History of art Books

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Book SynopsisPublished on the occasion of Nate Lowman's first exhibition with Gagosian, a survey of the artist's paintings known as Maps.It's very Pop, the shape--as Pop as Mickey Mouse. This is how artist Nate Lowman describes the map of the United States, the subject of the 22 paintings that are the focus of this volume. The Maps, all produced by cutting fragments of studio drop-cloth into the shape of individual states and combining them, offer varied iterations on the same form. They explore the effects of chance, gesture, and history, merging erratic splatters and stains with allusions to American quilt-making, Pop art, and politics. Infusing the geometries of the United States with a gritty, gestural tactility, they expound on the complexities and contradictions of the American way.Full-color plates and generous details are interspersed with poems and excerpts reflecting on America by John Berryman, Langston Hughes, Francis Scott Key, Emma Lazarus, Malcolm R. Mooney, an

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Book SynopsisRebecca Houze is Associate Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, USA. Her publications include, as co-editor, The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010), and, as author, New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform Before the First World War: Principles of Dress (2015).Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History and Director of the Professional Doctorate in Heritage (DHeritage) at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and Series Editor, with Kjetil Fallan, of the book series Cultural Histories of Design (Bloomsbury). Her publications include Design at Home (2014) and, with Nicolas P. Maffei, Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury 2019). For Bloomsbury, Grace edited Writing Design (2012) and Iconic Designs

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Book SynopsisDisappearing dress codes, customers as designers and wearable technology; in recent years the production and function of clothing has undergone massive change. New manufacturing technologies have brought bespoke design within reach of many consumers for the first time. Miniature sensors can turn ordinary garments into smart devices. And blurring gender roles and class distinctions point the way towards a more fluid approach to clothing, fashion and design. The Future of Clothing offers a critical introduction to these developments from an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging with their implications for the clothing industry and related fields. You''ll learn how mass-personalization impacts the luxury market, the effects of automation on craftsmanship and how AI design may affect individual style choices.Contributors include fashion historian, author and broadcaster Amber Butchart, adventurer, ecologist and head of the Sculpt the Future Foundation David de Rothschild, and bestTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. What is Shaping the Future of Clothing? Sustainability New Materials Blurring Gender Roles Individualization and Fading Formality Shaping the future Drivers of change Functionalization Automation Virtualization Democratization of Production 2. Rethinking Clothing Time to Envision the New! - Amber Butchart The Rediscovery of True Needs - David de Rothschild Material is the Mother of Invention - Richard Sennett Interfacing the Body - Linh Le Clothes with Change. The Human Body, Too! - Yuval Harari Labour of Love - Jacqueline Sealy Of Luxury and Eternity - Jean-Claude Biver Towards Longevity and Multifunctionality - Gregor Thissen 3. Envisioning the Future Longevity Over Fashion: A Suit for a Lifetime Customers as Designers: Towards Autarky Enhanced Protection: Clothes as Alarm Systems Dressing the Next Generation: Suits for Robots Craftsmanship as Luxury: Clothing Beyond Automation Local Fast Fashion: The End of 'Made in Taiwan' Navigating the Intelligent Environment References and Further Reading Index Picture credits

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Book SynopsisCounterpractice highlights a generation of women who used art to define a culture of experimental thought and practice during the period of the French women’s movement or Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (1970–81). It considers women’s art in relation to some of the most exciting thinkers to have emerged from the French literature and philosophy of the 1970s – Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva – forcing a timely reconsideration of the full spectrum of revolutionary practices by women in the years following the events of May ’68. Lavishly illustrated with over 200 images, the book also features an illuminating foreword by art historian Griselda Pollock.Trade Review'In this illuminating scholarship, we re-encounter the familiar names of (1970s) French feminisms, but Balaram’s innovation is to reveal a swathe of obscured, forgotten, or lesser-known (French) artists and feminist actors. Balaram allows these artists and artworks to shine as she seamlessly weaves history, politics, artwork, and theory, nuancing the often monolithic presentation of 1970s French feminism.'Jasmine D. Cooper, French Studies'Counterpractice provides an ambitious survey of the events leading up to May ’68 and an invaluable document of the women artists who were working in Paris around that time. Taken together with her careful account of the ground-breaking feminist theory that informed their activism, Rakhee Balaram has made an essential and lasting contribution to the field.'Mary Kelly, Judge Widney Professor, Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California‘This pioneering book is a major contribution to the history of feminist art, writing, theory, and activism. Rakhee Balaram has done meticulous research, placing the movement in its historical and political contexts and interpreting the issues debated and contested among these women. No stone is left unturned. Enjoy your journey with these original, stimulating artists, and with this wonderful author as your guide.’Gloria Orenstein, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and Gender Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences -- .Table of ContentsForeword by Griselda PollockIntroduction1 On the streets: from May ’68 to the MLF2 The MLF 1970s3 Libération-création: MLF, women artists and the militant body4 Instase: Psychanalyse et Politique and the spaces of women’s art5 Women’s groups and collective art practices6 Hard politics, soft art: subversive practices from écriture féminine to soft artConclusion: La révolution accomplie? Some legacies of women's art in 1970s FranceIndex

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Book SynopsisIn a series of 50 accessible essays, Susie Hodge introduces and explains the central concepts that underpin Western art and design.From Romanesque to Realism, Pop Art to Pluralism, 50 Art Ideas is a complete introduction to the most important art concepts in history.

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Book Synopsis "Probing, jargon-free and written with the pace of a detective story... [Procter] dissects western museum culture with such forensic fury that it might be difficult for the reader ever to view those institutions in the same way again. " Financial Times 'A smart, accessible and brilliantly structured work that encourages readers to go beyond the grand architecture of cultural institutions and see the problematic colonial histories behind them.' - Sumaya KassimShould museums be made to give back their marbles? Is it even possible to 'decolonize' our galleries? Must Rhodes fall?How to deal with the colonial history of art in museums and monuments in the public realm is a thorny issue that we are only just beginning to address. Alice Procter, creator of the Uncomfortable Art Tours, provides a manual for deconstructing everything you thought you knew about art history and tells the stories that have been left out of the canon.The book is divided into four chronological sections, named after four different kinds of art space: The Palace, The Classroom, The Memorial and The Playground. Each section tackles the fascinating, enlightening and often shocking stories of a selection of art pieces, including the propaganda painting the East India Company used to justify its rule in India; the tattooed Maori skulls collected as 'art objects' by Europeans; and works by contemporary artists who are taking on colonial history in their work and activism today.The Whole Picture is a much-needed provocation to look more critically at the accepted narratives about art, and rethink and disrupt the way we interact with the museums and galleries that display it.

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Book SynopsisNow available in paperback, this is the first work in English to tell the full story of Claude Cahun’s art and life. It both recounts her life and analyses her complex writings and images, making them available to a wide audience. Shaw’s account embeds Cahun’s work in the exciting milieu of Paris between the wars and follows it into the dangerous territory of the Nazi-occupied Isle of Jersey. Using letters and diaries, Shaw brings Cahun’s ideas and feelings to life and contributes to our understanding of photography, Surrealism and the histories of women artists and queer culture. This book includes a full range of illustrations by Cahun and other renowned photographers, as well as writings never before translated into English. Shaw’s book will appeal to art and photography lovers and scholars alike.Trade Review'Scholars of Cahun will appreciate Shaw’s survey as a well-organized and well-researched biographical resource, as well as a compendium of Cahun’s extensive oeuvre. Exist Otherwise is a valuable contribution to the scant body of English-language scholarship on Cahun, one that hopefully opens the door to further excavations and analyses toward an “otherwise” history in the face of more dominant accounts of the era.' – Erin Silver, CAA Reviews; 'As a Jewish, gender-nonconforming artist living amid the rise of fascism and widespread anti-Semitism, Cahun’s artwork challenged social norms of the time. The new book Exist Otherwise . . . features her photographs, sculptures, and illustrations along with diary entries and writing clips that have never before been translated in English.' – The Cut; 'Claude Cahun may not be particularly well known outside the art world, but this highly readable biography of the twentieth-century French writer, artist, and photographer ought to help change this situation. Shaw has written a fascinating book about a gender-bending lesbian intellectual who challenged ideas of gender and sexuality in both her life and art . . . Filled with reproductions of photographs and detailed descriptions and analyses of her writings, Exist Otherwise is a comprehensive introduction to Claude Cahun’s art and writing. With any luck it will bring readers back to her unique body of work.' – Gay & Lesbian Review; 'In this first full biography of the pseudonymous visual artist and writer Claude Cahun, Shaw is intensely responsive to Cahun’s life and work (verbal, visual, political). In the process of examining and commenting on Cahun’s unique life, Shaw travels across time and across surrealism, Dada, a world war, and the anti-fascists and their effect on art and life in Paris, Jersey, and Germany . . . Homosexuality is an important focal point, as are the anti-fascists and the active rebellion of the modern against the traditional. Shaw writes that as an outsider woman, lesbian, and Jew, Cahun ‘trumpeted her role.’ This book deserves a wide readership . . . Highly recommended.' – Choice; 'Shaw has written the first full biography of Cahun in English . . . The originality of Shaw’s approach lies in her situating Cahun’s work and thought within contemporary Symbolist and Surrealist aesthetic and political positions, while drawing on recent feminist theory, unlike Leperlier, who tends to bypass Cahun’s lesbianism, and unlike some recent scholarly work which, in seeking to integrate Cahun into the corpus of women artists of the late twentieth century, can risk losing sight of her historical and cultural specificity . . . This study is a richly documented and well-balanced account of a major twentieth-century artistic figure, in which Cahun’s life and work are interwoven in such a way that they illuminate each other.' – H-France Reviews; 'Exist Otherwise is elegantly written and beautifully illustrated with artwork, and includes an appendix with short, translated excerpts of Cahun’s writings . . . In Shaw’s telling, Cahun models how to practice radical art and action during politically fraught times like hers—and our own.' – Wellesley Review; 'Claude Cahun’s writings and artworks tell the story of her own critical self-discovery, and Shaw follows suit, placing the works at the center of her gripping biography of Cahun as a woman artist and lesbian who managed to "exist otherwise" long before transgender and gay rights. In the graceful flow of Shaw’s prose, Cahun’s photographic projects illuminate and amplify her life, from the French provinces to Surrealist Paris to the occupied island of Jersey, where her guerilla anti-Nazi art led to harrowing arrest and near execution. Shaw calls Cahun her hero, and convinces us that Cahun should be ours as well, in our moment of Brexit and Trump.' – Christina Kiaer, Northwestern University

