Books Received

by M.A.D. Staff

These are reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look.

A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections, edited by Nancy E. Green and Christopher Reed (Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2008, 274 pp., hardbound, $35 from Cornell University Press, [www.cornellpress.cornell.edu] or [800] 666-2211).

This catalog contains original essays by art historians tackling what seems to have become a complex relationship of the Bloomsbury artists and American appreciators and collectors. The hefty book is more than an accompaniment to the pictures and the traveling exhibition A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections. It is a stand-alone analysis of the relationship between images and words, between gay collectors and Bloomsbury artists, and feminists and their appreciation of Bloomsbury artworks, among other topics.

Incidentally, the itinerary for the exhibition, after it closes at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, on October 18, includes Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California, November 7-December 13; Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, January 15-March 14, 2010; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, April 3-June 15, 2010; and Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, July 6-September 26, 2010.

The first essay, "Bloomsbury and Art: An Overview," grounds the discussion well. Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina gives us a cogent summation with interwoven insights regarding Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, and the other intimates of the group, turning on "Virginia Woolf's famous statement 'that on or about December, 1910, human character changed.'" Gerzina's short essay whets an appetite for learning more about Dora Carrington, a woman artist about whom she wrote a biography. It was during that writing process that the author came to know the "Bloomsberries."

Nancy E. Green's essay, "From Little Holland House to Charleston: Bloomsbury's Victorian Inheritance," also grounds readers in the direct links from one era to another, ones that are generally overlooked. This essay was very helpful and full of archival illustrations.

The essay by Christopher Reed begins: "Recent scholarship on art collecting has shifted emphasis from product to process. Collecting, in this view, is not the discovery and acquisition of objects that have inherent meaning or quality. Collectors, rather, actively contribute to our assessments of meaning and quality." He dives into a series of examples and some surprising conclusions.

Being involved with book arts myself, I looked forward to the essay "Lightness Visible: An Appreciation of Bloomsbury's Books and Blocks," but I found the going more pedantic than I prefer. Benjamin Harvey's analysis makes some interesting points but feels plodding. At the moment when electronic reading seems to threaten the pleasures of reading a well-designed and well-produced book, especially art books, this essay could have been a sizzler.

The second half of the book holds the illustrations of the artworks in the exhibition. They are in color and presented cleanly on the pages. I was especially glad to see the art of Dora Carrington, who is a lesser-known part of the circle, and of Roger Fry, whose artworks are usually underrepresented, and of Duncan Grant. It is nice to see the things from private collections together with the art from institutions. Of course, seeing art in person is always more powerful than in illustrations. I cannot vouch for the color accuracy of the photos nor the artists' real touches, which are so crucial to full appreciation and are mostly missing from any reproductions.

A.C.V.

Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans by Sarah Greenough (National Gallery of Art, in association with Steidl, 2009, 506 pp., hardbound, $75 for the expanded version, or $45 for the 374-page softbound edition with abridged supplementary material, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store, [http://store.metmuseum.org] or [800] 468-7386).

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans, photographer Robert Frank's seminal 1958-59 book, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., drew heavily from its important Robert Frank collection and mined other archives to produce two editions of this impressive tome. The book accompanies the exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, which premiered at the National Gallery of Art in January, traveled to San Francisco, and is now on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through January 3, 2010.

This massive volume is unusual in several respects. Not only does it include sequentially arranged prints of all 83 photographs in the original The Americans, but in a series of enlightening, scholarly chapters, it also positions the Swiss-born Frank's impressive oeuvre in relation to his influences, including editors, writers, curators, and photographers. The expanded hardbound edition also contains reproductions of Frank's contact sheets, correspondence, and archival documents, revealing Frank's creative process, plus a map of his travels and a chronology.

Looking In tells the story as it unfolded during Frank's travels on a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955-56 and as he developed and revised this important yet controversial photographic documentary of an era. Frank described his project thus: "The Americans is the voyage of a European in a country that he crosses for the first time. You are on a beach, you dive into the wave."

The book details and documents the publication's early history. Scorned at first because of its many too-true-to-life, wallop-packing realistic images, it ultimately spoke to younger photographers and the emerging counterculture. It was a pivotal work in documentary photography that became increasingly successful, resulting in several editions. Robert Frank voiced ambivalent emotions about its eventual overwhelming acceptance, as indicated in the book's brilliant chapter entitled "Blowing Down Bleecker Street: Destroying The Americans." Success did not come naturally to Frank, who early in his career had been encouraged by supporters such as Walker Evans, Edward Steichen, and Alexey Brodovitch.

