This is the final volume of a bibliography that had been in existence since 1974, its annual issue devoted to publications of the previous year. Why, one wonders, did the final volume not see the light of day until ten years later? The answer, one assumes, has to do with the change in computer programs that accompanied the absorption of the library that published it into the workflow of the Federal Republic. Although coverage for the year 1990 ceased in early October for newspapers and at the end of the month for journals, the number of listings (3,973) is hardly less than it had been for the previous year (4,059). They fall mainly into two categories: geographical and personal names. There are two indexes (author/short title and places/keyword). [sh/sl]

 

This bibliography, which was originally planned as part of a history of art in Saxony (the plans for which have presumably been shelved), picks up where the Bibliographie zur sächsischen Kunstgeschichte (1960) left off. The earlier work covered about 7,400 titles from the 18th century to 1954, but with emphasis on the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The work under review includes close to 10,000 titles published through 1996. (The increased number is explained in part by an expansion of what is covered under the rubric "art history," but also by an increased volume in publishing.) Both scholarly and popular publications are listed, but newspaper articles and very short pamphlets are not.

The bibliographic material is divided into eight chapters: general; monuments; architecture; galleries, museums, and collections; sculpture; painting and graphic arts; applied art; individuals, offices, and institutions. All but the first chapter are organized chronologically, making browsing very difficult and forcing the user to rely on the various indexes (author, place, artist, subject). Nonetheless, this is a useful bibliography, in spite of these reservations. [sh/sl]

 

Karasch's guide, aimed primarily at students of Freiburg University, emphasizes collections that would be readily accessible to this group of users, and in any case covers only published collections. In order of perceived interest (though not of usefulness) she first discusses digital collections (both CD-ROM- and web-based), then microfiche sets and print resources. The coverage of web collections is extremely selective, leaving out fee-based sites, projects under construction, and all but a few specialized collections (such as Synagogen in Deutschland and Images of France, 1811-1830, included as examples of a much larger class of resources). This leaves a small number of broad-based sites, such as Germany's Bildarchiv zur Kunst und Kultur, France's Joconde and Agence photographique, and the USA's Amico (the latter two allow non-subscribers to view only thumb-nail-sized reproductions of the works included in the database).

Each resource receives a description that begins with the address and includes remarks on history, scope, and organization for access, plus detailed search examples--a particular strength of this publication. The indexes at the end of the volume, providing access to the collections by country, form and genre, are also very helpful. Karasch has produced here an excellent, student-oriented guide that will be informative and helpful to users far beyond the boundaries of Freiburg. It is also being continually updated; the latest version can be found at the Internet address given above. [jp/gw]

 

The three volumes above document exhibition catalogs of pictorial art, excluding architecture and crafts. The catalogs are arranged by location, then chronologically, with details about the exhibitions, followed by information about the artists. The volume that covers the war years includes, in addition to the 400 catalogs that have been examined, 2,000 announcements of exhibitions for which there were no catalogs. The first volume includes persecuted artists other than those exhibited. The balance between information about the exhibitions and information about the artists shifts among the three volumes. The first two volumes give little biographical information; in the third, information about the artists predominates. Of special interest are little-known artists who are less well represented in standard reference sources. All three volumes have long introductions and are available on CD-ROM, as well (ISBN 3-932124-66-9: DM 56.00; ISBN 3-89739-054-X: DM 60.00; ISBN 3-89739-053-X: DM 48.00). [sh/mrh]

 

Since German reunification in 1991, much attention and discussion has been focused on the task of restoring and restructuring the cultural monuments of Berlin, including the state museums, archives, and libraries that are components of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz [Prussian Cultural Foundation] or SPK. They contain important collections of European and non-European cultural artifacts, which are housed all over Berlin, but primarily in several museum complexes, including the renowned Museum Island in the former East Berlin.