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Book SynopsisWhat were Montmartre and Montparnasse really like in their hey-day, roughly between 1904, when the youthful Picasso had just arrived on the Hill of Martyrs, and 1920, when Amedeo Modigliani, justly called 'the prince of Bohemians', died of consumption and dissipation in Montparnasse? This book, written by an Englishman who lived in Montmartre for 30 years and knew its famous habitue intimately, gives a vivid description. It reveals the truth behind the many legends, is packed with authentic stories about writers and painters whose names are now household words, and contains much hitherto unpublished information about the life and career of Modigliani obtained from his family and friends. Much of the text was written in Montmartre amid the scenes described, and after personal consultation with survivors of the great days when Frede presided over the Lapin Agile and Libion, patron of the Cafe de la Rotonde, was beginning to rival him in Montparnasse. It is the most complete account which has yet been written in English of the birth of Cubism and other contemporary movements in modern painting, and of the lives and loves who started them.

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Book SynopsisFor Kurt Jackson (b.1961), ‘Painting the sea could become an obsession, an entire oeuvre in its own right, an endless life absorbing task.’ And, as this book attests, Jackson’s dedication to capturing its constant shape shifting – stillness to thundering force, shallows to mysterious depths – have brought forth paintings that communicate the sea's ebb and flow, its magic and elusiveness.Kurt Jackson's Sea captures the beauty of the artist's constantly evolving relationship with one of nature's most challenging subjects. Two hundred colour images complement Jackson's reflections on his interactions with inspirational coastal landscapes - largely experienced in his native Cornwall, but stretching way beyond the county too. Trade Review’If it is possible to say a book smells and tastes of the sea . . . I love the sea and I feel as if Kurt Jackson has captured it in all its moods just for me to take to some place where I’ll never see or hear it again, but the memory will be indelibly etched in these pages by these glorious, life affirming paintings. The Chinese have a saying that you can never cross the same river twice. They are right and the same holds true for the view of the sea from a great artist at the peak of his powers’. – Sir Tim Smit KBE, Executive Co-Chair Eden Project International and Executive Vice Chair & Co-Founder Eden Project'a beautifully produced book...I close [it] with a sense of surfacing, from seawater mixed with paint...the paintings bring back half-forgotten moments of connection at the edge of the sea: the sheen of mudflats, the marbling of foam where a wave has passed, times when the sea is the source of the light...It feels like I’ve been to the beach.' – Caught by the River Table of ContentsForeword by Julian Spalding; Introduction; Chapter 1: Compelled; Chapter 2: In, On, Under; Chapter 3: Cove; Chapter 4: Obsession; Chapter 5: Retreat; Chapter 6: Cornish Islands; Chapter 7: Lighthouses; Chapter 8: North Sea; Chapter 9: Scottish Seas; Chapter 10: Greek Seas; About Kurt Jackson; Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions; Awards and Residencies; Broadcasts; Public Collections; Selected Bibliography; Acknowledgements and Credits; Index.

