John Esten

Diana Vreeland sounds like a caricature, everything that is spoofed and mocked in fashion. That said her "Why don't you...?" columns are fascinating and hilarious, and I want a pair of black linen shorts now.

Following the foreword are two very brief essays which discuss Sargent's background and his work. A sensitive and intelligent appraisal of the artist and his approach to the studies under consideration here, one that especially in the light of the context does not skirt around the inclinations of the artist's heart, and addresses the possibility of a relationship with his loyal and devoted lithe young Italian valet and occasional model who resided in the Sargent household for twenty six show more years.

The work presented here is superb; sensitive yet dynamic drawings and paintings; the text makes an interesting observation to the observer's response to them, but however one views them one cannot deny their beauty. One of the first illustrated is an oil painting of a young boy lying on the beach, and the pose immediately brings to mind similar subject matter painted by Joaquin Sorolla, produced some twenty or so years after Sargent's effort.

The plates run from page twelve to page seventy eight, and include sketches, charcoal drawings, watercolours and oils, of which eighteen are in full colour, occasionally accompanied by a few relevant notes. The book concludes with a chronology and selected bibliography.

This is a delightful book, slim and not over large; the work contained within is unrestrained, evocative, seemingly effortless; unquestionably the work of a great master. show less

Thomas Eakins was a firm believer in the importance of the male nude as a subject for drawing, and encouraged his students by insisting that they no only draw from the male nude but spend recreation together in the nude, and this book clearly demonstrates that he practised this.

The text is relatively brief, what follows is a collection of about 50 images including Eakins' paintings but predominately his photographs of the posing male nudes that he he had his students draw, along with show more photographs he took of his naked students engaged in activities such as swimming.

With ten full-colour plates of paintings, and most of the sepia photographs also reproduced in full-colour the beauty of this book is in its illustrations. It is well produced with most of the images full-page in size, and often sensible presented against a neutral background as opposed to the stark white page. The book includes a chronology, bibliography, notes to the text and an index. show less

Worth it for the Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller, though its reproduction pales in comparison to the life-sized version in Boston's MFA.