An Artist in Venice

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Architect and artist Van Doren offers a love letter to Venice in this elegant and slender volume, and he sings his praise to the city through majestic prose and 23 beautiful watercolor paintings of Venice. He quickly discovers, after wandering into San Giacomo di Rialto, perhaps Venice's oldest church, that the city has one "great transformative advantage: Mediterranean light," which offers a new way of seeing the city's architecture, the history of art, and his own painting. Van Doren praises numerous artists from whom he draws lessons as he explores the city. James Whistler captures the "sweet serenity with perfect pitch." He admires deeply John Singer Sargent's watercolors of Venice that exhibit his "supreme confidence with color." Van Doren takes John Ruskin as his model, confessing that Ruskin was an "artist of architecture" whose writings convinced him that he could become a painter. In all of his paintings, he has attempts to keep in mind the lesson of one of his teachers: "Keep it simple. Don't try to make it more complicated than it already is." Clearly, he's learned his lesson well. Illus. (Jan.) Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly.

New Markets for Artists: How to Sell, Fund Projects, and Exhibit Using Social Media, DIY Pop-Ups, eBay, Kickstarter, and Much More

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Although the book title touts mostly online markets, artist and writer Carey ("Making It in the Art World: New Approaches to Galleries, Shows, and Raising Money") also covers the benefits, drawbacks, and strategies for success in art fairs, public art, museums, and galleries. However, the bulk of the book is about using web-based tools: one chapter details relevant features of Facebook and Twitter in great depth, others advise on website development, advertising, eBay, and digital art galleries. Carey occasionally misses the mark, as when he devotes an entire chapter to selecting appropriate passwords (information readily available on the web), but in most cases the information provided is carefully tailored to artists. Case studies throughout illustrate successful usage of each tool, market venue, or strategy. He also offers advice on interpersonal communication, such as how to talk to studio visitors and how to follow up with email and phone contacts. A final chapter suggests methods for using the book in a professional development course. VERDICT Recommended for all artists looking for a market online.--Heidi Senior, Univ. of Portland Lib., OR Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information. Library Journal (11/01/2012)

Midnight to the Boom: Painting in India After Independence

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At midnight on August 15, 1947, India declared its independence from British rule. India's anticolonial movement--synonymous with Mohandas Gandhi, peaceful resistance, and civil disobedience--is celebrated here, but the book also reveals the movement's dark side, namely, the coinciding partition into India and Pakistan, remembered for its violent riots and upwards of a million deaths. Editor Bean (curator, South Asian & Korean art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA) explores how these transformative moments brought political, social, and economic change to India and Indian artists, particularly painters, who responded by experimenting with content, style, and new artistic techniques. Over the next 50 years, the Indian economy bloomed and boomed, and its rapid growth continued to shape both culture and postindependence art. This book tackles the period from 1947 to the 1990s, and its contributors are scholars and curators who have deep knowledge of the postindependence Indian art scene and modern and contemporary art. The catalog is beautifully written and illustrated with 122 color plates, nearly all of which are works in the Peabody Essex Museum's Herwitz Collection. Library Journal (02/15/2013)