The Life and Works of Dali

The National Gallery London
by Homan Potterton

“Homan Potterton here gives a birds’s-eye view of one of the richest collections of paintings in the world. Others may excel in particular schools, but the National Gallery of London is unique in it’s coverage of the whole of European painting, from International Gothic to Post-Impressionism. The illustrations of which 75 are in color, include works by great masters of all periods: Botticelli and Leonardo, Michelangelo and Titian, El Grecco and Rubens, Rembrandt and Vermeer, Watteau and Gainsborough, Constable and Turner, Degas, Cézanne and (one of the gallery’s latest acquisitions) Klimt. A novel feature is the inclusion of comparative illustrations showing such things as related works, preliminary drawings and x-ray photographs, in order to explain a paintings evolution. The introduction is divided into two parts. The first tells the story of the growth of the collection. The second is a description of the physical components of a painting (wood, canvas, paint, varnish) and the technique of cleaning, restoring and conserving an item. The book ends with a complete list of all the National Gallery’s 2,044 pictures, forming an invaluable reference catalogue.”

Edgar Degas
by Patrick Bade

Degas was closest to Renoir in the impressionist’s circle. He started his apprenticeship in 1853 at the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias and, beginning in 1854, studied under Louis Lamothe, who revered Ingres above all others and transmitted his adoration for this master to Edgar Degas. Starting in 1854, Degas frequently traveled to Italy where he copied from the Old Masters. His drawings and sketches already revealed very clear preferences, especially in Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Mantegna. After his first compositions, which depicted horses, Degas made yet another discovery. His first painting devoted solely to the ballet was Le Foyer de la danse à l’Opéra de la rue Le

Peletier (The Dancing Anteroom at the Opera on Rue Le Peletier, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). In a carefully constructed composition, with groups of fi gures balancing one another to the left and the right, each ballet dancer is involved in her own activity, each moving in a separate manner from the others. Extended observation and an immense number of sketches were essential to executing such a task. Ballet would remain his passion until the end.

 Used Book, Hardbound, 200 pages

Mother Earth Responds 
Green Poems and Alternative Visions

A collection of poems, essays and narratives.