Search results for ""Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd""

A richly illustrated exploration of the impact of South Asian Miniature painting on contemporary art. This book tells the dynamic story of contemporary art’s engagement with the miniature painting traditions of South Asia from the sixteenth century onwards, and the role of Britain in these developments. This is the first publication to address this remarkable painting tradition on a transhistorical and transnational scale. Readers are invited to admire the formal, technical and conceptual innovations of some of the most exciting historic and contemporary artists from South Asia, while reflecting on questions of culture and power in the entangled histories of empire and globalization. Many of the greatest collections of South Asian paintings are held in Britain, and some of the pivotal encounters that shaped this story happened in London. The process of these acquisitions and their central role within British and South Asian art histories are explored in this book. The book also demonstrates how the traditions of South Asian miniature painting have been reclaimed and reinvented by modern and contemporary artists, exploding beyond the pages of illuminated manuscripts to experimental forms that include installation, sculpture and film. While miniature painting represented a strand of cultural resistance to colonial rule in the early twentieth century, artists continue to find contemporary relevance in the possibilities offered by this tradition. Beyond the Page is richly illustrated with historic works from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Bodleian Library and the Royal Collection Trust. It also features work by artists from different generations working in dialogue with the miniature tradition, including Hamra Abbas, David Alesworth, Nandalal Bose, Noor Ali Chagani, Lubna Chowdhary, Adbur Rahman Chughtai, Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin, N.S. Harsha, Howard Hodgkin, Ali Kazim, Bhupen Khakhar, Jess MacNeil, Imran Qureshi, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Mohan Samant, Nilima Sheikh, the Singh Twins, Shahzia Sikander and Abanindranath Tagore.

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Based on new research, this profusely illustrated book draws together for the first time a group of works from public and private collections to examine the relationship that Thomas Gainsborough had with the theatrical world and the most celebrated stage artists of his day. Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88) was linked with the stage through personal friendships with James Quin, David Garrick and Sarah Siddons, the most renowned actors of the eighteenth century. He painted notable portraits of these and twenty others, including dramatists, dancers and composers. Not long after Gainsborough moved from Bath to London in 1774, the management of the Drury Lane theatre passed to the artist's friends Richard Brinsley and Thomas Linley. At this time, London's theatres were undergoing regular refurbishment to take account of technical innovations in lighting and stage machinery. At the King's Theatre in Haymarket in 1778, the 'elegant improvements' included frontispiece figures emblematic of Music and Dancing, and were painted in monochrome by Gainsborough. This publication firmly establishes the artist’s place within the theatrical worlds of Bath and London and shows why the art of ballet, and in particular Gainsborough’s sitters Gaetan Vestris, Auguste Vestris and Giovanna Baccelli, rose to prominence in 1780. It examines parallels between Gainsborough’s much admired painterly naturalism and the theatrical naturalism of David Garrick and Mrs Siddons, with whom he had personal friendships.

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Lavishly illustrated, this book presents comprehensive entries for each of the tapestries in the Burrell CollectionNew research by an international team of experts details how, where, when and why these tapestries were made. By analysing their raw materials and identifying the quirks of their weavers' techniques, by exploring their subject matter and design sources, occasionally linking them with named designers and weavers, and by discussing their original patrons and owners, each of the entries unveils the unique treasures within the Burrell's tapestry collection.This is an informative survey of medieval, Renaissance and early modern European tapestries, including key examples from all the major production centres, celebrating the medium's significance and appeal for its original audiences. The collection's remarkable survival, remaining together as a group, also provides an unparalleled opportunity to enjoy the tastes, and the opportunities, available to an enlightened early

