cover almost all of Graves major paintings. This is a very nice and clean copy.

Softcover. Washington DC, National Park Service,, 1st, 1978, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 58 pages, The famous cartoonist of WW2's Willie and Joe fame offers his take on America's War for Independence. Small price sticker on cover otherwise clean.

Hardcover. New York, 1st, February 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 414 pages. illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Maroon cloth, gilt title to front and spine, pictorial dust jacket. Slight foxing to top edge and upper edge of lightly worn jacket, else a very nice, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, William Morrow, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket with light chipping, 180 pages. Ortiz Montaigne Walton was the first African-American member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and a prominent figure in African-American studies. He performed in Buffalo for three seasons, before moving on to become the first African-American member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Walton later was principal contrabassist with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in Egypt and performed a number of acclaimed solo recitals. Dust jacket art is a photo-montage by Romare Bearden.

Hardcover. NY, Pegasus Books, 1st, 2020, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 242 pages. A finely wrought coming-of-age memoir about the author's relationship with her beloved grandfather Joe Simon, cartoonist and co-creator of Captain America. In the 1990s, Megan Margulies's Upper West Side neighborhood was marked by addicts shooting up in subway stations, frequent burglaries, and the "Wild Man of 96th Street," who set fires under cars and heaved rocks through stained glass church windows. The world inside her parents' tiny one-bedroom apartment was hardly a respite, with a family of five-including some loud personalities-eventually occupying the 550-square-foot space. Salvation arrived in the form of her spirited grandfather, Daddy Joe, whose midtown studio became a second home to Megan. There, he listened to her woes, fed her Hungry Man frozen dinners, and simply let her be. His living room may have been dominated by the drawing table, notes, and doodles that marked him as Joe Simon the cartoonist. But for Megan, he was always Daddy Joe: an escape from her increasingly hectic home, a nonjudgmental voice whose sense of humor was as dry as his farfel, and a steady presence in a world that felt off balance. Evoking New York City both in the 1980s and '90s and during the Golden Age of comics in the 1930s and '40s, My Captain America flashes back from Megan's story to chart the life and career of Rochester-native Joe Simon, from his early days retouching publicity photos and doing spot art for magazines, to his partnership with Jack Kirby at Timely Comics (the forerunner of Marvel Comics), which resulted in the creation of beloved characters like Captain America, the Boy Commandos, and Fighting American. My Captain America offers a tender and sharply observed account of Megan's life with Daddy Joe-and an intimate portrait of the creative genius who gave us one of the most enduring superheroes of all time.

Hardcover. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1st , 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 95 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Color and b&w illustrations throughout. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. "Edward Hopper (1882-1967), long recognized as the premier 20th-century American realist painter, was famously introverted and reclusive. He rarely spoke about his personal life, and his close friends were few and love interests fewer. Until now, there have been only two known romantic pursuits prior to Hopper's marriage to Josephine Nivison in 1924: a brief relationship in Paris with an English girl in 1906-7 and another spanning several years with an older French woman beginning in New York in 1915. The discovery of fifty-eight previously unknown letters and one note from Alta Hilsdale (1884-1948) to Hopper brings to light a previously unknown romantic relationship. Hilsdale, who was from Minnesota and spent time in New York and Paris, sent letters to Hopper at various home and studio addresses during the course of ten years. Reverend Arthayer Sanborn, a close friend of Edward and Josephine Hopper, discovered the letters in Hopper's childhood home in Nyack, New York, after the artist's death. Fewer than ten people have had the opportunity to read these letters, and they are published in their entirety for the first time."

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt Brace, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Color illustrations by Alice Provensen. In this illustrated "family album," Caldecott medalist Alice Provensen offers a unique glimpse of the people who shaped America, from Pocahontas to Edgar Allan Poe to Martin Luther King Jr. This 60-page, oversized hardcover is rich with portraits of artists, enduring icons, outlaws, radicals, visionaries, composers, writers, inventors, and reformers. On the "Naturalists and Ecologists" page, Rachel Carson is joined by water analyst Ellen Swallow Richards, painter and ornithologist John James Audubon, and agricultural chemist George Washington Carver. While quotations from famous Americans mark every page, the book's focus is purely pictorial. The visual montages present an interesting jumping-off point for further exploration of some of America's rogues and luminaries. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harcourt Brace, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Color illustrations by Alice Provensen. In this illustrated "family album," Caldecott medalist Alice Provensen offers a unique glimpse of the people who shaped America, from Pocahontas to Edgar Allan Poe to Martin Luther King Jr. This 60-page, oversized hardcover is rich with portraits of artists, enduring icons, outlaws, radicals, visionaries, composers, writers, inventors, and reformers. On the "Naturalists and Ecologists" page, Rachel Carson is joined by water analyst Ellen Swallow Richards, painter and ornithologist John James Audubon, and agricultural chemist George Washington Carver. While quotations from famous Americans mark every page, the book's focus is purely pictorial. The visual montages present an interesting jumping-off point for further exploration of some of America's rogues and luminaries. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 72 pages. A true masterpiece of book design and illustration for beginning readers, this collection pairs well-known nursery tales with uniquely beautiful period illustrations that look as fresh and vital today as they did six decades ago, when the book was first published in Great Britain. Never before published in the United States, My First Nursery Book features four beloved stories: "Who Killed Cock Robin?," "The Gingerbread Man," "Three Little Pigs," and "The Three Bears." Franciszka Themerson, a Polish avant-garde artist and filmmaker who returned to children's book illustration as a refugee in London in the 1940s, is regarded as one of the great talents in classic children's book illustration. Finally, American children can experience and enjoy this remarkable volume, filled with stunning illustrations that will bring a new audience to Themerson's genius.

Hardcover. Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 336 pages. This single-volume selection of the letters of Margaret Fuller affords a unique opportunity for renewed acquaintance with a great American thinker of the Transcendentalist circle. The letters represent Fuller at all stages of her life and career, and show her engaged as literary critic, as translator and as champion of German literature and thought, as teacher, as travel writer, as literary editor, as journalist, as feminist, as revolutionary, as wife and mother. My Heart Is a Large Kingdom, unlike previous collections, includes only letters transcribed from Fuller's manuscripts and does not reproduce correspondence known only from printed sources and copies in hands other than Fuller's. Among the recipients of the letters in this generous selection are such literary and cultural figures as Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giovanni Angelo Ossoli (Fuller's husband), George Ripley, and Henry David Thoreau. Taken together, the letters serve as a chronicle of Fuller's lifetime and provide glimpses into her thoughts and feelings during the years of the "Conversations," Dial, and the revolution in Rome. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 96 pages, many b&w illustrations, some in color. Issued in conjunction with a 1980 exhibition featuring geometric artwork by American artist Myron Stout (1908-1987). Catalogue lists 54 works. Selected bibliography. Includes selections from his journals, and an essay by Sanford Schwartz. Light tanning to top edge of wrappers, clean copy.