History of art Books

Book SynopsisMirrorMirrorArnolfini PortraitThe Rokeby VenusA Bar at the Folies-BergèreReflected Image in Mirror, Checked JacketBalloonMirrorMirror

Read more less

Book SynopsisGain an understanding of and appreciation for historically significant works of art from around the world with GARDNER'S ART THROUGH THE AGES: A CONCISE GLOBAL HISTORY, 5E. This beautifully illustrated tour of the world's great artistic contributions by award-winning author Fred Kleiner is now revised and expanded to provide all of the learning features and online study tools you need to excel in your art history course. Easy-to-read, captivating explanations blend with richly illustrated photographs and architectural drawings that present the historical and cultural context of significant images and monuments. This edition features more illustrations and discussions of works by women and minority artists than any other art survey text. In addition, updated and new essays underscore how art and architecture history changes as scholars rethink interpretations of paintings, sculptures and buildings. More than 200 online bonus images and essays further enrich your learning. Infuse digitalTable of ContentsIntroduction: What is Art History? 1. Prehistory and the First Civilizations. 2. Ancient Greece. 3. The Roman Empire. 4. Early Christianity and Byzantium. 5. The Islamic World. 6. Early Medieval and Romanesque Europe. 7. Gothic and Late Medieval Europe. 8. The Early Renaissance in Europe. 9. High Renaissance and Mannerism in Europe. 10. Baroque Europe. 11. Rococo to Neoclassicism in Europe and America. 12. Romanticism, Realism, and Photography, 1800 to 1870. 13. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Symbolism, 1870 to 1900. 14. Modernism in Europe and America, 1900 to 1945. 15. Modernism and Postmodernism in Europe and America, 1945 to 1980. 16. Contemporary Art Worldwide. 17. South and Southeast Asia. 18. China and Korea. 19. Japan. 20. Native Americas and Oceania. 21. Africa.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTraces the evolution of Matisse’s work on paper, from experimental beginnings to the artist’s instantly recognizable mature style An internationally recognized expert in the European tradition of draughtsmanship, Christopher Lloyd offers rare insights about the technical qualities of Matisse’s drawings. This book traces the evolution of Matisse’s large and varied body of drawings and works on paper—including graphic work, the celebrated cut-outs and the famous decoration of the Chapel of the Rosary at Vence, France. The artist’s drawings are contextualized within his own biography and times, from vibrant early twentieth-century Paris to later periods in luxurious Nice. Lively prose and a wealth of reproductions illustrate Matisse’s versatility in different media and his innovative, expansive concept of drawing. Despite the variety of his output, the work always reflects the artist’s constant desire to express pure emotion in visual terms. Since 2014, Christopher Lloyd has published four highly successful books on the drawings of modern artists. This book follows his most recent publication, Picasso and the Art of Drawing. With over 150 illustrations, including archival photographs of Matisse’s studio and the artist at work, this volume concisely covers Matisse’s entire graphic oeuvre.Distributed for Modern Art Press

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn introduction to the design, production and use of luxury embroideries in medieval England (c. 1200–1530).Trade Review"Superb, razor-sharp reproductions which give a proper sense of the beauty and power of the medium… its intellectual value is undoubted."—Paul Binski, Art Newspaper“There are over 160 full colour illustrations found herein and a wealth of historical information offered in the essays that accompany each chapter. If you are interested in Opus Anglicanum or the inheritance of medieval English Catholic culture, this is a work you will want to pick up for your collection.”—Shawn Tribe, Liturgical Arts Journal"Not only a catalogue and scholarly monograph, but a visual feast, with magnificent colour plates on virtually every page, bursting at the seams with titbits of fascinating information. It’s the sort of book that makes you want to hug yourself with glee: revelatory and as exquisitely produced as the medieval embroidery it celebrates."—Juliet Barker, Literary Review‘This beautifully produced new book […] fills a notable gap in current literature on English embroidery.’ — Frances Pritchard, Textile History “First published to accompany the V&A’s exhibition of English Medieval embroidery in 2016, this new edition confirms its status a valuable reference on the subject.”—Embroidery

Read more less

Book SynopsisInspirational quotes and sketches from Van Gogh on the restorative power of nature. 'One thing I tell you, that this countryside has the effect on me of bringing me peace, faith, courage . . .' A captivating collection of lesser-known images, chosen largely from sketchbooks and letters. The Healing Power of Nature is testament to the immense influence the natural world had on Vincent van Gogh; from the restorative, calming effect of rural landscapes to the stimulation and joy he found in natural beauty. Each image is accompanied by an insightful quote from his letters, showing how nature is a source of great healing and inspiration to us all, connecting us with the peace and beauty of our surroundings and with a sense of something even greater. '. . . I console myself by reconsidering the sunflowers.'

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA groundbreaking traveling exhibition, Out of the Box showcases sneakers, from the mid-nineteenth century to sports performance breakthroughs, to present-day cultural icons. Drawn from the collection of the Bata Shoe Museum and significant private collectors, museums, and archives—including adidas AG, Converse Archives, Kosow Sneaker Museum, Nike Archives, Northampton Museums and Art Gallery, and Reebok Archives—this selection is richly contextualized with interviews and essays by design innovators, sneaker collectors, and cultural historians, creating a backdrop of the technical innovation, fashion trends, social history, and marketing campaigns that shaped the form over the past two centuries. Out of the Box includes sneakers ranging from an 1860 spiked running shoe, a pair of 1936 track shoes, Air Jordans I–XX3, the original Air Force 1, and early Adidas Superstars to contemporary sneakers by prominent figures including DamiTrade Review"A web of historical and cultural connections, Out of the Box draws people from all corners of the creative industry . . . [It] is a complex, incisive account of the sneaker’s reinvention over two centuries of technology, marketing, fashion and social trends."-ISSUE MAGAZINE"For those devotees . . . 'Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture' will be something akin to a holy text. The book tracks the rise of sneakers from athletic necessity to icon of American casual wear, and features interviews with designers, curators, and collectors, plus hundreds of photos of the most grail-status kicks of all time."-REFINERY29.COM"[Out of the Box] is thoughtful, highly educational, and covers many bases from interviews with prominent design innnovators to the marketing campaigns that came to define modern day sneaker culture." -HYPEBEAST.COM

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis Ten beautifully illustrated essays tell the stories of handcrafted objects and their makers, providing inspiration and insight into Black history and craftsmanship.Black artisans have long been central to American art and design, creating innovative and highly desired work against immense odds. Atlanta-based chairmaker and scholar Robell Awake explores the stories behind ten cornerstones of Black craft, including: The celebrated wooden chairs of Richard Poynor, an enslaved craftsman who began a dynasty of Tennessee chairmakers. The elegant wrought-iron gates of Philip Simmons, seen to this day throughout Charleston, South Carolina, whose work features motifs from the Low Country. The inventive assemblage art and yard shows of Joe Minter, James Hampton, Bessie Harvey, and others, who draw on African spiritual traditions to create large-scale improvisational art installations. From the enslaved potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, to Ann Lowe, the couture dressmaker who made Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding dress, to Gullah Geechee sweetgrass basket makers, to the celebrated quilters of Gee's Bend, A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects illuminates the work of generations of Black craftspeople, foregrounding their enduring contributions to American craft.Perfect for: Anyone interested in the intersection of Black art, craft, and history Designers and craftspeople Educators and students Collectors and museum curators Lovers of fine and artisanal design objects

