Paintings and painting Books
Hirmer Verlag Art for No One (Bilingual edition): 1933–1945
Book SynopsisBetween 1933 and 1945, artistic creativity within the German Reich was almost totally under the control of the National Socialist state. Many artists emigrated. But what about the ones who remained in Germany? Under what social and economic conditions did they focus on their art and what options for activity were open to them? For artists who did not conform to the system, the years of National Socialism were an era of standstill and isolation. This volume questions this blanket judgement through 15 artist personalities and shows how differently they dealt with ostracism, the lack of audience and the absence of exchange, what possibilities they had for selling and exhibiting their works and to what extent they adapted to the requirements of the Nazi regime. Some 150 paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs reflect graphically the contradictions of this time.
£33.60
Hirmer Verlag Magyar Modern: Hungarian Art in Berlin 1910–1933
Book SynopsisImportant artists of Hungarian Classical Modernism lived and worked temporarily on the Spree and were present in the Berlin avant-garde. The publication presents a brilliant overview of the close links between the culture of the Weimar Republic and the creative powers of Hungary, which ended with the seizure of power by the National Socialists. The city of Berlin has played a very special role in the history of Hungarian art and culture. Even before the First World War, the expanding metropolis provided artists with a stage for exhibitions in which they could present themselves within an international context. After the end of the political reshaping of Hungary through the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the victory of reactionary forces, from 1919 cosmopolitan Berlin became a place of creative freedom for Hungarian artists in exile. The result was a display of artistic fireworks that can now be explored in texts and images.
£38.40
Hirmer Verlag Gustav Klimt
Book SynopsisGustav Klimt (1862–1918) is the one artist whose name we associate in particular with Viennese Jugendstil and the “Golden Age”. As a sought-after painter of frescoes and the founding president of the Vienna Secession, as the portraitist of fashionable ladies and as an illustrator of unashamed eroticism, Klimt was both the enfant terrible and the darling of Viennese society, who created icons of art history with works like The Kiss and his portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer.
£9.95
Hirmer Verlag Olga Costa: Dialogues with Mexican Modernism
Book SynopsisIn her elective home country of Mexico, the artist Olga Costa (1913–1993), a native of Leipzig, has long been established as an important female voice of Mexican Modernism. This volume presents impressively her autonomous artistic work between Mexican and European Modernism, and follows the traces of her life from Germany out into the world and back again. As the daughter of a Jewish-Ukrainian musician, the autodidact Olga Costa emigrated to Mexico in the 1920s, where she explored her new surroundings in her painting. Throughout her life she was not only inspired by people’s everyday lives and the intensive colours of the landscape, but also by the dialogue with other artistic positions. It was not least Costa’s examination of questions of cultural identity and feminism as well as her broad cultural-political commitment that made her one of the most important women artists in the circle surrounding Frida Kahlo.
£33.60
Hirmer Verlag Max Beckmann
Book SynopsisMax Beckmann (1884–1950), the outstanding Expressionist painter, is regarded as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. His works, jostling with figures and full of colour, are packed with highly symbolic messages. They are critical of the times in which he lived and bear witness to Beckmann’s struggle with existential questions and his constant search for truth. Max Beckmann is one of the most fascinating painters of the modern age, who more than almost any other reflected the social upheavals of his time, not only in his numerous works but also and not least through his extensive correspondence and diaries. He was an observer, a gentleman, a loner and a reflective witness of his age. Perpetually searching for truth, he was a self-critical witness of the times in which he lived. It is especially in his expressive self-portraits that we believe we can get closer to Beckmann’s multi-faceted nature and hence become better able to understand the wide range of metaphors in his multi-faceted oeuvre. This volume by one of the most illustrious Beckmann specialists, Dr. Christiane Zeiller, traces his artistic career and the principal stations of his life, from the years in Berlin and Frankfurt via his exile in Amsterdam und America. The unique Max Beckmann Archives, with its wide-ranging legacy, are currently housed in the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen in Munich. Material which has not previously been published will be shown in the publication, including private photos and objects from amongst the artist’s personal possessions.
£9.95
Taschen GmbH Cézanne
Book SynopsisIn the latter half of the 19th century, in the verdant countryside near Aix-en-Provence, Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), busily plied his brush to landscapes and still lifes that would become anchors of modern art. With compact, intense dabs of paint and bold new approaches to light and space, he mediated the way from Impressionism to the defining movements of the early 20th century and became, in the words of both Matisse and Picasso, “father of us all.” This fresh artist introduction selects key works from Cézanne’s oeuvre to understand his development, innovation, and crucial influence on modern art. From compositions of fruits and pears to scenes of outdoor bathers, we trace his experimentation with color, perspective, and texture to evoke “a harmony parallel to Nature,” as well as the very process of seeing and recording. Along the way, we discover Cézanne’s celebrated Card Players, his layering of warm and cool hues to build up form and surface, and the geometric rigor of his landscapes from the vicinity of Aix-en-Provence, as bright with the light of southern France as they are bold with a radical new rendering of dimensions and depth.
