art history

Softcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 192 pages. The enduring cultural phenomenon of comic book heroes was invented in the late 1930s by a talented and hungry group of artists and writers barely out of their teens, flying by the seat of their pants to create something new, exciting, and above all profitable. The iconography and mythology they created flourishes to this day in comic books, video, movies, fine art, advertising, and practically all other media. Supermen! collects the best and the brightest of this first generation, including Jack Cole, Will Eisner, Bill Everett, Lou Fine, Fletcher Hanks, Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Basil Wolverton. If the reader is expecting to find an All-American group of altruistic do-gooders, he in for quite a jolt. As Jonathan Lethem writes in his Foreword, "A collection like Supermen! works like a reverse-neutron bomb to assumptions about the birth of the superhero image: it tears down the orderly structures of theory and history and leaves the figures standing in full view, staring back at us in all their defiant disorienting particularity, their blazing strangeness." Beautifully designed and produced in full color, Supermen! contains twenty full-length stories, ten full- sized covers, and a generous selection of vintage promotional ads, and is indispensable to anyone interested in the origins of superheroes and the history of the comic book form.

Hardcover. New York, William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, pages. History and analysis of the American artistic phenomenon of Superrealism. Contains 72 color plates and 68 black/white plates as well as notes on particular artists. Very good condition; no internal marks, slight wear on the edges of the dust jacket.

Softcover. Paris, S.N.E.P., 1st, 1952, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. very good. 116 tipped-in color plates, folio, printed beige boards. Paris: Editions SNEP, (1952). Very good (+). The evolution of painting in Europe, from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO WEIGHT, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 240 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. This intellectual tour de force draws on interviews with such key artists as Jean-Jacques Lebel, Mimi Parent, and Jean Benoit, and uses primary sources to advance our knowledge of the work of the better-known Surrealists, from Hans Bellmer to Meret Oppenheim. The Second World War, the Algerian War, and May 1968 are related in new ways to surrealism as a major countercultural force throughout this critical period in French history. By documenting the ways in which the Surrealists used sound, lighting, special effects, and performance art to create a living, theatrical environment, Dr. Mahon sheds new light on topics central to understanding art in our time.

Softcover. London, Tate Publishing, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. 224 pages, b&w illustrations. Provides new Latin American-centric scholarship, not only about surrealism's impact on the region but also about the region's impact on surrealism. It reconsiders the relation between art and anthropology, casts new light on the aesthetics of 'primitivism,' and makes a strong case for Latin American artists and writers as the inheritors of a movement that effectively went underground after World War II.

Hardcover. Boston, David R. Godine, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, oblong format, 188 pages illustrated in color. Long before television and the internet, entertainment was often a performance at the local grange or Town Hall. Since there wasn't much money for costumes or props, the plays relied on all-purpose scenic backdrops - painted canvases of local scenes and interest. And they were often glorious. Many of these minor masterpieces of vernacular art still survive and are presented in all their glory in this richly illustrated book celebrating the colorful and memorable painted curtains that graced the stages of countless New England towns. A remarkable team of conservators from "Curtains Without Borders" has overcome a century of dirt, damage, and neglect to restore hundreds of these historic theater curtains. This book presents exquisite photographs of these enormous pieces of art that have been hidden away and neglected for too long. Bump to top corner, causing mild crease to pages. Otherwise bright and clean.

Hardcover. San Francisco, CA, Weldonowen, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 256 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear. Switched On takes you back to a time of looming social and cultural upheaval, when a cadre of energetic, creative, forward-thinking women explored undiscovered fashion terrain, and painted the backdrop for a transformative ten years. Lavishly illustrated with more than 250 photographs from the likes of David Bailey, Bert Stern, Milton H. Greene, Patrick Lichfield, Gianni Penati, Sam Levin, Arthur Evans, Loomis Dean, Susan Wood, Veronique Bucossi, David Hurn, Alan Pappe, Bud Fraker, and Malcolm Bulloch.

Hardcover. New York, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 239 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Light shelf-wear to dust jacket. Clean, tight copy. A comprehensive guide to nearly 4000 years of sword making from all over the world. Written by a distinguished team of experts and scholars, it provides an expert appraisal of the weapons themselves and is rich in historical and background detail. Fully illustrated throughout with photographs and art reproductions, this is a unique survey of a vast body of superb craftsmanship. It is an essential reference work for weapons enthusiasts, collectors and lovers of military history and fine art.

Hardcover. Santa Monica, CA, Hennessey & Ingalls, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 162 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear to dust jacket. Marston was instrumental in establishing Pasadena as a winter resort and then as a thriving community. He and his firm designed 1000 projects, many of which still survive, including cottages and additions to resort hotels, notable commercial and civic buildings such as the Pacific Asia Museum, and the earliest bungalow court. His residential designs span the range of styles from the Arts and Crafts through English Tudor and Monterey Colonial to, most importantly, Mediterranean Revival. This is an important addition to the literature of California's Golden Age of architecture.

Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press;, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 272 pages. One of Chicago's great cultural achievements, the Institute of Design was among the most important schools of photography in twentieth-century America. It began as an outpost of experimental Bauhaus education and was home to an astonishing group of influential teachers and students, including Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Harry Callahan, and Aaron Siskind. To date, however, the ID's enormous contributions to the art and practice of photography have gone largely unexplored. Taken by Design is the first publication to examine thoroughly this remarkable institution and its lasting impact. With nearly 300 illustrations, including many never-before published photographs, Taken by Design examines the changing nature of photography over this critical period in America's midcentury. It starts by documenting the experimental nature of Moholy's Bauhaus approach and photography's new and enhanced role in training the "complete designer." Next it traces the formal and abstract camera experiments under Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, which aimed at achieving a new kind of photographic subjectivity. Finally, it highlights the ID's focus on conscious references to the processes of the photographic medium itself. In addition to photographs by Moholy, Callahan, and Siskind, the book showcases works by Barbara Crane, Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Joseph Jachna, Kenneth Josephson, Gyorgy Kepes, Nathan Lerner, Ray K. Metzker, Richard Nickel, Arthur Siegel, Art Sinsabaugh, and many others. Major essays from experts in the field, biographies, a chronology, and reprints of critical essays are also included, making Taken by Design an essential work for anyone interested in the history of American photography.

Hardcover. NY, Century Co., 1st, 1918, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with black lettering and decoration on spine and front board. The author's reminiscences of time in the trenches during World War I. An American serving at the time with British 'Tommies', he also wrote 'Over the Top' and other books about his experiences. Front fly leaf missing, book opens to half title page, otherwise a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, Bloomsbury USA, 1st US, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 296 pages. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. New York, Bloomsbury , 1st US, 2004-07-02, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 296 pages. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket.

Hardcover. London, Titan Books, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 167 pages, illustrated throughout in color. Clean, tight copy. Burne Hogarth is one of the most famous artists in the history of comic strips - at the peak with Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon) and Hal Foster (Prince Valiant). In 1936 he followed Foster on the massively popular Tarzan comic strip, and set a new standard for dynamics and excitement. This is the first of four exclusive volumes that collects Hogarth's entire run, beginning with Tarzan and the Golden City. Restored and reproduced in an oversized format, these editions will finally do justice to one of the most lauded illustrators of all time, whose work has been out of print for more than a decade. Full-color restorations of the newspaper strips, reproduced in the oversized full-page format.

Hardcover. London , Titan Books , 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 191 pages. Hardcover without dust jacket. Extensive color illustrations throughout. Illustrated end papers and fly leafs. Clean tight copy. This book covers four complete comic strips from May 1940 to October 1943, and is continued on from "Tarzan in the City of Gold", Book 1 in the series.Mr. Hogarth carries on his new way of art form which is a pleasure to the eye, and the four stories are: Tarzan and the Peoples of the Sea and the Fire, Tarzan Against Dagga Ramba, Tarzan and the Fatal Fountain, and Tarzan and the Barbarians. There is also an introduction by Thomas Yeates.Relive four more tales of Tarzan as his adventures lead him across Africa, fighting for justice in lands unknown or forgotten to civilized man.

Hardcover. New York, Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 434 pages, b&w illustrations. Like new condition. When we picture the 1950s, we hear the sound of early rock and roll. The Ten-Cent Plague shows how -- years before music -- comics brought on a clash between children and their parents, between prewar and postwar standards. Created by outsiders from the tenements, garish, shameless, and often shocking, comics spoke to young people and provided the guardians of mainstream culture with a big target. Parents, teachers, and complicit kids burned comics in public bonfires. Cities passed laws to outlaw comics. Congress took action with televised hearings that nearly destroyed the careers of hundreds of artists and writers.

Hardcover. College Station TX, Texas A & M University Press, 1st, 2000, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 174 pages, b&w photos. The show traveled in West Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Eastern Colorado from 1920 to 1945. Clean copy in a bright dust jacket.

Hardcover. London, Art / Books Publishing, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 240 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, like new in publishers shrink-wrap. A tight copy. Terence Donovan was one of the foremost photographers of his generation--among the greatest Britain has ever produced. He came to prominence in London as part of a postwar renaissance in art, fashion, graphic design and photography, and--alongside David Bailey and Brian Duffy (photographers of a similar working-class background)--he captured and helped create the Swinging London of the 1960s. Donovan socialized with celebrities and royalty, and found himself elevated to stardom in his own right, and yet, despite his success and status, there has never been a serious evaluation of Donovan's fashion work: he allowed no monographs to be published during his lifetime. Terence Donovan Fashion is therefore the first publication of his fashion photographs. Arranged chronologically, and with an illuminating text by Robin Muir (ex-picture editor of Vogue), the book considers Donovan in the social and cultural context of his time, showing how his constant experimentation not only set him apart, but also influenced generations to come. Designed by former art director of Nova magazine and Pentagram partner David Hillman, and with images selected by Hillman, the artist's widow Diana Donovan and Grace Coddington, creative director of American Vogue, this volume is indisputably a landmark publication in the history of fashion photography.