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThink of the Renaissance and you might only picture the work of fine artists such as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Van Eyck. Or architecture could spring to mind and you might think of St Peter’s in Rome and the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Or you might consider scientists like Galileo and Copernicus. But then let’s not forget the contribution of thinkers like Machiavelli, Thomas More or Erasmus. Someone else, though, might plump for music or poets and dramatists – after all, there was Dante and Shakespeare. Because when it comes to the Renaissance, there’s an embarrassment of riches to choose from. From art to architecture, music to literature, science to medicine, political thought to religion, The Renaissance expertly guides the reader through the cultural and intellectual flowering that Europe witnessed from the 14th to the 17th centuries. Ranging from the origins of the Renaissance in medieval Florence to the Counter- Reformation, the book explains how a revival in the study in Antiquity was able to flourish across the Italian states, before spreading to Iberia and north across Europe. Nimbly moving from perspective in paintings to Copernicus’s understanding of the Universe, from Martin Luther’s challenge to the Roman Catholic Church to the foundations of modern school education, The Renaissance is a highly accessible and colourful journey along the cultural contours of Europe from the Late Middle Ages to the early modern period.Table of ContentsIntroduction 15th century Europe Some historians dispute the term ‘Renaissance’ and its dates. The Mediterranean Trade revived with the crusades. Looting of Constantinople in 1204. Influx into western Europe of Byzantine scholars and scholarly texts after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. How western Europe benefited from Arabic copies of ancient Greek texts: after the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, much ancient Greek though was lost, or at least overlooked, in the West. Decline in feudalism. Impact of the plague on the Renaissance. Chapter One: Origins Florence – how Italian city-states, led by Florence, unencumbered by heavy Papal influence or empire, and growing rich on wool production and east-west, north-south Mediterranean trade, were well placed to leap ahead intellectually and artistically. From Florence, the Renaissance reached Venice. Medici. Banking. Chapter Two: Art and Architecture Fine Art – laws of perspective. Giotto, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli Pigments – Titian’s blue. How Venetian Mediterranean trade enabled Architecture: Brunelleschi’s Duomo in Florence, Doge’s Palace in Venice, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Papal patronage Northern Renaissance: Van Eyck, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Albrecht Durer, Hieronymus Bosch Chapter Three: Science and Medicine How studies in anatomy advanced figurative art Understanding blood flow in the body Copernicus. Galileo. Inquisition. Chapter Four: Exploration Wealth, advances in shipbuilding and navigation skills, as well as the pioneering zeal of some Renaissance minds, enabled travellers to sail far further by sea. Age of Discovery. The Americas. Mapmaking. Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus. Chapter Five: Literature and Music Tallis, Taverner and Byrd. Polyphony in the Netherlands. Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante. Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre. Shakespeare and the English stage. Chapter Six: Humanism, Political Thought and Religion Machiavelli’s The Prince. Thomas More’s Utopia. Erasmus. Martin Luther, Vasari. Bookkeeping: Luca Pacioli Chapter Seven: Legacy Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA vibrant meditation and poetic call for an African utopian philosophy of self-reinvention for the twenty-first century In the recent aftermath of colonialism, civil wars, and the AIDS crisis, a new day finally seems to be shining on the African continent. Africa has once again become a site of creative potential and a vibrant center of economic growth and production. No longer stigmatized by stereotypes or encumbered by the traumas of the past—yet unsure of the future—Africa has other options than simply to follow paths already carved out by the global economy. Instead, the philosopher Felwine Sarr urges the continent to set out on its own renewal and self-discovery—an active utopia that requires a deep historical reflection on the continent’s vast mythological universe and ancient traditions, nourishes a cultural reinvention, and embraces green technologies for tackling climate change and demographic challenges.Through a reflection on contemporary African writers, artists, intellectuals, and musicians, Sarr elaborates Africa’s unique philosophies and notions of communal value and economy deeply rooted in its ancient traditions and landscape—concepts such as ubuntu, the life force in Dogon culture; the Rwandan imihigo; and the Senegalese teranga. Sarr takes the reader on a philosophical journey that is as much inward as outward, demanding an elevation of the collective consciousness.Along the way, one sees the contours of an africanity, a contemporary Africa united as a continent through the creolization of its cultural traditions. This is Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA lavishly illustrated monograph that spans the entire career of Gerhard Richter, one of the most celebrated contemporary artists "Spans the contemporary German artist's six-decade career. . . . [A] stirring exhibition in [its] own right."—New York Times"[A] weighty catalogue... illuminat[es] some less-visited corners of Richter's oeuvre."—New York Review of Books Over the course of his acclaimed 60-year career, Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) has employed both representation and abstraction as a means of reckoning with the legacy, collective memory, and national sensibility of post–Second World War Germany, in both broad and very personal terms. This handsomely designed book features approximately 100 of his key canvases, from photo paintings created in the early 1960s to portraits and later large-scale abstract series, as well as select works in glass. New essays by eminent scholars address a variety of themes: Sheena Wagstaff evaluates the conceptual import of the artist’s technique; Benjamin H. D. Buchloh discusses the poignant Birkenau paintings (2014); Peter Geimer explores the artist’s enduring interest in photographic imagery; Briony Fer looks at Richter’s family pictures against traditional painting genres and conventions; Brinda Kumar investigates the artist’s engagement with landscape as a site of memory; André Rottmann considers the impact of randomization and chance on Richter’s abstract works; and Hal Foster examines the glass and mirror works. As this book demonstrates, Richter’s rich and varied oeuvre is a testament to the continued relevance of painting in contemporary art.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Met Breuer, New York (March 4–July 5, 2020)Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (August 14, 2020–January 19, 2021)

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn exceptionally thoughtful and well-written biography of one of the most influential studio potters in Britain Widely recognized as the father of studio pottery, Bernard Leach (1887–1979) played a pioneering role in creating an identity for artist potters in Britain and around the world. Born in the East (Hong Kong) and educated in the West (England), throughout his life Leach perceived himself as a courier between the disparate cultures. His exquisite pots reflect the inspiration he drew from East and West as well as his response to the basic tenets of modernism—truth to materials, the importance of function to form, and simplicity of decoration. This outstanding biography provides for the first time a vivid and detailed account of Leach’s life and its relation to his art. Emmanuel Cooper, himself a potter of international reputation, explores Leach’s working methods, the seams of his pottery, his writings and philosophy, his recognition in Japan and Britain, and his continuing legacy, bringing into sharp focus a complex man who captured in his work as a potter the “still center” that always eluded him in his tumultuous personal life.Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British ArtTrade Review"Emmanuel Cooper is a distinguished potter and writer on the crafts, and his biography of the great potter Bernard Leach is an impressive piece of work, well-informed, thoughtful and clearly written."---Journal of William Morris Society Studies"[A] magisterial biography. . . . Fascinating."—Emma Crichton-Miller

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewOne of The Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year 2016, chosen by Andrew Motion "A gripping and revelatory study."--Andrew Motion, Times Literary Supplement "Jacobus ... assesses with great acumen what Twombly's aims were, and shows brilliantly how he combines the various poetic motifs in his painting."--Marjorie Perloff, Times Literary Supplement "Mary Jacobus ... carries us on a marvellous voyage through the artist's mind and beyond."--Marina Warner, Observer "Through unprecedented access to his notebooks and annotated sources--a vast pool encompassing everything from Homer to Pound--Jacobus elegantly illuminates the complex relationship between word and image in an oeuvre that teems with potentiality and impropriety."--Lucy Watson, Financial Times "Jacobus' careful reading and broad learning, her understanding of Twombly's art and the poetry he included in it, and her synthetic discussion of literature and art in various periods and genres--her chapter on pastoral is especially breathtaking--all make this a complex, stunningly memorable book."--Elizabeth Greene, Times Higher Education "A highly original study."--Apollo Magazine "A fine example of literary scholarship inspired by art."--Michael Bird, The Telegraph "[A] fresh and intricate study of Twombly's citations and overall engagement with verse... [Jacobus] profitably confronts Twombly's work as a literary critic ... enriching the work with themes of memory, time, concealment, sexuality, translation, and what she describes at one point as, 'the inexhaustible relation of image and text--distinct, yet propped on one another.'"--James Miller, Hyperallergic "[D]azzles both visually and intellectually... A fascinating exercise in elucidation."--Bill Marx, Arts Fuse "In this erudite book, Jacobus focuses on the poetic and literary allusions and the depth of thinking that went into Twombly's work... The book includes excellent color reproductions, though they are small so do not communicate the impact of Twombly's huge paintings. Jacobus's book will be valuable for those interested in the literary sources for Twombly's art."--Choice "In the book, erudite and descriptive passages show how poetry became central to Twombly. Jacobus illuminates the import of one medium on another, going beyond drawing an affinity between art and poetry to reveal Twombly as an artist engaged in deep study who sought not just correspondences between the mediums, but unity."--Michael Abatemarco, Santa Fe New MexicanTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Twombly's Books 1 1 Mediterranean Passages: Retrospect 24 2 Psychogram and Parnassus: How (Not) to Read a Twombly 51 3 Twombly's Vagueness: The Poetics of Abstraction 78 4 Achilles' Horses, Twombly's War 103 5 Romantic Twombly 133 6 The Pastoral Stain 160 7 Psyche: The Double Door 186 8 Twombly's Lapse 210 Postscript: Writing in Light 234 Notes 243 Bibliography 285 Index 299

