Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) [Hardcover]

From the minute I opened this book I felt the need to start creating. I love her work, The Principles of Uncertainty is in my all time top ten, and The Elements of Style have style to spare with her illustrations. And don't miss the blogs she's done for the New York Times.

The beauty of this particular book is that it covers years of her work and more details of her life. It's simply wonderful and I can't tell you how much it's worth owning and being able to pick up and enjoy any time.

I usually go on for paragraphs in review, but really, it's a book you have to hold and open and look at for yourself. Incidentally, if you are familiar with the Max books, and some of her intelligently, but wildly sane, loopy drawings, take a look at some of the work here - she can draw the way you are "supposed" to do it - thank goodness she draws the way Maira Kalman sees the world. My heart is full from reading it - and I'm out of words. A book to love and treasure - that covers it.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I write this. Gratitude that I know of Maira Kalman, and that this book exists.

This is my favorite of all books by or about Maira. Ever since I happened upon "The Principles of Uncertainty" -- that very first entry that begins with an angel (an angel!) and Hallelujah... Which sang right to the depth of my heart and offered page down after page down of sheer rapture... Remember the image of the helicopter that took Bush away on Inauguration Day, with the caption ... "at last"... That blog entry is one of the greatest cultural discoveries of my life. The joyous merging of personal and political, playful & astute absolutely had me by the heart and I was in heaven. I followed breathlessly as blogs followed about Lincoln, the judicial system, Alice Waters... Thrill after thrill.

When I discovered Maira, I became voracious and bought and ate up all her work. What I love about this book in particular, first of all, is its formatting. The size is larger than I expected from the Amazon preview (10.5 x 8.8). The illustrations are perfect size, not too blown out nor too small to see. There is a nice pacing, usually 2 images per spread, not overwhelming, offering perfect detail in sumptuous color. This process could have gone wrong at one of many points, but the paper, the printing, the color, everything has turned out perfectly (we can all probably recall books on beloved artists where the color is ever so slightly off, but enough to make them unpalatable). The paper is also FSC certified, which I appreciate. Nice heavy semi-gloss stock. A+ on printing.

The text is by Ingrid Schaffner of the Institute of Contemporary art at UPenn. Not too much text. Perfect. Loved what she had to say. Not too academic or effete. Approachable. There are also contributions by other curators that are similarly engaging. The copy is nicely woven into the spreads around the images. The book is mostly about displaying the images, with the copy helping, adding detail, illuminating the story of how an illustration came about.

Truly a marvel of a book on all counts.

It's really an exhibition catalog, so besides reproductions of illustrations, embroidery, textiles and other 2-d work by Maira, the book also includes photos of the installations, where objects from Maira's studio participate in creating a space of discovery and whimsy.

My favorite images (though nearly impossibly hard to choose a favorite) would be one of the embroideries on p. 30: "My rigid heart is tenderly unmanned" ... it's a most beautiful creation, as I'm sure you can imagine.

The variety of characters that fill Maira's world are personas that may otherwise be seen as geeks or losers or old farts. { :) } She portrays them with so much love that I am absolutely flabbergasted. Goose bumps cover me as I turn page after page. There is so much love here. So much compassion. Old fat women with gigantic skewed bows in their hair, a dead man, the grevious and stoic Pina Bausch (god rest her most beautiful soul) appears with her eyes closed, perhaps a hint to her rich inner world and restless spirit. And then we have Matisse... And Matisse is pictured from his (fat, fat) back, facing a buxom woman, and of course the woman is wearing a hat... There is so much joy and love here, and so much that will reach out to people of all walks of life. Thank you to UPenn and to all involved in putting together this volume. Most of all, gratitude, love, and right now, happy tears, to beautiful, beautiful Maira. If you read this, Maira, I love you.

Having followed Kalman's work in the New York Times, I found this book simply wonderful. Her creations often look simple and even primitive, but I know that if I tried to copy one of her pictures, I'd produce a hopeless mess instead of her graphically sophisticated art. From a kitchen sink to impressionistic "copies" of famous artworks, every painting is a treasure. If only my life had the simplicity, humor, style, and brilliance of Maira Kalman's work....

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