This weighty and richly illustrated volume offers an excellent overview of all of the institutions and collections that belong to the SPK today, along with the manner in which they are structured and housed. Each of the 23 collections is described in a separate section that briefly summarizes its history, its most recent reorganization (especially the bringing together of parts of the collection from East and West Berlin), and its current location, followed by an opulent selection of illustrations of its high points. In a simple and attractive format, the work succeeds in providing an introduction to the diversity of these collections to readers who do not necessarily have any previous knowledge of them. The richness of the illustrations is particularly effective in conveying the breadth and depth of the treasures held in the state cultural institutions of Berlin. [ak/akb]

 

Little has been substantially revised in this updated and expanded edition; a notable exception is the article about Rothenburg ob der Tauber. In the Dehio tradition, most of the entries are short and factual, arranged by place, but there are longer entries devoted to Bamberg, Nürnberg, and Würzburg. Glossaries, maps, and an index of artists conclude the volume. This is a classic "Dehio" in the best sense, a reference work to artistic monuments of Franconia that will long be useful. [ak/mrh]

 

This second edition appeared only six years after the first one, reflecting the rapid rate of change in Berlin. The current edition will soon be outdated as well, as a redistricting of the administrative units of the city is pending.

After an introduction (historical essays by Felix Fischer and Helmut Engel) comes the list of artistic monuments, followed by maps that show their locations. An overview of museums and collections, and very useful indexes of artists, objects, and streets conclude the volume. [ak/mrh]

 

The series on German cultural monuments founded by Georg Dehio in the early 1900s has seen numerous revisions. The last volumes to describe the art and architecture of Brandenburg were those covering Neubrandenburg, Rostock, Berlin (1968), German Democratic Republic (GDR) Berlin and Potsdam (1983), as well as Cottbus and Frankfurt/Oder (1987). This latest version covers artistic monuments of today's state of Brandenburg with detailed plans and illustrations, organized by place. The region is well known for its late medieval sacred Gothic brick buildings, including a number of Cistercian monasteries. The importance for the modern era of the Prussian royal monuments in Potsdam and the Sanssouci palace is reflected in a single overarching entry, separately organized and indexed to allow a clear overview of the various monuments there. Representing the 20th century is a relatively brief entry for Eisenhüttenstadt, a socialist utopian town planned during the GDR era. The volume brings the information up to date and expands the notion of a monument to include entire cities or complexes. As in all the revised Dehio editions, this one includes an index of artists, a glossary, and maps. [ak/hsb]

 

Another revised volume in the same series founded by Georg Dehio. Like Brandenburg, the region is famous for its medieval gothic brick churches and Cistercian monasteries. Mecklenburg also features port and merchant cities along the Baltic Sea. The Middle Ages and the 19th century dominate with remarkable castles and university buildings. The revision has extended, deepened and better organized the entries of the original Dehio edition and enriched it with index, glossary, and numerous maps. [ak/hsb]

 

For the monuments of the present-day state of Saxony-Anhalt, the volumes of the GDR Dehio covering the districts of Magdeburg (1974) and Halle (1976) were republished without changes in 1990. The revised first volume (District of Magdeburg) will probably not be published until 2002. Volume 2 appeared in 1999. This revision is still based on older texts, but they have all been checked for validity, and new research has been incorporated and additions and new drawings carried out. Many new monuments from the 19th and 20th centuries have been added. For example, the entry on Dessau and its suburbs has increased from 8 to 34 pages, and many plan drawings have been added; Wörlitz increased from 5 to 18 pages. The Dessau-Wörlitz garden complex is also treated for the first time as a large, unified cultural monument, with a two-page entry and a map. (The complex was first identified as such in 1997, and it has been on the Unesco world heritage list since 2000.) All in all this volume fits in with the other newest Dehio revisions. It closes with an index of artists, a glossary, and maps, and also a list of places based on the old local borders. It is to be hoped that volume 1 for Saxony-Anhalt will soon follow and be of the same quality. [ak/gh]

 

Das grosse Bilderbuch is a special reprint of a work first published in 1996. Werner Klemke (1917-1994) is considered one of the greatest graphic artists of East Germany. The volume features examples of Klemke's graphic work, arranged under the following categories and chapters: children's books, periodicals, everyday graphics, political graphics, and book illustrations.

