Product Description
Illustrated with examples of helmets, shields, swords, crossbows, firearms and other items from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, this volume traces the history of European arms and armour from antiquity to the 18th century. It explores themes such as medieval warfare, tournaments, the process of making and decorating armour, and the Renaissance culture of arms. There is also discussion of various forms of weapons, and the illustrations include paintings, tapestries and engravings which show how the objects were used and worn. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A well-written, accessible guide to armor, with minor flaws.
Although this book specifically catalogues the armor collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art -- issued to commemorate the Museum's splendid renovation of its legendary Armor Court -- this is a fine, intelligent, andcomprehensive overview for anyone interested in how arms and armor weremade, used, and venerated from the Middle Ages through the Baroqueperiod.

The only reservation I have about this book is the author'scurious reluctance to fully acknowledge the real purpose of these items. Yes, arms and armor can be beautiful -- and the examples provided heresurely are -- but it cannot be forgotten that they are at their coreinstruments of war, meant to kill, maim, or at the very least, intimidate.This book implies that arms and armor are merely fashion statements, muchas we venerate the clothing designs of Versace, Armani, Ralph Lauren,Geoffrey Beene, etc. today. It's pretty to think so, but an overlyromanticized viewpoint.

This reservation, however, is not enough toprevent me from highly recommending this book. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Pretty Dry Going
I found this book very dry.I am a Tiffany fan and create Tiffany stained glass reproductions as a hobby.I think anyone who is not already a devotee should think twice about this book.I really doesn't add much to the information already out there.Cut and paste literature at best.

Louis Comfort Tiffany's Laurelton Hall
This is an excellent and scholarly book filled with incredible photos and descriptions of LCT's home, Laurelton Hall.The author has written a series of fine chapters that look at all aspects of this magnificent residence.What the fire at Laurelton destroyed, this book restores with words and photos. For all of you who love Tiffany's artistry, this book is not to be missed!

Tiffany Book
Nicely put together and informative for those who are seriously interested in the life and works of Louis Comfort Tiffany. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Expect quality
I bought this book after visiting the MET and spending a day just in the Roman wing. The book is a very useful reference for the works there; all pictures are in color and each object is described just as in the museum. My only disappointment is that a larger-than-life bronze Greek statue, perhaps my favorite in the entire collection, is not included. Nevertheless, this book, like the MET itself, is almost holy to me. ... Read more

Product Description
Cairo's museums are home to some of the richest collection of Islamic art in the world. Long the seat of great dynasties, whose rulers and descendants both amassed and patronized works of art, Cairo's status as one of the wealthiest and most populous cities of the medieval world is reflected in the exquisite arts and crafts that make up its collections, which expanded in the twentieth century through the purchase of private collections so that they now include not just the arts of the dynasties that made Cairo their capital, such as the Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks, but material from other important areas of the Islamic world, such as Iran and Turkey, as well.Masterpieces of every medium are represented, including the decorative arts of ceramics, metalwork, textile, woodwork, glass, carved stone and ivory, and the art of the book. The objects vary from pieces made for purely secular purposes, many of them with blazons showing that they were the property of the great amirs of the time, to some of the choicest examples recovered from the architectural masterpieces that permeate Cairo's landscape.An introductory chapter guides the reader into the world of Islam and its art, while subsequent chapters unfold and describe the riches of the works of art that were crafted and amassed throughout the ages. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with specially commissioned color photographs.Contributors to this volume include Mohamed Abbas, Noha Abou-Khatwa, Farouk Askar, Mohamed Hamza, and Bernard O Kane. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Beautiful Pages, Very Poor Binding.
This is a visually stunning book that covers an array of islamic art pieces from the Museums of Islamic Art in Ciaro. The annotations and essays are just as rich. An excellent book for students, academics and collectors of Islamic Art.
My only reservation is that despite the fact that this book has been published in hard back, the binding is extremely poor. My copy simply fell apart within 24 hours of it arriving. I had viewed the pages of the book about three times -just amazed by the photographs. However, during the fourth viewing of the book, as I started to engage in reading through the text, the pages had become detached from the stitched spine. I had to have my book repaired at the cost of what the book cost me in the first place. I was told by the book repairer that the glue used by the publisher/printing firm was of very poor quality and had become very brittle rather than form a flexible adhesive.
Overall though the book is a fabulous reference book.

