Customer Reviews

Artful Players

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Birgitta Hjalmarson's book describes the early art movement in San Francisco, beginning with artist Albert Bierstadt's coming to the young town in 1863. His landscapes of the Yosemite Valley helped to usher in a new American view of art. Covering the years between the American Civil War and the big earthquake of 1906, Hjalmarson introduces the reader to many artists, both male and female, native born and transplants, who helped to shape San Francisco into a major art center in California.

It's full of great information on these artist, including Jules Tavernier, William Kieth, Samuel Marsden Brookes and Grace Carpenter Hudson, and contains some color plates of their works. Hjalmarson also discusses the artists' lifestyles, their patrons and the creation of the San Francisco Art Association. "Artful Players" is an great educational book written in a style that everyone can read and enjoy and is a must for any art history or California history student.

The author has given us an amusing and insightful look at the Art scene and history of the Bay Area and for frosting on the cake given us the location particularly in the Bay area, Monterey and Sacramento the location of Museums which have some of the art described in the book. As history and museum devotees the book will go with us when we visit these places to enhance our pleasure and increase our knowledge of the pictures we are looking at. We have in all probability looked at some of these pictures without comprehension at Sacramento, Oakland, and several museums in SF. The picture the author presents includes meaningful presentations of other related art centers to which the artists went. Excellent small book, a pleasurable read.