For much of history; the rules of war decreed that "to the victor go the spoils." The winners in warfare routinely seized for themselves the artistic and cultural treasures of the defeated; plunder constituted a marker of triumph. By the twentieth century; international norms declared the opposite; that cultural monuments should be shielded from destruction or seizure. Prohibiting Plunder traces and explains the emergence of international rules against wartime looting of cultural treasures; and explores how anti-plunder norms have developed over the past 200 years. The book covers highly topical events including the looting of thousands of antiquities from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad; and the return of "Holocaust Art" by prominent museums; including the highly publicized return of five Klimt paintings from the Austrian Gallery to a Holocaust survivor.The historical narrative includes first-hand reports; official documents; and archival records. Equally important; the book uncovers the debates and negotiations that produced increasingly clear and well-defined anti-plunder norms. The historical accounts in Prohibiting Plunder serve as confirming examples of an important dynamic of international norm change. Rules evolve in cycles; in each cycle; specific actions trigger arguments about the meaning and application of rules; and those arguments in turn modify the rules. International norms evolve through a succession of such cycles; each one drawing on previous developments and each one reshaping the normative context for subsequent actions and disputes. Prohibiting Plunder shows how historical episodes interlinked to produce modern; treaty-based rules against wartime plunder of cultural treasures.
#3110112 in eBooks 2007-12-31 2007-12-31File Name: B00A8SL788
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Everything was dandy.By chkmtnThe book arrived on time and as described in the notice. It is virtually a new book and I put it to work immediately creating digital art.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Beyond my wildest expectations.By tachi1I am both impressed and overwhelmed by the amount of pertinent and useful information in this book. Every topic; chapter; and section is important--no filler; no repetition; nothing necessary left out; nothing unnecessary thrown in.How my opinion dovetails with yours depends on the commonality of our experience and our intended purposes for getting this book. I am; primarily; a photographer both for business and pleasure. I am very competent in the use of Photoshop; and just got Painter as a Christmas gift (two weeks ago). I wish to start turning some photos into illustrations (line drawings; soft images; collages) but for my own use and pleasure; not for commercial purposes or public display. After seeing the book; I might (later) be seriously tempted to go beyond that; but there are so many options; so many styles; so many directions I would want to take that Im overwhelmed by the choices.However; while the book is not intended for beginners; a beginner who is familiar with at least one of the programs isnt going to find it difficult to wade right in and tackle a project. Its just a question of finding a simple one that applies to the type of photography you have in your collection.I have to add that having a certain amount of artistic eye; skill; and background would be a big help because these projects cannot be approached in a purely mechanical way; regardless of how well you use Photoshop; Painter; or the additional programs; plug-ins; filter and action packs mentioned. The book merely provides the techniques; methodology; and inspiration.Every step is amazingly well explained and illustrated. (Although it isnt done in the usual tutorial style so common for software users: numbered steps; captioned screen shots; the "recipe" laid out in sequence.) There are some more structured sections but; by and large; this is a purely narrative style in long blocks of paragraphs; as if you were learning with the teacher seated next to you and explaining as you go. This requires reading the entire section before you start; wrapping your head around the general theory; adding post-it tabs and highlighting the parts you need to pay attention to; and starting your project. I think that; for this type of photographic project; its actually the ideal teaching method to use because it explains what you absolutely need to know; then lets you implement the idea your way.I see absolutely no negatives in this book. It is clearly and intelligently written and well edited and organized. The content is fascinating; from the detailed and informative artist interviews to the full spectrum of styles and options offered to create art and collage based on photographs. I would have enjoyed reading it and learning from it just for the pleasure of it.