Paintings and painting Books

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBotticelli is one of the most admired artists of the Renaissance period and his seductive Venus and graceful Primavera are among the world's most recognisable works of art. This catalogue raisonne of Botticelli's paintings offers more than two hundred full-colour illustrations and meticulous scholarship by the distinguished Renaissance art historian Frank Zollner , described by The Financial Times, when reviewing this book's previous edition, as "a fabulous, accessible scholar; his book has luscious reproductions and exquisite detail." Presented in chronological order, the facts of Botticelli's life and career are insightfully discussed against the background of the artistic upheaval that marked the Renaissance period. The artist's reinterpretations of ancient myths as well as his religious paintings are thoughtfully explored in this sumptuously illustrated volume, which will please scholars and delight lovers of fine art books everywhere.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDiscover the breathtaking creative processes and intriguing inspirations behind the work of leading fantasy artist John Howe, in this comprehensive practical art book. Leads you step-by-step through a range of specially commissioned drawing and painting demonstrations that reveal John's renowned artistic approach in action.Table of ContentsForeword by Terry Gilliam Introduction THE CREATIVE PROCESS My artistic journey Narratives, themes & inspiration Gathering & using reference material Organizing your work environment Out & about Protecting & storing your artwork TOOLS & TECHNIQUES Drawing tools & materials Holding the pencil Drawing & sketching Paint & ink Digital workflow BEASTS & BEINGS Fantasy being CASE STUDY: Cernunnos Human beings CASE STUDY: Tom Badgerlock Fantasy beasts CASE STUDY: Beowulf and the Dragon BACKDROPS Landscapes CASE STUDY: Atlantis Architecture CASE STUDY: The Arrival of the Airships Atmospheres CASE STUDY: Barghest Land WORDS & PICTURES Drawing the line somewhere Into the white Wandering but not lost To the world’s edge Lost in wilderland Images were magic once SKETCHING TUTORIALS Merlin Dragon Thor and the Giant Lancelot Centaur Arwen Balrog Mermaid THE BUSINESS OF FANTASY The big bad world Book cover illustration The big screen: set design Putting your work up front The future … Afterword by Alan Lee Acknowledgments About the author Index Credits

Read more less

Book SynopsisA century after his death, Viennese artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) still startles with his unabashed eroticism, dazzling surfaces, and artistic experimentation. In this neat, dependable monograph, we gather all of Klimt's major works alongside authoritative art historical commentary and privileged archival material from Klimt's own archive to trace the evolution of his astonishing oeuvre.With top-quality illustration, including new photography of the celebrated Stoclet Frieze, the book follows Klimt through his prominent role in the Secessionist movement of 1897, his candid rendering of the female body, and his lustrous "golden phase" when gold leaf brought a shimmering tone and texture to such beloved works as The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, also known as The Woman in Gold.Trade Review"Guaranteed to work up a fervor."

Read more less

Book SynopsisUnlock the world of contemporary watercolour bird painting with popular artist and dynamic teacher, Tom Shepherd. Free Daniel Smith paint dot card included to get you started immediately!

Read more less

Book SynopsisMany people crave a creative outlet, but more often than not, don't know where to start. In Green, Valentina Zucchi and Angela Leon invite you to nurture your creativity and build your confidence by taking inspiration from works of art that celebrate green – the colour of fertility, abundance and life.Green imparts energy, relaxes, refreshes, cleanses and heals. It is ultimately a colour that belongs to nature and has always been loved by artists. Throughout the book, Valentina and Angela provide creative and fun prompts – many based on famous works of art – which will encourage you to draw or paint on the pages using various techniques. Packed with inspiration from the world's most celebrated artists, including Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat and more, you will discover the many meanings of green and just some of the ways it can be used to express your creative passion.Green is a short course in unlocking your creative self – perfect for budding artists of all ages who are keen to try out different techniques and materials and begin their artistic journey.Table of ContentsIllustrated text - Exploring the world of colour through the eyes of great artists and their masterpieces.Exercises - Questions and practical challenges for the reader to discover the effect and impact in the way we observe and play with colour.

Read more less

Book SynopsisCreating a piece of art is a rewarding, challenging and very personal endeavor?The Compact Guide to improving your Painting & Drawing is here to take you through that journey from start to finish. Whether you are interested in oil painting, watercolors, pencil sketching or pastel work, The Compact Guide to improving your Painting & Drawing has something for you. The book will guide you from your initial sketch to your finished piece and teach you how to develop your skills and produce your best work yet. You?ll be able to experiment with an unfamiliar medium thanks to the step-by- step workshops that cover everything from essential pencil shading techniques to getting the most out of plein air painting. This guide offers in-depth advice from 15 professional artists and 17 step-by-step wokshops.

Read more less

Book SynopsisGeorgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) was a major figure in modern American art for some seven decades. Importantly, her fame was not associated with shifting art styles and trends, but rather with her own unique vision, based on finding essential and abstract forms in nature. O’Keeffe’s primary subjects were landscapes, flowers, and bones, each explored in successive series over several years. Certain works went on for decades, producing 12 or more variations of an original image. Among these, O’Keeffe’s magnified pictures of calla lilies and irises are her most famous. Enlarging the tiniest petals to fill an entire canvas, O’Keeffe created a proto-abstract vocabulary of shapes and lines, earning her the moniker “mother of American modernism.” In 1946, O’Keeffe became the first female artist to be given a solo show at the MoMA in New York. This introductory book from TASCHEN Basic Art 2.0 traces O’Keeffe’s long and luminous career through key paintings, contemporary photographs, and portraits taken by Alfred Stieglitz, to whom O’Keeffe was married. We follow the artist through her pioneering innovations, major breakthroughs, and her travels and inspirations in Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and, above all, New Mexico, where she was particularly inspired by the majestic landscapes, vivid colors and exotic vegetation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOver a century after his death, Viennese artist Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) still startles with his unabashed eroticism, dazzling surfaces, and artistic experimentation. This monograph gathers all of Klimt’s major works alongside authoritative art historical commentary and privileged access to the artist’s archive. With top quality illustration, including new photography of the celebrated Stoclet Frieze, the book follows Klimt through his prominent role in the Secessionist movement of 1897, his candid rendering of the female body, and his lustrous “golden phase” when gold leaf brought a shimmering tone and texture to such beloved works as The Kiss and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, also known as The Woman in Gold. Through luminous spreads and carefully curated details, the monograph traces the repertoire of Japanese, Byzantine, and allegorical stimuli that informed Klimt’s flattened perspectives, his symbolic vocabulary, and his mosaic-like textures. Drawing upon contemporary critics and voices, the book also examines the art world’s polarized reception to Klimt’s pictures as much as his own stylistic trajectory. From his landscape painting to erotic works to the controversial ceiling for the Great Hall of the University of Vienna, we see how Klimt’s admixture of tradition and daring divided the press and public—becried by some as a pornographer, hailed by others as a modern maestro.Trade Review“Never have there been such illustrations… that give us the grain of canvas and every precious decorative element in the stupendous mosaics of the Palais Stoclet, the Sistine Chapel of Secessionism.” * The Evening Standard *“Guaranteed to work up a fervor.” * Harper’s Bazaar *

