Customer Reviews

A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry (Schiffer Design Books)

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Interested in American bronze sculpture? Well, look elsewhere. This book will only serve to frustrate collectors, dealers, scholars with a serious interest in a field which has only recently received serious attention. The book starts off well enough with a brief, though undocumented, history of this important American bronze foundry. However, the bulk of the book is devoted to a picture album of sculptures supposedly produced by the firm by about one hundred sculptors. Each sculptor is given a brief biographical summary accompanied by a page or two of reproductions. That would be useful but, in typical Schiffer indifference to reproduction quality, the photos are often grainy and/or blurry. Furthermore, not one piece is identified with its dimensions. In fact, you will find no useful documentation of the pieces exhibited. There is not one foundry mark used by Roman Bronze Works reproduced in this book. This is a fatal flaw since collectors are hungry for such information to identify and authenticate works. There is a need for serious scholarship on American bronze foundries, but unfortunately this book does not fill the bill.

I am a collector of Bronzes and have one nice bronze by the Roman Bronze Work Foundry dating from 1910. I found this book an interesting read but it is not a comprehensive listing of all the Bronzes coming out of the Foundry. Still, a good addition to my Art and Art history library. Recommended for the beautiful color illustrations.