Book Review: Istanbul: City of Two Continents

Submitted by  Teoh Yi Chie on  September 9, 2011 - 11:47 am

Istanbul: City of Two Continents

Author John Cleave is an architectural photographer. In this book, the art may seem like watercolour paintings, but are actually created digitally based on his original photos. It's a very different style of art, with a digital and traditional look at the same time.

The illustrations focus on more famous landmarks but also the lesser known corners of the city. John Cleave has a good eye for details, composition and introduces a lot of beautiful places. The buildings have lots of architectural details and history. Istanbul has a lot of amazing buildings, a wonderful place for sight seeing.

The commentary talks about the history of the different places. It's a good read and introduction to the different sights of the city.

It's an interesting book. I can't tell if I like the art style though, I'm somewhere in between. But one thing certain is, Istanbul is a beautiful city.

Istanbul: City of Two Continents is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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Tags
sketchbooks
art book reviews
travelogue
editions didier millet

Comments

David (not verified) Fri, 09 Sep 2011 - 14:10

Parka I'm beginning to sense you're a huge fan of city sketchbooks. This week's reviews has been mostly books on cities.

Are you a fan of architecture?

Teoh Yi Chie Fri, 09 Sep 2011 - 15:00

@David
Yes, I'm a huge fan of architecture, interior design. Not just the sketchbooks but also the photography books on architecture.

Among my favourite sketchbooks are the ones from Fabrice Moireau and Paul Madonna. I still have a few watercolour sketchbooks waiting to be reviewed. I also follow works of Gerard Michel and Nina Johansson and the Urban Sketchers blog.

As for interior design, I find a lot of good stuff on deviantart. There are lots of artists who post beautifully rendered 3D interior designs there.

Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 10 Sep 2011 - 01:08

Hi Parka.

In the start of this review you mention the "very different style of art". Is this book cover the technique used in this book? I'm quite curious how John Cleave achieve this spectacular quality.

Cheers.

Rod.