Hardcover. Clover Press, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards. 11 X 14". Volume 2 of this landmark series-reproduced from Milton Caniff's personal set of color syndicate tabloid proofs-features the iconic 1936 daily and Sunday adventures, which continue their separate paths until the end of August when the stories-and cast of characters-are happily united once and for all.In the Sunday Saga, Pat and Cap'n Blaze have it out across a checker board! Then things get really hot when the Dragon Lady and her men lay siege to Blaze's encampment! A twist of fate puts Pat in charge of the Dragon Lady's forces, but they're mistaken for soldier-of-fortune pirates when the Chinese Army storms their position. It takes timely intervention from a surprising source to gain their freedom.Meanwhile, in the Daily Saga, fists fly when Terry, Connie, and Pat are taken prisoner by the insidious Captain Judas-and sparks fly when the boys have their first meeting with beautiful, blonde Burma! The famous strips from March 16-21 steamed up the national audience and became one of the most imitated sequences in comic strip history. Later, cat claws are unsheathed against the backdrop of plague on the planation run by Stan and Wendy Wingate, Burma takes a dive, and with the daily and Sunday strips integrated into a unified storyline the boys once again confront the Dragon Lady before running afoul (accent on the foul!) of Papa Pyzon.

Hardcover. San Diego, Clover Press, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards, 164 pages in large format. The saga continues in Terry and the Pirates Volume 6, reproduced from Milton Caniff's personal set of color syndicate tabloid proofs! Invader soldiers scatter the occupants of Singh-Singh's outpost, forcing Pat, Blaze, and April to flee. They take refuge at Raven Sherman's orphanage just in time for an outbreak of cholera (this is refuge?). Returning to the city, Raven meets the mysterious Hu Shee, while Pat is reunited with Terry, Big Stoop, and Connie and crosses paths with old friend Dude Hennick. All the newcomers to the cast--together with the Dragon Lady, no less!--fall prey to the schemes of Chopstick Joe. A strike by invader forces separate Terry and Hu Shee from the others, setting up an encounter with the elusive Chinese guerrilla leader known only as the Blue Tiger! This tabloid-sized Volume 6 containing the 1940 dailies and Sundays is an unparalleled upgrade that no Terry fan can afford to pass up. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap. PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO WEIGHT, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Clover Press , 1st, 2024, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards. The saga continues in Terry and the Pirates Volume 7, reproduced from Milton Caniff's personal set of color syndicate tabloid proofs! Embroiled in the guerilla struggle against the invader, Terry meets "Madame Lustre" (AKA Burma!) and matches wits German officers Kiel and Wolff. When Terry eventually reunites with Dude Hennick and Raven Sherman, the stage is set for one of the greatest stories in comics history, with Death waiting to strike unexpectedly. Terry's road leads back to Hong Kong for a major reunion and a welcome-home kiss from April, but the delightful Miss Kane has secret troubles in the form of small-time grifter Sammy the Tapper. Everyone's fortunes are poised to change as Christmas arrives and America charges headlong into World War II! This tabloid-sized Volume 7 containing the 1941 dailies and Sundays is an unparalleled upgrade that no Terry fan can afford to pass up. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 344 pages. Includes the following essays: Painted and Block-Printed Cloths, Cloths Decorated with Gold & Silver Leaf / Roller-Printed Cloths, Tie-Dyed Cloths / Woven Cloths & Embroideries / History of Indian Textiles, by Zahid Sardar / etc. Color illustrations throughout. Foreword and afterword by Kokyo Hatanaka; Clean, bright copy. DUE TO WEIGHT, DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Crowood Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 222 pages., color plates. This impressive work encompasses history, anthropology, and an expert exposition of textile arts from this region where textiles may denote group identity and may represent a large portion of a family's wealth. The author draws upon both published information and her own extensive travels in the area, describing practices and techniques that she observed in use in situ. She illustrates cultural and historical patterns in costume, often with the aid of temple paintings, sculpture, and historic photographs to supplement current images. Her descriptions of techniques, for example of weaving, are admirably balanced -- detailed enough to inform while presented with sufficient general information for a non-specialist reader. The illustrative material is good, often her own or her son's photographs, that shows the labor-intensive processes and world-class skills as well as the resulting spectacular museum pieces.

Hardcover. New York, Henry Holt and Company, 1st, 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 252 pages. B&W and color animation throughout. Pictorial dust jacket, slight wear to covers, edges, and spine. Dust jacket price-clipped. Blue boards with gilt title to spine. Overall, a clean, tight copy.