Best Selling Books by Royal Ontario Museum

A pictorial survey of its collections, with a brief historical introduction and commentary. Includes reproductions of sculpture, paintings, textiles, ivories, silver, jewelry, etc.

"To understand the history of decorative arts and design it is necessary to study the ways in which designs are created and transmitted. Documenting Design seeks to show how prints and drawings can demonstrate numerous aspects of the role of works on paper in the history of design." "From early in the history of printmaking, prints were used to communicate designs both for specific objects and for ornamental patterns that could be applied to different kinds of objects, including architectural elements. A special category is the pattern- or model-book, intended to promote a particular style or approach to the design of furniture or decoration." "Printed ornament sheets may also be self-contained works of art, unsuited to direct application to objects. Here, printed ornament becomes simply a genre of fine art, like landscape and portraiture, for example. This was especially so during the Rococo era." "Countless buildings, rooms, objects, and decorative schemes - some of them famous in their day - no longer exist. Important design "events" such as festivities and ceremonies have often comprised great quantities of ephemeral architecture, decoration, and decorated objects. Such products of design can often only be studied in the prints and drawings that record their existence." "Unlike prints, drawings can document and therefore present a unique insight into the process by which a designer develops and finalizes an idea. Drawings can also demonstrate the collaborative nature of the decorative arts: designers and makers were (and are) rarely identical." "Many drawings have survived because they were contract drawings, meant to be shown to a potential customer or patron, and kept as a record of a transaction. Designs for metalwork were frequently drawn at full scale, both for maximum clarity and in order to create a vivid impression of the amounts of precious metal required." "Since the 15th century, prints have been designed to be used as objects themselves, either in conjunction with other objects or as devices of communication. The variety of such works is vast; Documenting Design includes a theatre program, a menu design, and posters, among other types. Products of graphic design are often collected as documents of stylistic movements. Examples as various as Japonisme (late 19th century) and Psychedelic (1960s) are included." "From Heinrich Aldegrever''s jewel-like engraving Two Spoons and a Hunting Whistle of 1539 to Neo-Op Psychedelic Revival handbills of 1988, Documenting Design illuminates the importance of prints and drawings as documents of design history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This catalogue discusses Etruscan pottery in non-Greek and non-Roman styles with a particular focus on a large collection of impasto vessels of 8th- to 6th-century BC from Chiusi. The author proposes some new dating methodology and there are catalogue descriptions, good photos and profile drawings of the pieces.

Greek, Roman and Related Metalware in the Royal Ontario Museum Aby John W Hayes Metal vessels, lamps, containers and furniture fittings dating from 8th C BC to 6th C AD Egypt and the Mediterranean are catalogued in this well-illustrated volume.

While Black-Figure and Red-Figure vases appear in the CVA volumes, this catalogue presents 326 examples of other Greek painted traditions, ranging from the Aegean Bronze Age to the 1st century BC. The types range from regular shapes (hydria, kraters, aryballoi and so on) to some truly weird vases in the shapes of legs and helmeted heads. Extensive descriptions and crisp photos.

Founded by Marius Barbeau, the pioneer of French-Canadian decorative arts recognition, the Royal Ontario Museum''s is the most significant collection of early French-Canadian furniture outside Quebec. Armoires, cradles, chairs, tables, desks, commodes, buffets, cupboards, chests, and room paneling are included. The furniture of New France reflected the styles and traditions of the earliest settlers'' ancestral homes, Brittany and Normandy especially. Later British and American influences were most pronounced in urban centres. In rural towns and villages, French artisanship continued to the mid-19th century. By 1900, the tradition had been supplanted by the mass-produced furniture of mechanised factories. Rococo to Rustique looks at 200 years of French-Canadian furniture and surveys the social and historical context in which the furniture was produced, illustrated in part through watercolours from the museum''s celebrated collection of Canadian heritage art.

The Bernard & Sylvia Ostry Collection has helped to establish the Royal Ontario Museum Toronto as the most significant repository of early 20th century decorative arts in Canada and one of the premier institutions in this area of collecting in North Ameri