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Book SynopsisArt and photography have played a key role in capturing and reflecting on the conditions for the Brexit referendum. Illustrated by a range of work by artists including Cornelia Parker, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Shrigley, Tacita Dean and Jeremy Deller as well as the satirists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys, who offer fascinating insights into their work, along with ephemera such as campaign posters and leaflets, and more personal photographs which capture the searing impact of the vote on both UK and EU citizens, this impassioned and compelling book explores the role of the photograph and sometimes moving image in the ongoing consequences of what the author views as a political cataclysm. From Jeremy Deller’s film of musicians protesting outside the House of Commons and Mark Duffy’s extraordinary photograph of a debate held inside, to portraits of those whose lives have been changed immeasurably, this art of protest brings together disparate aspects of the bitterly fought battle to remain and the consequences of the decision to leave the EU on 1 January 2021 and serves as a reminder of this political and social schism. In doing so, the book offers insight into our society, exploring issues of national identity, migration, colonialism/decolonialism, racism, the flag, austerity, the border in Northern Ireland, Scotland and how artists can intervene in political debate. It offers an original, visually stimulating and attractive examination of this still topical subject, revealing how art and photography can capture and memorialise key moments in our history.Trade Review'Noni Stacey’s Leave to Remain: A snapshot of Brexit (2023) is a masterclass in the subliminal and a unique, visual dive into the implications of art and protest surrounding Brexit. Stacey expertly explores a vast range of photographic and artistic representations from both the political campaigns of the 1970s and 2016, alongside in-depth discussions with the arts community. This is far from being just another book on Brexit – Leave to Remain is essential reading, displaying dynamic insights amid provocative imagery.' - Susie Porter, Bylines ScotlandTable of ContentsChapter 1: Dissent, Protest and Resistance amid the ‘sunlit uplands’. Chapter 2: Border Force[d] + identity. Chapter 3: Fairy tales, oligarchs and billionaires. Chapter 4: Building bridges

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Book SynopsisBritish artist David Remfry RA (b.1942) is perhaps best known for his large-scale watercolours, often of people dancing, as well as his landscapes of New York and his images of residents and friends painted and drawn during his twenty years living and working at the Chelsea Hotel, New York City. Yet this focus underestimates the breadth of Remfry's artistic contribution, as this book, the first in-depth account of his work, makes clear. With chapters written by leading figures within the art and literary worlds, this insightful publication covers themes such as the influence of dance and fashion and the role of abstraction within Remfry's oeuvre. Featuring over 150 images drawn from across Remfry's varied career, this book will provide an unrivalled account of a truly innovative, original artist.

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Book SynopsisDescribed by Art Review as 'one of the most influential people in the contemporary art world in 2018', Theaster Gates (b. 1973, Chicago) explores the complex and interweaving issues of race, territory and inequality as a socially engaged artist. Living and working in Chicago, Gates began his career studying urban planning, followed by ceramics, both of which continue to inform his work. At the heart of the book, Gates looks at the history of Malaga island in Maine, USA. In 1912, the state governor evicted the island's ethnically diverse population with no offer of housing or support. Gates's body of work - sculpture, installation, film, music and dance - responds to this little-known story, connecting it with the wider history of African-American people. A new film called 'Dance of Malaga 2019' features the choreography of acclaimed American dancer Kyle Abraham, and a highlight of the publication are the many beautiful stills from the film. Through a combination of essays, Theaster Gates's own words and a careful selection of illustrations, this publication will underline the artist's influence in contemporary art and interracial relationships, while its accessible approach will appeal to all.

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Book SynopsisThe definitive guide to Art Deco buildings in Britain. The perennially popular style of Art Deco influenced architecture and design all over the world in the 1920s and 1930s – from elegant Parisian theatres to glamorous Manhattan skyscrapers. The style was also adopted by British architects, but, until now, there has been little that really explains the what, where and how of Art Deco buildings in Britain. In Art Deco Britain, leading architecture historian and writer Elain Harwood, brings her trademark clarity and enthusiasm to the subject as she explores Britain's Art Deco buildings. Art Deco Britain, published in association with the Twentieth Century Society, is the definitive guide to the architectural style in Britain. The book begins with an overview of the international Art Deco style, and how this influenced building design in Britain. The buildings covered include Houses and Flats; Churches and Public Buildings; Offices; Hotels and Public Houses; Cinemas, Theatres and Concert Halls; and many more. The book covers some of the best-loved and some lesser-known buildings around the UK, such as the Midland Hotel in Morecambe, Eltham Palace, Broadcasting House and the Carreras Cigarette Factory in London. Beautifully produced and richly illustrated with architectural photography, this is the definitive guide to a much-loved architecture style.Trade Review'For readers interested in architecture this is definitely a book to place on the coffee table' * Devon Life *'Harwood’s contribution to this genre is a valuable and pleasurable one' * Cercles *'A flickable full-colour guide that’s easy and accessible to read' * Reclaim *'This enjoyable survey illustrates quite how theatrical [the Art Deco] moment was' * FT Weekend, 'Essential Reads of 2019' *'An authoritative guide to a much-loved architectural style.' * Grand Designs * ‘This is catnip for the architecture tourist’ -- Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society

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Book SynopsisThe first book to focus on Dame Paula Rego’s little-known monumental triptych, Crivelli’s Garden, featuring an original short story by novelist Chloe Aridjis, new photography, and an art historical essay Dame Paula Rego RA (1935–2022) was a British-Portuguese artist whose large-scale figurative paintings explored human relationships and the experience of women through compelling, often subversive compositions. Inspired by the predella panel of Carlo Crivelli’s altarpiece La Madonna della Rondine (after 1490), Rego produced Crivelli’s Garden in 1990−91 while she was artist in residence at the National Gallery. This monumental triptych reimagined the site of Crivelli’s panel as a radical space populated by female figures from myth, folklore, and the Bible, alongside animals drawn from Aesop’s fables and other classical texts. Literature was a major influence on Rego’s practice throughout her career: this publication in turn celebrates the far-reaching influence of Rego’s paintings with an original short story by Mexican novelist Chloe Aridjis, inspired by Rego’s triptych. Illustrated with previously unpublished preparatory drawings and newly photographed details of the painting, the book also features an art historical essay on the work. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule: The National Gallery, London; (July 20–October 29, 2023)

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Book SynopsisWhat is the difference between ratio and proportion? When is a harmonic rectangle also geometric? Do pentagons, hexagons and heptagons really each have their own characters? Is there a secret to great art? In this beautiful little book, art educator Michael Schneider presents a groundbreaking synthesis of proportion in the ancient world. From temples to dinner plates, paintings to pots, archways to jewellery, discover the eternally useful tools and techniques of the masters.Trade ReviewWooden Books are: "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

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Book SynopsisInspired by the recent identification of a third autograph version of Gainsborough’s masterpiece The Cottage Door, this book examines the significance of the multiple versions of designs that the artist produced during the 1780s. It demonstrates that without the pressure of exhibiting his work annually at the Academy and without a string of sitters waiting for their finished portraits, Gainsborough’s work became more personal, more thoughtful. This study of the last phase of the artist’s work is a totally fresh interpretation of not only The Cottage Door but other key works such as Mrs Sheridan and Diana and Acteon. Gainsborough’s creative energies changed around 1780. He became restless and wanted to promote his landscape painting more effectively. He started to paint coastal scenes using an innovative painting technique to depict the water and he embarked on a series of`fancy’ pictures that he would position him as a descendant of an Old Master tradition. He was never happy with the constraints of the Royal Academy and he was at odds with the dictatorial opinions promoted by its president, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Removing himself from the Academy enabled him finally to do what he wanted. He began to turn to portrait compositions that he had developed and refined over a number of years. With subtle alterations they could be made suitable for a variety of sitters. The subtlety of his skilled observation was less easy to accommodate in standard-sized full-length canvases and in these portraits he sometimes resorted to rhetoric gesture that fought against the closely observed likenesses in his best portraits. The margin between`fancy’ pictures and portraits became blurred and the categorization of some of these paintings changed while they were on the easel. Always finding composition difficult, rather than begin something new he often revisited earlier designs that had pleased him. He would paint them again and make slight changes of tone and emphasis that would radically change the concept and intention of the design. The subject matter in some of his late paintings veers towards the autobiographical and shows a certain rift between him and his family.

