LOOKING AT ART: A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO MUSEUM COLLECTIONS by Adelheid M. Gealt;LOOKING AT PICTURES by Susan WoodfordReview by: Paula A. BaxterArt Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America, Vol. 2, No. 6(December 1983), pp. 207-208Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Art Libraries Society of NorthAmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27947241 .
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Art Documentation, December, 1983 207
DESIGN BOOK REVIEW. ? Berkeley (1414 Spring Way, CA
94708) : Design Book Review, 1983- (V 1, no. 1- ). ?
quar terly.
? ISSN 0737-5344 ; LC 82-7406 : $12.00 (individuals) ; $15.00 (institutions).
A review of a book review journal? Certainly this first issue of Design Book Review deserves to be appraised and scrutinized. It is a
resource of such positive potential and so rigorous in intent that art
libarians must be aware of its existence. The editors delineate their purpose as a
' 'modest one: to review the
books released each quarter for consumption by design professionals, specialists, and others with an interest in the design fields." Design subject areas covered embrace history, designers and contemporary
design, regional and vernacular architecture, interiors, cities, land
scape, professional reading, environmental psychology, and energy. The list of reviewers reads like a who's who of architectural histo
rians. Among the most prominent are David Gebhard and Udo Kul
termann, although lesser known design experts provide scholarly opinions and evaluations of books in their own specific fields. The reviews are succinct and to the point. Titles of import are reviewed in
detail, providing serious, profound estimates of their worth. DBR is also an example of typographical design. The cover is
visually striking, the paper stock is of high quality, the layout is uncluttered and easy to read, and the type is clear, sharp and properly spaced.
Included is a helpful title index although an author index would be of equal benefit. Also, the addition of the ISBN and LC numbers would enhance the citations usefulness.
This quarterly review of new literature in the various design fields is an important addition to art bibliography. Its careful and concise eval
uations by subject experts will be of great value to art librarians and
their patrons.
Jim Findlay Rhode Island School of Design
THE FUNCTION OF BIBLIOGRAPHY/ Roy Stokes. ? 2nd ed. ? Aldershot : Go wer ; Lexington : Heath (distributor), 1982. ? 201
p. ? ISBN 0-556-03440-9 ; no LC : $21.95.
This work, by a well-known British-Canadian librarian, is a de
scription of the study of literary texts. It deals with all the aspects of this science in a meticulous style, studded with many examples and a
wealth of quotations from the great bibliographers, past and present. In an effort to define these aspects, Stokes has "attempted to indicate the function of bibliography through the activities, the problems, the utility and the practice of the constituent parts." Although the author
is well aware of the speed and efficiency of machine applications in
bibliographic work, he feels that the basic function of bibliography will not be changed radically by this new technology.
Following a discussion of the term itself and of Greg's definition as
"the study of books as material objects," Stokes goes on in the
succeeding chapters to examine each branch of bibliography: enumerative, analytical/critical, descriptive, arrangement of material, textural, and historical. Each chapter is well documented by citations,
mainly from the great bibliographers, Pollard, McKerrow and Greg. This separation of the variety of aspects is not meant to imply an
independence of areas. Indeed, the author sees it as a mixed blessing, a possible source of isolation if not ignorance between the fields.
What is necessary is to "understand as exactly as possible what each area of study keeps before it as its objective and how each of the parts are related to the whole," all this under the "big umbrella" of Pollard's vision.
