Customer Reviews (1)

One of the best books on APR
Very thorough, accessible study of a marvelous painter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Exceptional Book on Ryder
Albert Pinkham Ryder is one of my favorite painters and this book provides good images and discussion of all of his major works. The book describes Ryder's life and influence as well as his techniques. Additionally, there is analysis of Ryder forgeries (which are common) and the condition problems resulting from his unusual methods. This is fascinating book to view and read.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT MY ART BOOK REVIEWS: It might seem as though I rate most art books very favorably. The reason for this is that I usually visit my local library before buying a book. I'll look at all (in print and out of print) of the Rembrandt (for example) books and choose my favorite one to purchase. In the case of an artist's monograph, I try to choose one or two comprehensive books for each artist. These are generally large, well illustrated hardcovers with above average reproduction quality and informative text, often by one of the leading scholars on the artist. Thus, by the time I purchase a book, I have already found it to be among the best available on the subject. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This work describes the concepts of Symbolist art used for this study and presents a sequence of the works and writings of five artists - Washington Allston at the beginning of the century, John La Farge and William Rimmer at mid-century, and George Inness and Albert Pinkham Ryder at the end. These five were selected after a lengthy survey of 19th and early 20th century American art. Although a broader selection might have been made, these particular artists successfully developed, at one point or another in their careers and with more or less clearly defined objectives, highly articulate visual art in the Symbolist mode, as well as writings about their Symbolist intentions (without using the term itself). In many instances, their words, as well as their art, recall those of artists like Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh, although predating the Europeans by several decades. The Symbolist works of these five Americans are analyzed along side their writings about art, as well as writings by the few major critics who understood their aesthetic intentions at the time, such as James Jackson Jarves, Charles de Kay, and Roger Fry.Not a survey, but rather a highly selective and suggestive study, this book was written with the intent of refining the historical concept of Symbolist Art in general, by extending the view further into American art. ... Read more

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Albert Pinkham Ryder (* 19. März 1847 in New Bedford (Massachusetts); † 28. März 1917) war ein amerikanischer Maler, der am besten für seine poetischen und stimmungshaften allegorischen Arbeiten und Seestücke wie auch für seine Exzentrizität bekannt war. Während seine Kunst eine Emphase für subtile Variationen der Farbe mit dem Tonalismus teilte, war sie einzigartig in der Akzentuierung der Form in einer Art, die manche Kunsthistoriker als vorherwissende Moderne Kunst sehen. ... Read more

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Kapitel: James Mcneill Whistler, Thomas Dewing, Xavier Martínez, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Alice Pike Barney, Charles Warren Eaton, Dwight William Tryon, Edward Mitchell Bannister, George Inness, Arthur Frank Mathews, Percy Gray, Tonalismus, Granville Redmond, John Henry Twachtman. Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: James Abbott McNeill Whistler (July 11, 1834 - July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for it combined both aspects of his personality-his art was characterized by a subtle delicacy, while his public persona was combative. Finding a parallel between painting and music, Whistler titled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony. His most famous painting is the iconic Whistler's Mother (1871), the revered and oft parodied portrait of motherhood. A wit, dandy, and shameless self-promoter, Whistler influenced the art world and the broader culture of his time with his artistic theories and his friendships with leading artists and writers. Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was the first child born to George Washington Whistler, a prominent engineer, and Anna Matilda McNeill (his father's second wife). At the Ruskin trial (see below), Whistler claimed the more exotic St. Petersburg, Russia as his birthplace: "I shall be born when and where I want, and I do not choose to be born in Lowell", he declared. In later years, he would play up his mother's connection to Southern and roots, and present himself as an impoverished Southern aristocrat (although to what extent he truly sympathized with the Southern cause during the American Civil War remains unclear). Young Whistler w...http://booksllc.net/?l=de ... Read more

