RIT Libraries Recent Acquisitions - Art

500 Plastic Jewelry Designs : a Groundbreaking Survey of a Modern Material / [senior Editor, Marthe Le Van]

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: The popular 500 series takes its hippest, most fun approach yet, with an intoxicatingly vibrant and technically diverse collection of contemporary jewelry. Juror Susan Kasson Sloan has put together a groundbreaking survey of the best work being done with this thoroughly modern material. Every page offers some delightful eye candy, with pieces that stretch from the subtle and sublime to the fantastically humorous. There's jewelry that tells a story, and jewelry that cleverly incorporates recycled materials—including sunglass lenses and knitting needles. In true 21st century style, much of the work is being designed and produced with cutting-edge CAD CAM technologies. The extremely talented artists include Jantje Fleischhut; Lisa and Scott Cylinder; Adam Paxon; Felieke van der Leest; Ted Noten; Svenja John; Pavel Herynek; Karin Seufert; and Margaux Lange.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

500 Knives : Celebrating Traditional & Innovative Designs / Senior Editor, Marthe Le Van

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: Contemporary knifemakers are far more daring than their counterparts from as recently as a generation ago: they've become masters of new techniques and technologies, experts in reinterpreting form and function to create sculptural works of art. Flip through this amazing on-the-page gallery, and you'll discover a dizzying array of styles, from ones that demonstrate simple elegance to others that feature over-the-top embellishment. The collection includes daggers, kitchen knives, hunting knives, combat and folding knives, switchblades, multi-blades, swords, axes, tomahawks, and even a pistol-knife—all honed with fine creative vision. The international roster of artists includes:Don Hanson - Tim Hancock - Rebecca Sheer - Chantal Gilbert - Anders Hogstrom - Vince Evans - Frankie Flood - Johan Gustafsson - Allen Elishewitz - Jot Singh Khalsa - Wendy Yothers - and more!

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

A Fine Line : Scratchboard Illustrations / By Scott McKowen

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: A glorious celebration of the scratchboard art of Scott McKowen. Scratchboard artists use sharp instruments to scratch lines in areas of black ink on a prepared surface of hard chalk, exposing the white surface underneath. The finished drawings are then scanned, and the color is added digitally. The result is spectacular, similar to traditional woodcutting but in full color. Scott McKowen is a renowned and prolific scratchboard artist and illustrator whose art has been featured in hundreds of books, magazines, theater posters and comic books. He may be best known for illustrating Neil Gamain's Marvel Comics series 1602 and the Unabridged Classics series. A Fine Line is the artist's personal selection of 203 full-color and black-and-white reproductions. In a revealing twist on the traditional art book, McKowen gives a detailed analysis of each piece and describes what influenced his design. He even includes images of the reference works he consulted during the conceptual process and talks about the struggles he had arriving at a design solution.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

Gunther Forg : Aller-retour / [text By Rudi Fuchs]

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: This volume of over 100 pastels by eminent German painter Gunther Forg is simply breathtaking. The artist presents soft, schematic surfaces upon color field compositions made up of hard lines. When he fixes the sheet and shakes off the residual pigment, it leaves a very fine, scarcely perceptible veil over the work. Thus from time to time the palette of color oscillates from heavy to light via bright and crazy to bulging and full, compelling the observer to flip from page to page, comparing, remembering, seeing in a new way. Gunther Forg's abstraction in its most extreme form captivates every observer's concentration. With a text by Rudi Fuchs.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

Anne Packard

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AWARD WINNER - 2007 BEST ART BOOK Awarded by PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association. Limited Edition Signed and Numbered by Anne Packard 13 x 18. In this sweeping retrospective collection, artist Anne Packard presents the mature work of a keen observer of life, the world and her beloved Cape Cod. Most pointedly, she captures Provincetown's hooked harbor and expansive sky as grand as a western sky above the plains reaching beyond its precarious perch. Anne Packard is raw and mysterious, sharing with us studies of personal solitude and a glimpse into her enduring creative devotion to the moods and grandeur of light. The work is accompanied by text from contributing writers including a personal artist statement from Packard.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

Empty the Mind : the Art of Park Seo-Bo / Soon Chun Cho and Barbara Bloemink

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: Park Seo-Bo is a trailblazer in contemporary Korean art, having helped introduce the West s concept of modern art to his fellow countrymen in the 1950s. The recipient of numerous awards throughout Asia and the subject of more than a dozen major exhibitions including a major retrospective of his work this year at the Arario Gallery in New York he has also taught two generations at Korea s prestigious Hong-Ik Arts University. Today, he is still experimenting, attempting to articulate his essence through his art. Empty the Mind is the first book on the legendary Korean artist to be widely available in the West.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

Good Design : Deconstructing Form and Function and What Makes Good Design Work / Terry Marks ; with Matthew Porter

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: The author polls several designers of different age groups and phases in their careers about what they consider “good design”. Each has selected an existing design piece they feel to be good, based on their personal definition of what “good” is. The author also takes a critical look at the design to determine if it is effective with its target market and interviews the designer of the piece to unlock the concept behind the design. By taking this backwards approach through design—from completed piece back to conception—readers will discover why the design works and how they can use this information in their own projects.

