The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art in its Historical Context

Customer Reviews:

Must have for art historians!.......2007-09-28

Art historian and art history student must hav. The book contains fabulous images and amazing insight into the period in which the images were created.

PERFECT! .......2007-03-09

THIS BOOK ARRIVED WITH PERFECT TIMING AND CONDITION!
I WAS VERY PLEASED!

Good introduction.......2006-11-04

Overall, this is a good introduction to Northern Renaissance art and the cultural mindset that produced it.

Like many works of revisionist history, this book is a bit heavy-handed at times in its effort to prove that Northern art is as worthy of study as Italian Renaissance art. But overall, the contrast between the two different artistic traditions is effective.

An exciting survey.......2001-07-18

I've loved the art of this period for years, but had little academic grounding in it. This book lets me return to old favorites with new eyes.

This, in common with other volumes in the "Perspectives" series, offers high quality (though small) reproductions of important works, up-to-date analysis and discussion of the art and the contexts in which it was created. Harbison's tone is informative, if ocasionally a little too sententious. But it's a very small price to pay, given the overall excellence of his work in this volume. It's obvious that Harbison loves this period, and he transmits his excitement for these works to the reader in concise language that is accessible to a lay audience.

Of particular interest is the discussion of how the Northern Rennaisance related to and differed from what was going on in Italy at the time. The only major weakness: not enough of a focus on Durer. But it's hard to get sufficient focus on any artist in a book this condensed.

An excellent book for those familiar with the period, or those wanting to get acquainted with a school of art often unjustly overshadowed by its southern contemporary.

Art of the Northern Renaissance in historical context.......2001-01-31

Informative, smart and well-written, Craig Harbison's "The Mirror of the Artist" provides an excellent, brief introduction to the sensibility, historical context, and practice of art in the North. From the attitude toward realism, to patronage among the growing class of government bureaucrats, to the market for art or the influence of the Reformation, the book offers an enhanced understanding of artistic interest and social situations in which the paintings were made -- without ever forgetting their aesthetic dimension. The best tribute I can offer is that I immediately went back to Amazon to order Harbison's "Jan Van Eyck: The Play of Realism", a $35 large format paperback. Minor quibble: Although well-illustrated for a paperback this size, with the book just about 6.25" x 9.5", more details should have been illustrated when details were discussed in larger works. (I'm still looking for the barely visible figure of the devil above the cow in the "Portinari Altarpiece".) But this is a rare problem.

The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art (Perspectives)

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The Mirror of the Artist: Northern Renaissance Art (Perspectives)
Craig Harbison
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OI7SLM

Book Description

Increasing use of digital signals for transmitting data in television, photography and printing means the reproduction of pictorial colour in the 21 ^st century continues to drive innovation in its development.

Hunt’s classic text The Reproduction of Colour has been fully revised and updated for the sixth edition to provide a comprehensive introduction to colour imaging and colour reproduction. New illustrations, diagrams and photographs ensure that both students and practising engineers using colour images can gain a full understanding of the theory and practical applications behind the phenomena they encounter.

Key features:

Describes the fundamental principles of colour reproduction for photography, television, printing and electronic imaging.
Provides detailed coverage of the physics of light and the property of colorants.
Includes new chapters on digital printing and digital imaging, which discuss colour reproduction on HDTV and desktop publishing.
Presents expanded coverage of the evaluation of colour appearance.

The Reproduction of Colour is already used as a basis for lectures in universities and specialist institutions and continues to be an essential resource for scientists, engineers and developers needing to appreciate the technologies of colour perception.

Reviews of the Fifth Edition:

"The book is beautifully written and superbly presented. It is a credit to both author and publisher, and deserves to be on the shelves of anyone who has any concern with the reproduction of colour."

From The Journal of Photographic Science, Vol. 43 1995

"Using his ability as a teacher, Dr Hunt has made potentially very difficult topics quite readable…he brings the insight that leads the reader to a greater depth of understanding."

From Color Research and Application, Vol. 23 1998

The Society for Imaging Science and Technology is an international society that aims to advance the science and practices of image assessment. A major objective of the Wiley-IS&T series will be to explain the latest scientific and technological developments in the field of imaging at a professional level. The broad scope of the series will focus on imaging in all its aspects, with particular emphasis on digital printing, electronic imaging, photofinishing, image preservation, image assessment, image archiving, pre-press technologies and hybrid imaging systems.

