During the spring of 2004 the Minneapolis Institute of Arts held an exhibition of Roman mythological figures and portraits from the Miller Collection, an important American private collection of Roman sculpture. This richly illustrated volume presents the catalogue, comprising thirty-one portrait heads, funerary reliefs of people and animals, and mythical figures and beasts. Each work of art is presented in a full-page colour photograph with a facing description and discussion. Richard Brilliant's introductory discussion considers the collector's vision of his friend Dr Miller while Sheree Jaros introduces the catalogue itself.

This volume celebrates the half-century mark in the career of America's most popular living artist. Here, for the first time in one book, one can see the full depth and range of the art of LeRoy Neiman: his homages to the Old Masters; his rendering of urban life, the sporting life, the high life of cafes, discos, and cocktails, and the leisure life in the resorts of Europe and America. Also included is an impressive array of portraits of people in the public eye. Here through the vision of LeRoy Neiman is the whole panoply of the icons and entertainments of our time. More than 330 color plates - the most in-depth look at the work of LeRoy Neiman to date - show the rich variety of his subject matter, the evolution and continuities of his style, and offer a stunning portrait of modern life in postwar America.

The common building practice of re-using perfectly good pieces of marble and other fitted and often carved pieces of stone is the subject of this fascinating group of 12 essays by an international group of art and architectural historians. The volume opens with an essay by Arnold Esch (emeritus, Deutsches Historsches Institut, Rome), who was the first to draw attention to the use of spolia as a worthwhile topic of study. Other essay topics include the complex symbolism of reused Hindu temple carvings in the Qutb mosque in Delhi, by Finbarr Barry Flood (New York U.); the current clashes over the religious meaning of the same mosque, by Mrinalini Rajagopalan (U. of Pittsburgh); the reuse of classical gems in the Middle Ages, by Dale Kinney (emeritus, Bryn Mawr College); appropriation as an art form in postmodernism, by Donald Kuspit (emeritus, Stony Brook U.); and a refreshingly frank essay by Michael Greenhalgh (emeritus, Australian National U., Canberra) on the glib tendency of art historians to ascribe meaning to the use of spolia absent supporting evidence. The volume is well-illustrated with b&w plates. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)