Color Studies by Edith Anderson Feisner - NEW 3rd Edition

A NEW 3rd Edition of Color Studies by Edith Anderson Feisner and Ron Reed has just been published in the USA (21 August 2013).

It should be available in the UK in either September or November depending on which reference source you read.

It's even worth buying just as an investment! Without even having seen it, the value at which the 2nd edition (which I own) now trades for on the Internet suggests that this 3rd edition should be snapped up immediately by all artists who like owning very good books about colour.

This is the book I always used to recommend to people wanting a complete overview of Colour as a topic for artists prior to the publication of Colour and Light by James Gurney.

I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't continue to recommend it very highly since it will be the old contents - with new chapters.  Feisner takes a different approach to Gurney and also has content not found in Colour and Light

Here's the Table of Contents of the NEW 3rd Edition

Table Of Contents

Part I: Color Foundations

Chapter 1: What is Color?
Chapter 2: Color Systems and Color Wheels
Chapter 3: Color Theorists
Chapter 4: Coloring Agents
Chapter 5: Digital Color Media and Technology

Part II Dimensions of Color
Chapter 6: The Dimension of Hue
Chapter 7: The Dimension of Value
Chapter 8: The Dimension of Intensity
Chapter 9: The Dimension of Temperature

Part III: Color in Compositions
Chapter 10: Color and the Principles of Design
Chapter 11: Color and Elements of Design
Chapter 12: Color Interactions
Chapter 13: Color and the Effects of Illumination

Part IV: The Influence of Color
Chapter 14: Color Symbolism
Chapter 15: Putting Color to Use— Past, Present, and Future

Appendices | Glossary | Bibliography

Bloomsbury Books in the UK indicate that the new content is as follows

Feisner and Reed provide an up-to-date discussion of sustainable color applications and green materials as the underlying component of colorants, dyes, and inks in textiles, printmaking and paints. A new chapter on color and digital technology discusses illuminating with color (LED), color tools and management (Pantone), as well as color consulting and marketing.

This is what I had to say about the second edition back in 2008 (on Making A Mark - in Learning about Colour - Art Book Reviews for Artists #1)

This is the most comprehensive book about colour that I've come across to date. It's accessible but I think it likely that it would be of most interest to colour nerds (like me)! Preview this book and the full contents guide on Google Books. This is what it provides:

• explanation of the five main colour wheels and their application
• a historical account of colour theory plus a chronological list of colour theorists (unique?)
• a historical account of pigments and their use in fine and applied art plus a list of historical colour palettes linked to current colour code.
• analysis of the four dimensions of colour - hue, value intensity and temperature
• colour in composition - in relation to the principles and elements of design
• colour symbolism - including colour symbols in religion
• a thorough glossary of colour terms

Intervaled scale: A color scale that forms a smooth equal visual transition from one component of the scale to the next
Glossary - Colour by Edith Anderson Feisner

• over 75 colour charts
• over 100 works by students and well known artists
• coloring agents:
• dry binders
• liquid binders
• pigment origins and characteristics of common colours
• hue - various art media (eg Liquitex Acrylic Paints) matched to colour-aid paper pure hues
• color legibility rankings (background colors and lettering/line colors) Did you know that the most legible background colour is yellow?
• a very comprehensive bibliography

Details of the 3rd edition (UK)

Details are provided by Bloomsbury Books in the UK. It's being published as a Design Book.

 

Published:	21-11-2013
Format:	Paperback
Edition:	3rd
Extent	256
ISBN:	9781609015312
Imprint:	Fairchild Books
Illustrations:	355 illustrations
Dimensions:	280 x 215 mm
RRP:	£54.99
Online price:	£49.49

Authors

The book seems to have acquired a new author for the 3rd edition.  It may be Ron reed who has provided the new material in this 3rd edition. The two authors are

• Edith Anderson Feisner - a Visiting Specialist / Assistant Chair (Retired) in the School of Fine Arts at Montclair State University, USA. She has taught courses in color, design, and introduction to visual arts. She has held many positions in the Embroiderers' Guild of America including certified teacher, teacher certification board, as well as the author of the master craftsman programs in color and design. Her fine art works are in both public and private collections. 
• Ron Reed - an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for Interior Design in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas State University-San Marcos, USA. Reed served as the IDEC Southwest Regional Chair between 2011-2012.

NEW Drawing Books in 2013

2013: NEW Books About Drawing is my new website which will track:

• new drawing books in 2013
• revised editions of some well regarded existing publications
• new editions of some historical books about drawing.

Listings are on a month by month basis - as books are listed for publication (however note that its' not unusual for some of these dates to slip a month or two).

