Secular scenes in the arts Books

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.

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of food, ingestion, and digestion in the emerging field of the metabolic arts.Food appears everywhere in the arts. But what happens after viewers carry food away in the intestinal networks activated by social practice art, the same way digestion turns food into a body? Exploring the emerging field of metabolic arts, After Eating claims digestion and metabolism as key cultural, creative, and political processes that demand attention. Taking an artist-centered approach to nutrition, Lindsay Kelley cultivates a neglected middle ground between the everyday and the scientific, using metabolism as a lens through which to read and write about art.Divided into two parts and full of playful chapter titles such as “Food Babies” and “Poop Circus,” After Eating investigates multiple facets of the sociocultural implications of body image and body process in body art from the 1970s to the present. By engaging the notion of “after” as an artistic homage or tribute, metabolism moves beyond the cell to transform into a method for responding to the most difficult cultural, philosophical, and political challenges of the contemporary moment. Metabolic reading rethinks feminist, queer, bioart, installation, and performance projects, providing artists, students, and teachers new pathways into art theory.

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Book SynopsisExamines the intersections between Regionalist and Modernist paintings, photography, and film during the Great Depression, a period when the two approaches to art making were perhaps at their zenith.

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Book SynopsisIn Victorian England, virtually all women were taught to sew; needlework was allied with images of domestic economy and with traditional female roles of wife and mother- with home rather than factory. The professional seamstress, however, labored long hours for very small wages creating gowns for the upper and middle classes. In her isolation and helplessness, she provided social reformers with a powerful image of working-class suffering that appealed to the sensibilities of the upper classes and helped galvanize public opinion around the need for reform.Women, Work, and Representation addresses the use of that image in the reform movement, underscoring the shock to the Victorian public when reports revealed that the profession of needlework was extremely hazardous, even deadly.Author Lynn M. Alexander traces the development of the symbol of the seamstress through a variety of presentations, drawing from the writings of Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, CharlottTrade Review“A challenging and significant book. Its interdisciplinary focus on art and literature, its concentration on non-canonical as well as canonical texts, its emphasis on the periodical press, its use of victorian documents, and its important to gender studies render it an influential examination across the disciplines. Astute and incisive, it is a signal contribution to the cultural history of nineteenth-century Britain.”“Convincingly demonstrates the evolution of the ‘poor needlewoman’ from reformist documentation to symbol to Victorian cultural cliché. In addition to wide-ranging research, Alexander is good at close reading and at revealing the messages in artistic composition and iconology.”

