Portraits and self-portraiture in the arts Books

Book SynopsisThe Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award is one of Britain's most prestigious art prizes, and is the leading showcase for artists throughout the world specialising in portraiture. Barbara Walker, Tom Shakespeare and Russell Tovey are among this years judging panel. The prestigious competition showcases the very best in contemporary portrait painting and is open to everyone aged eighteen and over. Since its inception over 40 years ago, the competition has attracted over 40,000 entries from more than 100 countries and over 6 million people have seen the exhibition. Alongside stunning artwork reproductions, the catalogue includes extended interviews with all prize-winning artists by journalist Richard McClure, and descriptive captions for all exhibited works by National Portrait Gallery curator Tanya Bentley, providing fascinating insight into the people and techniques behind the portraits.

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Book Synopsis'A vital book' JUNO ROCHE'Beautifully illustrated and fascinating' MEG-JOHN BARKER'Fun and fact-filled' SUSAN STRYKERThis inspiring collection of illustrated portraits celebrates the lives of influential transgender, non-binary and intersex figures throughout history.Showcasing the diversity of gender identities and expressions that have existed in all cultures alongside developments from recent years, the extraordinary stories in this book highlight the achievements and legacies of those who have fought to be themselves, whatever their gender. From activists, soldiers and historical leaders through to pirates, actors and artists, this book explores the life and times of over fifty trans and intersex trailblazers in their fight for equality, acceptance and change. Poignant, educational and empowering, these are the gender pioneers everyone needs to know about.Trade ReviewGender Pioneers is a fun, fact-filled, easy-to-read romp through the long history of gender-diversity in cultures around the world. It places contemporary trans identities in a broader context to show there's nothing new about being non-binary or changing gender. -- Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today's RevolutionOur history is rich, deep, diverse and expansive. Ancient even. This beautifully illustrated book documents our rich history clearly and gloriously. A vital book if setting out to discover our history(s) or to tell or retell the story the us. We have been pioneers pushing at the constrictive limits of gender for centuries. -- Juno Roche, author of Trans Power, Queer Sex and Gender ExplorersA beautifully illustrated and fascinating tour through the history of transness and gender creativity. A must for anyone who wants to know their gender history, or to access awesome possibility-models from across time and space. -- Meg-John Barker, author of Life Isn't Binary and Gender: A Graphic Guide

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Book SynopsisThe new paperback edition of Roy Strong's popular introduction to Elizabethan portraiture.Trade Review“Britain’s great Renaissance man – in the sense both that the Renaissance is his period, and that he can turn his hand to anything – appears as spring-chickenish as he is inexhaustible. His 43rd book, The Elizabethan Image, is published this month, and its sequel, The Stuart Image, is already being written – Hannah Betts, Telegraph“There is no better person to introduce this period afresh and to convey its richness and complexity, with the aid of the magnificent illustrations that run through this book” —Frances Spalding, Daily Mail (Book of the Week)“[A] lavish production [. . .] Strong has always had an instinctive feel for, and understanding of, the Elizabethan mindset and aesthetic. This book is no exception — and is particularly good on the ways in which the upwardly mobile used portraiture to signal their social ascent. Learned yet accessible, The Elizabethan Image provides a rich overview of the portraiture of the period which will appeal to fans of Strong's original publications as well as to a new generation of readers” — Elizabeth Goldring, Spectator “Engaging overview, in portraiture, of a rich period of English history.” —The Bookseller “Strong returns to his specialist subject in this sumptuously illustrated book” —Apollo Magazine (Off The Shelf)“An account rich in biographical detail”— Matthew Dennison, World of Interiors“When an academic with such a distinguished track record as Roy Strong's publishes a new work in the field to which he has already contributed so much, it is an important event –particularly when the publisher also has a history of producing sumptuously illustrated books. Indeed, the result is a book delightful both to read and to look at, in which text and image support one another in an ideal manner” —Paul Flux, Albion “Thorough, but never exhausting, this is an authoritative and comprehensive interpretation that provides a wealth of historical insight as well as artistic vision and presentation” — Henry Malt, The Artist “While many of Strong’s previous publications were beautiful artefacts, this one surpasses them all” — Helen Hackett, TLS“[Strong] returns to his first love, revealing that he has kept up with all the developments in modern scholarship. The result is a sumptuous, beautifully illustrated volume [. . .] A book to treasure” —A.N.Wilson, Spectator (Books Of The Year)“This beautiful book opens up to a wide audience a world of emblem and allegory, political manoeuvrings and religious conflict, serpents, sea monsters, and armillary spheres [. . .] In The Elizabethan Image Strong integrates a lifetime’s work with a synthesis of recent research by others, and the book will serve as an essential introduction to Elizabethan portraiture for many years to come”—Juliet Carey, Apollo MagazineCHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles, 2020

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Book SynopsisBrings together, for the first time, Lucian Freud's oil on copper paintings, including his lost portrait of Francis Bacon and two works that have never been reproduced before.

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Book SynopsisExcerpts from art critic, historian, lecturer and broadcaster James Hall's lively and comprehensive cultural history of self-portraiture, including such artists as Dürer, Gentileschi, Van Gogh and Kahlo. Surprising, questioning, challenging, enriching: the Pocket Perspectives series celebrates writers and thinkers who have helped shape the conversation across the arts. Mixing classic and contemporary texts, reissues and abridgements, these are bite-sized, fully illustrated reads in an attractive, affordable and highly collectable package.

