BOOKS, Page 88Tidings of Color and JoyAn orchid at the Arctic Circle? A chair carved like a sunflower?A teapot shaped like a bellhop? These beauties to behold can bea gift to give
Chagall: The Russian Years, 1907-1922 by Aleksandr Kamensky
(Rizzoli; $100). Like the figures in his paintings, Marc Chagall
(1887-1985) floated over formal artistic boundaries. This book
tracks his flight from the Russian village that gave him his themes
and folk style to St. Petersburg and beyond, where he reflected his
past in modernism's bright palette and broken planes.
Fantasy Furniture by Bruce M. Newman (Rizzoli; $50). A
mythological mahogany bird to cradle an infant in 19th century
Russia; jolly Black Forest bears to serve as chair-backs; gilded
Venetian settees with shell motifs to turn salons into grottoes:
thus did the dreams of burghers and kings like Bavaria's mad Ludwig
II make chimeras real.
The World Wildlife Fund Book of Orchids by Jack Kramer
(Abbeville; $65). Bursts of magenta, delicate pastel-tinged whites,
a green so dark it is nearly black. Blossoms fluted or fringed,
mottled or striped, on plants 30 ft. tall or pendulous stems
dripping with 30 flowers. Dazzling in its diversity, the orchid
boasts some 35,000 wild species, found as far north as the Arctic
Circle.
The Art of Florence by Glenn Andres, John M. Hunisak and A.
Richard Turner (Abbeville; $385). The cradle of the Renaissance in
glorious color and reverential grandeur -- and at more than 25 lbs.
the lap breaker of the season. There are no crowds of tourists to
block the view and no shadowy churches to obscure it.
Bonnettstown: A House in Ireland by Andrew Bush (Abrams;
$37.50). Built near Kilkenny in 1737, this limestone manor house
is revealed in 45 magnificent color photographs. The rooms display
the cluttered charm that only two centuries of daily use can bring.
Bush revels in textures: flaking plaster, rubbed wood, well-worn
carpets. This book celebrates old but ageless beauty.
The Eccentric Teapot by Garth Clark (Abbeville; $29.95). Why
pour your oolong from a plain pot when you can pour it out of
Brooke Shields' head? Whether they are teapots for art's sake or
art for the sake of taking tea, ceramics critic Clark has cataloged
the fun. The Kentucky Fried Teapot has the head of Colonel Sanders
and the body of a plucked chicken.
Blinds & Shutters by Michael Cooper (Genesis/Hedley; $595).
Wherever the artists or arrivistes made the scene in 1960s London,
Cooper was there, camera in hand. For those craving a (costly)
glimpse of the time when the Beatles and the Stones ruled the realm
-- "For a few years then we were just flying," recalls one of the
bit players -- comes this collection of 600 works by their court
photographer.
Lick 'Em, Stick 'Em by H. Thomas Steele (Abbeville; $19.95).
Once upon an envelope (circa 1900 to 1930), posters were reduced
to the size of postage stamps. Some were tiny comedies -- a giraffe
advertising neckwear, a pig promoting lard -- others dazzling
designs by Egon Schiele and Rockwell Kent. They became, says the
lively text, "the common man's art gallery," and this homage
deserves the same stamp.
Daily Life in the Forbidden City by Wan Yi, Wang Shuqing and
Lu Yanzhen (Viking; $75). As the Son of Heaven moved through his
palaces, the Hall of Luminous Benevolence, the Gate of Divine
Prowess, there was everywhere beauty to behold. The Palace Museum
in Beijing has assembled a sumptuous record of this quotidian
splendor.
Greek Revival America by Roger G. Kennedy (Stewart, Tabori &
Chang; $85). Its title may suggest the morning after a fraternity
party, but this dignified volume, by the director of the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, is about the
19th century architectural style whose graceful masses and columns
(as at the White House) have become synonymous with national
purpose and cohesion.
The Spirit of Folk Art by Henry Glassie (Abrams; $60). Indian
brass horses share space with a New Mexican creche; an Irish
dresser stands near an African apron; shadow puppets of China and
Indonesia exchange greetings. Toys, dolls, samplers and flags show
a striking similarity of expression and attention to detail. The
Family of Man has never seemed smaller.
Shoes: Fashion and Fantasy by Colin McDowell (Rizzoli; $50).
This lavish compendium is a fetishist's playground. The author,
well versed in historical trivia and pop psychology, makes his
breezy way from Cleopatra's sandals to Elvis' blue suedes to
Oldenburg's Giant Gym Shoes. The trip will tickle your feet: "Hey