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Chapters: Carol Haney, Robert Bruce Lindsay, Albert Pinkham Ryder, Marie Equi, Ezra Stone, Peter B. Germano, Mark A. Howland, Mike Cejka, I. W. Taber, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Barbara Ras, Nick Dompierre, George S. Morison, Cheryl Araujo, Herbert W. Ladd, Bobby Watkins, Jim Canavan, Marques Houtman, Pete Bessone, Benjamin F. White, Ray Oliveira, Peter Bessone. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 75. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Robert Bruce Lindsay (1 January 1900 - 2 March 1985) was an American physicist and physics professor, known for his prolific authorship of physics books in acoustics, and historical and philosophical analyses of physics. R(obert) Bruce Lindsay's January 1, 1900 birth date hailed a new century. At the age of 20, he received both a BA and an MS in physics from Brown University. Before receiving his Ph.D. for atomic models of alkali metals from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1924, he spent the 1922-23 academic year as a Fellow of The American-Scandinavian Foundation at the University of Copenhagen under Niels Bohr and Hendrick A. Kramers. Lindsay and his wife Rachel translated Kramers book, The Atom and the Bohr Theory of its Structure, in 1923, receiving approximately $125, on which they toured Europe. Lindsay went to Yale University in 1923 as instructor in physics, and was promoted to assistant professor in 1927. He returned to Brown in 1930 as associate professor of theoretical physics, and was named Hazard Professor of Physics in 1936. He acted as chairman of the Physics Department at Brown from 1934 until he became dean of the Graduate School in 1954. Lindsay received the ASA Gold Medal in 1962, before retiring as dean of the Graduate School in 1966 and from teaching in 1970. He died March 2, 1985 in Newport, Rhode Island. A specialist in acousti...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=17600689 ... Read more

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Originally published in 1920.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

excellent
The chapter from Wieland is excellent; I have read the novel, and found it one of the best gothic novels of America. I figure it is the way schizophrenia works in human mind. I also enjoyed Melville's "the tartarus of maids". Maybe it is not strictly a gothic tale, but it has a gothic atmosphere, and many levels of reading. I like the way the landscape is depicted, and the feelings it conjures. It is really an industrial nightmare, possibly inspired by the XIX century industrial revolution, and the terrible labour conditions of that time.
The legend of Sleepy hollow is a brilliant combination of gothicism, humour, and a thorough or exhaustive description of primitve dutch communities, rural life, and the lovely place where they settled. It is not so easy a combination, so the writer must have been very gifted to create it, and make of it one of the american classics. I did not like to much Ambrose Bierce's "The damned thing", It certainly is not the best gothic tale of this writer. He had wrote many other and moreinteresesting gothic tales, like "an episode in owl creek bridge".
It seems that american writers of the nineteen century were higlyinfluenced by religious puritanism, and - mainly - by its dark side, and destructive behaviour. For instance, "The man of adamant", of Hawthorne, and the above mentioned Wieland.
I did not like to much Gertrude Ashterton tale. Neither did I like Sherwood Anderson "death in the woods"; it is simply a sad story of a miserable woman, but it lacks interest. I enjoyed a lot, Lovecraft`s, derleth`s, and Faulkner tales. "The lonesome place" is a remarkable tale, about our dark places of our minds, and our fears of those places. Faulkner story is about a decadent southern aristocrat, that slightly reminded me of Tenesse Williams` Blanche DuBois. (even if they were not alike in any apparent sense) E.B. White story, "The door", is an unsettling tale of what happens in human mind when confronted with apparently insoluble problems. I do not know if it is a gothic story, but is a very good one. "The lovely house", by Shirley Jackson, has a feeling of impending danger... you feel that things are not so lovely as they look, that people are not what they seem to be, and that something bad is about to happen. Paul Bawles story is somewhat poor, I did not like it to much, notwithstanding the reference to drug use.
William Goyen tale, and "The Penny Arcade", are excellente literary works, but cannot be considered gothic. "Cat in glass", by Nancy Echemendy, is hundred per cent gothic, and a very good story. "Replacements", is quite weird and interesting. I did not like Stephen King tale, "The Reach", it is very long and not very good. There is a short tale called "time and again", that cannot be considered gothic either, but is quite good, unsettling, and weird. "The last feast of Harlekin ", is one of the best tales of the books. Gradually you start to feel a dangerous athmosphere, unfathommable misteries from ancient times, and fear of the unknown, and of what it is about to happen.
Mrs. Oates selection of american gothic tales includes many excellent, some good and a few definitively mediocre stories. I do think that in spite of some flaws, it is a book to recommend to anyone interested in good literature.

