History of art Books

Book SynopsisFrom the author of the widely acclaimed graphic novel Here, awarded the 2016 Prix D'or for best graphic album at Angoulême, a new graphic work that celebrates another aspect of his incomparable genius.Sequential Drawings gathers together more than a decade of McGuire's witty and endlessly inventive spots—a veritable short-story collection—each drawing given its own spread, which, in turn, assures for the reader the experience of surprise and delight that the drawings unfailingly deliver. Richard McGuire's first series of spot drawings debuted in The New Yorker in February 2005 for the magazine's 80th anniversary issue. Spot drawings, scattered among the magazine's text, had been a long-running feature of The New Yorker, and over the years, many artists had contributed them. But McGuire was the first to conceive them as a sequence, and his drawings were something altogether new: deceptively simple images that imbued the series

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Book SynopsisThere has been a renewed scholarly interest in apocalyptic thought in the ancient Near East. This book probes the visual dimensions and implications of this inquiry, which are otherwise missing in the fields of art history and ancient Near Eastern studies.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. The 'investiture' painting from Mari; 2. The iconographic analysis of the Mari painting; 3. The flood myth as paradigm; 4. The semantics of the frame of running spirals; 5. Implications of sacral time and eschatology; 6. The royal destiny: the 'garden scene' of Ashurbanipal revisited.

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Book SynopsisThis lively and erudite cultural history of Scotland, from the Jacobite defeat of 1745 to the death of an icon, Sir Walter Scott, in 1832, weaves together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history to examine how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways.Trade Review'By focusing on material and visual evidence, Professor Coltman brings fresh and original perspectives to the study of Scottish identity‎. The perceptive arguments within the book are complemented by an impressive examination of relevant original sources. The result is an important study.' Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh'Viccy Coltman's book explores the multiple negotiations of Scottish identity with Britain, Europe and the Empire through art and material culture with flair, skill and a wide range of reference. Fresh thoughts and insights are everywhere, from Warren Hastings' visit to Ossian's Hall to the commodification of Paul Sandby. Highly recommended.' Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature, University of Glasgow'Coltman's book is an illuminating and entertaining contribution to the study of Scottish visual culture, opening the ongoing debate about Scottish identity to cosmopolitan and colonial influences, and widening the range of critical perspectives brought to bear upon it.' Nigel Leask, H-Albion'As a cultural history, Coltman's book is exemplary, informed by considerable new archival material, shuffling her pack of slippery identity concepts with great dexterity, and lightened by flashes of wit throughout.' Robin N. Campbell, Journal of the Scottish Society for Art HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Beyond Scotland: 1. Scots in Europe: 'making a figure' – painted portraiture on the Grand Tour; 2. Scots in London: 'the means of bread with applause' – George Steuart's architectural elevation; 3. Scots in Empire: 'good fishing in muddy waters' – Claud Alexander in Calcutta and Catrine; Part II. Within Scotland: 4. The Prince in Scotland: 'daubed with plaid and crammed with treason' – the visual and material culture of embodied insurrection; 5. The Monarch in the metropolis: a scopic spectacle – George IV's visit to Edinburgh, August 1822; 6. Borders Bard: 'the exactness of the resemblance': Sir Walter Scott and the physiognomy of Romanticism; Conclusion: Scott-land.

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Book SynopsisThe arguments assembled in this book have ramifications not only for scholars working in Mesoamerica but anyone interested more generally in human representation and its significance. It is the first book to fully explore, for Mesoamerica, the relationship between human figuration, fragmentation, bodily divisibility, personhood, and community.Table of Contents1. Preclassic figuration: epistemological premises and problems; 2. Monumental sculpture and the human form during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods; 3. Early and Middle Preclassic figuration in clay; 4. Figurines at Middle Preclassic La Blanca; 5. Figurines, fragmentation, and social ties; 6. Changing discourses of human representation in Late Preclassic Mesoamerica; 7. High culture and human representation in Late preclassic Mesoamerica.

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Book SynopsisAnimal products were used extensively in nineteenth-century Britain. A middle-class Victorian woman might wear a dress made of alpaca wool, drape herself in a sealskin jacket, brush her hair with a tortoiseshell comb, and sport feathers in her hat. She might entertain her friends by playing a piano with ivory keys or own a parrot or monkey as a living fashion accessory. In this innovative study, Helen Cowie examines the role of these animal-based commodities in Britain in the long nineteenth century and traces their rise and fall in popularity in response to changing tastes, availability, and ethical concerns. Focusing on six popular animal products feathers, sealskin, ivory, alpaca wool, perfumes, and exotic pets she considers how animal commodities were sourced and processed, how they were marketed and how they were consumed. She also assesses the ecological impact of nineteenth-century fashion.Trade Review'From civets horribly confined to produce perfume scent to elephants killed for ivory billiard balls and piano keys, Cowie demonstrates how fashion “valued” animals, even while letters to the RSPCA illustrated concern for animal agency and welfare. Contemporary debates surrounding nonhuman animals' victimization are rooted in the human animal's propensity to display.' Abel Alves, Ball State University'This remarkably powerful and elegantly crafted book explores the appeal of animal-based products in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Taking us deep into the world of trading and consuming bird feathers, seal skins, ivory, and exotic pets, Victims of Fashion brims with historical insight about the consumption of these goods, but also, importantly, their decline in popularity.' Neil Pemberton, University of Manchester'This is a fascinating book from start to finish, written with great verve and clarity. From animal acclimatisation schemes to exotic pet keeping, and from campaigns against animal cruelty and 'murderous millinery' to the beginnings of international wildlife conservation action, or the hunt to find synthetic substitutes for animal products, it sets some of the key questions of our time in a vivid historical context.' Sally Shuttleworth, University of Oxford'This terrific book exposes how far elites were implicated in systemised animal cruelty (historically associated with the working classes) and illustrates that while women often were pioneering advocates of animal rights, they also constituted core markets for animal commodities.' Julie-Marie Strange, Durham UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Murderous millinery; 2. The seal and his jacket; 3. Is the elephant following the dodo?; 4. Silk of the Andes; 5. Bitter perfumes; 6. Monkey business; Conclusion; Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a comprehensive study of the evolution of pre-archaic Greek temple architecture from the eleventh to mid-seventh century BCE. It will be a resource for scholars and students of archaeology, Greek religion, ancient history, architectural history, art history, and construction history.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Origins and legacies. Early Iron Age temples and the question of function; 2. The rise of monumental temples (eighth to mid-seventh centuries BC); 3. Technological innovation and permanence (first half of the seventh century); 4. Conclusion; Appendices: Appendix 1: wind force for destabilizing a mud brick wall; Appendix 2: labor for manufacturing a monolithic sarcophagus; Appendix 3: labor for stonework at Isthmia.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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