Search results for ""Thames Hudson Ltd""

With a few notable exceptions, the fundamental role that women played in the development of abstract art has long been underestimated, and their work has not received the same critical attention as that of their male counterparts. Now, at last, the tide is turning. The latest historiographical advances illustrated by numerous recent publications, monographs and thematic exhibitions make it possible to reassess the importance of the contribution of women artists to the different currents of abstraction, while at the same time questioning the patterns of the past. Edited by Christine Macel, this catalogue and the exhibition it accompanies highlights the contributions of a hundred or so women artists to abstraction up to the 1980s, with a few unprecedented forays into the 19th century. By focusing on the careers of artists so often unjustly eclipsed, the book questions the established canons and offers an alternative history of abstraction, from the symbolist abstraction of Hilma Af Klint, to the sensual abstraction of Huguette Caland, to the purist non-objective approach of Verena Von Loewensberg. Essays by noted scholars explore the techniques, concerns and legacies of these women, shedding light on their unique experiences and offering keen new reflections on their work and the movement as a whole.With 350 illustrations

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A prolific artist with a protean output, Georg Baselitz has rethought the conventions of a range of media, predominantly painting and sculpture, over the course of a career of some sixty years. Born in 1938, Baselitz was expelled from art school in East Berlin in 1956 for ‘socio-political immaturity’, and moved to the western half of the city. By the late 1950s, he had rejected the dominant tendencies of both sides of the country and his singular achievement was to reintroduce the figure, compromised and discredited though it was by both Nazism and Communism, into art. By drawing attention to art by ‘outsiders’, such as psychiatric patients, and invoking a Parisian model of existentialist art and literature, Baselitz proposed an alternative European tradition that did not eliminate the human subject. In alluding later to movements in German painting such as Expressionism as well as to artists like Munch, he also consciously rehabilitated the kind of art that was condemned by Hitler as ‘degenerate’. The book follows the development of Baselitz’s unique style from his earliest work through to the most recent creations of his eighth decade. Calvocoressi’s masterful construction of a chronological narrative helps us to evaluate Baselitz’s work in terms of the disruptions of his life – historical upheavals witnessed alongside an astonishing career.With 406 illustrations in colour

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In the ancient world the magicians of Egypt were considered the best. But was magic harmless fun, heartfelt hope, or something darker? Whether you needed a love charm, a chat with your dead wife, or the ability to fly like a bird, an Egyptian magician had just the thing. Christina Riggs explores how the Egyptians thought about magic, who performed it and why, and also helps readers understand why we’ve come to think of ancient Egypt in such a mystical, magical way in the first place. This book takes Egyptian magic seriously, using ancient texts and images to tackle the blurry distinctions between magic, religion and medicine. Along the way, readers will learn how to cure scorpion bites, why you might want to break the legs off your stuffed hippopotamus toy, and whether mummies really can come back to life. Readers will also (if so inclined) be able to save a fortune on pregnancy tests by simply urinating on barley seeds, and learn how to use the next street parade to predict the future – or ensure that annoying neighbour gets his comeuppance.

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Monuments of the Incas is the most comprehensive photographic and narrative survey of the major sites of the Inca empire, including the famed city of Machu Picchu, the Inca town and sun temple of Ollantaytambo, the mighty temple-fortress of Sacsahuaman, and the steeply terraced ruins of Pisac. This classic book, first published in 1982 and long out of print, has now been thoroughly rewritten to incorporate results from the latest archaeological excavations, discoveries about Inca masonry techniques, and updated interpretations of form and function. Completely redesigned throughout, it includes new chapters about Choquequirao, Chinchero,Vitcos, and the ruins along the famous Inca Trail.