enlightening tour of Islamic art at Cario museums
The woodworks, ivory carvings, metalwork, ceramics, manuscripts paintings, sculptures, glass, and other art works, despite their variety, different ages, and countries, all "bear something of the essence of the Islamic faith: divine unity, balance, and peace." Unlike much Western art, Islamic art is not meant to be provocative or idiosyncratic. Their are works from Turkey, Iran, and other places in the Muslim world. But most are from Egypt arranged according to different ruling dynasties starting about 600AD. Fine color photographs catch the details of designs, the textures, and the workmanship of the varied pieces. General text gives historical and cultural background of the different historical periods, and there's an informative, concise annotation with each art work pictured. The variety of the art works, the specifics of the annotations, and the text sections giving background convey the bounty of the world of Islamic art. ... Read more

Product Description
"The narrative is one long, messy, juicy gossip peppered with exclamations. . . . But gossip is an effective rhetoric for this life. . . . Gardner may have hoped, by burning her letters, to escape capture in yet another book plotted like a novel by Henry James. She might have liked this garrulous, sociable portrait of her time."
-- Diane Wood Middlebrook, New York Times Book Review (front page review)

"This intimate engrossing biography finally gives the creator of one of the world's great museums credit for her achievements. . . . The author's expertise in American cultural history greatly enriches his narrative."
-- The New Yorker

"It's the unauthorized story of the grandest of Boston's grand dames that any sentient person wants to read. The Art of Scandal has a delightful sense of the city that once was the Athens of America."
-- Alex Beam, Boston Globe

"He dares to paint in words the woman John Singer Sargent painted on canvas. . . . She is always engagingly human and brimming with life."
-- Daniel Aaron, The New Republic

"Gardner's heretofore fugitive life story is riveting because Shand-Tucci turns out to be erudite, witty, and wise. . . . Shand-Tucci describes her adventures, eccentricities, and resounding success as a muse, mentor, patron, and designer, shedding light on a singular woman and her influential role in the evolution of American culture."
-- BooklistAmazon.com Review
Henry James fictionalized her, John Singer Sargent paintedher, Bernard Berenson advised her. But art collector extraordinaireIsabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) was more than a rich socialitewho lucked into friendships with the leading cultural figures ofher day. Boston historian Douglass Shand-Tucci convincingly claims her as apioneering multiculturalist--her famous museum in Fenway Courtenshrined Asian art as well as that of the old masters--and a rebel whobefriended Jews, homosexuals, and other outcasts from Victoriansociety. Shand-Tucci's highly colored, romantic prose aptly evokeshis fiery, willful, egotistical subject. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

lGreat Book
This was a gift for a friend who really enjoyed the Museum.I loved the book but it has been some time since I read it.However, it is of interest that the I. S. Gardner Museum gift shop does NOT carry the book!!Too scandulous???

The Scandal of Being Published
I was so excited to read this book about the fascinating woman, Isabella Stewart Gardner.Her home now museum is a masterpiece.

Douglass Shand-Tucci's book unfortunately is a droning joke.That he could take such a fascinating woman and make her a bore to read about is a shame.I paid the used price of $.01 and think it was over priced.

The cover looked ever so hopeful...

Was there no editor?
Gardner is an interesting personality. The book is written in a stilted, over punctuated style that makes it nearly impossible to read. And did I mention the zillion exclamation points???!!!!!!! A conversation with the author must be very tiring.

Challenging reading, excellent information
Unlike most of the reviewers here, I did enjoy Shand Tucci's biography. He has a genuine interest in getting to the "touchy" parts of biography which I find rewarding to have read. The older biographies are very dated hagiographies and really don't prompt an interest in anything but the conventional. This book has interesting things to say about James, Sargent, Bourget, Wharton, Berenson, and others. The style is a little like the gossipy, chatty, whispering voice of a turn of the century Bostonian so it fits well with the idea in the title. This book is certain to lead the future books that come out about Gardner and hopefully people won't continue regarding her as the Byzantine goddess of the Sargent portrait, but a woman of flesh and blood with strengths and weaknesses.

