History of art Books

Book SynopsisElizabeth Resnick is a Professor Emerita, former chair of Communication Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA. She is a designer/design educator/curator/writer. Her publications include The Social Design Reader (Bloomsbury Visual Arts 2019); Developing Citizen Designers (Bloomsbury Academic 2016); Design for Communication: Conceptual Graphic Design Basics (2003) and Graphic Design: A Problem-Solving Approach to Visual Communication (1984).

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Book SynopsisThe Material Culture of Tableware is a fascinating and authoritative study of patterned tableware in the USA. This book undertakes a visual analysis of Johnson Brothers patterns of tableware pottery, with reference to comparable designs by other British companies, such as Spode and Adams. It examines how this practical genre reflected the aesthetic values, sense of identity and aspirations of the American consumers who purchased its products. The study also sheds light on British opinions and understandings of American culture. The book's chronological organization shows how tableware designs reflected the cultural developments of American society during the long 20th century. From status-seeking 1890s beaux-arts patterns and the nostalgic historical scenes of the 1930s, to whimsical 1960s patterns and the contemporary motifs of the 1970s, The Material Culture of Tableware tells a compelling story about who 20th-century middle-class Americans were and wanted toTrade ReviewA welcome addition to the existing body of literature ... Succeeds in expanding on the fact-based approach that such books usually boast. * Journal of Design History *Zarucchi serves up wonderful insights into the transatlantic tableware trade, which celebrates the influence of British design on American culture. * Rob Kesseler, Professor of Art, Design and Science at Central Saint Martins, UK *A rigorous survey of Staffordshire printed tableware and its export to America, across three centuries of this special cultural relationship. * Stephen Dixon, Professor of Contemporary Crafts at Manchester School of Art, UK *If you ever wondered where your dinnerware or antique souvenir plate was produced, this fascinating book is sure to inform you. * Anna Calluori Holcombe, Professor of Art at the University of Florida, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The “Picture” in the Shop Window 1. Old World Style for the New World 2. Allies in War and Trade 3. American History (the British Version) 4. Commemoratives and Souvenirs 5. Prosperity and Nostalgia 6. Modern Style, New Traditions Conclusion: Endings and Beginnings References Index

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Book SynopsisAmanda Achmadi is Associate Professor in Architecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Paul Walker is Professor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia.Soon-Tzu Speechley is a Research Fellow in Architectural History also at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

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Book SynopsisCovering the period of 2001 to the present, Designing Retail Experience presents readers with a critical, cross-disciplinary perspective on retail design, bringing together scholarship from design, architecture, branding, cultural studies and social studies.Our retail experience has changed profoundly over the past two decades, in large part due to the impact of digital technology. While the rise of smartphones and online commerce threatened to displace bricks and mortar' stores, physical shopping has survived and, in some cases, thrived. Today, the most successful global brands design experiences that engage customers both within the physical store and in the digital realm, and within this book, D.J. Huppatz analyses how corporations design these experiences, how we interact with them, and how they align with broader social, cultural and economic changes. Nine case studies reveal how some of the largest global retail chains, including Apple, Amazon, Nike, Primark, IKEA a

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

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Book SynopsisSusie Hodge (MA, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts) has written numerous books on art and art history. She has also given lectures and held practical workshops, as well as taking part in television and radio programmes on art. Her books have received many awards and the Wall Street Journal described her book How to Survive Modern Art as a 'lesson in clarity'. She lives near London in the UK.

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Book SynopsisA how-to guide for dressing like a Tudor. Based on the author's own experience as a member of a re-enactment group, it offers tips and tricks on how to create your own historic garments.

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Book SynopsisFashion history meets the Egyptians: the phenomena of the pharaohs and enduring fascinating with this ancient civilisation.

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Book SynopsisExamines the production, distribution, reception and repair of mina'i ware

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

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Book SynopsisBorn in 1899 to Russian Aristocrats, Tamara de Lempicka escaped the Bolsheviks by exchanging her body for freedom, dramatically beginning a sexual career that included most of the influential men and women she painted. This biography is reissued to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of her death.Trade Review'The definitive round-up of de Lempicka's ramshackle but riveting life' Sunday Times 'Claridge is a meticulous, scholarly and sympathetic biographer' Observer 'Lucid and interesting ... a well-deserved and sympathetic account of de Lempicka's life' Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisParis: city of love, food and fashion. Paris: the city that played host to major historical and cultural dramas. Paris: a modern metropolis. Paris is all of these, all at once, all the time. There is a unique fusion of past and present in this purposefully grand and well-planned city. The Triumphal Way, which runs straight from the Louvre through the Tuileries Gardens, across the Place de la Concorde - where the guillotine once stood - through the Arc de Triomphe towards the Arche de la Défense and into the modern business district is just one example of the many eras that remain present. Famously a city for walkers, Paris has echoes of its history at every turn. Wandering through Montmartre, you will discover the birthplace of the energetic cancan at the Moulin Rouge; stroll around Montparnasse and see the haunts of American writer Ernest Hemingway; observe the striking new Opéra de la Bastille, which stands in the