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A compact edition of this highly acclaimed survey of the Fayum paintings, the enigmatic and compelling funeral portraits created by the inhabitants of Roman Egypt in the 1st century CE. These remarkable paintings take their name from a district of Roman Egypt, whose people in the first three centuries AD included Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, Syrians, Libyans, Nubians and Jews. In the Egyptian tradition, they embalmed the bodies of their dead; but then placed a painted portrait over the mummy, preserving the memory of each individual to an uncanny degree. Over 1000 have so far been discovered men, women and children of all ages. Illustrating almost 200 of the portraits, Euphrosyne Doxiadis's book combines arresting beauty with up-to-date scholarship. Having selected the best and most interesting, she has grouped them according to the places where they were found. Many new photographs were commissioned and some are shown since cleaning. Doxiadis's text sets the people and the pain

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Told in revelatory detail, this is the definitive exploration of the writing, recording and release of John Lennon's celebrated fourth solo album Mind Games. Described by Yoko Ono as ahead of its time', Mind Games is a breakthrough album from John Lennon in which he employs a Plastic Ono Band comprising the cream of the crop of New York session musicians a fan favourite that remains a cult classic ever since its first release on 29 October 1973. This insightful and beautiful book presents handwritten lyrics, letters and artworks by Lennon and Ono, and previously unseen photography alongside their firsthand commentary about the lyrics, songs and album artwork, as well as contributions from the musicians, friends, engineers and key figures involved in the making of this landmark album. Mind Games was the product of an exceptionally turbulent time for the Lennons. While Nixon and Hoover were attempting to have Lennon deported, John and Yoko endured endless litigations, and as the

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The long-awaited monograph of the UK's leading graphic design and branding agency. The world is full of design companies, but none of them are like North. Formed in 1995 by Sean Perkins joined for the past 25 years by Jeremy Coysten and Stephen Gilmore the studio has always followed a highly individualistic path. This individualism manifests itself in many ways: most notably in the absence of a densely populated studio website; there are no hyperactive social media feeds; even the studio's name, derived from Perkins' origins in the unmetropolitan north of England, stands for frill-free, plain speaking, visual directness. It's almost as if North is a well-kept secret. Yet the group has a devoted worldwide following, and attracts myriad clients keen to hire them for their ability to produce memorable and carefully engineered visual identities. North's work is the product of sharp-brained research, high-end craft and precise visual expression. And as can be seen in the pages of this

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The ultimate typographic experiment 7,762,392 typefaces from one of the world's foremost typography studios. System Process Form is a detailed survey of MuirMcNeil's Two type system, an extensive collection of geometric alphabets in which every stroke, shape, letterform and word is designed to correspond and collaborate in close harmony. The methodologies demonstrated transcend the short-term limitations of single solutions to single problems, revealing the ways in which system, process and form constitute the bedrock of a successful design practice. Using a combination of algorithm, chance and deliberation, a core database of 23 type systems and 198 individual fonts is interpolated to generate millions of hybrid forms in which every dot, line, space and letter is designed to correspond and collaborate in close harmony. The showcased examples, selected for their distinctively abstract and striking qualities, are printed in three vibrant neon inks and metallic black. The re

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Respected painter and writer Julian Bell offers original insights into the art, practice and ongoing importance of painting. 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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Britain's most distinguished historian of ancient Greek art recounts what the Parthenon and its sculptures meant to the citizens of 5th-century BCE Athens. 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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The coronation of George VI on 12 May 1937 was one of the biggest media events of the interwar period. While other photographers focused on the new King, his family and the ceremonial splendour of the day, Henri Cartier-Bresson turned his lens on the crowds that gathered in the streets of London to watch the pageantry. In a witty reversal of the expected order of proceedings, he shows us ordinary people of all ages and walks of life, some climbing on monuments or each other’s shoulders, others straining to get a better view with cardboard periscopes and mirrors on sticks. A few even slump on the ground, the festivities having proved too much. Presented alongside contemporary news clippings from around the world, these remarkable images reflect Cartier-Bresson’s unmistakeable photographic eye and capture the British public at a unique historical moment.

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A remarkable look at Iran through the lenses of 23 women photographers, at a moment in history when Iranian women are fighting for their rights with courage and determination. Breathing Space showcases the work of twenty-three women photographers from Iran and their diverse approaches to their craft. Exploring a range of photographic styles and genres, they record the past and present upheavals of their homeland as well as tackling subjects such as the nature of memory, the tension between tradition and modernity, and the scars of conflict and loss. Whether documentary or conceptual, their images have global resonance and speak of the hunger for freedom and the power of women to shape the world.

