Spanish Drawings from the 10th to the 19th Century by F. J. Sanchez Canton

Spanish Drawings from the 10th to the 19th Century by F. J. Sanchez Canton lands on the shelves of my shop.

Studio Vista, 1964, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Colour Plates; Black & White Plates;

From the cover: This book presents a magnificent collection of some of the many Spanish treasures which have been lying for hundreds of years in the famous museums and private collections round the world: among them drawings by Goya from the British Museum, by Velasquez from the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid, and by El Greco from the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich. Altogether forty-seven artists are represented, through about 100 pictures, most of them in full colour. The text is by F. J. Sanchez Canton, Director of the Prado Museum, Madrid, and there are also brief biographies of the artists.

In recent years one of the most striking developments in the world of art has been the rediscovery of drawings. Because of the spontaneous quality of this medium and the revealing insight a drawing often gives of the artists personality and philosophy museums and private collectors have been acquiring drawings today at an unprecedented rate. Virtually every major artist of every age has produced masterpieces of drawing, equal quite often superior in aesthetic value to his more formal works. Drawings, however, are fragile, are subject to fading, and are therefore less accessible to the public than paintings and sculpture. Instead of being displayed in galleries and museums, they are usually filed away in protective portfolios, available only to scholars and serious collectors. This is especially true of the finest and most valuable examples of the art.

For this book (as for the others in this series) a careful selection has been made over many years from public and private collections all over the world, to survey, with the help of the finest quality reproduction processes, a particular phase or period in the art of drawing. The result is a volume both scholarly and attractive, which will be of equal interest to students, artists and members of the general public.

In the Great Drawings of the World series.

Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Text complete, clean and tight.

Red boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 141 pages. Bibliography. 9½” x 8¾”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!

Chinnery: The Man and the Legend with a Chapter On Chinnery’s Shorthand by Geoffrey W. Bonsall by Robin Hutcheon

Chinnery: The Man and the Legend with a Chapter On Chinnery’s Shorthand by Geoffrey W. Bonsall by Robin Hutcheon lands on the shelves of my shop.

South China Morning Post, 1975, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Colour Plates; Black & White Plates; Maps [1];

From the cover: This new study of the life of the British artist, George Chinnery (1774-1852) has been prepared by Robin Hutcheon following a series of newspaper articles he wrote in 1974 to commemorate Chinnerys bicentenary.

The newspaper series has been extensively revised and rewritten and a good deal of new material has been included. A large number of coloured and black and white pictures have been incorporated.

A special chapter has been written on Chinnerys shorthand by Mr Geoffrey Bonsall, Director of the Hongkong University Press, making this the most comprehensive and up-to-date record of Chinnerys life and work.

The author, who has had a casual interest in Chinnery for many years, began a more serious study at the prompting of Dr J. R. Jones, who helped the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation assemble its major collection. Dr Jones, who collaborated with Mr Francis Lothrop, Hon. Trustee of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, U. S. A. on research into Chinnerys life, made this available to the author who supplemented it with material collected by Mr Bonsall and others. The outcome was the newspaper articles in the Sunday Post-Herald, beginning in January 1974.

Since then the author has continued his investigations by correspondence with and personal visits to people in countries such as Britain, America, India, Japan and the Netherlands to collect information culminating in the present book.

Good+ in Good Dust Wrapper. Edges of the dust wrapper somewhat frayed, heavily so at the head of the upper panel, and a little tanned. Gently bruised at the head, tail and corners of the binding which is also lightly soiled. Text complete, clean and tight.

[XII] 180 pages. Index. 10¾” x 7½”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!

An Artist’s Life by Alfred J. James Munnings

An Artist’s Life by Alfred J. [James] Munnings lands on the shelves of my shop.

Museum Press, 1951, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Black & White Drawings; Illustrated endpapers and blanks;

From the cover: SIR ALFRED MUNNINGS is one of the most justly famous figures of our time, not only for his own artistic gifts which earned for him the distinguished rank of President of the Royal Academy, but for being one of the most potent and irksome thorns in the flesh of the so-called modern art world. Certainly, adherents to the time-honoured tradition of representationalism could wish for no more fiery and forthright a champion than Sir Alfred.

A countryman born and bred, the true interpretation of Nature is his single aim. At the outset he lived in East Anglia. He worked hard; he played hard. He began his career as an artist with lithography and poster-design in Norwich, studying every evening at the School of Art there. But it was a visit to Bungay Races that first aroused his interest in racehorses, jockeys in silks, gipsy caravans and all the motley excitement of the racecourse.

To-day, so many people are wont to regard Sir Alfred as an exclusive painter of horses and the turf that they do not fully realise how widely he in fact interprets the English scene. Yet from a study of the text and copious illustrations in An Artists Life, it will be found that if Sir Alfred had not become an artist, he would almost certainly have been a farmer, a naturalist or a writer.

One of the most revealing things about this book is that it contains illustrations of the authors very earliest works long before he began to strive after success. This marriage of text and illustration makes it a valuable contribution to the two worlds of literature and art.

Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with fraying at the spine ends and corners. Gently bruised at the head, tail and corners of the binding. Pages lightly age-tanned with heavier tanning to the blanks.

Red boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 328 pages. Index. 9″ x 6″.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!