Read more less

Book SynopsisBernini was a man driven by many passions, possessed of an explosive temper and a hearty sex drive, and he lived a life as dramatic as any of his creations. This title sets Bernini's raucous life against a vivid backdrop of baroque Rome, bustling and wealthy, and peopled by churchmen and bureaucrats, popes and politicians, schemes and secrets.Trade Review"By adopting the manner of a lecturer - teasingly mentioning things to come, employing the first-person plural as a teacher, roping students into his intellectual questing, throwing in some slang now and then, and without neglecting scholarship (this is a history of papal Rome as much as a biography) - Franco Mormando gives us a succulent reading experience. Quanto e doice." (Booklist)"

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn armchair discovery tour of truly remarkable places, captured in SJ Axelby's inimitable watercolours. This follow-up volume to SJ Axelby's Interior Portraits transports the reader to bars, cafes, museums, shops, hotels, tearooms, restaurants, gardens, trains and more, around the world.This is an insider's guide to the classic, the cool and the quirky, with locations around the world hand picked by SJ and painted in her trademark bright and detailed watercolours. All the featured places have something special, whether that's a stunning position, centuries of history, designer interiors or a touch of good old-fashioned glamour.The text offers the reader intriguing details and insider knowledge about the history and design of these locations plus there's also the occasional cocktail recipe! Curated by an artist with an appreciation of the fine details, SJ Axelby's Painted Travels is a taste-filled tour to delight and inspire the reader.A small selection of the c.60 destinations that areTrade Review‘Pure escapism on every page.’ – ELLE Decoration Praise for SJ Axelby: ‘SJ brings a new and refreshingly relaxed style to the pantheon of interiors painters, joining familiar luminaries like Mary-Ellen Best and Alexandre Serebriakoff with a painterly flourish.’ – Ashley Hicks ‘SJ’s watercolours are for me pure escapism. They transport you into another dimension, literally into other rooms that through her touch feel so cosy and dreamy. She creates atmosphere with her brush and paint and they are all a visual feast for the eyes.’ – Martina Mondadori ‘I love Sarah-Jane’s charming interiors paintings, she has an eye for the quirky and depicts the real homes of interesting people so well.’ – Sophie Conran

Read more less

Book SynopsisSLEEK. CHIC. NOTORIOUSLY GUARDED. WELCOME TO THE SECRET WORLD OF COCO CHANEL.Justine Picardie's definitive biography explores the dark mysteries hidden beneath the shimmering surface of a fabled fashion icon. Unveiling remarkable details about Coco Chanel's traumatic childhood and her flight into unconventional adulthood, this beautifully constructed portrait reveals her passionate and painful past, her turbulent loves and losses, her quest for fame and fortune, and how she transformed herself into her own most powerful creation.Feared and revered by her contemporaries, Chanel died in 1971, but her legacy lives on as an enduring global brand. Drawing on interviews with her last surviving friends and relatives, and unprecedented archival research, Justine Picardie brings Chanel out of hiding, unpicking the seams between reality and myth, and telling a timeless story that uncovers the true art and heart of fashion.This special new edition has been extensively revised and updated, and offers a uniquely authoritative account of the greatest designer in the world. Adding fresh insights and discoveries, it comes complete with a compelling array of previously unseen images from the Chanel archives.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLorenzo de'' Medici: The embodiment of Florence''s most powerful family, a brutal man who ruled the city with an iron fist, whilst protecting it from the shifting mire of Italian politics.Fra Girolamo Savonarola: An unprepossessing provincial monk whose sermons, filled with Old Testament fury, resonated with the disenfranchised population of the city.The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events - including a mighty foreign invasion, trial by fire, the ''Bonfire of the Vanities'', terrible executions and mysterious deaths - featuring a cast of the most important and charismatic Renaissance figures.Trade ReviewStrathern combines diligent archival research with an exemplary narrative verve and keeps the pages turning -- Ian Thomson * Financial Times *Grips the reader from the first page... it is an arresting and horrifying tale and Strathern tells it with immense skill and verve * New Statesman *

Read more less

Book SynopsisPalladio (1508-80) combined classical restraint with constant inventiveness. In this study, Professor Ackerman sets Palladio in the context of his age - the Humanist era of Michelangelo and Raphael, Titian and Veronese - and examines each of the villas, churches and palaces in turn.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of the central texts of the Middle Ages, The Golden Legend deeply influenced the imagery of poetry, painting and stained glass with its fascinating descriptions of saints' lives and religious festivals. By creating a single-volume sourcebook of core Christian stories, Jacobus de Voragine (c. 1229-98) attracted a huge audience across Europe. This selection of over seventy biographies ranges from the first Apostles and Roman martyrs to near-contemporaries such as St Dominic, St Francis of Assissi and St Elizabeth of Hungary. Here, witnesses to the true faith endure horrific tortures; reformed prostitutes win divine forgiveness; while other women live disguised as monks or nobly resist lustful tyrants. Lucid and compelling, The Golden Legend offers an enthralling insight into the medieval mind.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics repreTable of ContentsIntroductionBibliographyTranslator's Note1. St. Andrew, Apostle: 30 November2. St. Nicholas, 6 December3. St. Ambrose, 7 December4. St. Lucy, Virgin, 13 December5. St. Thomas, Apostle, 21 December6. St. Anastasia, 25 December7. St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, 27 December8. St. Thomas of Canterbury, 29 December9. St. Hilary, 13 January10. St. Anthony, Abbot, 17 January11. St. Sebastian, 20 January12. St. Agnes, Virgin, 21 January13. St. Vincent, 22 January14. St. John the Almsgiver, 23 January15. St. Ignatius, 1 February16. St. Blaise, 3 February17. St. Agatha, Virgin, 3 February18. St. Amand, 6 February19. St. Juliana, 16 February20. St. Matthias, Apostle, 24 February21. St. Gregory, 12 March22. St. Longinus, 15 March23. St. Bendict, 21 March24. St. Mary of Egypt, 2 April25. St. George, 23 April26. St. Mark, Evangelist, 25 April27. St. Marcellinus, Pope, 26 April28. St. James the Less, Apostle, 1 May29. St. Petronilla, 31 May30. St. Barnabas, Apostle, 11 June31. St. Basil, Bishop, 14 June32. Sts. Quiricus and His Mother Julitta, 16 June33. Sts. Gervase and Protase, 19 June34. St. Peter, Apostle, 29 June35. St. Paul, Apostle, 30 June36. St. Alexis, 17 July37. St. Margaret, 20 July38. St. Mary Magdalene, 22 July39. St. Christopher, 25 July40. The Seven Sleepers, 27 July41. St. Martha, 29 July42. St. Germain, Bishop, 31 July43. St. Dominic, 4 August44. St. Laurence, Martyr, 10 August45. St. Bernard, 20 August46. St. Bartholomew, 24 August47. St. Giles, 1 September48. St. Theodora, 11 September49. St. Euphemia, 16 September50. St. Eustace, 20 September51. St. Justina, 26 September52. Sts. Cosmas and Damian, 27 September53. St. Jerome, 30 September54. St. Remy, 1 October55. St. Francis, 4 October56. St. Pelagia, 8 October57. St. Thais, Courtesan, 8 October58. Sts. Dionysius, Rusticus and Eleutherius, 9 October59. The Eleven THousand Virgins, 21 October60. Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, 2561. Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles, 28 October62. St. Quentin, 31 October63. The Four Crowned Martyrs, 8 November64. St. Martin, Bishop, 11 November65. St. Brice, 13 November66. St. Elizabeth, 19 November67. St. Cecilia, 22 November68. St. Clement, 23 November69. St. Catherine, 25 November70. St. James the Mutilated, 27 November71. Sts. Barlaam and Josaphat, 27 NovemberExplanatory NotesTextual Variants