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The second book in the 'My Life as an Architect' series, looking at the Seoul buildings that have shaped the practice and outlook of the celebrated Korean architect Byoung Cho. Since founding his practice BCHO Architects Associates in Seoul in 1994, Byoung Cho has built a reputation as the key architect driving the expansion of one of the world’s most densely populated cities. Influenced by Korea’s rich aesthetic tradition, Cho utilizes understated forms to create serene buildings that yield powerful and subtle experiences for their inhabitants. His work focuses on seemingly simple structures and has a strong regard for nature and sustainability. This companion to Kengo Kuma: My Life as an Architect in Tokyo presents twenty-nine portraits of the buildings and districts of Seoul that have most influenced Cho, from a 12th-century shrine to a 14-metre-square concrete box, and includes a number of his own designs. Lively texts are interspersed with the architect’s own drawings and elegant photographs printed with a coloured tint. In mixing personal asides with architectural and historical detail, the book builds up a multi-layered picture of Seoul, and offers a unique insight into Cho’s architectural philosophy.

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A wonderfully illustrated exploration of one of Hokusai's key motifs: Mount Fuji. Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and the three volumes of his subsequent One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji show his fascination with a single motif: Mount Fuji. Hokusai's near-obsession with Fuji was part of his hankering after artistic immortality – in Buddhist and Daoist tradition, Fuji was thought to hold the secret to eternal life, as one popular interpretation of its name suggests: 'Fu-shi' ('not death'). Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji was produced from c. 1830 to 1832 when Hokusai was in his seventies and at the height of his career. Among the prints are three of the artist's most famous: The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Fine Wind, Clear Morning and Thunderstorm Beneath the Summit. By the time he created his second great tribute to Mount Fuji, three volumes comprising One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, he was using the artist names Gakyo rojin ('Old Man Crazy to Paint'), and Manji ('Ten Thousand Things', or 'Everything'). Contrasting the mountain's steadfastness and solidity with the ravages of the surrounding elements, Hokusai depicts Fuji through different seasons, weather conditions and settings, and in so doing communicates an important message: while life changes, Fuji stands still. Including all the illustrations from these two masterpieces, this book also features many of Hokusai’s earlier renditions of the mountain, as well as later paintings. In this way, through Mount Fuji, this volume traces a history of Hokusai’s oeuvre overall.

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A selection of beautiful houses set amid the world’s most stunning landscapes, designed by award-winning New Zealand architect Andrew Patterson. In Maori culture, architecture is approached as a construction of beliefs: a building must emulate and amplify personalities, hopes and aspirations, becoming the physical expression of those who inhabit it. These ideas are the inspirations behind the house projects of New Zealand architect Andrew Patterson, who has been designing houses and civic projects in the country for nearly thirty-five years and who was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects 2017 Gold Medal. This book showcases seventeen of Patterson’s recent houses, in some of the most dramatic locations in New Zealand, from stunning seascape retreats to hillside cabins. Each house reveals how Patterson’s architecture responds to the region’s breathtaking landscapes to tell the story of the country’s cultural history and to create a sense of place and belonging. This fully illustrated, large-format overview is interspersed with thematic sectionsthat present Patterson’s key influences and the culture and lifestyles of New Zealand more broadly, particularly Maori language, history and mythology.