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Heldt Prize for Best Book in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Women''s and Gender Studies 2021There was a discontent among Russian men in the nineteenth century that sometimes did not stem from poverty, loss, or the threat of war, but instead arose from trying to negotiate the paradoxical prescriptions for masculinity which characterized the era. Picturing Russia's Men takes a vital new approach to this topic within masculinity and art historical studies by investigating the dissatisfaction that developed from the breakdown in prevailing conceptions of manhood outside of the usual Western European and American contexts. By exploring how Russian painters depicted gender norms as they were evolving over the course of the century, each chapter shows how artworks provide unique insight into not only those qualities that were supposed to predominate, but actually did in lived practice.Drawing on a wide variety of source material, including previously untranslaTrade ReviewEngaging with a remarkable spectrum of behaviors, expectations, violations, and stereotypes, this book generates new understanding of masculinity and modernity by considering paintings as revelatory, questioning, and even constitutive of what it meant to be a man during a turbulent half-century of imperial rule. * Rosalind P. Blakesley, Professor of Russian and European Art, University of Cambridge, UK *By exploring the myths and pressures of masculinity that shaped male experience in Imperial Russia after Napoleon, Allison Leigh offers compelling new perspectives on five of Russia’s best-known nineteenth century painters. Beautifully illustrated, full of incisive new readings of familiar paintings, Picturing Russia’s Men excavates the innumerable ways in which the institutions of academy, army, and family shaped the male artist’s identity and output. With its blend of close reading, theoretical sophistication, and wide-ranging research, this fine study brilliantly dispels the common misperception that there is little more to be said about Russian painting of the nineteenth century. * Wendy Salmond, Professor of Art History, Chapman University, USA *An important and eye-opening contribution to the Slavic field and our studies of modernism in Russia. Through an examination of male portraiture, it traces the breakdown, between 1825 and 1881, of various myths surrounding masculinity—from the solid heroic code of virtuous, courageous manhood to the ambiguities of doubt-ridden individualism. * Elizabeth K. Valkenier, Resident Scholar, Harriman Institute, Columbia University, USA *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Translations Introduction Part 1: Autocratic Masculinity 1. Karl Briullov: Fathers, Brothers, Husbands, and Sons 2. Pavel Fedotov: Comrade—Captain—Artist Part 2: Homosociality and Homoeroticism 3. Alexander Ivanov: Desire and the Male Nude 4. The Artel of Artists: Envisioning the Bonds of Men Part 3: Modern Women and their Wounded Men 5. Ivan Kramskoi: Painting Women—Known and Unknown 6. Ilia Repin: On Masculine Vulnerability Conclusion Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPlace of refuge, place where we can be ourselves; place we long to escape from, place where we are confronted by absence and loneliness; shabby downtown apartment or idyllic country cottage. Like it or loathe it, home is where we do most of our living. Home is, of course, many things to many poets. It is Billy Collins's favourite armchair and Imtiaz Dharker's 'Living Space' in the slums of Mumbai. It is Wordsworth's 'dear Valley' of Grasmere, and Philip Larkin's Coventry, that place where nothing so famously happens. It may be somewhere we long for, perhaps unattainably: Ovid and Mahmoud Darwish lament their home countries, Kapka Kassabova seeks 'a house we can never find', while Jules Supervielle is 'Homesick for the Earth'.There is an abundance of domestic life. Attend a miserable breakfast chez Jacques Prévert; observe Wendy Cope and partner happily 'Being Boring'. Cut to Anna Barbauld's washing-day, Marilyn Nelson dusting, Buson mending his clothes and Fiona Wright contending with a Tupperware party. Peep in on Amy Lowell in the bath and John Donne in bed, Auden in the privy and Joy Harjo at the kitchen table. Here are removals and homecomings, neighbours good and bad. Inevitably, after a year of enforced domesticity, some lockdown thoughts (Anna McDonald, Pauline Prior-Pitt); Mary Oliver's dream house, Naomi Shihab Nye's homes where children live, the far-from-safe houses of U. A. Fanthorpe, and some final reflections on the idea of a dwelling place from Rumi, Emily Dickinson, John Burnside, Vinita Agrawal, Derek Walcott, Les Murray and Iman Mersal. It may not always be sweet, but there is certainly No Place Like Home.

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Book SynopsisIn 2015, David Pollock began a series of drawings on his sketchbooks and photographs from 30 years of travelling. This book includes these studio paintings, as well as images from the sketchbooks, depicting people and places in the Balkans, Botswana, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Peru, Italy, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.Trade ReviewDavid Pollock is striking out on his own; and we have the genesis of a Pollockian world. This collection gives us many finely honed images emanating from that world.

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Book SynopsisAnthony Green's idiosyncratic art is anchored in one central theme: family. It forms the core of his immediately recognisable work, revealing an intrinsic connection between his personal and artistic lives. The pictures in Green's mind have no edges, so his paintings are not contained within a traditional shape. They have irregularly shaped supports, reflecting the unpredictable range of situations and emotions that characterise family life. Green has exhibited across the globe, and was shortlisted for the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1996. A distinguished and long-serving Royal Academician, Green has exhibited at every Summer Exhibition for the last five decades. He was elected ARA in 1971 and RA in 1977, after winning that year's Summer Exhibit of the Year. He served for some years as Chairman of the RA's Exhibitions Committee. He lives and works in Cambridgeshire.Table of ContentsPreface and essay by Martin Bailey; plate section; endmatter including a family tree, chronology, a section on Green's exhibitions, public collections of his work, works included in RA Summer Exhibitions, Further Reading and a Catalogue Raisonne of paintings.

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Book SynopsisTaking its lead from W.H. Hunt’s watercolour The Head Gardener, c. 1825, that is part of The Courtauld Gallery’s permanent collection, this focused display will be first to investigate Hunt’s depiction of rural figures in his work of the 1820s and 1830s. Consisting of twenty drawings borrowed from collections across the United Kingdom, William Henry Hunt: Country People will bring together watercolours depicting country people in their working or living environments, from farmer and gamekeeper to stonebreaker and gleaner. The representation of these country men, women and children, closely observed, raises questions about their status and way of life at a time of rapid agricultural and social change. These profound changes are also reflected in the literature of the period. William Henry Hunt was one of the most admired watercolourists of the 19th century. Better known as `Bird’s Nest Hunt’ for his intricate still lives of flowers, fruit and birds’ eggs, he exhibited prolifically at the Old Water Colour Society. His works were sought after by collectors, notably John Ruskin, a serious champion of his work.’ William Henry Hunt: Country People is the latest in a series of books accompanying critically acclaimed Courtauld displays, which showcase aspects of the gallery’s outstanding permanent collection.

