All year long the books pour in–beautiful, hefty, glossy-covered books on gardening and art and design. Reviewers` copies are free, of course, but at year`s end we thumb through the glossiest volumes and ask, ”Which of these are too good not to buy?” What follows: a sampling of the Home staff`s four- star Christmas finds.
”The International Book of Lofts,” by Suzanne Slesin, Stafford Cliff and Daniel Rozensztroch (Clarkson N. Potter, $30).
There are lofts here as black and slick as frozen ink; lofts with acres of wood as warm as wheat; snowy lofts full of light and white.
There is the loft dweller who poured gravel on his floor, then laid down industrial metal grating for a walkway. Another built kitchen walls with bare studs and no plaster in between. Philippe Stark, whose Paris loft was photographed before he became a famous furniture designer, piled up so many spices and trinkets and unnameable objects around his kitchen sink that it resembled an altar in some Indian temple.
”Loft living represents one of the major trends in urban redevelopment in the last 30 years,” Slesin writes. Early on, when it was illegal, loft dwellers resorted to subterfuge. ”Beds were installed on pulleys that allowed them to be raised to the ceiling and hidden if a building or fire inspector came unexpectedly to call; groceries were not brought home in supermarket shopping bags; and residential garbage was frequently carried out of the neighborhood or hidden under artwork-related debris.”
Today it takes money and style to live well in a loft, for the open space is like a huge canvas, promising but demanding. Between London, Paris and the major American cities, Slesin & Co. found several dozen extraordinary lofts, including a Chicago loft by the architect Kenneth Schroeder and the Manhattan loft filmed in ”Year of the Dragon,” and catalogued them: ”The Artist`s Loft,” ”The Divided Loft,” ”The Loft in Detail.” Gilles de Chabaneix took the photographs; they won`t break hearts with their beauty, like those in the ”Style” books that Slesin pioneered–but then loft living is about coming to terms with open space, and ”The International Book of Lofts” covers it superbly.
”Art Deco Graphics,” by Patricia Frantz Kery (Harry N. Abrams, $49.50). A striking collection of Deco posters, paintings and packaging, from the familiar dark lady on Gitanes cigarette boxes to Erte`s stylized rower on the cover of a 1934 Harper`s Bazaar. ”As skyscrapers provided powerful new perspectives, exciting vistas, and functional forms;” Kery writes, ”as machines created agitation from their pounding and energy from their speed, graphic artists grasped the changes and incorporated them into their designs.” The author splices in her text between the chapters, allowing the powerful graphics, all in color, to dominate the pages. Only the originals could have more force.
”Living Under Glass,” by Jane Tresidder and Stafford Cliff (Clarkson N. Potter, $22.50).
It would be wasteful to build anything out of glass, from bay windows to greenhouses, without first dipping into this informative book. Photographs
–some stunning, some practical, a few unfortunately cluttered on the page
–show Victorian conservatories, glassed-in pools, living-room aviaries, glittering penthouses and even small-budget add-ons. Glass, suggests the book, is the thinnest barrier between Nature and ourselves: build with brick and you stare at brick; build with glass and you let in rain, sun, animals, skylines, trees. The book has a resource list in the back. Best enjoyed as a photographic source of ideas for those thinking of living under glass.
”Jean Dunand,” by Anthony Delorenzo (Dutton, $45).
Jean Dunand, a master of the French Art Deco style, lacquered everything from vases to bed frames in black and red and burning gold. ”Not only is working with lacquer difficult,” Delorenzo writes in his introduction, ”it is also dangerous. Natural lacquer emits noxious, poisonous fumes that can be tolerated only by a rare few artisans.” Dunand must have stood it well, for there are some stunning color photographs of his work here. But where`s the text? Beyond a four-page introduction, there is none. ”Jean Dunand” proves to be a beautiful but bare-bones exhibition catalogue–ergo, a specialized if handsome gift.
”Art Nouveau and Art Deco Lamps and Candlesticks,” by Wolf Uecker
(Abbeville Press, $75).