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Book SynopsisWith some 280 colour illustrations, Introduction to Modern Design takes us on a visual survey of design from the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century to the Maker Movement of today. It offers a new understanding of the birth of modern design in the early twentieth century and chronicles the way its meaning has changed over the decades. The narrative is supported by twenty-six readings from significant texts by designers and critics, offering readers an opportunity to learn about design from those who created it and those who commented on it as it was done.The focus of this book is on the objects themselvesfrom industrial design, furniture, ceramics, textiles, graphics, electronics, to automobilesand explores the development of these designs in relation to industrialization, technology, environmental responsibility, consumerism, individual needs, and the expression of the social values of their day. Clearly written and accessible, Introduction to Modern Design pTrade ReviewThis book is a sweeping and comprehensive primer for anyone interested in Western design. George Marcus leads the reader on a 250-year-plus journey, exploring every major movement. People, places, and objects - and the debates that animated them - come alive in this richly illustrated story. * Donald Albrecht, independent curator, USA and Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, Italy *Marcus has written THE must-have resource for students of Modern Design history. He punctuates his thoroughly researched and fascinating timeline with informative profiles of key historical figures and their creative practices, giving readers new insights into human ingenuity. * Kory W. Rogers, Chief Curator at the Shelburne Museum, USA *Table of ContentsPreface: Defining Design Design and Decoration 1. Design and Industry (1750 to 1860) Industrialization Style and Ornament Design Reform 2. Life, Art, and Design (1860 to 1910) Arts and Crafts Movement Aesthetic Movement Art Nouveau Design and Form 3. Birth of Modern Design (1900 to 1940) From Ornament to Form Simplicity Standardization and Rationalization 4. Design and the European Modern Movements (1910 to 1930) Cubism and Its Impact Suprematism and Constructivism De Stijl 5. European Modernism (1920 to 1940) Modernism and the Machine Style Machine Modernism at the Bauhaus Machine Modernism Elsewhere Modernism and the Organic Style 6. Industrial Design (1930 to 1940) Streamlining and Styling Industrial Design in the United States Design in Europe The World of Tomorrow 7. Modern Design for Everyone (1940 to 1965) Wartime Innovations Good Design Beyond Good Design Design in Europe and Japan 8. Revolutionary and Postmodern Design (1960 to 1985) Cutting-Edge Materials and Processes High-Tech Radical Design Postmodernism 9. Design and the Consumer (1980 to 2000) Expressive Design Engaging Materials, Forms, and Technology Choices Low-Tech 10. Responsible Design (since 1970) Critique of Industrial Design Self-Reliance Care for the Planet Design for Individuals Design and Technology 11. Design in the Digital Age (since 2000) Smart Products and Processes Ornament Made Modern Conceptual and Critical Design 12. Extending Design (since 2000) Design Thinking Design Making For Further Reading Sources of Sidebar Excerpts and Quotations Credits Index

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Book SynopsisInspired by recent approaches to the field, the book reexamines the field of Renaissance art history by exploring the art of this era in the light of global connections. It considers the movement of objects, ideas and technologies and its significance for European art and material culture, analysing images through the lens of cultural encounter and conflict.Trade Review‘This book offers important new insights into the history of Renaissance arts by rethinking key objects and themes through the lens of cross-culturality. Its contribution is especially welcome as it demonstrates how exactly the idea of the Renaissance was formed by its global contacts and through acculturation of arts and ideas from beyond Europe.’ Sussan Babaie, Andrew W. Mellon Reader in the Arts of Iran and Islam, The Courtauld Institute of Art 'Art history has become increasingly engaged with global connections, but to date no study has filled the need for a synthetic overview of the early modern period. We can never again see the 'Renaissance' in the same, isolated way after reading these chapters.’ Larry Silver, Farquhar Professor of Art History, University of Pennsylvania‘Bringing together essays synthesizing recent scholarship on Renaissance art and material culture, Christian and Clark (both, Open Univ., UK) have created the first undergraduate-level treatment of the global nature of Renaissance art. The editors' goal is to illuminate “commonalities” between Europe and non-Western, non-Christian cultures. Two of the essays, Christian's on Renaissance altarpieces and Clark's on European collections of non-Western objects, consider indirect influences on art that came from luxury goods traded into Europe. The other two essays—one on art and architecture of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian inhabitants of Spain, and of Amer-Indians of the New World, the other on Venice as a palimpsest of Italian, Byzantine, and Islamic art and culture—are particularly successful in revealing direct connections between different cultures and the hybrid art that developed from close proximity.’ J. B. Gregory, formerly, Delaware College of Art and Design, CHOICE, Vol. 56, No. 2 (October 2018)‘This welcome volume is a textbook, and a very good one. It is first in a series of four titled Art and Its Global Histories that surveys the manifold cross-cultural influences between Western Europe and the world from the Pax Mongolica to postmodernism, supplemented by an anthology of seminal essays and primary sources for the entire period. The full series offers a suite of much-needed pedagogical materials for teaching early modern and modern art history from an inclusive, global-studies perspective […] Clear and comprehensive, it is written in a serious but lively style, appropriately theoretical without becoming abstruse or jargon ridden. The introduction and essays read like particularly pithy and eloquent class lectures, and the bibliographies following each chapter are worth the price of admission, with thorough and up-to-date coverage that provides a solid starting point for both student and scholarly researchers.’James M. Saslow, Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter 2018) -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Kathleen Christian and Leah Clark1 Renaissance altarpieces: the far in the near – Kathleen Christian2 Cultural crossings in Spain and the New World c. 1350–c.1550 – Kim Woods3 Collecting the world: art, nature, and representation – Leah Clark4 Aspects of art in Venice: encounters with the East – Paul Wood with Kathleen Christian and Leah ClarkConclusion – Kathleen Christian and Leah Clark Index