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Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s most beautiful cities is celebrated through the talents of artist Fabrice Moireau Florence, the capital of Tuscany, cradle of the Renaissance and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, unfolds in this book its architectural wealth, its emblematic monuments as well as its popular neighborhoods. From churches to museums, from gardens to palaces and from small squares to winding streets, Fabrice Moireau paints a vivid portrait of the city of the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci and Dante Alighieri.

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Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s most beautiful cities is celebrated through the talents of artist Fabrice Moireau In Rome, the only guide is the curiosity of the places, the monuments, the sculptures, which Fabrice Moireau reveals to us in watercolors. Rome the ancient, Rome the imperial, Rome the baroque, but also Rome the present, are sublimated under the brush and the pen of the two authors, who invite us to discover the masterpieces of the "eternal city".

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Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s most beautiful regions is celebrated through the talents of artist Fabrice Moireau When, at the end of the Middle Ages, the kings of France settled in the Loire Valley, they found a very mild climate and began to build castles that would gradually become one of the most harmonious residential complexes in Europe. This book invites you to discover these cultural landscapes that have allowed the Loire Valley to be inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list. The intimate work of the two authors, who know the region so well, has given them the opportunity to capture the emotions they have accumulated over the years and to show their favorite places, off the beaten track.

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Book SynopsisBooks on Paris are legion, but there is virtually none devoted to its rooftops and the vistas they look out into. Rooftops of Paris is an invitation to travel to a new and unfamiliar territory in a city filled with time-honoured historical and cultural icons that many are so familiar with. This volume of quirky but charming artwork, which provides a view of Paris as seen from its rooftops, represents the creative efforts of French illustrator Fabrice Moireau and Belgian writer Carl Norac. Moireau has undertaken a close study of Paris, surveying it at rooftop level with an entomologist’s eye for detail. In this book, he captures in watercolour the city’s lesser-known nooks and crannies, alongside the famous landmarks, offering unusual angles and new ways of seeing an iconic city. This other side of Paris – this levitated, almost unreal world – is an extravagant mass of ingenious shapes and forms that give protection from rain, wind and architectural monotony. The captions accompanying the paintings are rendered in Moireau’s own handwriting while the evocative and poetical text was crafted by Norac, an award-winning poet, playwright and author of children’s books. The writer goes beyond prosaic description to capture some of the wild and poetic imaginings inspired by these rooftops.

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Book SynopsisNo other large city is more rewarding to wander around, with a wealth of interesting things to see, both grand and intimate in scale. Watercolor painter Graham Byfield set out to capture the essence of the place, and his impressions are recorded in the London Sketchbook Britain’s capital is varied and cosmopolitan. It has no formally planned centre; each area has its own particular style and atmosphere. Central London is the setting for parliament, royal palaces, formal squares and grand hotels. The City is the financial district, but it is also rich in architecture, including Sir Christopher Wren’s greatest work. Much was destroyed here in the Second World War; but the City has seen a flowering of daring and innovative modern architecture, contrasting with the sober mass of the Tower of London, parts of it nearly a thousand years old. Byfield savours the village-like atmosphere of Hampstead and Islington to the north, and the 19th-century residential and museum areas of the west, from Chelsea and Kensington up to Notting Hill and Bayswater. For many people, including many Londoners, much that lies south of the River Thames is undiscovered territory, but the London Sketchbook shows not only the formal splendors of Greenwich, but also the terraced houses of Stockwell and Battersea, and the adaptation of great industrial buidlings such as the Bankside Power Station, now the Tate Modern art gallery. The sketches are accompanied by notes handwritten by the artist. There is an introduction on London, its history and its buildings by the architectural writer and conservationist Marcus Binney, who has also contributed a Gazetteer with more detailed information on the buildings shown in the book.

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Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s most beautiful cities is celebrated through the talents of artist Fabrice Moireau His images capture the history and romance of Paris, highlighting the contrasts of the French capital: its grand public buildings and intimate private houses, majestic avenues and narrow lanes. Visit the Louvre, Beaubourg, Orsay, Picasso, La Villette and Rodin Museums; the historic Places de la Concorde, des Vosges, des Victoires and du Palais Royal. Tour the colourful markets around Paris, enjoy the exquisite Tuileries, Monceau, Luxembourg and Montsouris gardens and discover the individuals who helped shape Paris. Paris Sketchbook is divided into four parts: North, West, South and East, each section of the city revealing its own character and unveiling its own secrets.