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In this bold, surreal photographic celebration of the fantastical beauty of cosplay, 70 cosplayers leave behind their everyday existence and become heroes for a day. Whether it is becoming a fictional character or presenting the ‘you’ the world sees, the craft of cosplay is everywhere. A powerful expression of individuality and diversity, cosplay is a global phenomenon that allows a large number of diverse individuals to join together in one single chaotic but inclusive community. Cosplay allows anyone to become a hero for a day. After attending a cosplay convention in 2018, photographer Thurstan Redding became captivated by cosplay as a subject matter and embarked on a three-year photographic project to portray cosplay in a way it had never been seen before. In this bold and surprising volume, he captures the transfixing world of cosplay. Brought to life through the presentation of 70 cosplayers in the most unassuming of locations, this exceptional book highlights how creativity can thrive in the most mundane realities: Spider-Man is illuminated by the open fridge in the kitchen, three Alices wait at a bus stop in a desolate Wonderland, Resistance Pilot plays dead on the gravel driveway of a suburban housing estate. Supplemented by commentary from the cosplayers themselves, together with behind-the-scenes pages from Thurstan’s personal diary, Kids of Cosplay is ‘a celebration of ... fandom and allows a glimpse into the world where people are united by their celebration of an art which transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary’ (The Independent). A foreword by fashion powerhouse Katie Grand, an essay by writer and performer Tom Rasmussen, who discusses the social and cultural context of cosplay, and an illuminating interview with Redding by noted fashion writer Sara McAlpine complete this compelling volume. Sometimes, all it takes is to scratch the surface of our realities to reveal the fantasy that lies beneath.

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A career-to-date retrospective of a unique creative talent. Hyperborea presents unforgettable visual tales of life in the Siberian Arctic that photographer Evgenia Arbugaeva knew when she was growing up in Tiksi, a town on the shore of the Laptev Sea in the Republic of Yakutia. Her work discloses both the fragility and beautiful desolation of the land and those who inhabit it, and her rigorously composed photographs glow with rich otherworldly colour, bristle with the raw vibrancy of the climate and exhibit the quiet intensity of lives borne out in seclusion and extremes. This beautifully produced photobook contains a decade of work, with photographs selected from across the full range of Arbugaeva’s series and extensive travels across the Russian Arctic coast and to connect with people living in these remote and inhospitable places. The photographs that she brings back from her long-term visits convey a world where everything seems connected: humans and nature, the sky and the land. An elemental space of deep solitude and slower pace of life. Her images invite us to contemplate a territory that has been a place of longing and imagination for many, which is now under existential threat from a multitude of environmental changes. With an introduction by Piers Vitebsky, four texts by Arbugaeva to supplement the images, and a specially commissioned map to provide a sense of where Arbugaeva’s work is located, Hyperborea is a future collectible for all photobook fans and an introduction to a global audience of a very special talent in the world of photography.

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An extensively illustrated compendium of 45 expertly selected illuminated bibles that transport the reader through 1,000 years of history and across the Christian world. For two millennia the Bible has inspired the creation of art. Within this legacy of remarkable art and beauty, illuminated biblical manuscripts offer some of the best evidence for our understanding of early Christian painting and artistic interpretations of the Bible. Compiled and written by two internationally renowned experts, this beautiful book immerses the reader in the world of illuminated manuscripts of the Bible. Through its pictures we are transported across 1,000 years of history, passing chronologically through many of the major centres of the Christian world. Starting in Constantinople in the East, the journey moves on to Lindisfarne in the North, to imperial Aachen, back to Canterbury, then to Carolingian Tours in western France. Later we view some of the riches of Winchester, Mozarabic Spain, Crusader Jerusalem, the Meuse valley, northern Iraq, Paris, London, Bologna, Naples, Bulgaria, the Low Countries, Rome and Persia. Our journey ends in Gondar, the capital of imperial Ethiopia. Forty-five remarkable books – each a treasure in its own right – provide our itinerary through time and across continents. Together they enable us to explore and revel in the extraordinary art and beauty of illuminated biblical manuscripts, some of the finest but least-known paintings from the Middle Ages.

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A sweeping new history of the city of Rome, told through its emperors and the monuments they built to make their mark on one of the great capitals of the classical world. What is worse than Nero? What is better than Nero's Baths?' so wrote the poet Martial in the first century AD, demonstrating the power that buildings have on public consciousness. In ancient Rome, who built a monument and why mattered as much as its physical structure. Over centuries and under many different emperors, a small village in Italy was transformed into the crowning glory of an empire. Seeking out the personalities behind the great building projects is key to understanding them. With this firmly in mind, Paul Roberts takes the reader on a tour of ancient Rome, vividly evoking the sights and sounds of the city: from the roar of the crowds at the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum, to the dazzling gleam of the marble- and mosaic-covered baths of Caracalla and Diocletian. He tells this story emperor by e