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Book SynopsisThe book examines how increasing engagement with the rest of the world transformed European art, architecture and design. It considers how commercial activity and colonial ventures gave rise to new and diverse forms of visual and material culture across the globe. Drawing on a wide range of recent scholarship, it offers a new perspective that challenges Eurocentric approaches.Trade Review'Art, Commerce and Colonialism is a marvellous and much-needed volume. It brilliantly represents the cutting edge of scholarship on the politics and the commerce of art in the early modern era, while making central issues and a fascinating array of objects readily accessible. This book is poised to shape the next generation of teaching early modern global art history, and offers a valuable road map for further study.' Claudia Swan, Associate Professor of Art History, Northwestern University‘Art, Commerce and Colonialism masterfully shows how the interaction between Western Europe and the rest of world came to reshape the continent’s art and visual culture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this book trade, power and art are part of one global process.’Giorgio Riello, Professor of Global History and Culture, University of Warwick'The biggest strength of Art, Commerce and Colonialism is that each author provides brief narratives of how scholarly approaches to their topic have changed over time. These forays into historiography, written in ways that are understandable to undergraduate students new to the study of art history, are indispensable.'Renaissance Quarterly -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction – Emma Barker1 From Iberia to the Americas: Hispanic art of the colonial era – Piers Baker-Bates2 The Golden Age revisited: Dutch art in global perspective – Emma Barker3 Creative interactions: Chinoiserie in eighteenth-century Britain – Clare Taylor4 Transatlantic architecture: classicism, colonialism and race – Elizabeth McKellarConclusion – Emma BarkerIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book constitutes the first comprehensive history of the network of women who worked at the heart of the English Arts and Crafts movement from the 1870s to the 1930s. Challenging the long-standing assumption that the Arts and Crafts simply revolved around celebrated male designers like William Morris, it instead offers a new social and cultural account of the movement, which simultaneously reveals the breadth of the imprint of women art workers upon the making of modern society. Thomas provides unprecedented insight into how women navigated authoritative roles as 'art workers' by asserting expertise across a range of interconnected cultures: from the artistic to the professional, intellectual, entrepreneurial and domestic. Through examination of newly discovered institutional archives and private papers, Thomas elucidates the critical importance of the spaces around which women conceptualised alternative creative and professional lifestyles.Trade Review'This absorbing study skilfully illuminates the rich cultures of the women of the arts and crafts movement, authoritatively excavating their significance. It is a major contribution to British feminist and cultural history.'Kathryn Gleadle, Mansfield College, University of Oxford‘Zoë Thomas provides a thoughtful new take on the role and place of women within the English Arts and Crafts movement, offering an alternative narrative encompassing consumer pleasures and feminist concerns that leads to refreshingly unique perspectives.’Juliette MacDonald, Edinburgh College of Art'Thomas’s important book offers a revisionist, politicised, and staunchly female-centred history of the Arts & Crafts movement, firmly re-establishing women’s aesthetic, professional and intellectual contributions through suffrage and the political economies of Victorian England.' Jenni Sorkin, University of California, Santa Barbara'As art history increasingly finds a place for methods that account for embodiment and duration, social histories like Thomas’s Women Art Workers are invaluable. Beyond histories of the Arts and Crafts, Thomas’s book is also a model text for other researchers trying to understand ideologies of identity through printed texts and publicpronouncements.'Woman's Art Journal'This is a wonderful contribution to women’s studies generally as well as to scholarship about the Arts and Crafts movement.'The Victorian Web'Meticulously researched and referenced, it draws upon a previously unknown archive related to the WGA, and Thomas also factors in members of London’s Lyceum Club, founded in 1903 for professional women by Constance Smedley, artist, writer, suffragist, and stage designer. [...] This thought-provoking woman-centred study has wider implications for how we think about these cultural producers'.DAS Newsletter'This important book offers the first detailed study of the women who worked in the English Arts and Crafts movement from the 1870s to the 1930s. [...] We find in this fascinating account the names of long-forgotten painters, book-binders, sculptors and jewellery makers'.Times Higher Education' [...] will be a vital addition to the literature for anyone teaching modern history, whether focused on art and design, social and economic history, or gender studies. In addition to extensive research in public and private archives in Britain, South Africa, and the United States, it is clearly based on a thorough knowledge of the relevant theory and literature and includes excellent notes and bibliography. [...] it will be essential reading and a stimulating resource for anyone working on the period and should be in the library of every institution studying and promoting history.'Annette Carruthers, Journal of British Studies 'Encompassing intellectual, entrepreneurial, cultural and political history, it shifts the focus from the finished artworks to the network structures, the business strategies, and the spaces of women art workers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, making a tremendous contribution to both women’s history and to scholarship on the Arts and Crafts period.'Dublin Review of Books'Though confined largely to Great Britain, this examination of the women art workers of the Arts and Crafts Movement is a welcome corrective to the astonishing absence of women from the literature of the movement generally (including how it is represented in the extensive Wikipedia entry). Thomas (Univ. of Birmingham, UK) moves away from the male-run Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society established in 1887 to focus, for the first time, on “the extensive network of women working at the highest echelons of the English Arts and Crafts Movement" (p. 5). Following an introductory overview of the politics of gender in the movement, Thomas’s study unfolds in five chapters and an epilogue organized around the entwined themes of gender and space: clubhouses and guild halls, homes, business spaces, and “into the city”—the last signifying women’s progress in the suffragette movement and in their roles in industry during WW I. Thomas’s recovery of the history of the women art workers is sustained by a wealth of archival materials, which include letters, newspaper accounts, and vintage photographs.'--J. Quinan, emeritus, independent scholarSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.Reprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association.'I am grateful to Zoë Thomas for writing a rich and thoughtful book that suggests such intriguing connections and points of comparison. It marks an important contribution to the scholarship on middle-class women’s work as well as providing a convincing account of how women, as well as men, taught the English middle classes good taste.'Twentieth Century British History'Zoë Thomas's authoritative account of how women artist-makers pioneered diverse and vigorously active roles in late 19th-and early 20th-century Britain is an invaulable contribution to the scholarly literature on the Arts & Crafts Movement. Meticulously researched, cogently argued and elegantly written, it presents a revelatory body of material that documents in fascinating detail women's organisations - guilds, clubs, committees and exhibitions - that challenged the male-dominated art world of the time.'The Journal of Stained Glass, Peter Cormack'Through outstanding archival research of personal and professional accounts, and meticulous engagement with previous critical studies of the subject, Thomas examines the Arts and Crafts movement from the perspective of the collective of female artists who helped to bring the movement into the public eye. [...] Thomas’s mode of rethinking the movement has set a new trend that will inspire students, teachers, and researchers alike.'Romance, Revolution & Reform'An excellent contribution to scholarship on women and art in the nineteenth century, this book should interest anyone wanting a fuller picture of the Arts and Crafts Movement as a whole and women’s distinct role in it.'The Pre-Raphaelite Society'Women Art Workers and the Arts and Crafts Movement is a thought-provoking, scholarly and detailed account that brings new insights and knowledge to the study of the Arts and Crafts Movement and women’s participation in it. Its strength is undoubtedly its focus on the private and public spaces: exhibitions, workshops, homes, and clubs in addition to the businesses and workshops, and organizations and societies that facilitated and enhanced women art workers. It makes a considerable contribution to the field.'Cheryl Buckley, Journal of Design History -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Arts and Crafts movement, work cultures, and the politics of gender1 Clubhouses and guild halls 2 Exhibiting the Arts and Crafts 3 ‘At Home’ in artistic houses and studios4 ‘Artistic’ businesses and ‘medieval’ workshops5 Out of the guild hall and into the city EpilogueSelect bibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book examines Anna of Denmark's engagement with visual and material goods, including architecture, garden design, painting and jewellery. It contextualises the consort's place within the wider socio-political environment of the Stuart courts and provides a comprehensive understanding of her personal iconography, aims, interests and alliances. -- .

