A new year, and a shelf of new books!
Sole mates : cowboy boots and art by Joseph Traugott
Museum of New Mexico Press, 2010
The cowboy boot seen as an American icon, a subject for art and an artwork in its own right. Shucks it takes me back to my bootscootin’ days, and I just wish I’d had a pair of these beauties to flash on the dance floor!
Buddhist art : an historical and cultural journey by Gilles Béguin
River Books,
This is a terrific, and terrifically well illustrated, overview of Buddhist art throughout Asia.
Beyond the dreams of avarice : the Hermann Goering collection by Nancy H. Yeide
Laurel Publishing, 2009
Art in the hands of monsters, a concept that is both unsettling and confusing. Nancy Yeide is an authority on the provenance of looted artworks, and this exhaustive work can’t help but be somewhat chilling in its exploration of avarice teamed with power.
Romantic comedy by Claire Mortimer
Routledge, 2010
Lightening the tone somewhat, a book that looks at one of contemporary cinema’s most popular and enduring genres, sometimes known as the “rom’ com”. In days gone by they were often referred to as “women’s films” but nowadays their appeal is fairly universal, and this book explores how both men and women find themselves represented, and indeed misrepresented!
And for those still pining for some time at the seaside, another gem from our Picture Collection.
Period swim and beach wear, c. 1945-50 (PIC LTA 1998)
