Oddly moving, serious, fine-art paintings of people's beloved Teddy Bears. In 1995, San Francisco artist Beth Van Hoesen began painting teddy bears, a subject perplexing to those who knew her as a serious painter and printmaker. Over the next five years, she borrowed dozens of stuffed bears to create a collection celebrating the teddy bear - not as a cultural icon, but as a lifelong companion. She treats her subject with truth and affection, creating strangely intimate portraits of these 36 bears, each accompanied by a few words from the bear's owner or maker. Beth Van Hoesen is represented in the permanent collections of New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Norton Simon Museum, and London's Victoria and Albert Museum. "I got him when I was around two years old, 51 years ago-a reward for being a good boy downtown one day. His name is Bedtime Pal, which was shortened to B.T.P. I can barely remember a time when he wasn't around." -Michael Rice, San Francisco, CA Used Book in Good Condition