Glass bursts into bloom and bronze flows into the robes of stylized women. Hundreds of ornamental lamps and candlesticks glow from the pages of this history. ”Electric light was lovingly surrounded with bouquets of glass flowers; it shone with an exotic gleam through fruits, flowers and leaves of transparent glass,” Uecker writes, ”and crowned, as a naked light bulb, bronze sculptures and fanciful decorations of intricate craftsmanship.” The works of dozens of major artists and workshops are included–pieces by Josef Hoffmann, Wiener Werkstatte, Eileen Gray, Rene Lalique, the Bauhaus.
”The Machine Age in America: 1918–1941,” by Richard Guy Wilson, Dianne H. Pilgrim and Dickran Tashjian (Harry N. Abrams, $37.50).
Locomotives, automobiles, steamships, radios, skyscrapers, early subway turnstiles–all found their way into, and powerfully shaped, design of all kinds between the two world wars. The machine became the major force behind art, architecture and design–showing up in everything from steel bridges and sculpture to everyday objects such as armchairs and clocks. Penny scales looked like skyscrapers and metallic lusters were an important decorative device. This 350-page coffee-table volume is heavy with text and crammed with black-and-white photographs, yet provocative and graphically forceful to the end.
”The Art of Stencilling,” by Lyn Le Grice (Clarkson N. Potter, $22.50). The story of how one artist caught her passion for stencilling–carrying colors and patterns up walls and over windows, across floors, onto cabinets, cupboards and countertops and sometimes right across napkins and tablecloths. It also is a rich collection of photographs (by David Cripps), each to be savored for closeness of detail and softness of light. Le Grice is not just decorating–she is, in the reverse sort of way that stencilling involves, painting. She paints doves and lions, fruit trees in huge Chinese pots, and the women of Gauguin in sarongs. The book contains instructions, best for those who already know what they`re doing.
”Remaking America: New Uses, Old Places,” by Barbaralee Diamonstein
(Crown Publishers, $30).
”Every town and city, it seems, has a special `reborn building,`
” writes Diamonstein. In Chicago, she picked Cobbler Square and the Helene Curtis headquarters to chronicle, showing interiors, exteriors and before and after shots. ”The building initially housed eight tenants ranging from a speedometer manufacturer to a shoe-sole maker, a milk-bottle-cap producer, a painter, and a pipe maker,” she writes of the Curtis headquarters in her painstaking pursuit of detail. In Carrollton, Ky., she found a jail-turned-museum; in St. Louis, a synagogue turned into rental apartments. The text is full of history and the color photographs abundant, and anyone who has lived anywhere will recognize at least one project. Diamonstein is chairman of the New York Landmarks Foundation and deeply involved in cultural life. This is her 13th book.
”Art Nouveau Bing: Paris Style 1900,” by Gabriel P. Weisberg (Harry N. Abrams, $40).
A beautifully illustrated book about how one man`s vision of the decorative arts sparked an international movement. In 1895, a Parisian gallery owner named Siegfried Bing traded in his inventory of Japanese art and set up workshops for a new kind of artistic endeavor–one that had taken hold in America but that France still scorned. ”L`Art Nouveau,” as Bing called his revamped gallery, sprang from ”the idea that homely objects could be beautifully crafted and innovatively designed.” He carried pieces by stained glass master Louis Comfort Tiffany and the artist Edvard Munch. The photographs in this book, actually a catalogue to a traveling museum exhibition, are as rich as the historical text.
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”Santa Fe Style,” by Christine Mather and Sharon Woods (Rizzoli, $35).
An admiring look at an original kind of American country: native Southwestern style. Since the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, this small town in New Mexico, currently inhabited by many artists and craftsmen, has been a rich source of a unique American design tradition. The sparse beauty that was wrested from the New Mexican desert by the Spanish colonists blends with the rich heritage of the American Indians, the whimsical folk art expressions of the Mexican mestizo, and later with the esthetic skills of contemporary craftspeople.
