Books

Happy Kitty Bunny Pony: A Saccharine Mouthful of Super Cute

Average customer rating:

I just knew it
Dry humor for the weiner joke masses.
Not as sweet as it seems
Pukey Sweet
Warning: may induce hernia.

Happy Kitty Bunny Pony: A Saccharine Mouthful of Super Cute
Popink , Charles S. Anderson Design Company , and Michael J. Nelson
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0810992000

Book Description

From turn-of-the-century novelties and Depression-era distraction, through wartime comfort, to Hello Kitty and Jeff Koons, cuteness has thrived in the fertile soil of American modern-age media and pop culture. What is it about fluffy bunnies with bows, baby ducks splashing in puddles, kittens snuggled in baskets, and little lambs on their way to school? Happy Kitty Bunny Pony celebrates America's "cult of the cute" in all its campy, kitschy, ironic glory.

With more than 200 images from the print and advertising archives of the Charles S. Anderson Design Company, this collection is an amazingly rich testament to America's fascination with cute things. The hilarious commentary by Mystery Science Theater 3000 host Mike Nelson, spiked with fun and curious facts, bits of sarcasm, and dry and not-so-dry wit, is as surprising and bizarre as the images themselves. So go ahead and join the fun-everyone from art students to your grandma is already shouting the cult-of-the-cute battle cry: "Happy Kitty Bunny Pony!" AUTHOR BIO: The Charles S. Anderson Design Company is ranked by Graphis magazine as one of the world's 10 most influential design firms. Their clients include Ralph Lauren, Warner Brothers, Coca-Cola, Levi's, and Nike. Michael J. Nelson, an actor and writer, was the head writer and on-air host of the legendary television series Mystery Science Theater 3000. He is the author of Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese, Mind Over Matters, and the novel Death Rat.

Customer Reviews:

I just knew it.......2007-06-08

I picked it up, unknowing, thumbed through it for a minute or two, and thought "MST3K." But without the cleverness.

The lethally sweet pictures are cute (ever notice that "cute" is a four-letter word?) and added captions funny enough, for the first two pages. Maybe three. Then I started wondering, "OK, I got that joke - what's next?" There is no next, just the same joke again and again.

At one point I was hospitalized and on heavy painkillers. I tried to watch the Flintstones, but turned it off when I couldn't follow the plot. If you know someone in that state, for medical or recreational reasons, they'll experience all of the book's humor for the first time again and again. They'll love it. That's not me, though, at least not today.

-- ww

Dry humor for the weiner joke masses........2007-01-30

Mike Nelson of MST3K fame was a better writer than a host. I liked him on MST3K, but he really made an imapct when he was crafting the jokes as opposed to delivering them. Here, we see his brilliant, wry humor in all its glory. This is a rip on every marketing image so sickly sweet that it makes you physically ill. I would recommend you do some Sudokus as well as other brain excercise first: An IQ of 115 or higher is recommended to catch the funniest bits he delivers. That could also explain why my wife lughed harder than I did. Hmm. Back to the Sudoku academy, I guess.

Not as sweet as it seems.......2007-01-17

Because of others' comments I checked this out from the library instead of rushing to buy it like I was tempted to do. The images are of course super cute, but I found the ironic comments to be annoying distractions, and the whole book is much more shallow and dissatisfying than I expected. If you're looking for a real book of advertising and pop culture iconography steer clear! Instead check out some of the books put out by Taschen like "1000 Extraordinary Objects: Colors by Taschen." Happy Kitty Bunny Pony is more on the level of teenage girls who like the sarcastic cuteness of Emily the Strange and Happy Bunny.

Pukey Sweet.......2007-01-05

Ok, I just have to say that this book is by far the cutest thing I have ever seen. It is very funny and a good converstaion piece for your coffee table. Lots of pictures to keep those "non-readers" happy and plenty of comedy throughout. Keep it up Pop Ink!

Warning: may induce hernia........2007-01-04

The Charles S. Anderson Design Co. and Mike Nelson, Happy Kitty Bunny Pony: A Saccharine Mouthful of Super Cute (Harry N. Abrams, 2005)

Within the first five pages of Happy Kitty Bunny Pony, I was laughing harder than I had at any book I've read so far in 2006 (and we're only three weeks away from the end of the year as I write this). It just got better from there.

