The grace, speed, and beauty of ice skating has inspired painters and sculptors, graphic artists and photographers, film makers and choreographers of spectacles, and the designers of skates and costumes, medals, programs and posters, advertising dolls, and decorative objects. With 321 images, trace figure skating’s eight centuries of history. See the impact it has had on the visual and performing arts, from early depictions of animal bones tied to the feet to facilitate movement over frozen streams and lakes to the latest precision-engineered blades used by Olympic champions and the birth of contemporary free-style skating. Fans of figure skating, memorabilia collectors, and historians will treasure this in-depth look at this popular activity.
An underrated gem! Most coffee table books on figure skating that have been put out over the last 20 years have gone in one direction, and this one veered out into another. The visuals are stunning and the many of the aspects of skating history Frances Dafoe touched on weren't the standard 'skating book fare'. It's always interesting to me how certain skating books have taken off and others haven't had as much fanfare. This is the book should have had much, much more fanfare than it did. If it's not in your collection, track down a copy if you can. You will not be disappointed.
