Edwin Mellen Pr.
American prison film since 1930; from The Big House to The Shawshank Redemption.
Gonthier (film studies and English, Keene State College, New Hampshire) offers a critical deconstruction of the formal, thematic, ideological and social elements represented by 12 American films created during the past 70 years in which the bulk of the scenes occur in prison. The material is grouped thematically into chapters on topics such as gangsters in prison, exploited women in prison, WWII POWs, reform schools, and prison film auteurs Stuart Rosenburg, Alan Parker, and Frank Darabont. Each chapter includes an overview of the topic and its relevance to film history, followed by a brief critique and an analysis of a selected film. Suitable as a research and analysis text for students, teachers and writers, and as a reference for prison film aficionados. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Art and artists of Chinese modern painting, 1890-1949.
To increase interest in China and Chinese art and to provide means of evaluating that art, Bao (art, North Carolina A&T State U.), Lin (Sichuan U, Sichuan Academy of Fine Art, Sichuan Normal U.) and Lane (ESL, American Language Center and Dynalectron Aerospace, retired) provide a historical and intellectual background to the development of modern painting in China. They cover artists, schools and trends in Chinese National style and western style painting. The discussion also addresses woodcuts, printing, cartoons and other commercial art. The text includes a selected biography of Chinese modern painters, illustrations and reproductions of the art discussed. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A bibliographical history of the study and use of color from Aristotle to Kandinsky.
Burchett (art, U. of Central Arkansas) draws on a lifelong interest in research on color and color harmony in creating this reference text for visual arts scholars. Coverage includes a short history of color harmony from ancient Greece to modern times followed by analyses of 12 key books on color, including the work of Goethe, Chevreul, Helmholtz, Munsell, Katz, Kandinsky, Pope, Wright, Judd, Arnheim, Itten, and Albers. Also included is an extensive four-part bibliography containing a retrospective bibliography on color harmony and color in art listing 318 books published before 1975; a general bibliography of some 1,450 titles on the topic from antiquity forward, most from the 20th century; a compilation of bibliographies of color; and a cross reference of titles in the general bibliography arranged in 37 color subject categories. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The depiction of architecture and furniture in medieval French manuscript illumination.
Rather than indulging in the current fashion of interpreting the representation of common objects to reveal the hidden motives and assumptions of the artist, Gathercole (emerita, Roanoke College) uses manuscript illumination as a source to enlighten modern scholars about the actual, physical buildings, interiors, and furniture in medieval France. She looks at the architecture of homes, churches, monasteries, and other building types as well as of whole towns. Great halls, banquet halls, bedchambers, and studios also come under her eye. Among the furniture she finds depicted are footstools, thrones, tables, desks, and beds. She includes 31 monochrome plates. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino; post-war Italian architects and the relevance of their work today.
Green (architecture, Clemson U.) examines the figurative works of Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino, two Italian architects working in the middle of the twentieth century. Viewing their work as in between high modernism and post-modern architecture that followed, Green describes how they saw architecture as akin to living organisms, especially in terms of the human body, a butterfly, and a crystal. He also discusses differences between them, key concepts in their work, and includes b&w sketches and photos. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Ireland's pre-Celtic archaeological and anthropological features.
The Celtic heritage of Ireland has been an important element in maintaining cultural and political independence from England for at least the past century, but Thompson (Irish-Scottish studies, Trinity College, Dublin) kept findings discrepancies between the national legend of Celtic origins and local and regional traditions. He begins by setting out how Celtic Ireland was constructed as an ethno-national mythology. Then he looks at some evidence for people on the island before the Celts came, from the fields of history, archaeology, genetics, linguistics, folklore, and unofficial discourse. A case study involves Tory Island. He ends by suggesting how to integrate Celtic and pre-Celtic Ireland in a new image. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Irony and illusion in the architecture of imperial Dakar.
Shaw (art history, Kean U., New Jersey) traces the architectural transformation that occurred in Dakar, the capital of French West Africa and now the capital of Senegal, during the French colonial period. He describes a neo-Sudanic style that resulted from a conscious effort by the French to enhance their colonial authority in West Africa, represents one positive outcome of the forced encounters of European and African culture through French colonialism, and is surprisingly linked to a long history of African architectural traditions. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The large vault at Taq-i Bustan; a study in late Sasanian royal art.
In this study, Movassat (art history, School of Art and Design and San Jose State U.) reports the results of her investigation into the original date and purpose of the large vault at Taq-i Bustan in Iran. The vault is documented in Persian and Muslim sources after the fall of the Sasanian dynasty and was first noticed by Western travelers in the early 17th century. Movassat reviews previous interpretations before unfolding her argument that the vault served many separate, complementary purposes: an expression of victory, an expression of the three aspects of the king, a focus for religious festivals, a monument on a royal hunting preserve, and a royal viewing stand. The text includes 40 photographs of the vault as well as notes on the reign of Khusro II and a description of early travelers at Taq-i Bustan. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Marie Bashkirtseff's life in self-portraits (1858-1884); woman as artist in 19th century France.