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Joseph de Levis and Company tells the compelling story of an Italian family of sixteenth-century Jewish bronze-artists. Between 1577 and 1605, Joseph de Levis applied his distinctive signature to a whole range of fantastic Mannerist bronze artefacts, some 45 in all. They range from large church-bells - some still in situ - and miniature table-bells, to mortars, inkstands, perfume-burners, door-knockers, firedogs, statuettes, and even a portrait-bust. Joseph's sons and nephews continued the family business into the seventeenth century, signing a similar range of artefacts in an early Baroque style. Around this core of guaranteed work a corpus of reasonable attributions may be made on stylistic and circumstantial grounds, giving a total of 140 items. The book provides a unique cross-section of the production of a hard-working and resilient renaissance foundry. Frequently inscriptions and coats-of-arms specify a wide-ranging clientele, from civic and church authorities, to guilds and confraternities (all-important in society at the time), nobility, merchants and connoisseur-collectors. Bronzes by the De Levis dynasty are now dispersed among museums in Europe, the USA and Israel. They are also found in Old Master collections, notably that of the late Robert H. Smith, whose foundation purchased in 2002 the eye-catching Ewer from the Salomon de Rothschild Foundation in Paris for GBP276,000. This well-illustrated catalogue raisonne is important both art-historically and from the perspective of the Jewish Diaspora in Renaissance Italy.

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The UK Winner of the Entertaining category of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2020, Feast and Fast explores our evolving relationship with food with treasures from the Fitzwilliam Museum. Food defines us as individuals, communities, and nations — we are what we eat and, equally, what we don’t eat. When, where, why, how and with whom we eat are crucial to our identity. This title presents novel approaches to understanding the history and culture of food and eating in early modern Europe. This richly illustrated book will showcase hidden and newly-conserved treasures from the Fitzwilliam Museum and other collections in and around Cambridge. It will tease out many contemporary and controversial issues — such as the origins of food and food security, overconsumption in times of austerity, and our relationship with animals and nature – through short research-led entries by some of the world’s leading cultural and food historians. This book explores food-related objects, images, and texts from the past in innovative ways and encourages us to rethink our evolving relationship with food.

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This survey of Lawrence’s first twenty-five years tells the story of an exceptional artist growing up at the end of the century as Britain created its own unique artistic voice. Like his Renaissance predecessors Raphael, Michelangelo and Dürer, the young Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was considered to be a boy genius. He first came to public attention when he was cited in a scientific paper on ‘early genius in children’; shortly afterwards his family moved to Bath where the eleven-year-old was kept busy making likenesses of the spa town’s fashionable visitors. By 1790, Lawrence's spectacular portraits were the most applauded works in the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition, which opened days before his twenty-first birthday. The book considers the young artist’s self-image as a prodigy, the impact of Bath’s rich cultural life on his formation, the rapid development of his painting technique following his move to London, and his use of celebrity, print media and the Royal Academy to grow his reputation. Particular attention is given to Lawrence’s perceptive depictions of old age and bold celebrations of youthful energy. His portraits from this time present a fascinating glimpse of British high society at the turn of a memorable century: they include celebrities such as the Duchess of Devonshire, Emma Hamilton and actresses Sarah Siddons and Elizabeth Farren, as well as political leaders, members of the Bluestocking circle and the Royal Family. The book accompanied a major exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath and includes previously unpublished works as well as some of Lawrence’s most brilliant masterpieces.

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Chinese wallpaper has been an important element of western interior decoration for three hundred years. As trade between Europe and China flourished in the seventeenth century, Europeans developed a strong taste for Chinese art and design. The stunningly beautiful wall coverings now known as `Chinese wallpaper’ were developed by Chinese painting workshops in response to western demand. In spite of their spectacular beauty, Chinese wallpapers have not been studied in any depth until relatively recently. This book provides an overview of some of the most significant Chinese wallpapers surviving in the British Isles. Sumptuously illustrated, it shows how these wallpapers became a staple ingredient of high-end interiors while always retaining a touch of the exotic.

