Celebrates the opening of the permanent installation of the Ricau Collection at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia.

Discover the fascinating, crucial, and often dangerous relationship between Michelangelo and the stone quarries of Carrara in this clear-eyed and well-researched exploration that “recounts the artist's large life and lasting works with care and reverence” (Booklist). No artist looms so large in Western consciousness and culture as Michelangelo Buonarroti, the most celebrated sculptor of all time. And no place on earth provides a stone so capable of simulating the warmth and vitality of human flesh and incarnating the genius of a Michelangelo as the statuario of Carrara, the storied marble mecca at Tuscany's northwest corner. It was there, where shadowy Etruscans and Roman slaves once toiled, that Michelangelo risked his life in dozens of harrowing expeditions to secure the precious stone for his Pietà, Moses, and other masterpieces. Many books have recounted Michelangelo’s achievements in Florence and Rome. Michelangelo’s Mountain goes beyond all of them, revealing his escapades and ordeals in the spectacular landscape that was the third pole of his tumultuous career and the third wellspring of his art. Eric Scigliano brings this haunting place and eternally fascinating artist to life in a sweeping tale peopled by popes and poets, mad dukes and mythic monsters, scheming courtiers and rough-hewn quarrymen. He recounts the saga of the David, the improbable masterpiece that Michelangelo created against all odds, of the twin Hercules that he tried to erect beside it, and of the Salieri-like nemesis who snatched away the commission, turning a sculptural testament to liberty into a bitter symbol of tyranny and giving Florence the colossus it loves to hate. In showing how the artist, land, and stone transformed one another, Scigliano brings fresh insight to Michelangelo's most cherished works and illuminates his struggles with the princes and potentates of Carrara, Rome, and Medici Florence, who raised intrigue to a high art.

A stunning book on the famous Carrara marble quarry in Italy!

Sylacauga—Alabama’s “Marble City”—is blessed with an abundant natural resource that nurtures both its economy and its cultural heritage. Thirty-five miles long, at least four hundred feet deep, and more than a mile wide, the Sylacauga Marble Belt yields crystalline white marble frequently compared to the Parian marble treasured by Greek sculptors and the Italian Carrara marble often chosen by Michelangelo. Artisans have quarried Sylacauga marble for tombstones since the early 1800s, and architects prized it for years as dimension stone for buildings like the United States Supreme Court. In the early 1900s, Giuseppe Moretti and Gutzon Borglum both chose this marble for magnificent sculptures. When granite, better able to withstand industrial pollution, overtook marble as the preferred architectural stone in the 1930s, Sylacauga’s quarry owners shifted their focus to the production of ground calcium carbonate (GCC), a fundamental ingredient in manufactured products from toothpaste, foodstuffs, and disposable diapers to paints, caulks, and sealants. Many cringe at the idea of blasting and grinding marble into fine powder, but GCC is a vital factor in the local economy. Thankfully, the Magic of Marble Festival, first held in 2009, has revitalized interest in the artistic value of Sylacauga marble, inspiring sculptors from across the United States and masters from Italy to apply their skills to cream-white blocks of this beautiful stone and share their creativity with thousands of residents and visitors each year. This is the story of quarry pioneers, investors, artists, and artisans. It's also the story of their families, who fondly remember their lives along the edge of “the hole” that provided for them.

There is a lot more to photography than simply picking up a camera, pointing it toward something, and tripping the shutter. Achieving a great photograph requires thought and preparation, an understanding of the photographic process, and a firm grasp of how light and composition affect a photo. There must be personal involvement and personal expression. There must be experimentation, with the recognition that only a small percentage of experiments end successfully. In this book, best-selling author and world-renowned photographer and teacher Bruce Barnbaum explores these seldom-discussed issues by drawing upon his personal experiences and observations from more than 40 years of photographing and teaching. In addition to photographs, Bruce also uses painting, music, and writing, as well as the sciences and even business, to provide pertinent examples of creative thinking. These examples serve as stepping-stones that will lead you to your own heightened ability to see and be creative. Creativity is a topic that is almost wholly ignored in formal education because most instructors think that it cannot be taught or learned. To the contrary, Bruce has proven that photographic seeing and creativity can be taught, learned, and improved. This book expands on the ideas that are central to Bruce's method of teaching photography, which he has used in workshops for the past 41 years. Included in the book are in-depth discussions on the following topics: Defining your own unique rhythm and approach as a photographer How to translate the scene in front of you to the final photograph The differences and similarities between how an amateur and a professional approach photography The differences between realism and abstraction, and the possibilities and limitations of each Learning to expand your own seeing and creativity through classes, workshops, and associating with other photographers Why the rules of composition should be ignored How to follow your passion When to listen to the critics and when to ignore them The book is richly illustrated with over 90 photographs taken by Bruce as well as other photographers.Seeing and creativity are difficult to teach, but not impossible. This very different, perhaps groundbreaking book is sure to inspire photographers of all skill levels-from beginners to seasoned professionals-to think deeply about the issues involved in creating successful photographs.

The meeting assembled an interdisciplinary group of nearly 50 archaeologists and art historians, geologists and geochemists from the U.S.A. and 14 European and Near Eastern countries to discuss the provenance, quarrying, transport and use of stone from prehistoric to early Christian times, both in Europe and in the Near East. The papers which reflect a merger between classicism and geotechnology, thus deal with (1) quarries from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period, their technology and organization, (2) quarry prospection through satellite imaging, (3) dressing of artifacts near the quarries, (4) trade, availability and archaeological use of certain stones in antiquity, (5) determination of obsidian, flint, granite, marble, limestones, sandstones and arkoses from Europe, Asia Minor and the Near East by means of petrological and chemical analysis, trace element analysis, electron microprobe and stable isotope analysis, ESR spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and X-ray powder diffradtometry, mercury porosimetry, cathodoluminiscence, light diffustion from laser-irradiated stones, computer assisted assessment of coloured stones or amulti-method appraoch, and (6) provenance determination applied to ancient artifacts.The volume is highly recommended for those who wish to combine a journey into classical scholarship with geochemical sciences.

Marble in Ancient Greece and Rome: Geology, Quarries, Commerce, Artifacts Marble remains the sine qua non raw material of the an cient Greeks and Romans. Beginning in the Bronze Age sculptu re began in marble and throughout classical times the most im portant statues, reliefs, monuments and inscriptions were made of it. Yet, quarry sources changed in time as preferences for different marbles were influenced by local traditions, the pos sibilities of transport, esthetic tastes, and economics. Marble studies and the identification of the provenance of marble can thus reveal much about Greek and Roman history, trade, esthe tics and technology. Persons in many disciplines are studying various aspects of Greek and Roman marble usage. Geologists and geochemists are working on methods to determine the provenance of marble; ar chaeologists are noting changing patterns of import and use in excavation~ and discovering how improving quarrying techniques and prelimihary dressing of the extracted material influenced the final shape of artifacts; ancient historians are now under standing quarry organization and bureaucracies that controlled marble production and trade; art historians are seeing how phy sical characteristics of the stone affected the techniques and style of sculpture; architects and engineers are interested in quarry technologies and usage in building construction. These specialists drawn from many disciplines rarely have an opportu nity to compare notes and see how each can contribute to the research effort of others.