Arts & Music Books > Art & Design Arts & Music Books > T

Advantages: Fun, lively, interesting, colourful
Disadvantages: Exclusively Western in approach

...that a nun going through the museum would have (a) been interesting, (b) been publishable, (c) been television-worthy, or (d) been within the realm of credible imaginings? And yet, here is the proof, on my coffee table. Sister Wendy's smiling face, next to a scowling Vincent, greets me each day with my morning cocoa. This is a book to be savoured. It cannot, like the morning cocoa, be rushed and enjoyed. This must take time. Not because the text ...
...and low-gloss format to make the pages vibrant and durable yet easily seen. Care has gone into the production of this volume. None of the art is reduced to black and white, but rather presented in glorious colour. With over 800 images in under 400 pages, this is a feast for the eyes. Each page is dominated by art, not text. That makes for slow moving, like reading a museum.. Sister Wendy Beckett takes us on an historical tour of painting (in the ... Read review

Advantages: A Good introduction to 20th Century Modernism
Disadvantages: Rambles a bit in places

...as far as covering all the main movements/schools of the 20th century. I thought it would be interesting to review this book because though it was written over 25 years ago to accompany the television series, Robert Hughes recently came back to present a new programme of the tv show to examine more recent work to examine whether the things that made art in the 20th century shocking are still relevant today. I would suggest that this was not so, as ...
...last 25 years than was the case then or even over the last century. In a film which featured interviews with David Hockney, Paula Rego, Jeff Koons and Sean Scully, Robert Hughes made the case that painting, drawing, and the search for beauty matter more than ever before. I read this book recently after having first read it 25 years ago when the show first came out. The original series was repeated on bbc4, Thursday 8th July, Thursday29th July, in ... Read review

Advantages: Wonderful, inspiring, a good text for making one think and see in new ways
Disadvantages: A few colour plates or images would be nice

...from her table to read the first page, and found that I simply could not put it down. 'The Art of Life and Vice Versa', the subtitle said - something I have long aspired to understand is the interplay of art and life in its many facets and influences. According to author Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for the New York Times and frequent author on art and cultural topics, studying art and those who devote themselves to art 'provides us with clues ...
...Kimmelman's early examples is of the dentist Hugh Francis Hicks, whose home was a makeshift lightbulb museum (with more than 75,000 lightbulbs in his collection from all manner of times, places and devices). This is not mere enthusiasm, but an abiding love that made his interest a matter of art. One of Kimmelman's intentions here, which he has achieved, was not to confront or approach art from the standpoint of an art critic, an art historian, or ... Read review

Advantages: Have a look for five minutes or three hours...
Disadvantages: If anything it is the size..

...later he had it returned. The thoughts and concepts of being so simple with design really opens your mind to thinking differently about everyday objects, this collection of Alan Flectcher's work is just a retrospective of all his excellant ideas, i would be satisfied with a book just on his average ideas, this man seems to be able to think outside his mind and think about other people's too. The layout of this book, the order, the colours within ... Read review

Advantages: Superb nugget sized tips, fits the camera bag nicely
Disadvantages: None

...Kelby, author of many of the better photography boooks out there has now come up with the antidote. The Digital Photography Book is a mere 200 odd pages and is just slightly bigger than A5 in size yet contains a whole lot of useful information that will almost certainly improve anyone's photography. I was initially wondering quite what Scott Kelby had been smoking as the first few pages were somewhat surreal. Even the author noted they included ...
...shaky start the book morphed in to something far better. Each page is a self-contained tip or concept, often with an inspiring image for illustration. The text is rarely more than a paragraph or two yet manages to get important and useful stuff covered concisely and clearly. Taking for instance, a chapter on tips for getting sharp pictures. You get a page for tripods, ballheads, cable releases, self-timers, mirror lockup (for really sharp pictures), ... Read review