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A beautifully illustrated catalogue bringing cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale Junior out of the shadow of his father. The Chippendale cabinet-making firm, founded by Thomas Chippendale Senior in about 1750, became famous partly through the successful publication of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754, re-published 1755 and 1762), but also through the fine furniture supplied to a number of illustrious clients. Chippendale Senior ran the workshop for just over twenty years and his eldest son, Thomas Chippendale Junior, continued the business for over forty years; the first two decades in partnership with Thomas Haig. Chippendale Senior's work has been well-documented but Chippendale Junior's work has never, until now, been thoroughly researched. The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior repairs this omission. His patrons included members of the Royal Family, aristocrats, landed gentry and antiquarians; he was adept at satisfying their demands, whether they required lavish gilt or simpler, often mahogany, pieces. Where family archives and original settings survive, as at Harewood House, Paxton House and Stourhead, they reveal the variety and quality of Chippendale's output. An analysis of client's invoices, even when the furniture can no longer be traced, for the first time provides a colourful view of what customers chose and what prices they paid.

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Exhibiting the mastery of the gem-engraver from prehistory to the present, Masterpieces in Miniature offers a survey of the finest products of the gems craft over millennia. The creation of miniature intaglios - or incised carvings - which could be impressed on clay or wax was one of the earliest crafts of civilisation. To this the Greeks added relief cameos, while comparable skills were lavished on the decoration of metal finger rings. These artefacts record subjects of significance for their period and place but are also the direct expression of an artist's skills and imagination. Engraved gems were collected first by the ancient Romans and then throughout the Renaissance were a source for knowledge of `classical' subjects and styles, when they were copied - from Michelangelo to Rubens - by the foremost artists of the day. There was a strong revival of the craft in the Neo-classical period of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when European collectors - many undertaking their Grand Tour of the continent - made new collections, several of which form the basis for those held in major museums today. The gemstones explored and illustrated here are from a distinguished collection made in the earlier twentieth century by a notable connoisseur of ancient art. Many originate from named older European collections and were previously unknown to scholars and collectors. The authors offer a balanced selection of earlier eastern and Greek stones, alongside others from the Neo-classical era, that will delight all lovers of antiquity and art.

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The Years in France is a wealth of new information of crucial importance to collectors, dealers, art historians and public institutions, while providing an extraordinary visual record of the most creative and productive period of Van Gogh's career. Vincent van Gogh's tumultuous final years were the climax of his career as a colourist. In France he reached a sustained height of expression and created a prodigious quantity of work, the importance of which is incontestable. In the landscapes, portraits and still lifes from this period, the intensity and singularity of vision finds its apotheosis. Presented here is a comprehensive illustrated catalogue of Van Gogh's paintings executed between 1886 and 1890 in Paris, Arles, Saint-Remy and Auvers-sur-Oise. Each of some 580 works from that time is reproduced in full colour and appears in related scale to its original size. All known provenance is given. For the first time the paintings recorded in early documents like the Andries Bonger Inventory List of 1890 and the 1905 Amsterdam Exhibition are fully identified. This book promises to be one of the most significant and enduring contributions to the understanding of this artist.

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Essays from four women who have engaged closely with Christina Broom's work explore and contextualise her imagery to reveal the compelling story of the women behind the lens. In 1903 a self-taught novice photographer, Christina Broom, turned to photography as a business venture to support her family. From this modest beginning, she was to emerge as Britain's acknowledged pioneer woman press photographer. Unconventionally for women photographers of the time, Broom took her camera to the streets and recorded arresting and historically important images of Suffragettes, sporting events, royal occasions and World War I soldiers. She developed a significant enterprise in picture postcards, which she published from her home in Fulham, London, till her death in 1939. Despite her camera's presence at many significant historical events and her importance to press photography, Christina Broom's achievements have, to date, been underappreciated. This, the first publication on her life and work, redresses that neglect. The book also illuminates the vital role of her dedicated assistant and daughter, Winifred, without whom Broom's substantial contribution to photography might have been lost. Broom's remarkable work celebrating her personal journey, approach and skill is showcased through many rich photographs drawn from the Museum of London's fine collection of her plate glass negatives and prints which reflect her visual style and spectrum of subjects. The book accompanied the exhibition of the same name at Museum of London Docklands.