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Book SynopsisA fresh perspective on British history from award-winning broadcaster Fatima ManjiWhy was there a Turkish mosque adorning Britain's most famous botanic garden in the eighteenth century? How did a pair of Persian-inscribed cannon end up in rural Wales? And who is the Moroccan man depicted in a long-forgotten portrait hanging in a west London stately home? Throughout Britain's museums, civic buildings and stately homes, relics can be found that reveal the diversity of pre-twentieth-century Britain and expose the misconceptions around modern immigration narratives. In her journey across Britain exploring cultural landmarks, Fatima Manji searches for a richer and more honest story of a nation struggling with identity and the legacy of empire.'A timely, brilliant and very brave book' Jerry Brotton, author of This Orient Isle

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Book Synopsis***One of The New Yorker's Best Books of 2022******One of The New York Time's 100 Notable Books of 2022***'Exuberantly entertaining' NYT Book Review'Mark Braude's writing and subject make this book irresistible, as was Kiki herself.' Jim Jarmusch'A delightful, marvelously readable, meticulously-researched romp of a book, Kiki Man Ray brings to life not just the kaleidoscopically talented Kiki herself, but the endlessly fascinating Montparnasse milieu over which she reigned.' Whitney Scharer, author of THE AGE OF LIGHTThough many have never heard her name, Alice Prin - Kiki de Montparnasse - was the icon of 1920s Paris. She captivated as a ground-breaking nightclub performer, wrote a bestselling memoir, sold out exhibitions of her paintings, and shared drinks and ideas with the likes of Pablo Picasso, Peggy Guggenheim, and Marcel Duchamp. She also shepherded along the career of a then-unknown American photographer: Man Ray.Following Kiki in the years between 1921 and 1929, when she lived and worked with Man Ray, Kiki Man Ray charts their complicated entanglement and reveals how Man Ray - always the unabashed careerist - went on to become one of the most famous photographers of the twentieth century, enjoying wealth and prestige, while Kiki's legacy was lost.But this isn't a story of an overbearing male genius and his defeated muse. During the 1920s it was Kiki, not Man Ray, who was the brighter of the two rising stars and a powerful figure among the close-knit community of models, painters, writers and café wastrels who made their homes in gritty Montparnasse. Following the couple as they created art, struggled for power and competed for fame, Kiki Man Ray illuminates for the first time Kiki's seminal influence on the culture of 1920s Paris, and challenges ideas about artists and muses, and the lines separating the two.'Kiki de Montparnasse was more than a muse - she was a vivacious, independent woman whose talent and magnetism helped make Paris the center of the art world in the 1920s. In Mark Braude's riveting cultural history, the Queen of Montparnasse rises again. This is a lively and compassionate tribute to the chanteuse, model, and portraitist who held center stage in her life, and who inspired some of the finest Surrealist art of the twentieth century.' Heather Clark, author of Pulitzer Prize-finalist Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia PlathTrade ReviewA lively study of [Kiki de Montparnasse] who exemplified [a] cocktail of high spirits and a heedless self-destruction. * The Times *[Kiki is] a vibrant force in a colorful world - and the heart of Braude's history. A rich, affectionate look at bohemian Paris. * Kirkus Reviews *Mark Braude focuses on Kiki de Montparnasse and Man Ray . . . immersing the reader in a world where everyone was pushing their creativity in unimaginable directions. * The Spectator *Exuberantly entertaining . . . A riveting glimpse into the absinthe-fuelled Parisian jazz age * Lady Magazine *Finally, a detailed and entertaining account of Alice Prin, aka Kiki de Montparnasse, and her artistic and romantic relationship with Man Ray. Best known as a popular (and usually nude) artists' model, Kiki was a singer and performer, a painter, a writer, and the central female instigator for the avant-garde demimonde of Paris in the 1920s. Mark Braude's writing and subject make this book irresistible, as was Kiki herself. * Jim Jarmusch *The frank, lively voice that comes through in Kiki's vignettes makes a cornerstone for the case, which Braude renews, that she was far more than Man Ray's party-girl companion - that it was, in fact, her vitality, her connectedness in artistic networks, and her intuitive understanding of his creative process that hoisted Man Ray on to the highway to fame. * The Telegraph *Kiki de Montparnasse was more than a muse - she was a vivacious, independent woman whose talent and magnetism helped make Paris the center of the art world in the 1920s. In Mark Braude's riveting cultural history, the Queen of Montparnasse rises again. This is a lively and compassionate tribute to the chanteuse, model, and portraitist who held center stage in her life, and who inspired some of the finest Surrealist art of the twentieth century. * Heather Clark, author of Pulitzer Prize–finalist RED COMET: THE SHORT LIFE AND BLAZING ART OF SYLVIA PLATH *Kiki Man Ray is a thoroughly researched and gracefully written life of the (until now) underestimated model, performer, painter, actress, and influencer known as Kiki de Montparnasse. Mark Braude's biography brings her out of the wings and sets her firmly center stage in this evocative portrait of artistic life in the Paris of the 1920s. * Carolyn Burke, author of FOURSOME and LEE MILLER *A delightful, marvelously readable, meticulously researched romp of a book, Kiki Man Ray brings to life not just the kaleidoscopically talented Kiki herself, but the endlessly fascinating Montparnasse milieu over which she reigned. -- Whitney Scharer, author of THE AGE OF LIGHTMan Ray captured 1920s Paris in his photographs, especially those of a singular muse: Kiki de Montparnasse, a hostess, a celebrity, a cabaret performer, a woman whose bawdy, heartfelt songs were the pulse of Paris. Mark Braude turns the tables - and the lens - and gives us a unique portrait: Man Ray from the perspective of that celebrated muse and her ephemeral art of performance. * Tilar J. Mazzeo, New York Times bestselling author of THE HOTEL ON PLACE VENDÔME: LIFE, DEATH, AND BETRAYAL AT THE HOTEL RITZ IN PARIS *Kiki de Montparnasse - model, muse, artist - is the sole realist in a room of Surrealists. Unafraid of contradiction, she lived the fast life in the stillness of a pose, the intimacy of a public dream. Beautifully written, with a light touch and a wise eye, Mark Braude's Kiki Man Ray arranges the elements of Kiki's life, letting radiant patterns emerge. * Alexander Nemerov, author of FIERCE POISE: HELEN FRANKENTHALER AND 1950S NEW YORK *Exquisitely crafted . . . [S]harp and succinct . . . Kiki Man Ray rescues its protagonist from the dustbin of history and advocates eloquently for the vitality and importance of the world she helped to forge. * HAMILTON CAIN, Wall Street Journal *If the only 'Kiki de Montparnasse' you are aware of is a lingerie brand, please check out this top-notch, highly readable nonfiction from cultural historian Mark Braude right now. * CAT AUER, A.V. Club *[An] affectionate biography . . . As irresistible as it is overdue. * Chicago Review of Books *Mark Braude's exuberantly entertaining biography sets out to rebalance the much-told story of Left Bank Paris, in which Kiki - model, memoirist and muse - is usually cast as a bit player. * The New York Times *[A] heady romp through the galleries and nightclubs of interwar France * Vogue *I loved Mark Braude's entertaining dual-biography . . . Kiki entranced the American Surrealist Man Ray, and the book charts their tempetuous relationship. * Lady Magazine *2022 Bookshelf Christmas Special - The Lady's Pick of the Year's BEST BOOKS* *'Mark Braude's spirited and thoroughly researched account brings [Kiki] to life, highlighting her belligerent nature and generous spirit, as well as her activities as an artist and writer . . . Braude's colourful evocation captures the heady atmosphere of a Paris still traumatized by the First World War' * TLS *

