Ceramic Masterpieces : Art, Structure and Technology

Omtale

Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure andTechnologywas first published by the Free Press in 1986. It won a publisher?s award for art (AmericanPublishers? Association, Scholarly and Technical, HonorableMention, 1986). The copyright is held by DavidKingery?s son, William D. Kingery, Jr., who about 11 yearsago signed over to the American Ceramic Society the rights topublish a second edition of the book. This second edition isdivided into four parts. In the introductory section, it states :?The appearance of a ceramic is determined by its internalstructure, which is in turn determined by the technology of itsmanufacture. Revolutionary new methods of study and analysishave advanced out understanding of ceramics. This bookapplies these new methods, connecting visual impact, internalstructure, and technology for a deeper appreciation of ceramicmasterpieces.? Each chapter outlines the transformative artand structure of a ceramic material by providing a general outlineof history, artistic value, antecedent technologies, manufacture ofthe particular dated example, analysis of macrostructure, thenmicrostructure, then composition, then firing, variability and itsrelation to appearance, and finally significance of technology andits contribution to art and culture. In the ceramic technologysection, the sequences and variability of processing, exemplifiedin the case studies, is inventoried with emphasis on structure andtransformation.