I was never a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I have discovered in the years since its cancellation that Mike Nelson, when he's putting pen to paper, is a very, very funny guy. Happy Kitty Bunny Pony continues on in this grand tradition; Nelson takes existing images from commissioned work from Anderson's archives and attaches captions or little stories to them, and the result is hilarious. There's always a dark, ominous side to these sickly-cute abominations that populate the weird and wacky world of greeting cards, Saturday morning cartoons, and the like, and Nelson plays it to the hilt. This is awesome, awesome stuff. One for the permanent collection, without a doubt. ****

The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties

Average customer rating:

great fun!
Extremly Happy!
This book makes me happy!
Fun and Fabulous!
Wonderful book

The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties
Leah Kramer
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1580087477

Book Description

You'll find no die-cut teddy bears, cross-stitched friendship plaques, and ducks painted with bonnets in THE CRAFTSTER GUIDE. A hip collection of easy-to-make, fun-to-wear, and stylish-to-display crafts from the fifties and sixties, it features 50 projects culled from vintage craft publications, including more than 10 new retro-inspired projects. This unabashedly tacky craft compendium includes clear instructions, tools and techniques, and enough irony to fill a popsicle-stick purse.

Customer Reviews:

great fun!.......2007-04-19

I love looking through this book and getting inspired--the writing is so fun and the design overall is just so kitschy-cool! All the projects I've made from it turned out great, and I've had so much fun going through it and choosing what to do next.

Extremly Happy!.......2007-04-19

Great book and great new projects to try out! Thing you would have never though of and intresting new ways to spice up things you may have tried before!! Must own by anyone new to crafting or an experienced one!

This book makes me happy!.......2007-04-19

If you want a fun book with lots of kitschy crafty history than this is the book for you! I have made a lot of the crafts and the instructions are easy to follow with no hassle. I would highly recommend this book.

Fun and Fabulous!.......2007-04-19

This book is chock full of fun and fabulous projects for anyone. The kitsch factor is high - these crafts will surely bring a smile to your face! I have found the instructions clear and easy to follow, and the projects have inspired a few kitschy brainstorms of my own!

Wonderful book.......2007-04-19

I love this book! It has fun projects and great easy to follow instructions. If you love kitschy crafts this book is for you!

Average customer rating:

To have bad taste, you must first have very good taste.
from the 'LESS IS A BORE' school of decorating
Kitsch Deluxe

Kitsch Deluxe
Lesley Gillilan
Manufacturer: Mitchell Beazley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1840007168

Book Description

It’s fun, it’s fanciful, it’s kitsch! Celebrate the art of cool imitation, fantastic escapism, and nostalgia for late 20th-century populist culture that lies at the heart of this lighthearted and contemporary design style. These 18 fabulous spaces are aimed at those who want to create a feeling of irreverence and fantasy in their homes while still maintaining a semblance of style and glamour—and the extraordinary and exuberant interiors include those of Zandra Rhodes in London and Pierre et Gilles in Paris. A riot of a book, packed with vivid colour, humor, extravagantly themed décor, and inventive low-budget ideas, Kitsch Deluxe is an essential read for devotees of the wacky, weird, and wonderful.

Customer Reviews:

To have bad taste, you must first have very good taste........2005-03-15

Just because my funds are a bit low, I checked this book out of the library, but I WILL be purchasing this book after seeing first hand how great it is. I'm not sure if some other people were looking for some kind of great literature here or not, but it is what it is; a book showcasing kitsch homes. I was afraid the book, PAD (my Bible) was the only book to show off such inspirational rooms; but Kitsch Deluxe gave me a whole new range of rooms to drool over and become inspired by. There was only one room in the Kitsch Deluxe book that was in my PAD book. I don't seek to copy any of the rooms I've seen, but instead see bits and pieces I might be able to incorporate into my own ideas. Kitsch Deluxe isn't really giving you a history lesson and I think for one, trying to give kitsch a history is just a waste of time. You like it, you like it. It's tacky, it's glam, it's Vegas, it's fun, it's so many different things. The book isn't a how to, it's just presenting some great homes and a little bit of why the owners decorated the way they did. I'll be purchasing this one soon and flipping through it's well worn pages for ideas.

