Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2020 -

This handsome, beautifully illustrated, engagingly and perceptively written volume was published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibition by the same name, which runs until mid-August 2020. Humboldt (1769-1859) was 34 years old when he arrived in the US in 1804. He had just completed a five-year reconnaissance of the physical and natural world of Mexico and South America. The curious Prussian polymath had a passion for observing, measuring, collecting, and chronicling the flora, fauna, and geologic specimens he encountered and placing them all in a natural perceivable physical order. In eight chapters, Harvey (senior curator at the museum) examines the diverse manner through which Humboldt contributed to the evolution of American culture and how he influenced later naturalists, explorers, and artists. Of particular interest are the perceptions Humboldt had of the American natural world and its future, his respect for indigenous cultures of North America, his opposition to American slavery, and his influence on individuals he never met, such as John Charles Fremont and Frederick Church. Chapter notes demonstrate Harvey's mastery of the primary materials and the sources that chronicle these developments and the secondary literature built on those sources.Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.

Becoming America celebrates Jonathan and Karin Fielding's 2016 gift of their folk-art collection to the Huntington Museum and Library in San Marino, California. The book also serves as a catalogue for the collection, providing a selective overview of some of the 250 artifacts displayed, the majority from the northeastern US, in the museum. Including an interview with the dealer who assisted the Fieldings on their collection path and essays by well-known authorities in the field of early American decorative arts and material culture--among those experts John Demos, Sumpter Priddy, and Stacy Hollander--the volume explores themes of making, fashion, and interpretation. Of particular note is the introductory essay, in which the collectors generously share the arc of their collection's development. But the real stars of the volume are the objects. Readers will delight in images of truly remarkable textiles, metalwork, painted furniture, landscape paintings and portraits, and Shaker boxes and a wonderful array of often extraordinarily and extravagantly finished household artifacts. Perhaps the greatest gift Becoming America bestows is the reminder that art need not be separated from everyday life.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

More than 200 years after Austen's death, interest in her remains strong. She has been the subject of numerous academic and popular studies--including social commentary on the times in which she lived and wrote--and media adaptions of her works abound. Austen's observations about the events, places, and people of the Regency period (1795-1825) form the foundation and lens for this volume by Davidson (honorary associate, Univ. of Sydney, Australia), a dress, textile, and fashion historian and curator. Geographically organized, the book begins with the person and identity of Austen, her immediate family, and her surroundings, and then moves concentrically outward to global clothing production and consumption trends. The reader comes away from this study with a complete understanding not only of clothing styles, materials, and construction of the period but also of social class and gender roles. Meticulously researched, the book includes citations of published and unpublished manuscripts and letters of Austen, along with both the views of her contemporaries and the work of other Austen scholars. An extensive bibliography, numerous color plates, a clothing glossary, and a timeline accompany the text. This book demonstrates that what, why, and how clothing was worn during this period had and has meaning.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

In her contribution to this beautifully produced collection (her subject is Paul Revere), Nan Wolverton writes that Freemasonry, the world's oldest and largest fraternity, has been dedicated from its beginnings to "promoting the enlightened belief that men could create a better world through reason, harmony, and right conduct" (p. 120). The 11 essays, together with the comprehensive introduction by Wolf (SUNY, New Paltz) and Luxenberg (Univ. of Georgia), illustrate the significant impact the fraternity has had on the visual arts from the Enlightenment to the present in England, Continental Europe, and the US. The collection is an example of a recent upsurge of scholarly interest in Freemasonry, which has taken the "craft" from the obscurity of esoterica to a legitimate subject of interest for cultural, historical, and sociological study. Covering an impressive range of arts, essays touch on Meissen porcelain, etchings and engravings by Hogarth and Paul Revere, paintings by Goya and Copley, photographic portraiture of African American masons, and even masonic folk art in contemporary Haitian voodooism. The book is copiously illustrated with 16 color plates and roughly 9 black-and-white figures illustrating each of the essays. Also included is a comprehensive bibliography.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.

This captivating book accompanies the spectacular exhibition of 16th through 18th century objects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Gathered from prestigious collections, the objects were crafted at a time when science and knowledge were perceived as paths to power and prosperity. The Renaissance and the Baroque and early Enlightenment eras were marked by intellectual curiosity, scientific exploration, and innovation. Alchemical experiments led to the development of European porcelain and ruby glass. Advances in astronomy and engineering enabled the creation of complex clock mechanisms, delightful automatons, and other animated showpieces admired for their functionality and their elegance. Beautifully wrought mechanical devices legitimized rulership and were seen as status symbols. To increase their courtly prestige and flaunt their wealth, noble patrons commissioned opulent display pieces. This interdisciplinary overview provides insight into the motivation behind collecting exotic natural wonders and rarities from around the world as well as the symbolism and interpretation of the intersection between art, science, technology, and entertainment. Incisive scholarly text accompanies the many color illustrations and photographs and elucidates and contextualizes the sophisticated machines, inventive tools, insightful paintings, ostentatious furniture, ingenious scientific and musical instruments, exquisite jewelry, and extraordinary ivory turnings included in this substantial tome.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Graphic works that protest established political, economic, and other values have a long history. That history is beautifully brought to light in McQuiston's lavishly illustrated book. Protest! makes excellent use of the full-color large-format pages. This reviewer is unaware of another resource on the subject that combines depth of scholarship, care of reproduction, and extended timeline as this volume does. Starting with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses (1517), picking up steam with the pamphleteers of the French Revolution, and coursing right through the tumultuous 1960s to the present day, McQuiston (a graphic artist and independent scholar) reminds the reader that protest is a graphic tradition that has always existed alongside the mainstream information channels. This is an invaluable resource for those in the social sciences as well for students and scholars of the graphic arts.Summing Up: Essential. All readers.

Focusing primarily on Italy, France, Holland, and Flanders, The Power of Color explores the making, materials, marketing, and meaning of color over five centuries of painting. Stepping linearly through time and making specific connections between artists, Hall (Tyler School of Art, Temple Univ.) uses the ample and excellent color images to explore how paintings came to look the way they do and how color can tell the viewer about the artists and the times in which they worked. The author discusses factors that influenced artists' materials and processes and how these decisions affect meaning. Chapters provide specific examples supported through image and written textural evidence, and Hall's teaching experience is clear in the strong chapter introductions and conclusions. This book would make an excellent addition to art history curricula, especially those built to expand students' interest and knowledge into materials and process--both key concepts for pursuing study in conservation and curatorial work. Hall's clear writing and ability to illustrate connections across time and space make this an excellent resource for a general audience. The extensive notes and bibliography will provide specialists with avenues for additional and deeper research.Summing Up: Essential. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; general readers.

Most design history classes touch on only the surface of printing and focus on Gutenberg. Boardley provides a comprehensive look at the historical events that made printing as it is today. Tracing the entire history of printing as it developed over the centuries, this volume includes discussion of woodcuts, relief printing, the creation of inks, illuminated manuscripts, and women's involvement in printing. Boardley goes back to first universities of the 11th and 12th centuries and the rise of literacy rates and subsequent demand for books. This reviewer was fascinated to learn the 16th-century recipe for gold ink, which includes nine lizards and a quart of goat's milk (those interested will have to read the book to find out the other ingredients). The time line is very helpful, as are the author's notes at the end of the volume. This a great book for those studying typographic history and for anyone with a love for print.Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers.