Author Description

"This volume retraces a high period in the history of the guitar - exclusively through period pictures. A period which starts in the late 18th century with a revolutionary idea: the mere switch from double to single strings, which, incidental as it may appear, renewed the guitar and propelled it into modernity. It ends in the early 20th century, when the appearance of electromagnetic transducers opened completely new possibilities in the making of musical instruments. The renewed guitar had just reached maturity, and a cycle of 150 years come to completion.More than 550 full-colour illustrations in this book depict this saga - paintings, drawings, engravings, early photographs and others, all reproduced in a quality far superior to current standards on the 'world wide web'. While some are quite well-known and unmissable, others have never been published in a book before - and are likely to surprise even the specialist reader. All of these pictures have been painstakingly referenced, and many are discussed in detail. The guitars and persons represented, technical innovation, playing technique, social, cultural and historic context are among the various topics which are addressed. While many images have been contributed by private collections from all over the world (including those of the authors), this book also features works of art and documents providing from about a hundred of the most prestigious public collections.This abundant iconographic material is divided in 8 chapters, each treating a specific topic, including the portrait genre, the feminine and the masculine guitar, satire and caricature, playing technique or the guitar-related business."--