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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensive and colorful, June 28, 2001
This review is from: Pop Art (Big Series Art) (Hardcover)
First, an admission: I judge books about pop art mainly by the pictures. And by that measure, this book offers one of the broadest and most pleasing collection of pop art pieces to be found between two covers. The large 9-1/2" x 12" format allows for excellent reproduction of the art with ample detail. The vast majority of the photos are in color, and the few that aren't don't suffer greatly for it. But even though I'm a pictures-first kind of guy, the supporting text has to be informational and relevant. Again, by this measure, this book delivers. The text by Osterwold is lucid and perceptive, without being overly-academic (which is the downfall of many a pop art book). The translation from German was done expertly, for it reads well in English without any obvious awkwardness in style. Prior to this book, the best overall historical discussion of the subject was found in Lucy Lippard's _Pop Art_ (also available on Amazon), first published in the early 70s and reprinted in 1985. That book remains a worthy addition to any pop art aficionado's library, but if you're only looking for one book as a general treatment of the subject, Osterwold's is the one to get.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Coffee Table Book Masquerading as a Work of Academia, October 12, 2009
While the works of art reproduced in this book are numerous and colorful, the accompanying text is not very useful for anybody looking for an actual resource on the subject of pop-art. Sure, the book reads like a historical account and a scholarly analysis of the genre, but after about 20 or 30 pages it becomes clear that the typo-ridden text is moving in circles, finding new ways to repeat the same arguments page after page. Many of the artworks printed in the book are never discussed in the text, and several of the works discussed in the text are not pictured in the book. Buy this if you're looking for a coffee table book, not if you're trying to do research.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great collection with a few minor flaws, December 23, 2007
Yet another great addition to the Taschen 25th Anniversary series. As one would expect, there are many beautifully reproduced works representing some of the finest works of the pop art era. Most of the chapters cover a certain theme (e.g. Media and Art, Origins of Pop Art), while four or five chapters at the end concentrate on specific artists. You get some good commentary on Warhol, Hamilton, Lichtenstein, and a couple others. Finally, the book includes a biographical dictionary of some of the most important pop art figures.
I have two criticisms. First, the book feels slightly wordy. I'm no stranger to academic and scholarly writing, and I can usually tell when someone is posturing. The content is fine, but the style is excessive. When you start seeing "objectivize" where "objective" would perfectly suffice, you know something is up. It's not a huge criticism, but it keeps the text from reading as well as it could.
The second criticism deals with the synchronization of image and text. When you're reading, you are often required to flip forwards or backwards up to three or four pages to find the work under discussion. In a book where the text so clearly aligns with the images, this is an announce.
However, this probably isn't the larger point. I'd recommend buying it for the wonderful reproductions alone. There are certainly better books on pop art - the text isn't anything profound - but there aren't many available for this price. High-quality reproductions along with some helpful commentary make for an excellent book.
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