from the 'LESS IS A BORE' school of decorating.......2003-11-17

KITSCH DELUXE by Lesley Gillilan, with photography by Dave Young, is an eclectic crazy colorful cavalcade of a coffee table book as well as a stunningly fun and informative reference work on collecting kitsch and tasteless popular culture. It also gives new-comers a great introduction into various themes of kitsch , as well as showing the more advanced collector some extraordinary interiors in the real homes of the truly tasteless. From Elvis to Big Eyed Art to Jayne Mansfield to Barbie and Barbarella, this book wil help you discover those areas of bad taste and camp, that you wish to explore. The lavish pictures are in your face, from the truly hideous to the divine, lush cool cocktail lounge style to trailer park treasure. The book also includes a directory of shops, cool online sites, museums and architecture of interest.
Today, sadly, most of the best books on the subject of Bad Taste are now hard to find. The classics 'KITSCH: An Anthology of Bad Taste' by Gillo Dorfles (1968), 'KITSCH' by Jacques Sternberg (1971), 'KITSCH-IN-SYNCH' by Peter ward (1991) and the fabulous 'The ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAD TASTE' by Jane & Michael Stern (1991) an invaluable source, are all out of print. But help is at hand with '20th CENTURY POP CULTURE' by Dan Epstein (1999), 'THE BOOK OF TIKI' by Sven A. Kirsten (from Taschen 2000), 'Just Above the Mantlepiece' by Wayne Hemingway (2000) see my review, 'BEATSVILLE' by Martin McIntosh (2003), 'BIG EYED MASTERS' by Megan Besmirched (2003), and of course this style guide you're reading about....... 'KITSCH DELUXE'.
This book also includes bizarre chapters on the homes of true eccentrics like artists Pierre et Gilles, fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and Tom Bliss (from the 'less is a bore' school of home decorating). Its a book for those wanting to relive their childhood with no rules, for those willing to create their own Valley of the Dolls or Elvis's Tiki Room at home. Enjoy. (Nov. 2003)

Kitsch Deluxe.......2003-10-18

Disappointment. Just another coffee table book. Writing is shallow, nothing is new from other Kitsch books. Best part of writing is on the dust cover. Color pictures are colorful, but all Kitsch books have been already used these pictures. Nothing is fresh looking. If you are looking for a coffee table book to cheer up your room, it is OK. Just not for me. Or don't be fooled by the dust cover writing, which sounds like little more than other Kitsch books.

Tropical Kitsch: Media in Latin American Literature and Art

Average customer rating:

Tropical Kitsch: Media in Latin American Literature and Art
Lidia Santos
Manufacturer: Markus Wiener Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558763546

Book Description

Review of the Spanish Edition: "Santos takes a keen look at the way mass culture has influenced artistic production in Latin America during the past 40 years. Santos maintains that the use of kitsch, camp, and cursi ("ostentatious") devices by certain writers and artists in the form of mass media products like romance novels, radio and telenovelas, tangos and boleros, and `40s and `50s U.S. films, has helped them surpass realism…. Santos explores the social and political implications of art, music, and literature by using theoretical frameworks of cultural studies and queer theory. The author provides a detailed table of contents with extensive notes, a bibliography, a discography, an appendix with song lyrics, and b&w images. This ambitious and fascinating work is also a wonderful read. In addition to being an academic, Santos is a creative writer with two books of short stories published, and her writing skills are fully in place here. A significant contribution to the study of Latin American literature and art, queer studies, and cultural studies, this book is highly recommended for academic libraries and bookstores." —Criticas

Artificial Kingdom, The: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience

Average customer rating:

Mesmerizing
Excessive Rodney
The Artificial Kingdom: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience
cultural history and philosophy collide

Artificial Kingdom, The: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience
Celeste Olalquiaga
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679433937
Release Date: 1998-12-01

Amazon.com

If you thought kitsch was as simple as sweatshirts embossed with sparkling kittens or flamingo snow domes, think again. Celeste Olalquiaga has gone well beyond Webster's definition of "pretentious bad taste," and devotes more than 300 pages to the subject. Her thesis?

Kitsch is the ability to surpass essential belongings and rest in more superficial ones, to create an imaginary landscape through accumulation and camouflage, and to crystallize the continuous movement of life in the permeable disguise of fantasy.

