Reviews (5)

amazing!
This book might be expensive, but what do you expect for such genius. I love this book, and would recommend it to anyone into color theroy. Itten is a color genius, and this book proves it.

Itten is a true master
I'd studied physiology and neuroscience, later switching careers from a medical path to that of a designer. I've dived into many sources for my self-education/training.Itten is the grand-master of color; no other book I've read compares to those of Itten. His teachings have enlightened me in ways that I'm amazed by, touching on scientific, psychological, behavioral, and the most personal aspects of color as a study and an experience. It's changed the way I look at my environment, and it's changing the way I use color in my work as a designer.

I'm so impressed with the value this book has had to me, that I bought Itten's book on Form and Design, even though I didn't necessarily feel lacking on those aspects of design. It's rather because of the likelihood in the quality and richenss of knowledge I'll gain, as I did from this book.

A philosophical, religious view of color
What fascinates me so much about Itten's classic book is its deeply philosophical, even quasi-religious approach to color. Itten was as much interested in the spirituality of color as in developing a theory of color.

Another great aspect of the book is the numerous master paintings beautifully reproduced and intertwined with his own theories and color diagrams. You get paintings by Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, El Greco, Seurat, and so many others. Itten is always contrasting the objective and the subjective aspects of art and color, and it makes for a fascinating reading experience.

Itten has a mature perspective on these painters and their relation to color. Its only flaw is that Itten's is only one perspective. I wish there were more authors who could write and analyze art at this level, and who weren't afraid to be spiritual in their assessments.

Reviews (3)

Disappointingly scant content
I know I'm going to anger some of the folks who really believe in this book, but I was really disappointed with how slim and scant the educational content was. There are very many black and white illustrations of the students' work related to Itten's teachings. And his outlook is very pure and creative. I really enjoyed that aspect of this book, but expected more meat! I wanted to know more specifically about conflict. I wanted him to go deeper.As it is, he brings up a well ordered set of concepts, explains them clearly and then moves on. In my opinion this book is wildly overpriced. I probably would give it four stars had it only cost me between seven and fifteen dollars. At thirty and change it's not worth it.

lighting the creative spark in everyone
This book is not a step by step syllabus to follow blindly. Itten wrote this book to share the fundamental principles that he taught all his students (no matter how advanced) before allowing them to pursue higher classes and goals at his school.

The book is broken down into sections that (to anyone who's had art training) seem simple enough: chiaroscuro, form, color, rhythm, etc. but Itten teaches not so much the technical aspect of art as a new way of seeing the world, a way of creating from the whole body and mind, not just with a paintbrush (or computer graphics program).

The sections are all punctuated with many examples of student work that relate to the topic covered. Often, it is these examples that really drive his points home.

Just as Itten believed that everyone was capable of being creative and thought the basic course was valuable to all levels of art students and even teachers, this book is applicable for both those who are looking for an introduction into creating, and those who consider themselves expert artists already. I guarantee there will be at least one idea in the book to make you stop and ponder and suddenly challenge your way of thinking on the matter.

Reviews (2)

A must read for anyone into design
In one of my graphic design classes, we studied Bauhaus design. I was fascinated by Walter Gropius' designs and decided to do a report on him (if you can ever visit his house in MA, you will be awed to see his theories put into practice!). When I found and read this book in my college library I knew I had to buy it. It was out of print when I ordered it, but worth the wait. This book is a must read for all architecture/art history/graphic design students.

Just knowing that everything in this book came directly from Gropius hand is fascinating. It's a look into an aspect of design/architecture that biographies and history books just can't give you.

Reviews (1)

God is in the work of Mies van der Rohe
Okay, si I'm biased. My ideal home would be something like the Farnsworth House with all the furniture designed for the Barcelona expo.

So, for me, this is an excellent book which acts as a showpiece for the selected works of the timeless brilliance of Mies van der Rohe.

The book covers his architectural, interior design and furniture design work with a fairly balanced distribution of illustrations and written content.

regards,

Reviews (7)

Where it all began
Probably the most important book in Modern Architecture.Certainly the most villified over the years, especially since the death of Le Corbusier.In it he laid the ground work for Modern Architecture, extolling the virtues of an architecture that was the product of the machine age rather than a pastiche of historical styles.

Le Corbusier illustrated the principles which he felt should govern architecture, drawing from historical references such as the Parthenon, but stressing the need to come up with a new proportional system reflective of concrete construction.He had developed the Dom-ino system by this point and had designed a few villas along these lines.Included are wonderful sketches and models of his Citrohan House, which he hoped would be mass-produced like the automobile.He even approached the French car maker, Citroen, in this regard.

