Recommended Books

Recommended Books

• read more or purchase	Theft: A Love Story Peter Carey 2006, 272 pages hardcover Two-time Booker-winner Peter Carey (Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang) has written a magnificent high-stakes art heist wrapped around a fraternal saga. Two brothers are embroiled in an international crime investigation that eventually comprises forgery, vast sums of money and murder.
• read more or purchase	Florentines Giovanna Gorzoni, Lorenza de'Medici 1999, hardcover Artist Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) was born in Ascoli Piceno, a town in the Marche region of Italy. To complement her delightful still lifes of fruits and vegetables, author Lorenza de'Medici has contributed a delectable array of Tuscan recipes, drawing from the fresh ingredients and rustic simplicity for which the cuisine is renowned. Added to these are a selection of period writings evoking the past glories of Florence. Related gallery artist: Natty Saidi
• read more or purchase	Giovanna Garzoni: Still Lifes/Geillleben/ Natures Mortes Silvia Meloni Trkulja, Elena Fumagalli 2002, 96 pages hardcover Anyone who loves visual art will be entranced by Giovanna Garzoni's magnificent watercolors of still life, depicting flowers, fruit, vegetables, herbs and insects. The eye delights in the sensitive, precise detail, the powerful composition and design, and the beautifully lyrical color. Related gallery artist: Natty Saidi
• read more or purchase	History of Beauty Umberto Eco, James Fentress 2004, 432 pages hardcover Umberto Eco takes readers from classical antiquity to the present day, dispelling many preconceptions along the way and concluding that the relevance of his research is urgent because we live in an age of great reverence for beauty, "an orgy of tolerance, the total syncretism and the absolute and unstoppable polytheism of Beauty." Related gallery artist: David Bierk
• read more or purchase	Paintings in the Louvre Lawrence Gowing 2004, 688 pages hardcover The Louvre has the most impressive art collection in the world. This title showcases more than 800 of its most famous artworks spanning 500 years of European art. The hundreds of stunning illustrations are accompanied by the history of each painting, as well as information about the artists, their lives and style.
• read more or purchase	Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art Thomas Hoving 1993, 447 pages hardcover Making the Mummies Dance is a modern Vanity Fair--a true story of masterpieces, money, society, intrigue, and international theft. As the seventh director of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1967 to 1977, brash, energetic Thomas Hoving transformed a stodgy, elitist institution into a bottom-line-oriented business enterprise, a modernized, expansive museum that actively engages the public. In this ebullient memoir, Hoving provides a rare behind-the-scenes peek at turf wars, intrigues, fabulous acquisitions and stormy managerial battles.
• read more or purchase	Carr, O'Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own Sharyn Udall 2001, 376 pages softcover This groundbreaking book compares the art, lives, and achievements of three great artists of the Americas: Emily Carr of Canada, Georgia O'Keeffe of the United States, and Frida Kahlo of Mexico. Each became her country's preeminent woman painter in the twentieth century, and all explored similar issues in their painting.
• read more or purchase	The Art of Emily Carr Doris Shadbolt 2003, 224 pages paperback This beautiful book about British Columbia artist Emily Carr (1871-1945) contains both literature and visuals to provide a complete history of her life, travels, writing and pursuit of success.
• read more or purchase	Seven Journeys: The Sketchbooks of Emily Carr Doris Shadbolt 2002, 160 pages softcover Emil Carr found inspiration for her paintings in the rain forests along the British Columbia coast and in the compelling totem poles that stood in Native villages. This special book with 80 drawings is based on a cache of small sketchbooks spanning the years 1927 to 1930.
• read more or purchase	The Complete Writings of Emily Carr Emily Carr with an introduction by Doris Shadbolt 1997, 893 pages softcover Emily Carr befriended the often shunned Native population of Canada, most notably those living in the Queen Charlotte Islands. She traveled to remote places by way of canoe, lived in their homes and painted their totems. This book captures Carr's life as a child, her views on people as well as her affinity with the Native population, and her stories of life in her boarding house in Victoria, BC.
• read more or purchase	Ansel Adams: The National Park Service Photographs Ansel Adams 1995, 144 pages hardcover These gorgeous photographs by Ansel Adams were the inspiration for Roberta Bondar's beautiful imagery of Canada's national parks. In 1941, Ansel Adams was hired by the United States Department of the Interior to photograph America's national parks. The projects were perfect for Adams and Bondar, as they allowed these artists to express their deepest convictions as artists, conservationists and citizens. Related gallery artist: Roberta Bondar
• read more or purchase	Ice: Beauty, Danger, History Pauline Couture 2005, 340 pages hardcover Until recent centuries, the story of ice unfolded in geological time. Today humans increasingly play a strong role in accelerating natural cycles. This book explores perspectives on ice: the history, the science, its literary and artistic roles and our cultural influences on it. Related gallery artist: Judith Currelly
• read more or purchase	Massive Change Bruce Mau with Jennifer Leonard and the Institute without Boundaries 2004, 240 pages hardcover From the Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit, this massive text includes interviews with 32 renowned experts in ecology, natural sciences, transportation, technology, mathematics, economics, architecture, health, physics and cultural studies plus hundreds of photographs and descriptions of contemporary and futuristic applied design.
• read more or purchase	Photorealism at the New Millenium Louis K. Meisel 2002, 224 pages Louis K. Meisel's Photorealism at the Millennium documents the movement's evolution through the 1990s with more than 600 full-color images. Related gallery artist: Gary Cody