Read more less

Book SynopsisChacón's work can be read as a pictorially narrated story of the problems of modern and contemporary painting. Throughout his career, genres and aesthetics are transgressed in his artistic production, "pure" painting is invaded by conceptual art or becomes an installation, and the most radical geometry shares the stage with abstract expressionism. This book is the most complete editorial work dedicated to the artist, one of the main protagonists of contemporary Venezuelan and Latin American art. It contains critical texts by authors of international and national prestige, such as Jesús Fuenmayor, Dan Cameron, Nadja Rottner and Félix Suazo; it also includes a complete interview with the artist by graphic designer and curator Álvaro Sotillo and a detailed chronology by Israel Ortega and Leonor Solá. Illustrated with numerous reproductions of his works and a selection of previously unpublished historical photographs, it is destined to become an essential bibliographical reference.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA 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. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Nina Pace is a painter, illustrator and surface designer based just outside of New York City. Her favourite subject is flowers. She is awestruck by the sheer variety of petal shapes, the detailed patterning and vein layouts. When creating a new piece, Nina takes this inspiration from nature and lets the design build organically. She loves to allow each element she’s drawing to flow from the last, where each one informs the other. Nina’s artwork embraces the full and glorious spectrum of colours embodied in the natural world. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

Read more less

Book SynopsisAward-winning and hugely popular artist Rosie Sanders showcases the beauty of the rose in her follow up to Rosie Sanders Flowers. Over 80 stunning paintings and sketches are shown for the first time. The artist writes a personal letter on each of her rose paintings (to be given unopened to the final recipient or buyer of the painting). Many of these personal letters sit alongside the paintings, as they explain the creative and emotional process she went through to create it. The book is a revealing insight into the artist's muse and the author's sketches and drawings are also included to show the full artistic process. The book is introduced by an extended essay on the resonance of the rose – all across the world – in our art, literature, poetry, folklore and gardens. The rose emblem is timeless and this book not only celebrates its beauty in art but tells the story of the rose as one of nature's most powerful motifs.Trade Review'A book which will charm and delight, but from which you can also learn by example.' * The Artist *‘A stunning piece of work’ * Art Book Review *

Read more less

Book SynopsisVincent van Gogh's paintings are amongst the most iconic and admired in the world. The trials of his life and health are endlessly discussed but the extraordinary richness of his writings and depth of his thinking on creativity, art and beauty is less explored. In Creative Inspiration, Van Gogh's writings have been edited and selected to create an enlightening, uplifting and helpful book for art lovers and creatives - amateurs and professionals alike. 150 carefully selected images illustrate these quotes, focusing on the sketches and drawings that reveal the rigour and ambition with which he approached his work. The book is thematically divided - from Beginnings to Routine to Beauty - and his determination and charisma are shared through words and pictures. A beautiful, and delightfully handy, art book that is designed to inspire.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Edward Brooke-Hitching's delightful book is a collection of curiosities. From a 19th-century lonely hearts ad to a nuptial blessing of the bride’s buttocks, an entertaining history of love over the millennia that proves when it comes to the heart, little has changed.' Daily Mail - - - - - - From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas and The Madman’s Library (Sunday Times Literature Book of the Year) comes a magnificent new illustrated work. From prehistoric carvings and ancient Egyptian statues, to medieval spell books and Victorian code-writing, this unique collection gathers a wealth of curious objects and surprising stories to trace the story of love through the ages.  Discover the royal marriage that crossed the boundary of death in 14th-century Portugal, the judicial duels between husbands and wives in Early Modern Europe, the love spells found in medieTrade Review'Edward Brooke-Hitching's delightful book is a collection of curiosities. From a 19th-century lonely hearts ad to a nuptial blessing of the bride’s buttocks, an entertaining history of love over the millennia that proves when it comes to the heart, little has changed.' * Daily Mail *‘In his new book, Edward Brooke-Hitching sets out to explore this mysterious emotion. Throughout this lusciously produced volume, he dissects a range of weird and wonderful objects that illustrate the diverse ways by which humans have expressed their loves and lusts.’ * BBC History Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisMany people crave a creative outlet, but more often than not, don't know where to start. In Yellow, Valentina Zucchi and Sylvie Bello invite you to nurture your creativity and build your confidence by taking inspiration from modern works of art that celebrate yellow, the most cheerful and inviting of colours.Explore some of the many different yellows that artists have used over the years to give substance to the beauty of light, from precious gold to butterscotch and cadmium yellow. Throughout the book, Valentina and Sylvie provide creative and fun prompts – many based on famous works of art – which will encourage you to draw or paint on the pages using various techniques. Packed with inspiration from the world's most celebrated artists, including Olafur Eliassoni, Vincent van Gogh, JMW Turner and more, you will discover the many shades of yellow and just some of the ways it can be used to convey meaning.Yellow is a short course in unlocking your creative self – perfect for budding artists of all ages who are keen to try out different techniques and materials and begin their artistic journey.Table of ContentsIllustrated text - Exploring the world of colour through the eyes of great artists and their masterpieces.Exercises - Questions and practical challenges for the reader to discover the effect and impact in the way we observe and play with colour.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrits Lugt (1884–1970) had a passion for miniatures that began early on in his life. He demonstrated it in the small but ardent Le portrait-miniature of 1917, the year in which he bought the first portrait miniature for his collection. Since then it has been constantly enriched, and now numbers more than 100 works by artists from Great Britain, the Low Countries, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland, covering the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Thanks to the expertise of specialist Karen Schaffers-Bodenhausen, who has studied the growing collection in recent years with great dedication and patience, we now have this first catalogue of the portrait miniatures in the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris. In addition to a foreword by director Ger Luijten, the first volume contains detailed descriptions and exhaustive analyses of the portraits, their attributions, and identifications of the sitters. The author also examines the techniques employed and sets out to establish a date for each portrait. The volume closes with a table of concordance, a detailed index of proper names and a comprehensive bibliography. Comparative illustrations are incorporated in the descriptions. The second volume has colour plates of all the works in the collection, almost all of them full size, and concludes with reproductions of the backs of the miniatures if they provide additional supporting information.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPocket Art features 100 artistic prompts to unleash your creativity.   In Pocket Art, Lorna Scobie, the bestselling author and illustrator of the 365 Days series, encourages you to be confident with your art, embrace mistakes and to have fun along the way. It is full of activities to help kickstart your creativity, and the activities have been divided into three categories – art for relaxing, art for looking and art for inspiration – so you can feel inspired no matter what mood you’re in.   Full of tips to help spark creative ideas, as well as inspiration and support, Pocket Art is the perfect pocket-sized art book to take with you wherever you go.  