Sarah Greenough, the exhibition's curator, states in her introduction that Robert Frank "showed a culture deeply riddled by racism, alienation, and isolation, one with little civility and much violence. He depicted a society numbed by a seemingly endless array of consumer goods…and he revealed a people emasculated by politicians who were fatuous and distant at best, messianic at worst." She also comments, "The book's rising reputation never sat comfortably on Frank's shoulders." She points out that Frank turned to filmmaking in the late 1950's and since the early 1970's "has danced back and forth between the two media."

Looking In contains considerable biographical information about Frank, who was born in 1924 and cooperated with the production of this book and the exhibition. Detailed are his family background, his Swiss schooling, including immersion in the works of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, his photography lessons during World War II in Switzerland, his arrival in New York City in 1947, his travels to Peru, Cuba, Panama, Brazil, and Bolivia, his inability to get his photo collection Black White and Things published in Life magazine, and his marriage to Mary Lockspeiser. Images from Black White and Things and the collection called Mary's Book are included.

Scholarly essays detail Frank's interesting associations, including fashion photographer Louis Faurer, Condé Nast art director Alexander Liberman, Edward Steichen, Swiss photographer Gotthard Schuh, Walker Evans, and publisher Robert Delpire. Included is Frank's exposure to the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, which, he reported, challenged him to be more than a fashion photographer. Luc Sante's essay on the relationship between Jack Kerouac and Robert Frank is informative; it concerns their collaboration in the 16 mm film Pull My Daisy, based on the third act of Kerouac's play Beat Generation. Frank is reported to have asked Kerouac to write the introduction to The Americans.

References to these and many other figures prominent in the post-World War II art and literary world who were linked to Robert Frank's work and history enhance the book, providing fascinating reading. Hundreds of reproduced images, many with meaningful, at times poetic, juxtapositions give testimony to an immensely productive life devoted to creating documentary photography that continues to stun, unsettle, and offer insight into an era.

Rose Safran

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480-1650 by Emily J. Peters (Museum of Art, Rhode Island of Design, 2009, 156 pp., softbound, $49 from Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, [www.risdworks.com] or [401] 277-4949).

This is a catalog of an exhibition by the same name that is on view at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence through January 3, 2010. The publication includes over 150 images, many with magnified details of engraved lines. This is the first time that these Renaissance and Baroque works from the collections of RISD and other major institutions have been published. Included are essays by Emily Peters (associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at RISD), Evelyn Lincoln (associate professor of art history at Brown University), and Andrew Stein Raftery (associate professor of printmaking at RISD). The book contains an illustrated checklist of the 85 engravings that are shown in the exhibit, an artist index, and a selected bibliography.

The exhibition will travel to the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in April 2010.

Faces & Flowers: Painting on Lenox China by Ellen Paul Denker (University of Richmond Museums, 2009, 72 pp., softbound, $20 from University of Richmond Museums, [804] 287-6424).

The exhibition by the same name, which opened at the University of Richmond Museums in Virginia, is at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, until January 31, 2010. In her essay curator Ellen Paul Denker discusses Walter Scott Lenox and the beginnings in 1889 of the Ceramic Art Company, the company we know as Lenox China. Lenox, along with cofounder Jonathan Coxon Sr., "believed that a pottery could be successful with art as its sole product and did not need general ware as a bread-and-butter product." They accomplished this by hiring the best artisans from Europe and Britain. When Coxon retired in 1896, Charles Fergus Binns, who had managed Worcester Royal Porcelain Manufactory, was hired, and he introduced hand-painted decorative dinnerware. It was so beautiful it was not used as dinnerware but only as fancy place settings until dinner was served.

Lenox created "exquisitely painted porcelain [that] many connoisseurs desire…and are willing to pay dearly for the privilege of possession." Production of hand-painted Lenox wares ceased after World War II.

More than 30 pieces are represented in this catalog with large color pictures and descriptive captions. Most of the pieces are from private collections. An exhibition checklist organized by artist name is also included.

Miller's 20th Century Design: The Definitive Illustrated Sourcebook by Judith Miller (Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., 2009, 304 pp., hardbound, $34.99).

This book is a catalog of compendiums, designed for collectors at their initial phase. In her introduction Miller sweeps through the whole 20th century in two pages and leads the reader forward with enthusiasm. Each period is treated in about two pages. Biographical synopses about artist-designers, many of whom have had entire books written about them, are presented in very abbreviated form but offer enough data for someone ready to begin collecting. For example, terms are explained for furniture parts in most all the various categories with lines pointing to the parts in photos of pieces. Names of the most prominent designers and artist-craftsmen are listed. Their works are usually safe to bid on (they represent items that will hold value) if you are at auction and judge the item's condition.