Customer Reviews:

The best book on color photogaphy I have ever read.......2007-04-29

In my opinion, this is the best book on color photography that I have read. Of course, it covers other topics, but it devotes a substantial amount of text, graphs and formulas to that topic. In recent months, I have acquired a fair number of books on the subject of photography and color theory, some of them very formula-intensive and some descriptive and math-primitive; but this one stands head and shoulder above the rest in its effort to describe the fundamental principles.

I bought this book primarily because I wanted to learn whether it is possible, and if it is, how to predict the RGB density values of negative film versus the CYM density of the photo enlarging filter. I believe that I have found my answers in this book. Yet I was also quite pleasantly surprised to learn a lot more about color photography and reproduction. As I was reading this book, many things to which I had had unanswered questions from reading those other books have fallen in their logical place.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in color photography and who wants to learn not only the practical aspects of it (i.e. the result and the practice) but also the "why" of it (i.e. its scientific and experimental fundamentals). You do, though, have to have some knowledge of linear algebra and chemistry, although I would not call this book math-intensive.

The definitive reference on the reproduction of color........1997-09-17

The author has an impressive array of initials after his name; he is, amongst other things, a Doctor of Science, a Member of the Imperial College, an Associate of the Royal College of Science, and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society as well as a Visiting Professor of Physiological Optics and of Colour Science, and a former Assistant Director of Research at Kodak. He has also been Chairman of the Colorimetry Committee of the International Commision on Illumination, and Chairman of the International Colour Association.

First published in 1957 and now in its much enhanced 5th edition, The Reproduction of Colour is the most comprehensive single resource available. Two quotes from the preface to the 5th edition describe what it is about:

"The object (is to present) the fundamental principles of colour reproduction, whether by photography, television, or printing in the hopes that all those engaged in producing, selling, buying, or using colour pictures will be able to see the nature of the problems they encounter. Those who want a general statement on colour reproduction will find it in the first part, and those who want a more detailed discussion of any one application in which they are particularly interested (will find it) in the later parts." and "The reproduction of colour involves physiology, psychology, physics, chemistry, and technology. presents complexities, (and) involves a wide variety of enterprises". Even though there are individuals skilled in processing and printing their own color film, and DTP bureaux had taken over some of the work of traditional printing houses, color reproduction was, until not so long ago, the province of technicians in the photographic, printing, and television industries, Now we have crossed the threshold of a new era in which a massive technology transfer is taking place, putting effective control over color into the hands of a much wider range of users. Even home users now have available to them very powerful tools that enable production of images that are, to the ordinary eye, indistinguishable from quality photographic prints.

That brings with it a need to understand the technology of color reproduction, and the definitive text is Dr Hunt's book. I have rated it 10/10 because of the remarkably wide range of disciplines covered and its astounding technical depth. Without it most of the information presented would have to be gleaned from numerous other books, professional journals, and published papers. Further, one does not have to have a scientific background to gain some understanding of what is involved in the reproduction of color. The fields covered television, photography, and printing are becoming less discrete with the application of digital technology; those who use computerized systems for the reproduction of color images will find relevant information spread throughout most parts of this book.

It is not a popular account, a color-for-cretins guide, or a how-to manual. This is a technical resource written in a style that makes it readable without diluting its professional integrity. Not all readers will need, or even want, to know the chemical structure of cyclic methylene magneta couplers, but may want information about the effects of signal processing on color reproduction. In what other recently published text would one find a comparison table of film speeds that includes the Weston system?

The Reproduction of Colour should be in any library with holdings on technical subjects; professionals in DTP, printing, photolabs, television, and digital imaging should have it; and anyone teaching or studying graphic arts, computer science, photography, printing, or subjects related to television technology should be aware of this edition. A check of some large libraries suggests that librarians may think earlier editions are good enough, but new developments demand this latest edition. Teachers of science in sub-tertiary institutions may well find this a useful text for its practical application of science to topical real-life problems.

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HOLE IN THE GARDEN WALL

Manufacturer: Cyrano Guildmaster Beachwood, OH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IAJT8Q

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Hole in the Garden Wall
Kohl
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0945299001

Customer Reviews:

Trivia questions about Garfield. Fun........1997-11-14

This book is the same size as a normal Garfield cartoon book, but it contains trivia questions.