£14.25
£18.00
Taschen GmbH Caravaggio
Book SynopsisMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of the Italian Baroque, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial, violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run. Though famed for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all Caravaggio’s boundary-breaking naturalism which scorched his name into the annals of art history. From the dirtied soles of feet to the sexualized languor of bare flesh, the artist allowed even sacred and biblical scenes to unfold with a startling, often visceral humanity. This vivid pictorial world was accompanied by an equally intense personal biography, scored by gambling, debts, drunken brawls, and even a murder charge. This book brings together more than 50 of Caravaggio’s most famous and revolutionary works to explore how and why this artist is now considered the most important painter of the early Baroque period and one of the defining influences of art history, without whom Ribera, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet could never have painted the way they did.
£14.25
Schirmer/Mosel Verlag GmbH Edward Hopper: Masterpaintings
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£999.99
Sorry Press Landscapes
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£33.25
Gingko Press Transformations
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£19.54
Skira Dark Light: Realism in the Age of Post-Truths.
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£40.00
Skira Sights on Iraqi Modern and Contemporary Art from
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£48.75
Skira Jessie Homer French Fire Fish and Death
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£28.00
Skira Clive van den Berg
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£40.00
Skira Editore Valerio Adami Bilingual edition
Book SynopsisArt and design historian, author and curator, Marco Meneguzzo teaches History of contemporary art and Museology and Management of exhibition systems at Accademia di Brera, Milan. He is member of the scientific committee of the official archives of Mario Schifano, Vincenzo Agnetti, Marcello Morandini, Letizia Battaglia, Ugo La Pietra and is president of the Giò Pomodoro Archive. With Skira he recently published (with Enrico Morteo) 100 Vases of Italian Design (2024).
£27.00
Otago University Press Landfall 235
Book SynopsisLandfall is New Zealand''s foremost and longest-running arts and literary journal. It showcases new fiction and poetry, as well as biographical and critical essays, and cultural commentary. Writers: Aimee-Jane Anderson-OConnor, Nick Ascroft, Joseph Barbon, Airini Beautrais, Tony Beyer, Mark Broatch, Danny Bultitude, Brent Cantwell, Rachel Connor, Ruth Corkill, Mark Edgecombe, Lynley Edmeades, Johanna Emeney, Bonnie Etherington, Jess Fiebig, Meagan France, Kim Fulton, Isabel Haarhaus, Bernadette Hall, Michael Hall, Rebecca Hawkes, Aaron Horrell, Jac Jenkins, Erik Kennedy, Brent Kininmont, Wen-Juenn Lee, Zoë Meager, Alice Miller, Dave Moore, Art Nahill, Janet Newman, Charles Olsen, Joanna Preston, Jessie Puru, Jeremy Roberts, Derek Schulz, Sarah Scott, Charlotte Simmonds, Tracey Slaughter, Elizabeth Smither, Rachael Taylor, Lynette Thorstensen, James Tremlett, Tam Vosper, Dunstan Ward, Susan Wardell, Sugar Magnolia Wilson.
£14.25
Hatje Cantz Mondrian Evolution
Book SynopsisPiet Mondrian had a decisive influence on the development of painting from figuration to abstraction. On the occasion of his 150th birthday, Mondrian Evolution is dedicated to his multifaceted work and artistic development. Initially working in the tradition of Dutch landscape painting of the late 19th century, Symbolism and Cubism subsequently took on great significance for him. It was not until the early 1920s that the artist focused on a wholly non-representational pictorial vocabulary, limited to the rectangular arrangement of black lines with surfaces in white and the primary colors blue, red and yellow. In separate chapters, this path is traced through motifs such as windmills, dunes, and the sea, farms reflected in the water, and plants in various forms of abstraction.