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew title in the Flame Tree Sketch Book collection, this luxurious sketch book features beautiful art, high-quality production and the thick paper stock makes it ideal for sketching and drawing.A FLAME TREE SKETCH BOOK. Beautiful and luxurious, the sketch books combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, the thick paper stock makes them ideal for sketching and drawing. 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 bookmark ribbons. 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.THE ARTIST. Lucy Innes Williams is a painter and illustrator with an artistic interest in highly ornate textiles, patterns, and the decorative arts of the early-mid twentieth century. She uses a combination of gouache, watercolour and printmaking. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTake your first steps with pastels and learn how to produce modern, lively and colourful artwork with this exciting medium. 'This thorough guide to the rewarding medium of pastel will teach you much more than just the basics and may be the only pastel book you'll ever need!' - The SAA Artist and teacher Rebecca de Mendonça offers the beginner a complete course in using pastels. Easy-to-follow techniques for soft and hard pastels. 8 projects broken down into simple steps. Includes a wealth of finished paintings to provide ideas and inspiration. Step-by-step exercises and longer projects help you to build essential skills and allow you to produce a range of pictures, including landscapes, still life, portraits and animals. Vital drawing skills are explained and demonstrated, along with an easy-to-follow guide to colour theory, and a huge wealth of finished paintings provide ideas and inspiration for your own future pastel work.Trade ReviewThis thorough guide to the rewarding medium of pastel will teach you much more than just the basics and may be the only pastel book you'll ever need! Rebecca introduces new techniques in an eminently practical way, demonstrating detail and loose styles of working, giving you the chance to explore the medium as widely as possible. * The SAA *Although this is a superb introduction to the rewarding medium of pastels, it’s also a whole lot more. Rebecca is a versatile artist whose skills run to just about any subject. Her results are breath-taking and this is one of the most thorough guides I’ve ever seen. I’d even go so far as to say it might be the only book you’ll ever need. After the obligatory introduction to materials and basic techniques, the book immediately starts to get practical and you might be forgiven for thinking you’ve moved on to the exercises and demonstrations. In fact, you’re still practising techniques, shading and textures, just not through the sort of geometric shapes that many books subject you to. Once you’re confident and competent, you’ll move on to full-scale demonstrations that cover landscapes, waterscapes, trees, skies, buildings, animals and people (I told you it was comprehensive!). There are plenty of steps and concise but thorough instructions, as well as hints and tips galore. I really can’t praise this enough. It’s so much more than the title suggests and a must for any pastellist. -- Henry Malt * SAA Paint Magazine *Leisure Painter contributor, Rebecca de Mendoca, introduces pastels to the complete beginner in her new book, Pastels for the Absolute Beginner. Rebecca is an experienced tutor and understands the problems many people face when starting a new medium. Using clear step-by-step exercises she will show you how to begin-from setting up your workspace, and basic pastel techniques-to using colour, composition and adding life to your paintings. The range of subjects covered includes still life, landscapes, portraits and animals, and the many examples of Rebecca's works are sure to inspire you. * Leisure Painter *The idea of an Absolute Beginner series is a good one. Anyone taking up painting, or starting with a new medium needs a sound guide that is well-grounded in the basics and assumes no previous knowledge. The book is certainly thorough. Subjects include landscapes, waterscapes, people and animals, with skies, trees and waves thrown in along the way. Rebecca is primarily a portrait and equestrian artist and this shows – these are easily her strongest subjects. However, she is thoroughly at home with her medium and handles everything well. Her demonstrations and explanations are concise, but easy to follow. They will, I think, be of value to anyone – at whatever level – working with pastel. -- Henry Malt * Art Book Review *This unassuming, but not insubstantial book is a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Although billed as an introduction it is actually one of the best and most comprehensive books on pastel there has been in a long time – possibly ever. Books on pastel usually either cover landscapes, because that’s the most popular subject and sales volumes matter, or are fairly simple technical introductions that can lack any real sense of creative endeavour. Rebecca de Mendonça, whose first book this is, is an artist of very considerable ability who is up to the task of tackling subjects that range from landscapes and beach scenes to figures, animals and still life’s. There is plenty of technical information, but also demonstrations and exercises a-plenty and so much to get your teeth into that you’ll never be stuck for inspiration or left feeling you want more. -- Henry Malt * The Artist *Table of ContentsIntroduction 6 Materials 8 Setting up your workspace 12 Starting to draw 16 Pastel techniques 28 Bauble – step by step 36 Teasel – step by step 46 Colour 56 Rolling Fields – step by step 62 Landscapes 70 Rocky Tor – step by step 74 Billowing Clouds – step by step 92 The Birches – step by step 104 Life in your paintings 110 Child with Fishing Net – step by step 120 Toby – step by step 130 Composition 140 Index 144

Read more less

Book SynopsisDiscovering painting at the age of 40, Sir Winston Churchill revelled in his new pastime. He went on to produce over 550 paintings, with over 130 of them on the French Riviera. The fellow artist and Riviera resident Paul Rafferty has tracked down many of the locations Churchill used in Provence, an area the great man so aptly called 'paintatious'. Many of these locations are newly discovered and his 'fearless impressions' stand alongside to illustrate how Churchill captured them on canvas.Trade Review'Paul Rafferty's excellent book, Winston Churchill: Paintings on the French Riviera, is like a well-curated exhibition. Sir Winston Churchill loved the Riviera, he was at home there and it clearly inspired him to paint at this best.' - H.R.H The Prince of Wales