The example of different forms of bibliographical entry for the same 1611 Bible makes the distinctions in enumerative bibliography immediately clear. The idea of examining the book in relation to the "ideal copy" clarifies the role of analytical or critical bibliography. Here the discussion of Caxton's 1478 Canterbury Tales proves an
illuminating example of the art of the form. It is interesting to note
that Stokes feels that in the area of descriptive bibliography develop ment has been markedly slow. The large number of variables involved in the effort to convey as precise a record of the book as the occasion demands makes the attempts at standardization highly complex. The basic framework exists but the interpretations vary from book to book and even more from bibliographer to bibliographer. The chapter on
arrangement of material stresses the major function of this effort,
namely usefulness and accessibility to the users. Textural bibliog raphy, the author believes, expands the horizons of bibliographical
studies into the area of literary criticism and textura! editing. In this
case it is not a different technique but rather a different end to which
the technique is applied. His example of a critic's development of a
theory of Melville's imagery, citing a phrase which turns out to-have
been distorted by poor typesetting is much to the point as well as
highly amusing. In a relationship similar to this, one finds historical bibliography and historical studies. This is of paramount importance since "the history of the book is a part of the social and cultural life of the people of its time; the history of its production and distribution is a
part of technological and economic history. "
This is a well-written, scholarly book which raises many interesting
questions and attempts to clarify issues rather than resolve them.
There is, however, a slightly unsettling air of timelessness about it.
One cannot quite place it in the library literature as contemporary,
although it is a recent work. It is a second edition (1978) of a work first published in 1969, but there is no indication that the introduction has been revised or re-written for this edition. Of the many quotes in
the book a goodly number are from works written early in this cen
tury, a truly golden age of bibliography but more of historical interest than practical application. Alas, are there no literate bibliographers at
work today? The Index is complete and accurate, always a pleasing discovery.
One could wish for a separate listing of the major works frequently cited apart from that supplied in the Notes. It is only in these Notes that one finds the rerason for the inclusion of Appendix A & B, which contain the text of a paper given by James Duff Brown in 1903 voicing, rather heatedly, his disdain for bibliographical pedantry and the reply to it by A. W. Pollard in the same year. These are reprinted in full "because the files of this journal (The Library) are not as
widely available as is desirable..." a service to the reader which
authors rarely provide. As a thoughtful and thought provoking guide to the widely varied fields of bibliographical science this book could grace any library shelf alongside McKenow's Introduction to Bibliog
raphy for Literary Students. Paula Frosch
Metropolitan Museum of Art
LOOKING AT ART : A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO MUSEUM COLLECTIONS/ Adelheid M. Gealt. ? New York : Bowker, 1983. ? 609 p. : ill. (part col.).
? ISBN 0-8352-1730-2 (cl.) ; 1731-0
(pbk.) ; LC 83-6016 ; $24.95 (cl.) ; $14.95 (pbk.)
LOOKING AT PICTURES/ Susan Woodford. ? Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1983. ? 112 P. : ill. (part col.).?(Cambridge introduction to the history of art).?ISBN 0-521-24371-8 (cl.) ; 28647-6 (pbk.) ; LC 82-14613 : $14.95 (cl.) ; $7.95 (pbk.)
Recent publishing trends confirm the continuing interest in books on art appreciation. These two new publications represent introduc
tory texts designed for a general audience. The authors' approaches to
visual perception are geared to the non-specialist. Each book contains
useful information, once its limitations are understood. These
limitations occur chiefly because of the survey nature of both books,
resulting in a broad but superficial coverage of topics. However, these
works are modest, traditional vehicles for learning how to "look at
art."
