The arts: general topics Books

Book SynopsisVirtual environments such as games and animated and "real" movies require realistic sound effects that can be integrated by computer synthesis. The book emphasizes physical modeling of sound and focuses on real-world interactive sound effects. It is intended for game developers, graphics programmers, developers of virtual reality systems and training simulators, and others who want to learn about computational sound. It is written at an introductory level with mathematical foundations provided in appendices.Links to code examples and sound files can be found on the Downloads/Updates tab. Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Digital Audio Signals 2. Sampling (Wavetable) Synthesis 3. Digital Filters 4. Modal Synthesis 5. The Fourier Transform 6. Spectral Modeling and Additive Synthesis 7. Subband Vocoders and Filterbanks 8. Subtractive Synthesis and LPC 9. Strings and Bars 10. Nonlinearity, Waveshaping, FM 11. Tubes and Air Cavities 12. Two and Three Dimensions 13. FOFs, Wavelets, and Particles 14. Exciting and Controlling Sound Models 15. Walking Synthesis: a Complete System 16. Examples, Systems, and Applications A. DFT, Convolution, and Transform Properties B. The Ideal String C. Acoustic Tub D. Sound Examples and Code E. The Synthesis Toolkit in C + +

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Book SynopsisWith the increase in computing speed and due to the high quality of the optical effects it achieves, ray tracing is becoming a popular choice for interactive and animated rendering. This book takes readers through the whole process of building a modern ray tracer from scratch in C++. All concepts and processes are explained in detail with the aid of hundreds of diagrams, ray-traced images, and sample code. It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate computer graphics courses and for individual programmers who would like to learn ray tracing.Trade Review" used draft chapters from Kevin Suffern's book for a number of classes at the University of Utah and they have been very useful. This book is timely as ray tracing is poised to become the dominant algorithm for graphics, and there is no other up-to-date introduction to that topic. Further, it is a very well written book with all the details needed to write your own ray tracer. This book is a must for any budding graphics programmer. I wish I'd had this book when I was starting out! -Advance Praise Shirley, September 2007 title of this book fits perfectly. Theory and code snippets are blended to show how to make a classical or stochastic ray tracer from scratch. It assumes the reader has just about no knowledge of graphics and at most some understanding of calculus. The informative illustrations alone make the book worth purchasing by anyone planning on teaching or understanding more about the essentials of ray tracing. -Advance Praise Haines, September 2007 taught computer graphics at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) by Kevin was critical for our careers at Animal Logic, and led to our work on the Academy Award winning film Happy Feet. Most importantly, learning ray tracing provided us with an in-depth understanding of shading algorithms. This knowledge was invaluable for our rendering, regardless of how we did it.It's great to see Kevin's ray tracing notes published in the book Ray Tracing from the Ground Up, as this allows a much wider audience to access the material. Kevin is able to draw on his many years of experience in the classroom to provide a comprehensive coverage of important rendering concepts. He has always presented clear explanations, colour illustrations and step-by-step instructions including source code. -Advance Praise Students, September 2007 Tracing from the Ground Up not only covers all aspects of ray tracing, but does so at a level that allows both undergraduate and graduate students to appreciate the beauty and algorithmic elegance of ray tracing. At the same time, this book goes into more than sufficient detail to deserve a place on the bookshelves of many professionals as a reference work…As such, I can heartily recommend this book to both professionals as well as students and teachers…Whether its intended use is as a ray-tracing reference or as the basis of a course on ray tracing, this book is essential reading. -Erik Reinhard, University of Bristol, author of Color Imaging: Fundamentals and Applicati, from foreword Reinhard, September 2007 ""Any college-level collection strong in advanced information technology needs this."" -James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chiefd, The Midwest Book Review, January 2008 ""Suffern describes how to write a ray tracer step-by-step ..."" -SciTech Book News, March 2008"Table of Contents1 Ray Tracer Design and Programming 2 Some Essential Mathematics 3 Bare-Bones Ray Tracing 4 Antialiasing 5 Sampling Techniques 6 Mapping Samples to a Disk 7 Mapping Samples to a Hemisphere 8 Perspective Viewing 9 A Practical Viewing System 10 Depth of Field 11 Nonlinear Projections 12 Stereoscopy 13 Theoretical Foundations 14 Lights and Materials, 15 Specular Reflection 16 Shadows 17 Ambient Occlusion 18 Area Lights 19 Ray-Object Intersections 20 Affine Transformations 21 Transforming Objects 22 Regular Grids 23 Triangle Meshes 24 Mirror Reflection 25 Glossy Reflection 26 Global Illumination 27 Simple Transparency 28 Realistic Transparency 29 Texture Mapping 30 Procedural Textures 31 Noise-Based Textures

