Nine critically acclaimed cartoonists and graphic novelists invite us into their studios to discuss their art and inspirations These studio visits with some of today's most popular and innovative comic artists present an unparalleled look at the cutting edge of the comic medium. The artists, some of whom rarely grant interviews, offer insights into the creative process, their influences and personal sources of inspiration, and the history of comics. The interviews amount to private gallery tours, with the artists commenting, now thoughtfully, now passionately, on their own work as well as the works of others. The book is generously illustrated with full-color reproductions of the artists' works, including some that have been published and others not originally intended for publication, such as sketchbooks and personal projects. Additional illustrations show behind-the-scenes working processes of the cartoonists and particular works by others that have influenced or inspired them. Through the eyes of these artists, we see with a new clarity the achievement of contemporary cartoonists and the extraordinary possibilities of comic art.

During 1945 Andre de Dienes (1913-1985) photographed a young model named Norma Jean. His subsequent five-year working relationship with the woman who became Marilyn Monroe is the beginning of de Dienes's career in Hollywood. He photographed celebrities, and his documentary work took him from Muscle Beach in Venice to sharecroppers working the cotton fields of the deep South. But his first love in photography was the female nude, and in his lifetime he photographed and published thousands of these pictures. Selected from the archives of his estate are seventy-five of the finest images printed by the artist. Reproduced actual size these prints are a time capsule of half-century old interpretations of female beauty.

145 photos capture the stars from 1926 to 1949 -- Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Montgomery, Marlon Brando, Veronica Lake -- 94 stars in all.

Folk art is one of the American South's most significant areas of creative achievement, and this comprehensive yet accessible reference details that achievement from the sixteenth century through the present. This volume of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture explores the many forms of aesthetic expression that have characterized southern folk art, including the work of self-taught artists, as well as the South's complex relationship to national patterns of folk art collecting. Fifty-two thematic essays examine subjects ranging from colonial portraiture, Moravian material culture, and southern folk pottery to the South's rich quilt-making traditions, memory painting, and African American vernacular art, and 211 topical essays include profiles of major folk and self-taught artists in the region.