The books listed include:

• art instruction books about drawing and sketching - designed specifically for artists working in drawing media and those keeping sketchbooks / journals.
• academic books about drawing
• catalogues for exhibitions about drawings

I don't include every book published and to be frank my aim is to try and identify quality publications rather than more "same as same as" books and those which I regard as dumbed down.

Perspective and Urban Drawing and Sketching

To be published by Wiley
in February 2012

For those who have difficulty drawing buildings and tackling urban sketching there's some books being published by Wiley early in the New Year which might provide help.  In February, Wiley is publishing:

• the sixth edition of Basic Perspective Drawing: A Visual Approach by: John Montague
• Freehand Drawing and Discovery: Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers by: James Richards

Although their target audience is students and practising designers, architects, planners, and landscape architects, I'm sure there's bound to be content of interest for anybody who is serious about drawing buildings or anything involving perspective.  They've not got to the "see inside" stage as yet - but could be worth a bookmark for those who have an interest in these areas.

Art History

There are also a number of excellent books coming up about drawings by master draftsmen and famous painters.  Examples include:

To be published by D Giles Ltd

in January 2013

January 2013

• Durer to de Kooning: 100 Master Drawings from Munich which is the catalogue of the exhibition which is coming to the Morgan Library and Museum in New York
• Fine Lines: American Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum - this is very first survey of their renowned collection of drawings

February 2013

• Raphael: Drawings - based on the remarkable collection of Raphael's works in the collection of the Städel Museum in Frankfurt.

March 2013

• Albrecht Dürer: Master Drawings, Watercolors, and Prints from the Albertina - this feels like it ought to be connected to an exhibition but I've yet to spot one

June 2013

• Hopper Drawing (Whitney Museum of American Art) - this is an exploration of renowned painter Edward Hopper’s detailed compositional studies and figure drawings.  It also appears to be connected to exhibitions although I can't yet confirm this from the museum websites.  Here are the 'maybe' dates of the exhibition
• Whitney Museum of American Art (05/23/13–10/06/13) 
• Dallas Museum of Art (11/17/13–02/16/14)
• Walker Art Center (03/15/14-06/22/14)

To be published by YaleBooks
in June 2013

This is what Yale Books (the publisher) have to say about the book

In 1967, Hopper's widow, Josephine Nivison Hopper, bequeathed her husband's artistic estate to the Whitney Museum of American Art, including a fascinating collection of more than 2,000 drawings spanning his entire career. This group of works has never been the subject of in-depth study and many have never been reproduced before. Hopper kept these drawings for personal reference as he revisited various themes throughout his career. Carter E. Foster carefully examines how Hopper used his drawings to develop his paintings, arguing that the artist's work can only be fully understood after in-depth study of these preparatory sketches. Foster also argues that Hopper was, in many ways, a traditional draftsman who methodically developed schematic ideas into detailed studies to refine content.
YaleBooks - Hopper Drawing by Carter E. Foster 

Commentary on Drawing

There's to be a revised second edition of the well regarded Vitamin D book - although I have to say Vitamin D2 doesn't have quite the same ring! 

Vitamin D2: New Perspectives in Drawing will be published in May 2013 by Phaidon and will feature contemporary drawing by 115 artists from around the world.

More drawing instruction and Andrew Loomis

The publishers of the venerable art instructor have not finished - we have one more. Fun With A Pencil by: Andrew Loomis was first published in 1939 and is going to be republished in April 2013 by Titan Books.

More Books about Drawing

Below you can find my other websites relating to books about drawing

The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching
Do you want to learn how to draw? Not sure which book to buy? Want to find out which are the best books about drawing and sketching? SCROLL DOWN to find lin...

2012: NEW Books About Drawing
This site lists BRAND NEW books about drawing and sketching due to be published in 2012 on a month by month basis and highlights major new books which I reco...

2011: NEW Books About Drawing
Find out about new books about drawing and sketching published in 2011 - in hardback, paperback and ebook editions. Listings on a month by month basis but ar...

The Best NEW Art Books in March 2012

After a month off last month (due to the Pinterest debacle) I'm back to highlighting new art books.  In putting my revised listing for March together (see end) I came to a couple of conclusions, namely:

• The good thing about 2012 will be that it will go down as the year when self-publishing really took off.
• The bad thing about 2012 will be that it will go down as the year when self-publishing really took off.

In other words, anyone can now publish a book - and anyone is.

As a result, there's a lot of new art books out there:

• There's some art books which we can now read which previously would never have been published
• however an Amazon listing is no longer any sort of indicator that the book is any good.  The filter which the publishers used to exercise has now effectively been removed.
• Amazon also doesn't appear to think it necessary to exclude books of an "adult" nature from its listings - and I don't mean "artistic nudes" - I mean graphic top shelf content.