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Book SynopsisPublished to coincide with the exhibition at the Foundling Museum in London, this fascinating book will re-introduce Joseph Highmore (1692–1780), an artist of status and substance in his day, who is now largely unknown. It takes as its focus Highmore’s small oil painting known as The Angel of Mercy (1746, Yale), one of the most shocking and controversial images in 18th-century British art. The painting depicts a woman in fashionable mid-18th-century dress strangling the infant lying on her lap. A cloaked, barefooted fi gure cowers to the right as an angel intervenes, pointing towards the Foundling Hospital, the recently built refuge for abandoned infants, in the distance. The image attempts to address one of the most disturbing aspects of the Foundling Hospital story – certainly a subject that many (now as then) would consider beyond depiction. But if any artist of the period had attempted such a subject it would surely be William Hogarth, not the portrait painter Joseph Highmore? In fact, the painting was attributed to Hogarth for almost two centuries, until its reattribution in the 1990s. Even so, it is surprising that despite the wealth of scholarship associated with Hogarth and the `modern moral subject’ of the 1730s and 1740s, The Angel of Mercy has received little attention until now. The book (and exhibition) seeks to address this, while encouraging greater interest in, and appreciation for, this signifi cant British artist. Highmore expert, Jacqueline Riding, will set this extraordinary painting within the context of the artist’s life and work, as well as broader historical and artistic contexts. This will include exploration of superb examples of Highmore’s portraiture, such as his complex, monumental group portrait The Family of Sir Eldred Lancelot Lee and the exquisite small-scale `conversations’ The Vigor Family and The Artist and his Family, juxtaposed with analysis of key subject paintings, including the Foundling Museum’s Hagar and Ishmael and Highmore’s `Pamela’ series, inspired by Samuel Richardson’s bestselling novel. Collectively they tackle relevant and highly contentious issues around the status and care of women and children, master/servant relations, motherhood, abuse, abandonment, infant death and murder.Trade ReviewHighmore (1692–1780) was much more than just a society painter ... his connection with the Foundling Hospital alerted him to the inequalities and injustices of his time and to the plight of women and children at the mercy of men who always held the keys ... [The ] `Angel of Mercy’ still has the power to shock and, sadly, tells a very modern story. * The Spectator *Highmore’s works include many paintings showing his sympathetic approach to the plight of powerless women ... [This is] the first major publication of his work. * The Guardian *It is the commonality between high and low that Basic Instincts reveals so well. We aren’t as divided as we think. Highmore scratches away at the veneer of respectability that coats the art of his age, and finds darkness beneath. Regardless of position, everyone has the same capacity for bad behaviour. And unfortunately, as Highmore shows, all too often women bore the brunt of this behaviour. * Rake's Digress *'Basic Instincts' brings Joseph Highmore out of the shadows. * Apollo Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA collection of the world's most memorable, provocative, best-selling and groundbreaking posters from Johannes Gutenberg to Barack Obama. Classic posters from the last 300 years and the stories behind them. Posters have always been designed to seek an immediate response. From the time when paper was first affordable, the poster has been used to provoke a direct reaction, whether a public appeal, a legal threat, a call to arms, or the offer of entertainment. Newspapers might have the advantage of ubiquity in spreading the word, but a poster could be tightly targeted by its location. Organized chronologically, 100 Posters That Changed the World charts the history of poster design from their earliest forms as a means of information communication to the more subtle visual communication of the 21st century. As printing became cheaper, posters were used for more than just promoting the capture of local villains or announcing government decrees. Advertisements took over, citing up-and-coming events, auctions, public meetings, political rallies, sports games, lectures and theatrical performances. The technological leaps from engraving to aquatints to lithography, chromolithography and the offset press, all had their impact on what could be advertised by poster, and the art form took off spectacularly in the late 19th century with the influence of Lautrec and the Paris nightclubs. From then on, the poster became a sophisticated means of visual communication. In the West it was used to sell products – in the East it was used to sell regimes and control behaviour. Along with historic moments in poster evolution, 100 Posters That Changed the World charts the most impactful designs of the last 300 years – images that communicate a message whether commercial or political, images that sell a film, a musical, a cause or used for decoration, inspiration, motivation and affirmation. The affirmation for teenagers in the 1970s that Farah Fawcett was looking at you.Trade Review'Showcase[s] an extensive collection of the images and slogans that have shaped society as we know it' -- Country Life'This engaging book is a vivid tapestry of poster styles with diverse commercial, cultural and political applications supplemented by informative single-page essays that stimulate curiosity page after page' -- Morning Star'Offer[s] a way to get to grips with history from 1880 to 1940' -- This England'This journey through images that can inspire, shock or just leave the viewer laughing is never less than fascinating... a beautifully produced volume that will find a very broad readership' -- All About History

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Book SynopsisOn the one hand clothes can supposedly help you out with embodied life by concealing the bits you feel ashamed of and accentuating the bits you're proud of. However, fashion isn't really about clothes in any practical sense, but rather the endless replacement of clothes by other clothes, and especially the vilification of certain styles and the extreme elevation of others. Like gambling, fashion is a system that keeps us captivated by treating us badly, trapping us in a cycle of promises and dashed hopes by suggesting that new clothes will help us to like ourselves more. And while it's easy to dismiss fashion as elitist and wasteful, isn't it also fascinating, exciting and perhaps sometimes even radical - not to mention surprisingly egalitarian? Rather than insisting we give up on the pleasures that clothes have to offer, this brilliant new book by psychoanalyst and writer Anouchka Grose puts forward a post-fashion logic that rejects the parade of manufactured novelties in favour of more idiosyncratic forms of sartorial imitation. Taking us on a journey from the court of Louis XIV to TikTok's avant apocalypse, Fashion: A Manifesto scrutinises fashion from a number of angles: historically, psychologically, politically, environmentally, even linguistically, to open up questions about the ways in which it works both for and against us and looks forward to a future where our clothes treat us - not to mention the planet - a great deal more kindly.Trade Review“Grose’s wry tone makes her manifesto a joy, but this small book (enticingly produced, with pink cloth covers) has a serious intent. In light of fashion’s egregious role in the climate emergency, Grose wants to change our approach—to revise it—so that we may retain our abiding joy in clothes without further destroying the planet.” —Claire Messud, Harper’s Magazine

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Book SynopsisBernard Leach (1887-1979) was as renowned in Japan and the East as in Europe and America, both as an artist-craftsman and as a thinker. His interpretation of the traditions of the Orient in the making of pots - and in evolving a philosophy of life - was a lodestar for many potters in the West. Beyond East and West, first published in 1978, is more than an autobiography. Full of sharply- etched and amusing recollections, it contains much of Leach’s deeper thought and a great deal too about the practical application of his ideas. Its recurrent theme is the meeting of East and West at all levels - artistic, cultural, social, political.