The Ph.D.-wielding Rockefeller and Guggenheim award winner postulates that the Victorian era and the industrial revolution of the late 19th century were the grandparents of kitsch. People stuffed their homes with fantasy-themed tchotchkes to fill the "existential emptiness brought about by rapid industrialization." From "petrified nature" and "melancholia artificialis" to "vegetable jewelry" and "parlor oceans," The Artificial Kingdom covers every historical nuance of tackydom and leaves no postmodern paperweight unturned.

Book Description

The Artificial Kingdom is the first book to provide a cultural history of kitsch, an immensely popular aesthetic phenomenon that has always been disdained as "bad taste," or a cheap imitation of art. Proposing instead that kitsch is the product of a larger sensibility of loss, Celeste Olalquiaga shows how it enables the momentary re-creation of experiences that exist only as memories or fantasies. Simultaneously exposing and celebrating this process, Olalquiaga gives us a bold, trenchant analysis of what and how we see when we look at kitsch.

Tracing its beginnings to the nineteenth century--when industrialization transformed nature into an artificial kingdom of miniature scale--Olalquiaga describes the at once exhilarated and melancholic atmosphere where kitsch came to life. In an arresting mix of theory and anecdote, she examines objects from both the past and the present, probing the fluid boundaries between reality and fantasy, and finding in kitsch a phenomenon as relevant to our own time as it was to the era that made it a massive experience.

Customer Reviews:

Mesmerizing.......2003-11-23

I don't find this book derivative of Benjamin so much as openly drawing on him. Olalquiaga doesn't ape his work on kitsch - she applies it intelligently to her own research. Artificial Kingdom struck a deep chord with me. I concede that it is not the most rigorous examination of the kitsch experience possible, and some chapters are separated by intermissions of glazed ruminations that haunt the analysis and reverberate beneath it with personal conviction. But this is what I appreciate most about the book. You could do worse than recall in your reader Bachelard's reveries on the poetics of space. Olalquiaga's passage describing Rodney's marine home crystallizing around him into a glassy temporal suspension is as beautiful as anything by the sources from which she appears to draw her models.

Excessive Rodney.......2002-08-03

At times silly in the worst academico-critical way (the Nautilius in Vernes' Leagues is 'uterine'), and rather derivative of Walter Benjamin. However, charming, good fun, but check out Svetlana Boym's (lopsided) 'The Future of Nostalgia' along with it, if you get a chance.

The Artificial Kingdom: A Treasury of the Kitsch Experience.......2000-10-04

This is the most original work of non-fiction I have ever read. The author is able to write at great length about very unpromising subjects--such as snow-globes or the emotional significance of dust--with a sort of piercing intelligence that allows her to uncover beauty and meaning where others might see only bad art. Although frequently humorous, the book never ridicules kitsch; rather it discusses deep-seated human needs, and then shows how kitsch is an attempt to satisfy them. I read this book over a year ago, and I still find it to be a source of inspiration.

cultural history and philosophy collide.......1999-09-06

This brief, souvenir-inspired history of kitsch is also an ornate, brooding meditation on memory. In "trading the life of the memory for its cultural fossil," Olalquiaga reveals the origins of Atlantis in popular culture, of snow globes (the earliest said to feature Marie Antoinette with parasol), of aquaria and their folly-like porcelain castles, and notes that both Colette and Eva Peron amassed large collections of glass paperweights. Relating her feelings about a failed love affair and the redemptive qualities of Rodney, a hermit crab trapped inside her favorite paperweight, the writer transcends her anonymous epigram, "Styles die, only kitsch survives."

Judaikitsch: Tchotchkes, Schmattes & Nosherei

Average customer rating:

The Nanny meets the Rabbi
A perfect gift
This book is AWESOME!!!!
This book makes for a [bad] Chanukah present!
Kvit Kvetching and Become a Kvelling Balebusta

Judaikitsch: Tchotchkes, Schmattes & Nosherei
Jennifer Traig , and Victoria Traig
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811831884

Book Description

What would happen if Martha Stewart were abducted by a tribe of trailer park rabbis? Judaikitsch! Filled to the brim with crafts, collectibles, and creative cooking, here’s the ultimate guide to a funky, festive Jewish lifestyle. From everyday kitsch to holiday entertaining-and loads of mishegoss in between-Judaikitsch asks the all-important question: Why eat sushi when there’s Jewshi? Put away that mizrach and hang up the Miz-Rock. Host a Sukkot Luau featuring a Poi Vey Pineapple Mold, and celebrate Rosh Mexicana with a heaping helping of Hava Tequila Pie. Guaranteed to amuse, Judaikitsch encourages readers to don their Starlet of David Sunglasses, buckle their Borscht Belts, and enjoy a ride through a world where Elvis sports sidelocks and cats and dogs wear yarmulkes. At last, essential reading for the Divine Miss Martha in us all.