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Book SynopsisCompares the cultural productions of Canada and the US - literature, but also film, opera, and even theme parks - providing a reassessment of Canadian Studies within a comparative framework. Since the elections of Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau, unprecedented international attention is being drawn to the differences between the United States and Canada. This timely volume takes a close comparative look at the national imaginaries of the two countries. In its analyses of the two countries' cultural productions - literature, but also film, opera, and even theme parks - it follows the approach of Comparative North American Studies, which has been significantly advanced by Reingard M. Nischik's work over recent decades. Featuring such illustrious contributors as Linda Hutcheon, Sherrill Grace, and Aritha van Herk, the volume considers the works of writers such as MargaretAtwood, whose concern with both countries' identities is well known, but also offers surprising new insights, for example by comparing writing by Edgar Allan Poe with Canadian Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi and Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro's work with that of the American graphic novelist Alison Bechdel. Contributors: Margaret Atwood, Shuli Barzilai, Julia Breitbach, Jutta Ernst, Florian Freitag, Marlene Goldman, Sherrill Grace, Michael and Linda Hutcheon, Bettina Mack, Silvia Mergenthal, Claire Omhovère, Katja Sarkowsky, Aritha van Herk. Eva Gruber is Assistant Professor of American Literature at the University of Konstanz. Caroline Rosenthal is Professor of American Literature at the University of Jena.Trade ReviewGained Ground: Perspectives on Canadian and Comparative North American Studies is an important and entertaining collection that brings together lively and interesting contributions to an exciting field of studies to which Reingard Nischik has given so many pioneering impulses as a devoted scholar and teacher. * AMERICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY *What I find most remarkable about the collection is its range of authors, genres, and critical methodologies. * BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANADIAN STUDIES *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Eva Gruber and Caroline Rosenthal PART I. THE GENESIS OF CANADIAN AND COMPARATIVE NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES Mapping North America: Comparative North American Literature and Its Contexts - Bettina Mack The Scottish Invention of Canadian Literature? John Buchan in Canada - Silvia Mergenthal PART II. COMPARATIVE NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES: LITERARY CASE STUDIES "Poetics of the Potent": Yann Martel's Life of Pi, Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and Modes of Transcreation - Jutta Ernst "Wanting to Light out for Tender Tenantless Territories": Reading Landscape in Robert Kroetsch's The Hornbooks of Rita K (2001) and Mark Anthony Jarman's 19 Knives (2000) - Claire Omhovère "Landscape-of-the-Heart": Transgenerational Memory and Relationality in Roy Kiyooka's Mothertalk: Life Stories of Mary Kiyoshi Kiyooka - Katja Sarkowsky Performing Shame: Theatrical Motifs in the Works of Alice Munro and Alison Bechdel - Marlene Goldman Timothy Findley's "Stones": Names, Symbols, and Stories - Sherrill Grace PART III. COMPARATIVE NORTH AMERICAN STUDIES BEYOND PRINT Comparative North American Opera: Individualism and National Identity - Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon "Who Really Lives There?": (Meta-)Tourism and the Canada Pavilion at Epcot - Florian Freitag Contact Prints: Reading Margaret Atwood's The Door and the MaddAddam Trilogy through the Lens of Photography - Julia Breitbach Cup-idity, or Poetic Larceny in Transatlantic Contexts: Margaret Atwood's "Stealing the Hummingbird Cup" - Shuli Barzilai PART IV. CODA: REINGARD NISCHIK AND TRANSATLANTIC CANADIAN CRITICISM Across the "Ocean of the Page": Nischik and Kroetsch Gaining Ground - Aritha van Herk Reingard, Queen of the Night - Margaret Atwood Photo Log: 30 Years of Working in Canadian Criticism in Pictures

