Garth ClarkRecensioni

I saw this exhibit when it was at the PEM and loved it, but didn't pick up the book then. It came up for sale when I was doing an Amazon order so I added it and am glad I did - one more gorgeous coffee (tea? :-) table book for me. Gorgeous photos, sometimes with multiple views of complicated teapots, grouped according to general categories. Some feature people or animals, some are in a particular artistic style, all are beautiful to me. :-) My only quibble is that each chapter starts with a lot of text talking about the artists in that section, then you get all the photos with small captions. I ended up paging back and forth a lot to match up descriptions to pictures.

When we got married, Nancy started collecting teapots, and I used my little influence to steer her toward more eclectic works. This book is a fascinating look at unusual works of art that happen to be teapots, and also includes some nicely-presented articles about the history of tea and its customs. There are teapots here that are beautiful, whimsical and charming, humorous and silly, abstract and -- yes, eccentric. And the crowning pleasure of the book for me is that the teapot that graces the cover, "Bellhop Teapot", is one that I got for Nancy shortly after we got married.

Lovely glossy pages of color pictures, fine history, hours of browsing, stimulating art. A must have for 20-21st cen. teapot collectors. One of my great thrift store finds!

A fascinating look into the history of an unusual art form.

This book is heavily illustrated. The chief focus is the collection of Betty Asher. The cups and related images sometimes date back as far as 550 BC., but most are from the 20th century.

Contents
Foreward................. 6
The Book of Cups........17
Acknowledgements......92
Index...........................94

From the The Book of Cups, back jacket flap (1990): "Garth Clark is the author of fourteen books and over 100 essays, catalogues and monographs on ceramic art. ... He has received numerous awards, including the Arts Critics Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (1980). He currently directs the Ceramic Arts Foundation and, together with Mark Del Vecchio, a gallery for ceramic art in New York City.

From the The Book of Cups, back jacket flap (1990): "Tony Cunha is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose work includes both commerical and art photography. He was edlucated at the Art Center College of Design in California, and his images have been published in art, architecture, and interior design magazines in the United States and Europe."

From the The Book of Cups, foreword (1990): Betty Asher has been acquiring cups from 1960. She considers the cup to be an image, not merely the conventional three-dimensional object and her collection includes postcards, refridgerator magnets, jewelry, clothing, artworks, etc. The collection focuses on 20th century pieces. Eighty-six of her cups are on permanent display at the Robert O. Anderson wing of the Los Angeles County Museum. For thirteen years, ending in 1979, she worked as the assistant to Maurice Tuchman, curator of modern art at the Museum, leaving to open the Asher/Faure Gallery in Los Angeles with Patty Faure.

Superbe livre, riche en photos et en information sur l'histoire et la fabrication des théières, avec plus de 250 théières de la collection Kramm.