£40.50
DISTANZ Verlag GmbH Sous les pavés la terre Beneath the Cobblestones
Book Synopsis
£39.10
American Art Catalogues Kaye Donachie
Book Synopsis
£31.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fabric of Vision
Book SynopsisClothing appears in all forms of figurative painting, often taking up two thirds of a frame; yet it can often go unnoticed. Far more than a simple means of identifying the status or occupation of a figure, clothes and cloth are used creatively by artists to hint at ambiguities in character, adjust the emotional temperature, direct the eye or make subtle allusions. Drawing on works by artists over a period of six centuries, from Giotto to El Greco, Matisse to Cindy Sherman, the author reveals through paintings, fashion plates, photographs and film stills how drapery in art evolved from Renaissance extravagance to Neoclassical simplicity at the end of the 18th century, and has extended to infinite uses in all genres of Modern art. First published in 2002 to accompany an exhibition of the same name at the National Gallery, London, this beautifully illustrated - and beautifully written - book by pioneering art historian and critic Anne Hollander, is reissued with a new Foreword by Valerie Trade ReviewWith Fabric of Vision, Hollander [explores] the ways in which artists have used dress and drapery to give emphasis and emotional force to the figures portrayed ... [and] brilliantly combines [her] skills as both an art historian and a dress historian. ... Reading this book is like having Hollander walk with us through our favorite art museum, helping us really see and understand the works of art through close attention to dress, drapery, and the depiction of the body,whether clothed or nude. * From the Foreword by Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator, The Museum at FIT, New York *A beautifully written, beautifully illustrated introduction to the whole of western European painting from the 14th century through the 20th from a specific, yet basic and widely interesting point of view. This is not just a book for people fascinated by clothes, but for anyone who likes to think about paintings. ... The writing is exceptionally deft; the ideas will interest novices and experts alike. * Choice *Fabric of Vision is a unique and welcome contribution to art history and criticism that will doubtless serve as a valuable scholarly resource. * Reid Ahlbeck, Dialogue *[Fabric of Vision] demonstrates how artists used garments and draperies as an expressive means in their paintings. Covering Western European art from the Renaissance to the 20th century, Hollander shows how fabric in art reflected each era's social preoccupations, fashions, and tastes ... The text is illustrated by more than 140 beautiful full-color illustrations of works by such artists as Tintoretto, Van Dyck, Delacroix, and Picasso. Throughout, Hollander brings new insight into the fields of both art and costume history. * Sandra Rothenberg, Library Journal *Anne Hollander’s Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting ... is rich with color reproductions showing this and other splendid yardage from the classical period through the mid-20th century ... A dynamic and provocative study. * Suzanne Cleary, Bloomsbury Review *Illuminating. * Kim Waller, Victoria magazine *Table of ContentsAuthor's Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction I Cloth of Honour II Liberated Draperies III Sensuality, Sanctity, Zeal IV High Artifice V Romantic Simplicity: Women VI Romantic Simplicity: Men VII Restraint and Display VIII Nude and Mode IX Woman as Dress X Form and Feeling List of Illustrations Bibliography Index
£27.19
Flame Tree Publishing Gustav Klimt: The Kiss (Foiled Blank Journal)
Book SynopsisPart of a series of exciting and luxurious Flame Tree Notebooks. Combining high-quality production with magnificent fine art, the covers are printed on foil in five colours, embossed then foil stamped. And they're powerfully practical: a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps and two bookmarks. These are perfect for personal use and make a dazzling gift. This example is based on Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. The Kiss is a prime example of Klimt’s ‘Golden Phase’, in which he began to feature especially sumptuous ornamentation on a regular basis in his paintings. The couple in this artwork represent the mystical union of spiritual and erotic love, and the connection of life and the universe.
£11.87
Flame Tree Publishing Benedictus Design from Relais Foiled Journal
Book SynopsisNew title in the Flame Tree Notebook collection, combining beautiful art with high-quality production, with lined pages, a pocket at the back, two ribbon bookmarks and a solid magnetic flap. Perfect as a gift, or personal choice for notetakers and journal users of all kinds.A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year.BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table.
£12.11
Luath Press Ltd Ken Currie
Book Synopsis
£17.00
Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd Bernard Frize
Book SynopsisThis is the first full-length monograph on the paintings of Bernard Frize (b.1949), an artist whose work straddles movements and styles from Colour Field to Minimalism, Fluxus, and Conceptual Art. Frize's works utilise a carefully constructed range of tools, processes, choreography and collaboration to catalogue, in complex and unexpected abstract form and colour, the possibilities of his chosen materials. Emerging from the politicised 1970s onwards, Frize swam against the tide of opinion regarding painting’s apparent obsolescence to develop a painting practice that could express political commitment and social concerns, while avoiding both overt statement and pure decoration. David Rhodes’ text provides a detailed consideration of Frize’s development, from the earliest works onwards. Placing his paintings in a broader art-historical and philosophical context, a wider conversation about painting itself is presented alongside Frize's significant place within the medium's history.Table of ContentsForeword by Barry Schwabsky; 1. Finding a Way; 2. Painting and Its Others; 3. Painting and Thinking; 4. Series and Hapax; 5. Approaching a Painting Methodology; 6. Consistent Change; 7. Abstract Painting's Slow Return; 8. Berlin and the Present; Notes; Selected Bibliography; Biography; Selected Group Exhibitions; Selected Public Collections; Acknowledgements; Image Credits; Index
£33.75
Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd Guillermo Kuitca