Read more less

Book SynopsisA 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.PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy.THE ARTIST. Tove Jansson was a Finnish-Swedish writer and artist who created the Moomin family and their friends. She first started painting Moomintrolls in 1935 but her stories live on and continue to be adapted and enjoyed by many generations.THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

Read more less

Book SynopsisLiberation of Colour explores the whole career of Winifred Nicholson with a special emphasis on her theories of colour. Throughout her life, Winifred Nicholson was interested in prisms and rainbows. When she was given some prisms by a physicist friend in the mid-1970s, her painting took on a new direction. Looking through a prism, she saw objects with a rim of prismatic colour. She explored and developed these ideas, often painting pictures that verged on the abstract. Using specific paintings to examine her ideas and writings about colour, the book includes her late 'prismatic' pictures which have never been properly explained. These pictures were a culmination of her life's search to find "form's secret and rhythmic law". She painted them in Greece in 1979, at her home in Cumbria, and during her last painting trip to the Island of Eigg in the Hebrides in 1980, where she had an inspired period of painting and made some of her best-loved pictures. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Liberation of Colour at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, the book illustrates many previously unseen paintings from private collections, as well as some of Nicholson's best known works. It also draws on new research, including previously unseen archival material.Table of ContentsDirectors’ Foreword Liberation of Colour Catalogue Sparks of Light The Abstract View of Colour Mysterious Fulfilment The Prismatic Paintings

Read more less

Book SynopsisA highly illustrated history of the Wars of the Roses based on the medieval art of Graham Turner.The period of civil strife in the second half of the 15th century now known as the Wars of the Roses was one of the most dramatic and tumultuous in English history. Since first being inspired by a visit to Bosworth battlefield nearly 30 years ago, renowned historical artist Graham Turner has built a worldwide reputation for his depictions of this colourful and troubled era, his paintings and prints prized by historians and collectors for their attention to detail and dramatic and atmospheric compositions. This new study contains a detailed history of the wars alongside a unique and comprehensive collection of over 120 of his paintings and drawings, many created especially for this book. It provides meticulously researched details of arms, armour, settings and countless other aspects of the period, while bringing to life the human stories behind the turbulenTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Introduction Chronology CHAPTER 1: Henry V – A Formidable Legacy CHAPTER 2: Henry VI – King of England and France CHAPTER 3: Descent towards Civil War CHAPTER 4: The Armies CHAPTER 5: First Blood CHAPTER 6: Uneasy Peace CHAPTER 7: Open War Returns CHAPTER 8: The Wheel of Fortune Turns CHAPTER 9: Two Kings of England CHAPTER 10: Edward IV – Consolidating his Crown CHAPTER 11: A New Queen CHAPTER 12: The Overmighty Subject CHAPTER 13: Great Troubles CHAPTER 14: Return of the King CHAPTER 15: Our Sovereign Lord King Harry the Sixth CHAPTER 16: Rightful Inheritance CHAPTER 17: Relative Peace CHAPTER 18: Richard III CHAPTER 19: Henry VII Painting Diary Bibliography Endnotes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisMary Fedden (1915-2012) is one of Britain's most popular artists. The focus of this acclaimed book, newly available in paperback in celebration of her life's achievement, is the artist's creative process in various different media - oil, gouache, pencil and collage.While Fedden is often considered almost exclusively a still-life painter, still life was far from being her only preoccupation, as this book shows. Fantasy and imagination always also played a strong part, as is particularly evident in her small gouaches. A quietly surreal, enigmatic streak runs through much of her work.Fedden's collages are a witty and affectionate homage to the work of her husband, Julian Trevelyan. They lived, worked and travelled together from 1949 to 1988. The book re-emphasises her debt to him, but also her independence, even during their early life together when he stimulated her move into Modernism. In an engaging text, which draws on numerous conversations with the artist during her final years, Christopher Andreae considers why Fedden has always had such a popular following, looks at the English quality of her work, and talks about the commercialisation of her art and her attitudes to the art market. Fedden is shown to be an original, serious and prolific artist, a draftsman of unusual sensitivity and prowess, and a colourist of power and subtlety.Profusely illustrated with works from private and public collections, this is a book for Mary Fedden's existing devotees as well as newcomers to her work.Trade Review'This book is a delight...' RA MagazineTable of ContentsContents: Thanks and Acknowledgments; Introduction: Mary Fedden: Themes, Variations, and Enigmas; Chapter One: A Gallery of Mary Feddens; Chapter Two: Three Beginnings; Interlude: Poetical; Chapter Three: Fedden vis a vis Other Artists; Chapter Four: Painting and Other Media; Chapter Five: Still Life; Interlude: Flowers and Cats; Chapter Six: Figures - Memory, Imagination, and Fantasy; A Bizarre Interlude; Chapter Seven: Pattern, Composition, Colour; Chapter Eight: Travels; Chapter Nine: Sidelines; Interlude: Familiarity Breeds Contentment; Chapter Ten: Repeats, Replications and Re-explorations; Final Thoughts; Index of Works.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA guide to painting landscapes for beginner to intermediate pastel artists.

