Best of
Art

1938

American Photographs


Walker Evans - 1938
    The original edition of American Photographs was a carefully prepared letterpress production, published by The Museum of Modern Art in 1938 to accompany an exhibition of photographs by Evans that captured scenes of America in the early 1930s. As noted on the jacket of the first edition, Evans, "photographing in New England or Louisiana, watching a Cuban political funeral or a Mississippi flood, working cautiously so as to disturb nothing in the normal atmosphere of the average place, can be considered a kind of disembodied, burrowing eye, a conspirator against time and its hammers." This seventy-fifth anniversary edition of American Photographs, made with new reproductions, recreates the original 1938 edition as closely as possible to make the landmark publication available for a new generation. American Photographs has fallen out of print for long periods of time since it was first published, and even subsequent editions--two of which altered the design and typography of the book in small but significant ways--are often available only at libraries and rare bookstores. This version, like the fiftieth-anniversary edition produced by the Museum in 1988, captures the look and feel of the very first edition with the aid of new digital technologies.

The Theater and Its Double


Antonin Artaud - 1938
    

If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit


Brenda Ueland - 1938
    She said she had two rules she followed absolutely: to tell the truth, and not to do anything she didn't want to do. Her integrity shines throughout If You Want to Write, her best-selling classic on the process of writing that has already inspired thousands to find their own creative center. Carl Sandburg called this book "The best book ever written about how to write." Yet Ueland reminds us that "Whenever I say 'writing' in this book, I also mean anything that you love and want to do or to make." Ueland's writing and her teaching are made compelling by her feisty spirit of independence and joy.

Dictionary of Symbols


Carl G. Luingman - 1938
    In this unique dictionary, Carl G. Liungman puts approximately 2,500 Western graphic symbols at your fingertips. Each entry includes the sign's history, its meanings, and the systems in which it is used. Symbols are cross-referenced to other signs with the same meanings and to structurally similar signs with different meanings. Locating an entry is as easy as looking up a word in a dictionary, due to a system that classifies each sign on the basis of three of its structural features.Enhancing the dictionary is a series of fascinating discussions of various aspects of ideograms. These include a discussion of signs and meanings, an overview of the historical development of signs, as well as sections on ancient American ideograms, the astrological system of symbols, the mystical pentagram, and the signs of the alchemists. Two indexes aid the reader. The Word Index specifies signs with a given name or meaning, along with subject headings. The Graphic Index displays symbols based on their structural features.Dictionary of Symbols serves both as a valuable reference on Western cultural history and as a professional tool for those working in design and the arts.

House of Fear


Leonora Carrington - 1938
    Leonora Carrington, an artist of the Surrealist Movement, here joins fiction with autobiography in a collection of work including accounts of her life before and after she met Max Ernst as well as short stories, a novella and original artwork.

High Street: A Facsimile Edition


J.M. Richards - 1938
    M. Richards. Shops include the family butcher, the cheesemonger, the knife grinder, and the oyster bar. Only 2,000 copies of the original book were printed before the lithographic plates were destroyed in the London Blitz during World War II. As a result, it has become one of the most collectible of all artist’s books from this period. This beautiful facsimile edition features Ravilious’s illustrations in exquisite color and includes an essay by V&A curator Gill Saunders, putting the book and its history into context.

The Encyclopedia of Furniture


Joseph Aronson - 1938
    2,000 photographs. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

Poetry and Anarchism


Herbert Read - 1938
    

One Hundred Details from the National Gallery


Kenneth Clark - 1938
    Newly updated and handsomely illustrated, this landmark book juxtaposes pairs of details rarely viewed together; such as cupids from Velázquez's Rokeby Venus and Correggio's The School of Love to illuminate fascinating analogies and contrasts between paintings and artists. Clark's erudite but accessible responses to these works are broad in scope and approach, and range from a few lines to an entire history of the still life. Featuring all new color reproductions, One Hundred Details serves as an introduction to art history and offers a unique and intimate look at these paintings through the discerning eye of a world-renowned art historian and director.

Dance & Drama in Bali


Beryl de Zoete - 1938
    This timeless work is an indispensable guide to the dances and dance-dramas of the Balinese.