NONFICTION - Oct. 27, 1991

THE CELTS, edited by Venceslas Kruta, Otto Herman Frey, Miklos Szabo and Barry Raftery (Rizzoli: $85; 711 pp.). They remain just out of reach, the Celts, least known of the ancient civilizations. The dominant culture of Europe--at least north of the Alps--from the 6th to the 1st Century BC, they were viewed variously as warriors and farmers, barbarians and artists. They were all of these at once, as this handsome, heavy (seven pounds) book of artifacts reveals. Tall, muscular, vital, progressive, highly original, the people the Romans called the “Gauls” introduced iron into Europe in 800 BC and proceeded to transform the metal into graceful, subtle, almost magical artworks. Here is a horned helmet both martial and sexy; a bronze caryatid with coral studs; a fierce/funny 3rd-Century BC bronze mount (above); a whimsical shoe-shaped vase; an irresistible 5th-Century BC wine flagon whose sinuous line mocks sobriety. Today, the Celtic language persists only in isolated corners--Scotland, Brittany, Ireland, the Boston Garden--but the sophistication of Celtic art remains as fresh as tomorrow.