Customer Reviews:

The Nanny meets the Rabbi.......2005-03-29

I stole my first copy of this wonderful work from my mother-in-law.

Amazon have since supplied me three more, with more on order so we can replenish our Friday night coffee table after our guests leave.

Order a copy now, tuck it inside your haggadah, and you'll be able to stay awake until that song about the goat has finished.

Review Update: I'm in so much trouble. Who would think mother-in-laws read this stuff.

A perfect gift.......2003-06-03

I laughed, I cried, and I am thankful that some of the creations are not commercially available (yet).

This book tastefully lampoons American Jewish culture. Sure, some people will find it tacky, and this book is not for them. But for the rest of us, this book will provide years of chuckles. I especially liked the challah plate!

This book is AWESOME!!!!.......2002-12-10

This is now the best coffee table book that I own. It is soooooo funny. I can't wait so see what the Traig sisters come up with next!

I received a copy of this book as a gift, and now I am getting it for everyone.

This book makes for a [bad] Chanukah present!.......2002-12-05

I was expecting something fun when I opened the box, and while this is entertaining, it isn't really funny.

If you are amused by pictures of a dog in a yarmulka, perhaps therapy is in order... BUt if you can't do therapy, this is the perfect book

Kvit Kvetching and Become a Kvelling Balebusta.......2002-05-07

Christian Americans have had marshmallow fluff and Christmas ornaments. Jews, avoiding graven images, have evaded lots of kitsch (except for chopped liver molds). Sure, maybe you've seen Sesame Street kipahs and Nike swoosh dreidels, but what if Bezalel from the Bible and Martha Stewart mated while reading The Jewish Catalog? Naturally, you would have the Traig sisters of the West Coast. This book is not only fun to read, but it provides the instructions on how to create your own kitsch, like the Manischewitz Concord Grape Wine bottle lamp or the Rastafarian Hey-Mohn-Toschen. Divided into eight parts, there are kitsch projects for everyday, Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Hanukkah (burn baby Burn), Purim, Passover, and Shavuot (milk it. do i make you flemmy, baby?). So get up off your tucches, break your dreidel shaped piñata, grab a slice of Hava Tequila Pie, and buy this book. Highlights include the Neil Sedaka Tzedakah Pushke Box (I used an empty band aids box); the Borscht Belt belt; a black velvet Elvis mizrach for your Eastern wall; the Carmen Miranda fruit filled yarmulke; and votive candles for Jewish patrons (the patron Jew of passive aggressive compliments). Replace wasabi with horseradish and you have Jew-shi sushi. Get a jar of Green olives and make some Poi Vey. Is havdalah havdalah without the Spice girls spice box? Is it true that there is Jewish Time? Then make yourself the Jewish Time Zones clock. The book closes with a Hebonics glossary. So gather the mishpocheh, and buy the book, cuz this one is a keeper.

The Artificial Kingdom: On the Kitsch Experience

Average customer rating:

kitch, art, and celeste olalquiaga
I never got the book

The Artificial Kingdom: On the Kitsch Experience
Celeste Olalquiaga
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 081664117X

Book Description

From her pet glass-globed hermit crab Rodney to the Victorian era's Crystal Palace, Celeste Olalquiaga offers a meditative look at the origins of kitsch and what kitsch tells us about the conflicts between the real and the artificial, tradition and modernity, nostalgia and melancholy. Olalquiaga artfully traces this form to the mid-1800s and establishes kitsch as a sensibility of loss-a yearning for objects to help recapture the past-and explains how these artifacts respond to a deep-seated human need for meaning and connection with nature. The Artificial Kingdom beautifully elucidates this aspect of culture as an attempt to recover what industrialization has destroyed.