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Book SynopsisA lively introduction to self-portraiture, reflecting on the work of over sixty artists from the Renaissance to the present day.Trade Review'A wonderfully informative, insightful and lively history of the self portrait, taking us on a fascinating journey from the Renaissance to the most adventurous artists of today' - Ralph Rugoff, Director, Hayward GalleryTable of ContentsIntroduction • 1. From Cameo to Centre Stage • 2. Studio Life • 3. Windows to the Soul • 4. Up Close and Personal • 5. Performing Identities • 6. Traces

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Book SynopsisEach first lady has brought her own priorities and flair to the position that has never been officially defined. They have served as hostesses, trendsetters, activists, and political players. FIRST LADIES OF THE UNITED STATES features 84 portraits of the nation''s first ladies, as varied in style and representation as the individual women they depict. From watercolors and oil paintings to engravings and photographs, this book celebrates the legacy of first ladies throughout history.First ladies are some of the most scrutinized public figures in the country, praised or criticized on everything from their fashion to their level of political involvement. There''s no better way to explore their visibility and lasting impact than with FIRST LADIES OF THE UNITED STATES, which places remarkable portraits alongside an insightful essay and lively entries that illuminate the history of the women who have shaped the White House.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book to address the long art history of dynastic marriage exchange between Denmark and Britain between 1600 and 1900. It explores an intersection of three themes trending in early modern studies: portraiture, gender and the court as a centre of cultural exchange. This work re-evaluates the construction and staging of gender in Northern consort portraiture over a span of three hundred years, examining the development of the scientific and social paradigms inflecting consort portraiture and representation, with a view to excavating portrait images' agency at the early modern moment of their conception and making. The consort's liminal position between royal houses, territories, languages and sometimes religion, has often been equated with political weakness, but this new work argues that this position endowed the consort with a unique space for innovation in the representation of elite identity. As such, consort imagery drew upon gender as a generative resource of motifs and ideas. Each chapter is informed by new archival research and introduces the reader to little known, yet astonishing works of art. Collectively, they seek to trace a shift in practices of identity formation over time; the transition from an emphasis on rank to an increasingly binary emphasis on gender.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Figure List; Introduction; 1 Anna of Denmark (1574—1619); 2 Prince George of Denmark (1653—1708); 3 Louisa of Great Britain (1724—1751); 4 Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (1751—1775); 5 Alexandra of Denmark (1844—1925); Bibliography; Endnotes

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Book SynopsisThe National Portrait Gallery’s collections hold numerous portraits of creative partnerships. This book looks at the extensive collection of the Gallery and explores the role of love and the people featured both as sitters and artists. Drawing on recent scholarship, the exhibition will explore changing ideas of love, and give readers the opportunity to discover love stories both tragic and transcendent. The stories cover a variety of topics, including: the role of the muse, featuring stories such as George Romney, Lady Emma Hamilton and Nelson, and the Bloomsbury group; scandal and tragedy, exploring the relationships of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono; literary love, highlighting the tales of Mary and Percy Shelley, and Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; a shared studio, featuring the stories of artists Lee Miller and Man Ray, and Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson; and love and the lens, which explores the stories of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and Mick and Bianca Jagger.Love Stories will be brought to life through the perspective of various authors, using material from the sitter’s own letters, diaries and poetry, while highlighting their connection and influence on some of the greatest masterpieces of art.

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Book SynopsisElegant monochrome glamour in Katz's new print series This handsome clothbound catalog gathers Alex Katz’s recent titular print portfolio. The series of 25 prints features close-up, black-and-white portraits that remove the subjects from any contextual backdrop, emphasizing instead subtle shifts in expression. Rendered in bold lineation and tightly framed, the women depicted recall the models and celebrities featured in mid-20th-century fashion imagery, underscoring Katz’s ongoing fascination with perceptions of beauty and glamour that permeate the public sphere. The portraits are bookended by a pair of meditations on beauty: Carter Ratcliff imagines a comedically philosophical dialogue between himself and beauty, and Jarrett Earnest shares 31 encounters with beauty in art and life. Alex Katz (born 1927) is one of America’s most iconic and prolific artists. His work has been the subject of more than 250 solo exhibitions and 500 group exhibitions since 1951 and can be found in over 100 public collections worldwide. Katz is best known for his large-scale canvases of flatly rendered figures cast against a monochrome background.Trade ReviewIf Katz is an artist of distillation, this volume may be the purest shot yet. -- David O'Neill * Bookforum *

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Book SynopsisQuite apart from her position as the wife and model of Lovis Corinth (1858–1925), Charlotte Berend-Corinth (1880–1967) shone as an artist and was, like Käthe Kollwitz, one of the few women members of the Berlin Secession. This bibliophile monograph is dedicated to the highly gifted, successful and unfairly neglected artist and presents an impressive synopsis of her oeuvre. Berend-Corinth pursued a remarkable career with ultra-modern, radical subjects in the Berlin of the 1910s and 1920s until her Jewish descent compelled her to leave Germany and to emigrate to the United States. Her early work, in which she captured the permissive mood of the Berlin art and theatre scene during the 1910s and 1920s, represents one main area of focus, as do the later portraits of famous personalities of her time and some of her remarkable self-portraits, still lifes and landscape pictures.

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Book SynopsisThe artistic gaze into the mirror – Egon Schiele personally and in close-up. Many artists share the desire for involvement with the self and their own appearance. In the oeuvre of Egon Schiele, self-portraits occupy a central role. Over a period of many years Schiele recorded himself in various poses and styles. This publication focuses in detail on this crucial and yet often only marginally mentioned aspect of his art. Egon Schiele’s contorted and eccentric figures are among the world’s iconic images. For many of these works he and his own body served as model. His interest often lay not in his own self, but more generally in the position of the individual in the changing modern world. As in experimental arrangements, Schiele poses in a variety of roles. In doing so he “uses” his face and wears it like a mask. The publication offers a comprehensive representation of this life theme of the artist genius.

