Best Selling Books by Royal Ontario Museum

A catalogue of 200 copper, bronze and iron tools (mostly axes) from Continental Europe and the Mediterranean. This is the most wide-ranging collection of such material in North America with samples from c.3000 BC to AD 600. Detailed descriptions, full bibliography, photographs and selected line drawings.

The Bernard & Sylvia Ostry Collection has helped to establish the Royal Ontario Museum Toronto as the most significant repository of early 20th century decorative arts in Canada and one of the premier institutions in this area of collecting in North Ameri

"The objects described and depicted range from late Classical and Byzantine examples to art nouveau and art deco statuettes for the early 20th century. The pride of the collection, however, consists of Renaissance and Baroque statuettes representing the development of the art in Italy, German, France, the Netherlands, Spain and England."--Jacket.

Publ. in concunction with the exhibition of the same name, which will be on view at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, from 16 Nov. 1989 to 6 Aug. 1990

This catalogue traces black-glaze'' ceramics from the early Ionion cups'', through the true black-glaze'' of Classical Athens and its derivatives, to Roman Republican Campana wares and other Greek and Italian pots with added paint, including Gnathia ware. In his descriptions and introduction the author shows how disparate the types commonly referred to as black glaze'' really are. The 295 examples are well illustrated in line drawings and b/w photos.

This book of landscape and genre paintings by the 19th-century Korean artist Gisan documents traditional daily life in Korea around 1900. Gisan worked in Korean port cities and as a result his work was disseminated and sold internationally. In fact, the number of his works in North American and European collections far surpasses that found in Korea. Korea Around 1900 includes 27 poster-format paintings from the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum as well as 23 small-format paintings from the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, Netherlands. The ink-and-colour paintings depict a vanished Korea of pastoral landscapes, traditional customs and costume, and the rhythm of the seasons.

The seven-hundred year period beginning with the Six Dynasties and ending with the Five Dynasties may be likened to a germination stage in Chinese ceramics. Styles and techniques developed during those centuries made possible the incomparable excellence of Sung Dynasty stonewares which followed.--Introduction.

An exploration of the arctic sky--its constellations, legends and mythology, the sun, moon, planets, and ''shooting stars, '' as well as atmospheric phenomena such as aurora borealis. Combining interviews with the Inuit elders and the historical records of arctic explorers and other keen observers, The Arctic Sky is a guided tour of the arctic universe.

"The ancient storytelling and picture-making traditions of the Ojibway (Anishinaubae) people find new expression in the myths and legends collected by Basil Johnston and illustrated with vibrant contemporary native art." "In celebration of these traditions, The Star-Man brings together legends told by current narrators Basil Johnston, Sam Ozawamik, and Frank Shawbedees with others told by Jonas George, of the Rama First Nation, early this century. The tales are exquisitely illustrated by Ken Syrette of the Batchewana First Nation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The first comprehensive overview of Matsubara''s work and includes more than 200 prints, from her earliest to her most recent works, covering the development of her work from organic forms based in nature to bold geometric and abstract designs.

FR-RARE-BK (copy 3): Gift of Diana M. Schatz from the Norah and Roland Michener collection.

The 1950s were the golden years of haute couture, captured by iconic images of glamorous models wearing dramatic clothes. Yet the real women who wore these clothes adapted them to suit their own tastes, altered them to extend their life, and often could not bear to part with them long after the dresses had outlived their use. This gorgeously illustrated book demonstrates why so many of these designs are still in existence and why we are fascinated by them fifty years later. Couture and Commerce investigates how and why postwar couture fashion was important in its own day. The Paris couture houses survived due to the enthusiasm of the North American fashion press and commercial buyers. Alexandra Palmer traces the European haute couture trade with North America by following actual surviving couture dresses from the design house sketch, through the model used in New York fashion shows and as a template for copies and knock-offs, and finally to the consumer. Couture and Commerce is a remarkable mixture of accessible text, color photographs of the original garments, design house sketches and photographs, retailers’ advertisements, and society page images. Weaving together analysis of the clothes and interviews with those who traded, sold, and wore couture, Alexandra Palmer vividly recreates the 1950s fashion world.

"The present volume attempts to make known in published form the fine ethnological material from New Guinea and adjacent islands held by the Royal Ontario Museum, and the peoples who made these items."--Introduction.

Throughout history people have been captivated by the exploration of civilizations foreign to their own familiar sights and sounds. Nowhere is this more evident than in the exhibition Silk Roads--China Ships, which unveils objects that chronicle the cultural, economic, political, and social effects of trade between the Orient and the West through nineteen centuries.--pg. vi.

Most of the 111 pieces described and illustrated (with line drawings) in this catalogue come from Roman London. As the author points out, the proportion of decorated samian ware from Gaulish mints represented in the ROM collection supports the Museum of London''s estimation that almost 65% came from South Gaul and the minority (30% from Central Gaul, 5% from East Gaul) came from the factories represented here.