Book of the Day Posted Feb 03, 2019

Book of the Day > Chinese Movie Magazines

Book of the Day > Chinese Movie Magazines. Published by University of California Press. "Showcasing an exotic, eclectic, and rare array of covers from more than five hundred movie publications from a glamorous bygone age, Chinese Movie Magazines sheds fresh light on China’s film industry during a transformative period of its history. Expertly curated by collector and Chinese cinema specialist Paul Fonoroff, this volume provides insightful commentary relating the magazines to the times in which they were created, embracing everything from cinematic trends to politics and world events, along with gossip, fashion, and pop culture. The cover designs reflected the diverse contents of the publications, ranging from sophisticated Art Deco drawings by acclaimed artists to glamorous photos of top Chinese and Hollywood celebrities, including Ruan Lingyu, Butterfly Wu, Ingrid Bergman, and Shirley Temple. Organized thematically within a chronological structure, this visually extraordinary volume includes many rare illustrations from the Paul Kendel Fonoroff Collection in Berkeley’s C.V. Starr East Asian Library, the largest collection of Eastern movie memorabilia outside China."
Book of the Day Posted Feb 02, 2019

Book of the Day > Men's Rings

Book of the Day > Men's Rings. Published by Gingko Press. "Over one thousand rings from Yves Gastou’s personal collection are beautifully displayed and photographed in this sumptuous book. Gastou deals in 20th century decorative arts from his Parisian gallery, but perhaps his most passionate undertaking is in building his collection of Men’s rings. His collection is as diverse as it is large; from ancient Egyptian examples to gothic masterpieces, and religious examples to memento mori, bikers’ rings to an entire chapter devoted to curiosities, Gastou has built an all-encompassing treasury. In silver or gold, set with jewels or skulls, sober or extravagant, ritual or rebellious, these pieces bear the imprint of a taste, that of the insatiable gallerist freely appropriating the different periods, it seems unlikely that another assemblage will ever rival Yves Gastou’s fabulous collection."
Book of the Day Posted Feb 01, 2019

Book of the Day > Black Refractions; The Studio Museum in Harlem

Book of the Day > Black Refractions: The Studio Museum in Harlem. Published by The American Federation of Arts & Rizzoli/Electa.
"An authoritative guide to one of the world's most important collections of African-American art, with works by artists from Romare Bearden to Kehinde Wiley. The artists featured in Black Refractions, including Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Nari Ward, Norman Lewis, Wangechi Mutu, and Lorna Simpson, are drawn from the renowned collection of the Studio Museum in Harlem. Through exhibitions, public programs, artist residencies, and bold acquisitions, this pioneering institution has served as a nexus for artists of African descent locally, nationally, and internationally since its founding in 1968. Rather than aim to construct a single history of "black art," Black Refractions emphasizes a plurality of narratives and approaches, traced through 125 works in all media from the 1930s to the present.
An essay by Connie Choi and entries by Eliza A. Butler, Akili Tommasino, Taylor Aldridge, Larry Ossei Mensah, Daniela Fifi , and other luminaries contextualize the works and provide detailed commentary. A dialogue between Thelma Golden, Connie Choi, and Kellie Jones draws out themes and challenges in collecting and exhibiting modern and contemporary art by artists of African descent. More than a document of a particular institution's trailblazing path, or catalytic role in the development of American appreciation for art of the African diaspora, this volume is a compendium of a vital art tradition."
Book of the Day Posted Jan 30, 2019

Book of the Day > Boogie: Moscow

Book of the Day > Boogie: Moscow. Published by PowerHouse Books. "Welcome to Boogie’s Moscow. These are people sculpted by a brutal, concrete landscape, fighting to survive. This is a world of football hooligans, gang tattoos, boxing… Yet this is not misery porn: There is an inherent vitality in the violence–the enduring toughness–of these images. There is dynamism, there is esprit de corps, there is strength.'Raw' is a term that is perhaps overused, but Boogie’s photos truly assault the senses. But the photographer’s arresting gaze is directly returned by his subjects, and an undeniable rapport and intimacy is felt by the viewer. We are witnessing something, above all, crucially human. From the artist behind It’s All Good (Miss Rosen Editions/powerHouse Books 2006/2016), Boogie (powerHouse Books, 2007), and Belgrade Belongs to Me (powerHouse Books, 2008) comes an urban, industrial, but heart-wrenchingly humane new collection.You cannot look away."
 
Book of the Day Posted Jan 27, 2019

Book of the Day > Knoll Furniture 1938-1960

Book of the Day > In Memory of Florence Knoll (1917-2018). Knoll Furniture 1938-1960. Published by Schiffer. "In the 1940s and 1950s, Knoll Furniture became symbolic of the modern design movement. This book catalogs furniture produced by the Knoll Furniture Company of New York during its first two exciting decades. Over 270 illustrations present forms by such influential designers as Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi, George Nakashima, Jens Risom, Ralph Rapson, and others. An easy-to-use identification guide includes production dates and designer attribution. Original catalog photographs and many from the Knoll Museum Archive, a company history, designer biographies, and a revised price guide are included. This book is an essential reference for all who are interested in modern furniture design."
 