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom Neil MacGregor, the author of A History of the World in 100 Objects, this is a view of Germany like no otherFor the past 140 years, Germany has been the central power in continental Europe. Twenty-five years ago a new German state came into being. How much do we really understand this new Germany, and how do its people now understand themselves?Neil MacGregor argues that uniquely for any European country, no coherent, over-arching narrative of Germany''s history can be constructed, for in Germany both geography and history have always been unstable. Its frontiers have constantly floated. Königsberg, home to the greatest German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, is now Kaliningrad, Russia; Strasbourg, in whose cathedral Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany''s greatest writer, discovered the distinctiveness of his country''s art and history, now lies within the borders of France. For most of the five hundred years covered by this book Germany has been composed of many separate political units, each with a distinct history. And any comfortable national story Germans might have told themselves before 1914 was destroyed by the events of the following thirty years.German history may be inherently fragmented, but it contains a large number of widely shared memories, awarenesses and experiences; examining some of these is the purpose of this book. Beginning with the fifteenth-century invention of modern printing by Gutenberg, MacGregor chooses objects and ideas, people and places which still resonate in the new Germany - porcelain from Dresden and rubble from its ruins, Bauhaus design and the German sausage, the crown of Charlemagne and the gates of Buchenwald - to show us something of its collective imagination. There has never been a book about Germany quite like it.Trade ReviewFrom sausages and porcelain to the glory days of Bauhaus, MacGregor has produced a dazzling history that goes far beyond the stereotypes of Nazis, forests and leather shorts. The illustrations alone - the glittering interior of Aachen Cathedral, the engravings of Albrecht Dürer - make you want to jump on the first flight to Berlin -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Unfailingly interesting and stimulating ... the book succeeds triumphantly -- Richard J Evans * TLS *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDespite--or because of--its huge popular culture status, Peanuts enabled cartoonist Charles Schulz to offer political commentary on the most controversial topics of postwar American culture through the voices of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the Peanuts gang.In postwar America, there was no newspaper comic strip more recognizable than Charles Schulz''s Peanuts. It was everywhere, not just in thousands of daily newspapers. For nearly fifty years, Peanuts was a mainstay of American popular culture in television, movies, and merchandising, from the Macy''s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the White House to the breakfast table.Most people have come to associate Peanuts with the innocence of childhood, not the social and political turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. Some have even argued that Peanuts was so beloved because it was apolitical. The truth, as Blake Scott Ball shows, is that Peanuts was very political. Whether it was the battles over the Vietnam War, racial integration, feminism, or the future of a nuclear world, Peanuts was a daily conversation about very real hopes and fears and the political realities of the Cold War world. As thousands of fan letters, interviews, and behind-the-scenes documents reveal, Charles Schulz used his comic strip to project his ideas to a mass audience and comment on the rapidly changing politics of America.Charlie Brown''s America covers all of these debates and much more in a historical journey through the tumultuous decades of the Cold War as seen through the eyes of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang.Trade ReviewBall has offered a wonderful lens through which to understand not only how Schulz's Christian faith and mildly liberal bent generated a beloved comic strip but also how the life and times of an angst-ridden boy named Charlie Brown and his motley group of friends mirrored the contours of postwar American political culture....Historians of twentieth-century political culture will find much to like about Ball's analysis...of Schulz's comic strip, one that invited readers such as Reagan to project their own political anxieties and concerns onto the lives of minimally sketched cartoon kids. * Robert Genter, Journal of American History *Ball makes a strong case that the world's foremost comic strip was very political, despite common belief to the contrary, its messages deftly shrouded in allegory, ambiguousness, and intentional vagueness by Charles Schulz ... this excellent book provides abundant new material and many fascinating insights. * J. A. Lent, CHOICE *This is a comics studies book that your parents and non-comics friends would also enjoy. Charlie Brown's America is mostly jargon-free and is a fun, fast read. It reprints a substantial number of Peanuts comics and Peanuts-related images, and these entertain readers and help illustrate Ball's ideas. This is an excellent example of how to write good history that a general audience will enjoy reading!.... One of the most impressive elements of Charlie Brown's America is how it presents Charles Schulz as a deeply thoughtful person and then shows how that translates into his work. Ball really does complicate the legacy of Schulz and Peanuts, but he does so in a way that enriches the strip and helps to firmly ground the seemingly timeless Peanuts gang in cold war America....Charlie Brown's America serves up nostalgia, makes you smile, and still manages to make you rethink and reconsider Peanuts and its legacy. * Dan Newland, The Comic Book Yeti *It's enlightening to read Ball's breakdown of where the strip captured the moment and where it strayed. * Heather Seggel, Progressive Populist *Peanuts reflects America, or America reflects Peanuts. Both were true in the case of America's favorite comic strip. For half a century Charles Schulz sent his missive out to the world in a love letter, and his readers loved him back with unparalleled affection. In this thoroughly researched and carefully considered study, Blake Scott Ball explores the reasons why Schulz may have been our best cartoonist. Like Mickey Mouse, Superman, and Chaplin's tramp, Charlie Brown has joined our list of icons who help us understand the human condition. He's a good man, Charlie Brown. * M. Thomas Inge, Randolph-Macon College *Blake Scott Ball's Charlie Brown's America uses the history of Charles Schulz's Peanuts as a medium for his fascinating tour of cold war American culture. * Grace Hale, University of Virginia *This valuable study provides essential context for our understanding of a pop-cultural masterpiece. Charles Schulz generally avoided making overt political statements in his comics. But as Blake Ball demonstrates, that doesn't mean that Peanuts was never a political text. In fact, Schulz cultivated a deliberately ambiguous, even polysemic approach when addressing the most hot-button issues of his day—from Women's Liberation to Civil Rights and Environmentalism. * Ben Saunders, University of Oregon *A cultural history with the narrative drive of a well-crafted biography, Blake Scott Ball's Charlie Brown's America unlocks the mysteries behind Schulz's comic masterpiece. Drawing on interviews, speeches, and correspondence between the cartoonist and his fans, Ball offers deftly historicized close readings of Schulz's strip, showing how Peanuts' ideological flexibility made it a 'Rorschach test' for American readers during the Cold War. A tour de force of comics scholarship and an engrossing read! * Philip Nel, author of Was the Cat in the Hat Black? *The book succeeds nicely as both a fresh treatment of Schulz's work and career and as a survey of popular political currents in the mid-twentieth century United States... [It] will interest scholars of mid-twentieth-century cultural history as well as fans and students of comics, comedy, and popular culture. * Kerry Soper, American Historical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Ch 1 Bless You for Charlie Brown: Evangelicalism, Civil Religion, and Peanuts in Postwar America Ch 2 Crosshatch Is Beautiful: Franklin, Color-Blindness, and the Limits of Racial Integration in Peanuts Ch 3 Snoopy Is the Hero in Vietnam: Ambivalence, Empathy, and Peanuts' Vietnam War Ch 4 I Believe in Conserving Energy: Personal Responsibility, Consumer Politics, and Peanuts' Pro-Capitalist Environmental Ethos Ch 5 I Have a Vision, Charlie Brown: Gender Roles, Abortion Rights, Sex Education, and Peanuts in the Age of the Women's Movement Conclusion Notes Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe historical trajectory of decadent culture runs from ancient Rome, to nineteenth-century Paris, Victorian London, fin de siècle Vienna, Weimar Berlin, and beyond. The first of these, the decline of Rome, provides the pattern for both aesthetic and social decadence, a pattern that artists and writers in the nineteenth century imitated, emulated, parodied, and otherwise manipulated for aesthetic gain. What begins as the moral condemnation of modernity in mid-nineteenth century France on the part of decadent authors such as Charles Baudelaire ends up as the perverse celebration of the pessimism that imperial decline, whether real or imagined, involves. This delight in decline informs the so-called breviary, or even bible, of decadence from Joris-Karl Huysmans''s À Rebours, Oscar Wilde''s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Aubrey Beardsley''s drawings, Gustav Klimt''s paintings, and numerous other works. In this Very Short Introduction, David Weir explores these conflicting attitudes towards modernity present in decadent culture by examining the difference between aesthetic decadence -- the excess of artifice -- and social decadence, which involves excess in a variety of forms, whether perversely pleasurable or gratuitously cruel. Such contrariness between aesthetic and social decadence led some of its practitioners to substitute art for life and to stress the importance of taste over morality, a maneuver with far-reaching consequences, especially as decadence enters the realm of popular culture today.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewincisive survey * Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education *entertaining * ANZLitLovers *Weir does us a service by bringing into one accessible book the decadences of different ages for comparison. * Jad Adams, The Wildean *In Decadence: A Very Short Introduction, David Weir helps students, scholars, and the general public to think more critically about decadence by introducing a lens that could serve as a starting point for understanding the concept: modernity and conflict.