| Criticisms
of Works to which James Stevens Curl contributed.
On
City of London
Pubs
‘City
of London
Pubs...is
... prolifically and excellently illustrated. The determined explorer
of City pubs ... cannot go wrong ... if he goes armed with this
detailed descriptive guide’ Woodrow Wyatt in The
Sunday Times (20
May 1973)
City
of London
Pubs
... is ... a delightful book...an admirable book’ W.A.B. in
The Bournemouth Evening Echo (31
May 1973)
On
the facsimile edition by J. C. Loudon’s On
the laying out… of cemeteries
‘Mr.
Curl’s introduction is an excellent summary of Loudon’s life This
edition is very well- produced and appropriately covered it is
an invaluable document’ Pacific Horticulture (Summer 1982)
‘…
a handsome facsimile reprint of what is undoubtedly the most important
book ever written on the landscaping of cemeteries it is quite
a sumptuous little book, even if one does not buy it in the deluxe
edition... Dr. Curl provides an account of some of Loudon’s plans
for the Southampton
cemetery, noting particularly its fine arboretum...’ Brent Elliott
in The Journal of The Garden
History Society (Spring 1982)
On Kensal
Green Cemetery:
The Origins & Development of the General Cemetery of All Souls,
Kensal Green, London, 1824-2001
‘This
magnificent book tells the full story of the General Cemetery
of All Souls at Kensal Green, London,
from its design stage to the flora and fauna found there today…
Never before has a cemetery in Britain
earned or deserved a document of this quality and detail’. The
Editor, Funeral Service Journal (February 2002) 71
‘The
definitive account. An outstanding book offering the last word
on the cemetery’s history, its buildings, its memorials, the inscriptions,
geology and landscape and, indeed, flora and fauna’. Ancient Monuments
Society in association with The Friends of Friendless Churches
Winter and Spring Newsletter (2002) 34
‘The
Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery have produced this big book.
Almost half is due to the editor, James Stevens Curl, and his
hand is evident throughout… He tells the story of the cemetery,
while other authors deal with the architecture, the monuments,
the inscriptions, the geology, the landscape, the flora and fauna,
and burial practices. It is handsomely produced, lavishly illustrated
(many photographs are by that first-rate architectural photographer,
Martin Charles), and full of interesting material’. The Art
Newspaper cxxiv (April 2002) 32
‘This
magnificent book... must surely now be the most extensive monograph
ever devoted to a single cemetery anywhere in the world, and will
repay close study for years to come. It is the result of the prodigious
efforts of its Editor, Professor James Stevens Curl, who has gathered
many specialist hands to examine in detail almost every aspect
of the cemetery’s history and changing fortunes, from the founding
of the company to the present day... The many plans, archive illustrations
and photographs also make it a feast for the eye... many images,
particularly of monuments and sculptures,... have rarely, if at
all, been published before. The scrupulous attention to detail
evidenced by Curl, in what appears to have been a very short...
time from commission to publication, means that all of the chapters
maintain a very high standard of detail and quality’. Ken Worpole
in Garden History xxx/1 (Spring 2002) 106-7
‘attractive
and well-written,… the information is fascinating’. Church
Times (8
March 2002) 19
‘the first study of a single London
cemetery from all points of view – historical, architectural and
artistic, and conservationist’. Hornsey Historical Society Newsletter
xc (March 2002).
‘a
beautifully produced book… with excellent illustrations. Masterminded
by James Stevens Curl, the in-depth essays cover every aspect
from geology to architecture’ Ecclesiology Today. Journal of
the Ecclesiological Society xxviii (May 2002) 32
‘This
magnificent book is largely the work of the distinguished original
members of the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery… It is edited
by James Stevens Curl, who is responsible for the lion’s share
of the chapters and for the meticulous standard of research. He
begins with the historical and literary background to the cemetery
movement and then traces the creation of the General Cemetery
Company… The competition for the buildings and layout was, as
usual in the nineteenth century, far from straightforward, the
winning Gothic scheme by Henry Kendall being supplanted by a Greek
Revival one by the little-known John Griffith. Curl follows the
financial ups and downs and personal clashes of the General Cemetery
Company — a story almost as gripping as a novel by Dickens or
Galsworthy. Other chapters cover every possible aspect of the
cemetery, showing what a rich experience it can offer… The book
is handsomely laid out with many photographs and drawings, an
apt quotations head each chapter. There can be few, if any, cemeteries
in the world which have had such a superb book devoted to them,
and all those involved with it should feel justifiably proud’.
Fabian Watkinson in The Victorian. The Magazine of The Victorian
Society x (July 2002) 18
‘This
must be the first time that a cemetery, even a famous cemetery,
has been recorded with such loving care. Every detail of its genesis,
development, architecture, ecology, and geology seems to be included.
The fullness of the text is matched by that of the footnotes...
Readers will be surprised as well as instructed... Indeed the
story sometimes reads like a novel with its fair share of cliffhangers.