Each page contains two sets of questions. Each set of questions has 15 possible points, and five questions. The first question is worth 1 point and is very easy, the second question is worth 2 points and is slightly harder, etc. The fifth question is very hard and obscure, and worth 5 points!

You can quiz a friend, or play by yourself (the answers are on the other side of the page, so you won't see the answers until you turn the page). There is a ranking table at the front of the book, with funny comments like "Even Jim Davis would have trouble getting this many" (14) and "You cheated!" (15).

This book came out fairly early in the Garfield comic series, so it naturally only covers the older cartoons. If you do not have a full collection of the early Garfield comic strip books, you will miss a lot of this trivia book (but you will learn stuff in the process). This book is what motivated me to get the ones I was missing :-)

Book Description

After turning his lifelong obsession with famous girls on film into the Internet phenomenon known as MrSkin.com, the Skinmeister General has now compiled his expert knowledge and skinsationally witty way with a phrase into an authoritative, uproarious book that you'll never tire of flipping through---single-handedly, of course!Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia compiles exhaustive information on more than two-thousand starlets and the films in which you can witness them free of clothing. Every actress bio contains a complete list of movies in which she's appeared naked, as well as the specific body parts that are exposed. In addition, Mr. Skin picks each star's Skinfining Moment--- the single skinematic high point that defines her carnal career.The Skincyclopedia also comes packed with top-ten lists, revealing quotes from the bare beauties themselves, and a host of rare, eye-popping photos---all delivered in Mr. Skin's signature puntastic style. Spanning nearly a century of cinematic history, the Skincyclopedia unveils the silver screen's naked truth from the silent era to the blockbuster to the straight-to-DVD age of today, along the way revealing the answers to questions such as: Did Marcia from The Brady Bunch ever bust out her Brady bumps? Can you name the 1990 flick that features Jennifer Connelly sunbathing nude? Is it Farrah's right or left Fawcett that takes flight in Saturn 3? What are the Top Ten Most Leztastic Girl-Girl Scenes of all time? Which twentysomething Hollywood honey once declared, "My boobs are fine---they go with my body"? How many Academy Award--winning actresses have displayed their Golden Globes on film? Got "furburgerage"? These and countless other fleshly film facts get laid bare in Mr. Skin's Skincyclopedia0, the definitive guidebook for the "movie buff" in all of us!

Customer Reviews:

Skin is In!!!.......2007-05-29

From cover to cover this book is full of usefull knowledge. You can search by actress, movie, or tv show. I purchased this book for my brothers birthday. I even had to buy my own copy.

Decent book, but the website is incredible!.......2006-04-10

This book is decent enough, but not the Skincyclopedia it claims to be. As others have said, it is not kept up to date, and doesn't have complete listings including times. Mr. Skin's website, however, is the absolute ultimate! For simple reference, it's absolutely free and complete resource constantly updated. For a fee, it will give you film clips and still photos of all the scenes mentioned!

So, this is a very basic reference, but the website is the ultimate guide.

Walt D in LV

NOT WHAT I EXPECTED!.......2006-03-20

THOUGHT IT WOULD BE PICTURES BUT IT WAS JUST A SOURCE OF WHERE TO FIND THE FILMS AND PICTURES AND SO ON.

worthwhile actress resource.......2006-03-02

If you ever wanted to know, this is the book to find out.

Easy to read,concise resource.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!.......2005-11-19

Not sure where to start and I don't want to write to see how i write. Mr. Skin must be getting commissions on the orders readers make per his recos. He and his group don't see "naked" with the same criteria. Some descriptions are understated, most are overstated.

Customer Reviews:

Christgau's at his apex.......2007-04-11

I own Christgau's corresponding books for the '70's, '80's and '90's. I do not agree with all of his grades, but he can smell a stinker coming from an artist I usually like from a mile away. The '70's book is more fun than the later books because he includes extended reviews of bad albums which are give him a chance to be bitchy, a characteristic I appreciate in a reviewer (when appropriate). Many of his reviews are available online at Christgau's website. Nonetheless, its nice to have the book on hand to skim through or carry with to the used record store.

