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41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A phantasmagoric display!, December 27, 2007
This review is from: 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form (500 Series) (Paperback)
This rugged paperback book (one of those great Lark books) is 8-inches by 8 inches and packed with color photographs of dolls. This has no doll-making instruction but is more like a huge museum exhibit that you can pore over without having to stand in line and have other people breathing down your neck while you're examining each display.
Here, each doll gets a lush, color, full-page photograph. Many dolls get a second close-up photo to reveal the tiny details. There is a three-page introduction and an index of contributing artists. The rest of the book is the photos of the 500 dolls, divided into the categories of Non-Traditional, Fantasy, Found Objects, Traditional, and Cloth.
None of these are "kid's dolls" in any sense of the word. Rather, they are artistic, folkloric, and eerie, expressing layers of meaning through both their symbolism and the sophisticated human expressions on their amazingly detailed faces. You will not believe the materials you start to recognize in these dolls: pinecones, chicken bones, scraps of cloth, beads. It's a dreamlike experience paging through this gorgeous book.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful eyecandy!, November 19, 2007
This review is from: 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form (500 Series) (Paperback)
If you love art dolls you will love this compilation. This is not an instructional book, but rather an inspirational one. It is a pictorial page-turner. I am not given to buying books that are not for reading, but in this case, since I love the art of the doll, I have to say I will cherish this book with its photos of such beautiful creations. Thank you to all the artists whose works are displayed.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If the Art Dolls end of the spectrum is your thing ..., January 18, 2008
This review is from: 500 Handmade Dolls: Modern Explorations of the Human Form (500 Series) (Paperback)
The sub-title of this book is Modern Explorations of the Human Form, which gives a better indication of the content than the actual title. In her introduction, Akira Blount, a doll-maker herself, ponders the question as to what exactly is a doll? She then briefly traces the development of "dolls" from their traditional origins as children's playthings through their branching out to include the evolution of dolls as art forms in their own right. Most of the images in the book are from 2000 onwards, giving a comprehensive overview of current trends. I could not find any indication of how the artists were selected, other than it was a juried process, so I don't know if submissions were called for from anyone, or whether the artists were selected first then asked to submit. I suspect the latter, because there is an overall standard of rigorous professionalism in the images chosen, and a merciful lack of arty-crafty whimsey (I realise that this may grate on some readers, but it is not meant as a criticism of this genre). As Blount says, the definition of the doll has certainly expanded, and the whole spectrum is here. There is much to challenge, impress, inspire and move in these avatars of the human spirit.
I have two minor quibbles. Many of the photographs could have had improvements in their shadow areas, as the detail was sometimes hard to discern on the paperstock chosen. And the arbitrary classification system baffles me; I couldn't grasp many obvious differences between the dolls in the Non-Traditional, Fantasy or Found Objects, Assemblages & Toys sections.
However, overall a serious book, well worth looking out by both collectors and practitioners.
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