Book SynopsisThis book presents a detailed account of Guillermo Kuitca's major bodies of work, analysing his diverse range of imagery and reflecting on his engagement with the spaces in which we live.Following Kuitca’s development from the 1980s to his latest body of work, the narrative reveals an artist who has continually challenged himself and his audience with new kinds of painterly language. In Kuitca’s hands, everyday visual material such as road maps, street plans, architectural blueprints and theatre seating charts are transformed into remarkable paintings. Their impact comes from their apparent engagement with dark subjects such as the Holocaust and Argentina’s 'Dirty War,' as well as the artist’s innovative imagery and techniques.Drawing on conversations and studio visits the author has had with the artist, Guillermo Kuitca reveals the multifarious elements of a challenging and exciting body of work. It is essential reading for anyone fascinated by this truly original artist.Trade Review'Raphael Rubinstein's fine narrative illuminates the experiences and indeed creators that have marked Guillermo Kuitca's courageous trajectory as an artist. They range from Pina Bausch's dance company playing to a hostile audience in 1980, to his unexpected reinvention of the shifting, yet claustrophobic space of Cubism in the recent immersive murals. Gathered in one volume, the images and backstory prove disturbing as well as oddly triumphal.' -- Catherine Lampert'Rubinstein gives an incisive account of Kuitca's work, which is simultaneously abstract and affective, minimalist and exuberant, and deeply engaged with the world. Gingerly situation Kuitca in an international context, the book focuses on how he side-stepped the post-1960s endgame of painting, exploring ever new and compelling ways to give the medium a new lease on life. A must-read for anyone interested in art from beyond Europe and North America.' -- Andreas HuyssenTable of ContentsChapter 1: A Certain Version of History; Chapter 2: The Painter as Dramaturge; Chapter 3: The Pathos of Home; Chapter 4: Cartographic Dreams; Chapter 5: Discovering the Diagram; Chapter 6: In a Garden of Forking Paths; Chapter 7: Space is a Doubt; Bibliography; Endnotes
£33.75
ACC Art Books Peter Blake: Design
Book Synopsis"Stars, stripes, hearts and targets... If Peter Blake's name is not the first thing you spot on the cover of the latest addition to the Antique Collectors' Club's highly regarded Design series, the Pop motifs in the background positively shout it" Eye, Winter 2010/2011 This new title in the highly successful Design series features the design work of the acclaimed artist Peter Blake. Best known of the British pop artists, Peter Blake came to fame in the late 1950's and early 1960's with iconic works like On the Balcony and First Real Target both now in the Tate Gallery. Tate held an exhibition of his works in 1983 as well as a more recent retrospective at Tate Liverpool in 2007. His famous works for album covers, such as The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band the Band Aid single Do They Know Its Christmas, the Oasis greatest hits album Stop the Clocks and Paul Weller's Stanley Road brought him to a wider audience. This stunningly designed book celebrates the brilliant creative talent of this unique British artist. The Design series is the winner of the Brand/Series Identity Category at the British Book Design and Production Awards 2009, judges said: "A series of books about design, they had to be good and these are. The branding is consistent, there is a good use of typography and the covers are superb." Also available: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 David Mellor ISBN: 9781851496037 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Rodchenko ISBN: 9781851495917 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778Trade Review"Stars and stripes, hearts and targets - if Peter Blake's name is not the first thing you spot on the cover of the latest addition to the Antique Collectors' Club's highly regarded 'Design' series, the Pop motifs in the background positively shout it" Eye, Winter 2010/2011 "This, the latest title in the ACC's highly acclaimed 'design' series of hardback pocket books, largely leaves his fine art work to one side - concentrating instead on his commercial work" Nude magazine, December 2010
£11.25
D Giles Ltd From Shanghai to Ohio
Book SynopsisThis brand-new, lavishly illustrated, publication features over 90 works by Woo Chong Yung, (Wu Zhongxiong), most of which have never been published or publicly displayed.Woo Chong Yung, (Wu Zhongxiong), (1898?1989), also known in the USA as C. Y. Woo, was a highly accomplished painter, calligrapher, and poet from Shanghai. During the 1920s to 1940s, Woo was at the center of China?s cultural world, feted in art circles in both Shanghai and Beijing. However, faced with political persecution in the 1960s, he migrated to Ohio before the onset of the Cultural Revolution. Once in the United States, he became an active presence in the local community, teaching classes in Chinese painting and martial arts, exhibiting and lecturing in local colleges, and contributing his talents to local arts councils and ethnic festivals in Columbus and central Ohio. His lifetime works were collected almost exclusively by Cincinnati Art Museum and the Frank Museum of Art at Otterbein University which, until now, have gone unseen by the public.This ground-breaking catalog illustrates Woo?s unique position in Chinese painting history. His remarkable experience of emigrating from China in the face of political persecution in the 1960s and becoming an American utterly transformed and reshaped both his life and painting.
£32.00
Getty Trust Publications Willem de Kooning – The Artist′s Materials
Book SynopsisThis is the first systematic and truly methodical study of de Kooning's idiosyncratic working methods and use of materials. This in-depth study of the paintings of Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Dutch-born American abstract expressionist painter, from the 1940s through the 1970s breaks new ground in its analysis of the artist's working methods and yields new information about previously unreported materials. De Kooning's idiosyncratic working methods have long provoked intense speculation and debate among conservators and art historians, primarily on the basis of visual inspection and anecdotal accounts rather than rigorous technical analysis. This is the first methodical study of de Kooning's creative process to use comprehensive scientific examinations of the artist's pigments, binders, and supports, to inform art historical interpretations, thereby presenting a key to the complicated evolution of the artist's work.