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Book SynopsisThis pragmatic text helps students master the craft of copy editing--including both the editing skills and the people skills essential to professional success. Experienced newspaper copy editor and professor John Russial covers the fundamentals and more: how to edit for grammar, punctuation, usage, and style; attend to broader issues of fairness and focus; develop strong headlines and other display elements; and work collaboratively with reporters, other editors, and designers. Special attention is given to the copy editor's role as critical thinker and coach as well as resident wordsmith. Throughout, proven editing strategies are explained and numerous concrete examples and practical tips offered. Trade ReviewStrategic Copy Editing offers a bridge between the world of stylebooks and reporting texts and the wider, unscripted world of professional copy editing. The emphasis on decision making, coaching, and critical thinking is particularly valuable to editors-in-training moving from classroom exercises to real stories written on real deadlines by real colleagues. Discussions of headlines and story form show a solid, nuanced awareness of how the rules got there, when and why they might need to be refined or reshaped, and how editors can do so in a day-to-day, practical context.--Fred Vultee, University of Missouri School of JournalismRussial has poured his impressive professional background into a richly comprehensive guide to editing. Beginning editing students will come away with a full understanding of what it means to be a copy editor. Advanced students will discover not only familiar topics mined with greater depth, but also topics seldom covered in typical textbooks; for example, how to work with the reporter as well as the story. The tips and strategies given at the end of most chapters offer advice that even professional copy editors would find useful. Strategic Copy Editing should be on the desk of anyone interested in the transformation of words and art into a coherent and compelling message.--Deborah Gump, Knight Ohio Program for Editing and Editing Education, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio UniversityJohn Russial's strategic approach to copy editing is what sets this book apart from others in the field. He looks at editing from the inside out, and from the outside in, and how the ‘people factor' affects it all. The book is philosophical, yet practical. It's a tool that anyone teaching editing will find rich and rewarding. Russial affords the copy editor--whether novice or advanced--the opportunity to understand not only what to do, but also why to do it.--Malcolm Gibson, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, The University of KansasIn addition to explaining the what and how of copy editing, John Russial explains the why thoroughly and persuasively. A great strength of his book lies in the dignity and force with which he lays out the importance of our obscure but essential craft.--John E. McIntyre, Assistant Managing Editor/Copy Desk, The Baltimore Sun -Table of ContentsServes as a primary text in undergraduate and graduate-level editing courses. 1. Introduction: What Do Copy Editors Do?2. Mechanics: The Nuts and Bolts3. Accuracy4. Precision and Language5. Logic and Form6. Fairness and Legality7. Working with People8. Introduction to Display Type9. Headline Basics10. Headlines: The Next Level11. Other Display Elements12. Words and Images Together13. Page Design14. The Future of Copy Editing15. Pursuing Excellence

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

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Book Synopsis“Clever images of dissent are not a recent phenomenon in the United States. . . . [Signs of Resistance is] visually fascinating. . . . [and] there is bigly wit here, too.”—The Washington Post In hundreds of iconic, smart, angry, clever, unforgettable images, Signs of Resistance chronicles what truly makes America great: citizens unafraid of speaking truth to power. Two hundred and forty images—from British rule and women’s suffrage to the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War; from women’s equality and Black Lives Matter to the actions of our forty-fifth president and the Women’s March—offer an inspiring, optimistic, and visually galvanizing history lesson about the power people have when they take to the streets and stand up for what’s right.

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Book SynopsisStephen Talasnik's intricate and mesmerizing work bridges the disciplines of art and architecture in this debut monograph. A polymath whose work encompasses sculpture, drawing, and architectural land art, Stephen Talasnik manifests an elaborate and evocative aesthetic vision. Inspired by visionary artists and architects such as Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Piranesi, Gustav Eiffel, Antoni Gaudí, and Buckminster Fuller, Talasnik presents a fantastical world that looks as archaeological as it does futuristic. Unearthed presents a broad spectrum of Talasnik's work spanning the last decade, starting with floating sculptures commissioned by the Denver Botanic Garden, continuing on through projects at Storm King Art Center and Russel Wright Design Center, and culminating with a 30-foot-high timber sculpture at the new, highly lauded Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana. The publication of Unearthed coincides with the first exhibition at Tippet Rise devoted to a single artist. Numerous examples of Talasnik's drawings are also included, as well as smaller-scale indoor and outdoor sculptures in diverse materials. Several key contributors help interpret diverse angles of Talasnik's practice, including renowned art critic Phyllis Tuchman, architect and critic Michael Sorkin, theorist David Wittenberg, and the late architect Lebbeus Woods, a close friend to Talasnik. Through these essays and hundreds of reproductions of Talasnik's spellbinding work, Unearthed presents the extraordinary visions of an artist on the cusp of broad recognition.Trade Review”Stephen Talasnik's work rewards the attentive viewer, for the sculpture has a quietly commanding power and the graphics exhibit exquisite virtuosity. Spare in his vocabulary, Talasnik is, nonetheless, dramatic in his ambitions.” - Mark Rosenthal, independent curator ”The beauty of Stephen Talasnik's work is in its play of scale. A tabletop sculpture or drawing can appear as intricate as the universe, while an outdoor installation can slither or bloom with the simplicity of nature. This book shows you the ways and whys of these absorbing effects without reducing their mystery, whetting the appetite to experience his architectural creations in person.” - Alexandra Lange, author of The Design of Childhood ”Whenever Stephen Talasnik and I walk down city streets or forest paths together, I am always fascinated to see what captures his attention - the complex web of scaffolding surrounding the dome of City Center in New York, the scrim of fabric obscuring the face of a building in Tokyo, the variable repetition in oak leaves on a single tree. Unearthed captures Stephen's vision and work with stunning photographs and thoughtful critiques, allowing all of us to experience the beauty and mystery of his art.” - Julie Burstein, author of Spark: How Creativity Works ”Talasnik’s remarkable variety of mark-making and gradations of black and gray tones in graphite and charcoal imbue his drawings with an extraordinary life force - alternately evocative of micro-organisms or vast cosmic entities. The visceral sense of growth and movement that pulsates through his drawings echoes the dynamic relationships between his complex three-dimensional constructions and their environments which often produce cast shadows, reflections, and other unexpected interactions.” - Shelley Langdale, The Park Family Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings Philadelphia Museum of Art ”On my first visit to his studio, I was captivated by the fluid motion and movement in Stephen’s work, and the almost impossible nature of their manifestation in the real world. Our collaboration on Satellite #5: Pioneer is a wonderful exploration of the art of engineering, and the engineering of art. Moreover, the realization is an exploration of space and non-space, building and non-building, which changes constantly with your visual point of view.” - Raj Patel, Fellow, Arup ”I have long admired Stephen Talasnik’s imaginative work. It is a treat to see so much of it pictured and described in such an outstanding book as Unearthed.” - Henry Petroski, author of To Engineer Is Human

