Book Reviews

Click to Read:  Bill Westerman      Tom Conrad    Gary Chaconas   Don Dodrill   Hazel Harrison
 
  The Transparent Touch
One of our members, Don Dodrill, is recognized nationally as a master watercolorist. Don’s book “The Transparent Touch” published by Watson Guptill in 1989 is a wonderful resource and learning tool for anyone interested in art and particularly watercolor. There are numerous color illustrations of some of his many many paintings. Covered in the book are sections on resource material, paper, wet in wet, color and light, and specialized materials. You will recognize from the illustrations many Central Ohio landmarks that Don painted over the years.
Don has been a member of WAAL for a number of years and teaches classes in Watercolor locally.
 
  The Encyclopedia of Acrylic Techniques by Hazel Harrison.
Hazel has provided us with a book that some may describe as a mile wide and an inch deep. By this I mean that it covers a myriad of topics related to Acrylic Painting and how it can be used not only as a solitary media but combined with other media. She covers using Acrylic in the traditional methods and then delves into the unique. If you have a special interest in Acrylic this is a great resource book. If you are just interested in what it is that attracts some artists to the media of Acrylic then this book may provide you with some of the answers. Published by Sterling Publishing Company in 1994.
 
  Three Picassos Before Breakfast
Memoirs of an Art Forgers Wife- Anne-Marie Stein
One of the greatest art forgers of all time, David Stein unloaded $2 million in fake masterpieces before he was finally exposed by Marc Chagall. In this book his wife tells the entire story of their years together on the French Riviera. David Stein who was working as a coutier en peintures in Cannes, convinced Anne-Marie that he can dispose of more art works in Paris.
They traveled to Biarritz, Bordeau, and Paris, all the while David was creating (copying) the art of Picasso, Chagall, Braque, El Greco, Dufain, Durain, Cocteau and others. He worked on tea aged paper, and hardened the paint with a sunlamp, and then marketed them to unsuspecting collectors and art dealers throughout Europe and the United States.
An interesting and entertaining narrative of a scoundrel of the art world. Sometimes you will find yourself engrossed in the pace that this fellow kept in producing a prodigious amount of fake art and the next few pages you will be repulsed by someone having the gall to copy the art of famous painters and then claiming it as genuine. He eventually wound up in prison.
In today’s world of lousy television, this provides you with a couple of evenings or art centered entertainment.
BW
 
  A Guide to The Impressionist Landscape, 1990, Bulfinch Press
 By: Patty Lurie

On a bright March day in 1995 Pat and I took the train from Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris to the suburban town of Louveciennes, a 25 minute train ride. Upon leaving the train we spotted the ancient aqueduct that appears in paintings by both Pissarro and Renoir. Walking a bit further we came to a tiny village road that looks much the same as it did a century ago. We stood on the spot where Sisley placed his easel in 1878 to paint Snow at Louveciennes. We spoke to a lady who lives in a house that appears in the painting. Later that day we continued our walk to the village of Parc de Marly and sought out other venues painted by Sisley including his views of the abreuvoir where centuries earlier the king’s horses had bathed.

We spent this delightful day aided by Patty Lurie’s superb guide to the venues of the Impressionists titled A Guide to The Impressionist Landscape published initially in 1990 and still available. Her book makes it easy to find sites around Paris as well as in Normandy and along the seacoast of the English Channel including Trouville and Honfleur where we used the book again in 2002 on a tour of art history sites in Normandy.

The unique feature of this guidebook is that the author provides photographs of the locals as they appear today juxtaposed next to photos of the original paintings. It is striking how easy it is to identify buildings, walls and walkways, which in the 21st century often look much as they did to the Impressionist painters. Today, however, viewscapes often includes cell phone towers and power lines which Sisley and Pissarro did not have to delete from their works. She also offers brief doses of art history to accompany the photographs.

In 1995 the dollar was strong and this sort of travel was affordable. Today with a weak dollar trading at a $1.40 for a single Euro this type of travel is far more expensive so it is a delight to pull Patty Lurie’s book from my shelf and to contemplate the incredible legacy of beautiful art that has been left to us by the Impressionists. I heartily recommend this small book to anyone contemplating a trip to France whether on a 747 or in their armchair.

Thomas Conrad
  COLOR

By: Victoria Finlay

Published by Random House and available locally for $15

A natural history of the Palette, “COLOR”, was written giving a highly detailed and rich story of the sources of the colors used by artists through the ages. She crafted her book in a manner that any reader could enjoy with interwoven tales of the means of creating colors from substances both organic and inorganic.

Victoria’s travels to the far corners of the world provides the reader, either artist or non-artists, a very readable story that rivals mystery and suspense novels with its ability to hold your attention. It includes some humor and pathos as it relates how and where we obtain the colors we all enjoy.

What about mauve, malachite, madder, magenta, and Mayan blue? And that’s just some of the M’s. A read through this book will give you a better understanding of some of the obscure names of colors, their derivation, and reason for existence, to say nothing of the more commonly used color names such as cobalt blue, ultra-marine blue, indigo blue, cerulean blue and others.

Chapters relating the source of the rainbow and all the colors within it are developed in an organized manner so that the reader is stimulated to turn to the next chapter to find out more and more.

Particular colors will of course have more meaning to some artists, depending on their choice of favorites for their personal palette. None are left out including white and black. Interesting anecdotes are interwoven with technical facts to increase the readability of this book.

Some of the situations developed in her search for the sources of color remind one of the sagas of Indiana Jones. She was a very brave lady, diligently searching out each hue and chroma.

She begins the book by relating her experiences with color as a child, and then after a few years of other endeavors, taking up her pilgrimage to provide us with an excellent and very readable reference.

Moving from paint box color to color, Victoria covers the gamut. Chapters on Ochre, Black and Brown, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet, rival each other as “A Most Favorite”.

This is a book that probably should be on every artists bookshelf.

BW
 
 		 Book Review by Gary Chaconas

I have been asked often by parents to suggest an instructional art book for children, and since I believe there is a child in all of us. I never hesitate to suggest Jack Hamm's books for the young and old alike. Now as never before there are many selections available but few in my opinion that can match the value, variety and sound advice found in his text. These books range in price from ten to fifteen dollars and may be purchased from many local book stores. Jack Hamm's books include: "Drawing the Head and Figure", "Drawing Scenery and Landscapes and Seascapes ", " How to Draw Animals" and "Still Life Drawing and Painting". I hope many WAAL members will agree and pass this information along to budding artists.