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction 1 Rome: Classical Decadence 2 Paris: Cultural Decadence 3 London: Social Decadence 4 Vienna and Berlin: Socio-cultural Decadence Conclusion: Legacies of Decadence References Further reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe amazing discovery of the ''first European civilization'' in Crete, Greece and the Aegean islands during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was beyond what anyone had imagined. Beginning with the Neolithic period, before 3000 BCE, and ending at the close of the Bronze Age and the transition to the Iron Age of Hellenic Greece (c.1000 BCE), this is the first comprehensive introduction to the visual arts and architecture of this extraordinary era. This book introduces the reader to the historical and social contexts within which the arts - pottery, gold, silver, and ivory objects, gravestone reliefs, frescoes, and architecture - of the Aegean area developed. It examines the functions they served, and the ways in which they can be read as evidence for the interactions of many different peoples and societies in the eastern Mediterranean. It also provides an up-to-date critical historiography of the field in its relationship to the growth of ancient art history, archaeology, and museology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, giving a contemporary audience a clear appreciation of what has been at stake in the uncovering and reconstruction of this ancient society.Trade Reviewa compact and attractive introduction to the subject * John Bennet, THES, 9/6/00 *This powerful account of 2,000 years of Aegean culture is a must for pilgrims and sun-worshippers * The Observer, 24.10.99 *Table of Contents1. Introduction: Aegean Art and Architecture ; The environment; Discovering the Aegean World; Art and art history; Objectives; Organization. ; 2. The Neolithic Period and the Prepalatial Early Bronze Age ; Settlements; Burial practices. ; 3. The First Palace Period ; Middle Bronze Age palaces and villas; The vernacular tradition in Greece and Crete; Ritual practices; Summary. ; 4. The Second Palace Period ; Public art, private art, and the palatial architectural style; The Second Palaces: Knossos, Phaistos, Gournia, and Kato Zakro; Minoan villas: function and design; The terminology and typology of Minoan palatial buildings; The Minoan and Mycenaean spheres of influence; Religious practices; Burial practices. ; 5. Mycenaean Domination and the Minoan Tradition ; The Mycenaean palace at Pylos; The Mycenaean palace at Knossos; Haghia Triadha and Kommos; The continuation of Minoan building techniques in the Third Palace Period; Burial practices; The Mycenaean shrine at Phylakopi; The circuit walls at Mycenae and Tiryns. ; 6. Conclusion: Disruptions, (Dis)Continuities, and the Bronze Age ; The eastward migration of Aegean traditions; The international style; Cyprus, Palestine, and the Peoples of the Sea; Tradition and transformation; What goes around comes around: Daedalus returns to Crete. ; Notes; List of Illustrations; Bibliographic Essay; Timeline; Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat would an anatomy of the book look like? There is the main text, of course, the file that the author proudly submits to their publisher. But around this, hemming it in on the page or enclosing it at the front and back of the book, there are dozens of other texts--page numbers and running heads, copyright statements and errata lists--each possessed of particular conventions, each with their own lively histories. To consider these paratexts--recalling them from the margins, letting them take centre stage--is to be reminded that no book is the sole work of the author whose name appears on the cover; rather, every book is the sum of a series of collaborations. It is to be reminded, also, that not everything is intended for us, the readers. There are sections that are solely directed at others--binders, librarians, lawyers--parts of the book that, if they are working well, are working discreetly, like a theatrical prompt, whispering out of the audience''s ear-shotBook Parts is a bold anTrade Reviewan engaging work of "book history as anatomy" ... each of the contributors to Book Parts finds their own metaphorical vocabulary to describe the relationship between book part and main text. * James Waddell, Times Literary Supplement *...a Gray's Anatomy for the bookish * Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal *For making us think about the elements of which a book is comprised, and making us reflect on their long histories - and for doing so with intelligence, learning and wit - this book is to be greatly welcomed...It is rarely less than fascinating and sometimes hugely entertaining. * Mathew Lyons, The Author *Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * M. C. Cohen, CHOICE *Duncan and Smyth contextualize their undertaking with an unusually self-conscious introduction that does not spend time giving us synopses of each chapter ... There is little need to speak of the whole collection when it is this well edited and each part feels in concert with the others ... It is the drama of this shadowy realm that Smyth and Duncan's collection, both in whole and in part, demonstrates for us. * Nicholas D. Nace, The Book Collector *Table of Contents1: Adam Smyth and Dennis Duncan: Introductions 2: Gill Partington: Dust-jackets 3: Luisa Calè: Frontispieces 4: Whitney Trettien: Title Pages 5: Shef Rogers: Imprints, Imprimaturs, and Copyright Pages 6: Joseph Howley: Tables of Contents 7: Meaghan J. Brown: Addresses to the Reader 8: Helen Smith: Acknowledgements and Dedications 9: Hazel Wilkinson: Printer's Ornaments and Flowers 10: Tamara Atkin: Character Lists 11: Daniel Sawyer: Page Numbers, Signatures, and Catchwords 12: Nicholas Dames: Chapter Heads 13: Rachel Sagner Buurma: Epigraphs 14: Tiffany Stern: Stage Directions 15: Claire M. L. Bourne: Running Titles 16: Alexandra Franklin: Woodcuts 17: Sean Roberts: Engravings 18: Jenny Davidson: Footnotes 19: Adam Smyth: Errata Lists 20: Dennis Duncan: Indexes 21: Sidney Berger: Endleaves 22: Abigail Williams: Blurbs Select Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisDürer''s Lost Masterpiece tracks the history of a turning point in the career of the celebrated German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), when he stopped painting altarpieces after arguing with a merchant patron over payment. As an eloquent homage to Dürers life, it brings us closer to the creation and meaning of his paintings than ever before.Dürer''s Lost Masterpiece considers the celebrated German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), his time and his legacy. It tracks the history of a crucial, and often overlooked, turning point in his career, when Dürer stopped painting altarpieces after falling out with the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heller over a commission. The story of this painting, as Dürers lost masterpiece, functions as a lens through which to view the new relationship developing between art, collecting and commerce in Europe up to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) when global trade and cultural exchanges were increasing. At the heart of the book is the argument that merchants, and their mentalities, were crucial for the making of Renaissance art and its legacy for modern art. The book draws on a decade of research, and uniquely draws the reader into the rich emotional worlds of three merchants each of whom typified the evolving relationship between art and commerce in that entrepreneurial, and often ruthless, age. It brings to life Dürers determined fight for creative makers to be adequately paid and explores the big questions about how European societies came to value the arts and crafts that remain relevant to our time.Trade ReviewUlinka Rublack's new book successfully combines a close reading of the sources for the life and work of Albrecht Dürer with a wide-ranging account of art as a luxury commodity at a time when the trade in luxuries was going global. * Peter Burke, Emmanuel College Cambridge *Ulinka Rublack masterfully recontextualizes Albrecht Dürer's lost Heller Altarpiece, it production, and its fate. Yet her fascinating account is equally about German material culture, the rise of artistic advisors and agents, notably Hans Fugger and Philipp Hainhofer, the emerging global marketplace, and discerning collectors in Bavaria and England. Rublack recenters German creativity and tastes within the broader movement of art, ideas, and individuals across Europe. * Jeffrey Chipps Smith, Kay Fortson Chair in European Art and Professor, University of Texas, Austin *A stunning achievement by a historian at the pinnacle of her craft-at once a sensitive portrait of Dürer's emotional life that allows us to understand as a whole his desire to show what he could do with and for art at a time of transformative change and conflict in German society, and a vivid depiction of the merchants and nobles locked in fateful embrace who fueled the burgeoning world of global commerce, awash in material things and exotica, and who made Dürer who he was both in his day and in ours. Quite simply a tour de force. * Pamela H. Smith, Columbia University *Ulinka Rublack's fascinating study reminds us of this rich interconnectedness of people, ideas, and the material world during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. * Jeffrey Chipps Smith, University of Texas, Austin, Historian of Netherlandship Art Reviews *Ambitious and impressive... a remarkable story. * Peter Marshall, Literary Review *[Dürer's Lost Masterpiece] lays out methodically, with academic brilliance, the marketplace, techno-aware basis of the 'Dürer Renaissance' and the artist's rise to immortal fame. With a glorious accumulation of detail, assiduous research...a deluxe book. * Philip Hoare, The Spectator *Illuminating... In [Rublack's] hands, the narrative of Dürer's success...becomes something far more nuanced... A novel biography of an artist. * Francesca Peacock, Prospect *An outstanding portrayal of the merchant as a creative agent and a remarkable contribution to the history of the European art market as a whole. * Jenny Uglow, New York Review of Books *A rich cornucopia of the period, when art was joining exotic shells, potions, and unguents as an international commodity ... it has much to tell about how Dürer and his contemporaries lived. * David Platzer, New Criterion *Dürer's Lost Masterpiece, which analyzes that era minutely, is the product of over fifteen years of research in archives and collections...it is precisely that amassing and marshaling of detail that makes her book such an outstanding portrayal of the merchant as a creative agent and a remarkable contribution to the history of the European art market as a whole. * Jenny Uglow, The New York Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Letters to Heller 1: What Few Can Do 2: Herr Jacob Heller 3: Dürer´s Revenge 4: A Trio of Unconventional Friends 5: Preparing to Paint 6: Apelles AD 7: Letter 3 8: Who Will See It? 9: Oil and Pigment 10: Colour 11: Delivering 12: Journey to the Netherlands 13: Becoming Lutheran Part Two: Tastemakers 1: Hans Fugger and the Age of Curiosity 2: Fugger´s Taste for Painting 3: In Style! 4: Spending on Style 5: The Court of Bavaria 6: The Flow of Things 7: The Debt Crisis Explodes 8: Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria Part Three: Trading Art 1: The Lives of Northern Painters 2: The Art Agent 3: Becoming Philipp Hainhofer 4: Networks for Success 5: Visiting Wilhelm´s Court 6: Trading Silks and a Fragile Career 7: The Old Lord 8: Material Presence 9: Agent for the Duke of Pomerania 10: The Garden of Eichstätt 11: The Age of Maximilian I 12: Hunting Dürer 13: The Chase: Buying the Heller Altarpiece 14: Special Things 15: A British Spy? Part Four: Shopping for Dürer in the Thirty Years´ War Epilogue