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The first retrospective of artist Francis 'Frank' Montague Holl, one of the great painters of the Victorian era. Francis 'Frank' Montague Holl (1845-1888) was notable for his tragic social realism as well as his penetrating portraits. Although highly respected in his lifetime, his early death meant that he never fully received the acclaim that his work merited. Holl was a prodigiously talented artist who entered the the Royal Academy Schools at the age of fifteen, where he won a gold medal for religious painting in 1863. A year later, two of his paintings were accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy where he showed work regularly until his death. He was also commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint No Tidings from the Sea. Holl became part of an informal school of social-realist painting that flourished during the 1870s. Its aim was to draw attention to the everyday conditions of the working classes and the poor, and to implicitly criticise the social structures that maintained such conditions. His great subject pictures, often on bleak themes, were frequently criticised for their darkness but found great favour with the public, who empathised with his depictions. Funeral processions, child mortality and grief were very much part of life and his emotive images struck a chord with his audience. In 1879, when Holl exhibited a portrait of the engraver Samuel Cousins at the Royal Academy, it created a sensation. In the nine years of life that remained he painted over 150 portraits: some of the greatest of his age-achievements which can be seen on a par with those of Watts and Millais. His influence was felt in his lifetime and later through the work of Van Gogh, who greatly admired Holl. Exploring in parallel the subject paintings and he portraits, this book considers the importance of Holl's output and his continued relevance today. Leading scholars in the field look at different aspects of Holl's painting, while full catalogue entries examine certain works in detail.

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A superb classical painter and draughtsman, Armstrong also undertook much work in film, theatre, and ballet, as well as being a successful designer of ceramics and murals. As a painter he has often been associated with the surrealists, especially after becoming a member of Unit One, a group formed by his contemporary Paul Nash in 1933 to promote modern art, architecture, and design, although his work resists any easy categorization. Armstrong was also a committed supporter of the Labour party, contributing designs to its election leaflets in 1945, and an active political campaigner. The first major study of Armstrong's work, the book draws on new and unpublished research that puts into context the highly original vision of a strongly independent and imaginative artist waiting to be rediscovered.

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Showing the wide range of Carl Laubin's work, this book presents him as one of the finest architectural painters of all time. It follows the development of the architectural capriccio from the earlier incorporation of whimsical ideas in Laubin's paintings to the more elaborate architectural compositions based on the buildings of Wren, Hawksmoor, Cockerell and Ledoux. This book is published in associaton with Plus One Galleries, the leading dealers in Photorealist art.

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This is a comprehensive catalogue of the important collection of Indian art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a celebration of the diverse cultures that coexist in India. An introductory essay is followed by the art objects presented in four sections according to the traditional forms of Indian art: sculpture, painting, decorative arts and textiles. The sections on sculpture and painting are further subdivided chronologically according to stylistic periods; the decorative arts and textiles, most of which date from around 1650 to 1900, are grouped by medium (make, metalwork, wool, cotton etc).

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Since the mid-1990s, the republic of Croatia has taken its place among the independent nations of Europe, and its strong cultural identity is becoming better understood. As a result, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, based in Zagreb, has embarked on a five-volume history of Croatian culture, commissioning essays on the arts and sciences from over 100 leading specialists in the field. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the relationship between Croatia and Western Europe was very close, with many important artists moving freely between them. Visitors to Zagreb and the Dalmatian Coast have long enjoyed the opportunity of sampling the enormous wealth and variety of Croatian art and architecture, and these volumes seek to make the achievements of this ancient but often misunderstood area of Europe accessible. This is the first volume, presenting 30 essays charting the period from the seventh to the twelfth century. Illustrated with colour plates, maps, plans & diagrams, it provides a resource for all those seeking to gain a broad understanding of the medieval world in Central Europe and the Adriatic region before the Ottoman invasions.

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This book explores the rich literary character and rhetorical strategies of Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, which tells the story of Italian art as it unfolded from its beginnings in the fourteenth century to its pinnacle in Michelangelo and the art of the Academy in the mid-sixteenth century. The contributors of Reading Vasari propose ways to understand Vasari's text in the light of recent disputes over what is fact, fiction, or biography, and who may have read Vasari's editions when they were first published. The book isolates and analyses select threads from Vasari's luxurious textual tapestry: these range from architecture, cosmology and philosophy to biography, comedy, elegy and travelogue.