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Book SynopsisThis delightful collection allows everyone to enjoy firsthand the provocative methods used by the artists and poets of the Surrealist school to break through conventional thought and behavior to a deeper truth. Invented and played by such artists as André Breton, Rene Magritte, and Max Ernst, these gems still produce results ranging from the hilarious to the mysterious and profound.

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Book SynopsisNamed a Best Gift Book by InStyle Nathalie Lété is the rare artist whose work is so distinctive and widely appealing that she has become a global brand, having garnered a cultlike following for her unique pop- and folk-art aesthetic. Lété’s iconic work has been immortalized by companies around the world that clamor for her products and seek her out for collaborations: Anthropologie has been selling her housewares for over a decade; she has designed textiles for Issey Miyake; her accessories are sold in high-end boutiques like Astier de Villate in Paris and Isetan, the trendiest department store in Tokyo. Now, for the first time, Lété has curated over 200 of her best-loved paintings into a covetable magnum opus that will entice those who are discovering her for the first time as well as her legions of fans.Trade Review“Who needs Prozac if you have In the Garden of My Dreams? Lété’s bright, folk art–like paintings of animals, children, flowers, and much more are quite the antidote for the winter blues.”—Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisThis volume vividly recounts, for general readers, the Roman town of Herculaneum, destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and uniquely preserved for nearly two thousand years. Initial chapters offer an engaging historical overview of the town during antiquity, including the riveting story of its rediscovery in the eighteenth century, excavation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and broad cultural significance in modern times. Subsequent chapters offer an interpretive tour of the ancient town, then focus on one of Herculaneum’s grandest and most beautifully decorated private residences, known as the House of the Bicentenary. Located on the town’s main street, it has a range of features—original rooms, magnificent wall paintings and mosaics, and remarkable documents—that illuminate daily life in the ancient world. Final chapters bring the story up to date, including recent discoveries about the site and its famous papyrus manuscripts, as well as ongoing conservation initiatives.

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Book SynopsisThe founding of the first Persian Empire by the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great in the sixth century BCE established one of the greatest world powers of antiquity. Extending from the borders of Greece to northern India, Persia was seen by the Greeks as a vastly wealthy and powerful rival and often as an existential threat. When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great finally conquered the Achaemenid Empire in 330 BCE, Greek culture spread throughout the Near East, but local dynasties-first the Parthian (247 BCE-224 CE) and then the Sasanian (224-651 CE)-reestablished themselves. The rise of the Roman Empire as a world power quickly brought it, too, into conflict with Persia, despite the common trade that flowed through their territories. Persia addresses the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia, Greece, and Rome from the seventh century BCE to the Arab conquest of 651 CE. Essays by international scholars trace interactions and exchanges of influence. With more than three hundred images, this richly illustrated volume features sculpture, jewelry, silver luxury vessels, coins, gems, and inscriptions that reflect the Persian ideology of empire and its impact throughout Persia's own diverse lands and the Greek and Roman spheres. This volume is published to accompany a major international exhibition presented at the Getty Villa from April 6 to August 8, 2022.Trade Review"This is a spectacular book, offering fascinating insights into three great ancient Persian empires and their interactions with Classical Greece and Rome. Groundbreaking essays by the leading scholars in the field open our eyes to how people lived and interacted, their motivations, and the outcomes of their choices. This catalogue provides detailed discussion of the hundreds of glorious artifacts brought together in the J. Paul Getty Museum's exhibition from museums across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The exhibition at the Getty Villa is beautifully reflected and augmented by this richly illustrated and documented volume, one that will delight and ignite the curiosity of specialists and the curious public alike. A magnificent book, worthy of the installation that inspired it!"--Elspeth R. M. Dusinberre, College Professor of Distinction, Classics Department, University of Colorado Boulder; "In Persia: Ancient Iran and the Classical World, leading experts offer an up-to-date, highly interesting overview of the great epochs Iran experienced under the Achaemenid, Arsacid, and Sasanian dynasties. These key periods in Iranian history become palpable to a substantial extent in the political and cultural encounter with classical Greece, the Seleucid kingdom, and the Roman Empire. The different perspectives with which the individual authors look at the history and material culture open up many new perspectives, even for the specialist. The catalogue's illustrations make the complexity of the tradition impressively visible." -- Dr. Bruno Jacobs, Professor Emeritus, University of Basel

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Book SynopsisIts history, techniques, aesthetics, and philosophy—with an in-depth practical guide to understanding and drawing 150 charactersA guide to the history and enjoyment of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy that offers the possibility of appreciating it in a hands-on way—with step-by-step instructions for brushing 150 classic characters. This book is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the history and art of calligraphy as it''s been practiced for centuries in China, Japan, and elsewhere in Asia. It works as a guide for the beginner hoping to develop an appreciation for Asian calligraphy, for the person who wants to give calligraphy-creation a try, as well as for the expert or afficionado who just wants to browse through and exult in lovely examples. It covers the history and development of the art, then the author invites the reader to give it a try.      The heart of the book, called "Master Samples and Study," presents 150 characters--from "action" to "zen"--each in a two-page spread. On each verso page the character is presented in three different styles, each one chosen for its beauty and identified by artist when possible. The character''s meaning, pronunciation (in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese), etymology, the pictograph from which it evolved, and other notes of interest are included. At the bottom of the page the stroke order is shown: the sequence of brush movements, numbered in their traditional order. On each facing recto page is Kaz''s own interpretation of the character, full page.

