Don Troiani's American Battles

[garyjd]

Though it has not gotten the advanced hype and fanfare of Troiani's earlier books, Don Troiani's American Battles: The art of the nation at war, 1754-1865 is NEW. The book contains a mix of old and newer work. For me the only disapointing part are the older paintings. What is interesting is that in addition to the usual text describing the scene there is an Artist's comments section giving some insight into the creation of Troiani's battle paintings. There are also some in progress shots of a few of the paintings in addition to photos of Troiani's models. The book has a $49.95 price tag and is worth the price disregarding previously printed images. I was going to put off buying it for the time being, but my other half decided otherwise. ~Gary

 

[mcsneed17]

is posible to find this book at strand?

 

[Uruk-Hai]

His seminar at World Expo was very interesting when gave the background of several paintings and how he worked. He seems to be quite a collector too.

Ive bought two books of him as I find the compositions and body language inspiring.

Cheers

 

[Dani A.]

Hi Gary,

I will probably buy this book anyway (and yes, it is curious this has not been much publicized) but, what's the proportion of old work as compare to new work in the book? I have all of Troiani's earlier books.

Dani

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by Dani A.@Aug 17 2006, 01:53 AM
Hi Gary,

I will probably buy this book anyway (and yes, it is curious this has not been much publicized) but, what's the proportion of old work as compare to new work in the book? I have all of Troiani's earlier books.

Dani

Dani, I would say there are 121 previously published images, Some of which have been printed larger than in previous book(s). There are a few that take up two pages allowing for more detail to be seen. There are about 50 images that are being printed in book form for the first time. The artist's comments section is really interesting to read that comment on certain aspects of a painting. For about the first five years that Troiani was doing limited edition prints he used to photograph his models in the parking lot of the apartment building where he lived. There are also photos of some of the models used in the paintings along with a few sketches. These types of details were woefully lacking in the earlier Troiani books (Intentional?). While Troiani seeks out historians to insure accuracy, unlike other "historical artists" he is a historian of some regard himself. As I said before, if you can get past the image duplication it's a decent book.~Gary

 

[moore]

I just checked Amazon.com.. they have this book for $32.97...
so thats not too bad...

Dee

 

[KenSullivan]

Hey Gary (or anybody else for that matter)

Do you know the story about the other Troiani books?:

Don Troiani's Civil War: Zouaves And Chasseurs, Special Branches & Officers
Don Troiani's Civil War Infantry
Don Troiani's Civil War Militia And Volunteers (Don Troiani's Civil War)
Don Troiani's Civil War Cavalry And Artillery (Don Troiani's Civil War)

Are they just reprinting material from DTCW?

Amazon is also showing another book due in Oct:

Don Troiani's Revolutionary War by Don Troiani and James L. Kochan (Paperback - Oct 10, 2006)

Thanks,

 

[garyjd]

Ken, I've looked at those and there are NO new works in these books. They basically took all the paintings and text done of Zouaves for example and made a softcover book from it. I guess repetition is the big drawback to Troiani's books.~Gary

 

[KenSullivan]

Just as I suspected.

Thanks for that info & the review. Do you know anything about the forthcoming Revolutionary War book?

 

[Dani A.]

Hello,

I would say the main problem is that, obviously, Troiani can not produce enough new paintings to fill an entirely new book every couple of years or so... So, the editorials rehash old material, or make a mix of old and new as soon as they think they have a minimum of new material, and try to make it attractive by means of interesting text, etc.

Dani

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by KenSullivan@Aug 18 2006, 11:03 PM
Just as I suspected.

Thanks for that info & the review. Do you know anything about the forthcoming Revolutionary War book?

Ken, I suspect it will be in the same format as his Civil War titles. There will be the usual single figure studies with text, along with text and artifacts from Troiani's collection. He has not done anywhere near the number of Rev War battle paints that he's done of the CW, so I'm sure we'll see his Cowpens and Bunker/Breed's hill painting again.

On a related note Troiani put out a book on Revolutionary War uniform buttons a few years ago. Sadly there is no artwork to be found in it. The book is however illustrated with Troiani's Rev War button collection.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by Dani A.@Aug 19 2006, 04:04 AM
So, the editorials rehash old material, or make a mix of old and new as soon as they think they have a minimum of new material, and try to make it attractive by means of interesting text, etc.

Dani

Dani, I would think sooner or later they will run of ways to show the same old stuff. After a while I doubt the printing costs would make it worth their while. Personally I'm starting to tire of buying a book that has half of what I have in other books.~Gary

 

[IronMike]

I got my copy on Sat and was very disappointed. I also got a sneak peek at Keith Rocco's new book at the DC Show Sat. Very, very, nice.

 

[John Long]

I considered it as I flipped through it at a Barnes and Noble. It was heavy on ACW and light on everything else. It was hardly what the title suggests IMO. I opted against it.

 

[garyjd]

Mike & John, I do agree that Troiani's latest book is nothing to write home about. Though I enjoyed seeing some of the newer stuff, it probably would not have come home with me had I been at the bookstore alone that night.

I'm wondering if Troiani has some kind of contract with the publisher or visa-versa as it makes no sense to come out with a book when half or more than half of the work is previously published stuff. Though I do look forward to the Rev War book it will likely have any/all of his Revolutionary War pieces seen up to this point.

I'm looking forward to Rocco's Napoleonic book myself. The pricetag is a little hefty, but will be even more so once the book is out of print, as 1200 copies will not last long.~Gary