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Book SynopsisA unique, quirky view of New York City as a vast collection of urban typologies, Codex New York marks one photographer's revelatory journey through the city. As a native New Yorker with a lifelong curiosity about urban infrastructure, photographer Stanley Greenberg - author of the bestselling Invisible New York - observes characteristics of the city that most people miss. And the more he explores the city, the more he understands it as a huge catalog of features that repeat, vary, morph, and multiply - block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. He embarked on an extraordinary journey, walking every block of Manhattan from the Battery (where there is today much more land than when the Dutch first arrived) to Inwood (which retains more of its original topography than any part of the city) to photograph striking and subtle urban typologies along the way. Alleys, skybridges, parking sheds, architectural relics, tiny streets, water infrastructure - these and more were captured to create an incomparable visual chronicle of the city. What are the objects that a city needs to be a city? Codex New York organizes them into an idiosyncratic field guide that prompts new paths of inquiry. When were they built? Codex New York also serves as a temporal marker; many of the empty spaces Greenberg photographed have already been built on, obscuring the views of the city that now exist only in images. Joining the ranks of great photographic documents of the city, Codex New York is a critical look at and investigation of what New York is made of.Trade Review"Stanley Greenberg walked every block in Manhattan, from the Battery to Inwood, river to river, to get the pictures in Codex New York: Typologies of the City. This is what he saw: not the grand vistas that tourists take in from the top of double-decker buses but the details available only to attentive pedestrians" - William Meyers, The Wall Street Journal "There’s no shortage of coffee table books about New York that show off the unmitigated beauty of the city, whether it’s new buildings (or ones that have been lost forever), striking interiors, or simply really pretty pictures of the changing seasons. Photographer Stanley Greenberg’s latest tome,Codex New York: Typologies of the City, does not depict any of those things. But the New York that it captures - Manhattan, specifically - is no less beautiful, albeit in a more humble sort of way." - Amy Plitt, Curbed

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Book SynopsisDavid Opdyke's massive collage This Land (as elucidated in this book by award-winning author Lawrence Weschler) presents a slow-burning satire of the American Dream as it blunders into the reality of climate change. This Land is an epic mural fashioned by New York artist David Opdyke out of vintage American postcards which he then treated with disconcerting painted interventions. What at first reads as a panoramic bird's-eye view of an idyllic alpine valley reveals itself, upon closer examination, to be an array of connected scenes and vignettes. Across more than five hundred postcards, each one portraying a distinct slice of idealized Americana (town squares, mountain highways, main streets and county seats), Opdyke's acerbic, emotionally jarring alterations gradually become evident. In this prophetic refashioning, forests are aflame, tornadoes torque from one card into the next, a steamboat gets swallowed up whole by some sort of new megafauna, frogs fall like Biblical hail from the sky. The human responses form a cacophony of desires and demands, panic and denial. Biplanes trail banners urging Repent Now!, others insist Legislative Action Would Be Premature, while still others advertise seats on an actual Ark. The book This Land affords readers a closer and closer viewing of Opdyke’s devastatingly sardonic take on our impending ecological future, one in turn enlivened by Lawrence Weschler's vividly sly blend of artist profile and critical interpretation. Featuring introductory essays providing background on the artist and the project as a whole, This Land also divides the sprawling mural into eight sections to allow for a more intimate viewing. Interspersed among the detailed visual sections are insightful thematic essays by Lawrence Weschler and an afterword that serves as a stirring call to action by civil rights attorney Maya Wiley. Additionally, the book's jacket is printed on both sides, folding out to reveal the work in its full grandeur.Trade Review"This is among the most remarkable art projects that the climate era has produced—an epic work that bears endless seeing, and endless thinking." - Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? "David Opdyke’s mural, paired with Lawrence Weschler’s lively commentary, is a masterclass in looking closely at the climate crisis - in all its absurdity and horror, its complexities and transformative potential. A stunning work." - Naomi Klein, author of On Fire: The Burning Case for the Green New Deal "David Opdyke’s mural is mind-blowing in the scale of its sustained and obsessive concentration. It is, in fact, so perfectly realized and beautifully executed that, while the subject Opdyke confronts might necessarily bring one down, somehow you emerge from engaging his artwork with an elevated feeling." - Eric Fischl, artist and educator "This Land is a startling showcase for two far-seeing artists. David Opdyke’s postcard mosaic is a wonderment and a warning, an operatic conjuring of a ravaged planet. From Opdyke’s vision of environmental collapse, Lawrence Weschler weaves his own penetrating tale. Weschler’s essay stirs together history, art, and pop culture in a series of epiphanies that detonate in a piercing call to action." - Lauren Redniss, author of Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future and Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West “The physical book is wrapped in a smart dust jacket that unfolds to present the reader a complete reproduction of Opdyke’s withering, terrifying - and yes - even humorous work.” - Brooklyn Rail "This book is perfect for your friend who jokes about the world ending soon [and] gives you a tactile way to see [David Opdyke’s] magnum opus. . . . It’s so well-conceived and, sadly, imaginable.” - Brooklyn Based