”Santa Fe Style” explores both its beginnings and current forms. The 450 illustrations, many in color, show the elements of style for which the area is best known: adobe brick with simple, hand-carved furniture, hand-hewn beams, Indian pottery, Navaho rugs, whimsical folk sculpture and a few lovely surprises, such as an adobe house designed in 1941 by Frank Lloyd Wright (and executed in 1984). A list of sources directs readers to Santa Fe merchants and services.
”Victorian Splendor,” by Allison Kyle Leopold (Stewart, Tabori & Chang Publishers Inc., $29.95).
This is a handsome book showing decorating possibilities in the Victorian style for every room. It includes more than 150 color photographs of ornate
(but livable) Victorian interiors in contemporary as well as 19th-Century houses. The decorative treatments appropriate to the Victorian Revival interior, including color, pattern and texture, wall and floor coverings, window, crafts, horticulture, are covered in detail. An indispensable source of ideas and information, ”Victorian Splendor” includes a directory of dealers who specialize in Victorian furniture and furnishings plus an extensive listing of historic Victorian houses open to the public.
”American Treasure Hunt, The Legacy of Israel Sack,” by Harold Sack with Max Wilk (Little, Brown, $24.95).
This is the unvarnished story of the rise to prominence of Israel Sack, America`s premier antiques dealer, as told in a memoir by his son, president of the firm that bears his name. Dubbed ”Crazy Sack” by other antiques dealers for the high prices he paid and for the even higher prices for which he sold, Israel Sack counted among his clients such discerning collectors as Henry Ford and Henry du Pont. The author, adviser to the White House and Department of State collections of Americana, provides anecdotal accounts of his father`s relationships with these famed collectors and later, as his father`s successor, of his own dealings with the Kennedys, Ima Hogg and Bill Cosby. The reader can`t help gaining insight into how, why and when superb collections were formed.
”Victorian Interior Decoration, American Interiors 1830-1900,” by Gail Caskey Winkler and Roger W. Moss (Henry Holt, $29.95).
Here is a more scholarly look at how the Victorians decorated walls, ceilings, woodwork, floors and windows, complete with original color schemes. It has many illustrations, mostly historic in nature, such as reprints of advertisements from an 1866 Godey`s Lady`s Book, showing the preferred way to loop back curtains. It`s for the owner of a 19th-Century home who wants his house to be authentic.
”The Indoor Garden Book,” by John Brookes (Crown, $24.95).
A decorating book and plant-care manual in one, this was written by an award-winning British garden designer. Brookes runs his own School of Landscape and Garden Design in West Sussex, England. He gives a fresh look at how to use plants in the home, room by room. Extensive decorating information on plant display and cut and dried flower arranging is offered. More than 600 full color photographs and 850 line drawings show handsome idea-laden interiors. There`s a full-color catalogue of more than 350 plant species from ferns to cacti and practical advice on feeding, watering, potting, dealing with pests and disease.
”In An Irish Garden,” edited by Sybil Connolly and Helen Dillon
(Harmony Books, $40).
A visual tour of 27 of Ireland`s finest gardens. A few are historic sites that have been developed for decades and have plant collections of international importance. Though the book has a formal tone, many of the others are humble, private gardens, the personal pride and joy of skillful amateurs. Connolly is an internationally famous fashion and furnishings designer. Her watercolor paintings of botanical subjects have been translated into fabrics for Brunschwig & Fils and into china and enamel boxes for Tiffany`s. Dillon is acknowledged as one of Ireland`s great gardeners. Photographs are in color and black-and-white. A gift for those who love both travel and beautiful gardens.
”The Whole Christmas Catalog,” compiled by Meg Crager and Margaret Grace (HP Books, $12.95).
A wonderful idea book, with many fun suggestions on how to help you experience the holiday at its best. Everthing from food, parties and decorations to activities is covered. There are stories and poems that can be read aloud to children, pictures of different kinds of undecorated pines and spruces, plus ideas for the finished kind, novel gift ideas, advice on wrapping, sending and even returning gifts.
”Great Glass in American Architecture,” by H. Weber Wilson (Dutton, $24.95).
