Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema [Hardcover]

Russell Ash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1990

Traces the life of one of the most successful painters of the Victorian era, and shows examples of his historical paintings, most of which featured classical settings.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 92 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (March 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810918986
• ISBN-13: 978-0810918986
• Product Dimensions: 14.3 x 10.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #949,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alma-Tadema,an artist, August 7, 2001

By 

Professor Emeritus P. Bagnolo "Slugger/BIGGUY" (DOWNTOWN NYC/Chic. NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (Hardcover)

So that you willunderstand my perspective, I am a professor and a painter mostly of large scale, representational figures, so I buy anything to do with artists who specialize in the figure. In Russel Ash's book, the reproductions were large and fairly clearly reproduced. I enjoy the art of the late 19th and early twentieth century and the detailed realism of Tadema's female figures was, though academic in development, fun to see. Of that era I prefer Waterhouse and others, whose sense of color and less passive work is more powerful and deep, but if you like figure paintings especially of "Victorians in toga's" as one critic of his day describes Alma-Tadema's work, then you will love the large format reproductions. The book is lavishly adorned with semi-nude, sleepy-eyed, languid, supple, neo-classical women and a few men, all painted in the always safe, pastellish colors of the time. The women are engaged in mostly pastoral time passing non-events. "The Roses of Heliogabllus", with it's profusion of rose petals was easily the most colorfully of the reproductions, and a large composition of "Joseph Overseer..." as the most powerful of his offerings. The bio of Alma-Tadema was interesting enough to make me want to know more. If you are an art lover, a collector of large format books of painters, even the 19th cnetury academic styles, this is a good one for you

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book for the price!, March 23, 1999

By 

Lisa Whittaker ([e-mail]) (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (Hardcover)

The color plates included are of Tadema's most popular pieces. The size and brilliance of the plates in this book are beautifully presented. At this time, there isn't a better value available of this incredible artist's work.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Full Page Reproductions!, November 14, 2003

By 

"djtomato" (Thousand Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (Hardcover)

This book is filled with full page reproductions of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema's paintings. It also has an interesting bio with pictures of his home, studio, and himself. I've been looking everywhere for a great book on Alma Tadema and I believe this is the one. Besides reading about a painter's life, I think it is very important that we see color reproductions of the painter's work, and this book does it very well. I hate books with 4x4 black and white images of an artist's paintings, its useless. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book for lovers of Victorian art and Alma Tadema. I recently went to the Getty Museum and saw Alma Tadema's "Spring" and it looks exactly how it appears in the book. The full page color plates are exact reproductions of his paintings, unlike the newer book on Alma Tadema published by Phaidon whose reproductions have been altered and all appear saturated with blue hues. Anyways....GET THIS BOOK IF YOU CAN ONLY GET ONE BOOK ON ALMA TADEMA BECAUSE IT IS THE BEST!