He explored low-scale housing solutions based on what he called the "Honeycomb" principle, porous housing blocks that allowed light and air to pass through the buildings for better ventilation and more airy courtyards.He forsaw many of the environmental concerns architecture now faces, despite the many attacks to the contrary.

Le Corbusier would reshape many of his ideas over time, but this book outlines his early view of architecture in the machine age, which led to the quote most often taken from this book, "a house is a machine for living."But, Le Corbusier saw it in much more human terms than his critics have.

Historically important, but not to be taken as gospel
First of all, the guy that wrote that corbu's architecture is anti-human is wrong about that point.But he's right about everything else.Le Corbusier's theories about urban planning and architecture have done terrible damage to the built environment since they were adopted by practitioners.However, if one doesn't learn about the errors of the past, one risks repeating them.It's a good book for philosophical debate, and a good book to learn about for history's sake, but don't take the theories to heart.

Biggest Oops of Architecture Ever
I should probably come clean and say I'm not a big fan of Corbu right off. Something about a man who has the pomposity to change his name, and publish a magazine pushing his own ideas, then quote from the same magazine in his own book just irks me a little bit.

But I thought I'd give him a chance, after all, my professors seem to think this Corb guy is important in the history of Architecture. That is- he completely destroyed what many previous writers have defined as architecture. This indeed establishes his importance.

All architectural students should read this book- its very quick and easy. Corb didn't use very complicated language- though he shows some traces of being the father of today's ArchiSpeak gobbledegook when he uses a word like "modalities."

Corb idolizes the Parthenon (rightly so), but twists his love for it to fit his ideas of what 'architecture' is. He has a deep fasciniation with 'pure' forms, and believes that the use of pure forms and geometries will arrive at beauty. In a nice paragraph, he dismisses Gothic architecture as "not very beautiful" because it uses muddled complex forms that don't fit his dictated palette. So in order to consider the Parthenon (which uses subtle complex forms to achieve its beauty) beautiful, he likes to call the columns 'cylinders,' turning a sculpted, crafted element with entasis into one of his 'pure' forms. In actuality, the Parthenon is strongly rooted in artistic sculpural expression and cultural tradition, not an attempt to achieve 'pure' forms as Corb would like to see.

Its little contradictions that abound as well- He praises the Acropolis's use of interesting site planning and progression to create angled views rather then flat on views, and then on the next page he cries for ordered, rigid compositions in his cities.

And then there's the whole fascination with the Engineer and Industrial-designed objects. Unfortunately grain silos, WW1 bombers, and automobiles are nothing like buildings. Attempting to make a house a 'machine for living.' Bleah. Who wants to live in a machine? A machine has no soul, humans can't define themselves in a machine. Corb has crazy notions like you should hide all your paintings in the closet and take them out one at a time rather then clutter up your modernist, pure, architecturally designed walls with them. How dare an inhabitant of a house try to express themselves in a way that detracts from how the architect is trying to express himself! It all slips out on page 142: "... a chair is in no way a work of art; a chair has no soul; it is a machine for sitting in." So by simple reasoning, Corb's machines for living in have no art, and no soul. He recognizes this lack of soul with his little mantra:

"We must create the mass production spirit.
The spirit of constructing mass-production houses
The spirit of living in mass production houses
The spirit of conceiving mass production houses."

Since there was no love for modernism when he was writing, Corb recognized that he must create it. And the whole boook is an attempt to do so. There is a danger to trying to create something the ramifications of which you don't fully understand. Jane Jacobs does a nice critique of Corb's "City for six million" in The Death and Life of Great American Cities- his city planning was dangerously influential, and his architectural ideas have had an impact of similar magnitude on the Western world's built environment. (much for the worse, IMHO :)

If anything, this book is pure propoganda for modernism. He upright tells you that cities of today (well, cities of then) do not work, that people hate their old houses, and that his architecture and city planning will solve everything. It also fits the propoganda mold by being incessantly repetitive. He must think his average reader has a brain the size of a pea- passages are repeated SEVERAL times, when there is no logic, try repetition to hammer your ideas into other people's heads.

Isbn: 0486298078
Sales Rank: 298991
Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Chair design    4. Chairs    5. Crafts & Hobbies    6. Design - Furniture    7. Furniture    8. General    9. Interior Design - General   

Isbn: 026211237X
Sales Rank: 1258925
Subjects:  1. 20th Century Architecture    2. 20th Century Art    3. 20th century    4. Architecture    5. Architecture, German    6. Bauhaus    7. History - General    8. History - Specific Styles    9. Individual Architect    10. Influence    11. United States    12. Architecture / General   

Reviews (4)

A great account of a great movement.
This a great tribute to perhaps the most influential design institute of the 20th Century.
The story of it's development, philosophy, success and untimely end is perfectly chronicled here.
The expert, novice and vaguely interested would find this book useful. It's a superb acaedemic source and an important catalogue. Bauhaus still influences design today and should also be regarded historicaly as yet another victim of the Nazi regime.

