Rick Steves Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces: Art for the Traveler by Rick Steves & Gene Openshaw

Reviewed by Jeanne

Rick Steves is probably one of the best known travel guide writers around.  Part of his popularity can be traced to his mission to help travelers enjoy the culture of foreign climes: the local foods, music, shopping, and art.  In this volume he has made a list of the 100 top works of art in Europe, including paintings, sculpture, and architecture and explains a bit about each to heighten appreciation for each piece.

The book is divided up chronologically, starting with pre-history (Lascaux cave paintings, for example) then moving through ancient Greece and Rome to the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, 19^th Century and ending with the 20^th century. The full color photos are lovely, and the text is informative but informal.  I could practically hear Steves’ narration and indeed there’s a list of video clips by Steves about individual pieces that are available on his free Classroom Europe site.  These is also a handy map at the back showing where the pieces are located, since some are not held where they were created.  For example, the Greek Elgin marbles are in London as are some of Dutch artist Van Gogh’s paintings. 

While serious art students might find the descriptions to be a bit simplistic, I found them to be interesting and insightful, sprinkled with Steves’ light humor. I feel that Steves’ goal is to heighten appreciation for the works, make people take time to appreciate what they are seeing and to have fun with it.  For the “Mona Lisa,” he gives a bit of the painting’s history and includes the fact that Leonardo was using “new-fangled” paints and mentions that the portrait is one of the few art pieces one can locate by sound because of all the people sure to be clustered around it. The chatty tone and feel of inside information is like catnip, making me want to keep reading.  That portrait of Louis XVI? It’s designed to show off the elderly king’s athletic legs, as well as show him as anointed by God to be a ruler. His sartorial choices were copied throughout Europe, from the lacy cravat to the elaborate wig to the red heels on his shoes.

On a couple of my favorite pieces I felt Steves didn’t explain enough or else blurred some of the facts but like Elsa I decided to “let it go.”  Those were picky things in an otherwise very enjoyable book.  If I ever head out on a trip to Europe, I’ll be sure to check this book to see what art I don’t want to miss.

Oversize II: Cakes, Faeries, Quilts & More!

Reviews by Kristin

Here's another assortment of some of the wonderful things to be found in our oversize book collection!

The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries by Pierre Dubois  OVERSIZE 398.21 Dub
Pierre Dubois, self-proclaimed “elficologist”, has created a whimsical book containing illustrations and the history of the faerie world.  Beyond the story of each fantastical entry, in the sidebar there are descriptions of the size, appearance, dress, habitat, food, customs and activities of each particular type of faerie folk.

Cakes & Cake Decorating by Angela Nilson, Sarah Maxwell and Janice Murfitt
From basic cake and icing recipes to fancy children’s cakes, this book presents mouth watering pictures.  Do you need to make a cake in the shape of a telephone?  How about a coconut cake with ducks on a pond of gelatin?  Living in the birthplace of country music, you just might be called upon to make a banjo cake.  If any of these cakes sound appealing, then this is the book for you.

Architecture by Neil Stevenson  OVERSIZE 720 Ste
This Doring Kindersley book takes readers on a journey from ancient Rome and Egypt to the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright and beyond.  Double page illustrations and attention to building detail make this a book appealing to adults and children alike.  Where else can you visit the Empire State Building, Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Tokyo Olympic Stadium in one trip?

Quilts by Ljiljana Baird  OVERSIZE 746.46
Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Mennonite Joseph’s Coat, Log Cabin, Dove at the Window, Whig’s Defeat, Amish Bear’s Paw:  these are only a sampling of the many quilts covered in this colorful volume.  Each quilt has a brief provenance and a history of when and where that particular pattern was popular.

The Joy of Art: A Creative Guide for Beginning Painters by Serge Clement and Marina Kamena
OVERSIZE 751 Cle
Beginning with the basic elements of color and shape, the authors describe and draw a history of painting while also offering practical instructions for the budding artist.  Each oversized page is crowded with hand-printed text and drawing, allowing the reader to flip through and be inspired by a wealth of techniques and examples.  From simple brush strokes to drawing the human form, this truly is a creative guide for beginning painters.