A sparkling look at America`s architectural treasury of decorative windows wherever they might be, from churches to White Castle restaurants. Stained, leaded, etched, textured, colored, pressed, faceted, beveled and wheel-cut glass is brought to life in this book through 102 color plates and 70 black-and-white illustrations.
”Mary Rogers on Pottery and Porcelain, a handbuilder`s approach,” by Mary Rogers (Chilton Book Co., $19.95).
The author is one of the world`s leading craftswomen, creator of hand-built pottery (made through the process of pinching and coiling). Her book celebrates porcelain as a creative medium for ceramic artists. It offers a wealth of information to potters who are interested in working with porcelain of this type. She describes her own working methods in detail and gives a comprehensive description of traditional African hand-making techniques. Exquisite photos, some in color, most in black-and-white.
”Vavra`s Cats,” by Robert Vavra (Morrow, $39.95).
At last . . . a cat`s soul on paper. This is one of the most original cat books ever, a photographic fantasy about felines unique in its beauty, romantic imagination and presentation by Robert Vavra, also the author of
”Equus,” about horses, and ”Unicorns I Have Known.” From lions, tigers, leopards and cheetahs to Abyssinians, Russian Blues, Siamese and Persians . . . Vavra has seduced them all with his hypnotic lens.
”The Imperial Horse, the Saga of the Lipizzaners,” by Hans-Heinrich Isenbart and Emil M. Buhrer (Knopf, $40).
A salute in words and pictures to a centuries-old breed of horse, the Lipizzaner, the breed that seems to embody the magnificent baroque culture of the past. The Lipizzan is known to most Americans as the accomplished performer of the demanding movements of dressage at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. A Disney movie told how the breed survived World War II, saved by U.S. Gen. George Patton during a crisis. The saga dates back 400 years to Spain and Arabia. Here are all the studs, from the original at Lipizza in what is now Yugoslavia, to the leading American stud at Tempel Farms near Chicago today, described in detail and illustrated with antique prints, paintings and more than 300 wonderful photographs.
”Twentieth Century Wildlife Artists,” by Nicholas Hammond (Overlook Press, $50).
A magnificent book, lavishly illustrated and carefully researched. Divided in two parts, it first offers a detailed history of this century`s wildlife art, charting the progress of style and theme. This is followed by an exploration of the lives and work of more than 40 of the world`s foremost artists, chosen to exemplify wildlife art of the 20th Century at its very best. It ranges from the work of artists painting in the early years of this century to those of the present day and presents a varied and unique selection of paintings of unparalleled beauty. Included are the works of Roger Tory Peterson, Robert Bateman, Archibald Thorburn, Lars Jonsson, Louis Agassiz Fuertes and Bruno Liljefors, to name but a few.
”The International Design Yearbook,” edited by Emilio Ambasz (Abbeville Press, $49.95). A stunning collection in full color of the year`s best designs in furniture, lighting and household objects. Ambasz, an architect-designer who has served as curator of design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, picked objects that will shock, startle and demand recognition. There are pieces here by the Memphis group, Mario Botta and Philippe Starck. Impossible to ignore: the semicircle of seven green chairs with their front legs splayed, crossed and jutting comfortably out, like humans at a conference.
”The Oxford Companion to Gardens,” by Geoffrey & Susan Jellicoe, Patrick Goode and Michael Lancaster (Oxford University Press, $49.95). Too heavy to pack in a suitcase; too richly detailed to leave behind. More than 700 gardens around the world are described, illustrated and photographed herein with more than 1,500 entries, covering Islamic gardens, Polish gardens, Danish gardens and the meaning of qu qiao (a flat, stone, zigzag bridge found in Chinese gardens) and quincunx (an arrangement of trees by fives in English gardens). Or consider the Ford Foundation in New York, which planted a jungle in its lobby, and the marsh gas that killed scores of the workmen who excavated an artificial lake for the gardens of Versailles. The book is encyclopedic, but promises good armchair traveling for those who like planting, or visiting, gardens.