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Following the bestselling Festival of Brexit and A Prat's Progress, star satirist Cold War Steve returns with a viral vengeance with his Journal of the Plague Year. Dubbed ‘the modern-day William Hogarth’, the collage artist casts a searing eye back at the last year on ‘Plague Island’ Britain and abroad: featuring a global pandemic, an inept government at home and the US election’s absurdist saga, his chronological journal spans lockdowns, G7 summits, crises and scandals, to leave no-one unscathed. Featuring the usual suspects in despicable settings, and rife with art historical references, Journal of the Plague Year brilliantly blends world news and art in signature-style collages, each accompanied by witty commentary. Published in an enlarged format, this new tome will delight Cold War Steve’s huge fanbase, and anyone in need of humour after the grimness of this past plague yearWith 100 illustrations in colour

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The story of our Universe, from its beginning in the first milliseconds of the Big Bang right up to our present moment and beyond, told in a gripping narrative. We have entered a new age of exploration and discovery, enabling us to probe ever more distant reaches of space and greatly advance our knowledge of the Universe. Today, telescopes peer not only into outer space, but also into the deep past. Paul Murdin takes us on an original and breathtaking journey across the lifetime of the Universe, from the first milliseconds of the Big Bang right up to our present moment and even beyond. Murdin draws on the latest discoveries in astronomy to describe the most important characters and events in the life of our Universe: the most powerful explosions, the most curious planets, and the most spectacular celestial bodies. He charts our developing understanding of the cosmos, showing how thinkers have deduced profound truths from even the simplest observations – everyone can see that it is dark at night, but only recently have we understood this as proof that the Universe has not been the same forever. Since then, the Universe has grown up from childhood: astronomers have tracked it as it passed through maturity and as it now moves into middle age. Murdin shows how our own lives were seeded from the Big Bang, galaxies, stars and planets. He considers some of the key questions: how did structures like galaxies and ourselves emerge from the dense maelstrom of the Universe’s birth? How did the ‘dark matter’ that we can’t even see speed up the development of galaxies, and how does ‘dark energy’ work to speed up the expansion of the Universe? Why hasn’t the Universe collapsed in on itself – and will it one day? And finally, he offers a glimpse into the future old age of our Universe, and what it means for us all.

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A fascinating, narrative biography of the art movement that transformed the modern world, tracing the lives and activities of the key protagonists as they set about a revolution in art. October 1917. The Russian Revolution wipes the old tsarist empire off the map. Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Lyubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko, Olga Rozanova, Vladimir Tatlin and other avant-garde artists participate in the revolutionary struggle, transforming inner cities with their progressive murals, posters, installations and performances. The new political leaders soon want nothing to do with these radical artists. While their reputation is growing in Europe, they experience increasing pressure in the Soviet Union. Against a background of violent social and political change, author Sjeng Scheijen describes with compassion and humour events that shaped the artistic revolution in this, the first illustrated biography to relate the rise and fall of the leading figures of

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The first monograph on the influential contemporary Cuban–American interdisciplinary artist and writer Coco Fusco. Tomorrow, I will become an island is the first in-depth study of the performances, videos and social practice of the influential Cuban–American artist Coco Fusco. Featuring contributions by renowned scholars of art history, performance art and Cuban cultural politics as well as an essay by the artist herself, the book offers a comprehensive review of Fusco’s interdisciplinary art practice and her transnational perspective on race, gender and power. For more than three decades, Fusco has been a leader in conversations around the intersection of identity, feminism, culture, and politics in the Americas and beyond. Emerging during the 1980s as a pioneering advocate of multiculturalism in the arts, Fusco utilizes performance, video, exhibition making, archival research and writing to reflect upon the ways that intercultural relations and colonial histories shape the construction of the self and perceptions of cultural difference. Her work has critically examined society from a postcolonial perspective, engaging with debates about cultural politics throughout the Americas, Europe and elsewhere. This expansive approach is highlighted through a broad range of works that address themes including post-revolutionary Cuba, racial stereotypes, feminist politics, animal psychology, ethnographic displays, suppressed colonial records, military interrogation and sex tourism. The book will accompany an international touring retrospective of the artist’s work starting in 2023.

