Making faces, playing God

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[edited by Elena Ragusa

"Spain's greatest baroque painter, Velazquez was an artist of tremendous gifts who painted portraits of Spanish nobility that imbued his subjects with mystery, as well as quotidian scenes of cheerful and satisfying domestic activities. For more than thirty years, Velazquez resided in the palace of his patron, King Philip IV, as a court painter, executing portraits of the king and members of the royal family and court, some of whom are most famously depicted in his towering masterpiece Las Meninas (The Ladies-in-Waiting), of 1656, a veritable theater of perspective interplay and baroque illusion." "Like all books in The Rizzoli Art Classics series, this book is a beautifully illustrated monograph, offering high-quality reproductions in a compact, accessible volume. This book features a literary introduction by a renowned art historian, a thoroughly researched essay, and captions describing the artist's most famous canvases. A useful appendix section includes an extensive chronology of the artist's life and important historical events of his time; a compilation of writings by well-known historians, insight into each painter's stylistic development; a geographical table detailing the location of each painting in the book; and a concise bibliography with suggested further readings."--Jacket.

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Ruth Herring and Karen Manners

Drawing inspiration from some of the world’s greatest works of art, Ruth Herring and Karen Manners present 20 brilliant designs that are as much fun to wear as they are to knit. From a prehistoric cave painting, to the Mona Lisa, to Roy Lichtenstein’s Whaam, with *Knitting Masterpieces* you will soon be knitting your way through some of the greatest moments in the history of art. Who would not be tempted by a stunning cardigan with Monet’s Water-lilies depicted in a mohair so similar to the artist’s Impressionist brushstrokes, or by Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti displayed in the exotic colors of bright cotton yarns? Each design integrates elements from the painting into every part of the sweater | the sleeves will be as interesting to work as the front, and the sweater will be just as smashing when you leave a room as when you enter. There are pullovers, cardigans, and dresses to knit in warm wools and mohairs and in breezy summer cottons. Most can be worn by both men and women and run the gamut from an easy weekend knit to more complex projects involving intarsia and embroidery. All techniques are clearly described in a special section at the end of the book, and each sweater is accompanied by a full-color stitch chart. *Knitting Masterpieces* will provide you with hours of knitting pleasure while giving you a wardrobe that is a collection of art. *[from inside flap]*

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James Berger

In this study of the cultural pursuit of the end and what follows, Berger contends that every apocalyptic depiction leaves something behind, some mixture of paradise and wasteland. Combining literary, psychoanalytic, and historical methods, Berger mines these depictions for their weight and influence on current culture. He applies wide-ranging evidence--from science fiction to Holocaust literature, from Thomas Pynchon to talk shows, from American politics to the fiction of Toni Morrison--to reveal how representations of apocalyptic endings are indelibly marked by catastrophic histories.

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catalogued and described by Michael Pointer

> Here, at last, is a chronicle of the many dramatizations of the exploits of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's world-renowned sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. >During the past eighty years or so, the character of Holmes has appeared in stage plays, silent and sound films, comedies, musicals, radio plays, television shows, revue sketches, commercials, and even a ballet. >The public's great attraction to Holmes began in 1891 when Conan Doyle's short stories first appeared. After two years (and twenty-four stories), however, the author had become bored with his hero and attempted to kill him off in *The Final Problem*. The general public was incensed by the demise of Holmes because their appetite for Holmes's adventures was insatiable. >Conan Doyle's ennui, however, was turned to great advantage by Charles Rogers, a minor late nineteenth century playwright. For in 1893, he attempted to fill the vacuum in the realm of new Sherlock Holmes narratives by writing a four-act play, appropriately entitled *Sherlock Holmes*. This was one of the first plays based on the character of Holmes, and in it the playwright depicted Holmes as having been a woman's rejected suitor! >Rogers' Sherlock Holmes was only an early episode in Holmes's life outside of Conan Doyle's stories. As early as 1903, there was a film entitled *Sherlock Holmes Baffled*. It ran for only forty-nine seconds, however, and was intended for viewing at peep shows. >Of course, since then many an actor has had great success playing Holmes. William Gillette, Eille Norwood, and Basil Rathbone all became quite associated with the role of the great detective. For a number of years, in fact, producers would not hire Basil Rathbone for any other role because they thought he was too identified with the role of Holmes in the public's mind. >In addition to the serious (and semi-serious) dramatic realizations of Holmes, there have also been numerous burlesques, among which was a 1902 entry called *Sheerluck Jones*. >Both the avid Sherlockian and the occasional Conan Doyle admirer will be fascinated by this "dramatic" history of the public life of Sherlock Holmes.