Evening star., 1961-11-26


period as well as its art that
we now accept and he ex-
plores the mental and social
world of the time through
that art and vice versa. Sub
stantial and endlessly stimu-
lating.
Art Surveys
THE ART OF THE
ANCIENT NEAR EAST. BY
Seton Lloyd. (Praeger; $8.95)
Profusely illustrated round
up of Egypt, Sumer and
Mesopotamia through Baby
lon and Persia.
THE ART OF ANCIENT
AMERICA. BY H. D. Dissel-
hoff and S. Lime. Grown;
$3.50 Same formal as above.
Beautiful examples of an art
still too little appreciated.
Mexico, Central America and
Peru dominate. North Amer
ica is excluded.
THE ARCHAIC GRAVE
STONES OF ATTICA. By
Gisela M. A. Richter CPhai-
don; $50 Scholarly accom-
plishment, fully illustrated
and the subject has ar aston
ishing resemblance to 18th
century gravestones in New
England.
THE SPIRIT OF THE
LETTER IN PAINTING. BY
Jean Leymarie. (Skira-Hall-
mark; $8.950 Not calligraphy
but epiStolatary. The writing
and reading of letters in the
art of the 18th, 18th and
10Th centuries. sponsored by
a greeting card company.
Some nice pictures and a
conscientious text.
IMPRESSIONISM: GOLD
EN- DECADE. BY Lawrence
and Elisabeth Hanson. CHolt,
Rinehart, Winston; So The
French from 1872 to 1882
told as if in a novel. Personal,
social and aesthetic back
ground and the events of
that decade. No pictures, but
many readers will find the
painless, smooth prose more
agreeable than that of art
historians.
THE IMPRESSIONISTS.
BY Francois Mathey. (Prae-
ger; $3.50 Good wrap-up of
the times and the artists, il
lustrated more with drawings
than with paintings.
THE HISTORY OF I'M
PRESSIONISM by John Re-
wald. 635 plates, 86 in color.
Published by The Museum
of Modern Art, New York.
Distributed by Doubleday;
500 This handsome volume
by the art historian, John
Rewald is a complete and
authoritative account of the
movement. 1t traces the evolu-
ton of impresSioniSm from
1855, when PisSarro arrived
in Paris, to the diSbandment
Of the group in 1886. The
author presents an integrated
chronicle of the simultaneous
development of the painters
- Manet, Monet, Pissarro,
Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, SiSley
and Berthe MoriSot. He
recreates their friendships,
feudS, hopes and despair as
they struggled together to
break with the decadent
claSsicism of the nineteenth
century. First published in
1916, this is a revised and
greatly enlarged edition.
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS IN
CHRISTIAN ART. BY George
Ferguson. (OXford; $2.95O
Paperbound reprint of a
classic guide to the tradi-
tional iconography. $50 illus
trations including 16 in color.
JAPANESE PAINTING. BY
Akiyama TerukaZu. (Skira;
$22.500 Latest in new Skira
series, THE Treasures of
ASIA" and like it's predeceS-
sors on Chinese art the book
proves that Skira'S color proc
eSSes are even more success
full in the East than in the
West. japanese delicacy
comes through like a cloud
of cherry blossoms. From
pre-Buddha to pre-Perry.
Informative text.
THE GOLDEN ENCYCLO-
PEDIA OF ART. BY Eleanor
c. Monro. Golden Press;
$l2.95, later $50 Written
for an intelligent child, this
large size, we'll illustrated
volume does cover the field,
if Sketchily at times. Author
is wife of editor of Art News
and shares that magazines
limited views about modern
American painting.
One-Mun Books