Based on the artist's self-portraits and journals, Konz identifies a strategy of masking in Bashkirtseff's negotiation of her image and artistic career. In Konz's account, Bashkirtseff is both a traditional artist, whose self-portraits fit easily with other 19th- century Salon art, and a radical associated with the suffrage movement. Konz explores the artist as both the subject and object of representation and relates those representations to particular moments in Bashkirtseff's career. Konz teaches art history at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Monastic art in Lorenzo Monaco's Florence; painting and patronage in Santa Maria degli Angeli, 1300-1415.
The monastery of Santa Maria Degli Angeli was the home of the celebrated painter Lorenzo Monaco as well as a center for the production of illuminated manuscripts from the late thirteenth to the early fifteenth centuries. Bent considers the creative environment within the walls of this significant source of late medieval visual imagery and the monastery's role as part of the linkage amongst the visual, culture, spirituality and the liturgy. He describes the specifics of the patronage system as they applied to Santa Maria Degli Angeli, the history and functions of its scriptorium, the politics of the Albizzi faction and its impact on the space, the makers of the manuscripts and miniatures for which the monastery as famous, and the changes in the significance of the magnificent alterpiece, Monaco's Coronation of the Virgin. Bent includes over 100 monochrome figures and ten color plates. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A new theory in the philosophy and history of three twentieth-century styles in art; modernism, postmodernism, and surrealism.
Casebier (emeritus, U. of Southern California and visiting, U. of Miami) seeks to convince art historians and critics that the style terms modern, postmodern, and surreal have non-trivial meaning; that it is possible to tell them apart; and that it is possible for all three styles to be present in the same work of art. Focusing on cinema because he knows it best, he traces the vectors involved in writing the various histories of the three styles. Among his arguments is that surrealism is not just another form of modernism, but actually developed alongside of and independent from it. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The puppetry yearbook; v.6.
The longest of the 13 essays in the 2005 edition of the annual series describe the various styles of puppet theatre performed at a 2003 Indian festival, and the work of the Russian puppeteer Julia Sazonova during the first half of the 20th century. Other topics include Pre-Columbian puppets of Meso-America, wayang shadow puppet theatre in the Balinese culture, literary archetypes in puppetry, and the different roles played by the character Scaramouche. No index is provided. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The representation of masculinity in British cinema of the 1960s; Lawrence of Arabia, The loneliness of the long distance runner, and The Hill.
Combining socio-historical analysis with psychoanalysis-based aesthetics centered image analysis, Claydon (media and communication, U. of Leicester, UK) explores how representations of masculinity were articulated in the British cinema. She conducts close readings of The Projected Man (Ian Curteis, 1966), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962), The Hill (Sidney Lumet, 1965), and Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962) in order to subvert the dominant discourse of these films as representing a "crisis in masculinity," arguing instead that they represent a crisis in "masculinism," the discourse that informs the power systems of patriarchy. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The role of the museum in creating multi-cultural identities; lessons from Canada.
Allen (culture, communication, and media studies, U. of KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa) and Anson are with a private consultancy firm based in the UK specializing in intellectual property, markets, culture, human resources, capabilities, process and infrastructure in enterprise. In this study, the authors focus on individuals in diverse societies and issues relating to cultural inclusion and cultural resistance which manifest themselves in complex social disintegration. They discuss the significance of tolerance and the concept of "culturally generated zones of reference" where a context can be created in which encounters with the cultural other and their heritage can facilitate the peaceful reconciliation of contested cultures. Using a case study of a Canadian museum they consider the potential for museums to be perceived by diverse cultures within a single society as sacred spaces that enable enhanced community building. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
A study and translation from the Chinese of Tang Hou's Huajian (Examination of painting); cultivating taste in Yuan China, 1279-1368.
Tang Hou spend his adult life in the Hangzhou area, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, and though he worked as a Confucian instructor, a rector of the local academy, and an official clerk, he was recognized by his contemporaries as an art collector and connoisseur. Chou (art history, John Carroll U.) presents the Chinese text and English translation of his only surviving work. Her introduction discusses biographies of Tang Hou and his father, Tan Binglong; the history of editions, structure, and influence of the Huanjian, and re-evaluating its contribution. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Urban neighborhood revitalization and heritage conservation; the architecture of urban redesign.
Ugochukwu examines the spatial and land use patterns found in urban neighborhoods that were built or inherited by African Americans. Blending archival research with photography and mapping, he shows how three African American communities have shaped the space around them and used land and buildings in unique ways. He concludes by suggesting some strategies for conserving culture and heritage when planning redevelopment in historic African American neighborhoods. Ugochukwu teaches community development and planning at St. Cloud State U. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
