History of art Books

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Book SynopsisComprises of a selection of texts and presentations from a seminar organized in Warsaw in 2008 by the Museum of Modern Art with art historian Claire Bishop that presented a comparative reflection of Western and Eastern European evaluations of the artistic significance of 1968 and the transformations of 1989, which saw the end of the Soviet empire.

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Book SynopsisBy placing emerging artists in their political and social contexts, this collection attempts to confront the new activist scene that has arisen in the Russian art world during the past few years. The recent explosion of protests in Russia - often with their very purpose being to decry the lack of artistic freedom - is a symptom of a fundamental change in culture heralded by Vladimir Putin's first election. This shift was precipitated by the change to a highly commercial, isolated world, financed and informed by oligarchs. In response, the Russian contemporary art scene has faced shrinking freedom yet an even more urgent need for expression. While much of what is emerging from the Moscow art scene is too new to be completely understood, the editors of this volume seek to bring to light the important work of Russian artists today and to explicate the political environment that has given rise to such work. "Post-Post-Soviet?" features criticism by writers and scholars, as well as dialogues with artists. Contributors include Boris Kagarlitsky, Ekaterina Degot, Keti Chukhrov, Boris Buden, Artur Zmijewski, and others.

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Book SynopsisA vivid portrait of Picasso’s early life and the city he called home. Part biography of the young artist, part guide to Barcelona, Picasso Barcelona tells the story of the relationship between Picasso and the city that saw him evolve into a modern painter. Rafart takes his reader on a journey through Picasso’s early world, following in the artist’s footsteps and discovering its sites through his eyes. On the way, he pauses to reflect on Picasso’s many friends, his early works, and the places he sketched, painted, and lived. In this portrait of Barcelona at the turn of the century, Rafart conjures up haunting images of a city that no longer exists, but which served as the formative inspiration for an artist set to take the world by storm. Published in cooperation with the Museu Picasso, Picasso Barcelona marks the 50th anniversary of Pablo Picasso’s death in 1973 and the 60th anniversary of the creation of his museum in Barcelona. Trade Review“Many sites in old Barcelona can be explored thanks to a new book, Picasso-Barcelona: A Cartography from which aficionados can retrace the artist’s steps around the city and visit his favorite watering holes. This beautifully illustrated book offers a vision of Barcelona as it was then.” * Guardian *Table of Contents1. The Discovery of the City 1895- 18972. The Bohemian City 1897-19003. An Eye on Paris 1900-19044. Barcelona Sojourns 1904-19345. The Lost City 1934-1970 AfterwordChronologyBibliography

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThis beautifully illustrated book, the catalog for an exhibition on view at the National Museum of Art of Catalonia in Barcelona and coorganized with the Picasso Museum in Paris, explores important affinities between Picasso and Romanesque art. Using two key moments as starting points, Juan Jose Lahuerta and Emilia Philippot first discuss the summer of 1906, when Picasso stayed in the village of Gosol in the Catalan Pyrenees, and then turn to 1934, as he visited the Romanesque art collections of what is today the National Museum of Art of Catalonia. Picasso's discovery of the Romanesque nurtured his interest in other "primitive" or ethnographic art, later echoed in such decisive works as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Importantly, while Lahuerta and Philippot avoid any attempt to trace direct Romanesque influences on Picasso as they note, his work consistently escapes such linear accounts they do demonstrate that Picasso's interest in the twelfth-century sculpture Virgin from Gosol, his lifelong fascination with the theme of the crucifixion, and his study of the skull all reflect elements that were also of major importance in Romanesque art and architecture. What these shared features allow, Lahuerta and Philippot ultimately argue, is not only a richer understanding of Picasso's work, but also a rediscovering and reinvention of Romanesque art in our contemporary moment, causing the medieval to become refreshingly and paradoxically modern.

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