The Art of Pin-up

For those unfamiliar with Taschen LLC, they are one of the best companies in the world in regards to producing art books. Their limited editions are some of the nicest limited editions ever produced, and also some of the most expensive. Just to give you an idea of just how seriously this company takes art books, I will include pictures in this review of their Helmut Newton: Sumo book, which they claim is the largest and most expensive art book produced in the 20th century. It measures 20 x 27.5 inches and weighs in at roughly 66 pounds. The book contains 464 pages and broke all previous records for art books. It even came with a metal stand to actually hold the book with Helmut Newton engraved on the front. The cost of this book? $10,000. Sounds pretty crazy huh. Well, the edition size was 10,000 copies with 250 artist proofs and they sold out relatively quickly. There are a lot of very serious art book collectors in the world with very deep pockets and this is one of the companies out there that caters that those collectors. Thier average limited edition usually runs in the $2500 to $7500 range. And most of them sell extremely well. Of course, if that was all Taschen produced then I would never have purchased a book from them. I consider myself a serious art book collector, but I am not rich so a serious art book purchase for me runs in the $100-$300 range, not $2500-$7500+ range. And the great thing about Taschen is they produce books at all price levels. Some of their art books are as cheap as $30-$35. Personally, my favorite books from Taschen are their XL and XXL series, which basically stand for extra large and extra extra large. Many of their XL books can be purchased in the $50-$100 range and many of their XXL books can be purchased in the $100 to $200 range, tho their XXL series does have books that cost well into the thousands. The problem with Taschen is once you buy them....well, they can be very addicting as they make most other art books look very small and weak by comparison. In the last year I have purchased the following books from Taschen: *Gisele Bundchen (XL) *Peter Lindbergh: A Different Vision on Fashion (XL) *Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS (XL) *Helmut Newton: SUMO (XL) (regular non limited edition version) *Andy Warhol: Polaroids (XL) *75 Years of Marvel Comics. From Golden Age to the Silver Screen (XXL) *The Art of Pin-up (XXL) *75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Myth-making (XL) (Pre-order) I reviewed the Gisele Bundchen (XL) book a couple months back, but I should have written reviews for all of the other ones as well as every one of those books is absolutely brilliant in every regard. As for Taschen's XXL series, I don't think most people who wind up buying one of these books quite know what to expect until they see one in person. They are absolute monsters. Even calling them art books is like a disservice to them since they are so head and shoulders above 99% of the other art books on the market. A Massive tome of beautiful art is a much better representation of what your getting and the Art of Pin-up is a Taschen XXL book. Its just massive and weighs in at roughly 15 pounds. Seeing your first Taschen XXL book is really quite a shock. Even with me sitting here telling you how massive they are, you will still be in shock when you actually see one and hold one in your hands for the first time. Sometimes words are just inadequate at properly describing something and that is definitely the case when describing Tashen's XXL series. Again, massive tome's of beautiful art is a much better representation of what your getting. As for the Art of Pin-Up, it is without question one of my favorite Taschen art books to date and is without question the single nicest book on Pin-up art ever created. The book basically has 10 chapters dedicated to 10 of the best pin-up artists of all time and then they cover an additional 85 artists in following chapters. And the quality of the book is just breathtaking and I don't mean just in regards to the quality of the cover, the quality of the paper, the quality of the binding etc. The pictures are absolutely stunning as many of them were produced from the actual original paintings. So you can see brush strokes and the painting styles of a lot of the artists. For much of the artwork covered in this book, the pictures are the highest quality pictures every created for the artwork or released in book form. I know the price of Taschen XXL books can seen daunting as most people are not used to spending $100-$200 on books, but once you actually realize exactly what your getting....well, not only does the price make total sense, but you will likely think you got a killer deal paying only what you did. The Art of Pin-Up isn't just the single nicest book ever created for Pin-up art, its one of the nicest at books ever created anywhere near this price range. It will become a true centerpiece to your art book collection. Just don't expect this to fit on any book shelves, at least not standing up vertically. Taschen XXL books really need to be stored flat if you want to keep it in perfect condition. I wrap my Taschen XXL books in an archival cloth and store them in an antique steamer trunk I had restored, along with a couple pelican silica gel containers to keep the humidity at proper levels. Bottom line - Taschen XL and XXL book are some of the nicest quality art books being made today. In particular, their XXL line is just a whole different level of art book collecting as most people have never even seen books this big, or this beautiful. The Art of Pin-Up is really a perfect example of the XXL Line. Its just absolutely breathtaking in every possible manner. Personally, I can't possibly give these books, or Taschen in general, a higher recommendation. Taschen is a company whose sole goal is creating beautiful art books. They create them for the serious collectors that can spend thousands to tens of thousands of dollars on individual books and they create them for your basic art book buyer who only spends $30-$35, and they also create them for just about every level of collector in-between. But be forwarded, there is really no turning back once you start down this road as Taschen XL and XXL books will literally redefine what a quality art book really is for most people and I guarantee you most will want to buy more, and very likely will. I openly admit, I am addicted to Taschen's XL and XXL books as I'm a professional photographer and have been a passionate art book collector for well over 12+ years now. The more Taschen books I buy, the more I want to buy. And if you have any interest in pin-up art at all, The Art of Pin-up should be the vert first TAschen XXL book you buy. It truly is the epitome of a beautiful art book and worth every last cent you spend, even if you wind up paying the full MSRP. 5 Stars all the way!!!

