art history

Hardcover. Chapel Hill NC, University of North Carolina Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 277 pages, illustrated in b&w and color. The putto (often portrayed as a mischievous baby) appears frequently in the art and literature of Renaissance Italy. The "spiritelli" embody a minor species of demon, neither good nor bad. This book discusses the manifestations of the putto-spiritello in 15th-century art and literature. It offers parallel interpretations of two works: Botticelli's "Mars and Venus", a painting in which infant Satyr-putti appear as the panic-inducing spirits of the nightmare, and Politian's "Stanze", a poem in which masked cupids appear to the hero in a deceiving dream. The text concludes with an examination of the functions of such masks in the poetry and public masquerades sponsored by Lorenzo de'Medici and in Michelangelo's scheme for the decoration of the Medici Chapel. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Atglen PA, Schiffer, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 144 pages illustrated in color. Hollywood's Golden Age was graced with thousands of breathtaking looks by a designer who was known simply as Irene. Based on unprecedented access to the records and remembrances of Irene's personal artist, Virginia Fisher, this insider's look tells the story of Irene's years at MGM studios. Marvelously illustrated with more than 150 original sketches and photography from the time period, Irene's exhilarating story, filled with memories that have a cloying edge and are, at times, chilling, comes to life in this thoroughly researched resource on her career and legacy. From her early years as a designer with a successful dress shop catering to Hollywood clientele to her ascendancy at MGM studios to the beginning of her own label, Irene, Inc., this volume captures Irene's struggles and triumphs surrounding her time at MGM. Complete with a filmography of Irene's designs and full of insightful cameos by stars like Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and others, this is the ideal book for film and costume historians, fashion designers, and fans of Hollywood's Golden Age. Clean copy.

Softcover. Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, reprint, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 776 pages. "Iron Kingdom, Christopher Clark's stately, authoritative history of Prussia from its humble beginnings to its ignominious end, presents a much more complicated and compelling picture of the German state, which is too often reduced to a caricature of spiked helmets and polished boots. Prussia and its army were inseparable, but Prussia was also renowned for its efficient, incorruptible civil service; its innovative system of social services; its religious tolerance; and its unrivaled education system, a model for the rest of Germany and the world. This too was Prussia-a tormented kingdom that, like a tragic hero, was brought down by the very qualities that raised it up. Mr. Clark, a senior lecturer in modern European history at Cambridge University, does an exemplary job. A lively writer, he organizes masses of material in orderly fashion, clearly establishing his main themes and pausing at crucial junctures to recapitulate and reconsider. Prussia, a self-invented artifact right down to its name, demands the kind of careful demythologizing that it receives from Mr. Clark, who gently but insistently exposes the flaws in most of the received wisdom about his subject. A result is an illuminating, profoundly satisfying work of history, brightened by vivid character sketches of the principals in his drama." Clean copy.

Softcover. New York, Stewart Tabori & Chang, 1st, 1982 , Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 144 pages. A history of the classic VW ad campaign that began in 1959. Profusely illustratedClean copy.

Hardcover. Germany, Hatje Cantz, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 80 pages, photos in color. Minor shelf-wear to boards, else a clean, tight copy. This book documents the two most recent works by the critically acclaimed British artist and filmmaker, Isaac Julien, both of which continue his investigation of issues of race and global politics. True North, shot in the spectacular landscapes of Iceland and Northern Sweden, is conceived around the expedition writings of the African-American explorer Matthew Henson, one of the key members of Robert E. Peary's 1909 Arctic expedition, and arguably the first person to reach the North Pole. True North's diametric counterpart, Fantome Afrique, weaves cinematic and architectural references through the rich imagery of urban Ouagadougou, Africa's cinematic center, and the arid spaces of rural Burkina Faso. The film is punctuated by archival footage from early colonial expeditions and landmark moments in African history.

Hardcover. London, Faber and Faber, Reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. Orange cloth covers with gilt titles to spine. 93 pages of text followed by 613 monochrome plates, non-paginated. Frontis illustration, Tabriz, Tilework in the Courtyard of the So-called Blue Mosque, A. D. 1465, in full page, full color. Toning to edges. Clean, unmarked. A nice copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 287 pages, 442 b&w illustrations. The famous photojournalist presents, among other events, the abdication of Edward VIII; the Anschluss; the Warsaw ghetto, before and after its destruction; Tito's guerrilla war against the Nazis; and Isr'l's battle for independence. He recorded the fall of Hungary to the Communists; he was with Churchill at Teheran; and with Khrushchev at Belgrade. There are also exotic parties given by Cecil Beaton and Lady Juliet Duff. Portraits of the last glories of the English aristocracy and the old French Bourgeoisie; the industrialists and artists who made Italy's miraculous postwar recovery possible. In 60,000 words of text he captures the extraordinary adventures and bizarre characters that together made up the author's life. The combination of words and pictures provides a rich, powerful portrait of a fascinating career. Missing dust jacket.

