Holiday Gifts: Museum Books 2007
Scholarly Publications for Nine Exhibitions and One Installation
Ten scholarly books with color illustrations, produced for nine museum special exhibitions and one permanent installation, are recommended for holiday giftgiving in 2007.
Treasures of ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Chinese, Byzantine, Italian Renaissance, Impressionist and African art are vividly described in 10 recent museum publications that make for perfect presents this holiday season.
Ancient Art
- Allen, Susan J. Tutankhamun's Tomb: The Thrill of Discovery (Photographs by Harry Burton) (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. $24.95 (US) clothbound. The discovery and excavation of the ancient Egyptian boy-king's tomb is described through expert narrative and 157 archival duotone photographs. A valuable addition to the library of any Egyptophile.
- Picón, Carlos A., et al. Art of the Classical World in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007. $45.00 (US) softcover, $75.00 (US) clothbound. Describes objects in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's reinstalled Greek and Roman galleries in chronological fashion. Explains the art and culture of: the Neolithic and Aegean Bronze Age; Geometric, Archaic and Classical Greece; the Hellenistic Age; and Cyprus, Etruria and the Roman Empire.
- Portal, Jane (ed.), et al. The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army (exh. cat.). London: Harvard University Press, 2007. $40.00 (US) clothbound. The British Museum's catalogue for this touring special exhibition describes some 20 terracotta warriors, court officials, acrobats, musicians and horses as well as bronze avian sculptures from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221-210 B.C.), China's first emperor.
- Trope, Betsy Teasley, Stephen Quirke and Peter Lacovara, et al. Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (exh. cat.). Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2005. $45.00 (US) softcover. An indispensible guide to one facet of Egyptology's history as seen through remarkable artifacts from a prominent British collection. Covers major ideas in ancient Egyptian art from predynastic times through the Roman occupation by site and purpose. Objects from the reign of heretical Pharaoh Akhenaten (ca. 1352-1344 B.C.) and his wife Nefertiti are thoroughly described.
Medieval and Renaissance Art
- Brooks, Julian, et al. Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro: Artist-Brothers in Renaissance Rome (exh. cat.). Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007. $49.95 (US) clothbound. Twenty drawings by Federico Zuccaro (ca. 1541-1609) describe the career of his brother Taddeo (1529-1566) and how the older sibling struggled to become an artist of renown in Renaissance Rome. The copying of masterworks by 16th-century artists is explored.
- Nelson, Robert S. and Kristen M Collins (eds.), et al. Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai (exh. cat.). Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007. $50.00 (US) softcover, $75.00 clothbound. Forty-three Byzantine icons, six manuscripts and related liturgical objects from the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai are explained in terms of their symbolism and function. How the deeply sacred art that the Greek Orthodox monks produced was influenced by pilgrims, crusaders, Islam and Roman Catholicism during the Middle Ages is examined.
- Radke, Gary M. (ed.), et al. The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti's Renaissance Masterpiece (exh. cat.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. $22.00 (US) softcover, $45.00 (US) clothbound. Accompanies the American tour of three panels and four figures cast in bronze and gilded by Italian Renaissance artist Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455) for the northern doors of Florence's Baptistery. The catalogue describes Ghiberti's rivalry with Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1466), his mastery of illusionistic techniques in sculpture and how artists related to their patrons in Renaissance Italy. Ghiberti's casting technique and the doors' restoration are thoroughly explained.
- Simonetta, Marcello (ed.). Federico da Montefeltro and His Library (exh. cat.). Milan: Y. Press and Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2007. $49.95 (US) clothbound. Letters, illuminated manuscripts, painting and sculpture reflect the illustrious life, court and political intrigues of Federico da Montefeltro (1422-1482), the wily Duke of Urbino and Italian Renaissance patron of the arts and Humanist learning. A must for any serious scholar of 15th-century art, history and culture.
Modern Art
- Dumas, Ann (ed.), et al. Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past (exh. cat.). Denver: Denver Art Museum, 2007. $35.00 (US) softcover, $65.00 (US) clothbound. How the Impressionists studied the traditions and techniques of the European Old Masters who preceded them is documented in this groundbreaking study. Works by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) are examined alongside those of Raphael (1483-1520), Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), among others. Essential reading for any serious student of art history and devotee of Impressionism.
African Art
- LaGamma, Alisa (ed.), et al. Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007. $45.00 (US) softcover, $65.00 (US) clothbound. This seminal study of sub-Saharan art deals with the origins, significance and creation of reliquaries from a dozen central African cultures. These ancestral images were venerated for the deceased's ability to interact with the spiritual world. How these sculptures influenced early 20th-century avant-garde artists such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Henri Matisse (1869-1954) when the objects first surfaced in ethnographic museums is aptly described.
The copyright of the article Holiday Gifts: Museum Books 2007 in Art Galleries/Museums is owned by Stan Parchin. Permission to republish Holiday Gifts: Museum Books 2007 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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