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Book SynopsisThe first monograph of photographer Wayne Thom, whose documentation of Late Modern architecture constitutes an architectural/visual archive unlike any other. A key primer to late-twentieth century Modernism, this monograph devoted to Wayne Thom chronicles his photographic practice and the architectural and urban environment in which he worked. An innovative chronicler of the booming West Coast urbanism of the 1960s and 70s, Thom’s photographs of key projects by path-breaking architecture firms such as William Pereira & Associates, Edward Durell Stone, SOM, Gio Ponti, John Portman, I. M. Pei, and A. Quincy Jones helped establish the idea of cool architectural glamour of the era. Raised in Hong Kong, Thom moved to California in the mid-1960s and trained in the technical craftsmanship of photography, adept at harnessing natural light for both interior and exterior compositions. He soon began working with the figures who would become his clients and benefactors, most importantly William Pereira and A. Quincy Jones, a prolific architect and Dean of the School of Architecture at USC. As Emily Bills critically assess Thom’s career, she demonstrates that his photography became inseparable from Late Modernism in the popular imagination, a period of architectural production that ran from the late 1960s through the 1980s. Wayne Thom: Photographing the Late Modern is a celebration of this key architectural photographer and a unique chronicle of the works of this transformative period of architectural expression.Trade Review“Wayne Thom photographed the power of 1970s architecture. He’s finally getting his due." - Los Angeles Times “Readers will discover over 200 shots, recording trailblazing structures by I. M. Pei and Gio Ponti. Glowing colour prints are set against high contrast monochrome compositions, offering a visual spectacle.” - Aesthetica Magazine “[Includes] page after page of Thom's remarkable photographs...” - Archidose

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Book SynopsisThe first career-spanning catalog of the work of Gianfranco Gorgoni, whose iconic photographs established Land Art as one of the major art movements of the twentieth century. For five decades, photographer Gianfranco Gorgoni (1941-2019) built his reputation as the premier documentarian of Land Art in the US and beyond. After leaving Italy, Gorgoni started making portraits of the major artists of the New York scene, including Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, Walter De Maria, Carl Andre, and Richard Serra. It was not long before he was traveling with Heizer, Smithson, and De Maria to the American West in the late 1960s to plot the works that would famously break art practice out of the confines of the gallery world. In Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, these artists embarked on major Land Art installations that would redefine contemporary art practice of the era. In many cases, Gorgoni was the only photographer on the ground to document their projects, and his images often serve as the definitive photographic record of the planning and creation of these groundbreaking works. Published to coincide with the first major exhibition of Gorgoni's photographic Land Art images at the Nevada Museum of Art, featuring over fifty of his large-scale photographs, Gianfranco Gorgoni: Land Art Photographs includes an introduction by Ann M. Wolfe, Andrea and John C. Deane Family senior curator and deputy director at the Nevada Museum of Art, an essay by the late art historian and critic Germano Celant, whose contribution here is among the last he wrote before his death in 2020, and William L. Fox, the Peter E. Pool Director of the Center for Art + Environment. A landmark collection of photographs of legendary and lesser-known works by Michael Heizer, Walter De Maria, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Ugo Rondinone, and Charles Ross, Gianfranco Gorgoni: Land Art Photographs is a major new assessment of one of the world's great art movements.

