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God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Rosemary Hill

August 07, 2008
One of the best biographies i have ever read. Beautifully written and fascinating even for someone like me who had little previous interest in either architecture or the nineteenth century.

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It Just Occurred to Me...: The Reminiscences and Thoughts of Chairman Humph

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Humphrey Lyttelton

July 04, 2007
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is very tempting to describe the book by what it is not, not autobiography, not a companion to "Sorry I haven't a clue", not about Jazz... Though I think anyone with an interest in these areas will enjoy it.
The book is quite literally a collection of rambling thoughts and reminiscences - which does not sound very appealing. But Humphs love of language and music shine though continually, and it flows along in a delightful manner.
While his achievements in Jazz and Comedy are well known, Humph's journalism successes are perhaps less well known - and in my opinion his abilities as a writer are every bit as great, and that shines from the pages of this book. I really think anyone with a sense of humour ... Read More:

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Becoming the Natural: My Life in and Out of the Cage

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Randy Couture

July 22, 2008
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is very tempting to describe the book by what it is not, not autobiography, not a companion to "Sorry I haven't a clue", not about Jazz... Though I think anyone with an interest in these areas will enjoy it.
The book is quite literally a collection of rambling thoughts and reminiscences - which does not sound very appealing. But Humphs love of language and music shine though continually, and it flows along in a delightful manner.
While his achievements in Jazz and Comedy are well known, Humph's journalism successes are perhaps less well known - and in my opinion his abilities as a writer are every bit as great, and that shines from the pages of this book. I really think anyone with a sense of humour ... Read More:

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Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Marita Sturken, Lisa Cartwright

December 21, 2000
This book is a splendid introduction to theories about visual culture. It opens up the sociological / psychodynamic / anthropological theories that exist about the visual media to laymen. Another good thing is that they do not focus on high culture visual media, but also on film, television, advertising, etc. This is what makes the book valuable to people who are specialized in neighbouring fields and who wish to know more about visual media (for instance, marketeers, perception psychologists, therapists, people studying politics, etc.). On every topic the background literature is made accessible by good references and a short introduction to these references. This is really helpful! For instance, i always wanted to know more about Barthes theorizing ... Read More:

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Seven Days in the Art World

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Sarah Thornton

October 01, 2008
This book is a splendid introduction to theories about visual culture. It opens up the sociological / psychodynamic / anthropological theories that exist about the visual media to laymen. Another good thing is that they do not focus on high culture visual media, but also on film, television, advertising, etc. This is what makes the book valuable to people who are specialized in neighbouring fields and who wish to know more about visual media (for instance, marketeers, perception psychologists, therapists, people studying politics, etc.). On every topic the background literature is made accessible by good references and a short introduction to these references. This is really helpful! For instance, i always wanted to know more about Barthes theorizing ... Read More:

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Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Michael Peppiatt

September 11, 2008
A fascinating study of the great man and his work. Peppiatt knew Bacon from the 60's onwards, thus the biography feels intimate and true to life and is successful in depicting the flamboyance, complexity and sheer charisma of this important British artist.

Bacon's father is depicted as a key figure, as well as a leitmotif of brutal masculinity in Bacon's paintings. A tyrannical, martial man, (according to Peppiatt, he has his teenage son horsewhipped by his grooms in order to `make him more of a man') he is the very antithesis of the highly intelligent, young, unconventional Bacon. This early encounter with such brutality goes some way to explaining the power and masculine energy so apparent in Bacon's paintings, as well as the sado-masochistic ... Read More:

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Modern Architecture: A Critical History (World of Art)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Kenneth Frampton

September 17, 2007
A fascinating study of the great man and his work. Peppiatt knew Bacon from the 60's onwards, thus the biography feels intimate and true to life and is successful in depicting the flamboyance, complexity and sheer charisma of this important British artist.

Bacon's father is depicted as a key figure, as well as a leitmotif of brutal masculinity in Bacon's paintings. A tyrannical, martial man, (according to Peppiatt, he has his teenage son horsewhipped by his grooms in order to `make him more of a man') he is the very antithesis of the highly intelligent, young, unconventional Bacon. This early encounter with such brutality goes some way to explaining the power and masculine energy so apparent in Bacon's paintings, as well as the sado-masochistic ... Read More:

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Vivienne Westwood (VA)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Claire Wilcox

October 03, 2005
This is a gorgeous,sumptuous book. It works precisely because it let's Vivienne's clothes speak for themselves. The full page glossy pictures of the most influential designer of the 20th Century almost make you salivate. I used to shop at World's End and wore the original Pirate range, but even then I'd still forgotten just how stunning it was. If you are interested in fashion, music, history, art, literature, anarchy and chaos, then this is for you.

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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Oxford World's Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: James Joyce

January 04, 2001
I read this through college over 20 years ago and still 2 chapters in particular remain with me. They involve a sermon delivered to the boys at school with the intent on explaining the consequences of ill deeds or other "sins". The first of these chapters describes Hell and its horrors leaving the reader truly fearful of even the possibility. With this in mind, the second chapter asks how long do you think people are in Hell, leaving us to consider the reality of eternity. The writing is descriptive and emotive. I'm not any way pious but I remember being so moved I would've rushed out to confess all my wrong doings to the nearest priest just in case any of it was true...

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Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style (Oxford Paperbacks)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > History of Art and Architecture
by: Michael Baxandall

May 19, 1988
This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual.

When I first saw this book at Birkbeck College (2003 History of Art MA) I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia.

This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and the ability to judge quantities ... Read More: