History of art Books

Book SynopsisNew essays examining the complex period of rich artistic ferment that was German literary Expressionism. More than any other avant-garde movement, German Expressionism captures the aesthetic revolution of 20th-century modernity in all its contrasts and conflicts. In continuous eruptions from 1905 to 1925, Expressionism upset reigningpractices in the arts, most vividly in painting and the visual arts. In the literature, a heady intellectualism combined with dramatic gesture, graphic visions, exuberant emotions and urgent proclamations to forge forceful stylesof verbal expression. Expressionism introduced into art both visual and verbal a shockingly new intensity with many facets and many faces. This volume presents the literature of German Expressionism, which is far less known in the English-speaking world, with essays by leading scholars on Expressionism's philosophical origins, its thematic preoccupations, and its divergent stylistic manifestations by writers whose common bond is intensity and whose lineson the page read like the gouges of a woodcut: Georg Kaiser, Walter Hasenclever, and Ernst Toller in drama; Gottfried Benn, Georg Heym, Else Lasker-Schüler, and Georg Trakl in poetry; Alfred Döblin, Carl Einstein, and Carl Sternheim in prose, to name just a few. Against the background of the journals, exhibitions, and anthologies, the café meeting places and public life of Expressionism, the volume's highly focused, intrinsic analyses of texts and comprehensive overviews of extrinsic contexts (and of the most up-to-date research) shows the fervor and complexity of the period and its effulgent literary formations. Neil H. Donahue is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Hofstra University.Trade Review[A] reliable resource for nonspecialists, accurately reflecting historical and contemporary scholarship. * CHOICE *Both useful and thought-provoking, this book admirably fulfils the two functions expected from a companion-type volume: to introduce the reader to the range and development of the literature itself and to point to authors, works, and critical perspectives heretofore overlooked. * MONATSHEFTE *Table of ContentsIntroduction - Neil H. Donahue Metaphysical Mimesis: Nietzsche's Geburt der Tragödie and the Aesthetics of Literary Expressionism - Richard T. Gray The Prose of German Expressionism - Walter H. Sokel Prosaic Intensities: The Short Prose of German Expressionism - Rhys W. Williams The Cutting Edge of German Expressionism: The Woodcut Novel of Frans Masereel and Its Influences - Perry Willett Menschheitsdämmerung: The Aging of the Canon - Francis Michael Sharp Choric Consciousness in Expressionist Poetry: Ernst Stadler, Else Lasker-Schüler, Georg Heym, Georg Trakl, Gottfried Benn - James Rolleston Performing the Poem: Rituals of Activism in Expressionist Poetry - Klaus Weissenberger Proclamation and Provocation: Expressionist Theater between German Idealism and Modernity - Ernst Schuerer Intimate Strangers: Women in German Expressionism - Barbara D. Wright Expressionism and Cinema: Reflections on a Phantasmagoria of Film History - Sabine Hake

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Book SynopsisCrosses disciplinary boundaries to explore German Romantic writing about visual experience and the interplay of text and image in Romantic epistemology. The work of the groundbreaking writers and artists of German Romanticism -- including the writers Tieck, Brentano, and Eichendorff and the artists Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp Otto Runge -- followed from the philosophical arguments of the German Idealists, who placed emphasis on exploring the subjective space of the imagination. The Romantic perspective was a form of engagement with Idealist discourses, especially Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Fichte's Science of Knowledge. Through an aggressive, speculative reading of Kant, the Romantics abandoned the binary distinction between the palpable outer world and the ungraspable space of the mind's eye and were therefore compelled to develop new terms for understanding the distinction between "internal" and "external." In this light, Brad Prager urges a reassessment of some of Romanticism's major oppositional tropes, contending that binaries such as "self and other," "symbol and allegory," and "light and dark," should be understood as alternatives to Lessing's distinction between interior and exterior worlds. Prager thus crosses the boundaries between philosophy,literature, and art history to explore German Romantic writing about visual experience, examining the interplay of text and image in the formulation of Romantic epistemology. Brad Prager is Associate Professor of Germanat the University of Missouri, Columbia.Trade ReviewIn this lucidly written and well-researched volume, Brad Prager investigates the thematization of visual perception in canonical works of the Romantic period (texts by Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Ludwig Tieck, Clemens Brentano, Heinrich von Kleist, and Joseph von Eichendorff) and in relation to various Romantic painters (Caspar David Friedrich, Joseph Anton Koch, and Phillip Otto Runge).... , Prager's book is a thought-provoking re-reading of Romantic narratives which demonstrates the continuing necessity of philosophically informed close readings in the study of culture. * H-GERMAN *Although the argumentation is not new, Prager does interpret an unusual and interesting set of texts. The analyses of specific paintings are especially welcome. The volume's numerous black-and-white illustrations facilitate comprehension. * CHOICE *Kant's attack on the sure foundation of the objective world, argues Prager, opened up an abyss; this situation of crisis compelled the Romantics to construct new fundamental principles that described how we perceive; they deal with the subject-object division.... Detailed readings of Wackenroder, Tieck, Brentano, Kleist and Eichendorff ... emphasise the encounters with visual art in their texts.... The author stresses the ongoing importance of romantic preoccupations. * FORUM FOR MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *That Prager interprets Romantic literature and painting through the lens of philosophical approaches ... makes it a model of new cultural studies.... He offers dazzling readings of various permutations of image and imagination. By organizing ... chapters around conceptual pairs that signify the 'new inner divisions' and engender opposition as well as complementarity, Prager ends up writing a Romantic text.... In short, [Prager] presents a series of readings that any further study of the subject must consider. * GERMANIC REVIEW *Prager's monograph ... can be seen as an original contribution to the discussion on current research on Romanticism. It is, however, also well suited to constitute an introduction into the themes and issues concerning Romantic aesthetics. * MONATSHEFTE *Prager has chosen outstanding examples and offers important insights into the interdisciplinary study of Romanticism, the crossings between philosophy, literature, and the arts, and the theoretical debates surrounding symbol and allegory....[A] fresh contribution to the study of Romanticism. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *Table of ContentsIntroduction Interior and Exterior: G. E. Lessing's Laocoon as a Prelude to Romanticism Image and Phantasm: Wackenroder's Herzensergießungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders, Tieck's Franz Sternbald's Wanderungen, and the Emergence of the Romantic Paradigm Symbol and Allegory: Clemens Brentano's Godwi Sublimity and Beauty: Caspar David Friedrich and Joseph Anton Koch Light and Dark: The Paintings of Philipp Otto Runge Absolution and Contradiction: Confrontations with Art in Heinrich von Kleist's "Die heilige Cäcilie oder Die Gewalt der Musik" and "Der Findling" Self and Other: Joseph von Eichendorff's Das Marmorbild Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisShows how cinematic treatments of fashion during times of crisis offer subtle reflections on the everyday lives, desires, careers, and self-perceptions of postwar German women. This book steers attention toward two key aspects of German culture - film and fashion - that shared similar trajectories and multiple connections, looking at them not only in the immediate postwar years but as far back as 1939. They formed spectacular sites of the postwar recovery processes in both East and West Germany. Viewed against the background of the abundant fashion discourses in the Berlin-based press, the films discussed include classics such asThe Murderers Are among Us, Street Acquaintance, and Destinies of Women as well as neglected works such as And the Heavens above Us, Martina, Modell Bianka, and Ingrid. These films' treatments of fashion during times of crisis offer subtle reflections on the everyday lives, desires, careers, and self-perceptions of the women who made up a large majority of the postwar public. Costume - in films produced both by DEFA and by West German studios - is a productive site to explore the intersections between realism and escapism. With its focus on costumes within the context of the films' production, distribution, and reception, this bookopens up wider discussions about the role of the costume designer, the ways film costumes can be read as intertexts, and the impact on audiences' behaviors and looks. The book reveals multiple connections between film and fashion,both across the temporal dividing line of 1945 and the Cold War split between East and West. Mila Ganeva is Professor of German at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.Trade Review[A] captivating interpretation of fashion and film in 'the long 1940s' in Germany . . . . a valuable resource for scholars and students, as well as a lively and fascinating read for a broader audience. -- Victoria Vygodskaia-Rust * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *Meticulously researched...Ganeva's trenchant analysis shows how fashion maintained pretences of normality during wartime, bolstered the processes of postwar normalization, and eventually helped to define attitudes towards consumer culture and material abundance in a 1950s Germany divided between East and West. -- Marketa Uhlirova * SCREEN *With [this book] Mila Ganeva puts forth an insight-rich study of the cultural meaning of fashion in film and the press from the Nazi period to the beginnings of the Cold War in Berlin. . . . [C]learly written and precisely researched . . . . An important contribution to research on the female horizon of experience in the 1940s and 1950s. -- Jan Uelzmann * FILMBLATT *This interesting book sheds light on the [postwar] period [in Germany] by documenting that both [the film and fashion] industries cultivated a vision of the autonomous, professionally accomplished woman and that numerous women were able to achieve an independent existence within these industries. -- R. Bledsoe * CHOICE *The book . . . is outstandingly researched and fills a thematic gap in the literature of German film history. -- Hans Helmut Prinzler * WWW.HHPRINZLER.DE *Table of ContentsIntroduction Vicarious Consumption: Wartime Fashion in Film and the Press, 1939-44 "Fashions for Fräuleins": The Rebirth of the Fashion Industry and Media in Berlin after 1945 Vignette 1 - Charlotte Glückstein: Historical Ruptures and Continuities in Postwar Fashion Fashion amidst the Ruins: Revisiting Two Early Rubble Films, . . . und über uns der Himmel (1947) and Die Mörder sind unter uns (1946) Vignette 2 - Hildegard Knef: Star Appeal from Fashion to Film Farewell to the Rubble and Welcome to the New Look: Straßenbekanntschaft (1948) and Martina (1949) Consuming Fashion on the Screens of the Early 1950s: Modell Bianka (1951), Frauenschicksale (1952), and Ingrid: Die Geschichte eines Fotomodells (1955) Epilogue Appendix 1:Principal Costume and Fashion Designers: Biographical Notes Appendix 2: Films and Newsreels Discussed Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAppalachians have always honored craft. Showoff quilts, complicated whittlings, ""face jugs,"" intricate woven coverlets, and the work of famous basketmakers constituted the art of early Appalachia, the life and color of its remote mountain households. By the 1920s, however, the craft tradition was quickly vanishing. This lively, highly personal book recounts the ""missionary"" effort that preserved the traditional Appalachian craft culture and traces the organization, politics, and economics of later handcraft revival organizations in Southern Appalachia. Deeply involved in many of the events he describes, Garry Barker has worked in the Appalachian crafts world since the early 1960s. He draws on memories of the leading craftspeople of a bygone era, LBJ's War on Poverty, mushrooming markets for craft products, and the rise of academic crafts training. The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia represents the thoughtful winnowing of Barker's decades of serendipitous experience and disciplined observation, casual conversation and formal interviews, research and collecting, teaching and writing. The book is the only history of the Appalachian craft movement between 1930 and 1990. As such it will become an essential resource for craftspeople, scholars, and all interested in the Southern Appalachian region. In addition, it constitutes a crucial chapter in the newly emerging history of American craft.

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Book SynopsisJohn Thomas Biggers (1924—2001) was one of the most significant African American artists of the twentieth century. He was known for his murals, but also for his drawings, paintings, and lithographs, and was honored by a major traveling retrospective exhibition from 1995 to 1997. He created archetypal imagery that spoke positively to the rich and varied ethnic heritage of African Americans, long before the Civil Rights era drew attention to their African cultural roots. His influence upon other artists was profound, both for the power of his art and as professor and elder statesman to younger generations. Olive Jensen Theisen’s long-time commitment to the art of John Biggers resulted from the serendipitous discovery of an early Biggers mural in a school storeroom in the mid-1980s. Theisen immediately recognized the artist, the work, and its significance. She then set about returning The History of Negro Education in Morris County, Texas to a place of honor and found herself becoming a friend and recorder of John Biggers’s stories and experiences relating to the creation of his other murals too, including Family Unity at Texas Southern University. Containing more than eighty color and black-and-white illustrations, Walls That Speak is a richly illustrated update of an earlier edition published in 1996. The artist completed new murals between its publication and his death in 2001. In addition to the inclusion of the new murals, Theisen has added a chapter on Biggers’s African art collection. The only work exclusively dedicated to his murals, this book will appeal to all those interested in murals or African American art. “As a result of her friendship with Dr. Biggers, Dr. Theisen clearly has unique access to the works that are now held by the Biggers estate. Her interviews provide a deeply personal insight into the mind of this remarkable man and the symbols he employed in his art.”–R. William McCarter, Regents Professor of Art, University of North Texas