Read more less

Book SynopsisJoe Tucker''s Uncle Eric was a beloved yet unconventional figure throughout Joe''s life. A shambolically dressed man who lived with his mother for almost eighty years, he had an almost compulsive need to charm strangers with working men''s club comedy routines, and appeared to exist only for daily trips to the bookie - and yet had also amassed over five hundred of his own remarkable paintings without anyone ever realising his achievements.Towards the end of his life, Eric requested an exhibition of his work. As Joe and his family sorted through hundreds of paintings of street scenes, circus and theatre performers, and busy pubs, they began to ask more questions about Eric''s life: why had this fanatically sociable man never left his mother''s home? Had Eric ever experienced love when he painted it so beautifully? And what had driven him to create so much, yet share it so rarely?In this touching, funny and thoughtful investigation of the nature of expression, the ownership of art and the secret life of those nearest to us, Joe Tucker brings us into his uncle''s extraordinary and compelling world. Perhaps more importantly, he also brings Eric Tucker''s life''s work into ours.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a career spanning seven decades, Catalan-born Joan Miró (1893–1983) was a polymath giant of modern art, producing masterworks across painting, sculpture, art books, tapestry, and ceramics, and embracing ideologies as varied as Fauvism, Surrealism, Dada, Magic Realism, Cubism, and abstraction. Over the course of his prodigious output, Miró evolved constantly, seeking to eschew categorization and the approval of “bourgeois” art critics as much as he pursued his own dreamlike worlds. Emerging into the public spotlight in the early 1920s, he first experimented with Fauvism and Cubism before developing a distinctive style of symbols and pictograms, arranged in elusive visual narratives, with frequent reference to Catalan life. As his career progressed, Miró moved towards Surrealism, and, despite never fully identifying with the movement, emerged as one of its most celebrated practitioners with techniques including automated drawing, Lyrical Abstraction, and Color Field painting. In later years, he diversified his media further, working with ceramics, textiles, and even proposing sculptures made of gas. Through his vivid colors, dreamlike fantasies, and enigmatic symbols, this book brings together the numerous strands of Miró’s kaleidoscopic oeuvre to introduce his fascinating career, its interaction with major modernist movements, and how it made him into a modernist legend.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe life and times of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/30–1569) were marked by stark cultural conflict. He witnessed religious wars, the Duke of Alba’s brutal rule as governor of the Netherlands, and the palpable effects of the Inquisition. To this day, the Flemish artist remains shrouded in mystery. We know neither where nor exactly when he was born. But while early scholarship emphasized the vernacular character of his painting and graphic work, modern research has attached greater importance to its humanistic content. Starting out as a print designer for publisher Hieronymus Cock, Bruegel produced numerous print series that were distributed throughout Europe. These depicted vices and virtues alongside jolly peasant festivals and sweeping landscape panoramas. He would eventually increasingly turn to painting, working for the cultural elite of Antwerp and Brussels. This monograph is a testament to Bruegel’s evolution as an artist, one who bravely confronted the issues of his day all the while proposing new inventions and solutions. Rather than idealizing reality, he addressed the horrors of religious warfare and took a critical stand against the institution of the Church. To this end, he developed his own pictorial language of dissidence, lacing innocuous everyday scenes with subliminal statements in order to escape repercussions. This collection captures all the breadth and splendid detail of Bruegel’s oeuvre like never before, and gathers all 40 paintings, 65 drawings, and 89 engravings in pristine reproductions—each piece a unique witness to both the religious mores and the close-knit folk culture of Bruegel’s time.Trade Review“Packed with superlative reproductions.” * The Times *“One of the most imaginative, original and captivating artists in history.” * The Guardian *“Like Shakespeare, Bruegel can capture the theatre of life in scenes that are comic yet full of acute psychological portraits.” * The Guardian *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDive into the world of Banksy with this exclusive card deck. With the iconic works of the elusive artist, along with a booklet full of interpretations and background information, Banksy Wisdom reveals meanings behind the artist’s graffiti. It’s a journey through urban art like never before!Like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Banksy’s graffiti artwork communicates complex messages through iconic imagery. Banksy’s work invites those who come across it in the world to reflect—on current events, on one’s role in society—to observe reality with a critical eye, to ask questions about themselves and others. With that, this card deck and booklet offer 40 fun, relevant, and modern symbols with which readers can contemplate the messages and meanings of Banksy’s work. Each card will include one of the artist's most iconic works and an inspirational message. The companion booklet will contain a more in-depth description of the message and an art-historical contextualization of the work. Banksy Wisdom offers readers the opportunity to ask about the larger and more nuanced questions about life, and our place in it.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe great Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/31–1569) was an astoundingly inventive painter and draftsman, who made his art historical mark with beautiful, evocative landscapes as well as religious subjects, both notable for their vernacular language and attention to everyday, contemporary life. Immersing himself in rural or small-town communities, Bruegel is particularly notable for his depiction of peasant experience and folk culture, earning the artist nickname “Peasant Bruegel.” Whether hunters shivering in the snow or a boisterous country fair, Bruegel raised the farming, festivals, gatherings, and games of peasant culture to the status of high art. Bruegel’s imposing religious and moral subjects, meanwhile, such as The Triumph of Death and The Tower of Babel are as awestriking and influential today as they were in the 16th century, inspiring contemporary culture from The Lord of the Rings cinematic battle scenes to Don DeLillo’s novel Underworld. From the corn harvest to the conversion of Saul, from quaint wedding processions to Christ’s road to Calvary, this book brings together the rich range of Bruegel’s subjects to introduce his powerful compositions of both biblical and earthly tableaux.