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Book SynopsisThroughout the history of art most of the world's greatest artists have produced portraits at some point in their careers, whether commissioned by rulers or magnates; created to preserve a cherished friend or relation; or even to capture the artist's own likeness. Arranged chronologically, each of the 50 masterworks in this book exemplifies a moment in history, or a turning point in the artist's career. Van Eyck's A Man in a Turban, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Sargent's Madame X, Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Necklace, Warhol's Marilyn and many more world-famous paintings are featured in exquisite full-page reproductions accompanied by engaging and enlightening texts. An introductory essay on the history and importance of the portrait in art history and brief biographies of each artist round out this survey that provides valuable information in an attractive and affordable package.Trade Review"Being educated on works of art is just as important as being up on the latest trends in design. Plus, all 50 portraits are super iconic and beautiful, so there's that, too." -Domino

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Book Synopsis“Paula’s beautiful, ambitious project illuminates forgotten histories, honoring the overlooked.” –Andrea K. Scott, The New Yorker The Brazilian artist Dalton Paula (born 1982) works across painting, installation, photography and sculpture. Drawing on rigorous visual research, he seeks to critically interpret historical events, particularly as they have affected Black people in Brazil—a country that, after Nigeria, contains the second-largest population of African descent. Dalton Paula: Brazilian Portraits showcases a sampling from the portrait series Paula embarked on in 2018, a tribute to the Black Brazilian men and women who fought for freedom and justice over the course of several centuries but have been systematically erased from the country’s dominant historical narrative. Through his portraits (one of which—a gripping rendering of the Brazilian slave rebellion leader Zeferina—appears on the cover of the much-acclaimed 2021 volume Afro-Atlantic Histories), Paula provides much-needed dignity, visibility and recognition to these valorous figures.

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Book SynopsisA significant publication of original writing on Lucian Freud, including interviews with leading contemporary artists, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth Lucian Freud (1922–2011) was one of the greatest figurative painters of the twentieth century. With an unflinching eye and an uncompromising commitment to his work, he created masterpieces that continue to inspire contemporary artists to the present day. Spanning nearly 70 years, Freud’s career has often been overshadowed by his biography and celebrity. This book re-examines his paintings through a broad series of original approaches. Texts by a variety of rising and established international writers explore topics ranging from the compositional echoes of old master paintings in Freud’s works, to the contextualization of his practice within the class struggles of 1980s Britain. Throughout the book, leading contemporary painters such as Tracey Emin and Chantal Joffe give insightful testimony to the relevance of Freud today. Marking the 100th anniversary of Freud’s birth, this publication accompanies the first major exhibition of his work in 10 years. Presenting fresh perspectives on his paintings, it introduces Freud to a new generation of scholars and enthusiasts – demonstrating his lasting international importance. Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press

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Book SynopsisMake your very own personalized cross-stitch pieces by combining these “ready-to-go” patterns with the included tips and tricks for customization.Customize Your Cross-Stitch: Friends and Family by Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean and the team at Stitch People is the perfect how-to guide, whether you are an experienced cross-stitcher who wants to create personalized pieces or a beginner who has never before held a needle and thread. This helpful guide introduces you to the basics of the craft with easy-to-follow written directions and photographic instructions. You can learn everything from using the tools of the trade to reading a pattern, creating basic stitches, and tweaking an already-existing design. The beautiful, modern designs in this book are accompanied by simple instructions appropriate for all skill levels. The easy-to-follow lessons—complete with patterns, detailed instructions, and Trade Review“Readers will adore this.” * Publishers Weekly *"Simply stated, Customize Your Cross-Stitch: Friends & Family by needlecraft expert Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean is fun, informatively instructive, and a highly prized pick." * Midwest Book Review *Table of ContentsWelcome! About the Book Tools & Materials Preparing to Stitch How to Cross-Stitch Other Stitching Techniques Customize Your Cross-Stitch Patterns Family Night In, Baby Announcement, A Happy Home, Yoga Class, Road Trip Grandparent Appreciation Scenes, Grandparent Appreciation Individuals Coffee Break, Wintertime Fun, Springtime Fun, Summertime Fun, Autumn Fun Finishing a Portrait in a Hoop Resources About Stitch People & the Author Stitchers

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Book SynopsisWith Art Makers: Empowered Embroidery, learn to sketch and stitch strong, recognizable women from all walks of life. Featuring sketching and illustration instructions, basic stitches, embroidery techniques, and 6 projects with portraits of famous women, this book is a must-have tool for hands-on artists and crafters. If you’re a beginning embroiderer, start with the basic stitches and embroidery instructions at the beginning of the book. Essential tools, warm-up exercises, tips for embroidering facial features and hair, and general information on embroidery will give you the know-how you need to get started. Then dive into sketching your favorite female cultural and historical icons: Frida Kahlo Eleanor Roosevelt Maya Angelou Harriet Tubman Ruth Bader Ginsburg Michelle Obama Once you’ve sketched your figures, follow along with the step-by-step embroidery projects as you learn to stitch the women featured in the book—and anyone else you admire! All of the projects are beautifully paired with large photos so that you can easily mimic the techniques at home while relaxing with your embroidery. The author is a professional illustrator, designer, and embroiderer uniquely suited to give instruction on this fun, trending embroidery technique. With her expert tips, you’re sure to enjoy learning a new hobby, or advancing your skills if you’re already familiar with embroidery. Art Makers: Empowered Embroidery makes it easy to sketch, stitch, and create your favorite female icons, from empowering women of today to icons of the past. The Art Makers series is designed for beginning artists and arts-and-crafts enthusiasts who are interested in experiencing fun hands-on mediums, including polymer clay and papier-mache. Trade Review“Illustrator Frazer brings a feminist flair to embroidery in her winning debut that “honors the lifetime and work” of such feminist trailblazers as Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, and Harriet Tubman. … Embroiderers looking to push their creativity will be rewarded by these projects." * Publishers Weekly *"Tons of tips for creating hair and facial features with floss, warm-up exercises, and gorgeous large photos of the projects that help you easily mimic the techniques. Honestly, I kinda want to frame some of the pictures in this book!" * JenniferPerkins.com *"It makes it easy to sketch, stitch, and create favorite female icons, from empowering women of today to honoring women of the past.” * Midwest Book Review *"If you’re looking to try thread painting and stitch projects of inspiring individuals, this book is definitely for you." * Brown Paper Bag *Table of ContentsIntroduction Essential Tools & Materials Drawing Ideas Getting Started Stitching Guide & Techniques Stitch Map Transferring Designs to Fabric Step-by-Step Drawing & Embroidery Projects Frida Kahlo Eleanor Roosevelt Maya Angelou Harriet Tubman Ruth Bader Ginsburg Michelle Obama Resources About the Artist

