Alexander Calder (1898–1976)

Alexander Calder, the renowned sculptor and inventor of mobiles, here brings his characteristic simplicity of line and spirit of movement to the art of animal sketching. The purpose of the book is to help the student to draw animals as he or she sees them. Noting and practicing the way Mr. Calder captures the emotions and attitudes of animals in a few quick lines, the student can quickly obtain a lasting groundwork in animal sketching that will before long become second nature.
These show more full-body sketches and enlarged details, in rapid, expressive brush-and-ink, of animals from the farm, the zoo, wildlife, and the home, in characteristic poses and movements, reveal both the action and portrait aspects of the art. There are 12 sketches of horses in action (drawing wagon or plough, racing, etc.); 10 drawings of cats, luxuriously asleep or alertly watchful, stretching or crouching; 14 drawings of dogs (many different breeds) in a variety of poses &; lying down, sleeping, sitting, running, sniffing the air, feeding puppies; 11 drawings of lions and other big cats, pacing, lying down, or crouching; 7 sketches of monkeys, jumping and gesticulating; 23 drawings of deer, stooping, sitting, running, etc.; 27 drawings of birds of many different species &; owls sitting, ducks waddling, etc.; and 18 sketches of cows grazing, sitting, swishing tails, and feeding calves. Also included are drawings of seals, elephants, squirrels, kangaroos, and a bear.
Because of the simplicity of Mr. Calder's approach to sketching, this book can easily be used by even the youngest of students. There are no difficult techniques to master here, no roundabout methods of construction, but just an insistence on drawing things as the student sees them, with undogmatic (and delightful) assistance from an undisputed master of the simple expressive line. It is unlikely that there is any more pleasant way to study such a fundamental branch of pictorial art.
Unabridged and unaltered republication of third (1929) edition. show less

This review applies to the Viking edition of selected fables, translated by James Michie with an introduction by Geoffrey Grigson and the illustrations of J. J. Grandville (from an 1842 Paris edition). Grandville's illustrations may well be the best part of the book. La Fontaine's verse retellings of ancient fables (mostly of Aesop and Phaedrus) may lose something in the translation, but mostly didn't make for particularly pleasant reading: the verse comes through as somewhat stilted. show more Nonetheless, it was neat to see the versions of these stories that La Fontaine's contemporary readers would have known and learned. show less

I borrowed this to read before (or instead of) attending the local museum exhibit. I was hoping I could learn and see enough so that I could spend less (covid) time at the exhibit or maybe even feel okay skipping it. After reading it I think it served its purpose.

It's dense text heavy in the first parts of the book. I struggled to read it even though much of it was interesting. I liked that family members participated.

The art shown in the latter long part of the book was good. I’ve always show more been a huge Calder fan and like Picasso’s art too. When seeing so many of their pieces side by side I was shocked at seeing how similar they often were.

I liked the art, appreciated the included photos and source material. The story behind the exhibit is interesting, but if it wasn’t pandemic times I’d have preferred to read the shorter written pieces at the exhibit, going through in a more leisurely manner than I’m now willing to do. I still plan to go to the exhibit but if it won’t be the end of the world if I decide I don’t feel safe to do so, including leaving when I get there and seeing what “50% capacity” looks like. Last autumn I went to the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the same museum and I went through really quickly because “25% capacity” ended up being too many people for me to feel comfortable. show less

Jean de la Fontaine is a must-read for anyone interested in folktales and fables throughout history.

The 17th-century poet took various tales from Aesop, Greek myth, and various other sources and set them to verse. Here, they appear in English translation. While the presentation of the stories and their social commentary is witty; I didn't find the 'poetry' of the language to be that engaging - the rhyme could be distracting, and the phrasing was often clunky. I don't know if this has to do show more with the original or the translation; I suspect a combination of both.

For French poems in translation; I tend to prefer a side-by-side presentation - even if one understands little of the original language, one can read to get an idea of the sound and rhythm of the original. However, I'm sure the originals are available freely online, for those motivated to look them up.

The selected fables presented here (apparently, the book includes about half of de la Fontaine's fabulist output) are prefaced by a very nice academic essay on the author, which really helps place the writing in context. There are also liberal endnotes mentioning the source (if known), and references found in each fable. I might've preferred if the notes relating to each story were found adjacent to the relevant section, but overall, this was fine.

A recommended volume.

I received a copy of this title through NetGalley. Thanks to NetGalley and Oxford University Press. show less