The Art of Gambling Through the Ages

The Art of Gambling Through the Ages
by Arthur Flowers and Anthony Curtis,
with a Foreword by LeRoy Neiman
(Huntington Press, $65)

***** A Must Buy

What a wonderful, handsome book. I do happen to like art, real art, the kind that I know I can't do; the kind of art you find in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, not the kind of "art" where an artist urinates in a barrel and puts a religious artifact in and pretentious people stand around it trying to fathom the meaning of it all. I could do that, you could do that, but who would want to do that? Well, this book contains some of the very best art on gambling in the world; real art. The kind I can't do but I know why it's done.

True art (as opposed to anything that is called art) creates a wonder and tells a story. Far from being stagnant or two dimensional, a great work of art is like a microscope into the soul of what is pictured and that soul is dynamic. You will find that the selection of masterpieces in this book are all dynamic works. I have just spent many-an-hour lingering over them, getting a sense of what the artists are saying, what they are revealing about the nature of gambling games and the nature of those of us who play them. There's many days and weeks of pondering in a book such as this!

The book contains more than 140 pictures by some of the world's greatest artists, including Cezanne, Picasso, Degas, Van Gogh, Dali, Remington, Caravaggio, Rockwell and Leroy Neiman, who wrote the foreword. Each picture is accompanied by an explanation of the piece and a brief biographical look at the artist.

This was an ambitious undertaking and I have to salute Anthony Curtis, publisher and coauthor, and all the folks at Huntington Press for their vision in bringing a book of such elegance and charm to the gambling public.

I also must congratulate Huntington Press for the wonderful diversity of its offerings. It has truly become the powerhouse publishing company of quality gambling literature in the country with everything from how-to books to reflections and biographies, to novels. The hard work and dedication show and if The Art of Gambling Through the Ages is a foreshadowing of what's to come from this publishing company -- look out Simon and Shuster because Curtis and Company are on their way!