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book to concentrate on Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals’s highly innovative approach to male portraiture. Frans Hals is one of the greatest portrait painters of all time and, together with Rembrandt, is one of the most eminent seventeenth-century Dutch artists. Published to coincide with the Wallace Collection’s exhibition of the same name, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait explores the artist’s highly innovative approach to male portraiture, from the beginning of his career in the 1610s until the end of his life in 1666. Through pose, expression and virtuosic painterly technique, Hals revolutionised the male portrait into something entirely new and fresh, capturing and revealing his sitters’ characters like no one else before him. This book includes the first in-depth study of Hals’s great masterpiece, The Laughing Cavalier, from 1624. The extravagantly dressed young man, confidently posed with his left arm akimbo in the extreme foreground of the picture and seemingly penetrating into the viewer’s space, has been charming audiences for over a century. Richly illustrated, Frans Hals: The Male Portrait situates The Laughing Cavalier within the artist’s larger oeuvre and demonstrates how, at a relatively early point in his career, Hals was able to achieve this great masterpiece.Trade Reviewbeautifully presented and lavishly illustrated catalogue [...] as accessible and exciting for the general reader as for specialist conservators. -- James Innes-Mulrainethis lavishly illustrated paperback shows how Hals was able to achieve a masterpiece at a relatively early stage in his career. * Arts & Collections *This book you can treasure forever. * Historical Association *The catalogue, by Lelia Packer and Ashok Roy, is a brilliant book that’s concise, detailed, and informed. Its treatment of iconography is, to me, a feast. -- Brian T. Allen * National Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Director's Foreword Sponsor's Foreword Frans Hals: A Short Biography 1. Frans Hals and the Male Portrait 2. Hals's Masterpiece: The Laughing Cavalier 3. The Laughing Cavalier and the Revival of Frans Hals 4. The Making of The Laughing Cavalier 5. Frans Hals and Portraiture: Style and Painting Techniques Interwoven Appendix: Provenance of The Laughing Cavalier Bibliography Endnotes Index Picture Credits

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThrough her wonder and her doubt Kristeva sets forth a compelling account of the sacred and of the intimate visionary capacity of the human soul. -- Joshua Paetkau The Ecclesial University Blog The Severed Head is a reminder that art can be the best teacher, particularly when the topic is an uncomfortable one. -- Patricia Contino New Pages.com This beautifully written and richly layered meditation on mortality and representation will undoubtedly appeal to those readers interested in semiotic and psychoanalytically informed readings of art. -- Jonathan Patkowski Library Journal XPress Reviews The Severed Head considers a remarkable a remarkable range of representations of the severed head in art historical, religious and mythological contexts. TLS

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Book SynopsisPortraits, an inherently personal subject, provide an engaging entry point to an exploration of the politics, patronage, and power in Renaissance Florence The Medici family ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494, but following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici demonstrated an unprecedented ability to wield culture as a political tool. His rule transformed Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. As Florence underwent these dramatic political transformations in the sixteenth century, portraits became an essential means of recording a likeness and conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that distinguished Florentine portraiture. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 26–October 11, 2021)Trade Review“Cogent and illuminating.”—Washington Post“The exhibit is exciting to move through and to enjoy firsthand, but the original research and commentary in the catalogue will open up this world of Cinquecento Florence after your museum experience.”—Anne Holler, The Florentine“Excellent.”—Apollo“The catalogue is beautifully designed with more than two hundred colour reproductions. . . . Merely turning the pages . . . provides a vivid sense of Florence under the Medici, and the essays and entries are intellectually intriguing for art historians while still accessible for students and the larger interested public.”—Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, Renaissance and Reformation “A superb catalogue.”—Robert B. Simon, Burlington Magazine“Consists of intricate scholarly stories of patronage, ambition and ruthless skulduggery.”—Michael Glover, The Tablet

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Book Synopsis"An inspiring makeshift ingenuity....These mirror images with their uncanny resemblances traverse space and time, spotlighting the black lives that have been silenced by the canon of western art, while also inviting us to interrogate the present." -Times (UK) Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Brathwaite has thoughtfully researched and reimagined more than one hundred artworks featuring portraits of Black sitters-all posted to social media with the caption "Rediscovering #blackportraiture through #gettymuseumchallenge." Rediscovering Black Portraiture collects more than fifty of Brathwaite's most intriguing re-creations. Introduced by Brathwaite and framed by contributions from experts in art history and visual culture, this fascinating book offers a nuanced look at the complexities and challenges of building identity within the African diaspora and how such forces have informed Black portraits over time. Artworks featured include The Adoration of the Magi by Georges Trubert, Portrait of an Unknown Man by Jan Mostaert, Rice n Peas by Sonia Boyce, and many more. This volume also invites readers behind the scenes, offering a glimpse of the elegant artifice of Brathwaite's props, setup, and process. An urgent and compelling exploration of embodiment, representation, and agency, Rediscovering Black Portraiture serves to remind us that Black subjects have been portrayed in art for nearly a millennium and that their stories demand to be told. An exhibition of Brathwaite's re-creations is on view at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in Bristol, UK from April 14 to September September 3, 2023.Trade Review"Ever since I first stumbled across Peter's portraits on Twitter, I've been captivated by his sharp wit, innovative costuming, rich range of visual reference, and the sheer joy of each image. This is a book that will enchant and intrigue and educate. I'm thrilled by the beauty and fun and history on every page."--Samira Ahmed, BBC broadcaster; "Brathwaite brings a novel innovative way into considering the Black presence in art, creating another dimension to consider and reflect on the original work, helping us not just to engage more deeply with the composition and its subject but bringing the Black presence to life, re-creating it for us today in a thoroughly modern and highly relevant manner-an exciting Black visual tour de force!"-Michael I. Ohajuru FRSA; "Peter Brathwaite's oeuvre defies neat categorization: Is it art, performance, autobiography, or art historical essay? He has blended these modes to make work that is joyful, original, and poignant. It is important and timely. To restage Black portraiture, from the Domesday Book to Kehinde Wiley, Brathwaite gets inside the lives and worlds of each sitter and brilliantly rediscovers, reclaims, and re-presents Black (art) history for modern audiences. His empathetic performances give agency to the people portrayed and breathe warmth and life into what was previously frozen; he reminds us that Black historical lives matter too."-Lucy Peltz, Head of Collections Displays (Tudor to Regency) and Senior Curator, 18th Century Collections, National Portrait Gallery