£33.25
Getty Trust Publications East Asian Aesthetics and the Space of Painting
Book SynopsisThis volume offers the first critical account of how European imports of East Asian textiles, porcelain, and lacquers, along with newly published descriptions of the Chinese garden, inspired a revolution in the role of painting in early modern Europe. With particular focus on French interiors, Isabelle Tillerot reveals how a European enthusiasm for East Asian culture and a demand for novelty transformed the dynamic between painting and decor. Models of space, landscape, and horizon, as shown in Chinese and Japanese objects and their ornamentation, disrupted prevailing design concepts in Europe. With paintings no longer functioning as pictorial windows, they began to be viewed as discrete images displayed on a wall—and with that, their status changed from decorative device to autonomous work of art. This study presents a detailed history of this transformation, revealing how an aesthetic free from the constraints of symmetry and geometrized order upended paradigms of display, enabling European painting to come into its own.Table of ContentsForeword - Mark Ledbury Introduction The Places of Painting Decor and Time The Trajectory of the Arabesque The Orient of Decoration The Oriental Idea of Taste Another Way of Representing the World Conclusion: Oriental Caprice or Making an Island of the Picture
£54.00
Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc Color Mixing Recipes for Oil & Acrylic: Mixing
Book SynopsisThe popular Color Mixing Recipe Cards by William F. Powell has served as a handy reference of essential colour combinations for almost 10 years. And now this collection of recipes is available in an updated, convenient format developed with your needs in mind! Conveniently packaged in a concealed wire-o-bound book that lies flat when opened, the recipe cards will always stay in order with no risk of getting lost. The book also includes a Colour Mixing Grid - the perfect guide for accurately measuring paints. With mixing recipes for more than 450 colour combinations, along with instruction in a variety of painting techniques, Colour Mixing Recipes is a valuable and practical resource for both oil and acrylic artists
£6.99
F&W Publications Inc Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles
Book SynopsisCreate Better Compositions by Design The path to better painting begins with Mastering Composition. This effective guide blends clear, visual instruction with 5 step-by-step demonstrations to show you how to plan and paint your best work yet. Composition is the key, and here you'll learn to design paintings with new skill and confidence. It all begins with the armature or structure of the picture plane. Every great painting has one, and you'll see through several famous examples exactly how the Old Masters used armatures to create movement, narrative, harmony and fluidity. Based on these examples, you'll practice what you've learned following a series of hands-on demonstrations. Once you understand the basic principles of design, you'll be amazed at how quickly and effectively your compositions come together. Soon you will be painting more boldly and confidently than ever before with less reworking and overworking. Whether you're a beginner looking for basic instruction or a more advanced painter troubleshooting a specific problem, the proven methods in this book will work for you. Ideal for all mediums, Mastering Composition gives you the knowledge you need to create powerful paintings out of every subject.
£26.88
Search Press Ltd Realistic Abstracts: Painting Abstracts Based on
Book SynopsisThis book introduces the concept of realistic abstract painting - a loosely impressionistic form of painting that leaves much to the imagination of the viewer. The subject, though recognisable, is executed with freedom and fluidity, resulting in a painting that is far from photographic. It has been described as the 'grey' area between figurative and abstract painting, yet there is nothing dull about this style, as the numerous colourful examples in this book show. Aimed at those with some experience of painting, all the examples in this book use various forms of water-based media, including gouache, acrylics and watercolours. Designed to inspire, this book will stimulate your imagination; encourage you to try out the various methods described; and help you develop your own way of painting in this exciting style.Trade Review'The book is excellent, with a great selection of loosely constructed pictures, teaching us to loosen up and be a lot less literal. Fantastic approach to using colours, most of which are subtle and great explanation about lines with effect of colour. I believe many of us do not quite understand what abstract is, this book gives good examples of which help to grasp the meaning of abstract.' -- Margaret Dunning * International Journal of the Guild of Silk Painters (Issue 97) - Spring 2019 *Dec 12 This book was recommended to me by someone who thought it would suit my style of painting and as I have read it I realise this is actually how I aspire to paint. The book is really about how we approach our work in a looser, more spontaneous and impressionistic way and as I have never wanted to slavishly copy an image, it seemed a good choice for me. I was very heartened to read in the first few pages that the author feels this way of painting is a greater challenge than either realistic or pure abstract work…. something I have been feeling for a long time and so good to read it in black and white!!! The challenges in producing a piece of semi abstract art are fraught with difficulty which is easier to resolve in both realistic and abstract work and it is music to my ears to hear that my struggles have been because I have chosen this way to express myself and this book does go quite a way in resolving some of those difficulties. One interesting quote from the book is something I feel certain you will have all said to yourselves with great frustration……“I am not quite satisfied with this piece of work but I do not know what is wrong with it?” Those would not be my exact words, mine would be far less printable…… but the principle