Customer Reviews

Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells

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The photos of the book are breathtaking and the book gives a good overview of Celtic art spanning the Celtic period. However the reader should bear in mind that the book is not comprehensive. Books available in German such as the Praehistorische Bronzefunde series give one a glimpse as to how wildly creative the Celts were especially in all of the art in general of Hallstatt period and of the variety of of styles found on fibula in the La Tene period. I highly recommend one with a serious interest in Celtic art to continue to search for more source material in addition to this book. However if one were to own one book as an overview of Celtic art I would recommend this book as one of the books to have.

As a Celtic artist I'm always on the search for books speficially on Celtic art, not just the Celtic people in general. This book by the Megaw's is the best I've found yet, giving lots of impartial information without romantic colorings about 'mystical meanings' and such. Just a great overview of how the art style is thought to have evolved, how it changes throught history, and lots of great photos. And a word on the photos of artifacts... many of these photos are 'new', in the sense that they're not the same ten images you see in every other book about the Celts. New photos of new artifacts not often shared with in publications. Great for Celtic artists who enjoy checking out ancient artifacts to use as source material and to track the evolution of its design and patterns!

I enjoy this book a great deal because it includes history, art, timelines, and discoveries in the Celtic civilization. There are several maps that describe the Evolution of the Celtic Empire and its power before the rise of the Roman Empire. It talks about the beauty of the iron work that the Celtics created and the complicated knotwork designs that are very popular in Scotland and Ireland today. This book will give you a great overview of the Celtic Culture, I greatly recommend it!

This is an amazing book in breadth and depth. Nearly 300 pages of photos and analysis. And while it is not comprehensive, it is worth getting. The authors point out the social function of the ornaments went beyond modern concepts of art. and these provide an often undecyphered look into Celtic religion and so forth. The limitations of such inquiries are well discussed and the book does not venture into controversial territory.

On the whole this book is very good at demonstrating both continuities and discontinuities in Celtic art across space and time. It's well worth reading. Highly recommended.