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Book SynopsisA groundbreaking approach to the problem of realism in Tudor art In Tudor and Jacobean England, visual art was often termed “lively.” This word was used to describe the full range of visual and material culture—from portraits to funeral monuments, book illustrations to tapestry. To a modern viewer, this claim seems perplexing: what could “liveliness” have meant in a culture with seemingly little appreciation for illusionistic naturalism? And in a period supposedly characterised by fear of idolatry, how could “liveliness” have been a good thing? In this wide-ranging and innovative book, Christina Faraday excavates a uniquely Tudor model of vividness: one grounded in rhetorical techniques for creating powerful mental images for audiences. By drawing parallels with the dominant communicative framework of the day, Tudor Liveliness sheds new light on a lost mode of Tudor art criticism and appreciation, revealing how objects across a vast range of genres and contexts were taking part in the same intellectual and aesthetic conversations. By resurrecting a lost model for art theory, Faraday re-enlivens the vivid visual and material culture of Tudor and Jacobean England, recovering its original power to move, impress and delight. Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British ArtTrade Review“The achievement of this wonderfully illustrated and bountifully referenced book is to make us question how we should look at post-Reformation art, and to find delight in its eccentricities.”—Brett Dolman, History Today

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Book SynopsisThis Element looks at the art of the actress in the eighteenth century. It shows how visual materials across genres contribute to our understanding of the nuances of female celebrity, fame, notoriety, and scandal.Table of ContentsIntroduction: the art of the actress in the eighteenth century; 1. The paradox of pearls; 2. The actress as artist and the artist as actress: Anne Damer and Angelica Kauffman; 3. Mary Anne's Muff: Actresses and satire; 4. Epilogue: unfinished business: Elizabeth Inchbald, Lady Cahir, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the aftermath of the art of the actress; References.

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Book SynopsisEDITOR'S PICK ON AMAZON.COM'As captivating and nuanced as the drawings themselves' - The New York Times'Against the odds, her prose keeps pace with her pastels' - Patrick Bringley, author of All the Beauty in the World'Readers will be hard-pressed to put this down' - Publisher's WeeklyA penetrating, compulsively readable memoir about the four-decade career of a top courtroom sketch artist.Jane Rosenberg is America's pre-eminent courtroom sketch artist. For over forty years, she's been at the heart of the story, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system. From mob bosses to fallen titans of finance, terrorists and sex abusers, corrupt cops and warring entertainment icons, she has drawn them all.In Drawn Testimony, Rosenberg brings us into the high-stakes, dramatic world of her craft, where art, psycho

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Book SynopsisThe Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure edited by Ekow Eshun celebrates flourishing Black artists whose work illuminates the richness, beauty and complexity of Black life. "There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now." - James Baldwin 'Angry, elegiac, critical and celebratory, The Time Is Always Now brings together 22 leading black artists working in the UK and US.' - The best art and architecture shows to visit in 2024, The Guardian The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure assembles contemporary African diasporic artists working in the UK and US whose practice foregrounds the Black figure. Edited and with texts by Ekow Eshun, and original essays by Bernardine Evaristo, Esi Edugyan and Dorothy Price. Published to coincide with the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, this publication explores and celebrates contemporary Black artists internationally who work within Black figuration. This visual and beautifully produced book examines contemporary figurative artworks against a backdrop of heightened cultural visibility. Within this context, its collected paintings, drawings and sculptures take on a dual role as the accomplished work of individual artists and as a collective assertion of Black presence. Through a three-part structure containing detailed artist profiles and stunningly reproduced artworks, the publication examines Black figuration as a means to address the absence and distortion of Black presence within Western art history. Profiled artists include Hurvin Anderson, Michael Armitage, Jordan Casteel, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Noah Davis, Godfried Donkor, Kimathi Donkor, Denzil Forrester, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Jennifer Packer, Thomas J. Price, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Lorna Simpson, Amy Sherald, Henry Taylor and Barbara Walker.

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Book Synopsisfirst complete catalogue raisonee and comprehensive essay of this twentieth century artist

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Book SynopsisBrilliantly explores how portraits can help us relate to other people in an intentional and expectant way* Written in an accessible manner, this is a book that will deepen our empathy for friends and strangers* Uses a three-step method of noticing, responding, and reflecting to help us recognise ourselves and others in portraits* I found the approach of this book to be transformational in my own spiritual journey'' ~ Dr Anne Moseley, Faculty member, Oxford Centre for Mission StudiesOur lives are made up of a complex web of relationships with those we initially get to know through their face. The quality of these relationships influences what we believe and value, and how we think and behave. Focussing on the human face, Stephen Girling explores how portraits can help us relate to other people in a new way. Outlining a three-step method of noticing, responding, and reflecting, he gives the reader a tool with which we can go beyond the face in a portrait to see something of the eternal'

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Book SynopsisFrancis Bacon’s portrait of his first partner Peter Lacy is somehow simultaneously attractive and repulsive. The monumental portrait dating from 1962 was unknown to the public for a long time. Shortly after it was painted, Italian film director Michelangelo Antonioni acquired the work and it remained in private hands for decades. This is a key work, created at a turning point in Bacon’s oeuvre. Markus Rath embeds the painting into Bacon’s visual world for the first time. The English painter reveals a biographically oriented representationalism in the portrait, concentrating his compositional arrangement on the stage-like interior and forcing a contrast between the two-dimensional ground and the colour-saturated figure – these are pioneering approaches to composition that shaped his late work decisively.

