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African-American architects have been designing and building houses and public buildings since 1865. Although many of these structures survive today, the architects themselves are virtually unknown. This unique reference work brings their lives and work to light for the first time. Written by 100 experts ranging from architectural historians to archivists, this book contains 160 biographical, A-Z entries on African-American architects from the era of Emancipation to the end of World War II. Articles provide biographical facts about each architect, and commentary on his or her work. Practical and accessible, this reference is complemented by over 200 photographs and includes an appendix containing a list of buildings by geographic location and by architect. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Black architects
A wonderful resource.Short bios of early Afro-American architects with pictures of their signature buildings. ... Read more

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Describes Mary Anne Evans's childhood in nineteenth century Coventry, her lifelong resistance to enforced women's roles, intellectual prowess, elopement with George Henry Lewes, and literary successes.Amazon.com Review
The past 30 years have already given us a comprehensive,dispassionate biography of the great 19th-century novelist byGordon Haight and a persuasive feminist rethinking by RubyRedinger. Frederick Karl, notable for his thoughtful portraits of Kafka andConrad, adds a valuable new perspective by depicting George Eliot as awriter whose life and work incarnated "the ambiguities, theanguish, and divisiveness of the Victorian era." This approachenables him to analyze her shortcomings as a woman and an artistwithout seeming personally hostile towards Eliot. Massive yethighly readable in the best Victorian tradition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Fascinating but slightly flawed
In many ways, this is a thorough historical and cultural contextualization and biography of Eliot's life, but I was also (like reviewer above)distracted by Karl's pronouncements on Eliot's values, psyche, motives and feelings, to wit: "Forms of behavior were more important to her than how people survived"; "Fictional fathers force us to reevaluate E's psychological response to a male-dominated household"; he asserts that Dorothea experiences "sexual frustration" in her marriage to Casaubon; his claim that E pursued "married men" specifically; her headaches as manifesting "hostility" or "guilt feelings" (which may well have been true, but Karl doesn't provide an adequate demonstration of the connections; etc. At times, his generalizations about her fictional characters--especially with regard to gender roles--are easily contradicted by any number of counter-examples.

Overall, however, a highly recommended biography which reveals the author's complete scholarly dedication to thoroughness as well as his devotion to his subject.

I recommend the book, which does an excellent job of filling in the socio-cultural context of E's era, but take Karl's speculations with a grain of salt!

The Study of an Amazing Intellect
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosityto acquire knowledge all through her life.

Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was England's most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victoria's daughters.

This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliot's yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequenttrips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail ofher life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels.

Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters.

One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliot's novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I haven't read. That's my problem, of course, and not the author's.

It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book

The Study of an Amazing Intellect
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosityto acquire knowledge all through her life.

Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was England�s most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victoria�s daughters.

This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliot�s yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequenttrips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail ofher life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels.

Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters.

One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliot�s novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I haven�t read. That�s my problem, of course, and not the author�s.

It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book ... Read more

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Behind Glass is the arresting story of Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham's life as written by her grandson, Michael John Burlingham. Born in 1891, Dorothy Tiffany was the last child in the long line of the famous Tiffany dynasty. As was expected of the young heiress, Dorothy Tiffany married a wealthy member of the American plutocracy, Dr. Robert Burlingham. But the lackluster life of wealthy young women in the nineteenth century held little appeal for Dorothy Burlingham and, leaving behind her socially prominent husband, she took her children and moved to Europe, where she underwent psychoanalysis with Sigmund Freud. Dorothy and her children were to become patients of his and Anna Freud's, their houseguests, and intimate friends, developing a unique and storied extended family relationship that remains fascinating for its depth and complexity. Dorothy's quest for fulfillment and a rich inner life ultimately had tragic consequences for those who were dearest to her as she embarked on a path that ultimately led to their downfall.

Michael John Burlingham beautifully incorporates factual detail with family narrative in a manner that highlights the poignant and personal challenges faced by women as the Victorian era gave way to the post-Freudian modern world. This book is a brilliant account of a truly luminous historical figure. ... Read more

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The public and private Walter Gropius is presented here by a long-time friend and colleague. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Sir John Soane (1753-1837) is now regarded as one of the great architects of late 18th- and early 19th- century Europe. And, increasingly, contemporary architects and designers are being influenced by the subtleties of the unique "Soane style." Dorothy Stroud's masterly work is the culmination of a lifetime's research. Drawing together all the threads of her previous writings on Soane, Stroud gives us both a concise biography of the architect and a sweeping, richly illustrated survey of his works. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Recomended
Excellent book, with varied content and beautiful pics. Great to look at or for reference

Refrence and Ideas
This book is an above average collection of Architects.It is mostly pictures with a short discription on the architects.The projects are each given about 2 pages with each architect about 6.