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Beautifully written; visually beautiful; and very comprehensive book on using Photoshop and Painter to create digital paintings.By ƒůŽźYuml; ωŬge;ζŷ hearts;☮â™â™©â™ªâ™«â™¬â™®â˜¯â˜ºâ™¡âœˆà®‡ Fuzzy Wuzzys Summary:ѾѾѾѾ Recommended with warm fuzzies!Susan Ruddick Blooms second edition of this thick (almost 600-page) tome is packed with information on using Photoshop and Painter to transform your photos into images that look like fine art paintings; pastels and sketches; and innovative collages; montages; and assemblages that often look surreal with the final constructed images.First of all; I should mention that this book is targeted at the intermediate to advanced users of Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter software. There is no introductory hand-holding that gently leads you into the basic usage of both softwares features. There are plenty of beginner-level Photoshop books that you can read to get acquainted with Photoshop before referencing the workflows in this book. I consider myself to have solid intermediate-level skills with both Photoshop and Painter. But when I started out using Painter 11 two years ago; as a very advanced serious-amateur photographer using Painter for the first time; I bought Martin Addisons excellent book Painter 11 for Photographers: Creating painterly images step by step that helped me out considerably to effectively navigate through workflows. Martin has since updated his book for Painter 12: Painter 12 for Photographers: Creating painterly images step by step. But assuming that you are familiar with the features and tools of Photoshop and Painter; this book presents a multitude of workflows; ideas; and inspirations for transforming your photos into images that really look like photos of fine art paintings.The book begins with a discussion of factors and variables that you should consider when working with photos and deciding which ones to create digital paintings with. This is followed by a Chapter 3 called "Inspiration" where 20 digital artists were invited by Susan to submit one of their digital works; and each artist describes the equipment; workflows; and creative process that they used to create the images. The variety of approaches used by these artists shows just how much power and flexibility you can have in altering and morphing your photos. Chapters 4 and 5 cover the main topic of transforming your photographs into digital paintings using Photoshop and Painter; respectively; while Chapters 6 and 7 discuss creating digital collages/montages/assemblages using Photoshop and Painter. While Painter is better and more powerful and flexible than Photoshop for creating digital paintings; Photoshop is far better than Painter at slicing and dicing photos for assembling collages.The book ends with chapters discussing the photographing of overlapping images for panoramas; using Photoshop filters to achieve different effects; and a very useful; albeit brief; Chapter 11 lists "Essential Photoshop and Painter Techniques To Master". While Chapter 11 mentions that you should master the use of layers and curves in Photoshop; if you are not that familiar with these two aspects; then you really need another book or resource that covers these Photoshop topics fully.My one main gripe with this book involves its layout; and this is the only reason why I rate it 4 stars instead of 5; but I feel that this books usefulness is reduced due to its page layout enough to warrant a 1-star downgrade. Nearly every page in the book includes a "sidebar" column that occupies about one-third of the page space. This sidebar is just used to display the captions for the numerous images and screenshots that are included on just about every page. Along with these figure captions; there are a large variety of inspirational quotes from artists; authors; and poets that are really fun to read. I really like how Susan includes these inspirational quotes on art; color; design; and the creative process throughout the book. However; with only a few brief figure captions and a single quote being inserted into each sidebar that occupies the outer one-third column of most pages; there is a lot of blank space on each page. All of the blank unused (and wasted) space on the pages would not be an issue; normally; other than resulting in a thicker-than-necessary book; but the screenshots of the Photoshop and Painter examples are all way too tiny to see what settings are being used. Some of the settings and numbers that are being used in the screenshot are barely discernible only if I squint hard; but with most of the screenshots; I cannot tell what values and numbers are being used for important settings like Opacity or Saturation. The books text mainly describes WHAT tools are being used; but it would be really helpful to the reader to see HOW the tools are being used with their settings on these numerous screenshots. I think that the book could maintain the same number of pages by increasing the size of the screenshots by at least 20% or 30%; putting the figure captions underneath each figure instead being positioned in their own spacious sidebar column; and placing the quotes either inserted within each page or at the bottom of pages in a footer section. Hopefully; the next third edition of this book can include larger screenshot images.Overall; this is a great inspiring book that will give you lots of ideas on using Photoshop and Painter to make your photographs look like fine art paintings. You do not need to know how to draw or paint to take advantage of these techniques; but you do need at least an intermediate level of expertise with the software to make full use of the processes that are described.