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Book SynopsisOver the course of seven decades, Twinka Thiebaud has collaborated with thirty artists working in photography, painting, and drawing. This catalogue explores her body of work as an artist’s model alongside developments in photographic techniques and technology, and the role of nature in defining West Coast experimentation. This is the first book to highlight Twinka Thiebaud’s long career and influence as an artist’s model, while also exploring the artistic processes of numerous West Coast-based artists working today. Comprised of 120 paintings, drawings, and photographs that date from the 1940s through 2021, this catalogue’s essays and interview investigate the body/nature relationship in photographs of Thiebaud from the 1970s and 2000s, and her collaborations with such artists as Judy Dater and John Reiff Williams.

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Book SynopsisRecent events have pushed artists to visualize ideas of closeness in a new light. Kinship, published on the occasion of the National Portrait Gallery’s tenth “Portraiture Now” exhibition, features the work of eight leading contemporary artists who explore familial relationships through photography, painting, sculpture, and performance. Contemporary portraiture offers a way to consider the mutable yet enduring qualities of familial relationships and the internal and external forces that affect our bonds with others. For example, interpretations of distance - whether emotional, physical, or geographical - have recently become more fraught. By recognizing the transformations that occur in the genre of portraiture and the threads that today’s portraits share, we can better understand the universality and specificity of kinship. List of artists: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Jess T. Dugan, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jessica Todd Harper, Thomas Holton, Sedrick Huckaby, Anna Tsouhlarakis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisArgues that the modern subject did not emerge from psychoanalysis or existential philosophy but rather within early-twentieth-century Viennese portraiture.Trade Review“Catherine M. Soussloff has managed, in her philosophical and art historical reflections on the portrait in modernity, to bring important insights to our understanding of the relation between the individual and history. The ‘individual’ is the great enigma of modernist history. In focusing on the ‘subject’ in the individual as revealed and hidden in modern portraiture, Soussloff exposes many of the open secrets of modernist historical consciousness as well.”—Hayden White, Presidential Professor of Historical Studies, Emeritus, University of California and Professor of Comparative Literature, Stanford University“[B]y tracing the genealogy of a way of seeing and a means of comprehending art, this is a valuable contribution to both art history and the history of Judaism. For writers on art, this book re-emphasises the importance of portraiture. For those who work on Jewish life and thought, it stresses the ways in which paintings were used to express identity. Resting on real research and deep thought, The Subject in Art forces us to look again at some familiar images and to think again about the ways in which we approach them. For that, it is sincerely to be welcomed.” -- William Whyte * Journal of Modern Jewish Studies *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Subject in Art 1 1. A Genealogy of the Subject in the Portrait 5 2. The Birth of the Social History of Art 25 3. The Subject at Risk: Jewish Assimilation and Viennese Portraiture 57 4. Art Photography, Portraiture, and Modern Subjectivity 83 5. Regarding the Subject in Art History: An Epilogue 115 Notes 123 Bibliography 149 Illustration Credits 163 Index 167

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Book SynopsisExplores the relationship between fashion and power in Renaissance Italy, focusing on visual art and culture and the nature of aristocratic masculinity and patriarchal authority.Trade Review“With this vivid account of fifteenth-century fashion, McCall has given us thrilling new ways to interpret the politics, gender posturing, and art of Renaissance Italy. Bringing new light to such well-known historical figures and events—and from such a surprising angle and with so much delicacy in the details of the prose—is what makes Brilliant Bodies a remarkable achievement.”—Emanuele Lugli,author of The Making of Measure and the Promise of Sameness“Readers who worry that McCall’s book might be an academic affair directed toward art historians, costume scholars, archivists, and other specialists need not fear: the chapters are beautifully illustrated, the writing is accessible, the argument is clearly developed with a critical eye toward current debates on gender, identity, and the symbolic valorization of whiteness, or ‘brilliance,’ in the courts of early Renaissance Europe, where aristocratic men and women regularly bleached their hair blond, powdered their hands and faces white, and embellished their clothing with shimmering metallic threads and gems that made their bodies glow like the sun.”—Maria H. Loh Art in America“Readers who worry that McCall’s book might be an academic affair directed toward art historians, costume scholars, archivists, and other specialists need not fear: the chapters are beautifully illustrated, the writing is accessible, the argument is clearly developed with a critical eye toward current debates on gender, identity, and the symbolic valorization of whiteness.”—Maria H. Loh Art in America“Specialists have long awaited the publication of [McCall’s] book, which will turn into an instant classic in the field.”—Ulinka Rublack Journal of Design History“Lavishly illustrated and written in an accessible style, it is a must-read for anyone interested in dress or the Renaissance court.”—Sara van Dijk Virtus“Beautiful, provocative, and stylishly written.”—Charlotte F. Nichols Renaissance and Reformation