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Book SynopsisSeveral Circles is an abstract an spiritual meditation on one geometric form - the circle, a significant and symbolic theme in Vasily Kandinsky''s artwork.Our sleek, portable case of 8 ball point pens. Our expertly printed pen set is made with coils of paper, making it softer and more eco-friendly than any other pen set. Vasily Kandinsky''s Several Circles artwork faithfully reprinted here for our 8-Pen Set, a very sleek option with black case and pens. Each case contains 8 paper-wrapped pens in 2 designs, 4 of each, packaged in a sleek cigarette-case style box with magnetic flap closure.

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Book SynopsisThe official catalog accompanying the major retrospective at MoCA LA: Henry Taylor creates a grand pageant of contemporary Black life in America Surveying 30 years of Henry Taylor’s work in painting, sculpture and installation, this comprehensive monograph celebrates a Los Angeles artist widely appreciated for his unique aesthetic, social vision and freewheeling experimentation. Taylor’s portraits and allegorical tableaux—populated by friends, family members, strangers on the street, athletic stars and entertainers—display flashes of familiarity in their seemingly brash compositions, which nonetheless linger in the imagination with uncanny detail. In his paintings on cigarette packs, cereal boxes and other found supports, Taylor brings his primary medium into the realm of common culture. Similarly, the artist’s installations often recode the forms and symbolisms of found materials (bleach bottles, push brooms) to play upon art historical tropes and modernism’s appropriations of African or African American culture. Taken together, the various strands of Taylor’s practice display a deep observation of Black life in America at the turn of the century, while also inviting a humanist fellowship that pushes outward from the particular. Raised in Oxnard, California, Henry Taylor (born 1958) took art classes at Oxnard College in the 1980s and studied under James Jarvaise, who became a mentor. From 1984 through 1995 Henry Taylor worked as a psychiatric technician at Camarillo State Mental Hospital (a facility that is now California State University Channel Islands) while concurrently attending the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1995. Taylor has had institutional solo exhibitions at MoMA PS1 and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He lives and works in Los Angeles.Trade ReviewAn overall commitment to figurative painting in support of his own tribe, to share their stories of joy and hardship, and, more importantly, to relay his own beautiful and unique vision of Blackness, in all its variable parts. -- Terence Trouillot * Frieze *Ever alert to social contradictions, embedded histories, and the gap between public propaganda and private experience, Taylor often graces his subjects with a deliberate equanimity, suggesting only by inference a narrative of quiet, enduring resistance. -- Albert Mobilio * Hyperallergic *Taylor’s scenes of everyday life perform what might be called stop-motion image-making...The picture sticks in your brain, while your body responds to the painterly scene. -- Christopher Knight * Los Angeles Times *Henry Taylor: B Side,’ captures the sweep of Taylor’s career thus far, featuring more than 150 pieces that include drawings and — for the first time in any meaningful way — sculpture, as well as what he calls “painted objects” on small cigarette packs, cereal boxes and beer crates. […] Even his older work has a timelessness that makes it feel contemporary. -- Robin Pogrebin * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe first retrospective on a fascinating protagonist of the 1970s Pattern & Decoration movement, who defied Minimalist orthodoxy with humorous multimedia explorations of domesticity and ornament This is the first comprehensive volume on Cynthia Carlson (born 1942), a key artist of the Pattern & Decoration group who responded to Minimalism’s dominance in the 1970s. The work of this group has recently been revisited and reappraised in exhibitions and by art scholarship. A Chicagoan under the influence of the Chicago Imagists, Carlson landed in New York City in 1965 and has exhibited widely (she was included in Lucy Lippard’s seminal 1971 exhibition 26 Contemporary Women Artists at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art). Her interest in the domestic—as a source of shapes and as a realm of familial experiences, chores and memories—intersects with the works of contemporaries ranging from Jennifer Bartlett to Joel Shapiro and Elizabeth Murray. Carlson's utilization of architectural motifs might align at one moment with the vernacular embraced in the buildings of Venturi & Scott Brown and, at another, with the postmodern rehabilitation of Beaux-Arts ornament. Her hand-painted "wallpaper" is considered a significant contribution and influence on contemporary installation art. Carlson’s artistic identity continues to morph: from room-size wallpaper and a life-size gingerbread house to unexpected shaped canvasses, architectural constructions and pet portraits. Whatever she creates, however eccentric, is high-spirited, genial and insightful.

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Book SynopsisLupente showcases five outstanding contemporary artists in an elegant and absorbing package. This volume—the first in our ongoing Flesk Artist Showcase series—features Julia Blattman, a premier visual-development artist working in the animation industry; Stephanie Law, a fine artist who pulls from dreams and reality to illuminate the boundary between those two worlds; Karla Ortiz, a concept and fine artist who is renowned for her personal works and her designs for film; Virginie Ropars, one of the most-revered dollmakers today and an inspiration to sculptors around the world; and Erica Williams, also known as “HookieDuke,” who has gained acclaim by mastering a unique, highly intricate style of lines and designs that centers on Nature as its inspiration. Examples of the most highly regarded works by the five are accompanied by biographical essays, interviews, quotes and captions that reveal insights into their creative processes. In addition, Flesk’s personal access to each artist has resulted in an insightful and engaging introduction to these talented creators, among the best working today.

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Book SynopsisFrom the acclaimed author of American Comics and Jewish Comedy comes a sweeping and entertaining narrative that details the rise and enduring grip of horror in American literature, cinema, and, ultimately, culture-from the taut, terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe to the grisly, lingering films of Jordan PeeleAmerica is held captive by horror stories. They flicker on the screen of a darkened movie theater and are shared around the campfire. They blare out in tabloid true-crime headlines, and in the worried voices of local news anchors. They are consumed, virally, on the phones in each of our pockets. Like the victims in any slasher worth its salt, we can''t escape the thrall of scary stories.In American Scary, noted cultural historian and Columbia professor Jeremy Dauber takes the reader to the startling origins of the horror genre in the United States, drawing a surprising through-line between the lingering influence of the European Gothic, the enslaved insurrection tales propagated by slaveholders, and the apocryphal chronicles of colonial settlers kidnapped by Native Americans, among many others.These foundational narratives give rise to and are influenced by the body of work we more closely associate with horror: the weird fiction of HP Lovecraft, the lingering stories of Shirley Jackson, the unsettling films of Alfred Hitchcock, the up-all-night tales of Stephen King, and the gripping critiques of Jordan Peele. From "The Tell-Tale Heart" to M3gan, we begin to see why the horror genre is the perfect prism through which to view America''s past and present.With the extraordinary historical breadth and dexterous weave of insight and style that has made him twice a finalist for the National Jewish Book, Dauber makes the haunting case that horror reveals the true depths of the American mind.Featuring cameos from:Shirley Jackson The Sixth Sense Edgar Allan Poe Nathaniel Hawthorne Anne Radcliffe Charles Brockden Brown Los Espookys Washington Irving Nat Turner Night of the Living Dead H.P. Lovecraft Alien Mary Heaton Vorse Edith Wharton Norman Bates Lon Chaney Frankenstein Dracula H.G. Wells William Faulkner Dashiell Hammett Tananarive Due Twilight Zone The Handmaid''s Tale Ray Bradbury I Am Legend Elia Kazan Psycho Ralph Ellison The Blair Witch Project Stanley Kubrick Helter Skelter Jordan Peele The Walking Dead H.H. Holmes Harriet Beecher Stowe