The second chapter contains almost exclusively reproductions of cover-page graphics for the periodical Das Magazin. There is therefore an overlap with the second volume discussed here, as it contains reproductions of all the cover-page graphics Klemke produced for the journal. They are arranged in chronological order and framed by an introduction by Martina Rellin, chief editor of Das Magazin since 1994, and by reproductions of illustrated texts that Klemke had prepared for the periodical. [sh/ba]

 

Much more than a spin-off of the same publisher's Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (AKL), this work covers over 160 authors from 24 countries and all 5 continents. This, the first volume, includes over 1,900 artists who lived up to 700 CE in the Mediterranean region and in areas once occupied by Greece or Rome. The signed articles vary from a few lines to several columns in length and contain bibliographic references (though they are sometimes very scanty). This is an important supplement to the AKL and one hopes that, when completed, it will be folded into the digital version of the larger work. [sh/sl]

 

The literal translation of "bande dessinée" (BD) is "drawn strip." Gaumer and Moliterni's Dictionnaire Mondial de la Bande Dessinée offers "comics" (p. 50). The Collins-Robert French-English Dictionary gives "comic strip" as the American translation, but "comic book" or "graphic novel" better evoke the scope of BD today--a vast field of publication and artistic endeavor. For all but a rapidly growing corps of connoisseurs, in the US these terms might evoke childhood favorites like the Marvel superheroes or Snoopy, while other countries take their BD very seriously. Trésors de la Bande Dessinée provides an appropriately erudite definition for BD: "Sequences and series of drawings, generally accompanied by text (although not necessarily), relating in a fragmented manner a story which unfolds chronologically from one image to the next without interrupting the continuity of the narrative. The text, reduced to a secondary role, is subordinate to the image and not the inverse. BD is also the art of depicting movement by means of a series of static images" (p. 7). The editors of Dictionnaire Mondial de la Bande Dessinée (for a review of the previous edition see RREA 6:165) define BD broadly as continuous stories that unfold frame by frame, reflecting the work's emphasis on the depth and variety of the genre.

Trésors de la Bande Dessinée (TBD) and Dictionnaire Mondial de la Bande Dessinée (DMBD), a complementary reference work on the topic, trace the evolution of BD from its low-brow roots in subcultures and younger audiences to the form's global development as a respected art form. Taken together, the DMBD and TBD have a great deal to offer libraries interested in collecting in the areas of global popular culture and graphic art.

In over 2,050 entries by hundreds of contributors, the DMBD seeks to provide a global, encyclopedic overview of BD "beyond Mickey Mouse, ... as a means of expression, way of seeing, feeling, and a system of meaning, the 9th art." (p. v). The bulk of the DMBD consists of a continuous alphabetical organization of several types of entries including personalities (artists, writers, editors, organizers of fanzines and conferences); titles and series; characters and themes; and technical terms. Amply illustrated in black-and-white, entries take a standard format including entry title, entry type, dates (for a person, birth and death, for a character or publication, first and last appearance), characters' and publications' creator (artist or editor), country of origin, and historical description. Particularly useful to the uninitiated are entries on technical terms such as "phylactère" [= balloon; cf. OED, s. v. phylactery, 4], thoroughly explained and their historical development traced with cross-references to other entries, indicated with an asterisk in the text; and an index at the end of the volume pointing to page and column. Interspersed in short sections throughout the text is a chronological, full-color narrative on the development of BD (first the early years, then by decade). These well-written segments are poorly integrated into the rest of the work: they are not included in the system of cross-references, index, or pagination. Bibliographic references in the DMBD are less than complete, perhaps inevitable in an often underground genre where ephemera such as ads, fliers, and self-published zines are common. Overall, the DMBD provides an excellent overview of a rapidly-evolving subject whose scope is difficult to pin down.