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Book SynopsisA fun how-to sketchbook for drawing portraits and selfies! Sketch Your Best Self is a quirky guide to drawing all kinds of faces – starting with your own! The book is split into four sections, covering the basics, how to draw faces, building bodies and selfie style. This comprises how to draw features, how to create different expressions, drawing bodies and limbs and lots of fun stuff including how to create a selfie in pop art style, full colour, monochrome and retro classics style. So pucker up for creating lips, decide if today is a good or bad hair day, practise some photobooth-style expressions, build your friends limb by limb, add some attitude, then try out the fun and whimsical drawing challenges with super fun pages based around Snapchat style filters. Don’t be left out – this beautiful book is fully inclusive and can be enjoyed by everyone!Trade ReviewThis lively book by artist, Amy Blackwell, is a fun guide to drawing portraits of yourself and your friends. Divided into four sections, Amy starts with Your Gave and includes information on composition, eyes, ears and nose before moving on to Beyond Basics. Here Amy shoes you how to handle expressions, create a style, sue pattern and make-up to best effect. The Entire Selfie looks at proportions, drawing hands and feet, accessories and shoes, and the final section, Selfie Styles, moves on to more stylistic exercises, working in black and white, colour, pattern overload, retro classics or creating a photo-booth effect. This is a fun, up-to-date book that will encourage teenagers and all young artists to look again at drawing their portraits. -- Leisure Painter * Leisure Painter *Sketch Your Best Self is a beautifully illustrated step-by-step guide to drawing yourself. It is ideal for both beginners and those wishing to develop their artistic abilities further. The blank spaces are ideal for sketching on, allowing you to compare styles. Both myself and my children (ages 15 and 10) have had great fun with this book. We highly recommend it. -- Customer Review * Customer Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction How to use this book Tools Part 1: Your Face Draw your face, Composition, Angles, Ears, Eyes, Noses, Mouth, Teeth Part 2: Beyond Basics Expressions, All smiles, Feeling icky, Creating style, Using pattern, Using colour, Makeup, Hair, Frames & sunnies, Introduce your selfie Part 3: Entire Selfie Proportions, Stretch or shrink, How to draw hands, How to draw feet, Boobs, bums & tums, Body confidence, Stance, Sports day, Sitting & reclining, Dressing room, Accessorize, Shoes, glorious shoes!, Scars & tattoos, My entire selfie Part 4: Selfie Style Black & white, Monochrome, Full colour, Pop art, Pattern overload!, Behaviour patterns, I, Robot, Mermaid, Life under the sea, Chibi: Kawaii!, Once upon a time, Dream team, Flower power, Friendship garden, Animal selfie, Hippie or vintage chic?, Retro classics, Cool girl, The man filter, Photo booth, Face paint, Glamazons, Dream come true Acknowledgments

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisIn Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces, artist and popular Skillshare instructor Amarilys Henderson shares her practical and creative techniques for drawing and painting faces with style and personality. Gathering supplies. Consider the creative possibilities of watercolor, ink, and markers, and create a mobile sketch pack so you can capture faces and expressions on the go. Simplifying the face and identifying proportions. Use photos to simplify the face’s key elements, learn about facial proportions and factors and variables for placing facial features, and apply these concepts through a simple warm up using a single color to paint a face in multiple values. Facial shapes and features. Learn about the five basic facial shapes and how to modify the chin line, ears, and hairline, and how to draw and paint mouths, eyes, and noses and make alterations to show pose and personality. Mixing color. The pigments and brushes you’ll need to achieve a wide range of realistic skin tones, shadows, and expressions. Bringing faces to life. Navigate the process from start to finish, learn to adjust line quality to suggest different genders and ethnicities, and change up artistic styling to put a unique spin on your creations. Project ideas. Get inspired by some cool ways to apply your new skills: party invitations, repeat patterns, comic books, and more! Don’t be intimidated by the challenge of drawing and painting faces. Improve your face game with Drawing and Painting Expressive Little Faces! Table of ContentsIntroduction The Approach The Portfolio 1 ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES Watercolors Inks Brushes Markers Papers 2 SIMPLIFYING THE FACE Shedding Intimidation The Darkest Darks Identifying Proportions Head Movements Symmetry Is Important (But Symmetry Is a Myth) 3 BUILDING A FACE Face Shapes Enhancing Shapes: Adding Chin and Ears Creating Eyes Drawing Eyes in Pencil Expressive Eyes Painting Eyes in Watercolor Painting a Set of Eyes Creating Noses Drawing Noses Painting Noses in Watercolor Creating Mouths Painting Mouths in Watercolor Painting an Open Smile Painting Expressions Depicting Hair Painting Hair, Step by Step 4 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER Painting a Monochrome Face Natural Skin Tones Faces in Full Color 5 PUMPING UP THE PERSONALITY Visual Diversity Painting Real People 6 NOT JUST DOODLES A Face-Infused Hobby: Urban Sketching Face-Focused Projects: Personalized Cards & Gifts Face-Filled Work Parting Words Resources Acknowledgments About the Author Index

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Book SynopsisEdvard Munch Portraits brings together 80 of Munch's most significant portraits, showcasing the wide array of styles, techniques and mediums that he employed. Edvard Munch (1863 1944) is widely regarded as one of the great artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although he was lesser known for portraiture, his portraits were central to his art and vision. During the course of his long life he made hundreds of portraits of friends, patrons, models and above all himself, in a range of media that encompassed painting, drawing and print. Edvard Munch Portraits explores the range of portraits Munch created during his lifetime, and by placing his work in the cultural and historical background of his period, provides readers with a greater understanding of the time in which his works were produced. This publication gives deep insight into the artist's family and bohemian social circles, along with his German and Norwegian patrons and the friends who helped establish his reputation.

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Book SynopsisThe popularity of the comic performers of late-Georgian and Regency England and their frequent depiction in portraits, caricatures and prints is beyond dispute, yet until now little has been written on the subject. In this unique study Jim Davis considers the representation of English low comic actors, such as Joseph Munden, John Liston, Charles Mathews and John Emery, in the visual arts of the period, the ways in which such representations became part of the visual culture of their time, and the impact of visual representation and art theory on prose descriptions of comic actors. Davis reveals how many of the actors discussed also exhibited or collected paintings and used painterly techniques to evoke the world around them. Drawing particularly on the influence of Hogarth and Wilkie, he goes on to examine portraiture as critique and what the actors themselves represented in terms of notions of national and regional identity.Table of ContentsPart I. English Comic Actors and their Representation: 1. The low comic actor; 2. Artists and comic actors; 3. Perspectives on comedy and comic acting; Part II. Humorous as a Sketch by Hogarth: 4. Comedy and caricature: Joseph Munden and Isabella Mattocks; 5. John Liston: caricaturing preachers and cockneys; 6. The low comedian as material object; 7. Caricature, degradation, persona and portraiture; 8. Paintings by George Clint; Part III. Chaste as a Picture by Wilkie: 9. Wilkie, everyday life and the theatre; 10. Acting from nature and observation; 11. John Bannister: 'the best kind of Englishman'; 12. John Emery: 'this Wilkie of Actors'; 13. Actors as artists and connoisseurs; Part IV. Alone I Did It! The Case of Charles Mathews: 14. Charles Mathews 'at home'; 15. Charles Mathews: paintings, portraits and prints; 16. The Harlow portrait of Charles Mathews.