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding Caricature offers a lively guide to an old and respected art form. A great caricature is one that not only captures the subject's look and personality but amplifies them significantly. They are almost always funny and very often (but not always) mean spirited. A truly comprehensive and laser-focused examination of a really wonderful, expressive art form. Understanding Caricature offers artists, aspiring artists, students, journalists, bloggers, etc. a lively guide to an old and respected art form. A great caricature is one that not only captures the subject's look and personality but amplifies them significantly. They are almost always funny and very often (but not always) mean spirited. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hairline, cheeks, eyebrows, teeth, chin: There’s no facial feature (or any other body part, for that matter) that can escape the sardonic scrutiny of caricaturist and illustrator Greg Houston. But though he cleverly twists, exaggerates, and distorts each subject’s image, he always makes sure the person remains recognizable - an absolute must for successful caricature. Whether on assignment or simply drawing for his own perverse pleasure, Houston loves skewering the high and mighty - movie stars, moguls, politicians, and assorted other VIPs - especially when they misbehave. Caricature, says Houston, is a very sharp weapon for the powerless to use against the powerful, and he can teach you to wield it, too. After defining caricature, differentiating it from other forms of portraiture, and delving into its centuries-long history, Houston gets down to the nitty gritty of how to do it. He focuses sequentially on the face, the hair, the body, and what he calls “accoutrements” - distinctive items of clothing that help viewers immediately identify celebrities. You yourself will learn to poke artistic fun at the famous through a series of demonstrations that let you follow Houston as he constructs caricatures of Jake Gyllenhaal, Masie Williams, Dwayne Johnson, Rainn Wilson, and other notable victims of his wicked pen. But Houston doesn’t focus solely on his own approach. A whole chapter of Understanding Caricature is devoted to other contemporary caricaturists and the signature mediums they work in, ranging from traditional oils and watercolors, to digital drawing and painting, to sculpture and even puppet-making. And the book’s final chapter displays the work of students who’ve studied with Houston at his Baltimore academy. Brilliant in their own right, these pieces also demonstrate how any artist, with Houston’s guidance, can become a skilled practitioner of the caricaturist’s art.Trade Review“Greg Houston . . . explains how to crank up the amps when depicting a subject . . . . His book includes a historical overview of the art form [and] generous samples of his own and other artists’ work add to the fun.” - Artists Magazine

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Book SynopsisObjects: USA 2020 hails a new generation of artist-craftspeople by revisiting a groundbreaking event that redefined American art. In 1969, an exhibition opened at the Smithsonian Institution that redefined American art. Objects: USA united a cohort of artists inventing new approaches to art-making by way of craft media. Subsequently touring to twenty-two museums across the country, where it was viewed by over half a million Americans, and then to eleven cities in Europe, the exhibition canonized such artists as Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Wharton Esherick, Wendell Castle, and George Nakashima, and introduced others who would go on to achieve widespread art-world acclaim, including Dale Chihuly, Michele Oka Doner, J. B. Blunk, and Ron Nagle. Objects: USA 2020 revisits this revolutionary exhibition and its accompanying catalog - which has become a bible of sorts to curators, gallerists, dealers, craftspeople, and artists - by pairing fifty participants from the original exhibition with fifty contemporary artists representing the next generation of practitioners to use - and upend - the traditional methods and materials of craft to create new forms of art. Published to coincide with an exhibition of the same title at the renowned gallery R & Company, and featuring essays by some of the foremost authorities on craft at the intersection of art, including Glenn Adamson, curator and former director of the Museum of Arts & Design; James Zemaitis, curator and former head of twentieth-century design at Sotheby's; and Lena Vigna, curator of exhibitions at the Racine Art Musuem; an interview with Paul J. Smith, the cocurator of Objects: USA 2020 is an essential art historical reference that traces how craft was elevated to the status of museum-quality art, and sets its trajectory forward.Trade Review“[A] new and noteworthy visual book.” - New York Times Book Review “Investigates the shifting role of multidisciplinary craftspeople and artisans in an era fueled by digital transactions. A meditation on American craft.” - AD Pro “A heartfelt display, "Objects USA: 2020" updates the 1969 project by building bridges of influence and inspiration across generations of artists.” - Hyperallergic “[An] incredible book, and really a must-have design staple.” - Wendy Goodman “An incredibly timely look at the craft movement in art, as notions of inclusion, sustainability, and labor profoundly resonate with an urgency of self-expression.” - Interior Design Magazine “The groundbreaking 1969 craft exhibit ‘Objects: USA’ gets a reboot.” - Smithsonian Magazine “The revival of “Objects: USA” celebrates a new generation of design talent.” - W Magazine

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Book SynopsisOsvaldo Romberg is an Argentine artist living in the United States who has, over the past five decades, produced a consistently goading body of work that tackles questions of analysis, interpretation, and representation of art and art history. His own history of translocation-between Argentina, Israel, Europe, and the United States-and his firm commitment to family and teaching are mirrored by an art practice that persistently plays with questions of life, sex, death, and the complexities of language and mythology.Osvaldo Romberg +/-70, Even assembles classic texts by Marcelin Pleynet, Jean- Michel Rabat

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Book SynopsisBrand new collection of Marci Washington's distinctive gothic imagery with a contemporary twist.

