Small World: Connecting Old and New in Japanese Art

[Please see bottom of this post for a request and contest related to this book.] “Japan can be seen as the end of the world,” write Ivan Vartanian and Kyoko Wada in See/Saw: Connections Between Japanese Art Then and Now, “as a storehouse of all mythology that forms the origins of human thought. In its absorption of ideas from other cultures, it also becomes a repository. Japan, as the world’s future, is simultaneously the world’s past. It is a model of a small world getting even smaller.” Because it acts as a microcosm of world culture, Japan globalizes art within its own borders and even self-reflexively gazes at its own aesthetic navel as artists today continually rely on the artists of the past. As Japan itself teeters on the edge of disaster in the aftermath of the recent earthquake and tsunami, See/Saw offers the perfect entry for discovery of this continual oscillation in time and space that characterizes the often elusive Japanese spirit. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Small World."

[Image: Rei Naito, Being Given (Naoshima, Home Project Kinza), 2001. Earth, wood, stone, glass, bamboo, tile, mirror, thread, beads, stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, shell. Lot 197.71 sq. m., building 53.49 sq. m. Bennese Art Site, Naoshima. Image source here.]

[Many thanks to Chronicle Books for providing me with a review copy of See/Saw: Connections Between Japanese Art Then and Now by Ivan Vartanian and Kyoko Wada.

[A REQUEST AND A CONTEST: If you liked this review (or even if you didn’t), please consider making a donation to help the people of Japan. Some of the organizations doing good in that terrible situation are Doctors Without Borders and The Red Cross. Please consider helping in some way. And if you do send a donation, e-mail me at ArtBlogByBob “at” hotmail.com to enter a contest to win a copy of See/Saw: Connections Between Japanese Art Then and Now by Ivan Vartanian and Kyoko Wada. Honor rules apply, so you do not need to send “proof” of a donation. Also, the contest is open only to U.S. residents (but anyone can donate, of course). Contest ends at midnight EDT on April 1, 2011.]

And the Winner Is…

Alex the Judge contemplating how wonderful life is over a plate of French fries.

Then, a moment to contemplate the Phillies’ World Series Championship as the entries are tossed into the hat for the drawing to see who will win a copy of Nicole Dacos’ The Loggia of Raphael: A Vatican Art Treasure, published by Abbeville Press.

Alex the Judge pulls the name from the hat…

Alex the Judge drunk with the sense of power that the Art Contest by Bob can bring…

And the winner is… Michael C.! Congratulations, Michael!

Thank you to everyone who played and thank you, again, to Abbeville Press for sponsoring this amazing giveaway!

THE FINAL DAY to Get Your Loggia Hall Pass!

No, not THAT Loggia, although Robert Loggia’s portrayal of Coach Wally Riggendorf in Necessary Roughness remains the most watchable part of that movie aside from Kathy Ireland as Lucy the Placekicker. THIS Loggia—a copy of Nicole Dacos’ The Loggia of Raphael: A Vatican Art Treasure, courtesy of Abbeville Press! CLICK HERE to learn how to enter the drawing for a copy of this magnificent coffee table book that will transport you to the grand palace of the Vatican. It’s the closest you’ll most likely ever come to being Pope.

Hall Pass Contest

Remember when you were in school and had to ask for a hall pass like the one above to use the restroom? I went to an all-boys’ high school physically attached to an all-girls’ high school, so more adventurous souls took that hall pass to the other side of the building, where the young ladies awaited. Catching onto that scheme, the priests who ran the school designed a hall pass approximately the size of an SUV car door—the uncoolest thing you could possibly imagine holding while sweet-talking some sophomore on her way to gym class.

Thanks to Abbeville Press, you can own a “hall pass” just a little smaller but a whole lot cooler. One lucky reader of Art Blog By Bob will win a copy of Nicole Dacos’ The Loggia of Raphael: A Vatican Art Treasure, a huge, lavishly illustrated, beautifully written, $125 USD book exploring one of the great, semi-forgotten treasures of the Vatican. (My full review is here.) Virtually walk with popes and kings down the hall that Raphael and his workshop decorated for Pope Leo X, setting the standard for ostentatious displays of power ever since by harking back to the Ancient Rome of Nero. What could be cooler than that?

Here’s all you have to do:

(1) Visit the Abbeville Press page for The Loggia of Raphael HERE.

(2) Using the text on that page, answer the following question:

What are the fanciful arabesques enlivened with a wide variety of human and animal figures modeled after ancient Roman wall paintings that fill the Loggia of Raphael called?



[Hint: It’s the only word in the first paragraph that appears in quotations. Can I make this any easier?]