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOpens with several first-person anecdotes about the author’s life as a practicing artist and a discussion of the intellectual lineage of his vision-based pedagogy. Many more anecdotes from the author’s teaching appear in most chapters. The author discusses perception as it benefits the artist in the studio. Perceptual laws govern both our experience of seeing and the artist’s process of creating. The book presents a proven process developed by the author over many decades of teaching and studio practice that the artist can apply to their own painting/drawing and/or teaching. The painting and drawing principles in the book are essential and yet not generally taught or understood. They will benefit anyone learning how to draw/paint or advance their practice. The book will also help practitioners to make rapid progress and to avoid clichéd, overused solutions. It also offers insights and discussions of interest to art lovers and “Sunday painters.” It is for everyone who enjoys viewing and thinking about art. Integrated into the text are more than one hundred images—works of art by well-known historical and contemporary artists and students, photographs, and diagrams—to reinforce the concepts presented. A recap section ends each chapter, followed by an exercise, or group of related exercises, to encourage and guide the practitioner in immediate application of the concepts. Trade Review“Studio Seeing is a great resource for artists and students or anyone who wants to learn about the mystery of painting and drawing—essentially the making of flat shapes to communicate multi-dimensional perceptions, concepts, and meanings. This book is a wonderful exploration of that mystery as it so deftly explicates perception, material, and methods as applied to painting and drawing. It makes for good reading whether you want to use it as a teaching/learning aid or just as a pleasure to read.” -- John Torreano, artist and NYU Professor Emeritus, New York University“Studio Seeing is a timely work making a case for ‘vison-based pedagogy.’ The book is filled with helpful anecdotes, clever and memorable analogies, and excellent exercises. More than just an instruction book or teacher’s manual, Torlen explains the reason and the context for the exercises included in the book, articulating many of the ideas that painters understand in making their work but are often less able to explain.” -- Magnus Quaife, Professor of Artist Pedagogy, University of the Arts Helsinki“Torlen’s experiences as a student, a teacher, and a practicing artist enhance his discussions of the psychology and physiological components in how we see. Studio Seeing is an informative examination of visual perception and the methods for advancing an individual’s skills in drawing and painting.” -- Honour Mack, Professor, Painting Department Chair, Maine College of Art & Design“In this brilliant book, Michael Torlen sets out to create what he calls an “Academy of Individuals,” inviting artists to follow their individual interests and stylistic paths. Studio Seeing covers a lot of ground, from facing a bare canvas to chapters on perception, line, and value. By way of clear, well-wrought guidance, diverse illustrations, and engaging exercises, Torlen draws on a lifetime of art-making and teaching to enrich the creative lives of artists. The book is a gift to artists and those of us who want to know how the creative process works. Read this book and you’ll see.” -- Carl Little, art critic and author“Studio Seeing is a triumph. I don’t believe anyone has written about ‘seeing’ so clearly and completely. ‘Seeing’ things entails more than copying things that you see. Seeing ‘things’ is not understanding things unless you see them in relation to what is adjacent to them, in front of them, behind them or even things that are not there. It is the context of things that gives the viewer (or the artist) understanding. How you perceive things can control meaning; and meaning can vary from person to person. Therein lies the power of art. Having Michael Torlen as a teacher was a gift. It is thrilling to have a book that puts his lifetime of experience and thoughts in one place for artists, young and old, to learn from and enjoy.” -- Fred Wilson, 1999 MacArthur Fellow and conceptual/installation artist“Michael Torlen’s Studio Seeing, an assemblage of pedagogical postulates honed over a career of interacting with artists, is an essential volume for those interested in art, perception, artists, or the education of people with these interests.” -- Ravi S. Rajan, President, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)“A must have book for anyone who wants to learn how to ‘see.’” -- Michael Scott, artistTable of ContentsFigures Foreword Julian Kreimer A Practical-Meditative Lineage XVII Teaching XVIII Learning to “See the Ground” Preface Learning to See The Brick The Lineage Introduction 1. The Fear Factor The Bare Canvas Into the Void Course of Action Fear’s Tyranny Mistakes and Accidents Part-to-part Recap 2. How We See It, How We Don’t The 3D Cues Perspective Binocular Vision Light and Shadow Relative Motion Recap Exercises – Two or One Eyed 3. The Artist’s Vision The Monocular Cues Constancy 2D Visual Cues Position Shape-Size Overlap Value Contrast Color Contrast Hierarchy and Interaction Recap Exercises – 2D Cues 4. More About Seeing Parts and Wholes The Gestalt Contribution Think Ahead Arnheim Where and What Figuring the Ground Object-Directed vs. Ground-Directed Seeing Past Experience, Purpose, and Action Recap Exercises – Parts and Whole 5. Beyond Face or Vase Head First Figure-Ground Not Negative and Positive Edge-condition Yes and No Intentions, Meanings, and Context Recap Exercises – F/G 6. Forces in the Field Inner Necessity Closure Coincidence of Edge and Continuity Locales Recap Exercises – Three C’s 7. Line Positioning Line Contour Gesture Blind-contour Cross-contour Recap Exercises – DYI 8. Value Positioning Value Reserving the Light Adding and Subtracting On Readymade Adding Wash and Brush Elegance or Clumsiness Recap Exercises – Plus and Minus 9. Brush, Paint, Process Shape Paint, Don’t Paint Shapes Color Studies Bridging Triangle DLWCDI Recap Exercises–DLM 10. Muscles and Marks The Body Against Itself Four Variables Pressure Tempo Duration Direction Deliberate Practice Recap Exercises–PTDD 11. Figuring Where Plumb, Level, and Square The Frame Sighting and Measuring 2D to 2D Linear Perspective Aerial Perspective Sfumato Recap Exercises–Devices 12. Unmediated Response Focal Point Approximation The Great Law Recap Exercises–Focal Point 13. Fixing Jumping Parts Add More of It Build a Bridge Reverse the Overlap Adjust the Scale Do Something Else Recap Exercises–Ground-Directed 14. The End is The Beginning Limits of Language Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes Meaning, Metaphor, Myth Last Words Endnotes Bibliography Acknowledgments About the Author Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTake your creativity to the next level with the ultimate artist''s bible! Covering everything from how to draw and paint to ceramics, sculptures and printmaking, you''ll get the most out of your passion for art with this beautifully illustrated artist''s handbook. It also includes newer areas such as digital art and animation - perfect for modern artists!Discover everything you need to help you release the artist within! This essential art book includes: - All areas of visual art; including drawing, painting, 3D art, printmaking, textiles, and digital arts including photography- Each section is written by an acknowledged expert in that field - both practising professionals and university-level teachers- Comprehensive coverage of equipment and tools, including step-by-step sequences, where appropriate on how to use- Techniques are illustrated in step-by-step sequences by professional artists, with basic skills leading on to more advanced techniquesWhether you''re dipping in to find a specific painting technique or browsing for artistic inspiration, this artist''s reference book covers all the elements of painting and drawing. Brush up on the art basics like choosing the right tool, mixing watercolours, and preparing a canvas. Take your skills further and learn how to glaze a pot, try out 3D printing and mosaic, or create a digital collage. The Artist''s Manual will help you become a more confident, creative artist. Equipment, materials, and methods are fully explained and beautifully illustrated. Perfect for artists of every skill level, you''ll be creating your own masterpieces in no time with this guide to art. It''s a must-have for every artist''s studio!