Added: Friday, Nov 6 2009

--and There Was Sculpture : Jacob Epstein's Formative Years (1882-1930) / Raquel Gilboa

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Added: Thursday, Nov 5 2009

Puget Sound Through an Artist's Eye / Tony Angell ; with a Foreword By Ivan Doig

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Description: For nearly fifty years Tony Angell has used Puget Sound's natural diversity as his artist's palette. In this book, he describes the living systems within the Sound and shares his observations and encounters with the species that make up the complex communities of the Sound's rivers, tidal flats, islands, and beaches: the fledging flight of a young peregrine, an otter playfully herding a small red rockfish, the grasp of a curious octopus. Angell goes on to explain the methods he uses in his art. The shapes, movements, patterns, and even temperatures and smells that he experiences in the field are all brought to bear on his work. His drawings bring clarity to his visual and emotional memories, and his sculptures allow him to approach a memory from many directions and retain that memory in his hands. In all of his work, he lets the passion and excitement of his discoveries drive his artistic expression. Angell augments his descriptions of the wildlife of the Puget Sound region and his working methods with two appendices listing guides and references to this and other regions by other artists and naturalists. These resources not only put wildlife viewers in touch with the times and places to view particular species, but also speak to the patience and willingness to be delighted that are necessary to increasing the understanding of our wild neighbors.

Added: Thursday, Nov 5 2009

Diego Rivera : the Cubist Portraits 1913-1917 / Sylvia Navarrete ... [et Al.]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: This highly illustrated catalogue will accompany an important exhibition organized by the Meadows Museum entitled Diego Rivera: The Cubist Portraits 1913 ? 1917 that will take place from 21st June to 20th September, 2009. It is focused on the study of the formative stage of Rivera's career during the second decade of the 20th century, which he spent in Paris and traveling in Europe as a member of avant-garde intellectual circles. This project marks the first time that this aspect of Rivera's work will have been comprehensively studied, thus making a significant contribution to the scholarship on his life and work.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

The Modern Eye : Stieglitz, MoMA, and the Art of the Exhibition, 1925-1934 / Kristina Wilson

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: The Modern Eye explores the origins and development of early 20th-century modernism in America through the lens of the major exhibitions that introduced this art to the general public. Author Kristina Wilson shows how modern artists and curators sought to relate high art to mass culture in order to make it accessible to more people, and successfully popularized modern painting and design during the interwar years. A major contribution to our understanding of the origins of modernism, this book captures the vibrant diversity that the term “modern art” meant at this time. The chapters examine exhibitions held in New York in the 1920s and 1930s, including those organized by Alfred Stieglitz, the Little Review, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. In examining the marketing of modernism, Wilson reveals how these exhibitions attempted to stage an intersection between art and everyday life, and how they taught viewers to look at, and care about, modern art.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

Cezanne and American Modernism / [edited By] Gail Stavitsky, Katherine Rothkopf ; Essays By Ellen Handy ... [et Al.]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Paul Cézanne (1839?1906) is one of the great geniuses in the history of art, and his work has influenced a multitude of artists throughout Europe. Across the Atlantic, Cézanne's paintings had a similarly catalytic effect on artists emerging in the United States during the early 20th century. Cézanne and American Modernism is the first book devoted specifically to his impact on American art and its eager reception there. It shows how American painters and photographers cemented Cézanne's legacy by spreading their respect and admiration for his vision with their own art, writings, and exhibitions. Examining Cézanne's influence on more than a generation of American artists, this handsomely illustrated book features paintings and photography by Paul Strand, Marsden Hartley, Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, Charles Demuth, Arshile Gorky, Charles Sheeler, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Maurice Prendergast, Morgan Russell, Max Weber, and many others. Cézanne's far-reaching transformative impact on each artist's aesthetic vision is explored, while extensive essays shed new light on a wide range of subjects from American collectors of his work and his shaping of modernism in the American West to the lasting resonance of his art on Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