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Book SynopsisA poetic new essay collection in which the symbols of the tarot brush up against life in a changing world. The Tarot de Marseille is a 16th-century set of playing cards, the deck on which the occult use of tarot was originally based. When Jessica Friedmann bought her first pack, the unfamiliar images sparked a deep immersion in the art, symbols, myths, and misrepresentations of Renaissance-era tarot. Over the years that followed, and as tarot became a part of her daily rhythm, Friedmann's life was touched by floods and by drought, by devastating fires and a pandemic, creating an environment in which the only constant was change. Twenty-Two Impressions: notes from the Major Arcana uses the Tarot de Marseille as a touchstone, blending historical research, art history, and critical insights with personal reflections. In these essays, Friedmann demonstrates how the cards of the Major Arcana can be used as a lens through which to examine the unexpectedness and subtle beauty of 21st-

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Book SynopsisArguably the most important movement in the history of modern art, Impressionism changed the way audiences perceived painting. This elegant and portable book overflows with images and information about the movement’s leading figures, tracing its development as different artists took up the challenge of redefining light and space in two dimensions, revealing the role of recent scientific discoveries, the changing landscape of Paris, and how audiences reacted to this seismic shift. The work of Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Caillebotte, Degas, Morisot, Seurat and others are given special attention, with generous, full-page illustrations of their masterpieces. Chronologically arranged, the book provides important biographical detail on the aritsts and describes historic events in the context of the latest scholarship. It also includes suggestions for further reading.

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Book SynopsisA full, faithful reproduction of the German 16th-century manuscript of supernatural phenomena, and one of the most spectacular discoveries in Renaissance art. Blending Bible stories, folklore, and apocalyptic visions in rich, luminous detail, this is a mesmerizing document of religious belief, mystery, foreboding, and visual imagination.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisSusie Hodge is a bestselling author, art historian, historian and artist. She is the author of more than one hundred books for adults and children. Her previous books include How Art Can Change Your Life and Why is Art Full of Naked People?, both published by Thames & Hudson. Grace Helmer is a freelance illustrator based in Brighton, UK. She is known for her gestural yet precise illustrations painted in oil. Previous clients include The New York Times, Penguin Random House, The Washington Post, Apple and Laurence King.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA global history of self-taught artists advocating for a nuanced understanding of modern and contemporary art often challenged by the establishmentTrade Review“[A] handsomely produced book. . . . A section on the self-taught architecture in grand structures by Sabato “Simon” Rodia, builder of the Watts Tower in Los Angeles, and Nek Chand Saini, creator of the Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India, gives welcome attention to constructed monumental projects that self-taught designers imagine but rarely build.”—David D’Arcy, Art Newspaper“Featuring William Edmondson, Bill Traylor, Aloïse Corbaz and more, this book highlights marginalized artists.”—New York Times Book Review“An essential addition to any discerning art lover’s collection. . . . An informative and important companion for art aficionados, budding curators and total novices alike.”—Vanity Fair London“Slominski offers new insights here into the influence of artists such as Hilma af Klint on the development of modern art, and presents interviews with contemporary self-taught artists such as Mamadou Cissé.”—Apollo“A fine survey of work by outsider artists. . . . [Lisa Slominski is a] perceptive critic.”—Michael Glover, The Tablet, “Best New Art Books”“Hilma af Klint, the woman behind the abstract 1907 painting is just one art outsider who gets a more nuanced reappraisal in this fascinating new book.”—Artists & Illustrators, “Book of the Month”“Nonconformers underlines the relevance of self-taught artists, be it aesthetic, spiritual, or practical. It’s a must read for those who wish to expand their knowledge of Art in totality.”—Dr. Joyce J. Scott, visual artist/MacArthur Fellow“A provocative and meticulous study of over 60 self-taught artists from around the world. Even more importantly, it questions the history, includes essays from global experts, and redefines the entire genre.”—Iain Jackson, University of Liverpool“The artist Lonnie Holley recently referred to himself as ‘self-taught . . . the same way Neil Armstrong might have described himself as a self-taught moon walker.’ Lisa Slominski’s new book Nonconformers approaches creativity with the same spirit—that the work of artists like Holley and others is expansive and without bounds. It points to a future where these artists lead the way, as they have all along.”—Annalise Flynn, independent art historian and curator

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Book SynopsisCharting Japan’s unique engagement with modernity during the Meiji era, through an extraordinary selection of objects in American collections

