From Library Journal:
The publisher's distinguished masterworks series, begun in the late 1980s, focuses primarily on American art in important U.S. museums, supplemented by occasional and equally outstanding volumes on Western European art held in U.S. public and academic collections. Works in the series, including these two additions, deftly blend promotion and scholarship through attractive color plates, brief institutional and collection histories, short essays on periods and artists covered, and intelligent descriptions of featured works. Overall, these volumes are of a consistent quality and seriousness to warrant purchase by larger academics and museum libraries. Smith College's remarkable offering had its beginnings over 120 years ago as a collection of contemporary American art. This volume highlights 74 paintings and sculptures dating from 1733 to 1992. A checklist with thumbnails (many in color) of another 84 works and a lengthy bibliography are included. Six curators, most of whom interned at the museum, contribute exemplary essays on the works, which are all by well-known artists. Small libraries with no books on Smith College's collection, especially in the East, would be well served by this volume. In celebration of the Legion of Honor's 75th anniversary and recent remodeling, 108 European paintings of the past seven centuries (mostly by Old Masters) are highlighted in Nash & others' slim work. Three San Francisco-based fine arts curators provide introductory museum and collection histories and eight period essays, beginning with Early Northern Painting. Though the catalog notes and documentation are not as extensive as in the Smith College work, the descriptions are jargon-free and informative. As expected, noteworthy works by major artists are showcased. Both works are highly recommended for large public and academic libraries and regional collections.
-Russell T. Clement, Univ. of Tennessee Lib., Knoxville
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.