Edward Lucie-Smith

This charming little book, with its playfully provocative title, finds a perfect and rich niche that will satisfy students of art and art history as well as aficionados of that focus of erotic attention, the human bottom. Distinctions between male and female varieties of that fleshy wonder become barely relevant here as Lucie-Smith assembles a wondrous host of examples from the entire graphic oeuvre that demonstrates similarities and differences in the way artists (including photographers) show more have treated the nether parts over the centuries. As does its subject, the book comprises two closely associated parts. In many ways its major part is a collection of small illustrations, bigger than thumbnails but not greatly, of the examples the author has selected, each one with a few sentences highlighting its relevance to his arguments. This part will be enlightening to serious students concerned with the way an artist sees and presents his subject. The larger part of the book is a self-indulgent collection of magnified parts of these complete (but small) versions, each one showing in close detail the part of the anatomy of loving concern to the author. This part, though perhaps less weighty, is presented first, as might perhaps be expected considering the natural placement of its 'basic' parts in real life, at the end of the subject that rests on them. The book has its moments of humour, visual and otherwise, and is a well-presented view of a subject that is often hidden away. show less

Zoo was a happy accident at the library, harbored between art books I was scanning for good tutorials. This art book though is short in height and stout in with, and a condensed animal art museum. Close to half of the pieces come from European Christian art through the ages and the other half are modern. Occasionally Chinese and Muslim creations appear. In addition, sculptures are also rare and one of my main complaints--I'm sure there's a lot of neat three dimensional animal art out there, show more namely in classical times. Still, it's fun to read the chapter introductions, the piece descriptions, and study the visuals. Chapters zoom from one human-animal dynamic to the next: the jungle, entertainment, aquatics, mythical beasts, the geographic poles, Noah's arc, farms, insects, and many more. Some of the insect pieces were incredible, probably in part because they included plants and were more realistic--I'm not keen on the blocky forms that have been popular historically. Overall this was a pleasant find. show less

This book contains many insights not so much into art as into the repressive cultures for which art is an outlet. It contains works not easily available elsewhere and is very generous with its illustrations.

The first half is a chronology which is the more convincing half. The second is thematic and I found myself questioning much of the too-easy Freudian speculation and frankly unsubtle assessments.

Having said that, this is a popular guide and not a monograph in an excellent series and, as show more an introduction, presumably updated as Western identity politics was rising to its peak, it is to be recommended. show less

This book has lived on my poetry shelves for decades and is great for finding poems by poets - for example great to find three Stevie Smith poems after reading her novel recently. However although I shall keep it on the shelves I was very distressed to see there are only 6 women poets to 80 men poets and of the 10 sections that make up the book, most have none, shamefully the 'Scottish' section and 'New voices' have none. There also seem to be no poets at all from the Commonwealth, even in show more the section 'Influences from Abroad'. So I have read all the poems by women, all excellent and browsed a few of the others and it goes back on the shelf. show less