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Book SynopsisThe brand new romcom from a New York Times bestseller, perfect for fans of Emily Henry''s BOOK LOVERS, THE SPANISH LOVE DECEPTION and THE UNHONEYMOONERS.Love isn''t blind, it''s just little blurry...Sadie Montgomery has had good breaks and bad breaks in her life, but as a struggling artist, all she needs is one lucky break. Things seem to be going her way when she lands one of the coveted finalist spots in a portrait competition. Only it happens to coincide with a minor surgery she needs to have...Upon recovery, it begins to dawn on Sadie that she can see everything around her, but she can no longer see faces.She doesn''t want anyone to know about her face blindness. Not Dr. Addison, the vet treating her beloved dog Peanut, and definitely not Joe, her obnoxious neighbor who always wears a bowling jacket and seems to know everyone in the building. He''s always there at the most embarrassing but convTrade ReviewThis emotional contemporary from Center tugs on the heartstrings and grabs attention. Portrait artist Sadie Montgomery, 28, may finally get her big break when she's selected to enter a prestigious competition. Unfortunately, the contest coincides with a minor medical procedure that turns into emergency brain surgery, and the recovery process leaves her unable to make sense of human faces. Though warned by her neuropsychiatrist that her (possibly) temporary face blindness may make her interpret her other senses incorrectly, Sadie works to get her painting back on track with the support of her best friend, Sue, and her neighbor, Joe, who she can only recognize from the bowling jacket he wears all the time. She also tries dating her hunky veterinarian, Dr. Addison, hoping a relationship will help her settle back into normal. But is she seeing the whole picture? Center takes Sadie's life seriously and her struggles with adulting resonate even before her face blindness sets in. Meanwhile, a dash of humor and an endearing love story make the pages fly. Readers will be hooked. * Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) *This charming, heartfelt romantic comedy has a well-told, unique storyline, and Sadie's prosopagnosia feels deftly explained, explored, and treated with respect. There's chemistry between the protagonists with a slow-burn relationship, but there's also a focus on Sadie's mental and emotional growth, as well as her artistic frustrations and problem-solving methods. Readers who enjoy Jenny Colgan and Susan Mallery will love this engaging, well-written romance from Center * Library Journal *The reigning queen of comfort reads * BookPage *

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Book SynopsisThe art of Donald Andrus defies categorization. Although principally known for his abstract paintings, Andrus has, throughout his career, combined his first love — drawing — with a deep engagement with colour, a desire for experimentation, a keen interest in the physical qualities of his materials, and the sensory experience of the viewer. Donald Andrus: The Shape of Desire brings together four major essays, including one by the artist, and more than eighty full-colour reproductions to assess a body of work that extends from abstract paintings to portraits. Roslyn Rosenfeld writes about Andrus’s early abstract work, Ihor Holubizky considers Andrus’s portraits, and Pan Wendt revisits Andrus’s contemporary abstract paintings. Taken together, the essays and images take full measure of the entirety of Andrus’s career and influences — from the landscapes of Greece and the poetry of George Seferis to the cinematic works of Andrei Tarkovsky and the pioneering work of contemporary German artists Gerhard Richter and Anselm Kiefer. Donald Andrus has been painting for over thirty-five years. His work has been exhibited at galleries and museums throughout Canada and may be found in both private and public collections. He has previously worked as a curator at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, as a lecturer at the University of New Brunswick, and as a professor of art history at Concordia University. Andrus now lives and works in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

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Book SynopsisStyle Legends, Rebels, and Visionaries is an inclusive and eclectic collection of 50 illustrated portraits by the immensely talented artist Bijou Karman. This curated collection of portraits features vintage and contemporary style legends such as Cher, Harry Styles, Grace Jones, Tilda Swinton, Diana Ross, Timothee Chalamet, and many more. Featuring a range of style luminaries-drawn from the heights of Hollywood glamour, the shining stars of the music industry, and the elite of fame and fashion-this collection is sure to delight a broad audience of fashion lovers. Each colorful and detailed portrait evokes the distinct sensibility of the unique and influential icon featured and includes an illuminating bio focusing on the sartorial choices of that legend, rebel, or visionary. Additionally, fashion insider Booth Moore provides an insightful introduction to this curated list of one-of-a-kind style icons. A FASHION BOOK WITH A UNIQUE VIEWPOINT: Bijou Karman's colorful and visually stunning illustrations and her distinct aesthetic bring a fresh perspective to viewing these celebrated individuals and their contributions to modern fashion. ARTUL FASHION ILLUSTRATION BOOK: A dazzling departure from fashion photography books or designer retrospectives, this gender- and age-inclusive collection is a curated take of iconoclasts known for their distinctive style. Includes Harry Styles, Tilda Swinton, Timothee Chalamet, Rihanna, Iris Apfel, David Bowie, Yayoi Kusama, and many more, celebrating the distinct fashion sensibility of each of these unique and beloved icons from the fields of music, fashion, art, cinema, and more. THE ULTIMATE GIFT FOR STYLE LOVERS: An introduction by a noted fashion industry insider gives additional insight into the style preferences and influences of each of the featured individuals. This text, paired with a sophisticated design package, makes this a beautiful gift or self-purchase to feature on a coffee table or shelve alongside favorite fashion design books. Perfect for: • Fashionistas • Art book lovers • Design enthusiastsl

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