is the same. The author goes on to explain that in almost every case it is a matter of composition rather than lack of technique and execution………and putting into practice the “Principles and Elements” of design and the author then goes on to explain them in quite an enlightening way with useful images to illustrate each point. I mention this as I have read several books which contain chapters on composition and I have found this the easiest to assimilate. Drawing is mentioned, again as a key feature, something I have also come to recognise…… painting in a loose impressionistic way does not remove the need for good drawing skills, even a suggestion of something needs to be the right size in relation to other objects, needs to have the right perspective, and to be able to produce a spontaneous piece of art the artist needs to be able to draw and represent whatever they choose to represent in a way which inspires the viewer’s imagination… done by hinting at something which they can recognise. This is a book I will keep at the side of me when I am embarking on a new piece, apart from being endowed with glorious illustrations from artists such as Viktoria and Slawa Prischedko, Xavier Swolfs, Piet Lap and the author himself to name but a few, it is full of helpful tips and hints and while not really for the beginner (it assumes the reader is well rehearsed in techniques and execution of the media) it is certainly a book for every one of you who would like to loosen up in your style… it is a very encouraging book reinforcing the notion that creating a good painting is a skill which can be taught. * judithfarnworthart.blogspot.co.uk *Feb 11 I confess I hadn't heard of this artist/author/teacher before who is from the Netherlands, after reading this book I would love to attend one of his workshops. To me his paintings portray a sincere love of painting, there is a lot of joy and enthusiastic excitement in the brushstrokes and fluidity of the paint that shines through. As the book is aimed at more experienced painters to challenge and stretch their working methods, rather than beginners, there is a very short discussion at the beginning about colours and materials that might be needed and some examples of techniques. It's almost as a reminder rather than one of those long and laborious explanations that take up vast portions of other books, which personally I find frustrating. The book is aimed at those using water based media although in many ways I think it is useful for all mediums. Rather the majority of the book is used to explain the concepts of seven principles, (unity, contrast, dominance, repetition, variety, balance, and harmony) and seven elements, (line, tone, colour, texture, form, proportion and direction). Each is eloquently explained with lots of illustrations. As a list I would say it is a very useful guideline for analysing and improving your work. The onus of the book is to transform, '...reality by means of elimination and simplification' with reference to these elements and principles. You are encouraged to, 'Paint what you feel, not what you see.' which is a far cry from the 'paint what you see not what you think you see' often chanted at art school. It's not a how to paint book as such but more a how to express what you feel, encouraging you to develop you own self expression in a fluid, gestural and impressionistic way. I see this book as an encouraging bridge between the realms of competent amateur and the first steps to becoming an artist. * seasidestudioblog.blogspot.com *Table of ContentsNumerous colourful examples of works of art by various artists Clear, in-depth descriptions and analysis of realistic abstract painting Includes examples using a wide range of water-based media, including watercolours, gouache and acrylics
£999.99
University of California Press Henry Ossawa Tanner
Book SynopsisRecognized as the patriarch of African American artists, the pioneering African American artist Henry O Tanner (1859-1937) forged a path to international success, powerfully influencing younger black artists who came after him. This book presents a complex overview of the life and career of the artist.Trade Review"What he achieved was remarkable." Philadelphia Inquirer "The most substantial scholarly catalogue to date on Tanner's life and work." Digital Journal "This splendid catalogue ... takes Tanner on his own terms." Christianity Today/ Books & Culture "[A] remarkably broad and enlightening catalog." -- Bob Duggan Big Think "The most substantial scholarly catalogue to date on Tanner's life and work." Artdaily.org "A fresh look at [Henry Ossawa Tanner's] remarkable career and oeuvre." -- Stephen May Antiques And The Arts Weekly
£22.50
21 Publishing Ltd Robert Motherwell: Open
Book Synopsis
£42.50
University of California Press True to Life
Book SynopsisChronicles David Hockney's protean production and speculations, including his scenic designs for opera, his homemade xerographic prints, his exploration of physics in relation to Chinese landscape painting, his investigations into optical devices, his taking up of watercolor - and then his return to oil painting, around 2005.Trade Review"Aside from being a terrific writer, Weschler is clearly a great listener and interviewer." -- Robert L. Pincus San Diego Union-Tribune "Weschler rewards his readers with lengthy quotes, an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and a lively narrative style." (Starred Review) Publishers Weekly "'Seeing Is Forgetting' and 'True to Life' are not only about the artists talking to Weschler or, through him, to each other; they're about the artists talking to themselves." -- David Ulin Salt Lake Tribune "'Seeing Is Forgetting' and 'True to Life' are not only about the artists talking to Weschler or, through him, to each other; they're about the artists talking to themselves." -- David Ulin Los Angeles Times Book Review
£999.99
Yale University Press Mary Cassatt A Life
Book SynopsisOne of the few women Impressionists, Mary Cassatt was American born but lived and worked in France. A classically trained artist, she painted portraits of mothers and children. This book provides insight into her personal life and artistic endeavours.