(3) E-mail your answer to me at ArtBlogByBob@hotmail.com by midnight, Friday, November 7th.

The winner will be announced on Monday, November 10th.

Don’t miss this opportunity to join the cool kids in the hall with a copy of Nicole Dacos’ The Loggia of Raphael: A Vatican Art Treasure! And while you’re strolling around the Abbeville Press site, check out The Abbeville Manual of Style blog by Abbeville’s Arbiters of Style, the best art publisher bloggers in the business and conductors of fascinating interviews.

[Many thanks to Abbeville Press for sponsoring this amazing giveaway.]

Faux Legalese:

(1) Please, only one entry per e-mail address.
(2) All employees of Art Blog By Bob and their families are ineligible for this prize. Sorry, Mom. Alex, you’ll have to wait until you’re strong enough to lift Daddy’s copy.
(3) All previous winners of Art Blog By Bob contests are ineligible for this prize. Sorry, Andy.
(4) Any disputes regarding the outcome of this contest must be submitted to the official contest judge, Alex. He’s two. Ever try arguing with a two year old? Good luck with that.

And the Winner is...

The Hat.

The Entries.

The Judge (on his way home later that day from the Phillies-Diamondbacks game).

The Moment of Truth.


And the winner of the first Art Contest By Bob and recipient of a copy of Ségolène Le Men’s Courbet published by Abbeville Press is (drumroll, please):

Andy E.

Thank you to everyone who played and joined in the "arrogant" fun of "The Most Arrogant Contest in Blogging." Thanks to Alex for playing judge and jury. Thanks to Christine, Queen of the Twitterverse, at PurpleCar and to Ed "Philly Poe Guy" Pettit for helping spread the word. And thanks, again, to Austin and the rest of the great people at Abbeville Press for making this contest possible and for putting out such beautiful art books for everyone to enjoy.

I hope everyone had fun and wish you all good luck in the NEXT Art Contest By Bob. Keep checking back here for more contests and more art.

The Most Arrogant Contest in Blogging

Money for nothing, Courbet’s chicks for free…

--From “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits (sort of)

“I am the most arrogant man in France,” Gustave Courbet once bragged, doing his best to live up to that reputation through the boldness of his art and personality. Thanks to the generosity of the awesome people at Abbeville Press, Art Blog By Bob hosts the first Art Contest By Bob in which a copy of Ségolène Le Men’s Courbet will be given to one lucky reader. (See my review of Courbet HERE.) Are you arrogant enough to think you deserve a free copy of this lushly illustrated, beautifully written, coffee-table book retailing at $135 USD? Or will you dreamily let this opportunity slip by, like Courbet’s sister Zélie strumming her guitar in Girl Dreaming (above, from 1848)?

“What do I have to do to win?,” you may ask, palms already sweating with anticipation. It’s this easy:

(1) Go to the Abbeville Press web page for Courbet.

(2) In honor of my recent audition with Jeopardy!, provide the question to the following answer by searching the Courbet page:

Ségolène Le Men, the author of Abbeville Press’ Courbet, attended this superior institution of higher learning in France.

Please note that your answer MUST be in the form of a question. Alex Trebek expects nothing less.

(3) E-mail me at ArtBlogByBob@hotmail.com with your question by 12:00 PM EDT Friday, July 11th. All correct entries will be placed into an actual hat (probably my beloved Philadelphia Phillies cap) and Alex will pull out the lucky winner. The winner will be announced on Monday, July 14th, Bastille Day, of course. Vive la France!

Don’t miss this opportunity to score one of the truly encyclopedic collections of the art of Courbet! And while you’re strolling around the Abbeville Press site, check out The Abbeville Manual of Style blog by Abbeville’s Arbiters of Style, the best art publisher blog in the business.

[Many thanks to Abbeville Press for sponsoring this amazing giveaway.]

Faux Legalese:

(1) Please, only one entry per e-mail address.
(2) All employees of Art Blog By Bob and their families are ineligible for this prize. Sorry, Mom. Alex, you’ll have to wait until you’re strong enough to lift Daddy’s copy.
(3) Any disputes regarding the outcome of this contest must be submitted to the official contest judge, Alex. He’s two. Ever try arguing with a two year old? If you have any success, please let us know your secret.

The Contest

No, not THAT "Contest."

Coming to Art Blog By Bob this Thursday, July 3rd, will be the first Art Contest By Bob in which a copy of Ségolène Le Men’s Courbet (a $135 book) published by Abbeville Press will be given to one lucky reader. Tune in this Thursday for details on how to enter as well as for a review of the book itself.