The Real Age of Elegance...and Scandal
When one has chance to visit Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a unique cultural institution that should not be missed.One of the nation's most eclectic and idiosyncratic private museums, it represents the personal vision of its namesake, Isabella Steward Gardner, a woman with the means and confidence to assemble an art collection of enormous breadth and exquisite quality.At the same time, her wealth and influence gave her the ability to live life on her terms, despite the steady drumbeat of ugly gossip.
Although I have a beautifully detailed volume on Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) and her museum Fenway Court, in my library, it was an "authorized" book, and as such that was left out of the story.However, it is a "warts and all" book that Douglas Shand-Tucci has written despite being in sympathy with his fascinating subject.Gardner married into wealth and she used her husband's cash to collect art - and people.Despite her marriage into the Gardner family, who were influential Boston Brahmins, she carried on scandalous affairs and surrounded herself with gay artists and aesthetes.Many of these relationships were ambiguous at the time for homosexuality had to remain far beneath the surface in the 19th century.John Singer Sargent painted Mrs. Gardner and their relationship was used as the model for Eleanor Palfrey's novel "The Lady and the Painter."
The expatraite art historian Bernard Berenson advised her on her purchases, which included Vermeer's gem-like "The Concert" and Titan's great "Rape of Europa."She collected some of Sergeant's major works including the massive "El Jaleo" and he painted a famous portrait of her, as did Whistler and the Swedish artist Anders Zorn. She seemed to collect almost everything including Asian art, which she successfully mixed with the European paintings when she built Fenway Court, her Venician palace close by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, which was constructed at the turn-of-the-century.
Shand-Tucci's book is carefully researched and despite the fact that Gardner burned her letters, he seems to have sorted out the tangled web of relationships between the patroness and her friends, lovers and in turn, their relations with each other.This is no small accomplishment, as Garnder knew almost everyone who was anyone in America and Europe. In addition to close relationships with Sargent and Berenson, she knew George Santayana, Richard Wagner, Edith Wharton, Charles Elliot Norton, Henri Matisse, Henry Adams, Henry James and William James.
"The Art of Scandal" recreates as era of elegance, taste and affluence, of the long, languid decades before the hell of "The Great War" when the leading families of Europe and America began to intermix, and the treasures of Europe made their ways to our homes and museums.
... Read more

Product Description
An engaging text, which discusses everything from Assyrian art to medieval armor, and illustrations encourage children to interact with works of art and objects from every area of the Metropolitan Museum's vast collections. Original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Extremely helpful!
The children's guide to the metropolitan museam of art is super! It tells them what they will see in the museam and how to get there.

It shows you Greek marble arts, Egyptian arts, 20th century paintings, Roman marblecopies, Indus river Valley arts, Chineses and Japanese arts, temple ofDendur, halls of Abu Simbel, etc. It has seventy-two pages filled withfacts, stories, pictures, other galleries, and maps. It's an excellentguide for children......... ... Read more

Product Description
Gallery and museum staff are aware that exhibitions canbe materially diminished by the failure to acknowledge that there isan art to displaying art. The Art of Displaying Art takes themystery out of successful exhibition design. It is an essential guidefor gallery and museum personnel. Private collectors who own oils,graphics, drawings, and photographs will find this volume a valuablehandbook for hanging art in their homes and offices. ProfessorLawrence B. Smith, the author, taught display and exhibit design atthe Fashion Institute of Technology, one of the few institutions ofhigher learning with a program in gallery and museum management. Hisbook covers arranging the wall - using a model of the space -conservation concerns - handling the work - hanging hardware -lighting - labels - captions - cases, vitrines and cabinets - andadapting alternative exhibition spaces. It is complete withillustrations, sources, a bibliography, and an index. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (20)

Great Resource for Costume Designers and Fashion Buffs
This book is cover to cover color photographs of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including interestingly arranged vignettes that display an array of eighteenth century fashion, architecture, and furniture.It's a beautiful book with wonderful descriptions of each scene depicted.And it offers a unique examination of the eighteenth century haute ton. If you're interested in fashion history, need a resource for costumes or scenery, or are just interested in the links between high society, fashion, furniture, and architecture, then this is an excellent book to invest in.Well worth the price.

Hmmm
I bought this sight unseen from all the rave reviews. I have to say I was disappointed. Looking through the other comments, I have to agree with the reviewer that referred to it as an 'overblown production'.
I love costuming and the 18th century is my favourite period, but from the reviews I was expecting something a little more flashy.