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Book SynopsisA vivid and moving celebration of the ways that Black Americans have shaped and been shaped by photography, from its inception to the present day. A Picture Gallery of the Soul presents the work of more than one hundred Black American artists whose practice incorporates the photographic medium. Organized by the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, this group exhibition samples a range of photographic expressions produced over three centuries, from traditional photography to mixed media and conceptual art. From the daguerreotypes made by Jules Lion in New Orleans in 1840 to the Instagram post of the Baltimore Uprising made by Devin Allen in 2015, photography has chronicled Black American life, and Black Americans have defined the possibilities of photography. Frederick Douglass recognized the quick, easy, and inexpensive reproducibility of photography and developed a theoretical framework for understanding its impact on public discourse, which he delivered asTable of ContentsContents Foreword Deborah Willis Preface Herman J. Milligan, Jr. Preface Howard Oransky Mining the Archive of Black Life and Culture Cheryl Finley A Visual Politics of Black Pleasure crystal am nelson Why We Wear a Suit to Do the Work Seph Rodney Plates Notes to Plates Contributor Biographies Index

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Book SynopsisOffering a fresh look at Oceania that incorporates new scholarship and perspectives from Indigenous voices, this book uses art to explore histories of expression and aesthetic innovation that epitomize this vast and expansive region. The visual arts of Oceania tell a wealth of dynamic stories about origins, ancestral power, performance, and initiation. This publication explores the deeply rooted connections between Austronesian-speaking peoples, whose ancestral homelands span Island Southeast Asia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the island archipelagoes of the northern and eastern Pacific. Unlike previous books, it foregrounds Indigenous perspectives, alongside multidisciplinary research in art history, ethnography, and archaeology, to provide an intimate look at Oceania, its art, and its culture. Stunning new photography highlights more than 130 magnificent objects, ranging from elaborately carved ancestral figures in ceremonial houses, towering slit drums, and dazzling turtle-shell masks to polished whale ivory breastplates. Underscoring the powerful interplay between the ocean and its islands, and the ongoing connection with spiritual and ancestral realms, Oceania: The Shape of Time presents an art-focused approach to life and culture while guiding readers through the artistic achievements of Islanders across millennia. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule: Museum of Art Pudong, ShanghaiJune 1–August 20, 2023National Museum of Qatar, DohaOctober 16, 2023–January 15, 2024 Accompanies the reopening of The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in Spring 2025

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Book SynopsisThe sixth edition of this best-selling medieval history textbook offers a gorgeously illustrated guide to more than one thousand years of history.Table of ContentsList of Maps List of Plates List of Genealogies List of Figures Abbreviations, Date Conventions, Website  Acknowledgments 1. Prelude: The Roman World Transformed (c.300–c.600) 2. The Emergence of Sibling Cultures (c.600–c.750) 3. Creating New Identities (c.750–c.900) Material Culture: Cloth and Clothing 4. Political Communities Reordered (c.900–c.1050) 5. New Configurations (c.1050–c.1150) 6. Ambitions Realized and Thwarted (c.1150–c.1250) Material Culture: The Making of an Illuminated Manuscript 7. Empires of Land and Mind (c.1250–c.1350)  8. Catastrophe and Creativity (c.1350–c.1500)  Sources Index

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Book SynopsisThe William Morris Set of 3 Mini Notebooks features a collection of three mini, foiled notebooks with alternating lined and blank pages. Each notebook has a different beautiful design: Acanthus, Rose and Compton. With a sturdy cover and rounded corners, they are perfect to be carried everywhere! The popularity and influence of William Morris cannot be underestimated – a man of many talents, he was a poet, writer, social campaigner, artist, designer and, with his Kelmscott Press, a fine book printer and publisher. A hugely important figure of the Arts and Crafts movement, he is best known for his superior wallpaper and textile designs, intricately weaving together natural motifs in highly stylized two-dimensional patterns with medieval influences. This Collection shows some of his best-loved prints and is perfect for all art lovers! Flame Tree: The Art of Fine Gifts.

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Book SynopsisDazzling. Incomparable. Unforgettable. The definitive book of Taylor Swift''s fashion evolution. This gorgeous hardcover edition has gilded gold edges, foiled cover accents and colored endpapers. For Taylor Swift, fashion and music go hand-in-handeach playing a powerful role in shaping the narrative of this generation's most prolific storyteller. Red lipstick isn't just a makeup choiceit's the emblem of an era. A mini skirt isn't simply part of a cute outfitit's a suit of armor. From cowboy boots to teetering heels, fairytale dresses to bleach-tinged tresses, and the many memorable moments in between, Taylor Swift Style tells the fashion story behind every single Taylor Swift album, tracing Swift's musical evolution along with her ever-changing personal style. From red carpet looks, to streetwear, to tour costumes, Sarah Chapelle of the successful Instagram and blog Taylor Swift Style, has spent more than a decade documenti

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