Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra

As a person who loves to read a coffee table art book, it was informative to find out what many of these paintings were based on, the depictions of stories, both true accounts from naturalists, hunters, and researchers, as well as fables. Not all the paintings had text, and I wish all of them did as some I had major questions about several. Also some of the text seemed possibly not what the paintings were about, as in the one that accompanies the cover image of the lion aside an apparent Hollywood hills swimming pool. It was accompanied by a Gloria Swanson biographical excerpt with her on the set right under a lion. I had my doubts if that was what the painting was actually about.Anyhow a good bang for the buck if you like Walton Ford's work. It sucks for us normal folk that you can't order any prints of these just to have, I'm sure there's a very valid reason the masses are restricted from that pleasure but all the same, it would be lovely to buy a nice size canvas print of one of these. Oh well.

A superb art volume. Beautifully stunning photos printed on quality paper in a heavyweight oversize volume.

This volume has immediately become one of my favorite art books - and I have too many ;-) I have several other XL and XXL volumes published by Taschen, and I am never disappointed. Highest quality binding, paper and color reproductions of ANY publisher out there. This volume is hypnotic - it's pretty large and thick (approx 400 pages), and I highly recommend pouring a glass of good wine and savoring this book over several evenings - you'll want to really explore the details of these masterworks. Could NOT be happier! BTW - the price is unbeatable - I checked!

This is the third revised & heavily expanded version of Walton Ford's ongoing Magnum Opus, 'Pancha Tantra'. The individual plates that tell the stories ~ within the overarching tale that is the artist's passionate decades-long preoccupation ~ are also the large-scale gouache & watercolor paintings that have made Ford very wealthy, scattered as they now are across the globe, to find their place behind glass in galleries, museums, the homes of ultra-rich patrons, & the warehouses of art investors like Saatchi (until they burn in well-timed fires*).But the place these brilliantly satirical neo-symbolist reworkings of Natural History (I'm actually sticking with that pretentious sounding mouthful) really belong - what they were made for - was this newly envisioned species of Art-book. With the several dozen new works added since the 2015 edition, Ford continues to embrace sequential art; entire shows in which each painting tells its part of the overall story, and yet is also completely self-contained. The narrative can be ordered in any sequence, and still tell a tale with any number of works.The first of these 'series' was for his show at La Musee de la Chasse in Paris, based on the reportedly supernatural 18th-Century events involving a monster known as 'The Beast of Gevaudan'. To further emphasize the comic book connection to artists like Bernie Wrightson & Frank Frazetta, a couple paintings even included word balloons, with French dialogue done in Ford's elaborate, era-specific calligraphy. One of the many highlights of this edition is a haunting narrative series that revisits an earlier painting about a black panther that escaped a zoo in Zurich in 1933, surviving the harsh winters of the Alps for several weeks, before falling prey to hunters.There is also a gorgeous homage to pioneering Paleo-artist Charles Knight, about the La Brea tar pits inexplicably disgorging their now undead former inhabitants to wreak havoc on the Hollywood Hills. There is really no end to the absolutely enthralling imagery that Ford has amassed over the 424 pages, beautifully reproduced on heavy, dense, semi-glossy stock, all at a massive 12-inches wide & 15.5-inches tall (and over 8.25 pounds). Over the last 30 years, Ford has been telling the story of humanity's connection to the animal world, a tale that is poignant, gorgeous, gut-wrenchingly sad, humorous, disturbing, brutal, confusing, & endlessly engaging. For anyone who loves animals, or art, or books, this third edition of Pancha Tantra is a must own. It's also my pick for 'greatest book ever published'. Yeah, I'm a bit of a fan, I guess.P.S. My true pick for 'greatest book ever published' would actually be the 'Art Edition' of 'Pancha Tantra', released in 2009. It's a 17" x 22" leather-bound treasure, echoing the scale & style of the 'Double Elephant Folio' Editions collecting the original, subscription-based, hand-painted prints by the aesthetic inspiration for Pancha Tantra, John James Audubon.{https://www.amazon.ca/Walton-Ford/dp/3822843865/ref=monarch_sidesheet}*[ON A NOT-SO-SLIGHT DIGRESSION: I'll never forgive Saatchi for the destruction of the massively detailed diorama 'Hell', by Jake & Dinos Chapman, a sculpture that absolutely begs to be seen in 4-dimensions. Apparently the estimated value of the warehouse contents according to auction appraisals was higher than the offers he was getting from private buyers, enough to make burning it all and collecting the insurance payout a logical fiscal decision. I'm not concerned about the loss of Tracey Emin's Tent full of Trash, but there were pieces lost that will leave a scar in the collective artistic soul. This is just my suspicion, but I believe it speaks to utter corruption that Saatchi got away with it.]

Sobre el libro nada que objetar ya que es perfecto. Para el tamaño y cantidad de magnificas fotografias de la obra de Walton Ford es baratisimo, incluso dentro de los estandares de Taschen.Sobre el envío en cambio un tirón de orejas para Amazón ya que no se molestán en empaquetarlo debidamente en una caja de su tamaño o un plastico que lo proteja.La primera vez que lo recibí llego con una esquina ya arrugada del tomo y la cubierta de papel medio desgastada.La segunda vez tenia algún pequeño golpe pero decidí quedarmelo por no devolverlo por segunda vez y perder la mañana.Este tipo de libros deberían empaquetarse con cuidado ya que se dañan facilmente.