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Artists And Work

FRANK DUVENECK -- ARTIST AND TEACHER by Josephine W. Duveneck; John Howell -- Books; $25.   
                 
Frank Duveneck, a 19th century American painter who won international recognition as an artist and teacher, vanished on his death from public awareness, despite the fact that his works hang in the National Gallery of Art and 50 other American Museums. 
 
This book, one of the few biographies of Frank Duveneck, is by his daughter-in-law and is based on family letters, papers and sketch books plus personal recollections. 

One suspects that the present lack of public awareness of Duveneck is due to the fact that he was a very decent, gentle, generous man who did not seek personal fame or fortune in his own time and concerned himself not at all with gaining personal immortality. 

The book does, however, present a very interesting picture of a native genius born on the frontier of America's Middle West and his move to the sophisticated worlds of New England and Europe. Duveneck accomplished the improbable in raising himself from the life styles of Covington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, to a recognized position in Europe's artistic world. 

A word should be said about the physical appearance of the book, a fine example of private press work. The cover design in red and gold is striking. There are 24 pages, 7 x 10 1/4, of which there are 55 black and white plates, and 4 plates in full color. Design and printing are by San Francisco's Lawton and Alfred Kennedy which explains the physcial beauty of the book. 

--Frank McPeak

IMPRESSIONISTS AND IMPRESSIONS by Maria and Godfrey Blunden; World; $50.

The authors of this yet-another book on the Impressionists have adopted the scheme of Time-Life in its series of art books.

There are two separate texts. One is in large type and it is the more superficial of the two, concentrating on the historical context of Impressionism and the personal lives of the artists. The other text, in smaller type, digs more deeply into the art itself. 

To complicate things further, there is a series of quotations in very large type, from various commentators contemporary with the rise of Impressionism.

All three are intermingled and intertwined so that it is virtually impossible to read straight through the book, on any level, without falling into confusion. Probably the book is not intended to be read continuously but rather, judging from its size and price, to be left on the coffee table as a symbol of conspicuous consumption, to be dipped into now and again. 

The main value of the book of course is the illustrations. There are about 400 of them, many in color. The reproduction seems generally to be very fine. While there are a good many illustrations of famous and little-known paintings, not every landmark work is included. Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon On the Island of the Grand Jatte" is discussed but not shown. Ditto Degas' figurines. The same for Monet's haystacks. 

--Charles Johnson

ART TREASURES OF THE VATICAN LIBRARY by Georg Daltrop and Adriano Prandi; Abrams; $25. 

After reading this book (or rather, after looking at its beautiful illustrations) one begins to wonder if the introduction of realism into Western art during the Renaissance was progress or a step backward. 

Except for the graceful work of Greece and its Roman imitators, most of the objects in the Vatican Library are from the so-called Dark Ages and the Gothic era. 

The vitality of these periods in Christian art is breathtaking. One can easily see from this book why the Cubists turned to African primitive art and the early art of Europe for images with strength to sweep away the last of 19th century convention. 

The works examined are generally small, precious objects -- ivory carvings, cameos, silver and glass vessels, enamel work and goldsmithy. 

The text is scholarly without being pedantic. 

--Charles Johnson

For Zoology Buffs

For those with a serious interest in vertebrate behavior--and only for them--is a collection of 14 essays by British zoologist Desmond Morris and published by McGraw-Hill under the title "Patterns of Reproductive Behavior." It is priced at $12.95.

Page 122      THE SACREMENTO BEE, Sunday, January 31, 1