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Book SynopsisBorn in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Bob Camblin (1928-2010) was an artist, first and foremost. He earned his BFA and MFA degrees from the Kansas City Art Institute. His studies were followed by a Fulbright Fellowship that allowed him a year's stay in Italy. Returning to the USA, he held teaching positions at the Ringling Museum, the University of Illinois, Detroit Mercy, and the University of Utah before moving to Houston in 1967 to teach at Rice's new art department. He was active in Houston during the late 1960s through the 1980s, collaborating with Earl Staley and Joe Tate on many projects, including 'happenings' on the beach in Galveston. His career led him to creative undertakings all over the world. Throughout his lifetime he constantly experimented with various art media. He remained open to new ideas and new techniques until his death in Louisiana in 2010.Camblin was a central figure in the period of artistic fermentation in Houston that is now beginning to receive increasing critical attention. He chose Rowland to be his historian while still at Rice, and her insights into him are based on many personal letters and conversations. In addition, she is a trained art historian and brings to bear professional expertise about his place in regional and American art. Her work includes a useful timeline of Camblin's exhibitions and major artworks.Trade ReviewCamblin is certainly one of the most compelling, original, and charismatic artists ever to emerge in Houston, and now almost a decade after his death, he's ripe for rediscovery." - Pete Gershon, author of Collision: The Contemporary Art Scene in Houston, 1972-1985

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Book SynopsisUnlocks the secrets behind the images and music of an important Spanish musical manuscript compiled for a brotherhood of suspected heretics ca. 1500. The Rosary Cantoral is a rare and beautifully decorated manuscript of Latin plainchant for the Catholic Mass compiled in Toledo, Spain, around the year 1500. In an engaging and richly interdisciplinary essay, Lorenzo Candelaria approaches the Rosary Cantoral as a cultural artifact, unlocking the secrets behind its images and music to reveal the social history and rituals of an elite brotherhood dedicated to the rosary and aspects of the religious communityit served: the Dominicans of San Pedro Mártir de Toledo. The Rosary Cantoral: Ritual and Social Design in a Chantbook from Early Renaissance Toledo presents a model for realizing the fuller significance of illuminatedmusic manuscripts as cultural artifacts and offers unprecedented insights into the social and devotional life of Toledo, Spain, around the turn of the sixteenth century. After solving the mystery of the Rosary Cantoral's origins,subsequent essays probe the meaning and cultural significance of the manuscript's iconography (including a border decoration after Albrecht Dürer), its rare Spanish chants for the Mass, and two striking musical works for multiplevoices (one by Josquin Desprez and another on "L'homme armé"). Ultimately, this book focuses on the extraordinary circumstances that engendered the compilation of the Rosary Cantoral around 1500: a system of patronage between a brotherhood of suspected heretics and a religious house that was a key supporter of the Inquisition in Toledo. Lorenzo Candelaria (University of Texas at Austin) is co-author of American Music: A Panorama.Trade ReviewWinner of the American Musicological Society's Robert M. Stevenson Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Iberian Music, 2009 * . *A real page-turner. . . Illustrates how an interdisciplinary approach is essential if we are to take our understanding of the randomly preserved remnants of cultural history to a new and higher level. -- Tess Knighton * MUSIC & LETTERS *Scholars such as [Candelaria], informed, analytical and well-balanced, deserve to reach as large a number of the interested academic world as possible. -- Leonard R. N. Ashley * BIBLIOTHEQUE D'HUMANISME ET RENAISSANCE *[An] impressive piece of historical detection...which successfully straddles the concerns of liturgy, polyphony, and manuscript illumination. [It] will stand as an intriguing contribution to a much-overlooked field. -- Iain Fenlon * AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *The scope of the book. . . . makes this valuable reading for scholars in a wide variety of disciplines, while its lucid and clear writing style makes it accessible to anyone interested in Spanish cultural history, liturgy, or medieval and early-modern studies. -- James Boyce O.Carm. * SPECULUM *The author is to be applauded for shining a much-needed spotlight on the vast corpus of similar Spanish and New World cantorales that until very recently have been regarded as 'of very little interest'. -- Michael Noone * MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES *Few [interdisciplinary] studies have been more compelling. . . . [Candelaria] is equally at home when dealing with the finer points of art history or the sometimes murky nature of the antiquities market. . . . [He] crafts a story that rivals good detective fiction. It even has a surprise at the end that involves the dark halls of the Spanish Inqusition. -- Michael B. O'Connor * RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY *The book is in many ways a detective story which identifies the MS's provenance and function by fascinating and devious approaches: I won't try to summarise it and spoil the story. . . . This study throws light not only on this particular MS but on the usage of the Rosary in Spanish politics and history. And there is a moral for art historians studying MSS with music and vice-versa: see beyond your own discipline. -- Clifford Bartlett * EARLY MUSIC REVIEW *. . . one of the most attractive and intriguing books on Spanish music history to reach the market. . . It is thoroughly to be recommended. -- Bernadette Nelson * EARLY MUSIC *Table of ContentsThe Mystery of the Rosary Cantoral San Pedro Mártir de Toledo "El Cavaller de Colunya": A Legend of the Rosary The Emblem of the Five Wounds Hercules and Albrecht Dürer's Das Meerwunder Roses for the Blessed Virgin: The Music The Confraternity of Toledo and Its Patronage

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Book SynopsisWestern Frontiers of African Art navigates the problems and prospects of prometheusis in creative cultural productions. Artists, writers, musicians, and other creative practitioners share icons, ideas, images, and paraphernalia across cultures, mediums, and disciplines in many ways including borrowing, copying, adoption, adaptation, abbreviation, distortion, and even outright pilfering. Their reasons for sharing creative elements range from admiration to subversion, pedagogical innovation, criticism, hegemony, revenge, anger, fear, malice, and even pathology. Once shared these artistic materials become links and crossroads that complicate creativity and culture with prometheusis. But what is prometheusis? How does it work and how is it evaluated? Drawing on the visual arts, this book elaborates on prometheusis as a general theory of cultural exchange, productivity, and analysis. Examples focus on theintersections and frontiers of western modernity and African art. Moyo Okediji is Director of the Center for Art of Africa and its Diasporas at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of several books on African art.Table of ContentsIntroduction Triangular Landscape: Renaming the Boundaries Homoerotic African Art: Genital Rites, Blood, and Dark Secrets Transgressive Pictures: Feminism, Pathology, and Poverty Gendered Triangulation: Anger, Rage, and Dislocation Hybrid Body: White Nude, Black Myth Words and Images: The Meaning of Meaninglessness Semioptic Equations: The Crossroads of Arrowhead Modernity Twin Visions: Hybrid Colon and Semicolon Triangulated Worlds: Western Modernity, African Postcoloniality Semiographic Hybridity: Writing with Images

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of the life and career of Charles Guernsey Tuthill, who was born in 1871 and produced some of America's finest cut glass art. It discusses the business Tuthill founded, the patterns he created, the techniques he used, and the other artisans and consumers he knew.

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Book SynopsisWere the urbane, avant-garde poets of the New York School secretly nature lovers like Edward Abbey, Wendell Berry, and Annie Dillard? In `Urban Pastoral’, Timothy Gray urges us to reconsider our long-held appraisals of Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, and their peers as celebrants of cosmopolitan culture and to think of their more pastoral impulses. As Gray argues, flowers are more beautiful in the New York School’s garden of verse because no one expects them to bloom there. Along with the poets whose careers he chronicles, Gray shows us that startlingly new approaches to New York City art and literature emerge when natural and artificial elements collide kaleidoscopically, as when O’Hara likens blinking stars to a hairnet, when painter Jane Freilicher places a jar of irises in her studio window to mirror purple plumes rising from Consolidated Edison smokestacks, or when poet Kathleen Norris equates rooftop water towers with grain silos as she plans her escape route to the Great Plains. The New York School poets and their coterie have become a staple of poetics, literary criticism and biography, cultural studies, and art criticism, but `Urban Pastoral’ is the first study to offer sustained discussion of the pastoral and natural imagery within the work of these renowned “city poets” and also to consider poets from the second generation of the New York School—Diane di Prima, Jim Carroll, and Kathleen Norris. Moving beyond the traditional boundaries of literary criticism to embrace the creative spirit of New York poets and artists, Gray’s accessible, lively, and blithely experimental book will shape future discussions of contemporary urban literature and literary nature writing, offering new evidence of avant-garde poetry’s role within those realms.

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Book SynopsisPeter Fraser revisits stories told onscreen that in different ways all convey clear and ringing truths and touch the deepest human chords. Spanning different time periods and cultures, Twelve Films about Love and Heaven speaks to the hearts of those who cry at old movies and the old abiding Faith, and who believe a well-written book is always worth the time. It is a reminder to both artists and spectators that the pursuit of virtue, and above all in our family roles, is the greatest of adventures and the most glorious of victories. Table of Contents Benigni, Life Is Beautiful Fiennes, Onegin Redford, A River Runs through It Axel, Babette's Feast Levinson, The Natural Avildsen, Rocky Mulligan, To Kill a Mockingbird Ford, The Searchers Lean, Brief Encounter Borzage, A Farewell to Arms Chaplin, City Lights Murnau, Sunrise

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Book SynopsisAn exquisitely illustrated volume that emphasizes the importance of drawing in Fragonard's creative process One of the most forward-looking artists in 18th-century France, Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) is considered the preeminent draftsman of his time. This fresh assessment of the artist focuses on the role of drawing in his creative process and showcases Fragonard’s mastery and experimentation with drawing in a range of media, from vivid red chalk to luminous brown wash, as well as etching, watercolor, and gouache. Unlike many old master painters, Fragonard explored the potential of drawings as works of art in their own right, ones that permitted him to work with great freedom and allowed his genius to shine. The drawings featured here come from public and private collections in New York, balancing a mix of well-loved masterpieces, new discoveries, and works that have long been out of the public eye.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/06/16–01/08/17)

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Book SynopsisIn this important and timely publication, top international scholars present current research and developments about the art, archaeology, and history of the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Syria. Palmyra became tragic headline news in 2015, when it was overtaken by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which destroyed many of its monuments and artifacts. The essays in this book include new scholarship on Palmyra’s origins and evolution as well as developments from both before and after its damage by ISIS, providing new information that will be relevant to current and future generations of art historians and archaeologists. The book also includes a moving tribute by Waleed Khaled al-Asa’ad to his father, Khaled al-Asa’ad, the Syrian archaeologist and head of antiquities at Palmyra, who was brutally murdered by ISIS in 2015 for defending the site. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Book SynopsisWith new photography of extraordinarily rare works of art, this pioneering study features discoveries and research essential to understanding the origins and meaning of Buddhist artistic traditions “Both the show and the book are extraordinary achievements. . . . They will astonish even those who think they are familiar with the art of Buddhism.”—William Dalrymple, New York Review of Books Named for two primary motifs in Buddhist art, the sacred bodhi tree and the protective snake, Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India is the first publication to foreground devotional works produced in the Deccan from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Unlike traditional narratives, which focus on northern India (where the Buddha was born, taught, and died), this groundbreaking book presents Buddhist art from monastic sites in the south. Long neglected, this is among the earliest corpus of Buddhist art surviving, and among the most sublimely beautiful. An international team of researchers contributes new scholarship on the sculptural and devotional art associated with Buddhism, and masterpieces from recently excavated Buddhist sites are published here for the first time—including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenized and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (July 21–November 13, 2023) National Museum of Korea, Seoul (December 22, 2023–April 14, 2024)Trade Review“A spectacular achievement . . . [that] opens a window onto a sophisticated courtly and monastic world previously known to only a handful of art historians. . . . Tree & Serpent—beautifully curated and spectacularly well lit—is accompanied by an exceptional scholarly catalog. Both the show and the book are extraordinary achievements. . . . They will astonish even those who think they are familiar with the art of Buddhism.”—William Dalrymple, New York Review of Books