£22.50
Bookvault Publishing Bare Graffiti Sketchbook
£40.00
Watson-Guptill Publications Classical Drawing Atelier
Book SynopsisStudents begin by copying masterworks, then progress to painting as their skills develop. Aristides uses the works of Old Masters and today's most respected realist artists to demonstrate and teach the principles of realist drawing and painting, taking students step by step through the learning curve yet allowing them to work at their own pace.
£17.24
George Braziller Inc The Tres Riches Heures of Jean Duke of Berry
Book SynopsisThe Très Riches Heures is the most luxurious and most famous examples of manuscript illumination in late medieval Europe. Commissioned by the influential patron, Jean de Berry, in the early years of the fifteenth century, this masterpiece was executed by the three Limbourg brothers, the greatest miniaturists of the time. Their beautifully presented texts are accompanied by lush illustrations, in which the artists'' imaginative and decorative genius are fully revealed. Their elegant images influenced the course of painting in France and all of Northern Europe; but, as Millard Meiss comments, ''no painter could match the smooth perfection of their surface, their limpid colour and complex simplicity. Their art could capture the delicate transitory beauty of a newly opened flower.'' This edition reproduces each of the miniatures in The Très Riches Heures to scale and in full colour, capturing both the subtle colour and minute detail of these historic images.
£65.00
Rizzoli International Publications Fairfield Porter Selected Masterworks
Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive survey of the beloved figurative realist painter Fairfield Porter to be published in more than two decades. A figurative realist in the heyday of abstract expressionism, Fairfield Porter (1907–1975) painted himself, his family, and friends in New York City, in Southampton, Long Island, and on an island off the Maine coast, all depicting a relaxed and comfortable world that seemed to mirror his own affluent, well-connected existence. With virtually all of the artist’s previous publications now out of print, this much-anticipated volume is an important addition to the literature on this great American master. Porter graduated from Harvard in 1928 and then studied at the Art Students League in New York with Thomas Hart Benton. Along with months in Maine, Porter lived in New York and from 1948 on, in Southampton where he purchased a large, late Federal-style house for his own expanding family. Porter painted several artist friends, including Elaine de KoTrade ReviewThe Season's Outstanding Art Books "By turns awkward and graceful, these images dodge nostalgia but not the aching pleasure found in, among other things, the clotted light of a bunch of buttercups."—ArtForum"The comprehensive book is special because it includes many color reproductions of paintings otherwise seen only in black-and-white (and small) in the artist’s catalogue raisonné from 2001."—HyperAllergic.com"The spare elegance of the realist Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) never gets old. A monograph on the artist and his work, recently published by Rizzoli, provides an intense exploration of the intriguing and complex life of this important painter."—Art of the Times
£45.00
Shanghai Press Chinese Brush Painting: A Beginner's Step-by-Step
Book SynopsisTry your hands at these historically and culturally important methods, and create some beautiful paintings of your own.Chinese painting is an ancient art that has evolved and become refined over many centuries. Artists brush ink and color pigments onto silk or paper using a variety of techniques, with two main approaches: gongbi a traditional and realistic style based on line drawing, and xieyi style, a freehand method that uses fewer strokes to suggest objects in a less literal way.Painting themes generally fall into three categories: figure, landscaping, and bird-and-flower. Chinese brush painting is mainly presented in lines, shades and white space to express the feelings about nature, social phenomena, and the very essence of the universe. The framework for this expression is often traditional: certain subjects carry cultural connotations that are well-known and imbue the painting with a layer of meaning beyond face value of objects shown. The traditional subjects such as mandarin ducks, butterflies, and the 'Four Gentlemen' (plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos, and chrysanthemum) are examples that contain this rich cultural meaning. Readers will learn first about the tools and materials, then painting techniques. Early pages explore the very basic painting methods and subjects—perfect for beginning painters—but continue to build skills for painting plants and animals of increasing complexity.Chinese Brush Painting illustrates several Chinese brush painting techniques with the use of different tools, brushwork and color mixing. With the step-by-step projects, you can first follow the introductory lessons to learn the necessary skills of brushwork, usage of paper, and characteristics of water, ink and colors; then follow the advanced lessons to learn the compositions and more complicated color applications.
£17.05
Flame Tree Publishing Mark Rothko: Break into the Light
Book SynopsisMark Rothko's awe-inspiring yet deceptively simple, iconic colour field paintings belie the mythical and emotional complexity behind them. Rothko put his heart and soul into creating works that were to act upon the viewer in an almost physical way, progressing from figurative and symbolist works to eventually using shimmering and enveloping colour to elevate you to a higher spiritual awareness. This gorgeous book enables you to discover the themes, thinking and methodology behind the oeuvre, from Greek tragedy and Nietzsche to music and colour, whilst experiencing his pieces displayed in full, free of clutter, for you to immerse yourself and be swept away.