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn in-depth study of the artist in context, with a gallery of 300 celebrated paintings.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn insightful biography and showcase of the celebrated and influential Baroque painter, sumptuously illustrated throughout.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA practical reference for every amateur artist looking to hone their skills in oils, pastels, acrylics, watercolours, charcoals or coloured pencils

Read more less

Book SynopsisLearn to capture the abstract beauty of the natural world in paint and mixed media with this inspiring book.

Read more less

Book SynopsisEverything a complete beginner needs to know to get started in watercolour, from bestselling author and artist Harriet de Winton.

Read more less

Book Synopsis“Girls, Gags & Giggles,” ran publisher Robert Harrison’s recipe for dishing up pin-up to the American male. Men loved his tasty dishes, a mixture of strippers and starlets dressed in outfits so fetishistic no one noticed they were never nude. While other magazines delivered the girl next door, Harrison’s publications banked on bad girls in satin and leather, fishnet stockings, and six-inch heels performing slapstick stunts straight from the burlesque stage. Harrison lured his readers in with vibrantly painted covers by top pin-up artists Earl Moran, Billy DeVorss and, most famously, Peter Driben. This Bibliotheca Universalis edition celebrates this eye-catching candy with every single cover from Beauty Parade, Wink, Titter, Eyeful, Flirt, and Whisper, from 1942 to 1955, as well as interior spreads, featuring, among others, a budding Bettie Page. In an age when far more graphic material is the norm, 1000 Pin-Up Girls celebrates an era of pin-up and pulp style to fuel your erotic imagination.Trade Review“To look at these pictures is to remember that there was a time when taking off your clothes was a potent gesture, when the mere fact of a naked woman could be thrilling.” * National Post *

