Great way to make contact with the amazing Velazquez
358787
Great way to make contact with the amazing Velazquez, and to appreciate the obsession some of us have with haunting art.
2442616
The boy in the story is named after Clemente. His parents tell him about his namesake. The family lives in The Bronx where Roberto Clemente was rey. His father is president of the greatest fans of Roberto Clemente club.

"He'll take out his baseball card collection
and pull all his mint condition Clementes,
and then he'll start calling Clemente,
I mean really calling him,
like he was try like he was trying to talk
to the ghost of Roberto Clemente."

"Clemente! Clemente!
It's us, tu gente!
Clemente! Clemente!
Prince of the baseball diamante,
Canon-arm Clemente,
Puerto Rican prince Clemente,
Hall of fame Clemente"

Perdomo text is informative, lyrical, visual and fun. Sometimes a little flair is expected when talking about great baseball players or plays. Perdomo gives the reader exactly that.

He also lets the reader see all sides of Clemente - the player, the son who when interviewed after winning the World Series spoke Spanish first for his parents, and the man who tried to help Nicaraqua after an earthquake. The author inculdes a great Roberto Clemente timeline in the back

I love Robert Collier's artistic style. It was a perfect fit for this biography. In his notes Collier mentions the medium he used.

"I created the watercolor and collage images of Roberto in action in multiple repeated layers to express the speed, power, impact, and sound he embodied when playing baseball"

Perdomo and Collier have come together to create wonderful biography on Roberto Clemente. Baseball fans of all ages will love it.
203832
Good old Bob Ross! I used to watch his series in high school and his shows were great. This book conveys their tone and has the added bonus of giving us his finished landscapes to look at as long as we want. I got this book so I could see the paintings, but under his step by step instruction I've also tried my hand at creating my own---and making art this nice isn't as easy as Bob makes it look! Whether you want to use this as a how-to guide for your own time in front of a canvas, or you simply like Bob Ross' artwork, this is a friendly visit with everyone's favorite PBS guru of oil painting.
3137263
These beautiful postcards all show women either with books or actively reading. The women are from different points in time and from different nationalities and places. Each of the 30 postcards depicts a different scene and all are from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

I love to collect postcards like and slip them in boxes that contain books or other presents I am sending out to someone. It's an easy and fun way to write out a short message to someone and give them a beautiful postcard to boot.

Highly recommended. Really interesting and beautiful and easy to remove from the book. One thing to note however - these cards are quite a bit bigger than standard 4x6 postcards. Personally I would prefer them smaller but that's not enough reason to downgrade the star rating - these really are nice.
3614748
I've used many resources for studying Spanish but this is head and shoulders clearly the best. It gives you very colorful dialogue so that you can paint the setting in your mind. This helps with not translating from English to Spanish but rather from your thoughts to Spanish. If that makes sense :). Detailed grammar explanation as well and lots interesting tidbits about the Spanish culture.
896219
As an art-world professional new to the area of Texas artists, Mr. Baker's book thoroughly captivated me. After reading the book cover-to-cover over two days, I found myself inspired to re-visit his exhibit at the Witte Museum. The book is a stand-alone reference on Julian Onderdonk's New York paintings, and the author's theories on alternate signatures for these works left me with a new excitement for this artist's oeuvre. I hope that more Texas collectors are inspired to purchase Onderdonk's New York paintings; and I am especially excited to see how the auction world responds to the paintings under Onderdonk's alternate signatures that will hopefully come up for sale in the near future.
1780919
I love that our dear Pope Francis took the time to respond to the children's questions. The children's drawings are amazing!
724145
On a visit to Mexico City I saw this book at a store attached to a museum
depicting some of the work of Diego Rivera, the Mexican mural painter. I
promptly bought a paper - back copy of the book though at a greatly inflated price charged by the store.

Gladys March, an American journalist, commenced interviewing Rivera in 1944 for this book but it was not until a final manuscript had been checked by Rivera shortly before his death in 1957, that the book was finally published in 1960. She has done a superb job in writing the book as though it were an autobiography in Rivera's own words. An absolutely
fascinating 'extra' is the Appendix which recounts statements made by Rivera's four wives and/or live-in companions.