"Ingenious, fascinating, and melancholic." Peter Woolen, London Review of Books

"Olalquiaga finds an explanation of the modern-age question: why the subject of an artwork can seem more alive in representation than in life." New York Times Book Review

"Stunning. A potent, incantatory exploration into the emotional resonance of kitsch." Art Papers

Celeste Olalquiaga is an independent scholar who has received Rockefeller and Guggenheim awards. She is the author of Megalopolis: Contemporary Cultural Sensibilities (Minnesota, 1992). She lives in Paris.

Customer Reviews:

kitch, art, and celeste olalquiaga.......2006-05-04

I think this book is a must read for anyone making objects or conceptual art. It has insight into the ideas of kitsch and the experience of the object. I find it hard to make sculpture without refering to some of the ideas celeste inplies.

I never got the book.......2005-10-19

HELP!

I went to the post office for an investogation, because your records show delivered, but I never got this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Profound Weakness: Christians & Kitsch

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A Profound Weakness: Christians & Kitsch
Betty Spackman
Manufacturer: Piquant Publishing
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ASIN: 1903689139

Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism

Average customer rating:

Reaaly helpful!
Excellent history of modern(ist) aesthetics
A brilliant introduction to excessively used concepts.

Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism
Matei Calinescu , and Matei Calinescu
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
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ASIN: 0822307677

Customer Reviews:

Reaaly helpful!.......2007-04-27

I really enjoyed the book besides the fact that it proved really helpful for all the papers I have had to write so far. The concepts are clear and the bibliography extensive so it is really a starter in other directions.

Excellent history of modern(ist) aesthetics.......2002-08-19

Matei Calinescu's _The Five Faces of Modernity_ is an impressive intellectual history of five concepts central to aesthetics (i.e. the theory and philosophy of art) in the past two centuries-- the concepts of 'modernism', 'the avant-garde', 'decadence', 'kitsch', and 'postmodernism'. After an introductory discussion on the concept of 'modernity' itself, each of these concepts, or 'faces of modernity' is discussed in detail. This discussion generally includes an account of the word's origins and changes in its usage, close readings of important texts that used these concepts in exemplary or revolutionary ways, and a critical analysis of the assumptions that underly the term's application to aesthetics. Throughout, Calinescu ranges quite broadly in his scope, drawing upon texts from throughout Europe and the Americas (both North and South).

Calinescu's account is far too rich and complex to summarize here, but on the whole, the history of aesthetic thought he provides is based on solid research, compelling analysis, and insightful observation. In the process, he makes some astute, and rather surprising observations about how these aesthetic terms were initially used to describe politics or social thought, and only came to be applied to aesthetics later (this is especially true with 'avant-garde')-- yet, their aesthetic application is fundamentally shaped by their earlier social-political associations.

Although this book is quite solid, I do feel that it has some shortcomings that can't be ignored. First and foremost among these is that Calinescu's bizarre characterization of Romanticism. The Romantics, he rightly noted, were crucial in the development of modern aesthetics-- and in the notions of modernism, the avant-garde, and decadence in particular. However, his account of Romanticism is one that I simply do not recognize-- basically reducing it (somewhat inaccurately, I would add) to "the relativization of beauty" and the abandonment of the notion of eternal, transcendent truths or ideals. Part of the problem here is that Calinescu limits his discussion of Romanticism to France, focussing on Chateaubriand, Stendahl, and Hugo. If he had discussed the major German Romantic thinkers or the British Romantic poets, this account of Romanticism (and the role he assigns to it in developing a concept of 'modernity') simply could not stand.

The second main shortcoming of the book is that it focuses overwhelmingly on literary art. Painting and other forms of art are discussed a little bit in some of the chapters (particularly in the one on kitsch), but for the most part, Calinescu's book focuses on prose and poetry-- not on the visual arts (or still less on music). I think his account of some of these concepts (particularly 'modernism' and 'avant-garde') wuld have been greatly improved by considering them.

Still, those criticisms are relatively minor-- this is a great book and an important one on this subject. Highly recommended to intellectual historians, art historians, and those who are interested in a good 'history of ideas' account of these five aesthetic concepts.