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Book SynopsisThis engaging exploration of the Maya pantheon introduces readers to the complex stories of Mesoamerican divinity through the stunning carvings, ceramics, and metalwork of the Classic period Focusing on the period between A.D. 250 and 900, Lives of the Gods reveals that ancient Maya artists evoked a pantheon as rich and complex as the more familiar Greco-Roman, Hindu-Buddhist, and Egyptian deities. The authors show how this powerful cosmology informed some of the greatest creative achievements of Maya civilization, represented here from the monumental to the miniature through more than 140 works in jade, stone, and clay. Thematic chapters supported by new scholarship on recent archaeological discoveries detail the different types of gods and their domains, the role of the divine in the lives of the ancient Maya, and the continuation of these traditions from the colonial period through the present day. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 21, 2022–April 2, 2023) Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (May 7–September 3, 2023)Trade ReviewShortlisted for the 2024 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award, sponsored by CAA

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Book SynopsisThis illustrated history highlights the diversity and innovation of American ceramics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as artists responded to historical precedents and emerging modernist styles around the world Between the early 1880s and the early 1950s, pioneering American artists drew upon the rich traditions and recent innovations of European and Asian ceramics to develop new designs, decorations, and techniques. With splendid new photography, this book showcases these American interpretations of international trends, from the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements, through the modernism of Matisse and the Wiener Werkstätte, to abstracted, minimalist styles. Illustrations of more than 180 exemplary works—some of these never before published—accompany engaging essays by two of the foremost experts on American art pottery. The featured makers include Rookwood, Grueby, and Van Briggle potteries, as well as artists including Maija Grotell, George E. Ohr, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Rockwell Kent, Adelaide Alsop Robineau, and Leza McVey. A vivid and accessible overview of American ceramics and ceramists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this publication reveals how diverse and global sources inspired works of astonishing ingenuity and variety by artists working in the United States. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 2021–October 2022)

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Book SynopsisPlacing artists at the center of nineteenth-century Demark’s dramatic cultural, political, and philosophical transformation, this publication explores their persistent national pride in a time of turmoil Though known as the Danish Golden Age, nineteenth-century Denmark was one of the most tumultuous periods in the nation’s history—from the disastrous siege of Copenhagen and the collapse of Denmark’s monarchy to the swelling tide of nationalism that eventually engulfed all of Europe. This volume places artists at the center of Denmark’s dramatic cultural, political, and philosophical transformation by bringing together 90 drawings, paintings, and oil sketches by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Christen Købke, Constantin Hansen, Martinus Rørbye, Johan Thomas Lundbye, Vilhelm Hammershøi, and others. Five thematic essays by leading scholars in Denmark and the United States explore the way Danish artists manifested the pride, traditions, and anxieties of their nation; the sea’s ever-changing role as a marker of Danish identity; the evolving nature of portraiture; nostalgia for the Danish landscape and folk traditions; and the influence on Danish artists of their travels throughout Europe. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 26–April 16, 2023)The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (May 23–August 20, 2023)

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Book SynopsisFeaturing texts by leading scholars of the history and culture of medieval Armenia, this book offers an in-depth look at its art, trade, and religious traditions The papers in this volume, first presented at an international symposium celebrating The Met’s blockbuster 2018 exhibition, Armenia!, explore the art and culture of a civilization that served as a pivotal crossroads on the border between East and West. Contributors address Armenia’s roles in facilitating exchange with the Mongol, Ottoman, and Persian empires to the East and with Byzantium and European Crusader states to the West. Essays also explore the ways in which elements of these cultures commingled in Armenian art and religion—Armenian artists and craftspeople produced an astonishing range of religious objects that drew upon influences from both Europe and Asia but ultimately created a uniquely Armenian visual identity. The authors explore the effects of this dualistic tension in the history of Armenian art and how it persists into the present, as this land situated at a crossroads of civilization continues to grapple with the legacy of genocide and counters new threats to its sovereignty, integrity, and cultural language. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Book SynopsisReveals how American art in the 1930s—intertwined with the political, social, and economic tumult of an era not so unlike our own—engaged with the public amid global upheaval This publication examines the search for artistic identity in the United States from the stock market crash of 1929 that began the Great Depression to the closure of the Works Progress Administration in 1943 with a focus on the unprecedented dissemination of art and ideas brought about by new technology and government programs. During this time of civil, economic, and social unrest, artists transmitted political ideas and propaganda through a wide range of media, including paintings and sculptures, but also journals, prints, textiles, postcards, and other objects that would have been widely collected, experienced, or encountered. Insightful essays discuss but go beyond the era’s best-known creators, such as Thomas Hart Benton, Walker Evans, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia O’Keeffe, to highlight artists who have received little scholarly attention, including women and artists of color as well as designers and illustrators. Emphasizing the contributions of the Black Popular Front and Leftist movements while acknowledging competing visions of the country through the lenses of race, gender, and class, Art for the Millions is a timely look at art in the United States made by and for its people. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (September 6–December 10, 2023)

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Book SynopsisThe sequel to the bestselling story of the largest public art program in the USTrade Review"More Philadelphia Murals and the Stories They Tell is as inspirational as it is beautiful, but is ultimately important in recounting the lives of the artists and residents whose lives are transformed by the simple stroke of a paintbrush." —The Philadelphia TribuneTable of ContentsChapter 1: A History of American Muralism Chapter 2: An Ounce of Prevention Chapter 3: A Pound of Cure Chapter 4: A holistic Approach Chapter 5: Josh Sarantitis Chapter 6: Environments of Learning Chapter 7: Mosaics and More Chapter 8: Healing Walls Chapter 9: Philadelphia Stories Chapter 10: A World of Murals profile: Betsy Casanas profile: Cavin Jones profile: Cesar Viveros profile: Don Gensler profile: Eric Okdeh profile: Ernel Martinez profile: Gabriel Tiberino profile: Jennie Shanker profile: Michael Webb profile: Michelle Ortiz profile: Peter Pagast photo captions

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Book SynopsisAn art museum is a magical place. What will you find inside? This playful primer features 37 full-color illustrations of paintings, sculpture, tapestries, prints, photographs, and installations from the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Children can learn their ABCs while discovering the beauty of a bridge by Monet, a dancer by Degas, a medieval knight’s helmet, a Japanese teahouse, and other wonders from around the world.Trade Review"A highly engaging introduction to art, this thoughtfully designed volume will inspire young children to see not only the alphabet in an entirely new way but also the world around them as they discover and learn to view paintings, sculptures, photographs, and other works and installations housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.... This would be a wonderful gift for any young child." —The Bloomsbury Review

