Interesting, and supported by beautiful illustrations, but not much more than the sum of its parts.
The director of the National Gallery of Ireland argues that innovative artistic expression reflects the character of the cities that drive it.
Campbell covers a huge expanse of territory as she explores the nexus of culture, cities, and artists. In this wide-ranging book, she examines 15 cities at the moment in time when they generated intense creativity. Some, such as Florence during the Renaissance, are familiar subjects in art history. Others, such as Kyoto in the 11th century and the western African kingdom of Benin from 1500 to 1700, may be new to many readers. Campbell’s chapter titles identify a quality she sees as central to each city and its art during the given period—e.g., faith in 10th century BCE Jerusalem, self-belief in ancient Rome, freedom in pre–World War I Vienna. The author notes that artistic flowerings were made possible by economic booms enabling artists and patrons to escape the daily grind and consider the sublime. In some cases, it was the state or church, usually driven by a legacy-minded leader, that paid for artistic projects. In others, such as New York during the years between 1929 and 1970, artistic rebellion was made possible by the rise of wealthy, philanthropic individuals. Campbell includes one particularly surprising example: Pyongyang, North Korea, in the second half of the 20th century. Pointing to the neo-socialist architecture and ubiquitous images of the ruling Kim dynasty that exemplify art as a form of control, she reminds us that art can have a dark side as well as an aesthetic quality. Campbell explains all this with measured authority but does not offer an overarching theory about cities and art. The book is more like a series of essays than a coherent whole.
Interesting, and supported by beautiful illustrations, but not much more than the sum of its parts.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781639365494
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
HISTORY | ART & PHOTOGRAPHY | ANCIENT | WORLD
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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