Customer Reviews

Masters of Western Art

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This is an older publication, and the color illustrations have faded with time as you would expect. But the artists in the book have shared their thought and creative processes with the reader, so that valuable lessons can be learned by up-and-coming artists who want to know more about how famous artists created their work. The book is interesting, instructive, and useful. I bought a used copy. I would not have paid the price to buy this book new at full retail price, but the used price was very reasonable and therefore worth it.

Normally I am not attracted to art books, but this one caught my eye at a library book sale because of its stunning cover, a painting depicting Native Americans preparing a young man for what might be a war party or vision quest.

Inside are profiles of twelve western artists -- western as in modern Charles M. Russell/Frederick Remington. The author knows these artists and their work, and they allowed her to study, photograph, and describe their methods.

These are very fine artists, and their art is right up my alley. It's the kind of art I like to see, where I can recognize country if I know it, flowers and plants if I know them, and animals that I know. I've always loved this kind of art and deeply respect the skill and talent that goes into it, having none of my own.

A profile takes the form of an in depth write-up of both the artist and his or her methods, and photographs of representative examples in each stage of creation. The end result follows, showing what the artist was after.

Anyone who appreciates western art, or any art for that matter, would find this book revealing. It shows in detail how each stage of creation is an entity unto itself, each requiring talent that only a blessed few possess. If nothing else, you'll come away with an appreciation of artistic talent.

The Legendary Artists of Taos is expanded from the `Pages of American Artist' by Mary Carroll Nelson. It provides brief biographies of the artists of the Taos Art Colony along with examples of their work. The biographies, despite being relatively short pack plenty of information about the artists' work and their lives, and manage to convey something of the character of each.

The artists included, of the founding pioneers: Joseph Henry Sharp, Bert Phillips, Ernest Blumenschein, Oscar Berninghaus, E. Irving Couse, Herbert Duton, Victor Higgins, Walter Ufer, E. Martin Hennings, Catherine Carter Critcher. Also included are other artists that came later to Taos: Leon Gaspard, Andrew Dasburg, Howard Cook, Barbara Latham, John Ward Lockwood, Cady Wells, Helen Blumenschein, Ida McAdee, Gene Floss, Regina Cook, John Young Hunter, Nicolai Fechin, Dorthy Brett, Emil Bistram; and very briefly Robert Henri, Marsden Hartley and John Marin. The book includes a bibliography and an index.

This large format book, 12.25" x 9.25" (31cm x 23.5cm) 175 pages, is illustrated throughout with about 95 colour 115 black and white illustrations, some of the latter including period photographs of the artists and of Taos. Many of the pictures are full page in size. The quality of the colour images is very good, but the monochrome images suffer with dense areas of black, typical of some printing of the 1970s.

I just got my copy of this book. It's been twenty years coming too. Recently, thinking of my old art teacher from college days, I decided to put up a webpage in memoriam.

The book, well, I've only read the pages directly relating to Stephen Naegle. It told me what happened with him and his family since I knew them in the early seventies. Stephen was a master watercolor painter. The book chronicles the last few decades of his life.

Thanks to Mary Carrol Nelson for compiling and writing this book. It blessed me to catch up with my old friend and teacher.

Anyone may view my effort to describe this great individual, Stephen Naegle, American Watercolor Painter, 1939-1981 on this website: (apparently the website link was removed).

Just use a search engine and search on these parameters and you will find the site where "In Memoriam" I talk about my old art teacher: Stephen Naegle, American Watercolor Painter, 1939-1981, thanks