Book Reviews by Our Staff

Words to inspire artists By David Rowe

The Orillia Public Library has an excellent collection of art books, and seeing the new additions to it usually offers inspiration for a column highlighting a few of the new art books we have received.

Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast is the splendid book version of an exhibition that just wrapped up at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg.  It documents the stunning resurgence of First Nations artists of British Columbia, after a long period when the traditional cultures of the areas were banned and almost forgotten. While still following traditions, artists like Robert Davidson, Dempsey Bob and Jim Hart also examine the meaning and purpose of their heritage and art in the 21st century.

Why Photography Matters As Art As Never Before by Michael Fried looks at large-scale photos and sees them as having now the same importance as paintings in the relationship between the artist and the viewer. He looks at notions of theatricality, literalness and objecthood through the work of various photographers like Jeff Wall, Thomas Struth and others.

Art and Politics: the History of the National Arts Centre, by Sarah Jennings looks at the birth and development through forty years of one of Canada’s pre-eminent cultural institutions.  Written in a documentary style, the story is enriched by personal memories of those who participated in the making of the NAC, including artists, managers, and officials sand politicians.

Stepping away from modern times, we have a catalogue of an exhibition from the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, Dutch Art of the Seventeenth Century. The 1600s in the Netherlands is one of the most spectacular eras in the history of art.  In a period of 50 years, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Franz Hals and their contemporaries reflected the rapid growth in a newly independent Netherlands. Landscapes, portraits, scenes from daily life as well as examples of ceramics and silverware are just some of the amazing art reproduced in this fine book.

Lastly, we must not forget the business end of the world of the arts. George Alexander Anthony, a visual artist and a strong advocate for the visual arts, has created an artists awareness guide, Don’t Light a Candle and Put A Bucket Over it.  Alexander explains how to set process, develop sales techniques, working with juries and the media, finding sponsorship and avoiding all the boondoggles that can happen to the unwary artist.

David Rowe is the director of Technical Services at the Orillia Public Library

 Archives of previous columns for 2009.