Greetings from Amazon.com Delivers Art, Architecture, and Photography Editor, Jordana Moskowitz FEATURED IN THIS E-MAIL: * What We're Reading: "The Model Wife" by Arthur Ollman, "Victorian Painting" by Lionel Lambourne, and "Katachi: The Essence of Japanese Design" by Takeji Iwamiya * Fall Museum Update * New and Notable: "Tamara de Lempicka" by Laura Claridge * Coming Soon: "Women" by Annie Leibovitz * Hot Titles: Architecture and design, visual art, and photography bestsellers * Amazon.com Presents the Best of the Century WHAT WE'RE READING ****************** "The Model Wife" by Arthur Ollman http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0821221701/entertainmentsit Charis Wilson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Bebe Nixon, Maria Friedlander--these women's roles as muses and creative collaborators are almost as legendary as the work of their photographer husbands. "The Model Wife" explores the multilayered relationships nine famous photographers shared with their wives and the complex work that grew out of these pairings. "Victorian Painting" by Lionel Lambourne http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714837768/entertainmentsit The works of William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, even Queen Victoria, along with hundreds of other artists, fill the 500-odd pages of "Victorian Painting." Sumptuous reproductions and lively text by former Victoria and Albert Museum curator Lionel Lambourne give this long-underrated era its proper due. "Katachi: The Essence of Japanese Design" by Takeji Iwamiya http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0811825477/entertainmentsit An intricately carved wooden door, a geometric paper screen, a perfect porcelain tea bowl--each exemplifies katachi, the essence of the Japanese design aesthetic. In keeping with its subject, "Katachi" is simply designed and filled with hundreds of examples of classic Japanese creations. FALL MUSEUM UPDATE ****************** It's fall, and the art world is back at work. Highlights of this season's museum shows include retrospectives of such painters as Francesco Clemente, Balthus, and Diego Rivera and part two of the Whitney's massive centennial show, focusing on the postwar era. Click the following link to explore a fuller list of art exhibition catalogs. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/?keyword=fall+museum&tag=entertainmentsit "Life Is Paradise: The Portraits of Francesco Clemente" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576870537/entertainmentsit "Balthus: Catalogue Raisonne of the Complete Works" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810963949/entertainmentsit "Diego Rivera" by Pete Hamill http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0810932342/entertainmentsit "The American Century: Art & Culture, 1950-2000" by Lisa Phillips http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393048152/entertainmentsit NEW AND NOTABLE *************** "Tamara de Lempicka," a robust biography of the Art Deco-era artist--who was as well known for her exotic beauty, political activism, and storied love affairs as for her sensual paintings--heads up this month's list of new and notable art books. Art & Architecture "Tamara de Lempicka: A Life of Deco and Decadence" by Laura Claridge http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517705575/entertainmentsit COMING SOON *********** "Women" Annie Leibovitz; essay by Susan Sontag http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375500200/entertainmentsit A photo of Jerry Hall wearing a fur coat, seated in a very formal parlor, and breast-feeding her plump, naked baby is just one of the stellar images Annie Leibovitz made for her latest book, "Women." Her pictures of artists, farmers, showgirls, politicians, and many others form a unique portrait of contemporary womanhood. HOT TITLES ********** Architecture and Design Bestsellers: "The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape" by James Howard Kunstler http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671888250/entertainmentsit An analysis of America's national landscape argues that much of what surrounds Americans is depressing, ugly, and unhealthy and traces the U.S.'s evolution from a land of village commons to a man-made landscape that ignores both nature and human needs. "S,M,L,XL" by Rem Koolhaas http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885254865/entertainmentsit This extraordinary, massive, and mind-boggling 1,300-page book combines essays, manifestos, diaries, fairy tales, travelogues, a cycle of meditations on the contemporary city, and complex illustrations with work produced by Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture over the past 20 years. "Paul Rand" by Steven Heller http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714837989/entertainmentsit IBM, UPS, ABC. If these acronyms ring a bell, their ubiquitous logos springing instantly to mind, then you know the work of Paul Rand (1914-1996), the Picasso of Graphic Design. Visual Art Bestsellers: "Art for Dummies" by Thomas Hoving http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764551043/entertainmentsit What a privilege it is to stroll through thousands of years of magnificent art with the keen-eyed, confident, supremely knowledgeable Thomas Hoving, the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose opinionated, charming prose could make anyone feel like an art-world insider. "Gothic: Four Hundred Years of Excess, Horror, Evil, and Ruin" by Richard Davenport-Hines http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/086547544X/entertainmentsit "A seminal history of the Gothic imagination, from the seventeenth century to the present day... This revelatory history ranges through art, architecture, gardening, literature, photography, filmmaking, music, and clothing design." "Mark Rothko" edited by Jeffrey Weiss http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300075057/entertainmentsit Three decades after the high-minded, profoundly poignant art of Mark Rothko lost some of its power to the pop stars of the late '60s, it is in ascendancy again. This retrospective catalog is filled with the best reproductions possible of Rothko's large, subtle works, with 116 color plates of notably high fidelity to their delicate surfaces and mesmerizing color. Photography Bestsellers: "David Bailey: Birth of the Cool" by Martin Harrison http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670888184/entertainmentsit David Bailey's name is synonymous with the Swinging Sixties, when fashion photography became big business and the man behind the camera could become as famous as the celebrities who posed for him. And Bailey was the most famous--the East End boy who became best friends with the Beatles and the Stones, the husband of actress Catherine Deneuve, and lover of model Jean Shrimpton--chronicling them all in a series of unmistakable, unforgettable shots. "Water Light Time" by David Doubilet http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714838284/entertainmentsit When David Doubilet was a child, he photographed swimmers in the waters off of New Jersey. "Water Light Time" is a collection of images that capture the underwater magnificence that seized the photographer's imagination in childhood and spurred a lifelong fascination. "A New History of Photography" edited by Michel Frizot http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3829013280/entertainmentsit "A New History of Photography" was created after the French Ministry of Culture observed that there were no books produced in France that addressed the history of the art form. Rather than present the standard chronological survey, this book's creators chose to produce a volume that would encompass photography's historical evolution as well as its role in society. AMAZON.COM PRESENTS THE BEST OF THE CENTURY ******************************************* As the century comes to a close, Amazon.com takes a look at the landmarks in books, music, and video of the past 100 years. Selected by our editors, our lists take you decade by decade from the turn of the century all the way to the end of the millennium. But don't just take our word for it; cast your vote for the best book, video, and CD in our best-of-the-millennium poll for your chance to win our customers' 300 favorite music, book, and video titles. Books of the century ****** Give the Perfect Gift -- Get the Perfect Gift Does Aunt Ida send polka CDs when you'd prefer pop? Create an Amazon.com Wish List and save everyone the agony of the unwanted gift. Wish list Clueless as to what to get your Kentucky cousin for Christmas? Send him an e-card and tell him to set up an Amazon.com Wish List so you can easily find and send him his heart's desire. Wish card ****** You'll find more great books, articles, excerpts, and interviews in Amazon.com's Art, Architecture & Photography section at Art & Architecture
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