£18.75
Rizzoli International Publications Basquiat The Unknown Notebooks
Book SynopsisAccompanying a major traveling exhibition, this first-ever survey of the rarely seen notebooks of Basquiat features the artist’s handwritten notes, poems, and drawings, along with related works on paper and large-scale paintings. With no formal training, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) succeeded in developing a new and expressive style to become one of the most influential artists in the postmodern revival of figurative during the 1980s. In a series of notebooks from the early to mid-1980s, never before exhibited, Basquiat combined text and images reflecting his engagement with the countercultures of graffiti and hip-hop in New York City, as well as pop culture and world events. Filled with handwritten texts, poems, pictograms, and drawings, many of them iconic images that recur throughout his artwork—teepees, crowns, skeleton-like silhouettes, and grimacing masks—and these notebooks reveal much about the artist’s creative process and the importance of the writTrade Review"With illustrations of 160 notebook pages and numerous related works, the book provides exceptional insights into the life and works of Basquiat."-CRAVEONLINE.COM"With vibrant visuals and Basquiat's imaginative text, this book reinvigorates the interest for one of the truly great American artists." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY"With over 150 notebook pages and numerous drawings and paintings, this important book sheds new light on Basquiat's career and his critical place in contemporary art history."-THE NEW AMERICAN
£29.95
David Zwirner Lisa Yuskavage: Babie Brood: Small Paintings
Book SynopsisLisa Yuskavage: Babie Brood is the first up-to-date survey of the artist’s small-scale paintings. Known primarily for larger canvases, these intimate works offer a new window into Yuskavage’s transgressive paintings.Based on the artist’s imagination, live models, and maquettes, among other things, the small paintings in this book demonstrate Yuskavage’s methodical exploration of how images come into existence, and where they come from. Some of the small works are studies for large paintings, while others revisit pre-existing images. Yet others are one-of-a-kind compositions only created on this intimate scale. As places for experimenting with color, form, and characters as well as a variety of formats—including stretched and unstretched linen, canvas boards, wood, and paper—these works, play a remarkably dynamic and role within her oeuvre. This catalogue presents the paintings to scale so readers can explore them as if seeing them in person.Documenting the artist’s exhibition at David Zwirner in New York in 2018, this catalogue includes an essay by Jarrett Earnest illuminating Yuskavage’s early influences and exploring the constant, often surprising, themes that can be found throughout her oeuvre.
£36.00
Hirmer Verlag Jacoba van Heemskerck: Truly Modern
Book SynopsisIn less than two decades, Jacoba van Heemskerck (1876–1923) created a powerful oeuvre comprising paintings, woodcuts, glass works and mosaics. Her expressive subjects, including landscapes, townscapes and harbour scenes, are characterised by luminosity and increasing transparency, by rhythmical compositions of the pictorial space, black contours and an intensive use of colour. After her artistic beginnings in the circle around Mondrian and elsewhere, Jacoba van Heemskerck belonged to the centre of the avant-garde movement emanating from the “Sturm” of Herwarth Walden in Berlin – the gallerist and publisher who made artists like Marc, Kandinsky and Jawlensky famous. Her work is shaped by her orientation towards Anthroposophy, which bears witness to her interest in the elemental effect of light and colour on the viewer. Her creative work is highly topical today thanks to her understanding of nature and the cosmos as a world viewed as a whole.Trade Review“Recommended for all art libraries.” * ARLIS/NA Reviews *
£23.96
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Botanical Art from India: The Royal Botanic
Book SynopsisThe links between the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and India go back for two and a half centuries. Surgeons who had studied botany at the Garden laid the foundations of western knowledge of the Indian flora. Supplementing their written plant descriptions with botanical drawings, commissioned from Indian artists, they established collections which survive today at Edinburgh, the Natural History Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This book tells the story of these collections, reproducing a selection of 86 exquisite, original drawings – including examples made in all three of the Presidencies (administrative units) of British India (Bombay, Bengal and Madras), between 1770 and 1860.
£28.50
Hatje Cantz Tina Gillen Faraway So Close Bilingual edition
Book SynopsisConcerned primarily with the medium of painting, the work of Tina Gillen examines how we relate to the world around us, namely through the themes of landscape and dwelling. Her paintings often originate in photographic images that she modifies, simplifies, pictorially translates, and pairs with other elements to arrive at compositions that purposefully nurture a certain ambiguity, somewhere between abstraction and figuration, construction and improvisation, the surface of the canvas and the translation of a space. This book is being published in conjunction with her exhibition Faraway So Close, presented at the Luxembourg Pavilion as part of the 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. Richly illustrated, the catalogue also includes three essays addressing various aspects of Tina Gillen's workthe relationship between painting and space, the ties between painting and photography, and the meaning of landscape todayas well as an extensive interview with the artist.
£32.00