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Book SynopsisAlmost a century ago, Annette McConnell Anderson, a New Orleans society woman, vowed that her three sons would become artists. Turning her back on bourgeois life and abetted by her skeptical husband---a grain merchant---she bought twenty-eight acres of woodland on the Mississippi Sound. Beside a sleepy bayou, in the shade of towering pines and magnolias, she opened an art colony, one of the first of its kind in the South.Backed by his mother's passion for art, her oldest son Peter Anderson founded Shearwater Pottery. Yearning ""to make Shearwater synonymous with perfection,"" he drew the entire family into his adventure. His brothers, ""Mac"" and Walter, made strange, wonderful pieces, though Walter Anderson eventually left the pottery studio to search for his own artistic path.Drawn by the exquisite work of Shearwater Pottery, the authors discover that painting, poetry, and storytelling---much of it by strong, unforgettable women---are still an essential part of the family's daily life. Intimate diaries, letters, and poems lead the reader into a stormy, passionate, sometimes heartbreaking past. Meticulously researched and compassionately written, Dreaming in Clay on the Coast of Mississippi gathers one family's eternal legacy of wisdom and beauty, the healing power of art, the consolations of writing and of memory, and the spiritual treasures given us by the natural world.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating overview of the Golden Age of social and political satire in nineteenth-century France, Vive Les Satiristes! focuses on controversial and wildly popular journals like La Caricature and Le Charivari, and such great illustrators as Daumier and Grandville, who captured in their pages the foibles of those around them with unmatched humor, skill, and style.Published in conjunction with a Grolier Club exhibition, and beautifully illustrated, it includes a collector's statement, an introduction, and an essay by Josephine Lea Iselin.

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Book SynopsisA compact biography of one of nineteenth-century England’s most renowned illustrators. George Cruikshank (1792–1878) was a key transitional figure in the changing world of nineteenth-century London’s graphic humor. He carried his eighteenth-century-trained wit from the field of political satire during the Regency years into the Victorian era of journals and books. His witty drawings of boisterous London streets in 1820–1836 made him a household name, and in 1836, his masterful etchings were key to the positive reception of Charles Dickens’s first novel. Illustrated throughout by his one-of-a-kind drawings, “The Great George” traces Cruikshank’s career from his ascent, by 1820, as the preeminent political satirist to the end of his career. During the 1840s and 50s, with the rising popularity of Dickens, the arrival of Punch, and his adoption of the temperance movement as his work’s focus, Cruikshank was eventually eclipsed by new generations of artists. Using as her launchpad the argument that drawing with humor takes both great draftsmanship and a highly perceptive sense of humanity, Josephine Lea Iselin not only details the trajectory of Cruikshank’s art but also provides valuable context for his work, placing his drawings alongside pieces from his artistic predecessors and principal contemporaries.Table of ContentsI. IntroductionII. A Brief Outline of a Long Life (1792–1878)1792–1811: Beginnings: George’s Education in the Art of Humor1811–1820: Young George as Political Satirist1821–1835: When Humorous Etching Was King1835–1840: The Arrival of Mr. DickensSketches by BozThe Pickwick PapersOliver Twist1841–1847: Cruikshank’s Disputes with Bentley and Ainsworth;His Rejection of Offers from Messrs. Dickens and Punch1847–1850: The Road to Temperance1851–1878: The Second EpochCoda to the First Epoch: 1851: or The Adventures of Mr. andMrs. Sandboys and FamilyPreface to the Second Epoch: George Cruikshank’s Fairy LibraryEpilogueIII. Prints, Original Drawings, and DocumentsItem Nos. 1–13: Beginnings: George’s Education in the Art of HumorItem Nos. 14–28: Young George as Political SatiristItem Nos. 29–56: When Humorous Etching Was KingItem Nos. 57–69: The Arrival of Mr. DickensItem Nos. 70–75: Cruikshank’s Disputes with Bentley and Ainsworth;His Rejection of Offers from Messrs. Dickens and PunchItem Nos. 76–80: The Road to TemperanceItem Nos. 81–93: The Second EpochAcknowledgmentsBibliography

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Book SynopsisJean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) was an undisputed success during his life. Crowds flocked to see his vibrant compositions and thanks to mass marketing of his work through mechanical reproduction, he reached audiences on an unprecedented scale. Despite Gerome's undisputed accomplishments, his success met with critical hostility. Emile Zola, champion of Edouard Manet, dismissed Gerome as a cynical manufacturer of anecdotal images for popular consumption - a critique repeatedly levelled at artists in the years since. In light of revisionist and postmodern trends over the past four decades, however, Gerome's work is now being approached with unprecedented seriousness and refreshing candour. The ten essays in this volume go far in challenging critical biases against the artist and indeed suggest that we are just beginning to learn how to 'read' Gerome's paintings in their full complexity.

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Book SynopsisThis title takes an illuminating look at the unique work and artistic vision of Gerhard Richter. Born in Dresden in 1932, Gerhard Richter was first educated under the prevailing doctrine of Socialist Realism, but retrained after emigrating to West Germany, thus uniquely embodying the division of Germany during the Cold War. This volume brings together new studies of his early career by an international group of scholars. The authors approach the context from a variety of angles including the social and political histories of a divided Germany, the conflicted development of Soviet Socialist Realism in East Germany, a Cold War visuality integrating pre- and post- resettlement works, the archival dimension of the artist's output in relation to "Richter's Atlas", and the artist's involvement in the representation of his work in archives, exhibitions, and catalogues.

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Book SynopsisDelivered three times between 1898 and 1902 and subsequently revised with an eye towards publication, Alois Riegl's lectures on the origins of Baroque art in Rome broke new ground in its field. This first English translation brings Riegl's compelling vision of the Baroque to life and amply illustrates his celebrated magnetism as a lecturer. His text is full of perceptive observations on the most important artists of the period from Michelangelo to Caravaggio. By taking the spectator into consideration, Riegl identifies a crucial defining change between Renaissance and Baroque art and provides invaluable inspiration for present-day students and readers. Baroque was born in Italy, and later adopted in France, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain. The world 'baroque' was first applied to the art of the period from the late 1500s to the late 1700s, by critics in the late nineteenth century.