Trésors de la Bande Dessinée is an annual publication that has evolved to fit the need for an up-to-date reference covering both specialized and acquisitions information for French-language BD: a sort of BD almanac or antiquarian buyer's guide. TBD, which began publication in 1979, is limited in scope to BD edited in francophone countries. With an audience including everyone from the professional curator to the amateur collector, TBD includes a mix of different types of materials, from a lexicon of BD terminology to a specialized bibliography of monographs on BD. The bulk of the work is composed of an annual inventory of 35,000 works published from 1829 to present, divided into types of publications such as "Albums," "Advertising," and "Periodicals." Sparsely illustrated in black-and-white, the pages provide basic publication and price information for each entry. Beginning with the 2000/2001 edition, only those serials continuing or ceased during 1998-2000 are included (in the past the entire list was updated and reproduced each year). Other annual sections include updated lists of editors, distributors, comics stores, festivals, and professional associations in francophone countries. Since 1983, TBD has also published a unique annual retrospective chapter, the 2000/2001 contribution being an essay and 12-page annotated bibliography of "Comix d'expression française," or francophone counterculture BD from 1960 to the present. While TBD does include some advertising, the ads fit well into a focus on market information, and do not detract from the work. Subject and advertiser indexes are included, but the table of contents provides the best access to the entries. The 2000/2001 change in coverage indicates that TBD is just growing into its niche as an annual publication: a forthcoming web site will provide retrospective access to superseded material.

It would be difficult for a single reference work to provide definitive information on such a rapidly evolving genre as BD. The DMBD and TBD are best described as complementary works: one presenting a compelling and reasonably comprehensive global overview, the other providing exhaustive and up-to-date information on BD in the francophone world. Taken together, these two will provide both narrative overview of the genre and ready-reference and acquisitions information on a rapidly evolving form. While neither approaches comprehensive coverage of the genre worldwide, this is mainly due to the nature of the material. Much of BD production worldwide continues to occur on a small scale and within particular subcultures. While each new BD reference work might shed more light on the genre's past, the future and worldwide scope of BD remains a moving target. These two works, one encyclopedic, the other annual, are a good starting point for a library just beginning to collect in BD, or expanding the scope of its collections beyond works published in English.

Sarah McDaniel (University of California at Berkeley)

 

In spite of its title, this work is devoted not just to sculpture and installations, but also to painting, photography, happenings, video art, and even to comics. It covers approximately 14,000 artists worldwide from the beginning of the 20th century to today. In addition, there are about 500 entries for places, movements, styles, and art dealers. The articles on individual artists are for the most part short, though several columns are sometimes devoted to famous artists (most of them French); in addition to the usual factual information, they include evaluative comments. Large libraries will want this work for the convenience it offers in quickly identifying lesser known artists, but it is a very personal book in a field in which there is no shortage of reference works. [sh/sl]

 

The third, significantly-expanded edition of this comprehensive German-language lexicon of graffiti "art" was first published in 1993. It provides up-to-date information on pertinent individuals, groups, places (cities, streets, squares, buildings), techniques, concepts, etc. Without neglecting the rest of the world, the emphasis is on German-speaking Europe. Since most of the numerous illustrations are of recent origin and overlap only partly with those of earlier editions, libraries interested in preserving the historical record prior to the most recent scrubbing of its toilet stalls should hold onto the earlier editions. [sh/sl]

 

A carefully prepared introduction to this catalog of published graphic art held by the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg (best known for its collection of panel paintings) is given in both English and German. The publication dates of the collection range from 1903 to 1932 (with a marked emphasis on the period 1919-1932). The collection itself includes almost 6,500 works by close to 500 artists contained in over 500 portfolios, books, and magazines--all published in Germany. The catalog is divided into two sections: the first by artist (with detailed descriptions of each work), the second by title of the portfolios and magazines. There are five indexes (artist, title, publisher, etc.). The scale of the collection and detail of the descriptions assure this reference work its place along with comparable catalogs. [sh/sl]