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UTAH

Name: UTAH
Author: Michael Wickes
ISBN: 1-931688-22-2

MOMENTS IN TIME

by Michael Wickes ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Nicely done overall, and very well printed. The shot of the Anasazi ruin at Cedar Mesa alone is worth the cover price.

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Pleasing photographic portfolio of the ever-photogenic state of Utah.

Landscape photographers from Timothy O’Sullivan to David Muench have made large parts of Utah their own, turning in stunning portfolios decade after decade. Idaho-based Wickes confesses to knowing little about the state, but he accepts a friend’s challenge to shoot it all the same: â€œThe less you know about a place,” says the friend, â€œthe more you’re apt to sense the place’s real character.” Wickes gets at least some of the character down well, while avoiding many of the clichÃ©s of landscape photography in Utah–the vaulting stone arches of Arches National Park, the massive sweep of the Hurricane Cliffs, the bewildering hoodoos of Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef. To be sure, there are plenty of familiar places here: the sheer rock faces of Zion, storm-shrouded Flaming Gorge, the Coral Pink Sand Dunes of the desert country. Shooting on Velvia and Sensia film, Wickes produces color-drenched images of those places and more. His geographical coverage could have been a touch broader, however–what’s a Utah portfolio without the bright lights of Wendover? Landscapes aside, he admirably captures the action of Utah’s sports-loving homegrown and tourist crowds, with one especially memorable shot of a skier pirouetting upside-down over a steep mountain slope. On the people-and-pastimes front, Wickes devotes a few pages too many to rodeo scenes, which lead to the notion that Utah is a rural place, which it’s not: Ninety percent of residents live in cities, and they’re plenty modern, as Wickes captures well in shots of ballet dancers and angst-ridden teenage mall-hoppers in teeming Salt Lake City.

Nicely done overall, and very well printed. The shot of the Anasazi ruin at Cedar Mesa alone is worth the cover price.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 1-931688-22-2

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.