He set the standard.......2007-03-20

Christgau's three collections of album reviews (of the '70s, '80s and '90s) are all stretching and entertaining, but for my money this is the best. Even the page explaining his grades 'repays repeated listening'. Of course you don't get a book like this to tell you what you should like, you get it to enjoy comparing your own findings with what Christgau liked/likes. As with all genuinely informed critics, he gives you something to push against. After owning this book for a few years, it becomes like an old friend. You expect to disagree with half of what Christgau says, but you're disappointed if he says nothing about the album you happen to be listening to. An essential report on some of the best music of the seventies.

Top-Notch Writing On The Music Of The 1970s.......2006-09-17

Christgau is one of the finest music writers around, and it is great to see this book remaining in print. Known for his capsule reviews in 'Village Voice,' he has honed the style into something adamantine: one minute caustic (look up his cruel and hysterical review of Kay Huntington's "What's Happening To Our World?"), and at other instances almost Barthes-like in his economy and fragility. This collection contains a lot of Christgau's best writing - as a writer he's gotten stronger, but music - along with everything else - was such an anything-goes grab-bag of strangeness during the 1970s, and this collection commemorates that (the good, bad, and ugly) in technicolor detail.

Aside: Arrogant? Perhaps - I would opt for the more accurate terms 'opinionated' and 'informed,' two qualities any critic worthy of the term should embody, whether one agrees with the conclusions or not.

-David Alston

Tedius man enamoured of what he perceives to be humour.......2003-10-29

Yes, there is some fun to be had reading the pithy remarks, however, Robert Christgau is a terrible pseud, with an even more terrible chip on his shoulder - just absorb the shudderinly crass inverted snobbery apparent in his Carly Simon reviews - to paraphrase him, the fact that her father had a worthwile career means that she has no artistic worth. Yep, it's that tired old cliche that you have to have suffered impecunity in order to be a valuable human being. How shallow and plutocratic do you have to be to think that lack of money is the only form of suffering? Truth be told, it's the least painful form of suffering. Anyone with a soul can tell you - emotional poverty is far more painful than financial poverty.

If that's not enough, he then likens Carly Simon to a horse. The word 'misoygyny' springs rapidly to mind, and this is confirmed by his Melissa Manchester reviews. Whereas he can take Dylan or Springsteen seriously, he sums up one of the finest Manchester albums as 'juicy fxxk music'(yet photographs of him clearly indicate that he's very unlikely to have any experience of juicy fxxking, unless there's someone kind soul in his life who has sex out of pity for the criminally unattractive - mercy fxxking if you will).

Going back to his disdain for Ms Simon, Robert would be well adivsed to realise that inverted snobbery is even more unattractive than snobbery, since it is sparked by two evils - both snobbery and jealousy. Conventional snobbery, as unlikeable as it is, is at least only the product of one evil.

Like many writers (e.g. the scripwriters of Friends), Christgau mistakes wisecracks for wit, and has delusions of the latter. Believe me, none of his remarks threaten to overshadow Oscar Wilde. His 'humour' consists solely of schoolyard put-downs, and nothing meriting the tag of 'wit' is in evidence. I'm a journalist, and come from the school of thought that writers should tell the reader about the subject, not about themselves. However, this book gives you lots of information about the writer (who dresses up his inferiority complex with layers of disdain for other people). Furthermore, like most rock critics he is staggerinly under-qualified, with no education in music theory, harmonics, 12-tone serialism and so on. It's like asking someone with two left feet about their opinion of ballet.

An enjoyable read, but more an insight into the spite and bitterness of the author than the records he professes to review. The one star is for the occasional inspired turn of phrase, something I'll admit he does have a moderate knack for.

INDISPENSABLE REFERENCE WORK.......2003-06-16

More than 3000 albums are reviewed in this useful guide where A Plus means excellent and E Minus means awful. It remains a highly readable retrospective of a period that started with glitter on the one hand and the singer/songwriter on the other, saw the birth of electronic, punk and industrial music and ended in new wave.

The introduction consists of:
(1) The Guide, in which the author recounts his history as a music critic and explains why the book is complete for the period in question only in so far as rock and R&B are concerned, meaning that some country, blues, country-rock, heavy metal, fusion and boogie albums may have been omitted and that apart from a few exceptions, jazz as a genre is not covered; (2) The Decade, in which he discusses the flavour of the 1970s and some of the great works released by his favourite artists; (3) The Criteria, in which he explains his ratings of the individual albums and the presence of original grades, based on an attempt to outline his personal tastes; (4) The Grades from A+ to E- and full explanations for all 14 of these.