This book is a keeper...
I had to get this book for a Gothic class I recently took, and absolutely loved it!This is the kind of book that you keep and read over and over again.One of the things that I really liked was the way Oates selected authors and put them in chronological order through the book.I can't think of anything I would change about this collection - all the stories are very unique in their own way.

a rather tepid hodgepodge of weirdness..
Since I love gothic novels I eagerly dove into 'American Gothic Tales', a large collection of gothic short stories.And with Joyce Carol Oates as the editor I thought for sure this book would be terrific.Well, it wasn't.Not even close.

While it is hard to write a singular review of so many varied stories, let me say that hardly any of the stories were memorable.Worse, some of the stories were almost incomprehensible.As with other collections of short stories, I would have greatly appreciated some blurb by the editor in front of each story explaining its significance.Instead we have dozens of stories smashed together without interruption, with no real pattern to them.


Bottom line: I found very few jewels in this otherwise dull collection of stories.Not recommended.

Some great stories, some lame
I was rather disappointed in this book.Some of the stories were great.Most were unimpressive and a couple I would not have called 'gothic' by any definition I know of.I would instead reccomend the Oxford book of Gothic Short Stories.

A Better Name Would Be American Tales of the Weird
I don't necesarily agree with Joyce Carol Oates' defintion of Gothic literature in her introduction or that all of the stories in this collection are Gothic. The editor does a good job on the back cover, in her biographic section, and in the final page, of trying to advertise herself as being not only a "genius" but "rank[ing] on the spine-tingling chart with the masters". I beg to disagree.

Traditionally, Gothic literature deals with the dark and mysterious and with the tortured soul. I had great difficulty seeing some of these stories as being gothic at all. Some of these stories would better fit the category of "tales of the weird", but some don't even fit in that category. For example, there's a two-page story of a man leaving his wife and trying to wrest the baby from her arms in the dark. There's another with two men in a spaceship contemplating life. Another is merely a story of someone tripping on drugs.

Granted, there are some good gothic and weird stories here. The stories are placed in the book chronologically. Many of the earlier stories are anti-climatic with endings that are little more than a tiny "Boo!" (if that). Such a story is Oates' own attempt at a gothic story, "The Temple". Others are page-turners. In trying to put in some more obscure stories, she's left out better ones by the same author. For example, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" would have been a better Gothic literature choice for displaying Nathaniel Hawthorne's talents. And authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, who greatly inspired writers of this genre, should have more inclusions in the book.

If this book were to truly be a book of good gothic literature, the following stories would remain (favorites starred): *Brown's exerpt from Wieland, *Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", Hawthorne's "The Man of Adamant" and "Young Goodman Brown", Poe's "The Black Cat", Perkin's "The Yellow Wallpaper", James' The Romance of Certain Old Clothes", Bierce's "The Damned Thing", *Wharton's "Afterward", Anderson's "Death in the Woods", *Lovecraft's "The Outsider", Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", Derleth's "The Lonesome Place", *Jackson's "The Lovely House", *Cheever's "The Enormous Radio" (more twilight zone than gothic), *Bradbury's "The Veldt" (more science fiction than gothic), Doctorow's "The Waterworks", *L'Heureux's "The Anatomy of Desire", Oates' "The Temple", *Rice's "Freniere", Millhauser's "In the Penny Arcade", *King's "The Reach", Johnson's "Exchange Value" (good but not really gothic), *Crowley's "Snow", *Ligotti's "The Last Feast of the Harlequin" (a wonderful story in memory of Lovecraft), *Tuttle's "The Replacements", *Etchemendy's "Cat in Glass", and Baker's "Subsoil".

Even though I felt that some of the selections for this anthologywere poor choices, the good selections makes this a worthwhile read. Had she replaced the non-gothic and anti-climatic stories with more good stories by the above authors, the book would have been perfect. I will definitely be looking more into works by some of the authors like Ligotti and Wharton. I will not, on the other hand, be seeking out works by the editor. Her self-advertisement has fallen upon deaf ears. ... Read more