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Book SynopsisJakob Schultz has interviewed tattooists from around the world about their craft. Pictures accompany each artist, showcasing their work and the influence behind it.

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Book SynopsisA concise, practical, and timely guide for board members of arts organizations

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Book SynopsisA fully revised and updated edition of the essential companion to Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain--over half of the exercises are new!Millions of people around the world have learned to draw using the methods outlined in Dr. Betty Edwards’s groundbreaking Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. In this workbook, the essential companion to her international bestseller, Edwards offers readers the key to truly mastering the art of drawing: guided practice in the five foundational skills of drawing.   Each of the forty carefully constructed exercises in this updated second edition is accompanied by brief instruction, sample drawings, ready made formats and blank pages on which to draw, and helpful post-exercise pointers. You will explore wide-ranging subject matter—still life, landscape, imaginative drawing, portraits, and the figure—and gain experience with various mediums, such as pen and ink, charcoal, and Conte crayon.   Learning to draw is very much like mastering a sport or a musical instrument: once you understand the basic skills, you must practice, practice, practice. This brilliantly designed and practical workbook from a world-renowned art teacher offers the perfect opportunity to improve your skills and expand your repertoire.

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Book SynopsisAnalyzes the combination of art and science contained within Leonardo da Vinci''s work, such as his usage of the "golden mean," the mathematical concept that is key to understanding the link between art and nature.

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Book SynopsisFeaturing texts by leading scholars of the history and culture of medieval Armenia, this book offers an in-depth look at its art, trade, and religious traditions The papers in this volume, first presented at an international symposium celebrating The Met’s blockbuster 2018 exhibition, Armenia!, explore the art and culture of a civilization that served as a pivotal crossroads on the border between East and West. Contributors address Armenia’s roles in facilitating exchange with the Mongol, Ottoman, and Persian empires to the East and with Byzantium and European Crusader states to the West. Essays also explore the ways in which elements of these cultures commingled in Armenian art and religion—Armenian artists and craftspeople produced an astonishing range of religious objects that drew upon influences from both Europe and Asia but ultimately created a uniquely Armenian visual identity. The authors explore the effects of this dualistic tension in the history of Armenian art and how it persists into the present, as this land situated at a crossroads of civilization continues to grapple with the legacy of genocide and counters new threats to its sovereignty, integrity, and cultural language. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Book SynopsisAt once truly appalling and appallingly funny, Blaise Cendrars''s Moravagine bears comparison with Naked Lunch—except that it''s a lot more entertaining to read. Heir to an immense aristocratic fortune, mental and physical mutant Moravagine is a monster, a man in pursuit of a theorem that will justify his every desire. Released from a hospital for the criminally insane by his starstruck psychiatrist (the narrator of the book), who foresees a companionship in crime that will also be an unprecedented scientific collaboration, Moravagine travels from Moscow to San Antonio to deepest Amazonia, engaged in schemes and scams as, among other things, terrorist, speculator, gold prospector, and pilot. He also enjoys a busy sideline in rape and murder. At last, the two friends return to Europe—just in time for World War I, when 'the whole world was doing a Moravagine.'This new edition of Cendrars''s underground classic is the first in English to include the author''s afterword, 'How I Wrote Moravagine.'

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Book SynopsisSan Francisco''s best photos inspire us in this dazzling collection, perfect to display in home or office, to give as a gift, or keep as a treasured souvenir. Teaming with fresh perspectives of local culture, people, foods, natural beauty, art, and architecture, readers will return time and again to lift spirits and to be awed. Every dazzling photograph captures an essential aspect of San Francisco in a manner that is guaranteed to yield new insight.An unparalleled collection of images of our great city, a sampling of topics includes San Francisco Bay, sea lions, Dungenous Crabs, the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Golden Gate Park, Cliff House, Painted Ladies, pier seals, historic ships, fishing boats, and the list goes on and on.

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Book SynopsisWith dozens of beautiful, original designs and detailed explanations, this Chinese paper cutting book is a great reference for beginners.Paper cutting is a popular papercraft in today's multicultural world, embracing a great variety of themes, designs and images. In China, its birthplace, it is regarded as an elegant traditional folk art. Chinese paper cuts reflect many aspects of life, including prosperity, health and the harvest. Paper cuts are typically used to decorate walls, windows and doors, or as patterns for embroidery and lacquer work. Rich in cultural tradition, with a long history of over 1,500 years, Chinese paper cutting was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009.Easy to learn, paper cutting only requires paper and scissors which can be used to create a wide range of interesting paper cut outs. Instruction and inspiration can be found in The Beginner's Guide to Chinese Paper Cutting. This Chinese crafts book introduces all the basic elements of Chinese paper cutting, including the necessary preparation, basic techniques, simple practices and appreciation. The book's clear directions and illustrations will allow anyone to explore the art of paper cutting and start making their own works of art.

