Bessie Pease Gutmann was a premier illustrator during the first half of the twentieth century. She embodies the feel and subject matter that has come to be associated with women illustrators of that period. This visual masterpiece contains more full-color photography of Gutmann's work than all other previous Gutmann publications, and is accompanied by the most complete pricing to her work ever offered. Some of the works shown are so rare that this book provides their only publication outside of hard-to-find antique art print catalogs. The magnificent imagery of this book will make it a wonderful addition to anyone's art library.
Reader Reviews
This work, credited to Karen Choppa, makes for a nice appendix to Dr. Victor J. Christie's biography of Mrs. Gutmann titled, "Bessie Pease Gutmann - Her Life and Works." Although many of the unique works illustrating this book are quite alluring and an absolute treat to the Gutmann enthusiast, very little new information is shed within its text. In fact, the author straddles the bounds of plagiarism in repeating much of Dr. Christie's text without ever giving him the least bit of credit. As for the image context itself, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to its order of presentation, as though the emphasis was placed on meeting a deadline as opposed to presenting an arrangement based on theme or events. As a supplement to Dr. Christie's original biography, this work is a must for the Gutmann collector if only for the images themselves. As a source of unique information on one of America's foremost illustrators of the first half of this century, it is a sad disappointment.
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