Best of
Art-History

1976

The Doré Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy


Gustave Doré - 1976
    His Doré Bible was a treasured possession in countless homes, and his best-received works continued to appear through the years in edition after edition. His illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy constitute one of his most highly regarded efforts and were Doré's personal favorites.The present volume reproduces with excellent clarity all 135 plates that Doré produced for The Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. From the depths of hell onto the mountain of purgatory and up to the empyrean realms of paradise, Doré's illustrations depict the passion and grandeur of Dante's masterpiece in such famous scenes as the embarkation of the souls for hell, Paolo and Francesca (four plates), the forest of suicides, Thaïs the harlot, Bertram de Born holding his severed head aloft, Ugolino (four plates), the emergence of Dante and Virgil from hell, the ascent up the mountain, the flight of the eagle, Arachne, the lustful sinners being purged in the seventh circle, the appearance of Beatrice, the planet Mercury, and the first splendors of paradise, Christ on the cross, the stairway of Saturn, the final vision of the Queen of Heaven, and many more.Each plate is accompanied by appropriate lines from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow translation of Dante's work.

Eva Hesse


Lucy R. Lippard - 1976
    In many ways, her works were ”psychic models,” as Robert Smithson has said, of ”a very interior person.” In pioneering the use of ”soft” materials, her sculptures betrayed her awareness of the manner in which her experience as a woman altered her art and career. Although she died before feminism affected the art world to any great extent, her major works have since become talismans for succeeding generations of women artists. Eva Hesse was designed by Hesse's friends and colleagues Sol LeWitt and Pat Stier; her sculptures, drawings, and paintings are reproduced and discussed; and the text includes numerous quotations from her diaries. First published in 1976 but long out-of-print, this classic text is both an insightful critical analysis and a tribute to an artist whose genius has become increasingly apparent with the passage of time.

The Unicorn Tapestries


Margaret B. Freeman - 1976
    Freeman also covers every aspect of the tapestries from their production, source models, imagery, symbolism, context, and even offers a scientific discussion of the materials used from minute testing of each of the tapestries.

Art Of Islam: Language And Meaning


Titus Burckhardt - 1976
    He examines Koranic calligraphy and illumination, arabesque, carpets and rugs, Persian miniatures, and much more while making illuminating comparisons with Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist art. Beautifully illustrated in color, this masterpiece is presented in a revised, commemorative edition containing 285 new illustrations and a new Introduction.

Egon Schiele


Alessandra Comini - 1976
    Although he lived only twenty-eight years--dying quite suddenly of influenza in 1918 just as World War I came to an end--he left a stunning pictorial oeuvre. Schiele's obsession with sexuality, his own and that of others, made him at once a voyeur and a participant in that sexual imperative which Freud was concurrently plumbing with such unsettling results. The disturbing revelations of Schiele's unmasking portraiture and of the new science of psychology disclosed a collective cultural anxiety during the last years of the crumbling Austrian empire. Schiele was disturbingly dualistic: his provocative explorations of erotica with their startlingly modern sensibilities do not prepare the viewer for the tenderness revealed in his lyrical landscapes and mostly unpeopled town scenes. These emit a haunting loneliness and are related to an obsession with pathos expressed in the artist's melancholy allegories and existential portraits.

Calder's Universe


Jean Lipman - 1976
    Stunning photographs, illustrations, and fascinating text showcase Calder's best works in all mediums. A detailed chronology and other documentation, compiled with the assistance of Calder, his family, and close associates, make this an invaluable volume. "A magnificent treasure for Calder fans and scholars." --Library Journal

El Greco


David Davies - 1976
    His works are immediately recognizable for their brilliant colors, elongated figures, and spiritual intensity.Initially trained in Crete, in around 1567 El Greco moved to Italy where he purportedly studied with Titian. A decade later he is documented in Toledo (south of Madrid), and he spent the rest of his long life in Spain. His paintings and writings offer a thoughtful, frequently inspired response to the varied environments in which he worked—and they reveal that he was deeply engaged with the religious and artistic thinking of his times.This lavishly illustrated book—the first comprehensive English-language publication on El Greco in many years—addresses the full range of the artist’s work in painting and sculpture, from his Byzantine icons to his late altarpieces. It considers his personality from both a religious and intellectual point of view, and presents the artist’s religious, mythological, genre, landscape, and portrait works, providing the historical context in which they were made.

New York Then and Now


Edward B. Watson - 1976
    Early photographs from 1875 to 1925 contrasted with 1976.

From the Center


Lucy R. Lippard - 1976
    

Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian Houses: Designs for Moderate Cost One-Family Homes


John Sergeant - 1976
    Looks at the last period in Wright's career, reassessing his Usonian houses, his Taliesin working communities, and his plan for Broadacre City.

Violins & Shovels: The WPA Arts Projects


Milton Meltzer - 1976
    Examines arts projects run during the 1930s which were funded by the Works Progress Administration.

Experimental Animation: An Illustrated Anthology


Robert Russett - 1976
    It brings together over 50 interviews and first-person accounts that describe the work of 38 innovative artist-filmmakers. Such pioneers as Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker, Hans Richter, Vicking Eggerling, and Oskkar Fishinger are alongside the recent avant-garde of Robert Breer, Harry Smith, Stan VanDer Beek, Peter Foldes, and Ed Emschweiller. With nearly 300 illustrations, a filmography, a glossary of technical terms, and a list of distributors, this is the first important sourcebook for an emerging art.

Women Artists, 1550-1950


Ann Sutherland Harris - 1976
    European and American artists active from 1550 to 1950.