Looking at Art ; A Visitor's Guide to Museum Collections begins with three brief chapters, a total of forty-four pages, which survey art
museums in general. Gealt provides the reader with a sweeping ap
praisal of collecting practices, museum functions and the organization of art collections. The book's real usefulness begins in Part Two, where eight chapters are organized chronologically, spanning from
the ancient world to the twentieth century. The final three chapters cover Asian art, Pre-Columbian art and tribal arts. Each chapter is
divided into smaller sections that deal with appropriate trends, media, movements or national themes. All subsections are accompanied by a
"Time Line," and many chapters contain maps or illustrative line
drawings. A ' 'Major Collections
' ' museum list is appended at the end
of each chapter?a most interesting feature. A brief appendix, bib
liography and index conclude the book; the index is the most practical contribution, since the appendix and bibliography entries are unsub
stantial. An eclectic grouping of 16 black-and-white and color plates is
bound into the center of the volume. What does Looking at Art accomplish? Gealt intends the book to
serve double-duty as reference tool and companion text for classroom or personal use. However, Looking at Art reads like a guidebook. Gealt describes art in its historical context as represented by major
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208 Art Documentation, December, 1983
museum collections. This approach often results in a disjointed view
point since the major monuments selected for discussion are chosen more to illustrate various collecting practices rather than the history of art. Looking at Art deals little with individual museums, an emphasis used effectively in works like Eloise Spaeth's American Art Museums : An Introduction to Looking (Harper & Row, 1975) and Richard
McLanathan's new World Art in American Museums : A Personal Guide (Anchor Press : Doubleday & Co., 1983). There are some similarities in format between Looking at Art and the volumes in the
Rizzoli series, Handbook of Styles and Forms. The Rizzoli series, however, is a serious, scholarly attempt at providing a compendium of
descriptive material for the reader; Looking at Art sacrifices intellec tual content for a more general approach to the world history of art.
The general information provided in this book may not suit the reference needs of art professionals. In many cases, subjective state
ments are presented as facts. For example, the one-sentence charac terizations of artists are often open to question; Henry Moore is de scribed as
' 'Sculptor of primordial forms drawn from Surrealist tradi
tions." This book is recommended for general and school library collections. Academic and specialized art collections may not require the addition of Looking at Art as a reference tool.
Susan Woodford 's Looking at Pictures offers a traditional approach to the issue of art appreciation. As one of the titles from the Cam
bridge Introduction to the History of Art series, the book should pique its intended audience of students and general readers. Woodford uses
clear, sensible language remarkable free of jargon. Looking at Pic tures is meant as an introductory text on visual perception with well chosen illustrations ranging from prehistoric cave painting to modern art. Inevitably, the short length of this book leads to a terse treatment of the topics covered.
Looking at Pictures is divided into chapters dealing with subjects such as "Landscape," "Portraits," "History and Mythology," "Re
ligious Images," etc., and with formal elements like "Considerations of Design and Organization" and "Problems in the Depiction of
Space." The quality of these chapters varies. "History and Mythol ogy" is well-written and thought-provoking, but the "Everyday Life and Everyday Things" chapter devotes only four paragraphs to the entire subject of still life in art. The chapter on "Hidden Meanings" presents a detailed treatment of the symbolism in van Eyck's Giovanni Arnolfini and his Bride, but fails to introduce the reader to the important art historical concept of iconography.
With a few notable exceptions, Looking at Pictures has the same
generally well-constructed plausibility of other books in the Cam
bridge Introduction to the History of Art series. The illustrations are in black-and-white and color. Occasionally Woodford's choice of black-and-white over color renders a point less effective. The omis sion of a bibliography, even a selected reading list, is a real fault. The book does contain a brief index. Art libraries that acquire Looking at Pictures as an introductory survey should also have John Berger 's
lively alternative methodology, Ways of Seeing (Viking Press, 1972), and more inclusive works like Jack Hobbs's Art In Context (Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich, 1975) and Albert Elsen 's Purposes of Art (Holt, Rinehart& Winston, 1962).
Paula A. Baxter Museum of Modern Art
Ed. Note: Of somewhat related interest is a recently received book, American Museum Guide, Fine Arts! Tom L. Freudenhim, Consultant Editor. ? New York : Macmillan, 1983. ? 192 p. : ill. ? ISBN 0-02-541450-X (cl.) ; 097680-1 (pbk.) ; LC 83-13604 : $16.95 (cl.) ; $7.95 (pbk.). It is a selective guide to the "most significant collec tions" in various fields. American art has eleven museums, ancient art eleven, Asian twenty-one, European sixteen, modern/post-modern fourteen, photography eleven, and primitive a dozen; some appear
more than once. Each lists hours, address, admission policy and pub lications, reproductions, and research facilities. A three- or four-page essay outlines the highlights of museum holdings in the specific area. The writing, by a group of art-historian contributors, is clear basic
description of a few objects, with little attempt at generalization; the aim is the informed general public. Most listings are fairly obvious, with a few kickers. A companion volume covers science museums.