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Book SynopsisThis is an insightful and intelligent re-thinking of Japanese art history & its Western influences. This broad-ranging and profoundly influential analysis describes how Western art institutions and vocabulary were transplanted to Japan in the late nineteenth century. In the 1870-80s, artists and government administrators in Japan encountered the Western 'system of the arts' for the first time. Under pressure to exhibit and sell its artistic products abroad, Japan's new Meiji government came face-to-face with the need to create European-style art schools and museums - and even to establish Japanese words for art, painting, artist, and sculpture. "Modern Japanese Art" is a full re-conceptualization of the field of Japanese art history, exposing the politics through which the words, categories, and values that structure our understanding of the field came to be while revealing the historicity of Western and non-Western art history.

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Book SynopsisThis title provides an extensive and comprehensive examination of the history and use of modern house paints. The versatility of modern commercial house paints has ensured their use in a broad range of applications, including the protection and decoration of historic buildings, the coating of toys and furniture, and the creation of works of art. While the ubiquity of commercial paints means that conservators are increasingly called upon to preserve them, such paints pose unique challenges including establishing exactly which materials are present. This book traces the history of the household paint industry in the USA and UK over the first half of the 20th century and will be of interest to conservators and conservation scientists working on a broad range of painted surfaces, as well as curators, art historians, and historians of architectural paint.

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Book SynopsisA study of an important but anonymous part of the history of American art: the materials and techniques used by American painters. Based on research including artists' recipe books, letters, journals, and painting manuals, it includes topics such as the quest for the 'secrets' of the Old Masters; the application of 'toning' layers; and more.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length English language study of one of the most important Canadian artists of the 20th century. Jean Paul Riopelle (1923-2002) was one of the most important Canadian artists of the 20th century. He began his career in Montreal in the 1940s, where he played a role in the influential Automatist movement, and then established his reputation in the burgeoning art scene of postwar Paris, where his circle included Andre Breton, Samuel Beckett, and Sam Francis. During his career, Riopelle produced over six thousand works, including more than two thousand paintings. This volume, the second in the "Artist's Materials" series, grew out of a research project of the Canadian Conservation Institute. Initial chapters present an overview of Riopelle's life and situate his work within the context of 20th century art. Subsequent chapters address Riopelle's materials and techniques, focusing on his oil paintings, mixed media works, and conservation issues.

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Book SynopsisPrecisely rendered to dazzle the eye with their botanical accuracy, the sumptuous arrays of fruit and flowers by Dutch painter Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) were among the most avidly collected paintings of the 18th century. The arrangements were painstakingly executed over many months and commanded exceptionally high prices from collectors throughout Europe. This delightful little book explores two of Van Huysum's most important still-life paintings, "Vase of Flowers" and "Fruit Piece", showing how his inimitable technique resulted in an illusion that continues to captivate us today. The book's sumptuous plates reveal the artist's highly nuanced palette, and his exuberant, asymmetrical arrangements reflect emerging rococo rhythms.

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Book SynopsisThis is a superbly illustrated exploration of the first modern art catalogue, its creation and its legacy. This richly illustrated book examines the making of the first modern catalogue - La galerie electorale de Dusseldorff. Published in 1778, the revolutionary two-volume publication showcases one of the most important European painting collections of the eighteenth century, reflecting a pivotal moment in the history of art as well as the history of the art museum. In two essays, the authors analyse the process by which the catalogue was produced and shed light on the historical and cultural context that gave rise to an innovative and didactic way of displaying paintings - and, by extension, to art history as a discipline.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first English translation of Gabriele Paleotti's 16th century treatise on the role of art in society. In the wake of the Counter-Reformation, Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, the archbishop of Bologna, wrote a remarkable treatise on art during a time when the Church feared rampant abuse in the arts. Translated into English for the first time, Paleotti's "Discourse on Sacred and Profane Images" argues that art should address a broad audience and explains the painter's responsibility to his spectators. "The Discourse" is introduced by historian Paolo Prodi, who explains how - even if the archbishop did not succeed in reforming the arts - Paleotti's treatise constituted one last synthesis of art as a reading of creation and salvation history, and "sacred" art as a vehicle of devotion.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating exploration of the mystery that surrounds of Ruben's most well-known and intriguing drawings. Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most talented and successful artists working in 17th-century Europe. During his illustrious career as a court painter and diplomat, Rubens expressed a fascination with exotic costumes and headdresses. With his masterful handling of black chalk and touches of red, Rubens executed a compelling drawing that features a figure wearing Asian costume - a depiction that has recently been identified as Man in Korean Costume. Despite the drawings renown - both during Ruben's own lifetime and in contemporary art scholarship - the reasons why it was made and whether it actually depicts a specific Asian person remain a mystery. The intriguing story that develops involves a shipwreck, an unusual hat, the earliest trade between Europe and Asia, the trafficking of Asian slave, and Jesuit missionaries.