A LOOK AT THE NEXT GENERATION OF INFLUENTIAL ARCHITECTS
Who are the Norman Fosters, Richard Meiers and Tadao Andos of tomorrow? Who will build our airports, museums, and homes in the 21st century? 40 ARCHITECTS UNDER 40 is TASCHEN's answer.

Discover the next generation of designers who are already starting to shape the architecture of the new millennium, redefining the relationships between culture, environment, structure, and space. Finding inspiration from visions of the future and traces of the past, these are the people who are defining the aesthetics of tomorrow's architecture.

This new and original book takes us on a tour around the world, highlighting the best young architects and their groundbreaking work. Some of the architects featured, such as Shigeru Ban of Japan and UN Studio from the Netherlands, have already gained critical acclaim for their work. The rest, such as Marc Barani and Aranda Pigem Vilalta, are poised on the brink.

40 ARCHITECTS UNDER 40 is organized alphabetically by architect or firm, each entry featuring biographical and bibliographical information, as well as text highlighting each designer's most important works to date. With a wealth of photos and floor plans and a fresh, innovative layout, 40 ARCHITECTS UNDER 40 is both an essential reference book and exciting peek into the future of architecture. ... Read more

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When Gordon Chong started his architectural firm, he was the only associate and had to do everything himself, even build his own office furniture. Now he leads a team of talented architects, engineers and builders as they create structures under million-dollar contracts. Photos. ... Read more

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Considers the architectural works and the friendship of Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino, two Italian architects who practiced their craft in the mid-20th century. Part intellectual history, part biography and part architectural analysis, this book studies the life of architecture created by these two architects. ... Read more

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Yoko Ono - A Portrait of an Avant-Garde Artist is the biography of Yoko Ono, a popular Japanese artist and musician. Ono is known for her work as avant-garde artist and musician, as well as her marriage and works with English musician John Lennon, of Beatles fame. She currently lives in New York City. John Lennon once described her as "the world's most famous unknown artist: everybody knows her name, but nobody knows what she does." Ono first met John Lennon when he visited a preview of an exhibition of Ono's at the Indica Gallery in London on November 9, 1966. Lennon's first personal encounter with Ono involved her passing him a card that read simply "Breathe." He was taken with the positivity, humour, and interactivity of her work. Yoko Ono - A Portrait of an Avant-Garde Artist is highly recommended for those interested in reading more about this talented artist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

BEWARE
Beware!This book is simply copied verbatim from a Wikipedia article.The first page contains information about how it is published under the "GNU Free Documentation License."This "biography" has no author.It is not 68 pages, but 38 pages of very large print text with wide margins.

Ridiculous, this is a complete rip off.Save your money by logging onto Wikipedia and typing "Yoko Ono" in the search, or just buy a better book.Best one on the subject is called "YES YOKO ONO."

Very disappointing
I bought this book as I hoped it would contain information on Yoko's art.However, the book is very flimsy andboring; it seems to contain little information on anything.I've had books with as few pages as this one which still manage to be interesting and informative, yet this book is neither.Worse yet, there are no pictures - it is pure text.Even the photo on the front looks odd, as if it has been altered to fit the dimensions of the cover.I wouldn't recommend this book at all, it is a waste of money. ... Read more

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A New York Times Notable Book of 1996
Booklist Editor's Choice, 1996

The celebrated, full-scale life of the century's most influential artist. One of the giants of the twentieth century, Marcel Duchamp changed the course of modern art. Visual arts, music, dance, performance--nothing was ever the same again because he had shifted art's focus from the retinal to the mental. Duchamp sidestepped the banal and sentimental to find the relationship between symbol and object and to unearth the concepts underlying art itself. The author's intimacy with the subject and glorious prose style, wit, and deep sense of irony--"the only antidote to despair"--make him the perfect writer to bring this stunning life story to intelligent readers everywhere.
Amazon.com Review
MarcelDuchamp, born into an artistic middle-class French family in 1887,first gained recognition as an artist in 1913 when he submitted hispainting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 to the ArmoryShow in New York. The newspapers latched onto it after discoveringthat there was no trace of a nude, or even a real figure, in thepainting, which came to symbolize the movement of modern arttoward absurdity, humor, and avant-garde disregard forexpectations. As an artist, Duchamp never matched the success andrecognition of his most well-known work; later in his career, his works of"art" consisted of signed ceramic urinals.Calvin Tomkins, a writer forThe New Yorker who befriended Duchamp in New York in the 1960s,has written the first full-length biography of the enigmatic Dadaist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