Read more less

Book SynopsisStudies in the History of the Renaissance is a highly influential defence of aestheticism. Pater redefined the practice of criticism through his readings of some of the paintings, sculptures, and poems of the Renaissance, and shocked contemporaries for sponsoring a hedonistic ethic with his infamous 'Conclusion'.Table of ContentsPreface; Aucassin and Nicolette; Pico della Mirandola; Sandro Botticelli; Luca della Robbia; The Poetry of Michelangelo; Leonardo da Vinci; Joachim du Bellay; Winckelmann; Conclusion; Appendix A: The School of Giorgione; Appendix B: Diaphaneite

Read more less

Book SynopsisOver 1,900 entries provide succinct and accessible explanations of a variety of terms used in art, covering materials, techniques, styles, and periods. From abstract expressionism to Renaissance, batik to zincograph, this dictionary will help you navigate the wide variety of terms used in the art world.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisContains 27 essays and reviews defining the contours of late modernism in the visual arts. Ranging from brief reviews to extended essays, the writings establish a set of basic terms for understanding key issues in high modernism. An extended introductory essay by the author clarifies his views.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"It is chock-full of exciting and provocative ideas, but it is also just plain fun — something akin to Freedman leading the reader by the hand on a tour of a cultural landscape that he knows like the back of his hand." * Los Angeles Review of Books *"This is a profoundly important book in Jewish Studies, as well as among the cultural and literary criticism of its artistic subject." * Religion and the Arts *"Erudite, gossipy, nuanced, funny, and moving. . . Freedman serves as collector culling materials from a wide array of sources, arranging them into an often dizzying but unfailingly interesting and almost always entirely persuasive account that supports his thesis, each time from a different direction." * Victorian Studies *"Overall, The Jewish Decadence is a richly rewarding read, blending deep knowledge, provocative insight and unsparing honesty to the role Jews have played in fin-de-siècle culture of Europe and the USA. Barely a page goes by with an insight into cultural production and consumption and unexpected links between creators, places and ideas. This book will be of value to anyone wishing to under early Modernism and Jewish contribution to vanguard art." -- alexanderadamsart: Reviews of art, culture and literature"Freedman’s argument, that Jewish novelists, poets, actors, and philosophers reworked the discourse of decadence, which often linked Jewishness to decline, to their own ends in order to generate a Jewish response to the conditions of modernity, is compelling. More importantly, it offers a model of how work on afterlives and transnational circulation can avoid the trap of thinking in terms of unidirectional influence and attend to the agency and creativity of those influenced." * Journal of British Studies *Bringing his capacious cultural expertise and scholarly rigor to a wide-ranging exploration of the association between Jews and decline and degeneracy, Jonathan Freedman performs an erudite, original, and wonderfully chutzpadik act of reclamation. -- Alisa Solomon, Columbia University“This book takes us on an extraordinary journey through what the author calls ‘something like modernity,’ as it is to be found in dance, literature, song, painting, theatre, film, and history. Decadence turns out to mean what it seems to mean, and an almost unimaginable range of other things as well. Its richness, as well as its constant entanglement in ideas of Jewishness, would have caused any other writer either to simplify or get lost, but Freedman wittily and resolutely does neither. His book is ‘example-drunk,’ as he says, but it doesn’t stumble. It celebrates complication and reflection and masquerade, and we find ourselves wishing the show—the one he is evoking and the one to be seen in the fabulous evocation itself—would never end.” -- Michael Wood, Princeton University“Freedman reconceives of Jews as architects rather than victims of modernity. Although Jews were often demonized as sexual and artistic deviants, they also entered into dialogue with their detractors by contesting or reshaping the prejudices of the day. Most important, Jews played a central role in European culture as artists, critics, sponsors, networkers, and entrepreneurs; throughout the book, Freedman spots Jews where none have been discerned before, testifying to their ubiquity among the avant-garde.” -- Maud Ellman, University of Chicago"A book that transforms our experiences of familiar works and encourages us to carry on the work of Jewish cultural studies, following the example of one of its most gifted practitioners." * Reading Religion *Table of ContentsPreface, by Daniel Hack and Amy Hungerford Introduction: “Our Two-Step Is the Modern Decadence!” 1 Qu’est-ce que c’est la décadence? And What Does It Have to Do with Jews? 2 Oscar Wilde among the Jews 3 Salomania and the Remaking of the Jewish Female Body from Sarah Bernhardt to Betty Boop 4 Coming Out of the Jewish Closet with Marcel Proust 5 Pessimism, Jewish Style: Jews Reading Schopenhauer from Freud to Bellow 6 Walter Benjamin’s Paris, Capital of Jewish Aesthetic Modernity 7 Dybbuks, Vampires, and Other Fin-de-Siècle Jewish Phantasms Conclusion: The Deca-danse; or, The Afterlife of the Jewish DecadentNotes Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Little is known about the Dutch painter Frans Hals: no letters or diaries survive, and the only contemporary documents are unrevealing. But Nadler manages to construct a satisfying quasi-biography by using the milieu of seventeenth-century Haarlem. . . . Though Hals has long been overshadowed by his contemporary Rembrandt, Nadler demonstrates why his peers held him to be 'the modern painter par excellence.'" * New Yorker *“Hals may have become famous for his lifelike portraits, but the only way to depict his own life, Nadler suggests in The Portraitist, is to paint a picture of the social world in which he was embedded. As Nadler acknowledges, this is a book whose subject ‘all too often . . . disappear[s] from view.’” * New York Review of Books *"Splendid." -- Ian Buruma * Times Literary Supplement *"Nadler laments the absence of biographical material about Hals, but does a wonderful job of bringing the social context of his art to life in intricate and lively detail. In so doing, he brings this incomparable artist to life as well." * Literary Review *Named one of the best books of 2022. * New Yorker *"In The Portraitist, [Nadler] closes in on his subject, as it were. By sketching the artistic, social, political and religious milieus and the elite subjects who came to Hals for portraits and civic guard pieces, Nadler sketches a sharp picture of the politically turbulent first half of the seventeenth century and Hals’ position therein. This results in a quasi-biography which brings Hals to life in a refined way." * NRC Handelsblad *"[The Portraitist] is stylistically much like a portrait by the master: broadly sweeping strokes situate the geopolitical context and are embellished by microhistorical details relating to the art market and to Hals’s family and his patrons. The paintings serve as focal points along the way. Though much about Hals’s life remains unknown, Nadler’s portrait of the age in which he worked is clearly and astutely evoked. . . . Recommended." * Choice *"Nadler’s biography of Frans Hals discusses the life and legacy of the Dutch 17th-century painter against the backdrop of his thriving adopted city of Haarlem, delving into the artistic, social, political, and religious worlds of the time." * The Art Newspaper *"Nadler is particularly adept at illuminating the details of the lives of Hals’s sitters and how they connect to the ebbs and flows of religious power struggles, inside and outside the Dutch Republic. The resulting image is one of a flexible artist willing to work for individuals of different faiths. At the same time, Nadler casts Hals as an artist who had to navigate a complex, and frequently shifting, religious environment in a never-ending search for commissions and sales. Nadler’s illumination of Hals’s network is particularly useful in the various passages related to the painter’s family. Nadler expertly gathers information about Hals’s grandparents, parents, and their relations in Antwerp before the young Hals relocated to Haarlem by 1591. . . . Nadler’s book is an informative volume crafted in engaging prose. " * Historians of Netherlandish Art Reviews *"Framed by the religious upheavals of the era, situated solidly in the art world of the Dutch Republic, and defining Hals’ accomplishments, Nadler’s accessible and convincing portrait presents a politically pliant and religiously ambiguous man with loose narrative brushstrokes similar to those used by the genius himself." * Booklist *“Nadler has made 17th-century Holland his own special province. This polymath historian of philosophy has already built onto his expertise about Spinoza and Descartes with truly interdisciplinary studies, including Rembrandt’s Jews and Menasseh Ben Israel. Now he makes his own portrait of Rembrandt’s contemporary, Frans Hals, and his Haarlem society. Nadler’s deep research provides the first thorough biography of Hals, the painter who for half a century boldly fashioned lively likenesses of his fellow citizens onto his canvases.” -- Larry Silver, author of Rembrandt’s Holland“This welcome new book on Frans Hals situates the artist, his patrons, and his city in a broader perspective than any previous study. We learn about circumstances in his life and milieu that were surely of influence on Hals’s paintings. Much to our benefit, Nadler delves into matters that we tend to take for granted.” -- Gary Schwartz, author of Rembrandt’s Universe“Nadler has