The Consumer Guide proper contains the reviews of these individual albums. I feel that the author has sometimes sacrificed completeness on the altar of wit, and would have preferred more detail e.g. song titles and stuff, rather than his admittedly pithy comments.

After the reviews follows the chapter Subjects For Further Research which includes short discussions of artists like Kevin Ayers, Bruce Cockburn, Nick Drake, Waylon Jennings, Leo Kottke, John Martyn, Yoko Ono, Candi Staton, Steeleye Span, Townes Van Zandt, Bobby Womack and others. The next chapter is tiled Distinctions Not Cost-Effective (Or: Who Cares?) and provides a list of artists with one-sentence commentaries; artists include AC/C, Rick dDerringer, Gentle Giant, Peter Hammill, The Manhattans, The Moody Blues, Giogio Moroder, The Partridge Family, Renaissance, REO Speedwagon, Cliff Richard, Third World and Jim Webb.

This section is followed by Meltdown, a list that includes Barclay James Harvest, Blackmore's Rainbow, Cactus, Camel, Jan Hammer, Judas Priest, Klaatu, Van McCoy, Shawn Phillips, Sha Na Na, Toto, Uriah Heep and Rick Wakeman.

The book concludes with the chapter Rock And Roll: A Basic Record Library which is divided into two: The Fifties and Sixties where both singles and albums are given and The Seventies, starting with 56 albums for 1970 through 59 albums for 1979 and concluding with a Postscript: 1980 and 1981. This last list includes inter alia Elvis Costello's Trust, Tom Verlaine's Dreamtime Meredith Monk's Dolmen Music, Rolling Stones' Tattoo You, Prince's Controversy, Blondie's Best Of and Warren Zevon's Stand In The Fire.

Christgau's Guide To the 70s is very useful, especially as comparison to the opinions of the Rolling Stone Record Guide for the same era. Although I do not always agree with his ratings, I respect his opinion. In addition, the introductory chapters and the lists at the end of the book make for fascinating reading and reference.

Customer Reviews:

A top pick for any in-depth metaphysical reference collection.......2006-04-22

The weighty four-volume ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WITCHCRAFT: THE WESTERN TRADITION is a top pick for any in-depth collection including more than a casual history on the history of witchcraft or mysticism. Indeed, if only one reference on the topic were to be considered for a holding, it should be this: entries go far beyond the usual encyclopedic few paragraphs of definition to provide pages of historical background, social and cultural insights, and plenty of references for further reading. Explorations of varied cultural insights, references and backgrounds compliment surveys of cross-religious meaning on symbolism and ideas, while biographies of notable historical figures round out the historical references.

Customer Reviews:

A fair Avengers novel.......2005-04-17

This is a good Avengers novel but the scenes are very slow.
If you don't have patients than you probibly should not read this.

Well written but it lacks the sparkle and wit of the Avenger.......1999-11-02

The color cover photo of Rigg and MacNee is pleasing. However; the book lacked the humor found in the series and in Kaewert's delightfully adapted movie tie-in. There are descriptions of the gourmet food Steed and Emma consume and a preposterous scheme to deceive two ruthless fascist villains by use ofa filmstrip projector. (That technology is outdated!) If you want to own every Avengers novel ever written then you will be satisfied. Otherwise, interlibrary loan the book and then purchase it if you want to afterward. I was very disappointed. MacNee and his co-writer assigned a subservient role to Emma. No humor, no banter. They should have adapted one of the TV scripts that was a delight to watch. The plot was very weak. Believe me, the Avengers movie had a far better, more absorbing plot than this book.

The Avengers: Deadline and Dead Duck (2 books, as a set)

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The Avengers: Deadline and Dead Duck (2 books, as a set)
Patrick Macnee
Manufacturer: Titan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MTRNDG

Product Description

Both of Macnee's "Avengers" novels, originally published in the mid-sixties.

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DEAD DUCK - The Avengers [ 1st ]
Patrick Macnee
Manufacturer: Hodder And Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GTRPQ2

DEAD DUCK - The Avengers - A John Steed Adventure

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DEAD DUCK - The Avengers - A John Steed Adventure
Patrick (with Peter Leslie) Macnee
Manufacturer: Hodder And Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GVYP7W

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