MARCEL DUCHAMP
Calvin Tomkins, Duchamp; A Biography, 1996.
A John Macrae Book, Henry Holt & Company
ISBN:91012444195
465 pages
$32.95


Ever question the validity of that "urinal" that was passed off as art in all your Art History books?Well, this book provides the answer not only to the story behind it, but why it still is considered the harbinger of modern art. Marcel Duchamp, perhaps one of the most enigmatic and important 20th century masters of art, furnishes Tomkins with a beguiling yet lovable, complex yet simple topic in this 465-page study. This chronological study of Duchamp's very prodigious life encompasses the most important years for modern art and the two most important geographical hotspots, Paris and New York.

This biography is clearly a tour de force on 20th century art; its genesis and its evolution. Refreshingly not a dry stylistic analysis, the book is a thoughtful narrative into the why of modern art.This reviewer highly recommends this biography not only for its extensively researched content, but also for its narrative-style writing.

BRILLIANT!
I wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful book to everyone who knows how to read English. Marcel Duchamp was perhaps the premier iconclast of the twentieth century, and the runners up might be Buckminster Fuller & LeCorbusier.The book is NOT a boring monograph; it is a lot of fun to read. Tompkins is a Duchamp enthusiast but manages to wade through the mythologyand bull to present the reader with the rosetta stone of Duchamp's life andart.Whether you took a twentieth century art survey in college and onlyknow Duchamp as the guy who wrote R. Mutt on an upside-down urinal or youhave read any number of books about the artist you should read this book!Tompkins sucks the reader right into the mind of Duchamp on the first pagewith a discussion and analysis of The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors,Even, one the the greatest and most misunderstood and unappreciated worksof the last century.I was an Art History major in college and hencesuffered through so many authoritative, pretentious, dry, bland,misinformed, prejudiced and yawn-inducing books that it was such a pleasureto stumble onto Tompkin's Duchamp, which is a reader's book, totally aptsince Duchamp was a man's man, a genius, not a theorizing weasal.Thisbook is important because it inspires everyone to question everything youtake for granted, and enjoy puns and jokes and the lighter side of life,and that art is there for everyone, not for patrons and the elite, for youand me, and that the contrary notion is absurd.

A wonderful, though-provoking biography
DUCHAMP: A BIOGRAPHY is a wonderful biography of the artist whom, Tompkins argues persuasively, is the most influential of our almost-completed century.That the art work must be a mental act (a 'cosa mentale,'Leonardo da Vinci had argued many years before); that to be truly creativewe need to work AGAINST our esthetic expectations; that art should aspireto be 'non-retinal': these are only some of Duchamp's major perceptionsincluded in this book.What is particularly enjoyable is the way inwhich Tompkins meshes DuChamps' remarkable life -- one of the most sexuallyattractive of men, a chess player at the highest levels, an extraordinarilycharming and easy person (yet a man who, not matter how much he tried toavoid the repetitive patterns involved in 'art,' was always the consummateartist)with the works of art and 'readymades' which emerged in and fromthat life. Duchamp's life makes for wonderful reading. What I mostrecommend about the book is that it stimulates one's own thinking,challenging so much of our conventional beliefs -- in art, in convention,in the concepts of both accomplishment and genius.

A fascinating, well-written, accessable biography.
As an artist interested in Marcel Duchamp and his works, I foud this book to be very informative. It's a book that will fascinate even those who have little interest in modern art.

You Don't Have to Like Modern Art!
You don't have to like modern art to enjoy this remarkable biography about the most influention and controversial artists of the twentieth century.Tompkins explores the various interpretations of the art of Marcel Duchamp, most amusing of which is that of the artist himself (he was very laissez-fair when it came to expounding upon his own art).If the reader is not a fan of modern art (least of all the Dada movement) he or she will still find pleasure in reading about the life and times of this man of extreme wit and humor.The book reads like a who's-who of the pre and post world war II art world.Dealers, artists, and collectors who filled Duchamps world are just as amusing as characters in a comical work of fiction.The day to day life of people like Peggy Guggenheim and Max Ernst, Francis Picabia and Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia, Katherine Dryer, and Andre Breton, and the ever popular and exclusive members of the surrealist group is explored in comical detail.This book can also be looked at as a crash course in twentieth art history.Duchamp is explored in the most scholarly manner, but Tompkins keeps his study on a level that makes it easy to read. ... Read more

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Diane Arbus—now the subject of a national retrospective and a forthcoming movie—was the archetypal artist living on the edge.