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An important illustrated history of the relationship between Cambridge and the Black Atlantic. Between 1400 and 1900, European powers, not least Britain, colonised the Americas and transported over 12.5 million people from sub-Saharan Africa as slaves. The contested space, formed by the interactions of multiple people and cultures, both Black and white, we now call the Black Atlantic. Cambridge and Cambridgeshire played a key role in this international narrative – a story of commerce, profit and colonialism, of opinion-forming, and of struggle. Through the lens of historic artworks, artefacts and natural history specimens, this book and the exhibition it accompanies analyse the rise and growth of enslavement, the profits made by Dutch and British traders and plantation-owners, the power of images, the knowledge produced by enslaved people, histories of resistance movements and the consequences of these events today. Works by contemporary makers challenge long-held assumptions, address erasures, and create alternative narratives of repair, freedom and justice.

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A handsomely illustrated monograph that examines in depth Rubens’s two greatest landscape paintings: A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning and The Rainbow Landscape. Painted as pendants, the pair of paintings have been in London since 1803. This book presents an updated and almost complete history of the provenance of the two works, describing their passage through eminent collections from the time of Rubens’s death until they reached their respective collections. Separated by less than a mile, the former eventually entered the collection of the National Gallery and the latter the Wallace Collection. The book puts the creation of these two landscapes into the full context of Rubens’s later life and his semi-retirement. It demonstrates how they are the zenith of his achievements as a landscape painter and explores how he drew skilfully on Flemish influences, including Bruegel, in creating two highly original compositions. Written to engage and appeal to the non-specialist reader and academic alike, the book makes an important contribution to scholarship in the field, including original technical research and new photography that show how these complex compositions evolved iteratively as the panels onto which they were painted were expanded.

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Published to coincide with the first UK exhibition of these masterworks at The Wallace Collection, Forgotten Masters celebrates the work of a series of extraordinary Indian artists. As the East India Company extended its sway across India in the late eighteenth century, many remarkable artworks were commissioned by Company officials from Indian painters who had previously worked for the Mughals. Each had their own style, tastes and agency, and all of them worked for British patrons between the 1770s and the bloody end of the Mughal rule in 1857. Edited by writer and historian William Dalrymple, these hybrid paintings explore both the beauty of the Indian natural world and the social realities of the time in one hundred masterpieces, often of astonishing brilliance and originality. They shed light on a forgotten moment in Anglo-Indian history during which Indian artists responded to European influences while keeping intact their own artistic visions and styles. These artists represent the last phase of Indian artistic genius before the onset of the twin assaults - photography and the influence of western colonial art schools - ended an unbroken tradition of painting going back two thousand years. As these masterworks show, the greatest of these painters deserve to be remembered as among the most remarkable Indian artists of all time.

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A beautifully illustrated exploration of the impact of Chinese and Japanese material culture on the historic houses and gardens of Britain and Ireland. The art and ornament of China and Japan have had a deep impact in the British Isles. From the seventeenth century onwards, the design and decoration of interiors and gardens in Britain and Ireland was profoundly influenced by the importation of Chinese and Japanese luxury goods, while domestic designers and artisans created their own fanciful interpretations of ‘oriental’ art. Those hybrid styles and tastes have traditionally been known as chinoiserie and japonisme, but they can also be seen as elements of the wider and still very relevant phenomenon of orientalism, or the way the West sees the East. Illustrated with a wealth of new photography and published in association with the National Trust, Borrowed Landscapes is an engaging survey of orientalism in the Trust's historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Drawing on new research, Emile de Bruijn demonstrates how elements of Chinese and Japanese culture were simultaneously desired and misunderstood, dismembered and treasured, idealised and caricatured.

