Illuminations: A Bestiary by Rosamund Wolff Purcell, Stephen Jay Gould (review)

even one full-colour reproduction of Guernica. ILLUMINATIONS: A BESTIARY by Rosamund Wolff Purcell and Stephen Jay Gould. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., London, U.K., 1988. 120 pp., illus. Paper, £14.95/$26.00. ISBN: 0-393-30436-1. This is a book to keep and to thumb through whenever a reminder is needed of how art and science can combine to inform richly and to enthrall . Gould's text bounds joyously through the corridors of natural history, illuminated at every turn by Wolff's compelling photographs. The images of stuffed animals, skeletons and fossils are brilliantly interpreted and discussed in an imaginationstretching dissertation on the wonders of life, presenting a fascinating synthesis of art, design, science and philosophy. 20TH CENTURY DRAWINGS FROM THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART by Paul Cummings. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., London, 1988. 176 pp., illus. Trade, £19.95/$36.00. ISBN: 0-393-02483-0. From one of the largest collections in the world, 80 major works have been chosen to demonstrate the diversity of invention and imagination of modern American draftsmen and -women. Ranging in style from social realism to geometric abstraction, and in time from 190 I to 1984, all are stunningly reproduced (most in full colour) with accompanying texts for each drawing and select bibliographies for each artist. KING HEROD'S DREAM: CAESAREA ON THE SEA by Kenneth G. Holum, Robert L. Hohlfelder, RobertJ. Bull and Avner Raban. W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., London, U.K., 1988. 248 pp., illus. Trade, £22.00/$38.00. ISBN: 0-393-02493-8. Archaeology is the science that strives to provide the facts of our human past, and in doing so it often illumines the present by (literally) uncovering the art, both major and minor, of previous civilizations. Thus it is with Caesarea, one of the richest archaeological sites in Israel. Located on the Mediterranean coast, this urban centre was a port of great vitality , owing its foundation to a Roman satrap of imagination and ambition: in it King Herod embodied his dream city. This is a profusely illustrated volume combining insight and entertainment , science and art. THE MINIATURE WALL PAINTINGS OF THERA by Lyvia Morgan. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 1988.254 pp., illus. Trade, £50.00/$90.00. ISBN: 0-521-24727-6. These delightful miniature wall paintings were preserved, along with the buildings and much of the town now BOOKS RECEIVED called Akrotiri on the Cycladic island of Thera, by being buried in the ash from a catastrophic volcanic eruption about 3500 years ago. Morgan explores this Aegean Bronze Age culture , as revealed through the artistry of its painters, by a painstaking iconographic analysis of the plants, animals , buildings, clothing and festivals depicted in the paintings. The detailed picture that emerges will be of consuming interest to all those interested in the art and culture of ancient Greece and the Aegean islands. THE SAFER ARTS: THE HEALTH HAzARDS OF ARTS AND CRAFTS MATERIALS byJohn R. Harrison and Michael McCann. Minister of National Health and Welfare, Ad Hoc Committee on Health Hazards in Arts and Crafts, Communications Directorate, Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney's Pasture, Ottawa, Ontario, KIA 01.2, Canada. 39 pp. ISBN: 0-662-16091-6. A booklet intended for professionals in the arts as well as the home hobbyist , The Safer Arts is a publication that deals with the specific hazards in painting and printmaking, dyes and fibres, pottery and ceramics, stained glass and glassblowing, metalworking, sculpture, wood, photography along with holloware and enamel artworks. Each art field has a section titled "Understanding Where Hazards Lurk", "Minimizing the Risks" and "Extra Measures". Considering its small number of pages, the booklet is a very informative publication. Arl Kunst 16, International Bibliography ojArl Books, 1987 w'Jaggi AG, Postfach 332, CH-4001 Basel, Switzerland, 1988.200 pp. Paper, 36.00 DM. ISBN: 3-906430-16-2. Arl Nouveau in Munich: Masters oJtheJugendstil, 1895-1910 Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger. Prestel-Verlag, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, 1988. Exh. cat. 176 pp., illus. Paper. ISBN: 0-87633-076-6. Alberto Giacometti, 1901-1906 Valerie J. Fletcher. Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, U.SA, 1988. Exh. cat., 250 pp., illus. Paper...