If you've never had any exposure to 18th century clothing and furnishings before then I could see how this could be a revelation, but to a serious costumer, it's a bit average to say the least.

I think boobs and debauchery on stiff looking models would have to be a better title - these have to be the worst costume models I've ever seen.

It's hard to see details in the gowns, the lighting and photograpy are poor, the paintings are ok, but seem to revolve more around sex then clothing and the whole thing is just lacking in presentation in my opinion.

Not sure whether to cut this up for reference or donate it to the library.

Sorry I bought it.

Fabulous!
This book is gorgeous. The costumes are exquisite, and the arrangements of 'scenes' are fun and intriguing. A lovely coffee table book and excellent as a costumer's reference too.

Love it!
I'm a Theatre Costume Design student.For me it's very important to be as historically accurate in my designs as possible.Sadly, there are more bad costume books out there than good ones.Since this book features pictures of actual historical costumes (costumes that were, at the point they were originally cut and sewn, physically worn), there's no doubt of its reliability as a source.
I highly recommend this book not only to people like myself, who need a great book for research and inspiration, but to anyone and everyone.The pictures are high quality and excellently posed and, of course, the clothes and furniture are beautiful.Then again, 18th century France?How can they not be?

18th Century Costumes and Furnishings
This book contains some very nice images of historic costumes and furnishings from the 18th Century, including detail views.It should be of value to costume designers, set designers, historians and re-enactors.The quality of the book makes it a great bargain. ... Read more

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Product Description
In aesthetic quality, significance and scope, the Metropolitan Museum's Oceanic or Pacific Islands collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world. This generously illustrated volume features some 200 masterworks from the more than 2,600 objects currently in the collection, and it is published to coincide with the opening of the Museum's new galleries of Oceanic art. An overview of Oceanic art and a history of the Metropolitan's collection are followed by detailed chapters devoted to each of the five major cultural regions of the Pacific: Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and the islands of Southeast Asia. Among the notable works discussed are a monumental Baining barkcloth figure, a spectacular shield from the Solomon Islands, the Museum's renowned Torres Strait mask and acclaimed Mangarevan wooden male figure, a weather charm from the Caroline Islands, and textiles from the regions of Lampung and Sumba, in Sumatra. A glossary and selected bibliography conclude this essential guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pacific Island Art
Hardback, 2007, 11.25" x 8.5", 353 Pages, 198 Objects illustrated in full color, 2 maps, numerous color & B/W illustrations. (Note : For some unknown reason, the book I purchased new from Amazon features a figure on the cover which is different than that shown in the Amazon entry, although both figures are included in the book.)

A very worthwhile effort with an eclectic and consistently interesting selection of art from New Guinea, Australia, Island Melanesia, Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because the artifacts are mostly illustrated in 1/4 or 1/3 pages, and the small size does not do them justice. In spite of this limitation, the book is still highly recommended for anybody who appreciates Oceanic Art.
... Read more

Product Description
An impressive array of clothing, accessories and library materials is highlighted in this volume detailing a decade of acquisitions made by the costume institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The "new" clothes span the centuries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

highlights from the Met costume collection
The Metropolitan Museum in New York has one of the world's great textile and costume collections.This book celebrates the new acquisitions of the costume collection throughout the 1990's.

This is essentially a picture book that is a recommended addition to anyone who collects books on costume.All illustrations are in colour and there are some lovely photos of items like an English Mantua and petticoat c1708, a hand painted robe a la francaise c1740, an embroidered robe a la polonaise c1780, a man's wool suit with gold bullion braid c1760 and more modern gowns such as dresses by Vivienne Westwood and Christian Lacroix as well as 2 gowns owned by Princess Diana.

A visually beautiful book that makes you glad that such wonderful costumes have been preserved and published so we can all enjoy them even if we can't visit the museum. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, the first of a two-volume set documenting the distinguished and comprehensive collection of American sculpture at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, focuses on late nineteenth-century works. The book includes sculpture by such masters as Hiram Powers, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Gaston Lachaise, and it offers premier examples of neoclassical ideal nudes, expressive genre statuettes, studies for monumental sculpture, portraits in a variety of styles and materials, and much more. ... Read more