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A sequel to Winifred Nicholson: Liberation of Colour, this book is the first monograph on this highly talented artist who deserves to be better known. This book explores the career of the St Ives artist Kate Nicholson, daughter of Ben and Winifred Nicholson. The contents range from her early landscapes, to the still lifes painted in Cumberland and St Ives, the abstracts – many of them inspired by her travels in Greece – to the late works made on the Isle of Eigg in the Hebrides. Also examined is her artistic relationship with her mother, with whom she painted side-by-side in Cumberland and Scotland, and on their many Greek travels. It discusses her creative relationship with her father with whom she lived in St Ives in the mid-1950s for two years, as well as her friendship with many of the St Ives artists and her role in the Penwith Society. Published to accompany the exhibition Kate Nicholson at Falmouth Art Gallery, this book illustrates many works from both public and private collections. It draws on ground-breaking new research, together with the author’s experience of travelling with Nicholson on painting trips.

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Lavishly illustrated with new photography, Fringe, Frog and Tassel is the first survey of the history, design and use of trimmings in the historic interiors of Britain and Ireland. Trimmings are often overlooked as mere details of a furnished interior. However, in the past they were seen as vital and costly elements in the decoration of a room. They were used not only on curtains and beds but also on wall hangings, upholstered seat furniture and cushions, providing a visual feast for the eye with their colour and intricate detail. Sometimes more expensive than the rich fabrics they enhanced, trimmings are often the only surviving evidence of a lost decorative scheme, reapplied to replacement textiles or found as fragments in the attic. This book, the first of its kind, traces their history in Britain and Ireland from 1320 to 1970, examining the design and usage of tassels, fringe, braid (woven lace), gimp and cord and their dependence on French fashion. The substantial text links surviving items in historic houses and museums to written evidence, paintings, drawings and other primary sources to provide a firm framework for dating pieces of less-certain provenance. The importance of the ‘laceman’, the maker of these trimmings, is also examined within an economic and social context, together with the relationship to the upholsterer and interior decorator in the creation of a fashionable room.

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This comprehensive book is both a biographical exploration of the early life of Mary Seton Watts and a survey of the pottery she designed. Mary Seton Watt's (1849-1938) roots in Scotland, her artistic career and her marriage to the Victorian artist George Frederic Watts all influenced the design of the Grade 1 listed Cemetery Chapel at Compton. It also influenced the art potteries which she then set up, both in Compton (The Potters' Arts Guild) and in her home village near Inverness. The pottery at Compton was in business for more than fifty years, making terracotta garden ware, memorials and small decorative pieces. It remained open even through two World Wars and a trade depression. This highly illustrated publication showcases the beautiful and individual pieces of pottery. It is a fitting tribute to the ability of Mary Watts to coordinate both people and resources.

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A collection of illustrations showcasing many previously unpublished paintings of the artist Eric Ravilious. Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) is now firmly one of the most popular artists of his period. He was a painter of watercolours and murals, a book illustrator in wood engraving and lithography, and a designer of transfer-ware pottery. He applied a dry and precise style of working to imaginative and romantic subject matter from the world around him and from his imaginative transformations of the art and imagery of the past. From 1940, he was an Official War Artist, painting memorable pictures of ships, aircraft and coastal defences before his tragic death in a flying accident off Iceland. This book includes illustrations of many previously unpublished paintings, including a number from private collections, as well as surveying his other artistic activities. The text also draws on many letters and other documents, again previously unpublished, and is the most comprehensive account of Ravilious' career ever published. It positions the artist in relation to the English art of his time, and more recent critical and cultural issues. The book accompanied a centenary exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London.

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The Practical Watch Escapement explains the action of the escapement in terms accessible to both expert and layman. One of George Daniels' central contributions to horology is his co-axial escapement. Having observed that the dominant lever escapement begins to change its rate after a year or two - a disturbance caused by the sliding action of the impulse elements of the escapement - Daniels set about developing a mechanism that avoided this problem. The result of his efforts was the co-axial escapement, a mechanism in which he sought to combine the strengths and eliminate the deficiencies of existing watch escapements, the lever escapement foremost among them. First devised in 1977, today it remains largely the same as fitted in watches of Daniels' own manufacture, as well as those of several wrist-watch manufacturers. The text is accompanied by a series of detailed line drawings.

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