An attractive and informative introduction to a remote area in South America.
A collection of photographs focuses on a region of Chile.
This debut coffee-table book introduces readers to the Futaleufú River and region through a combination of words and pictures. The photos make up the bulk of the volume, with full-page images showing the landscape, the built environment, and the people who live in the rural area near the river. Introductions at the beginning of each section provide some background information. Interspersed throughout are short, first-person accounts from Futaleufú residents who describe aspects of their lives, from celebrations and agriculture (“Here, we do it all together with everyone helping out. It has always been a communal thing”) to daily activities and hobbies. The region’s dramatic scenery makes for compelling photos, and McGregor’s and Nicks’ images bring it to life. There are pictures of the river, sometimes nestled in the surrounding mountains and at other times saddled with tourists rafting their way through substantial rapids. Local residents display their homes and businesses, show off their riding skills, and share their favorite foods. A few historic photos accompany the brief discussion of the region’s settlement and growth. The photos appear without captions, although the book concludes with a short description of each image. All the text appears in English and Spanish and is well written and informative in both languages. Armchair travelers will appreciate the detailed and vibrant images along with the intimate portraits of life in an isolated but apparently thriving region. The pictures introduce readers to a place where farmers rely on draft animals to work their fields, but they do so without exoticizing the residents, who are clearly part of 21st-century Chile. Through their anecdotes, locals explain how to train oxen (“You start taming them when they are a very young age, around three years”), weave blankets, and make empanadas, and they tell stories of their families’ migrations to the area. The photo descriptions are brief but clear, so readers will not be left wondering what is depicted in the images.
An attractive and informative introduction to a remote area in South America.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-692-14901-0
Page Count: 194
Publisher: BoonDocs
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
PERSPECTIVES
A beautifully produced, engaging homage.
Celebrating a beloved artist.
Published to coincide with a major exhibition of works by British-born artist David Hockney (b. 1937) at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, this lushly illustrated volume offers a detailed overview of the artist’s life and work, along with chapters focused on his various styles and subject matter, a chronology, and a glossary of the many techniques he employed in his art, including camera lucida, computer, and video. Contributors of essays include noted art historians and curators, such as Norman Rosenthal, who edited the volume; Simon Schama; Anne Lyles; James Cahill; and François Michaud. Growing up in the north of England, Hockney was drawn to the light and sparkle that he found in Hollywood movies. When he finally arrived in Los Angeles, the sunlit landscapes inspired him, and his new sense of artistic freedom concurred with sexual freedom: As a gay man, he felt liberated from the constraints that had weighed on him in Britain, even in the “relative Bohemia” of the Royal College of Art. Essayists reflect on his artistic interests, such as landscapes, portraiture, flowers, and the opera—for which he created boldly exuberant sets—as well as on his influences and experimentation. Michaud examines the impact on Hockney of a visit to Paris in the 1970s, where he became familiar with Henri Matisse and his contemporaries from museum exhibitions. In the 1990s, visiting his mother and friends in Yorkshire, Hockney painted both outdoors and in the studio, experimenting with various media—including the photocopier and fax machine—as he worked to render the woodsy landscape. As a companion to the exhibition, the volume offers stunning reproductions of Hockney’s prolific works. Enormously popular with museumgoers, Hockney, Rosenthal exults, “transforms the ordinary and the everyday into the remarkable.”
A beautifully produced, engaging homage.Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780500029527
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
