The Story of Modern Art by Norbert Lynton (review)

More than half the illustrations are in colour and all are carefully placed to illustrate the informativeand enthusiTHESTORY OF MODERN ART astic text. The author has a wide conception of what constitutes ‘art’,and he includes in the new section for this fifteenth edition developments in arby Norbert Lynton.Phaidon Press Ltd., Oxford, U.R, 1989. 400 pp., illus. Paper, f11.50; trade, f19.95. ISBN: @714824224/ISBN: chitecture and photography. 0-71482421-6. h i e w e d byJohn W. Cooper, Pergamon Press, subeditor, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford OX3 OBW, U.K. Perhaps future editions of this volume will be retitled The S t q o f Twentieth-Centwy Art, for this is indeed well on its way to becoming the standard reference work on the period. Yet Lynton weaves a seamlessnarrative, endlesslyentertaining and informative , with none of the stiltednessoften associatedwith history writing. Most important, he fires the reader with an urgent need to go out and look at modern art, to let one’s eyes be the final arbiter. A BiographicalDidonary ofWomen Arlistsin Europe andAmericuSince 1850 Penny Dunford. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, Philadephia, PA 19104,U.S.A., 1989. 340 pp., illus.Trade, $89.95. ISBN: 0-81228230 -2. Abstmct Erp*aSionism:A CriticalRecord David Shapiro and CecileShapiro, eds. CambridgeUniv. Press, Cambridge, U.K., 1990.456pp., illus. Paper, $16.95. ISBN: 0-521-36733-6. Airplayers Sara Garden Armstrong.Willis Locker and Owens, New York, NY,U.S.A., 1990.74pp., illus.Vinyl/paper, $30.00. ISBN: 0-930279-174. AmericanApocu&pse: The Great Fire Ross Miller. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago , IL, U.S.A., 1990.287 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 0-22652599-6. Anthology cfAustraliun Music on Disc: Handbook Michael Noone and Robert Parker, eds. Canberra School of Music, G. P. 0.Box 804,Canberra ACT 2601, Australia, 1989. 120pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 1-875161-015. and the Myth ofchicago BetweenHistoryandLitemture Lionel Gossman.H a m d Univ. Press, Cambridge , MA, U.S.A., 1990.412p ~ . , illus. Trade, $39.95. ISBN: 0-674-6815-7. Gkanne:A Study ofHis Development, reprint Roger Fry. Univ. of Chicago,Chicago,IL, U.S.A., 1989.84 pp., illus.Paper, $12.95. ISBN: 0-2260266443. Computer-Aidedsculpturn J. P. Duncan and K. K. Law. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, NY,U.S.A., 1989. 162pp., illus. Trade, $34.50. ISBN: 0-521363039 . BOOB RECEIVED Computers,Pattern, Cham and Beauty CliffordA. Pickover.St. Martin’sPress, New York, NY,U.S.A., 1990. 394 pp.. illus. Trade, $29.95. ISBN: 0-312-04123-3. Contempom? RussianArtists, exh. cat. Amnon Banel and ClaudiaJolles, eds. Centro per I’Art Contemporanea, Prato, Italy, 1990.208pp.. illus. Paper. ISBN: 888519101 -0. The ContestofMeamng: Critical H W e s of€%obgmphy Richard Bolton, ed. MIT Press, Cambridge , MA, U.S.A., 1990.407pp.. illus. Trade, $35.00.ISBN: 0-262-02288-5. CreativePeopleat W d Howard E. Gruber and Doris B. Wallace, eds. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1989.302 pp., illus.Trade, $29.95. ISBN: 0-19-5056043. Criticson Us, Warsaw, Poland, November 1989, exh. cut. Dariusz Lipskiand Wieslaw, curators. Centre of ContemporaryArt, Warsaw, Poland, 1989.26 pp., illus. Trade. CycladicArt J. Lesley Fitton. Halvard Univ. Press,Cambridge , MA, U.S.A., 1990. 71 pp., illus. Paper, $9.95. ISBN:0-67418035-6. Cymatics,Vds. 1 and 2 HansJenny. BasiliusVerlag, Basel, Switzerland , 1974.365 pp., illus. Trade, Fr 94 (each vol.).ISBN: 345-560-0333. Ecological Communication Niklas Luhmann.John Bednarz, trans. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago,IL, U.S.A., 1989.186pp. Trade, $34.95.ISBN: 0-226-49651-1. Elemenis #Computer Music F. Richard Moore. Prentice-Hall,Englewood Cliffs,NJ 07632, U.S.A., 1990.545 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-13252552-6. EnvisioningInjbnnation Edward R. Tufte. GraphicsPress, P. 0.Box 430, Cheshire, CT 06410, U.S.A., 1990.126 pp., illus.Trade, $48.00. TheHandbook ofArtificial Intelligence, VOl. 4 Avron Barr, Paul R. Cohen and Edward A. Feigenbaum,eds. Addison-Wesley,Menlo Park, CA, U.S.A., 1989.699 pp., illus. Trade, $39.95.ISBN: 0-201-51819-8. TheMash cf Orpheus:Seven Stages in the Stoly ofEuropean Music Wilfrid Mellers. St. Martin’sPress, New York, NY,U.S.A...