The format is handy for those who need an overview. You can key into a category quickly, read a bit, and see a few examples. At the end of the descriptions of each item is a letter, a key to the price-range chart in the front. This gives you a value indicator, the range you can expect to pay.

There are many photographs of all sizes, mostly in color, and the book's layout is pleasing. The overall tone and look of the book has the Miller flavor, which generally means the brighter colors of iconic works were chosen to represent the vast repertoire of the century's offerings.

When becoming accustomed to the terminology and feel of the periods, it may be wise to keep in mind a quotation that Miller chose from George Nelson: "What we call a good design is one which achieves integrity-that is, unity or wholeness-in balanced relation to its environment." I'd like to think that collectors will use this maxim as they put together their chosen environments.

A.C.V.

The San Francisco Cliff House by Mary Germain Hountalas with Sharon Silva (Ten Speed Press, 2009, 224 pp., softbound, $24.95 from Ten Speed Press, [www.tenspeed.com]).

Sprinkled with recipes and anecdotes, this charming history of a well-loved landmark is probably one of the best souvenirs your money can buy. Not only does it offer an authoritative history of Cliff House, it is fun to read, and you can cook up memories of an imaginary visit, even if you haven't had the pleasure of being there.

Hountalas, who since 1973 has been operating Cliff House with her husband, presents her extensive archive about the place in chronological order and includes reproductions of postcards, many photographs, menus, and posters along with her insights into the latest exhaustive process of restoration, completed in October 2004. What enlivens the whole history are the anecdotes. They are written, with assistance from Sharon Silva, succinctly and with panache. One that especially caught my eye was "The Last Moments of Ben Butler."

"Visitors have patronized the Cliff House not only for the food, drink, and ocean views, but also for the chance to watch the large community of sea lions frolic—and sometimes fight—on the nearby Seal Rocks. Wagering on how long it would take a particular sea lion to scramble from the rocks into the water became a popular pastime. With everyone's binoculars firmly focused on the subject, bets were placed. The stakes were so high and heated that some gamblers rigged the results by hiring men to hide near the rocks and shoot air guns at the prescribed time…[T]here has been only one star on those crowded rocks: Ben Butler, named after General Benjamin Franklin Butler…According to a July 14, 1895, obituary in the New York Times headlined 'The Biggest of the Sea Lions Dead,' Ben 'weighed 4,800 pounds, and was over 15 feet long….' He had floated in on the tide, and settled in the soft sand near the Cliff House, where he took his last breath, succumbing to injuries incurred in a pitched battle on the rocks. Just before he passed, he raised his head and 'bellowed pitifully,' a sound that was answered with a giant roar from his fellow sea lions."

There is a recipe in the book for Ben Butler crab sandwich, "introduced at the Cliff House in the 1970s."

A.C.V.

Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication by Joe Nickell (The University Press of Kentucky, 2009, 256 pp., hardbound, $35).

Joe Nickell offers information useful in determining the origin of "antique artifacts" and finding out if they are what they have been purported to be. He gives examples of some of the cases that he has worked on, along with his findings, and he walks the reader through his process of authentication.

Nickell advocates a multifaceted approach that looks at provenance, content, material composition, and scientific analysis. In the book he discusses documents, photographs, and other artifacts. He outlines techniques for determining the age of a handwritten sample by means of assessing the ink, pen, and paper used, and he explains his methods for identifying the subjects of old photographs. He also discusses a number of scientific tests that can be used in investigations.

Black-and-white photographs illustrate his various case studies. A list of references is included, and the book is fully indexed.

Figural Corkscrews by Donald A. Bull (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2009, 288 pp., hardbound, $79.99 from Schiffer Publishing, [www.schifferbooks.com] or [610] 593-1777).

This is author/collector Donald Bull's 21st book. He owns over 9000 figural corkscrews, has a Web site dedicated to the hobby (www.corkscrewmuseum.com), and is a member of many international corkscrew collecting clubs. The corkscrews highlighted in this large book include everything from hands to Popeye to rocket ships, and even a combination tool that looks like a casket. Some items are combination bar tools or part of a set. The author states that his purpose is not to include every known example but to provide insight into the possibilities, which he does by highlighting more than 1600 examples of what's out there. It may surprise and inspire collectors. Value ranges are included, as is a long reading list and an index.

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