Book of the Day Posted Jan 26, 2019

Book of the Day > Helen Beard, Sadie Laska, Boo Saville: True Colours

Book of the Day > Helen Beard, Sadie Laska, Boo Saville: True Colours. Published by Other Criteria Books. "True Colours brings together the work of three emerging artists: Helen Beard (born 1971), Sadie Laska (born 1974) and Boo Saville (born 1980). Despite using paint in very different ways, the artists all share an interest in exploring the possibilities of color. Beard uses a vivid rainbow palette to create interlocking arrangements of bright primary color, which combine to describe explicit sexual encounters. Laska creates dreamlike compositions using paint and collage, evoking a rebellious post-pop aesthetic. Saville applies over 40 layers of paint to produce extraordinary large-scale abstracts, made up of flawlessly gradating shades. This fully illustrated book is available with three different cover designs and includes interviews with the artists by Polly Borland, Rachel Howard and Lizzi Bougatsos, plus essays by Michael Bracewell, Freire Barnes and Amie Corry, exploring the artists’ work within the broader context of the philosophy of color."
None Posted Jan 25, 2019

Book of the Day > Afghanistan At Peace

Book of the Day> Afghanistan at Peace by Sandra Miller Ross PhD, Edward S. Ross PhD, with Sandra B. Cook PhD and Sandra L. Fish. Published by Rare Bird Books. “In 1970, the prominent entomologist Ed Ross and his wife Sandy were on a legitimate scientific expedition, focused on achieving a significant scientific result, i.e., to find and identify a special insect, an embiid. Over a period of years, in the course of Ed’s research, the couple had already visited very remote and exotic locales all over the world, including places many people have never heard of. They had seen people living nearly stone-age lives, witnessed primitive rites, thrice camped their way across Africa, and Ed never set foot in a hotel during his yearlong entomological survey of India. But none of this could have prepared them for Afghanistan. As world-traveled as they were, they found themselves completely surprised and enthralled by this unique, ancient, and enduring culture. “
Book of the Day Posted Jan 23, 2019

Book of the Day > Jonas Mekas: A Dance With Fred Astaire

Book of the Day > Jonas Mekas: A Dance with Fred Astaire. Published by Anthology Editions. "A Dance with Fred Astaire covers the 94 years Jonas Mekas has spent weaving himself inextricably into the fabric of postwar culture, featuring a dizzying cast of cultural icons both underground and mainstream. Told in Mekas’ warm prose style and illustrated with rare personal materials, this is a revealing visual autobiography of a genuine culture hero."
Book of the Day Posted Jan 20, 2019

Book of the Day > American Advertising Cookbooks

Book of the Day > American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O. Published by Process Media. "American Advertising Cookbooks: How Corporations Taught Us to Love Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O is a deeply researched and entertaining survey of twentieth century American food. Connecting cultural, social, and geopolitical aspects, author Christina Ward (Preservation: The Art & Science of Canning , Fermentation, and Dehydration, Process 2017) uses her expertise to tell the fascinating and often infuriating story of American culinary culture. Readers will learn of the role bananas played in the Iran-Contra scandal, how Sigmund Freud's nephew decided Carmen Miranda would wear fruit on her head, and how Puritans built an empire on pineapples. American food history is rife with crackpots, do-gooders, con men, and scientists all trying to build a better America-while some were getting rich in the process. Loaded with full-color images, Ward pulls recipes and images from her vast collection of cookbooks and a wide swath of historical advertisements to show the influence of corporations on our food trends. Though easy to mock, once you learn the true history, you will never look at Jell-O the same way again! American Advertising Cookbooks, How Corporations Taught Us To Love Bananas, Spam, and Jell-O features full-color images and essays uncovering the origins of popular foods."
Book of the Day Posted Jan 19, 2019

Book of the Day > Cabin Fever

Book of the Day > Cabin Fever. Published by Vancouver Art Gallery and Information Office. "Cabin Fever traces the tradition of the cabin in Canada and the United States?from the settlement of the frontier to the contemporary depictions feverishly circulated across the Internet?showing how this humble architectural form has been appropriated for its symbolic value and helped shape a larger cultural identity. The title is borrowed from the idiomatic expression for an anxious state of mind resulting from a prolonged stay in a remote or confined place. But it also plays upon the more consumer-driven definition of ?fever:? a contagious, usually transient, fascination with an object of desire. Acknowledging the pervasive influence of this typology, Cabin Fever offers a historical survey of the cabin in North America over the past three centuries. Heavily illustrated, it is composed of a selection of notable literature, excerpted texts and iconic images that chronicle the long history of writing and visual documentation of the cabin. The publication follows a tripartite structure?Shelter, Utopia and Porn?that maps the formal evolution of the cabin typology within a changing set of social and cultural desires. Additional content includes a typological narrative of twenty selected buildings that collectively map the evolution of the cabin from rudimentary shelter to technologically sophisticated retreat and a survey of art that recognizes the cabin as a subject with enduring and complex connotations. Highlights of Cabin Fever include the work and writings of Edward Abbey, Margaret Atwood, James Benning, W.E.B. DuBois, Walker Evans, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Dorothea Lange, Michael Pollan, Rudolph Schindler, Julius Shulman, and Henry David Thoreau, among many others." 
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