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

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Book SynopsisWinner, Melva J. Dwyer AwardHonourable Mention, Canadian Museums Association Award for Outstanding Achievement (Research)Qummut Qukiria! celebrates art and culture within and beyond traditional Inuit and Sámi homelands in the Circumpolar Arctic — from the continuance of longstanding practices such as storytelling and skin sewing to the development of innovative new art forms such as throatboxing (a hybrid of traditional Inuit throat singing and beatboxing). In this illuminating book, curators, scholars, artists, and activists from Inuit Nunangat, Kalaallit Nunaat, Sápmi, Canada, and Scandinavia address topics as diverse as Sámi rematriation and the revival of the ládjogahpir (a Sámi woman’s headgear), the experience of bringing Inuit stone carving to a workshop for inner-city youth, and the decolonizing potential of Traditional Knowledge and its role in contemporary design and beyond.Qummut Qukiria! showcases the thriving art and culture of the Indigenous Circumpolar peoples in the present and demonstrates its importance for the revitalization of language, social wellbeing, and cultural identity.Trade Review“The diversity of the texts in Qummut Qukiria! ... This book may be specialized, but any reader can find much here to enjoy. This is a book that seems destined to be useful and relevant for a long time.” -- Ray Cronin * Billie *

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Book SynopsisThe Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594) is an ambiguous figure in the history of art. Critics and writers such as Vasari, Ruskin and Sartre all placed him in opposition to the established artistic practice of his time, noting that he had abandoned the values that typified the venerable Venetian Renaissance tradition. He was even expelled as an apprentice from the workshop of Titian. This informative and generously illustrated book offers a long-overdue re-evaluation of Tintoretto's unique work and entertaining life.

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Book SynopsisAn artist's obsession with Géricault's monumental painting The Raft of the Medusa, and an intensely personal reckoning that delves deep inside the making of an artwork. Artist Tom de Freston has long had an obsession with Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa, and the troubling story behind its creation. The monumental canvas, which hangs in the Louvre, depicts a 19th century tragedy in which 150 people were drowned at sea on a raft lost in a stormy sea, when the ship Medusa was wrecked on shallow ground. When de Freston began making an artwork with Ali, a Syrian writer blinded by a bombing, The Raft's depiction of pain and suffering resonated powerfully with him, as did Géricault's awful life story. It spoke not only to Ali's story but to Tom's family history of trauma and anguish, offering him a passage out of the dark waters in which he found himself. In spellbinding, visceral prose, de Freston opens a window onto the magnetic frisson that runs between a past masterpiece and contemporary artistic endeavours. He asks powerful questions about how we might translate violence, fear and trauma into art, how we try to make sense of seemingly unthinkable acts, and the value in facing and depicting the darkest horrors.Trade ReviewGéricault''s Raft stands as a statement as much as painting, a history lesson, a nightmare, a gigantic perfidy, a visual shorthand for abuse and disaster rendered in exquisite oils... In pulses of literary reference and art history and Gericault''''s own radical life story, de Freston evokes a provocative new voyage for the rotting raft - seen through his own visceral experience of the vast painting, and its uproarious terrors and visions, which hold a mortal but undying resonance for our own times... A stupendous work -- Philip HoareTo read Wreck is to observe a mind as it delves into the pentimenti of the past, moving through complexities of horror, art, solidarity, and trauma. Unforgettable -- Doireann Ní Ghríofa, author of A Ghost in the ThroatNot only an extraordinary exploration of how an artwork is created but a devastating portrayal of what it means to means to struggle, to be human, to find hope. A darting, incredibly ambitious book which brings together the head and the heart. I am still ringing with the experience of reading it -- Daisy Johnson, author of SistersWreck is a stunning piece of writing - powerful, moving, and raw. It is electrifying -- Louise O'NeillI've never read a book like Wreck before. It pulled me in, engulfed me, cast me up, left me beached, left me wrecked. There are sudden vivid plunges into historical dreaming, dazzling close-readings of artworks, profoundly courageous passages of memoir, and as one proceeds through it one learns how to read it: by rhymes, echoes and flashes of lightning -- Robert MacfarlaneA mix of art, identification and memoir... [Wreck] is a strange hybrid, but [de Freston] finds the right tone, and it becomes clear that what [he] is examining is not so much one painting as the relationship between art and suffering * New Statesman *Burns with an intensity that's sometimes disturbing and bewildering and, more often than not, powerfully moving -- Mark Bostridge * Oldie *A beguiling hybrid of memoir, art history and fiction... imaginative... lyrical * TLS *

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Book SynopsisA brilliantly wide-ranging essay collection from the author of My Struggle, spanning literature, philosophy, art and how our daily and creative lives intertwine.In the Land of the Cyclops is Karl Ove Knausgaard's first collection of essays to be published in English, and these brilliant and wide-ranging pieces meditate on themes familiar from his groundbreaking fiction.Here, Knausgaard discusses Madame Bovary, the Northern Lights, Ingmar Bergman, and the work of an array of writers and visual artists, including Knut Hamsun, Michel Houellebecq, Anselm Kiefer and Cindy Sherman.These essays beautifully capture Knausgaard's ability to mediate between the deeply personal and the universal, demonstrating his trademark self-scrutiny and his deep longing to authentically see, understand, and experience the world.'Knausgaard is among the finest writers alive' New York TimesTrade ReviewA profound (and profoundly eclectic) collection of essays * Daily Telegraph, *Summer Reads of 2021* *A modern Roland Barthes... Knausgaard has a gift for stopping the reader in their tracks with an unexpected, casual profundity -- Steven Poole * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisFrom the earliest cave paintings through to the internet and street art, this inspiring book chronicles the 100 most influential ideas that have shaped the world of art. Arranged in broadly chronological order, it provides a unique and compelling take on the history of art. The book shows how developments in materials and technology have radically changed the way that art is produced. Each entry explores when an idea first evolved and how it has resurfaced in the work of different artists up to the present day. Illustrated with historical masterpieces and packed with fascinating contemporary examples, this is an inspirational and wholly original guide to understanding the forces that have shaped world art.