masterfully brought Frans Hals to life much as this remarkable seventeenth-century Haarlem artist animated sitters in his portrait paintings. Nadler’s engaging narrative draws the reader close to the artist and captures the essence of his distinctive manner of painting. He introduces us to Hals’s family, enumerates Hals’s financial woes, and assesses the personalities of his sitters, among them merchants, ministers, officers in militia companies, and directors of charitable institutions. Seamlessly fusing these narratives, Nadler evokes the ambiance of Haarlem’s rich and varied culture, but he also explores how broader political and religious developments in the Dutch Republic impacted Hals throughout his career.” -- Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., author of Clouds, Ice, and Bounty: The Lee and Juliet Fund Collection of Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish PaintingsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction 1. Exile 2. Haarlem 3. Master Painter 4. Citizen Hals 5. In a Rough Manner 6. "Very Boldly Done after Life" 7. Debts and Disputes 8. Pandemics 9. "A Pleasing, Good and Sincere Peace" 10. Denouement Acknowledgments Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA fascinating look at artistic experiments with televisual forms. Following the integration of television into the fabric of American life in the 1950s, experimental artists of the 1960s began to appropriate this novel medium toward new aesthetic and political ends. As Erica Levin details in The Channeled Image, groundbreaking artists like Carolee Schneemann, Bruce Conner, Stan VanDerBeek, and Aldo Tambellini developed a new formal language that foregrounded television's mediation of a social order defined by the interests of the state, capital, and cultural elites. The resulting works introduced immersive projection environments, live screening events, videographic distortion, and televised happenings, among other forms. For Levin, the channeled image names a constellation of practices that mimic, simulate, or disrupt the appearance of televised images. This formal experimentation influenced new modes of installation, which took shape as multi-channel displays and mobile or split-sTrade Review"[An] essential, revelatory examination of intermediality and politics in the 1960s. . . Erica Levin’s assured study of artists and experimental filmmakers confronts what she labels the ‘media politics’ of television." * Art History *"The Channeled Image offers keen insights into the artists in the 1960s and how they marshaled a variety of media to both engage with and challenge the norms of commercial and public television. Levin’s clear and forceful critique illuminates the intentions of these artists, their successes, and their failures, drawing attention to a number of works that have received relatively scant scholarly attention and placing those works in conversation with one another. This book will be a boon to the fields of art history and media studies alike." -- Gregory Zinman, author of Making Images Move: Handmade Cinema and the Other Arts"The Channeled Image boldly redraws the map of the 1960s, a time when television news mediated social upheaval and artists critically engaged the medium’s power and immediacy. In crisp and assured prose, Levin reveals the era to be messier and more complex than previous studies have allowed it to be. This is a brilliant and necessary book for understanding art’s entanglements with mass media, both then and now." -- Genevieve Yue, author of Girl Head: Feminism and Film MaterialityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Tuning In 1 Network Media/TV Nation 2 Movement Media/War on Television 3 We Interrupt this Program . . . 4 Public Television/Nervous System Conclusion: TV Now? Acknowledgments Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages are among the greatest works of European art and literature. We are dazzled by them and recognize their crucial role in the transmission of knowledge. But we generally think much less about the countless men and women who made, collected and preserved them through the centuries, and to whom they owe their existence.This entrancing book describes some of the extraordinary people who have spent their lives among illuminated manuscripts over the last thousand years. A monk in Normandy, a prince of France, a Florentine bookseller, an English antiquary, a rabbi from central Europe, a French priest, a Keeper at the British Museum, a Greek forger, a German polymath, a British connoisseur and the woman who created the most spectacular library in America - all of them were participants in what Christopher de Hamel calls the Manuscripts Club.This exhilarating fraternity, and the fellow enthusiasts who come with it, throw new light on how manuscripts have survived and been used by very different kinds of people in many different circumstances. Christopher de Hamel''s unexpected connections and discoveries reveal a passion which crosses the boundaries of time. We understand the manuscripts themselves better by knowing who their keepers and companions have been.In 1850 (or thereabouts) John Ruskin bought his first manuscript ''at a bookseller''s in a back alley''. This was his reaction: ''The new worlds which every leaf of this book opened to me, and the joy I had in counting their letters and unravelling their arabesques as if they had all been of beaten gold - as many of them were - cannot be told.'' The members of de Hamel''s club share many such wonders, which he brings to us with scholarship, style, and a lifetime''s experience.Trade ReviewReading the Posthumous Papers is like taking a walk in excellent company ... an exceptional book, and itself an object worth cherishing. -- Daniel Brooks * Sunday Telegraph *This book can be enjoyed on so many levels. The illustrations are exquisite and the writing ... is intelligent, illuminating, voluptuous and mischievous. The members of the club are brought to life with sensitivity; we can't help but find their nerdiness endearing. ... The most delightful feature of this book is, however, the author. I've never encountered one so willing to bare his soul, without ever explicitly setting out to do so. He throws open the doors to his world, exposing its beguiling nature. Sit at my table, he says, feast on what I adore. "The Club is still open for membership . . . All applicants are warmly admitted."' -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *In this stunningly beautiful book, Christopher de Hamel constructs an imaginary club of people who adore mediaeval manuscripts; bibliophiles whose obsession he shares. The 12 delightfully eccentric members span eight centuries - de Hamel imagines meeting them, sharing precious discoveries, trading gossip. The illustrations emit a light of their own, but what shines even brighter is the author's boyish enthusiasm for his subject. * Times Books of the Year *a beautifully produced and magnificently surprising journey through the history of how and why people have wanted to collect manuscripts. An impossibly recondite subject, you might think; but it turns out to have a lot to do with all sorts of things about how we make sense of our histories and cultures - and it introduces us to a gallery of unforgettable characters. -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman Books of the Year *Christopher de Hamel ... has the rare capacity to turn a scholarly specialism into a humane and humorous adventure. ... De Hamel retains an almost lyrical sense of wonder as he unclasps each groaning tome, opens its parched pages and lightly steps into the alternative world painted by its illuminators. ... he speaks of "meeting a beautiful manuscript" rather than reading it and his own book makes you feel you've spent time - a very long but absorbing time - in his convivial company. -- Peter Conrad * Guardian *Christopher de Hamel's great gift is to tell life stories without taking anything away from the manuscripts, which remain the star of the show. Thanks to the beautiful illustrations in this wonderful book, we can see for ourselves how spellbinding an encounter with them must have been. Five years ago de Hamel entranced the world with his Meeting with Remarkable Manuscripts. This time the meetings are with remarkable manuscript owners, and the result is equally precious -- Kathryn Hughes * Sunday Times *gloriously engaging and readable ... De Hamel wears his erudition lightly, and the reader is taken deeply into the worlds of individuals who lived across almost a thousand years of history -- Richard Ovenden * Financial Times *The story of the people who created, saved and collected Europe's most sumptuous manuscripts, it's beautifully illustrated, a rich feast of scarlet and gold. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times Books of the Year *an eccentric but charming and instructive book which is oddly difficult to put down -- Jonathan Sumption * Spectator *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn exquisite collection of artefacts, sculptures, and historically significant treasures from across India. If the captivating bronze dancing girl of Harappa denoted sophisticated early civilisation, the stunning Sanchi Stupa symbolized the peak of Buddhist religion in India. If the world-renowned Taj Mahal was a testament to the wealth of the Mughal empire, Tipu''s Tiger, an intricate, almost life-sized mechanical toy, represented the king of Mysore''s resistance against the East India Company. Whether it is the striking sculptures of the famed city of Hampi, the beautiful folios from religious texts, the breathtaking Konark wheel, the famous Koh-i-Noor, or the elegant paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, these artefacts, monuments and artworks are intimately woven into the history and culture of India and revered for their beauty and artistry. Dive deep into the culturally rich history of India to explore:- A curated showcase of more than 100