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Book SynopsisOne of Europe’s most beautiful cities is celebrated through the talents of artist Fabrice Moireau Venice, a mosaic of over 100 islands, many connected by the 400 bridges which span its famous canals, is possibly the most romantic city in the world. It began as a village in the marshes and grew into a formidable sea power, dubbed the Queen of the Adriatic. Now its fading glories - the canals and palaces, monuments and churches — battle with the elements, yet remain breathtakingly beautiful. Artist Fabrice Moireau showcases Venice's grand attractions and hidden charms through his watercolour paintings and pencil sketches.

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Book SynopsisParis and its gardens is no less beautiful than its streets, squares and palaces, and Paris without its gardens would not be the most visited capital in the world. Few large cities can boast such a rich variety of gardens as Paris. The picturesque rubs shoulders with the geometric, the most modern designs stand side by side with the ancient layouts and manners, and exotic species have been so well acclimatized that they have become commonplace. This is without forgetting the innumerable private gardens, sometimes reduced to a window box on a balcony, sometimes vast and secret. Such is the prodigy that a two-thousand-year-old culture has managed to accomplish.

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Book SynopsisIn this multi-award-winning study, Joanna Olchawa sheds light on the extraordinary utensil type known as aquamanile, watering vessels for the religious hand-washing rite. The detailed research not only on Christian, but also on Islamic works leads to a new view of the bronze utensils of the Middle Ages. Lions, dragons or even women on horseback–figurative watering vessels for the hand-washing rite, which are referred to by the modern term as 'aquamaniles', have been enjoying great public attention for several years. They are admired for their shiny gold bronze, their technically sophisticated production and their unusual shapes. More astonishing is the lack of academic research into the form. With her dissertation, Joanna Olchawa presents basic research on aquamaniles. The catalogue includes detailed studies of the objects not only from West Central Europe and Hungary (12th–13th centuries), but also from the Islamic regions for the first time. Based on this catalogue, Joanna Olchawa approaches questions about the genesis of the form in West Central Europe, the dissemination of knowledge about its production and its significance in Islamic as well as Christian ceremonies and comes to new, surprising results.

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Book SynopsisThough numbering just 35 known works, the œuvre of Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) is hailed as one of the most important and inspiring portfolios in art history. His paintings have prompted a New York Times best seller, a film starring Scarlett Johansson, and record visitor numbers at art institutions from Amsterdam to Washington. Vermeer’s subjects focus on daily domestic activities, from letter writing to music playing to preparations in the kitchen. The scenes astound with their meticulous detail, majestic planes of light, and with Vermeer’s extraordinary ability to draw out narrative intrigues. In such beloved paintings as Lady Standing at a Virginal, A Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid and, most famously, the enigmatic, wide-eyed, and enchanting Girl with a Pearl Earring, Vermeer evokes not only the effects of substance and texture, but also the many stories and secrets that reside beneath the surface. Featuring all Vermeer’s known works and succinct, accessible texts, this essential introduction explores Vermeer’s leading place in art history and his unique ability to transform oil paint into a living, breathing scene of human life.

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Book SynopsisThe stomach is not only the way to the heart. In a humorous way, the cookbook by Gabriele Edlbauer and Julia S. Goodman, two artists living and working in Vienna, addresses complex feelings and hard truths through chicken recipes. Similar to Engagement Chicken, published by US cookbook author Ina Garten, the 18 recipes in If You Can't Say It with Words, Say It with Chicken are designed to help readers communicate emotionally difficult announcements.In developing the book, the authors were inspired by their very different cultural backgrounds. Julia Goodman's ancestors were mostly Eastern European Jews who emigrated to the USA at the beginning of the 20th century. Gabriele Edlbauer on the other hand grew up on an organic farm in the predominantly Catholic Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria. The artists worked together to create not only the recipes, but also the props, sculptures, and tableware. In order to highlight the emotions associated with these dishes, the meals were staged in various culinary locations, some of them very unconventional: for example, in a sterile doctor's surgery in Vienna or in a friend's dimly lit bathroom.The result is a book filled with emotional recipes. Accompanied by creative serving suggestions, it invites you to express yourself through chicken!

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