Softcover. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1st, 1993, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 133 pages illustrated in color. This lavishly illustrated volume offers a unique survey of Italian commercial graphic design during a period of both creative artistic vitality and extreme political turmoil. The first English-language book to showcase the bold typography and streamlined imagery of modern Italian design motifs on commercial products of the day, this fascinating and important resource for designers, history buffs, and collectors includes a discussion of the Futurist influence on the Italian Art Deco style and the success of such individualized expression despite a ruthless Fascist regime. Clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Phaidon, 1st, 1963, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Part III of Pope-Hennessy's Introduction to Italian Sculpture. 3 Volumes - Plate Volume - non-paginated. Illustrated with black & white plates. Bump at top of spine. Dust jacket age darkened, wear along edges. Clean, tight copy. Text Volume - 126 pages. Black & white illustrations. Bottom right corner bumped. Dust jacket age darkened, wear along edges. Clean, tight copy. Catalogue Volume - 183 pages. Dust jacket age darkened, wear along edges. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1925, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, dark blue cloth stamped in gilt, 243 pages. Twenty-five b&w plates illustrating landscape designs. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 1954, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, cardboard slipcase. 214 pages with 75 mounted color plates, and 100 in-text illustrations. An important study, in which Salmi has gathered works of all schools of miniature painting, much of which had never been published before. Clean copy. Slipcase with minor tape repair. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. London, Phaidon Press, 1st, 1963, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 222 pages of text, 1478 b&w plates, 39 index pages. Two volume set, textured cloth covers, clean dustjackets, set shows little wear. Cardboard slipcase with paper chipping to edges.

Hardcover. NY, The Museum of Modern Art, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a translucent dust jacket with 5 cut-outs enclosed (as called for), jacket with the usual darkening to edges and spine; The catalog for the 1972 major exhibition at MOMA, providing an excellent survey of modern Italian design and associated radical architectural movements. With articles on the history of modern Italian design by Portoghesi, Benevolo, and Gregotti, and articles on architecture by Celant and Tafuri. 430 pages with 520 photographic images and illustrations of which 124 are in color offering a kaleidescopic yet comprehensive vision of Italian design, objects and environments. Clean copy.

Hardcover. East Lothian, Scotland, Tuckwell Press , reprint, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 339 pages, 18 figures on 12 b/w plates, map, end notes, appendix, bibliography, index. James IV is the best-known of all the late medieval Scottish rulers. Widely praised by his contemporaries, he combined the qualities of successful medieval monarch with a wide interest in the arts and sciences, while remaining acutely conscious of the need to enhance the prestige of his dynasty throughout Europe. This excellent study examines all aspects of James IV's sovereignty, explains his popularity and his highly successful kingship and assesses reasons for the disastrous end to the reign when the king and a large population of the Scottish nobility were eliminated in a single afternoon in 1513 at Flodden. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1st, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 135 pages, b&w illustrations, some color. Published on the occasion of the exhibition held from April 12-May 29, 1972. With an essay by Marcia Tucker, a chronology with exhibitions history, and a bibliography. The exhibition checklist cites 44 graphic works and 13 posters, and most if not all are pictured here. Mild tanning to wrappers. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 232 pages. James Rosenquist's paintings, with their billboard-sized images of commercial subjects, are utterly emblematic of 1960s Pop Art. Their provocative imagery also touches on some of the major political and historical events of that turbulent decade--from the Kennedy assassination to the war in Vietnam. In the first full-length scholarly examination of Rosenquist's art from that period, Michael Lobel weaves together close visual analysis, a wealth of archival research, and a consideration of the social and historical contexts in which these paintings were produced to offer bold new readings of a body of work that helped redefine art in the 1960s. Bringing together a range of approaches, James Rosenquist provides a compelling perspective on the artist and on the burgeoning consumer culture of postwar America.

Hardcover. Birmingham, Eng, Royal College of Surgeons, 1st, 1895, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Bradshaw Lecture for 1894: A Study of His [Syme's] Influence and Authority on the Science and Art of Surgery During that Period. Syme was a leading surgeon of his day in Edinburgh's golden age of surgery. He was a master of surgical technique, a rival of Liston, a contemporary of Simpson and father-in-law and mentor of Joseph Lister. Hardcover, 27 pages. Red covers with gold lettering and decoration. Previous owner's signature on half-title page. Light foxing to first and last pages. Light rubbing to corners and edges. Light soiling to rear cover, upper corner.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: Near Fine, Hardcover, 320 pages. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Jan Lievens (1607-1674) was one of the most fascinating and enigmatic Dutch artists of the 17th century. Daring and innovative as a painter, printmaker, and draftsman, he created powerful character studies, genre scenes, landscapes, formal portraits, and religious and allegorical images that were widely praised and valued during his lifetime. This beautiful book, the first overview of the full range of Lievens' career, features more than 50 paintings-many of them newly discovered in private collections-and more than 75 prints and drawings, providing a reassessment of his place in the history of art.

Softcover. Bew Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 272 pages. Richly illustrated with images from Jan Tschichold's little-known private collection of design ephemera, this important book explores a legendary figure in the history of modern graphic design through the artists, ideas, and texts from the Bauhaus that most influenced him. Tschichold (1902-1974), a prolific designer, writer, and theorist, stood at the forefront of a revolution in visual culture that made printed material more elemental and dynamic. His designs were applied to everyday graphics, from billboard advertisements and business cards to book jackets and invoices. This handsome volume offers a new understanding of Tschichold's work, and of the underlying theories of the artistic movement he helped to form, by analyzing his collections. Clean copy. The book is still in the original publisher shrink wrap.

Hardcover. NY, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 416 pages, illustrated throughout with 445 illustrations including 200 plates in full color. Previous owner's initials on half title page. Light shelf-wear and rubbing to dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.

Philadelphia Museum of Art , 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, large format 12" X 12", 236 pages, illustrated i color throughout. Includes 316 illustrations, including 246 in full colour. The catalogue to accompany the exhibition held Sept. 25 to November 20, 1994 in Philadelphia. The exhibition surveyed the design history of Japan from 1950 through to the early 1990s. Clean copy.

Hardcover. US, Taschen, 1st, 1999-10-01, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 200 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Light edgewear and rubbing to dust jacket, else a clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Portsmouth, NH, Portsmouth Marine Society, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 259 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Minor sunfading to spine. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket edges. A tight copy.