Read more less

Book SynopsisAbstraction shook Western art to its core. In the early part of the 20th century, it refuted the reign of clear, indisputable forms and confronted audiences instead with vivid visual poems devoid of conventional representational imagery and characterized by allegories of emotion and sensation. This radical artistic adventure established new artistic means, as much as narratives. Expression became characterized by shocking juxtapositions of color, light, and line. Artists abandoned the conventions of brush and easel and played with new materials and methods of artistic gesture: commercial paints and housepainter’s brushes, working on unstretched and unprimed canvases, moving the canvas to the floor, and applying paint with hands. This essential introduction spans the international breadth, conceptual depth, and seismic impact of abstract art with a thorough survey not only of the big names such as Picasso, Klee, Kline, Rothko, and Pollock, but also lesser-known figures who made equally significant contributions, including Antoni Tàpies, K. O. Götz, Ad Reinhardt, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat makes the Book of Kells such an extraordinary example of illuminated manuscript? Why is Durer's self-portrait so iconic? How did Turner's Rain, Steam, Speed turn the art world on its head? What's so great about Jasper John's Flag? And who was Whistler's mother, anyway? Art history is filled with paintings that shocked, intrigued, enraged and mystified their audiences - paintings that exemplified the period in which they were created and forever changed the way we think. Here, one hundred examples of these icons of art are presented in beautiful, high-quality reproductions. Each double-page spread features lavish illustrations and details as well as engaging texts that explain why the painting belongs in the pantheon of world-changing art. Published in association with the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLucian Freud dedicated his life to portraying the people in his world without flattery or refinement. Although his technique and style evolved tremendously over the decades, Freud never wavered in his uncompromising standards or unsentimental approach to his subjects. This introduction to Freud’s life and oeuvre opens with an illuminating essay that explores how Freud’s adherence to realism and focus on the human figure moved him in and out of the spotlight until the 1980s when renewed international interest in painting and figuration gave his work a new significance. Stunning reproductions of key works are presented chronologically, allowing readers to see how Freud’s brushwork, composition, and use of light evolved over the decades. Whether he was painting members of the royal family or the cashier at a London nightclub, Freud imbued his portraits with psychological tension, humanity, and a profound interest in the relationship between painter and model.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS' CLUB FIRST NOVEL AWARD'Divine . . . the smart, sexy read you need' Evening Standard'Startlingly impressive' Daily Mail'An electric new novel' GuardianExiled from his university position for an inexcusable blunder, art historian Don Lamb flees to London, a city alive with sex and creativity. There, over the course of a long, hot summer, as he is immersed in the anarchic art and gay scenes of the mid-90s, Don sees his carefully curated life irrevocably changed. But his epiphany is also a reckoning, as his unexamined past is revealed to him in a devastating new light.Intense and atmospheric, Tiepolo Blue traces Don's turbulent awakening, and his desperate flight from art into life.'Wildly enjoyable . . . A novel that combines formal elegance with gripping storytelling' Financial Times'Dizzying and exciting and unsettling, and beautifully told' Reverend Richard Coles, Daily MailTrade ReviewThis divine debut from art critic and academic James Cahill is the smart, sexy read you need in 2022. Expect to see it on prize lists as well as Instagram feeds. The novel's protagonist is Professor Don Lamb, a precocious but prematurely stuffy art historian and Cambridge don, who likes measuring the skies in the paintings of Venetian master Tiepolo. Lamb takes preternatural offence when a Tracey Emin-esque bed sculpture is installed outside his college lodgings, and departs to London in a sulk for a new museum gig. There awaits a new kind of awakening - and it's not just because the YBAs are taking off. Not only an addictive pageturner, Cahill's book taps into the tensions and suspicions between generations that feels incredibly relevant for our testy times. * Evening Standard *Bringing together the Italian masters and the Young British Artists, this is a debut that looks at art, power, academia, and the potential of the urban setting at the end of the 20th century. * Dazed.com *The story of Tiepolo Blue and its people have invaded my dreams...something in the way Cahill puts the reader in Don Lamb's shoes does (or has done in my case) extraordinary things. I blushed and howled warnings and wanted to slap, cajole, hug, disown, disavow and walk away from him. His life will look so squalid and pathetic from the outside, but Cahill takes us inside and we somehow respect and love him. This is the best novel I have read for ages. It is so beautifully written, not a false note in any sentence. Cahill's presentation of the agonising clash of aesthetics, of culture, of generations... it's just masterly. Don's disintegration is painful to read, but it all grips you like a thriller. My heart was constantly in my throat as I read... There is so much to enjoy, to contemplate, to wonder at, and to be lost in. -- Stephen FryThe spirit of E.M. Forster is alive and well in James Cahill. The same palpating of damaged moral tissue, the same psychological canniness, the same gently invoked erudition, the same exactitude and eloquence - except Cahill is able to explore forbidden themes that Forster feared to touch on except posthumously -- Edmund WhiteThis is a novel full of suspense and surprise. It made me laugh and brought back memories of a time in my own life. I missed the characters as soon as I'd finished. -- Sarah LucasI travelled on the exquisite vessel of James Cahill's prose, unable to disembark. The journey is sensual, treacherous and elegiac. The final landing, breath-taking. -- Maggi HamblingWow. It is magnificent. Simply magnificent...Tiepolo Blue really has blown me away: the gorgeous phrase-making; the sure-footed pacing; the (re-)immersion in a world I know, or knew, in a way that is both hard-edged with historical detail and almost hallucinatory...The last debut novel I read that had this much talent buzzing around inside it was Alan Hollinghurst's The Swimming-Pool Library. -- Robert Douglas - FairhurstImagine if Hollinghurst and Murdoch collaborated on a witty update of Death in Venice and you'll see the appeal of James Cahill's assured debut. -- Patrick GaleJames Cahill's first novel, drawn from close observation, tells a gripping tale of the worlds of traditional academia and art history pitted against those of contemporary art, each failing horribly to understand the other. As a result all becomes infused with satirical comedy and ghastly tragedy. -- Norman Rosenthal * Curator of the ‘Sensation’ exhibition in 1997; former Exhibitions Secretary at the Royal Academy *An absorbing coming-of-age story. * The Art Newspaper *The standout [recent novel about art] is James Cahill's Tiepolo Blue...Interrogating beauty and meaning in art, Tiepolo Blue rewards rereading. Pointing to masked, tricksy identities, clues glitter gem-like amid hallucinatory prose...a stylish tale of love and long-game revenge. * Royal Academy Magazine *The worlds of art, academia and queerness collide in James Cahill's debut book. * i-D *[An] arresting debut novel . . . a masterly attention to (especially visual) detail and an irresistibly propulsive, almost swaggering style . . . Cahill is by no means a polemical author, and the novel is all the better for it. Any authorial commentary is barely detectable above the crowd of vivid characters with which Cahill has populated his novel, for Tiepolo Blue is, at its heart, an astute character study. * Literary Review *Evocative and accurate... meticulous and atmospheric... delicious unease and pervasive threat give this assured first novel great singularity and a kind of gothic edge... an electric new novel written by an author skilled in the evocation of vertiginous, heightened emotion' * Michael Donkor, Guardian *One of the standout debut novels is James Cahill's Tiepolo Blue, a coming-of-age tale set in London in the 1990s that deftly explores what it is like to suffer a very public fall from grace * Independent *What starts off as a campus novel soon shades into something weirder and much more mesmerizing... The plot is propulsive, though the crafted ambience of unease simultaneously destabilizes the reader at every turn. The prose is fluid and precise but the tone equivocal, bathos merging into pathos, tragedy into farce and back again... It's a measure of Cahill's sleight of hand that he manages to inject his plot with such page-turning momentum. -- Lucasta Miller * TLS *Art, academia and abject self-denial combine in this startlingly impressive, 1990s-set debut...A heavily perfumed, sexually tender, psychologically acute novel... as full of light and colour as Tiepolo's incandescent skies. * Daily Mail *[A] simmering debut novel * Esquire.com *With touches of Alan Hollinghurst, the musings of the book's protagonist on the radical power of art to act as a catalyst for personal change make it an exhilarating, erudite read. * Vogue.com *A novel that combines formal elegance with gripping storytelling...wildly enjoyable...The combination of arty milieu and sexual stirrings may evoke Alan Hollinghurst, but Iris Murdoch is a more obvious point of comparison...Snobbish and incompetent, Don may be difficult to like, but his painful awakening is delicately rendered. * Financial Times *I love the punctured idealism, contained savagery and ever-lurking farce of campus novels, and there are some delicious new additions to the genre - perfect antidotes for the cold. James Cahill's Tiepolo Blue tells the tale of a fusty ferociously fusty art historian whose academic career is upended by a ferociously unbeautiful sculpture. * TLS *[An] old-fashioned ambitious novel about the wonders of art and the depths of the human heart, full of people and ideas * The Times *I just devoured Tiepolo Blue, I could not put it down. The longing, the beauty, the detail, the complexity, the art, the intellect and the emotion . . . What a triumph! -- Paul KindersleyAlready a compelling psychosexual story about beauty, desire and art, Tiepolo Blue is all the more interesting because it hits notes of such strangeness -- Lucy Scholes, Fiction Books of the Year * Prospect *Tiepolo Blue is about a buttoned-up art historian in Cambridge in 1994 who messes up and gets a job managing a London gallery just as the Young British Artists enter their glory. One of them initiates his unbuttoning which is dizzying and exciting and unsettling, and beautifully told -- Rev Richard Coles, Big writers on their best reads of 2022 * Daily Mail *Most giddying are the passages that evoke the slow-mo slide of Don's professional collapse . . . I shivered with awful delight -- Alex Diggins * Critic *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor more than five centuries The Last Supper has been an artistic, religious and cultural icon. The art historian Kenneth Clark called it ''the keystone of European art'', and for a century after its creation it was regarded as nothing less than a miraculous image. And yet there is a very human story behind this artistic ''miracle''. Ross King''s Leonardo and the Last Supper is both a ''biography'' of one of the most famous works of art ever painted and a record of Leonardo da Vinci''s last five years in Milan.Trade Review[A] richly entertaining tale of how Leonardo came to paint The Last Supper. King, who had previously written acclaimed accounts of Brunelleschi's Florentine dome and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, has an infectious relish for the gaudy, brutal and brilliant world of the Italian Renaissance * Mail on Sunday *The story of Leonardo's creation of the work has now found an ideal chronicler in Ross King ... King has the gift of clear, unpretentious exposition, and an instinctive narrative flair * Guardian *Extraordinary -- Must Reads * Sunday Times *A gripping account ... Fascinating * New York Times *A thrilling account of the mercurial Leonardo and the making of his most puzzling masterpiece ... A perfectly controlled, seriously documented story that you really want to read * Scotsman *Absorbing ... A truly immersive portrait of an era * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith the patronage of the powerful Medici family, a canon of secular and religious work, and contributions to the celebrated Sistine Chapel, Sandro Botticelli (1444/45–1510) was well placed for fame. After his death, however, his work was eclipsed for some four hundred years. It wasn’t until the 19th century that the painter began to gain major art-historical recognition. Today, Botticelli is hailed as a towering figure of the Florentine Early Renaissance. His secular works The Birth of Venus and Primavera, mostly read as an allegory of Spring, are among the most recognized paintings in the world, resplendent in their delicate details, graceful lines, and compositional balance. His arrangements are fluid yet poised, his figures serene yet sensual. Venus, in particular, is held up as art-historical icon of beauty: pale-skinned, delicately featured, soft with fecund promise. This essential introduction presents key works from Botticelli’s oeuvre to understand the making of a Renaissance legend. Through the painter’s most famous mythological and allegorical scenes, as well as his radiant religious works, we explore a mastery of figuration, movement, and line, which has gone on to inspire artists from Edgar Degas to Andy Warhol, René Magritte to Cindy Sherman.

Read more less