Pamela B. Vandiver | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

Ceramic Masterpieces: Art, Structure andTechnology
was first published by the Free Press in 1986.

It won a publisher?s award for art (American
Publishers? Association, Scholarly and Technical, Honorable
Mention, 1986). The copyright is held by David
Kingery?s son, William D. Kingery, Jr., who about 11 years
ago signed over to the American Ceramic Society the rights to
publish a second edition of the book. This second edition is
divided into four parts. In the introductory section, it states :
?The appearance of a ceramic is determined by its internal
structure, which is in turn determined by the technology of its
manufacture. Revolutionary new methods of study and analysis
have advanced out understanding of ceramics. This book
applies these new methods, connecting visual impact, internal
structure, and technology for a deeper appreciation of ceramic
masterpieces.? Each chapter outlines the transformative art
and structure of a ceramic material by providing a general outline
of history, artistic value, antecedent technologies, manufacture of
the particular dated example, analysis of macrostructure, then
microstructure, then composition, then firing, variability and its
relation to appearance, and finally significance of technology and
its contribution to art and culture. In the ceramic technology
section, the sequences and variability of processing, exemplified
in the case studies, is inventoried with emphasis on structure and
transformation.