Diane Arbus's unsettling photographs of dwarves and twins, transvestites and giants, both polarized and inspired, and her work had already become legendary when she committed suicide in 1971. This groundbreaking biography examines the private life behind Arbus's controversial art. The book deals with Arbus's pampered Manhattan childhood, her passionate marriage to Allan Arbus, their work together as fashion photographers, the emotional upheaval surrounding the end of their marriage, and the radical, liberating, and ultimately tragic turn Arbus's art took during the 1960s when she was so richly productive. This edition includes a new afterword by Patricia Bosworth that covers the phenomenon of Arbus since her death, the latest Arbus scholarship, and a view of the first major retrospective of Arbus's work as well as notes on the forthcoming motion picture based on her story. Bosworth's engrossing book is a portrait of a woman who drastically altered our sense of what is permissible in photography. 26 illustrations.Amazon.com Review
Opportunities for sensationalism abound in a book about Arbus,who already had a history of severe depressions and a crumblingmarriage by the time she began to take the controversial, technicallyinnovative pictures of dwarfs, nudists and drag queens that won her areputation as "a photographer of freaks." Bosworth balances the luriddetails -- rumors that Arbus had sex with her subjects, that shephotographed her own suicide in 1971 -- with a nuanced appraisal of anartist whose images captured the uneasy mood of the 1960s byexpressing her personal obsessions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Outstanding Bio and Insight on Creative Genius
A well-organized effort by Bosworth that gives us insight into the makings of one of most creative photographers of our time. Through interviews with friends, admirers and fellow artists, we get a revealing look at the events and obstacles that drove Arbus to focus her camera on capturing beauty in the bizarre.

Compelling
Not only could I not put this book down, it made me miss Diane Arbus terribly once I had finished it and so sad that she must have despaired at the end.Not an easy feat for a book, so I would highly recommend it to anyone who is moved/intrigued/awed/interested by her photography.

I learned some things about Arbus, but didn't walk away feeling I had a lot of insight.
I can't say I really liked this book. In the early stages of the biography I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Diane's childhood, but the author does too much fawning over Diane and repeatedly talks about how gifted she was. Yes, I think we all appreciate that fact, now let's move on and get to the core of who she was. ...Except I don't necessarily feel that this book ever truly did that. There were some interesting insights, but I constantly felt far too removed from the real Diane. Each piece of information I felt I could really sink my teeth into was buried between pages and pages of repetitive or useless (to me, anyway) information.

Throughout the book I felt Bosworth also spent too much time detailing a large number of Diane's friends and acquaintances. Family, close friends and mentors are certainly key in any biography, but the deeper I got into the book, the more I found myself skimming over chunks of text, searching for what (if much of anything) these relationships MEANT to her life rather than tedious details about a person she only met a couple of times.

I was also disappointed in the lack of reflection on Arbus's death at the end of the book. I had expected many more thoughts on that, or maybe even a bit of discussion on her legacy, and how her work is now received. Instead, the book ends with her death.

In short: If you want to know more about Arbus, read the book, but be prepared to skim.

Who Is Diane Arbus, Anyway?
I found this book on my shelf.Someone may have recommended it to me but I forgot who.I thought,"Oh, another book about some unknown person who is probably a very boring person and this book will be boring, I'm sure." Several times during the hearing (on tape) of this book I thought,"Well, that's enough about this Diane Arbus person."But, the book is so well written and finally I descerned that the subject of the book, Diane Arbus, is so "worth reading" that I did finish the book.And, it was"worth the time".I mean, here's this "little unknown lady" making "immortal" all these "unknown" people who now are "known" and "will be known forever" thanks to her!I wish I had met Diane Arbus and had MY picture taken by her! After you read this perhaps order "Monograph" or "Magazine Photos" to see "what the fuss is all about".You won't be disappointed! Recommended!boland7214@aol

Diane Arbus:A Biography
After watching the movie "Fur" which is a fictionalized biography, I wanted to know more about this artist.The book is fascinating, but sometimes dreary as the author relates the severe depression that pervades many of the artists who were associated with Diane Arbus, as well as Diane herself.Full of famous names and families of $$ in the NY and New England. ... Read more