A brilliant introduction to excessively used concepts........2001-02-16

Calinescu succeeds in a very difficult department: definind five concepts that have become common places in criticism. Calinescu's reviews is insightful, comprehensive an very well documented. It offers an excellent introdution to the novices and a useful guide for investigating the concepts to the initiates. Calinescu is probably one of the finest critics in this topic and his book exceeds authors like Hobsbawn.

Average customer rating:

a review by a fellow painter
Odd Nerdrum is a man.
Odd Nerdrum's Kitsch: The Brilliant Lie.

On Kitsch
Jan-Erik Ebbestad Hansen , Sindre Mekjan , Dag Solhjell , Jan-Ove Tuv , and Odd Nerdrum
Manufacturer: Kagge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 8248901238
Release Date: 2001-08-02

Book Description

Kitsch has long been viewed as fine art's poor relation, aping its form while failing utterly to achieve its depth of meaning. In On Kitsch Odd Nerdrum and others discuss the meaning and value of kitsch in today's world, and its relationship to art. For the first time in this volume, English-speaking fans have the chance to read the writings of Odd Nerdrum, Norway's most famous contemporary artist, or kitch painter, as he would refer to himself. This printing of a variety of writings by Nerdrum and others includes speeches, essays, and humorous pieces such as "The Kitch Questionnaire," and "Kitch Aphorisms." This book is an opportunity to discover the thought process of one of the world's most unique and compelling artists.

Customer Reviews:

a review by a fellow painter.......2007-02-26

This collection is brilliant...
It will be invaluable to anyone sincerely interested in intellectually challenging the current post-modernist status quo when it comes to the "state of the Arts" today. The essays revolve around the controversial persona of the Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum and for the bigger portion are written by the artist himself as a kind of treatise or "theoretical manifesto"(...he would laugh at the pomposity of this term) where the meaning of "kitch" (from German - "bad taste") finds a surprisingly sympathetic alternate evaluation and an interesting point for discourse emerges.
Who is the judge and what has been judged in Modern Art? According to whose criteria? What happens when "the Modernes" become the decisive majority and dominance of "acceptable modern taste" is established? Is Art for Art's sake or is it Art for Art theory's sake?
... Some similar questions to ponder here..

Besides, for anyone who is new to or has not had the opportunity to witness Nerdrum's art, this book might be a valuable insight into the spirit that's behind this modern master's paint brush.

O.K... I admit, I am biased.

Odd Nerdrum is a man........2002-02-28

"On Kitsch", is a seashell when held to the ear revels romantic insights of this twentieth century painter, Odd Nerdrum. The Norwegian painter's masterful and detailed view of the modern art world is only surpassed by the crafstmanship he performs with his eyes and hands. Through interviews, speeches, critiques, drama and humor he explains why he is NOT an artist and insists that the avant garde was right in casting him out of the modernist's scene. Odd Nerdrum's battle for sensuality and longing for eternity pitted him against the Goliath that we knew as modernism; Odd Nerdrum is still alive, modernism is dead. Long live, "On Kitsch"!

Odd Nerdrum's Kitsch: The Brilliant Lie........2001-10-03

"On Kitsch" functions as a manifesto for Nerdrum's peculiar philosophical and aesthetic beliefs about painting. It is a grand statement, albeit often a contradictory one. Many questions are raised: how can he on one page declare that kitsch is not about morality or great ideas, and then on another page state firmly that kitsch "serves life" is "something extraordinary that demands a great deal", and is concerned with "eternity"?

It seems to me that Nerdrum is trying too hard to convince us of things that we could accept with less aggrandizement. That is, he wants us to enter into the sensuality of material, to love craftsmanship and technical proficiency, to break with over-intellectualization and to allow eternity to be seen in the temporal. I agree with much Nerdrum has to say about modern art and art education. I believe he is a master painter and I believe he has a valid point of view that needs to be read by art students the world over (if only to counteract some of the bunk that we are taught). I don't, however, agree with him entirely. Many of his notions involve lacking logical bases and copious semantic juggling. I don't believe (as he vehemently states) his work is agnostic or amoral; quite the contrary. I think it begs the question of causal-morality and God-consciousness.

But you can mull these things over in your own mind after reading this book. It's great, and a God-send to those of us who know and love Nerdrum's work and want to delve deeper. "On Kitsch" provides the ideological background for everything the man has done, and gives keen insights that are certainly not accepted on art school campi around the world.

Read it, then look at Nerdrum's paintings again.

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