Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Top Six Art Books

"Neo-Totemism" copyright Heather Busch

Here's my list of favorite art books discovered recently at the library.
The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles- 5 stars, great drama, better than fiction, fun to read.

False Impressions by Thomas Hoving- Suspenseful true tales of art fraud and fakes plus reveals on getting aged patinas. Two popular choices with fakers? Burrying it in animal dung or skins.

Mary Pratt by Sandra Gwyn- A local artist who's also a member of the Order of Canada

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf- not a new subject, but her insights on women and creativity are handled with an uncommon grace.

Why Paint Cats-The ethics of feline aesthetics- A great spoof, but plenty of food for thought and no matter what the intentions of the authors, it's imaginative and gets the creative juices flowing. You can follow the controversy on their website or see what Snopes had to say (I promise, no kitties were subjected to toxic materials).

Mouse Guard - by David Petersen. I'm smitten with his illustrations. This book was a library discovery that I loved so much I had to buy my own copy.

The last two books were bought with money raised from Magnum Opus charity art auction in years previous. I've been happy to stumble across them and can't wait to see what they'll be able to purchase this year. Do you have a favorite art read? Let me know if you have any to recommend.

9 comments:

ArtPropelled said...

Oh that cat is priceless! Usually I can say I've read at least one of someone elses book choice but I havn't read any of these. My wish list is stretching into the distance but what the heck...I'll add a few more.

Juggling Jason said...

Yay for comics!

Unknown said...

That cat is too cute. Your book list sound super interesting :P hugs..M

Patrice said...

Great reading suggestions, all.

If you've never read Annie Truitt, I'd recommend her book/s to any artist.

Jeane Myers said...

mmmmm, a wonderful list - I'm only familiar with A Room Of One's Own, so will have to check out the rest of them - I have quite a few I look at over and over, but my favorite is a huge book of Antonio Tapies work that I got for Christmas several years ago - He is one of my favorite artists and I'm continually inspired by his work and process.....

Tracy said...

That cat is amazing--sweet, but funny, yet must be taken seriously... :o) Thank you for this list, Shayla. The only one I'm familiar with is A Room of One's Own. So I must track down and check out the others, they sound great reading, learning and fun. Happy Day, my friend ((HUGS))

Shayla said...

Thanks for the reading suggestions. I'll check those out.

Regina said...

I have picked up The Yellow Room more times than I remember & then put it back on the shelf. Now I will have to check it out for sure!
I have also browsed Why Cats Paint & found it delightful.
Two art inspired books that I enjoyed are "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" and "The Lady & the Unicorn" by Tracy Chevalier. I think I've read all of her books. I have many art reference books that I love, but one that helped me greatly is by Dory Kanter - "Art Escapes." I love books & could go on & on...

mansuetude said...

love A Room of Her Own, but last year i found her journals much more alive, sensual, true and personal... they weren't written for an essay to read to women, but for a larger audience.