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Rating: 
Summary: Splendid overview of this trade
Review: This is the companion catalog to an important and long awaited exhibit of some of the most exquisite firearms ever made in modern times, which was held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The photography is stunning, the biographical and technical texts written by Wallace Gusler and Mark Silver are excellent and highly instructive, and the entire spectrum of decorated firearms is ably represented. Firearms enthusiasts of every inclination will find something in here that will make them mute with wonder. Anyone with the least interest in fine firearms as an art form will be very sorry indeed if he doesn't pick up a copy of this (probably soon to be scarce) volume. It belongs alongside Wilson's "Steel Canvas", and is really in some ways a more important work, marking one of the very few times that professional fine arts academia has shown a serious interest in firearms as other than oddities to be explained away politically, or shunned outright. The incredible beauty and artistic sophistication in evidence here make it plain that these firearms, and hundreds like them not available for this publication, deserve a place on the front rank of any of the decorative art forms man has produced. Not to be overlooked is the touching and entirely appropriate homage to John Bivins, who can rightly claim to have been one of perhaps five or six souls who diligently resurrected the craft of the American longrifle when it was on the very brink of extinction in the early 1960's. "First among equals", John's legacy will live forever and this book is a fitting testament to his contribution. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid overview of this trade
Review: This is the companion catalog to an important and long awaited exhibit of some of the most exquisite firearms ever made in modern times, which was held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The photography is stunning, the biographical and technical texts written by Wallace Gusler and Mark Silver are excellent and highly instructive, and the entire spectrum of decorated firearms is ably represented. Firearms enthusiasts of every inclination will find something in here that will make them mute with wonder. Anyone with the least interest in fine firearms as an art form will be very sorry indeed if he doesn't pick up a copy of this (probably soon to be scarce) volume. It belongs alongside Wilson's "Steel Canvas", and is really in some ways a more important work, marking one of the very few times that professional fine arts academia has shown a serious interest in firearms as other than oddities to be explained away politically, or shunned outright. The incredible beauty and artistic sophistication in evidence here make it plain that these firearms, and hundreds like them not available for this publication, deserve a place on the front rank of any of the decorative art forms man has produced. Not to be overlooked is the touching and entirely appropriate homage to John Bivins, who can rightly claim to have been one of perhaps five or six souls who diligently resurrected the craft of the American longrifle when it was on the very brink of extinction in the early 1960's. "First among equals", John's legacy will live forever and this book is a fitting testament to his contribution. Highly recommended.
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