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Book SynopsisThis is an insightful survey on the materials and techniques of American artistis, from 1860 to 1945. This second volume in the American Painter's on Technique series is the first overview of an important but largely unknown aspect of American art from 1860 to 1945. The study is based primarily on firsthand descriptions of the materials and techniques that artists used to make paintings. The book is into two parts: 1860 to 1910 and 1910 to 1945. Between 1860 and 1910, the predominant theme is the increased number of Americans who traveled to Europe for instruction, resulting in an explosion of transplanted techniques. The period 1910 to 1945, was marked by a fundamental change in the attitudes of painters toward their materials. An epilogue summarizes the lessons American painters' experiences over 250 years can hold for contemporary artists interested in the long-term preservation of their paintings.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating volume that uses illustrated manuscripts to gain a unique insight into the gardens of the Renaissance. Whether part of a grand villa or an extension of a common kitchen, gardens in the Renaissance were planted and treasured in all reaches of society. Illuminated manuscripts of the period offer a glimpse into how people at the time pictured, used, and enjoyed these idyllic green spaces. Drawn from a wide range of works in the Getty Museum's permanent collection, this gorgeously illustrated volume explores gardens on many levels, from the literary Garden of Love and the biblical Garden of Eden to courtly gardens of the nobility, and reports on the many activities - both reputable and scandalous - that took place there.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating look at one of the world's most important and renowned 12th-century manuscripts. The St. Albans Psalter is one of the most important, famous, and puzzling books produced in 12th-century England. It was probably created between 1120 and 1140 at St. Albans Abbey. The manuscript's powerfully drawn figures and saturated colours are distinct from those in previous Anglo-Saxon painting and signal the arrival of the Romanesque style of illumination in England. Although most 12th-century prayer books were not illustrated, the St. Albans Psalter includes more than 40 full-page illuminations and over 200 historiated initials. Decorated with gold and precious colours, the psalter offers a display unparalleled by any other English manuscript to survive from the time. In 2012, scholars conservators, and scientists at the J. Paul Getty Musesum conducted a close examination of the Psalter, gathering new evidence challenging several prevailing assumptions about this richly illustrated manuscript.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the concept of antiquarianism and recasts its role for a new generation. The term antiquarianism refers to engagement with the material heritage of the past - an engagement that preceded the modern academic discipline of archaeology. Antiquarian activities result in the elaboration of particular social behaviours and the production of tools for exploring the collective memory. This book is the first to compare antiquarianism in a global context, examining its roots in the ancient Near East, it's flourishing in early modern Europe and East Asia, and its manifestations in non-literate societies of Melanesia and Polynesia. By establishing wide-reaching geographical and historical perspectives, the essays reveal the universality of antiquarianism as a manifestation of the human mind and open new avenues for understanding the representation of the past, from ancient societies to the present.

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Book SynopsisThis is a new translation of Quiccheberg's seminal 16th century text on the collection and display of objects. Samuel Quiccheberg's Inscriptiones, first published in Latin in 1565, is an ambitious effort to demonstrate the pragmatic value of curiosity cabinets, or Wunderkammer, to princely collectors in 16th-century Europe and, by so doing, inspire them to develop their own such collections. Quiccheberg shows how the assembly and display of physical objects offered nobles a powerful means to expand visual knowledge, allowing them to incorporate empirical and artisanal expertise into the realm of the written word. Quiccheberg's descriptions of early modern collections provide both a point of origin for today's museums and an implicit critique of their aims, asserting the fundamental research and scholarly value of collections: collections are to be used, not merely viewed. The First Treatise on Museums makes Quiccheberg's now rare publication available in English translation. Complementing the translation are a critical introduction by Mark Meadow and a preface by Bruce Robertson.

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Book SynopsisThis is the definitive account of the ground-breaking conservation project to conserve the cave paintings of the Mogao Grottoes in China. The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes, collectively known as the Silk Road, that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travellers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square metres of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world's most significant sites of Buddhist art. In 1997 the Getty Conservation Institute, which had been working with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989, began a case study using the Late-Tang dynasty Cave 85 to develop a methodology that would stabilize the deteriorating wall paintings. This abundantly illustrated volume is the definitive report on the project, which was completed in 2010.

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Book SynopsisThis is a rich exploration of the role the Baroque master played in the Counter-Reformation. The art of Rubens is rooted in an era darkened by the long shadow of devastating wars between Protestants and Catholics. In the wake of this profound schism, the Catholic Church decided to cease using force to propagate the faith. Like Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) sought to persuade his spectators to return to the true faith through the beauty of his art. While Rubens is praised for the "baroque passion" in his depictions of cruelty and sensuous abandon, nowhere did he kindle such emotional fire as in his religious subjects. Their colour, warmth, and majesty - but also their turmoil and lamentation - were calculated to arouse devout and ethical emotions. This fresh consideration of the images of saints and martyrs Rubens created for the churches of Flanders and the Holy Roman Empire offers a masterly demonstration of Rubens' achievements, liberating their message from the secular misunderstandings of the post-religious age and showing them in their intended light.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the making of a post-war masterpiece and its restoration. In many ways, Mural, Jackson Pollock's (1912-1956) first large-scale painting represents the birth of his legend. The controversial artist's creation of this painting has been recounted in dozens of books and dramatized in the Oscar-winning Pollock. Rumours about its creation abound - such as it being painted in one alcohol-fuelled night and at first didn't fit the intended space. But never in doubt was that it was pivotal, not only for Pollock but for the Abstract Expressionists who would follow his radical conception of art - "no limits, just edges." Mural, painted in 1943, was Pollock's first major commission. It was made for the entrance hall of the Manhattan duplex of Peggy Guggenheim who donated it to the University of Iowa in the 1950s where it stayed until its 2012 arrival for conservation and study at the Getty Center. This book unveils the findings of that examination providing a more complete picture of Pollock's process than ever before and includes an essay by eminent Pollock scholar Ellen Landau and an introduction by comedian Steve Martin.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating look at one of the defining images of the Impressionist movement. Manet Paints Monet focuses on an auspicious moment in the history of art. In the summer of 1874, Edouard Manet (1832-1883) and Claude Monet (1840-1926), two outstanding painters of the nascent Impressionist movement, spent their holidays together in Argenteuil on the Seine River. Their growing friendship is expressed in their artwork, culminating in Manet's marvelous portrait of Monet painting on a boat. The boat was the ideal site for Monet to execute his new plein-air paintings, enabling him to depict nature, water, and the play of light. Similarly, Argenteuil was the perfect place for Manet, the great painter of contemporary life, to observe Parisian society at leisure. His portrait brings all the elements together - Manet's own eye for the effect of social conventions and boredom on vacationers, and Monet's eye for nature - but these qualities remain markedly distinct. With this book, esteemed art historian Willibald Sauerlander describes how Manet, in one instant, created a defining image of an entire epoch, capturing the artistic tendencies of the time in a masterpiece that is both graceful and profound.

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Book SynopsisThis is a fascinating and superbly illustrated look at how the First World War influenced an entire generation of visual artists. Much of how WWI is understood today is rooted in the artistic depictions of the brutal violence and extensive destruction that marked the conflict. Nothing but the Clouds Unchanged examines how the physical and psychological devastation of the war altered the course of 20th-century artistic Modernism. Following the lives and works of fourteen artists before, during, and after the war, this book demonstrates how the conflict and the resulting trauma actively shaped artistic production. Materials from the Getty Research Institute's special collections, including letters, popular journals, posters, sketches, books, propaganda, and photographs - situate the works of the artists within the historical context, both personal and cultural, in which they were created.

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