I strongly recommend the book to anyone who admires Mexican mural painting
and would like some knowledge of its supreme artist, Diego Rivera.
4016334
I was lucky enough to meet the author of La Fiesta y el Mariachi this morning when she stopped by to show me a copy of her new book.  School is over in 4 days here, but I can't wait to share this book with my students next school year.  Each two page spread has text in English and Spanish on one page, and a full color illustration on the facing page.  The illustrations really capture the beauty of the fiestas.  I plan on getting a CD of mariachi music when I share this next year as part of my Read Around the World unit in the library.  This would also be a wonderful book for classes studying autobiographies or memoirs.
2981126
When I was asked to participate in Eric's book I jumped at the chance to be included. I recently received my copy and really enjoy the quality of the reproductions as well as the writing. This is a fun and wonderful way to help introduce art history and see it through another artists eyes so to speak. I hope everyone enjoys the writing the way it is interwoven with the images and the famous artist that was depicted as well as the overall quality and I look forward to future subjects by Eric.
3134095
I own a copy of "El gaucho vegetariano" and have acted in several of the plays included in this volume. The historical connections are great, the exercises allows you to practice writing and speaking in context, and the plays are very well written - and are great fun! A professor at the University of Delaware wrote an excellent review. I believe her name is McInnis.
I understand that there is a second edition coming out soon. I look forward to it. Don't miss it if you're learning Spanish, know Spanish, love theater, and want to keep up your history and cultural skills!
279122
I had the pleasure of discovering "Fort Meigs" (as John called it) by accident while visiting the nearby Hurd Gallery and spending the better part of a day with John Meigs.  The iris surrounding the meadow were in full bloom on this perfect spring day, and John took great pleasure in escorting my wife and I through all that he had built over the years, accenting everything we saw with stories about where and how each part of the whole came to be in San Patricio.  John had an amazing collection of art as well, and talked about each artist represented in his gallery from a first-person perspective.  Over the years after that day, I brought many friends and relatives there to enjoy the tranquility and peace that permeated the place.  I was saddened when I learned that John had passed away, but this book brought back memories of him and greatly expanded on a life lived with "never a dull moment".  Great read about an amazing person.
3779511
I am enjoying this book. I wish the paintings were of a larger scale, stil you can see the pictures well enough for recognition. There are many best parts but I enjoy the alpahbetical index that I am using to highlight my more appreciated works. I enjoy the explanation of the artist and style beneath the paintings. Each painting is pictured in this book in color. Great buy!
1277144
In this unique collection of paintings by Spanish artist, Francisco de Paula Jose de Goya y Lucientes, the reader is presented with an enticing overview of works by this famous artist.  Goya was born in a small village, but trained in Italy and Spain, eventually becoming the Court painter.

Goya's portraits are divided into two groups, those embracing a delightful array of color and sweet texture and those of a far darker hue, featuring witchcraft, madness and death.  In either style, Goya remained the master.  It is impossible to stay emotionally detached from these exquisite paintings so thoughtfully assembled in this wonderful collection.
2529557
I very much enjoyed reading this dual biography. I was first exposed to Rivera's murals on a study tour to Mexico City. A curator stood before Diego's murals and explained the history of Mexico through his depictions: Cortez with his scurvy ridden legs, Emperor Maximilian, the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl, Zapata. Diego Rivera captured the rich history of Mexico with his art. So I was aware of his greatness as a painter. I was less familiar with Frida. This book acquaints the reader with both of them as they love, live and paint at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Reef's biography captures many aspects of these two passionate lives with her extensive research condensed and simplified for the younger reader. The book also contains a good sampling of their paintings contributing to the understanding of two iconic figures who loved each other deeply despite the ups and downs of their relationship. The book would be a fantastic resource for a research paper.
3005269
At last: Here is a beautiful coffee-table photo book of the Camino.  The color photos brought back many wonderful memories of my journey across Spain.  A perfect gift for your beloved...
1104381
This book was my introduction to the world of the artisans of Mata Ortiz, Mexico, and their amazing ceramic creations. While the decorative motifs and other aspects of the pottery were familiar to me, I found that the  photography, which I suspect was done with specialized "light  painting" techniques,  brought out the form, texture, and pattern of  the pieces with wonderfully rich detail and nuance. The images were clearly  created by a photographer who was very intent on rendering a physical,  tactile sense of the objects she was recording.  Coupled with other  photographs of the artisans at work, and the surrounding Mexican landscape,  the book is a compelling portrait of both the people who create the works  of art and the art itself.