Celebrating Florida: Works of Art from the Vickers Collection (Florida Sesquicentennial) [Hardcover]

GARY R. LIBBY (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Florida Sesquicentennial | Publication Date: October 11, 1996

Celebrating Florida presents for the first time a full-color collection of 66 important paintings, drawings, and prints of Florida-based art.

Featuring such artists as Winslow Homer, Louis Comfort Tiffany, George Inness, William Glackens, Martin Johnson Heade, Frank Shapleigh, and Herman Herzog, the book highlights some of the world's most significant artists, who came to Florida from 1823 to 1950 to capture the Sunshine State.

Essays by noted historians Wendell Garrett and Erik Robinson discuss the settlement of Florida and its birth as a state in 1845. Additional essays present an aesthetic, historical, social, and cultural overview of the significance of the art as well as biographical information about each artist.

Celebrating Florida is a Sesquicentennial publication, part of the celebration of 150 years of Florida statehood.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Works of art from the Vickers Collection provide a fine compilation of over sixty drawings, paintings, and prints of Florida-based art. From Homer to Tiffany, this highlights artists who came to the state from 1823 to 1950, and who captured the state's nuances in artistic works. A fine regional collection. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Florida; 1st edition (October 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813014778
• ISBN-13: 978-0813014777
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,235,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paintings in Print, January 19, 2000

By 

Gary Monroe (DeLand, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celebrating Florida: Works of Art from the Vickers Collection (Florida Sesquicentennial) (Hardcover)

This book delivers what it promises; it celebrates the labor of love that has resulted in the finest private collection of Florida art. Well produced and printed, Celebrating Florida catalogs the exhibition of the same title that the Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences had the foresight to curate. (I saw the exhibition there and was overwhelmed by the installation and the paintings.) The book's design concept, of utilizing informative essays, contextualizes the images for viewers to understand the necessities that inspired the artists while permitting the paintings to work their magic. The introductory essays set the stage for viewing period art and the interpretive entries accompanying each plate help viewers to consider the particular image. It is difficult for even a finely produced book to do justice to the exhibition that it archives, but author Gary Libby realized that the goal was not to compete with the show but instead to serve it. In deed, the book encourages dialog and a sense of personal exploration. Celebrating Florida is a first to demonstrate what many of us know, that the state really does have an artistic heritage and it opens the door for other surveys (like Mann's Art in Florida and Libby's Coast to Coast: The Contemporary Landscape in Florida). The Vickers have judicially amassed images of Florida which seep in to viewers' consciousness, defining Florida. Their passion elevates collecting to creativity. A must-have for Floridians and those interested in its past and meanings.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars celebrating florida, December 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Celebrating Florida: Works of Art from the Vickers Collection (Florida Sesquicentennial) (Hardcover)

I find that it is no more than a catalogue of a private collector's paintings with no idea or history of the art, why it was created, and what it may mean in the realm of art. It is a good collection, but not on view for the public. It is more of a personal vanity press item.