Will the Bishop consecrate? Or will George Stephenson’s railway
destroy the site? There is even a wicked Baronet... who nearly
brought the whole enterprise down with his firm’s spectacular
bankruptcy in 1855. Was all the labour [on the book] worthwhile?
The answer must be a resounding yes’. Thomas Cocke in The Chapels
Society Newsletter
xxvii (December 2002) 114-5
‘Beautifully
illustrated with faultless captions, scrupulously indexed, foot-noted,
and referenced, this book is for the academic and the enthusiast...
Curl,... our leading cemetarian..., has produced a book based
on exhaustive archival research: it is a commentary on every aspect
of Victorian London’. L. Wells in London Society Journal
445 (Summer 2003) 16-17
On
Italian Memorial Sculpture 1820-1940: A Legacy of Love
‘Particularly
welcome: nothing like it exists, certainly not in the English
language, and in Italian there is no publication covering so wide
a geographical range and historical period. The book has an impressive
introduction by Professor James Stevens Curl, which gives the
European historical and cultural/literary context, and a masterly
analysis by Fred Licht of Italian funerary sculpture since Antonio
Canova (d. 1822)… Throughout, Italian Memorial Sculpture
is enriched by excellent colour photographs by Robert Fichter
and Robert Freidus — chosen to document and illustrate, rather
than poetically interpret, the text and the sculptures. The gazetteer,
bibliography, and list of museums and sculpture galleries round
off an excellent work, which includes a vade-mecum for those wishing
to visit and explore Italian cemeteries themselves.’ Henry Vivian-Neal
in Times Literary Supplement (26 November 2004) 33
‘A
beautifully illustrated study. The texts emphasise both the importance
of these monuments in the history of sculpture and that the artists
were not funerary specialists but serious sculptors in their own
right’. Professor Gavin Stamp in Apollo (December 2004)
92-3
‘Sandra
Berresford’s exquisite book, the first on this subject in English,
and the most comprehensive in any language, includes essays by
other distinguished scholars, notably James Stevens Curl and Fred
Licht: nearly 500 coloured plates; and a gazetteer of 57 cemeteries’.
Professor David Watkin in Country Life (3
February 2005) 82
‘Without
doubt, the most scholarly book on the subject to date… A book
of great value’ Julian W. S. Litten in The Art Newspaper
153 (December 2004) 37
‘It
is a very rare thing for a hardened critic to gasp with astonishment
as he turns every page of a new book; and yet Sandra Berresford’s
wonderful record of Italian funerary sculpture is a genuinely
remarkable work which will shock and surprise… As if all this
was not enough, there is a scholarly historical essay by James
Stevens Curl, as well as contributions from other distinguished
writers. It’s terrific’. Timothy Brittain-Catlin in The World
of Interiors (May 2005) 36
‘This
beautifully produced book is an important addition to the… literature
in English on Italian nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
sculpture. It provides much new information about selected cemeteries,
their monuments, and their sculptors, and is generously illustrated
with more than 450 colour photographs. Curl’s introductory essay
on the growth of European cemeteries provides the context for
understanding their development.’ Elizabeth Darby in Sculpture
Journal xiv (2005) 159-61
‘This
lavishly illustrated study of… sculpture little known in this
country seems to be not only the first to appear in English, but
also one of the few in Italian. [It] goes a long way towards showing…
the delights… [of] cemeteries… This book is worthy of anyone’s
library.’ John Physick in Church Monuments: The Journal of
the Church Monuments Society xx (2005) 127-8
‘The
first book on the subject in English… the photographs will no
doubt prove important in the long run. James Stevens Curl… points
out [that] Calcutta acquired a cemetery “far grander than anything
seen in Europe since Roman times” nearly forty years before the
laying out of Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris’. James Fenton in
The New York Review of Books liii/3 (23
February 2006)
31-2
‘This much needed introduction for the contemporary reader and scholar
conveys the surprising range, in a time of progress and positivism,
of nineteenth-century sculptures…. Sumptuously photographed by
Robert Freidus and Robert Fichter, and presented with excellent
supporting essays, the work explicates the growth of public cemeteries
in northern and central Italy… [It] is a welcome addition to our
understanding of Italian nineteenth-century sculpture, hitherto
so little known in English language publications… James Stevens
Curl’s essay… provides the larger cultural context: his text is
especially engaging on the literary parallels, notably the phenomenon
of Youngism, which encouraged solitary rambles and purposefully
melancholy thoughts. He subtitles this “The Growth of Tenderness”.
Through the popularity of Edward Young’s Night Thoughts
(1742-50) into the next century, particularly in its German translation,
the notion of burial in gardens resonated with a generation of
Young Romantic artists just as the wave of new public cemeteries
became a hygienic necessity… Italian Memorial Sculpture…
gives important reconsideration to the Italian funerary movement
as a major contribution to our visual cultural
heritage… Both the cultural anthropologist and art historian
alike will find that [the book] opens a long-neglected area of
nineteenth-century artistic practice. The care and delight with
which the subject has been studied and presented is infectious’.
Nancy Scott in Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide v/1
(Spring 2006)
|