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Book SynopsisMatisse and Picasso by Robert Capa, Takashi Murakami by Olivia Arthur, Warhol and de Kooning by Thomas Hoepker, Bonnard by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sonia Delaunay by Herbert List, Kiki Smith by Susan Meiselas, and many more. For the first time, Magnum Artists brings together a collection of over 200 photographs that define the unique relationship between the world's greatest photography collective and the world's greatest artists.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology considers how the Day of the Dead has been celebrated in visual art and culture, from the traditional and iconic illustrations of Manuel Manilla and José Posada to the paper cuts of Aaron Velasco Pacheco, folk art of the Linares family and paintings of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. With a foreword by the ceramic artist and curator Carlomagno Pedro Martinez, this compendium also includes poems, songs and literature celebrating the festival, as well as dedicated chapters that focus on contemporary representations, such as urban art, graffiti and the street photography of Yolande Andrade.

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Book SynopsisOfficial art book of the Marvel's Midnight Suns video game, packed with interviews with the creative team behind the game, as well as stunning concept art created during the development process. When the demonic Lilith and her fearsome horde unite with the evil armies of Hydra, it's time to unleash Marvel's dark side. As The Hunter, your mission is to lead an unlikely team of seasoned Super Heroes and dangerous supernatural warriors to victory. Can legends such as Doctor Strange, Iron Man, and Blade put aside their differences in the face of a growing apocalyptic threat? If you're going to save the world, you'll have to forge alliances and lead the team into battle as the legendary Midnight Suns-Earth's last line of defence against the underworld. Marvel's Midnight Suns - The Art of the Game captures the creative process of this much-anticipated game. The exclusive concept art and in-game renderings created by the talented development team-creating the game in collaboration with Marvel-are shown in glorious detail in this lush, hardback volume. Characters, locations, gadgets, weapons, monsters, enemies, and much more are all accompanied by unique insights from the artists and developers behind the game. So step into the world of Marvel's Midnight Suns - and rise up against the darkness!

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Book SynopsisEdouard Vuillard was so secretive that he berated himself for betraying his emotions in conversation. He was a reticent, impassioned man, a timid stalker and a social climbing anarchist, caught in conflicting desires. From the 1880s until the advent of World War II, using styles from academic to Pointillist to Nabi to Fauve, he abundantly revealed his love and hatred in his paintings: models pose beside a plaster torso cast from the Venus of Milo, women appear without faces, anxiety radiates from many masterpieces, while other works were left unfinished for months or years. Drawing on insights and images from Vuillard's still unpublished diaries, Julia Frey takes the reader into Vuillard's private world of cabarets, experimental theatres, holiday resorts and intimate boudoirs, showing how his art reflects his fraught personal relations and his artistic struggles. Frey chooses many of his finest works, from the famous intimate interior scenes to book illustrations and poster designs, and examines his complex relationships with friends such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Stephane Mallarme, Felix Vallotton, and the women he loved: his mother and sister, penniless models and rich men's wives.Trade Review'Frey's biographical account offers a new and intimate look at Vuillard-an artist whose work is central to the history of modern art. Centered on the private life that so characteristically defined Vuillard's painting, the book is engaging and personal, appealing to readers who are both new to and familiar with its subject.'-Britany Salsbury, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, The Cleveland Museum of Art, 'The title of Julia Frey's Venus Betrayed hints at the provocative reassessment of an artist best remembered for his small scenes of intimate domestic life, and as a bachelor who lived with his mother all her life. "Saint" Vuillard is now seen as much a sinner and indeed haunted individual. Densely illustrated with Vuillard's personal jottings and sketches to full blown paintings, this is a breakthrough in artist biography, offering bold and fascinating interpretations of recurring motifs, gestures and other symbols for Vuillard's ongoing passions and emotional conflicts, to bolster exciting new readings of the artist and the women in his life.'-Gloria Groom, Chair of European Painting and Sculpture, the Art Institute of Chicago

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Book SynopsisThis is the first comprehensive study in English of surrealist leader André Breton’s life-long commitment to the visual arts. As an essayist, art critic, collector, gallery director and artist, he actively promoted many painters, from Gustave Moreau and outsider artists to fellow surrealists like Max Ernst and André Masson. The book tracks both the development of Breton’s surrealist aesthetics within the Parisian avant-garde art scene and the centrality of art to his political agenda. It also highlights Breton the collector/collagist – the works he displayed in his Paris apartment, ranging from Oceanic masks to African sculptures, paintings to pebbles, are themselves seen as an ever-changing assemblage.Trade Review'An excellent overview of André Breton as the leader of the surrealist movement as a collective experiment with writing and visual art in equal measure that dominated the avant-garde in the twentieth century. This book should become an essential reference for anyone interested in surrealism.' – Kate Conley, Professor of French & Francophone Studies, William & Mary; 'This book manages to be both concise and comprehensive, giving the reader an excellent sense of the scope, variety and contradictions of Breton’s interactions with artists, art practices and artworks. Though informed by a deep and detailed scholarly background in the field, it is a lively and engaging read, offering a new perspective on both Breton himself and the vagaries of the visual arts as a category of surrealist activity.' – Johanna Malt, Professor of French Literature & Visual Culture, King's College London

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Book SynopsisWhen Kasimir Malevich’s Black Square was produced in 1915, no-one had ever seen anything like it before. And yet it does have precedents. In fact, over the previous 500 years, several painters, writers, philosophers, scientists and censors – each working independently towards an absolute statement of their own – alighted on the form of the black square or rectangle, as if for the first time. This book explores the resonances between Malevich’s Black Square and its precursors, showing how a ‘genealogical’ thread binds them together into an intriguing, and sometimes quirky, sequence of modulations. Andrew Spira’s book explores how each predecessor both ‘foreshadows’ Malevich’s work and, paradoxically, throws light on it, revealing layers of meaning that are often overlooked but which are as relevant today as ever.

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