This book is a wonderful introduction to the subject of encaustic art. I am a professional artist but new to this technique so I was looking for something really thorough with photo examples, art materials and simple guidance on setting up an encaustic studio. This book offers everything I could want and more. It even includes a section on safety recommendations that is most welcome since some of the materials used in encaustic are toxic and should be handled carefully. Overall an excellent and inspiring book for artists to explore new territory or add to their current knowledge of an ancient, beautiful technique.

This is a superb spiritual classic and the descriptive notes that introduce each section of the book are very helpful in establishing the context. It's hard to review something this profound so I'll just say that this edition is an excellent setting for a profound spiritual gem.

The exquisite book is an exquisite idea that was adapted from the surrealist technique of 'the exquisite corpse'.

Wikipedia defines it as: Exquisite corpse (also known as exquisite cadaver or rotating corpse) is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g. "The adjective noun adverb verb the adjective noun") or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed."

This book is a very enjoyable extension of the idea using contributions from 100 artists, each using the horizon line from the previous composition in the string. They were only allowed to see the composition of the preceding piece and no others so each artist makes his own contribution and the results are very interesting. This approach makes for a delightful art book that will continue to offer a new experience every time it is picked up. I'll be returning to it again very soon.

For anyone interested in the art of the 20th century and the Dadaists and Surrealists in particular, this book offers a very unique view of their lives from the perspective of a child born to one of the undisputed masters of art, Max Ernst, during the rise of the Nazis and the war time tribulations of the last century. Jimmy Ernst's point of view is both critical and sympathetic and the book reads like an adventure novel. These are memoirs that have both historical and entertainment value.