JPB
THE UCLA ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM: CATALOG OF THE COLLECTION/ Compiled by Constance S. Bullock with the assistance of Saundra Taylor.
? Los Angeles : Oral History Program, University of California, 1982. ? 185 p.
? $6.50.
Note: Copies of the catalog are available by mail for $6.50 (California residents add 6lA percent sales tax), prepaid, from the Accounting Section, University Research Library, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Checks should be made payable to the Regents of the Univer
sity of California. The catalog describes one of the more active and interesting oral
history collections in the United States. Begun in 1959, the UCLA Oral History Program was mandated to collect, by means of taped interviews, memories of the history of California and to process, transcribe, organize and preserve these interviews. Over half of the 204 interviews listed are in the arts (art, architecture, dance, motion
pictures and television, museums and galleries, music and theater) since the arts represent one of the most obvious elements of the culture of Los Angeles and because of the availability of funding, especially from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The "Los Angles Art Community: Group Portrait'
' for example, consists of twenty-four
interviews including painters, sculptors, museum directors, art
educators, and art dealers, while "An Oral History of the Motion Picture in America" contains twenty-two interviews with screenwrit ers, producers, directors, cinematographers, animators, publicists, and film editors.
The arrangement of the catalog is by broad subject categories of the collection. For each entry it provides the name of the interviewee, the title and date of the interview, the name of the interviewer, a note on video sessions (since 1974 the program conducted one-hour vid
eotaped interviews with most of its interviewees), the author of the introduction to the interview, the pagination of the transcribed inter view and a detailed abstract describing the contents of the interview. The index to the catalog includes the interviewees, interviews, authors of the introductions to the transcriptions and references to other per sons and places noted in the abstract. The UCLA Oral History Pro
gram: Catalog of the Collection is a worthwhile addition to the art
library reference collection. Why, one may ask, when it lists local
holdings of particular interest to specialized areas of research? The answer is because oral history is such a new field of research that more
comprehensive and sophisticated reference tools to describe properly and accurately the documentation available on a larger scale do not exist. An explanation of what oral history is, how its exponents pub licize their activity, and a description of the few other reference tools of value to art libraries makes this clear.
Oral History as a modern technique for historical documentation was established in 1948 when Columbia University historian Allan Nevins began recording the memoirs of persons significant in Ameri can life. Gradually, similar projects developed at other institutions to
support historical research in such fields as politics, science, the arts,
agriculture, natural resources, industry, labour and ethnic and local
history. These projects have sprung up everywhere. They have been
inaugurated by corporations, professional associations, government branches, and universities as a meaningful method to secure informa tion not found in books, journals, newspapers, archives, public documents, or other information-bearing printed works.
Oral history is a method of collecting historical information. The method includes a planned-in-advance, tape-recorded interview with someone who has firsthand knowledge of an event or a way of life that is of some historical interest. The interviewer and interviewee know that they are going to be tape-recorded as they talk about something for historical preservation. Oral history interviews, as differentiated from specific historical research, are intended for the widest possible use, both present and future; therefore, the scope of the subjects discussed is usually wider than for specific research. The resulting tapes are then preserved and processed in such a way as to make them usable and accessible.
Oral history has a network of communication. In the United States, the Oral History Association, found in 1966, fosters the growth of oral
history, exchanges information on practical and intellectual problems connected therewith and encourages the use of oral history materials and the improvement of oral history techniques. Its conference, news
letter, and annual publication, Oral History Review, which contains selections from its conference proceedings, keeps its members (histo rians, archivists, librarians, authors, oral history interviewers, editors and directors and their institutions) informed of developments. Oral
history tends to lend itself to the documentation of cultural endeavors,
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