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Book SynopsisA compact biography of one of nineteenth-century England’s most renowned illustrators. George Cruikshank (1792–1878) was a key transitional figure in the changing world of nineteenth-century London’s graphic humor. He carried his eighteenth-century-trained wit from the field of political satire during the Regency years into the Victorian era of journals and books. His witty drawings of boisterous London streets in 1820–1836 made him a household name, and in 1836, his masterful etchings were key to the positive reception of Charles Dickens’s first novel. Illustrated throughout by his one-of-a-kind drawings, “The Great George” traces Cruikshank’s career from his ascent, by 1820, as the preeminent political satirist to the end of his career. During the 1840s and 50s, with the rising popularity of Dickens, the arrival of Punch, and his adoption of the temperance movement as his work’s focus, Cruikshank was eventually eclipsed by new generations of artists. Using as her launchpad the argument that drawing with humor takes both great draftsmanship and a highly perceptive sense of humanity, Josephine Lea Iselin not only details the trajectory of Cruikshank’s art but also provides valuable context for his work, placing his drawings alongside pieces from his artistic predecessors and principal contemporaries.Table of ContentsI. IntroductionII. A Brief Outline of a Long Life (1792–1878)1792–1811: Beginnings: George’s Education in the Art of Humor1811–1820: Young George as Political Satirist1821–1835: When Humorous Etching Was King1835–1840: The Arrival of Mr. DickensSketches by BozThe Pickwick PapersOliver Twist1841–1847: Cruikshank’s Disputes with Bentley and Ainsworth;His Rejection of Offers from Messrs. Dickens and Punch1847–1850: The Road to Temperance1851–1878: The Second EpochCoda to the First Epoch: 1851: or The Adventures of Mr. andMrs. Sandboys and FamilyPreface to the Second Epoch: George Cruikshank’s Fairy LibraryEpilogueIII. Prints, Original Drawings, and DocumentsItem Nos. 1–13: Beginnings: George’s Education in the Art of HumorItem Nos. 14–28: Young George as Political SatiristItem Nos. 29–56: When Humorous Etching Was KingItem Nos. 57–69: The Arrival of Mr. DickensItem Nos. 70–75: Cruikshank’s Disputes with Bentley and Ainsworth;His Rejection of Offers from Messrs. Dickens and PunchItem Nos. 76–80: The Road to TemperanceItem Nos. 81–93: The Second EpochAcknowledgmentsBibliography

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Book SynopsisIn 2005, the Getty published Greece! Rome! Monsters!, a handy guide to the best-known monsters from Greek and Roman mythology. Now comes My Monster Notebook, which presents yet more of these creepy creatures and characters from ancient times. Purporting to be a school notebook found on the sidewalk, the pages reveal the stories of such thrilling and little-known creatures as the huge Teumessian Fox (who was turned to stone by Zeus), Echidna (mother of many, many monsters), hundred-headed Briaereus (who was also a handful), and Typhon (who threw mountains around as if they were beanbags). My Monster Notebook offers a peek at a bunch of creatures you definitely would not want to run into, brought to vivid life by someone who accidentally dropped his (or her) lovingly put together notebook. Fortunately, we found it! It includes a pronunciation guide. How do you say "Nereid"? Ages eight and up.Trade Review"An irreverent, highly entertaining addition to the pantheon."--Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisThis title explores the curiosity and collaboration that has existed between East and West for centuries. The striking illustrated books, maps, and prints featured in China on Paper are some of the most notable among the printed works produced at the dawn of the era of global trade to present China to Europe and bring Western science, religion, and art to China. From a Chinese translation of the rosary to French editions of Confucian classics, from a monumental map of the world to magnificent engravings of the European pavilions built by Jesuits at the behest of the Qianlong emperor - these works on paper reveal a compelling and largely hidden history of mutual curiosity and fruitful collaboration at a time when few people travelled far from home.

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Book SynopsisThis title offers an insightful and revealing personal account of one man's consuming passion for collecting. In 1965, shortly after founding his namesake museum in Malibu, California, J. Paul Getty penned reminiscence about "the romance and zest - the excitement, suspense, thrills, and triumphs - that make art collecting one of the most exhilarating and satisfying of all human endeavors". Newly republished, this book offers a fascinating portrait of an idiosyncratic and highly personal passion for art - and how his first serious forays into art collecting in the 1930s would turn into a love that would last for more than three decades and end with the foundation of one of the world's finest museums. The text, peppered with revealing anecdotes, encompasses paintings, antiquities, and decorative arts and furniture, with conversational asides discussing Getty's philosophy of collecting. This personal chronicle reads like an intriguing postcard from a vastly different - and increasingly distant - era.

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