Schwarzenegger Xmas

Muscle-man Arnold Schwarzenegger might not detect much difference between this year’s crop of Christmas gift books and those of previous seasons, but for my part they seem heftier (or am I growing feebler?) than in the past. And there does seem to be a new trend in the contents as well: fewer of them seem to be mere eye-catchers meant to dazzle rather than inform, so that he who plonks down $35 or more for an art book which can prop up the recipient’s tree and impress him with how kulturny one is may get a lot more than he bargained for. And, after all, compared with what shoes cost these days, these books are not all that crazily dear—and they’ll probably last a lot longer. Herewith a highly personal selection:

Drawing: History of an Art (Rizzoli, $75), though expensive, is still my favorite, not just because of its beautiful format and generous illustrations (390 of them, with 95 in unusually faithful color), but because it contains insights that can enhance the appreciation of even a seasoned viewer of this most direct and intimate branch of art, which Michelangelo called “the soul of all painting and the root of every science.” Jean Leymarie, Director of the French Academy in Rome, leads off with an introduction which compresses a chronological survey of drawing, from the running animals which prehistoric men drew on the walls of the Lascaux caves to the pregnant economies of Alberto Giacometti, into 22 sensitively written pages without seeming breathless. The bulk of the text, by Geneviève Monnier of the Louvre and Bernice Rose of the Museum of Modern Art, while less eloquent, is crammed full of information about the varied theories of drawing, its techniques and purposes; a whole chapter is devoted to that frequently neglected branch, architectural drawing. This is a book to read and ponder and refer to often.

RB

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Ruth Berenson

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Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Muscle-man Arnold Schwarzenegger might not detect much difference between this year’s crop of Christmas gift books and those of previous seasons, but for my part they seem heftier (or am I growing feebler?) than in the past. And there does seem to be a new trend in the contents as well: fewer of them seem to be mere eye-catchers meant to dazzle rather than inform, so that he who plonks down $35 or more for an art book which can prop up the recipient’s tree and impress him with how kulturny one is may get a lot more than he bargained for. And, after all, compared with what shoes cost these days, these books are not all that crazily dear—and they’ll probably last a lot longer. Herewith a highly personal selection:

Drawing: History of an Art (Rizzoli, $75), though expensive, is still my favorite, not just because of its beautiful format and generous illustrations (390 of them, with 95 in unusually faithful color), but because it contains insights that can enhance the appreciation of even a seasoned viewer of this most direct and intimate branch of art, which Michelangelo called “the soul of all painting and the root of every science.” Jean Leymarie, Director of the French Academy in Rome, leads off with an introduction which compresses a chronological survey of drawing, from the running animals which prehistoric men drew on the walls of the Lascaux caves to the pregnant economies of Alberto Giacometti, into 22 sensitively written pages without seeming breathless. The bulk of the text, by Geneviève Monnier of the Louvre and Bernice Rose of the Museum of Modern Art, while less eloquent, is crammed full of information about the varied theories of drawing, its techniques and purposes; a whole chapter is devoted to that frequently neglected branch, architectural drawing. This is a book to read and ponder and refer to often.