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Posted: |
Mar 14, 2014 - 5:18 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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Many years ago, when I was in my late teens and twenties, I could not afford those delightful hardcover museum exhibition catalogs that museum bookstores sold, but how I wanted them! Finances limited my ability to purchase these wonderful books as did my location, seeing as Miami really had (and has) nothing in terms of art museums. I would haunt the local book stores, wishing I could break through that plastic wrap on those books and take in the glorious works by the likes of Picasso, Modigliani, Magritte, and Klee.
I also had a serious music problem back then. Namely film scores. Perhaps you too had this "problem."
Now, flash forward twenty-plus years and I find that I am able to travel and when I do, I invariably get myself to the museums. And I find myself, like the middle-aged dope that I am, "making up" for those lost opportunities to "score" those kinds of books I only dreamed of as a twenty-year-old. I would even say the books are better now. I find myself stumbling onto exhibitions of major artists or groups of artists whose works had not been the subject of major exhibitions during the course of my lifetime. I simply cannot resist the treasures within. Online or in the museums themselves. I stagger into the book shop, already overwhelmed and exhausted from having the honor of seeing those masterworks up close (and under the watchful eye of an unhappy docent or paid employee) and I continue to be overwhelmed by the selection within these shops.
Good things come to those who wait, and I have waited nearly twenty-five years. I can now say with some embarrassment and perhaps even a little pride, that I am an art book junkie.
Okay. Confession over for now. Back to Star Wars, Star Trek, and pointless bickering.
Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape
Georges Braque
René Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938
Paul Klee: Making Visible
Pablo Picasso: Blue and Rose Periods
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A word about art books and, more to the point, the entire coffee table genre.
As I've noted elsewhere, a not too close friend suffered a mild stroke a few weeks ago as he approached 80 and I had to rescue him and get him hospitalized and later put into a senior care facility, where he'll spent the remainder of his life. When he was unable to do anything but squirm on the floor, I went to his apartment across town, the first time I had even had his address (he uses a p.o. box for his mail), and was startled to find that he had thousands of books, many for art and architecture and photography and music and dance and cinema and political cartoonists and ... and ... and.... Probably the biggest category would be the history of musical theatre, with 3 or 4 big books on Stephen Sondheim, several individual ones on Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Larry Hart, Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Noel Coward -- the list goes on and on and on -- plus some impressively massive tomes on the history of American and world theatre. He told me to take any that I wanted and to donate the rest to charitable organizations ... which is easier said than done! Some such organizations had absolutely no interest, while others would consider it only if the books were carefully boxed, which would be quite a job in itself. I wouldn't call this friend a "hoarder" in the usual sense of that word, but he has several large chests of drawers, with each drawer packed to the top with papers that he had carefully collected over several decades. And many of his closets were jammed with newspapers piled from the floor to the ceiling. I had offered a friend who regularly sells on eBAY and Amazon her pick of the books, but she finally decided, without seeing any of them, that there wouldn't be much of a market for such books -- and they are in excellent condition, with a number of them still sealed in plastic.
Too bad I couldn't find a junkie of fine books to volunteer to come get 'em!
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Indeed!
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I hear you and identify.
Though our interests differ, our enthusiasm is the same.
I have a passion for books about representational sculpture from the period of about 1875-1950, and for Art Deco, mostly architecture. I keep acquiring all kinds of books on these subjects. And, believe me, what with books like these, and my CD's, moving can be a real chore.
I also love the catalogues published by Christie's, Sotheby's, and others, which have magnificent color photos of pieces at auction.Catalogues like this can be quite expensive when first published, but, after the auction is over, sometimes, you can find them very cheaply; there are a couple of flea markets in New York City, where there are bins of them, at varying prices. An little antique place here in San Diego has shelves full of them, for only a few dollars each.
I love art books, and frequently enjoy just looking at the images contained in them. They provide much inspiration for creating my own artwork.
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Posted: |
Nov 9, 2014 - 8:10 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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I also love the catalogues published by Christie's, Sotheby's, and others, which have magnificent color photos of pieces at auction.Catalogues like this can be quite expensive when first published, but, after the auction is over, sometimes, you can find them very cheaply; there are a couple of flea markets in New York City, where there are bins of them, at varying prices. An little antique place here in San Diego has shelves full of them, for only a few dollars each.
Since you've been to Ft. Lauderdale, then hopefully you've wandered into the great (though now defunct) Hittel Bookshop. They used to have scads of Sotheby's catalogues and at decent prices.
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