An excellent Introduction
Frank Whitford's Bauhaus in the Thames & Hudson World of Art series provides a fine basic introduction to the 20th century's most important school of art.Whitford writes engagingly and informatively.He begins by sketching the prehistory of the school in the 19th century arts-and-crafts movement and then goes on to examine van der Velde and the Weimar Art School that served as the basis upon which Gropius established the school.Whitford deals with all the major figures in the fourteen-year history of the Bauhaus and he uses contemporary documents (journals, personal accounts, etc.) to tell the story. I rank this among the best books in the Thames & Hudson series.In fact, I assigned it as a required text in a course on the Bauhaus and the Weimar Republic.Incidentally, teachers might be interested to know that Whitford has also written and narrated a fine 60" film "Bauhaus:Face of the 20th Century" (available in the Films for the Humanities series.)

Damn fine background.
Great background to an institution which was about as rock'n'roll as they come.The soul put into the establishment, its teachings, its beliefs (collective and individual) and the commitment of those involved isstaggering - its a shame that it really doesn't have an equivalent today,but that's todays politic and media for you. Consice account that wasalmost written as a historical novel - Christ, I even read the bibliographyat the end !!Off to find more books about it all now. Oh, and listen toBlumfeld, International Jetset & Earl Brutus whilst reading thistoo.

Reviews (1)

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

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Reviews (9)

A Fan of Anfam's Rothko
Opening the package as it arrived from Amazon, easing this massive catalogue from its slipcase triggered a memory: walking to the edge of the Grand Canyon.With similar impact: awe.David Anfam brings the readerwith him to encounter, view, & experience Rothko's work. His ten-yeardedication paid off with the discovery of "lost" titles, settingthe chronology of 836 works on canvas, (he couldn't have been afraid to gethis hands dirty) & analyzing the slow struggle, sporadic leapsengendered by the painter in the evolution of the oeuvre.As scholar,teacher, critic, curator, & especially writer, Anfam proves the perfectchoice to perform the daunting, almost impossible task of bringing Rothkointo focus.

The author insightfully tracks the early representationalbeginnings, (his foray into narrative linked with crossing boundaries istotally appropriate for the artist from Dvinsk, Portland, New York) throughthe mythological (application of Kermode's distinction between"Chronos" & "Kairos" is utterly intriguing), &makes a case for Rembrandt as the source for Rothko's obsessions withtragedy & darkness, Vermeer his source for color's sensuality.Anfamtraces in detail, using numerous examples of the brilliant reproductions,how the multiforms foreshadowed the work of the classic period.Thearchitectural contexts for the Chapel are pure genius:Vincent Scully's,"The Earth, the Temple, & the Gods";Joseph Rykwert's,"The Dancing Column";& Leo Bersani's, Ulysse Dutoit's,"Arts of Impoverishment."

Anfam's breadth of vocabulary isEnglish, yet he has benfitted from years in the States with a rapid,laconic language that impels the reader forward, informs succinctly. Purposely parrying time-worn quarrels, he unearths the more"thorny," "shady" aspects of dilemmas presented by sucha complex art.

Two things happened as a result of reading MARK ROTHKO /THE WORKS on CANVAS / CATALOGUE RAISONNE.During a recent visit to C&MGallery in NY for a show of eight Rothko's, alone in the second room, Iheard them. A few nights ago I had a dream of a handwritten note on a tablein the front room of an auction house that said, "The LastPainting."Rereading Helene Cixous's essay by that name (subtitled,"Or the Portrait of God"), she writes,"I think of the lastRembrandt. A man? Or a painting?"[in Cixous', "Coming toWriting and other Essays."]Anfam has presented us with thetriumphant Rothko.

A must for any Rothko fan.
This is the first publication with his entire collection. Even lost paintings are represented by old black and white photographs.The images are not large, but the quality of this book is wonderful.By far the bestbuy for any Rothko fan (besides an original...)

Reviews (2)

Modern Art: A Wealth of Primary Sources
This book is as thorough of a collection of writings by an individual as you will ever find.Including every major treatise, essay, and book by Kandisky, it goes a few steps further with every Kandisky poem (English and German translations) and play.Moreover, the book includes innumerable pamphlets and the like from the earlier late-Expressionist exhibits; also incorporated are several corrspondances between Kandinsky and contemporaries, particularly atonal composer Arnold Schoenburg--illuminating how each other's theories were mutually related and held a reciprocal influence.A little known fact, Schoenburg himself was a non-objective painter--photos of his works are among these pages, as well!Before each section is a contextual introduction to that particular writing.And much much more.