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn argument for the centrality of the visual culture of waste—as seen in works by international contemporary artists—to the study of our ecological condition.Ecological crisis has driven contemporary artists to engage with waste in its most non-biodegradable forms: plastics, e-waste, toxic waste, garbage hermetically sealed in landfills. In this provocative and original book, Amanda Boetzkes links the increasing visualization of waste in contemporary art to the rise of the global oil economy and the emergence of ecological thinking. Often, when art is analyzed in relation to the political, scientific, or ecological climate, it is considered merely illustrative. Boetzkes argues that art is constitutive of an ecological consciousness, not simply an extension of it. The visual culture of waste is central to the study of the ecological condition. Boetzkes examines a series of works by an international roster of celebrated artists, including Thomas Hirschhorn, F

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the production, circulation, and survival of French luxury after the death of Louis XVI by focusing on makers of decorative art objects who had strong ties to the monarchy and how they navigated the French Revolution. Trade Review“In Luxury After the Terror, Moon demonstrates the fascinating and subtle ways in which the decorative arts were shaped by the contradictory politics of the French Revolution. She measures this influence less in terms of iconography and the new emblems such as Phrygian bonnets and tricolour cockades that came to adorn many surfaces; rather, she reflects on the expressive limits and materiality of different genres of cultural production, from wallpaper and assignat banknotes (including a remarkable prototype stitched on silk), to lime-wood carving and hard-paste porcelain. Her analysis balances a meticulous attention to the physical properties and aesthetics of objects from across the 1790s with a refreshing willingness to speculate about how they articulated collective fantasies and anxieties.”—Tom Stammers Apollo Magazine“The robust history of artisans provides new vantage points from which to understand the French Revolution. Moon encourages her readers to adopt a critical lens on ‘survival’: not only of artisans in a changing economy, but also of physical objects in a new world of collecting and museums.”—Delanie J. Linden Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide“Esthetically pleasing, meticulously researched, and engagingly written, the range of topics Moon explores is impressive and sometimes daunting. . . . Challenging traditional scholarship, Moon introduces new perspectives on this fascinating period of French and European history.”—Felicia B. Sturzer New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century“Luxury After the Terror brings a criticality, a poetics, and a politics to this material that is truly exciting to see. Offering a vital new reading of the place of the decorative arts in the wake of revolution and reorienting our understanding of the period toward a range of captivating and unfamiliar objects, this meticulously researched and brilliantly argued book is an exhilarating rethinking of the field.”—Richard Taws,author of The Politics of the Provisional: Art and Ephemera in Revolutionary France

Read more less

Book SynopsisA survey of the history of Irish painting, encompassing the entire span from the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century. The volume includes both well-known and virtually unknown artists, Irish artists who worked abroad as well as in Ireland, and major foreign artists who worked in Ireland.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Succinct, authoritative, well-contextualized. . . .Stirton's narrative throws new light on the most renowned modern typographer of the twentieth century."—Jeremy Aynsley, Journal of Design History “The book is well illustrated with many unfamiliar examples (all well placed near their text references) and forms a useful addition to the literature covering this immensely creative period in the history of typographic design” — Edward Wates, Forum 38

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploring the life and work of avant-garde film’s most influential and intriguing figure

Read more less

Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated look at the work of one of today’s most exciting artistsTrade Review“High-quality color images that permit a surprisingly detailed visual reading . . . [and] three succinct and thoughtful essays by the show’s curators. . . . One is hard-pressed to find fault with this beautifully and perceptively produced volume.”—Lisa Farrington, Woman’s Art Journal

Read more less