CP Treasures - edited by Ann Kullberg
published 9th March 2012

All told, it's beginning to feel more and more as if I'm wading through treacle due to the amount of dross which is being produced.  However in amongst the dross are some gems!

Some of the books being produced independently look set to do well

• The Art of Urban Sketchers which was published on 1st February sold out straight away and went straight to reprint. It looks set to stay at the top of the charts for quite a while.
• Ann Kullberg has written and published a new book CP Treasures: Colored Pencil Masterworks from Around the Globe (Volume 1).  To my mind this reinvents the "Best of Coloured Pencil" books which have been so very popular in the past with coloured pencil artists and yet no publisher would continue the series.
• There are books which look like they might be little gems on niche topics - like one on silverpoint drawing.  Now there's a topic which would never have got a book deal with a major publisher and it's great that the advent of digital books enable us to learn more about niche interests and techniques.

Obviously since I'm highlighting new books, I've not seen them all.  Consequently I do recommend you look very carefully at the reviews rather than taking star ratings at face value.  Do also bear in mind that there's an awful lot of people with not much experience handing out five star ratings to books which are not very good.

I'm also NOT highlighting books which

• I don't rate.  For example, I've never seen a drawing book by Barrington Barber which I would ever consider buying.  
• Or can't rate - there's a lot of new books which don't have an "inside view" and the author has no track record

So here is a link to The Best NEW Art Books in March 2012

Let me know what you think about this month's list.

Art Bookshop Review: Thomas Heneage Art Books

Lots of excellent art history books
all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is a review of a shop selling art history books. It's also a shop which I shall definitely be going back to. Yesterday I visited Thomas Heneage Art Books and walked away with two excellent books - one a Tate Publishing catalogue of the 1998 retrospective exhibition of John Singer Sargent at the Tate Gallery and a 1984 book providing an overview of Pastels and pastel artists from the 16th to the 20th century by Genevieve Monnier.

Name of Art Bookshop: Thomas Heneage Art Books

Address: 2 Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6DJ

Website: Thomas Heneage Art Books http://www.heneage.com

Shope hours: Monday to Friday 9.30am to 6pm, otherwise by appointment (closed public holidays).

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7930 9223

Of interest to: art lovers, students of art history, gallery owners, art dealers, art exhibition visitors, art students and art teachers

Highlights: my idea of a good bookshop - three rooms with books everywhere! an excellent range of high quality art history books about various artists - published at various dates and in various languages ad hoc selection of international exhibition catalogues from past exhibitions; strong on 'landmark' exhibitions all books in excellent condition new publications focus on very specialised topics very helpful staff

Think Again? not for those seeking a cheap book - although prices are fair no art instruction books

Summary: This is the bookshop to go to if: you love art history books you're trying to track down an art history book or catalogue that you want.

Exterior of shop at 42 Duke Street

Thomas Heneage Art Books was founded in 1977. The business focuses on selling art books. We specialize in books for the art market, our core business being in catalogues raisonnés, monographs and international exhibition catalogues. It is our policy to stock the most authoritative book on any subject and in any language, irrespective of its being new or second hand.

I'm never averse to stepping over the threshold of an art bookshop. However shops in the "very posh" St Jame's area of London can be a bit intimidating. However this one is very relaxed - there are books everywhere and you sometimes have to watch your step!

This shop also has extremely friendly and very helpful staff. For example, after I asked whether I could take photographs and explained why, I was given a complete tour of the bookshop - and the coverage of topic areas within art hsitory is extensive - including I then asked about a book I've been trying to get hold of Wilfrid Blunt's The Art of Botanical Illustration and one was located in a very short space of time and I had a price for it. Reader - I was impressed!

Lucian Freud on paper'
surveys what's on offer

Most of the books are about artists and painting - however there is also a set of shelves just devoted to the history of drawing. Extensive shelving is also given over to specialised areas of antiques and artifacts and the art associated with specific countries.

This is the sort of bookshop which is a recommended visit for serious art bibilophiles, art historians, art teachers and students of art history - not to mention the art dealers - many of whom get their reference books here.

The books are authoritative and the best quality. Some are new (the type which only get published in limited numbers for not insignificant prices) but the majority are secondhand. That said they are all in good condition. Some even come with some added extras inserted by their previous owners - always a small joy to find! I opened up my Pastels Book to find an item from the Galerie Camoin on the Quai Voltaire in Paris.

If you like art history and you really like books I recommend a visit.