Jean Despres : Jeweler, Maker and Designer of the Machine Age / Melissa Gabardi

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: A definitive celebration of the work of this noted Art Deco designer. Jean Després (1889?1980) was an Art Deco designer who captured the streamlined, modern aesthetic of the age of the machine and transformed it into objects of great beauty. As a young man, Després became acquainted with avant-garde artists in Paris, including Modigliani, de Chirico, and Braque, and, after the outbreak of war in 1914, he worked on the industrial design of airplanes. He later transferred this experience and inspiration to his family's jewelry business, where he became known for his innovative geometric patterns. He also created a wide range of tableware and decorative objects in gold, silver, and pewter, whose bold, industrial looks were uncompromisingly modern, yet always graceful and refined. Many drawings and designs are reproduced here for the first time, and original photographs are complemented by a number of new photographs taken especially for the book. Després has always been the jeweler of choice for informed collectors and insiders: Josephine Baker was an early admirer, and Andy Warhol's personal collection was sold at Sotheby's New York in 1988. This splendidly illustrated survey of his work will delight new admirers and connoisseurs alike. 234 color, 107 b&w illustrations.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

New Skateboard Graphics / J. Namdev Hardisty ; Foreword By Michael Leon

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Skateboarding grew from a Southern California hobby born out of surfing to a nationwide trend, which developed into a visual style. While the bottoms of skateboards have always been adorned with graphics, back then only a handful of skateboard manufacturers existed. Today, vast amounts of visuals are created for skateboards, with more than 40 major brands in the market. Because of how the sport has grown, however, many of these graphics are used for only a season, and then are forgotten about ? until now. From spreads of full-board designs to detailed crops of patterns and graphics, Skateboard Graphics features the best, most innovative work going on today. Interviews with designers and creators of major brands will help elucidate this colorful phenomenon.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

Luc Tuymans / Edited By Madeleine Grynsztejn and Helen Molesworth ; Essays By Helen Molesworth ... [et Al.]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: This book has been published to mark the occasion of Luc Tuymans' retrospective in Hungary and Poland. Since this is the artist's debut in Eastern Europe, six renowned authors were invited to comment on his art. A writer's perspective will always be more uninhibited than an art historian's. The authors were given complete liberty to decide what to reflect on: an image, Tuymans' activity as a painter, or some other aspect of his personality. This unusual approach has resulted in essays covering a wide variety of subjects: from the painter's personality and the life of an artist, to the style of his pictures and the themes of his images.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

Hanging Fire : Contemporary Art From Pakistan / Salima Hashmi ; with Contributions From Naazish Ata-Ullah ... [et Al.]

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: Accompanying the first U.S. museum exhibition devoted to contemporary art from Pakistan, this dynamic catalogue provides a groundbreaking look at recent and current trends in Pakistani art. Hanging Fire covers a fascinating range of subjects and media, from installation and video art to sculpture, drawing, and paintings in the “contemporary miniature” tradition. Essays by distinguished contributors from a variety of fields, including Salima Hashmi, Pakistani-American sociologist and historian Ayesha Jalal, and the celebrated novelist Mohsin Hamid, place contemporary Pakistani art in a cultural, historical, and artistic perspective. The book's title, Hanging Fire, alludes to the contemporary economic, political, and social tensions--both local and global--from which these artists find their creative inspiration. It may also suggest to the viewer to delay judgment, particularly based on assumptions or preconceived notions about contemporary society and artistic expression in Pakistan today.

Added: Friday, Oct 30 2009

Antique Packaging / Josep M. Garrofe

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Thursday, Oct 29 2009

The Bags / Mito Design

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Thursday, Oct 29 2009

David Smith : Working Surface : Painting, Sculpture, Drawing 1932-63 / [editing Krystyna Gmurzynksa, Mathias Rastorfer]

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Added: Thursday, Oct 29 2009

Miwa Ogasawara : Windhauch / Herausgeben Von = Edited By: Vera Munro ; Mit Einem Interview Von = with an Interview By Hans-Jorg Clement ; Und Einem Text Von = and with an Text By Noemi Smolek ; [Ubersetzung/translation: Joe O'Donnell, Ian Pepper]

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT

Description: The painter Miwa Ogasawara's pictures are sparsely populated, almost ghostly images of figures and interiors, which (despite their muted coloring) quietly leak out light. Drawing on--and countering--a tradition of Japanese shadow aesthetics, Ogasawara gives only the most minimal visual clues, which lends the paintings a simultaneous clarity and obscurity.

Added: Thursday, Oct 29 2009