Holy cow, this book is literally a behemoth! At 16 pounds and nearly 20 inches tall by 14 inches across, this is a coffee-table book if ever there was one, and a sturdy coffee table, too. In fact, in its dimensions, it can remind one of those gigantic dictionaries or atlases that one generally finds only at public libraries. You can't just put this on your bookshelves, nor would you probably want to; the design is extraordinarily attractive and the book comes with its own carrying case. The huge size of this book means, moreover, that the full-page illustrations, plus several fold-out pages, are reproduced in full size - or even sometimes bigger than original size - and the details come out gorgeously. Even in a figure as "niche" as vintage pin-up art, there's just too much to reasonably cover in a single volume and if Dian Hanson and her co-authors Louis K. Meisel (a well-known authority on pin-up art and the co-author of one of the standard works in the field, "The Great American Pin-Up") and Sarahjane Blum (co-owner of an art gallery in Minneapolis devoted to American popular art) had attempted to do that, they'd have had to crank out at least two more volumes of the same dimensions as this. So they chose to focus on ten artists whom they identify as the most notable ones in the field, such as Armstrong, Elvgren, Frahm, Medcalf, Mozert, Petty, and Vargas. Each artist gets a lengthy chapter to himself/herself (Zoe Mozert was not only a pin-up artist, but herself a model; her chapter includes a photograph of herself doing a nude study for one of her works - at 52, yet!) with numerous examples of their works, including many full-page illustrations and in several cases, as mentioned above, multi-page pull-outs. There's also a lengthy essay at the start on the history of the genre, and a brief but fairly comprehensive survey of many of the other better- (and lesser-) known pin-up artists at the end, also well-illustrated. The text, as is standard with Taschen's books, is trilingual, in English, French and German. As another reviewer remarked, this isn't a book for the casual browser, but for the dedicated aficionado of the artform - but that aficionado will be richly rewarded for adding this magnificent tome to their library. Finally, the reviewer who advised people to buy right away is correct. Amazon sells the book at a substantial discount, but the price can change literally from day to day based on availability.

Gracias a este libro nos adentramos en un tiempo histórico: el de la ilustración popular, los calendarios de chicas pizpiretas, la idealización del cuerpo femenino, anatema de una parte del feminismo posterior. Pero aquí no estamos ante Hugh Hefner y la explotación sexual, cultural y laboral de la mujer como “conejita” al servicio del hombre. El libro recoge el trabajo de ilustradores como Elvgren, Vargas, Driben…, su admirable perfección técnica al servicio de la cultura americana de mediados del pasado siglo, coetáneos de Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, etc. Una mirada divertida y colorista al tiempo feliz del final de la Guerra Mundial y el inicio de la actual sociedad de consumo. Si tienes pelas, hazte con la edición gigante con ilustraciones esplendorosas, su cinta de lectura roja, su peso y dimensiones imponentes, que heredarán tus nietos con alegría y curiosidad por un tiempo desaparecido que no volverá. Si no quieres dejar nada en esta tierra, vete a la edición de 50€ o menos, más manejable, que alegrará tu dormitorio más que un póster del Guernica.

Descrições do produto e informações sobre ele ser lindo já tem várias kk aqui pra falar mais sobre o valor, a importação e a versão. Esse modelo é a versão grande, não tive taxação, veio tranquilo dos eua, e vale muito a pena.

Excelente libro, a gran precio. Imágenes de verdad dignas de admirar en un gran formato.

Libro ENORME, pieno di immagini e informazioni. È piaciuto molto come regalo.

Ich bin mit dem Artikel sehr zufrieden - sehr gute Pin-Up Art.