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Title: Small Wonder: Worlds in a Box (American Scene (Washington, D.C.), 4,) by David Levinthal, David Corey, National Museum of American Art (U.S.) ISBN: 1-881616-39-8 Publisher: Distributed Art Publishers Pub. Date: July, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Fine art photography - not some toy collector' price guide!
Comment: The only flaw with Small Wonder is that the text is about toys, which gives toy collectors the idea that Levinthal is an illustrator of books on toys. If you bought this book just to compliment your toy collection, you need to go through the book again, ignoring the text, and really look at the photographs.
I would have given Small Wonder 5 stars, were it not for David Corey's text. However, the book only grants around 25 pages to Corey's text, out of the 160 total, and it is still well worth buying. I've had the book for a few months, and I still pick it up to see a certain few photos over and over.
Rating: 4
Summary: The irony is that nobody sees the irony....
Comment: This book was intended to be a critical, artistic examination of the traditional American society of the 50's and 60's as viewed from children's playsets of that period. Ironically, it has become immensely popular among toyset collectors who either ignore, or disagree with, the critical introduction.
It is the marvelously posed and photographed Marx playsets that steal the show (Roman, western, Civil War, circus, jungle, WW2, space, etc.) The social comentary has been totally eclipsed by the pure nostalgia value. I know that is why I bought it....
Rating: 4
Summary: Wonderful photos
Comment: If you recall with fondness the great old Louis Marx & Co. playsets of the 1950's & '60s then this book is a must. David Levinthal's color photographs are superb, bringing life to these little plastic people and animals at their eye-level, much as we saw and remember them when we were kids.
The color photographic layouts of various playsets are divided into three chapters. "Our World" contains great shots of the Marx Dollhouse, Skyscraper, Schoolhouse, Boyscouts, Jetport, Service Station, and "The Untouchables" playsets. The "World of War" chapter highlights the various Marx WWII, Civil War, Revolutionary War, Alamo, Frontier and Western playsets. "Other Worlds" concludes the book with images from the "Ben-Hur," Robin Hood, Jungle and Circus playsets. This is one of the most imaginative coffee-table photography books I've seen in ages.
Now comes my only negative comment which robbed this otherwise superb book of one star. David Corey's introduction leaves a lot to be desired. While it provides some historical information on Louis Marx and his company there really isn't enough info to satisfy the knowledge-seeking reader. The overblow and pretentious text contrasts sharply with Levinthal's photos injecting cynasism and misplaced intellectualism with photographs of a child's world where that kind of drivel has no place.
Corey's self-serving intro is a bit bizarre to say the least. He writes, "The service-station attendant in my playset was in some ways as tragic as Oedipus, as confined by time, place and action to his inescapable destiny, while I, like the Athenian spectator - or better still, the demiurge - could contemplate the conditions of..." What the heck is he talking about? This book celebrates children's playsets for crying out loud! Buy the book for the pictures and enjoy the great memories it brings back.
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Title: Barbie Millicent Roberts : An Original by Valerie Steele ISBN: 0375404252 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 20 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Americans by Robert Frank, Jack Kerouac ISBN: 3931141802 Publisher: Scalo Verlag Ac Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: The Wild West: Photographs by David Levinthal (Photographers at Work) by David Levinthal, Constance Sullivan ISBN: 1560982918 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: David Levinthal: Modern Romance by David Levinthal, Eugenia Parry ISBN: 0967174414 Publisher: St Ann's Press Pub. Date: 24 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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