Book Review | Wisconsin Supper Club Cookbook by Mary Bergin

In Wisconsin Supper Club Cookbook, author Mary Bergin takes readers on a tour around approximately 40 local supper clubs. She addresses the question of what a supper club is and serves up historical facts in a very palatable manner, incorporating them within chapters on each restaurant. Added fact boxes at the end of select chapters serve to highlight other related notables. Bergin includes several recipes for most of the included establishments, spanning the whole meal from drinks and appetizers to main courses, sides and desserts. You won’t find many healthy or vegan recipes here though. These foods are more about tradition and include some heavy ingredients, but perhaps some at home tweaking will yield a family favorite. Although some great photos are included, an absence of captions make some images hard to decipher. The photo quality leaves many images visually less than appealing and many appear to be amateur shots. In the introduction the author mentions there being over a hundred supper clubs in Wisconsin, but only about 40 are included. A full list would have made for a treat of an appendix. Overall, the book was enjoyable and is recommended to Wisconsinites interested in local tradition and history or out-of-towners wanting to learn about supper club culture. Check out this book from a library near you.

Book Review | The Coast & the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America at the New-York Historical Society by Linda S. Ferber

Previously published by Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Reviews in January 2015.

In addition to serving as an exhibit catalog for part of “Sharing a National Treasure: The Traveling Exhibition Program of the New-York Historical Society”, The Coast & the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America at the New-York Historical Society aims to delve into the visually expressive customs of marine and maritime painting and to demonstrate the connections and relations between them. Works covered range from 1728 to 1904 and focus mainly on happenings at, and evolution of, the New York Harbor. Paintings and text also focus on Naval involvement in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Author Linda S. Ferber is the Senior Art Historian at the New-York Historical Society and previously served as curator. She does a noteworthy job connecting all of the paintings through her guiding narrative. By drawing the reader’s attention to particular aspects of the pieces, Ferber ably links the objects’ artistic and historic backgrounds.

The text can be easily read as a book that recounts a factual series of events, or referenced intermittently as a research piece. It could also serve as an introduction to marine and maritime art, since Ferber concisely explains the concepts. An introduction to the Hudson River School painting movement is also provided.

Color reproductions of over sixty paintings form the core of the volume. Photographs of a handful of maritime objects are also a welcome addition to the text. Often figures and their descriptions are on subsequent pages, which requires the reader to flip back and forth to view the specific aspects of the painting that are being described.

Though the book has a table of contents, it is not very helpful since the main body of the text is listed as a single section without reference to the topical, titled subsections within it. A selected bibliography provides information on a number of sources for additional research. The book’s index is quite thorough and useful, as is the notes section. The thick, glossy pages of this book along with a solid stitched and glued binding make for a physically sound, high quality volume. The jacket and square shape are appealing and appropriate for the content included.

This book would be a suitable reference piece for anyone researching American marine or maritime paintings, New York coastal history or art related to Naval involvement in early American wars.

Helsinki | From Sweden to Italy : Through Eastern Europe on Ferries, Busses, Planes & Trains

Suomenlinna Playground

Series Background: I spent October traveling from Stockholm, Sweden to Rome, Italy. Though I’d been to Italy before, I hadn’t been to the other eight countries I explored – Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia. I’ll try to keep it brief, sticking to the cities I stayed in, their highlights and foods, and how I got around. And maybe a few photos… <Here’s Part 2, all about Helsinki.> <See Part 1, Stockholm.>

Helsinki Cathedral

Kauppatori hot food

Chanterelles at Kauppatori

I arrived in Helsinki by ferry boat from Stockholm. The walk from the port to downtown was quick, with a large market, Kauppatori, in the middle. This market was pretty incredible. In addition to fresh and smoked fish, there were fresh fruits and vegetables, hot food vendors with reasonable prices and craft booths. Some of the stuffed smoked fish was so good I ate it two days in a row. After checking into the hotel, I strolled around the Kaartinkaupunki, Kruununhaka, and Kluuvi neighborhoods. The Helsinki Cathedral was completed in 1852 and previously called the St. Nicholas Church. It was quite massive. I enjoyed relaxing in Esplanadi park and seeing the Czar’s old summer gazebo, and also learning that the lovely park (Vanha kirkkopuisto) next to my hotel was where the city buried half of its population in 1710 – victims of the plague. Had an excellent dinner at the number two restaurant on Trip Advisor (Kolo), but they closed two days later…

Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna

Temppeliaukion kirkko

Next Day: Walked through the neighborhoods of Etu-Töölö, Kamppi and Punavuori. Saw the Temppeliaukion kirkko (church built inside of solid rock – quite impressive), Vanha Kauppahalli (the Old Market Hall – it was a snooze fest at the time I was there), and caught a ferry for a few bucks to the island of Suomenlinna. This UNESCO World Heritage Site began as a maritime fortress in 1748 and is full of history, amazing for photos, and lovely to walk around. It was a major highlight of the trip – don’t miss it! There is also a brewery on the island… Although Helsinki was very quiet and not too many people were out and about, the ones I spoke to were very kind and welcoming. The food was excellent without being overly expensive and my favorite beer of the trip was Finnish. Before I knew it, it was time to catch the ferry to Estonia. <Watch for the next installment about Tallinn, Estonia.>

Kruununhaka Harbor

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Book Review | San Francisco Lithographer: African American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown by Robert J. Chandler

Previously published by Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA) Reviews in July 2014.

More than just a book about one man, San Francisco Lithographer: African American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown is about the emerging lithography scene in nineteenth-century San Francisco and Brown’s role in it as a mixed race artist and businessman. Author Robert J. Chandler, previously the senior research historian for Wells Fargo Bank, has done extensive research on the life and times of Brown. Though other scholars have written about Brown, Chandler’s work is the first comprehensive biography, which seamlessly references appropriate field literature to piece together Brown’s life from his birth in Pennsylvania to his death in Minnesota.

Though not entirely chronological, the book’s topical organization allows the reader to easily access information by subject. Interweaving of historical facts with the narrative provides an interesting read with welcomed section and chapter breaks. At times the amount of numbers, mostly dates and monetary values, may feel slightly overwhelming. Despite this, the ideas are clearly presented and developed in a way that makes the book accessible to all readers rather than only appealing to researchers or art historians. Some background knowledge of lithography would be helpful as the process is only explained briefly within the third chapter.

Chandler supplies a wealth of full color reproductions of Brown’s lithographic work and that of his competitors. Brown ventured into painting later in life and images of some paintings are also included. Captions fully explain each of more than 100 images. Chandler includes an index and a comprehensive bibliography that would be very helpful as a starting point for related research. The full checklist of Brown’s known works is an added bonus, since so many of the pieces he produced were ephemera that were discarded shortly after their intended use. The jacket, standard full-page size, stitched binding, and photo-quality paper make the book physically appealing.

This book is recommended for any libraries with a specific interest in lithography, Californiana, ephemera, post-Gold Rush San Francisco or African American artists.

Book Review | The Anatomy Lesson : a novel by Nina Siegal

Using the voices of alternating narrators, The Anatomy Lesson shares the events leading up to Rembrandt’s famous 1632 painting: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp. Our main characters are the man who is to hang for thievery crimes, his pregnant partner who tries to have him released, the curio dealer who will deliver his body to the anatomy, the doctor who will perform the dissection, the artist who will paint the dissection and the man who searches for a tangible soul within the body. Siegal names these characters the body, the heart, the mouth, the hands, the eyes, and the mind and uses their points of view to shape her novel, a work of art and historical fiction.

The book flows pretty well. Despite the alternating narrators and a few jumps back in time, it is easy for the reader to understand the course of events. The only exception to this is a few interruptions (chapters) by a present day restorer who is working on the piece. This “addition” actually subtracted from the overall quality of the novel. Other than that, I have few complaints. The story was interesting from the beginning, appropriate dialogue seemed to be used for the 17th century, and the characters were fairly well developed and interconnected. Siegal clearly did her research and reading made me feel that I had been transported to Amsterdam in 1632. For those interested in art fiction or historical fiction about that time period, especially anyone with an interest in Rembrandt, this would be a fascinating read. Check your local library for a copy, but keep in mind this book was just released in March 2014 and there may be a queue of holds.

Book Review | The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood

Shifting focus between a single woman in post-1906 earthquake San Francisco/Napa and a married woman in DC at the time of JFK’s inauguration (1961), The Obituary Writer is an interesting blend of historical, literary and women’s fiction. Hood captures details from the various places and time periods that catch you by surprise and inspire a greater understanding of bygone times.

Each woman has her own story and characters. Claire, the DC wife, is wrapped up in a world of housework and childcare while her social life involves neighborhood women and volunteering for the campaign. She begins having an affair and is forced to question her marriage and societal norms of the time. The other woman, Vivien, is dealing with the loss of her lover who disappeared during the earthquake. While she helps others deal with their grief by writing obituaries, she is unable to progress with her own life. She lives in Napa near her childhood best friend Lotte who has begun her own family and has a successful husband running their vineyard. As the stories unfold, both women progress toward a catalyst – which is all I am going to say. This was an enjoyable and educational read. Check it out from a library near you.