This book presents watercolor renderings along with a selection of the artifacts in the Index of American Design, a visual archive of decorative, folk, and popular arts made in America from the colonial period to about 1900. Three essays explore the history, operation, and ambitions of the Index of American Design, examine folk art collecting in America during the early decades of the twentieth century, and consider the Index's role in the search for a national cultural identity in the early twentieth-century United States.

Joel Barber spent 20 years studying and collecting wild fowl decoys from Nova Scotia to North Carolina. Mr. Barber's authoratative volume is the only text written for the true collector and contains all there is to be known on the subject: how to recognize the locality from which a decoy comes, the world of famous decoy makers, the scarcity of certain types of decoys and more.

An abridgement of the 1973 edition published by Harry N. Abrams.

"Published in conjunction with the exhibition, Winslow Homer and the poetics of place, June 5 - September 6, 2010, which was organized by the Portland Museum of Art, Maine." -- p. 71.

"Mary Cassatt's letters, like her art, are filled with revealing details. This selection of 208 letters -- most never published before -- provide new and vivid insights into this complex, intensely private woman."--JACKET.

THE HAMMOCK: A novel based on the true story of French painter James Tissot portrays ten remarkable years in the life of James Tissot (1836-1902), who rebuilt - and then lost - his reputation in London. THE HAMMOCK is a psychological portrait, exploring the forces that unwound the career of this complex man. Based on contemporary sources, the novel brings Tissot's world alive in a story of war, art, Society glamour, love, scandal, and tragedy.

Fall in love with these funny, striking, and surreal pups. William Wegman's whimsical photographs of his Weimaraner dogs have been celebrated in the art world and enjoyed by pet lovers for nearly four decades. In this entirely new volume, renowned photography curator William A. Ewing presents more than 300 images from the artist's personal archive, unearthing previously unseen gems alongside the iconic images that have made Wegman—along with dressed-up dogs Man Ray, Fay Ray, and others—beloved worldwide. Presented in sixteen thematic chapters, William Wegman: Being Human foregrounds the photographer's penchant for play and his evergreen ability to create images that are at once funny, striking, and surreal. Audiences of all ages will fall in love—for the first time, or all over again—with Wegman and his friends.

"Engravings for the people" a fresh appraisal of the printmakers Currier & Ives and their vision of America Currier & Ives was a powerhouse of 19th-century publishing and had an immeasurable influence on American visual culture. Founded in New York in 1834 by Nathaniel Currier, the company expanded to include a new partner, James Merritt Ives, after 1857. Currier & Ives produced millions of affordably priced copies of over 7,000 original lithographs, living up to its self-appointed title as "The Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints." The firm took advantage of New York City's booming arts culture in the latter half of the 19th century, but its output was not seen as fine art by critics, nor was it intended as such. Its prints were first and foremost commodities; the choice subjects often determined by popularity and sales figures. Currier & Ives perpetuated Victorian ideals in its depictions of family, history, politics and urban and suburban life. But these prints also served as an important record of a nation in the midst of an extraordinary transformation from a rural and agricultural landscape to an industrialized and urbanized global power. Along with their popular appeal, Currier & Ives's images offer a new opportunity to uncover the complexities and contradictions of our history and help shape our understanding of America's past.