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An intimate exploration of Yves Saint Laurent's creative world, captured by photographer and son of the couturier's right-hand woman, Anne-Marie Muñoz Carlos Muñoz-Yagüe. Yves Saint Laurent: Inside Out presents an extraordinarily intimate insight into a fascinating world of creativity in the latter, sumptuous phase of Saint Laurent's career, between 1989 and his final collection in 2002. The book offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted exploration of the life of an haute couture house: from informal, atmospheric portraits of Yves Saint Laurent at work in his studio, drawing and creating, to the behind-the-scenes work of the petites mains' in the ateliers, the skilled army of artisans whose activity is rarely documented. The house's world-famous models also feature, captured during pre-collection fittings in the house's grandiose salons and in electric backstage moments before the shows. Private archive materials letters, documents, drawings, and ephemera that sit

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A richly illustrated companion to selected works from the collections at M+. At the heart of Hong Kong’s new museum of visual culture are the M+ Collections – the result of a carefully considered programme of collection-building that began with the inception of M+ in 2011. The first of their kind in Asia, the collections comprise four different holdings: the M+ Collection, made up of 6,000-plus works and objects from the worlds of visual art, moving image, and design and architecture, the museum’s core areas of interest; the M+ Sigg Collection, consisting of 1,510 works of contemporary Chinese art; the M+ Collection Archives, composed of over 45,000 items; and the M+ Library Special Collection, with 400-plus items. Together, the holdings serve to embody the bold and ambitious mission with which M+ was founded: to become a multidisciplinary museum of contemporary visual culture, rooted in Hong Kong and Asia but with an international outlook. M+ Collections: Highlights presents the work of more than 300 artists, designers, film-makers, photographers and architects specially selected to represent the collections as a whole, from Zhang Peili and Charlotte Perriand to Nam June Paik, Zaha Hadid, and Shigeru Ban. Organized into seven chapters, each encompassing a different decade of the collections’ span – from the 1950s to the 2010s – the book consists of individual entries on the featured makers composed of one or more of their works and an insightful analysis by an M+ curator. Interspersed among these entries are 24 thematic essays intended to illuminate some of the movements, tendencies and ideas around which the collections have grown, including modernism in Asian art and the future of painting in a digital world. Full of unexpected connections and new perspectives, M+ Collections: Highlights represents not only an invaluable introduction to M+’s unrivalled storehouse of visual culture but also an indispensable work of reference.

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‘Takenobu Igarashi is a master-mentor who taught me the ABCs of form (and life)’ John Maeda In the mid-1970s designer Takenobu Igarashi began a prolific, decade-long exploration into possibilities of three-dimensional typography. His first experiments with axonometric lettering appeared on magazine covers, posters, and record sleeves – taking influence from the avant garde typography of the 1920s but rendered afresh as bold sculptural letterforms. Timeless, arresting, and technically dazzling, Igarashi’s signature style demonstrates a mastery of three-dimensional type and perspective draftsmanship, refined long before the introduction of computers into the design industry. A to Z offers an exhaustive guide to Igarashi’s experiments with typography, featuring not only his celebrated print and physical works – many photographed specially for this publication – but also a first look, using never before seen archival work, at the plans, drawings and production drafts behind his iconic works. Spanning early print works, hand-drawn experiments, self-initiated sculptural pieces, and highprofile 3D identities for a range of international clients and institutions, A to Z is a long overdue overview of one of the most revered but least celebrated graphic designers of the 20th century.

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This stunning monograph, a long-overdue critical appraisal of Polish artist Józef Czapski (1896–1993), arrives at a moment when the artist’s legacy is gaining new recognition. Within these pages, author Eric Karpeles conveys how making art was so enmeshed with Czapski’s way of seeing and being in the world that it was second nature. Given that he lived into his 97th year, it’s no surprise that the artist has works dating from every decade of the 20th century but the first. As witness to the tumultuous events of that century, he found in painting ‘a refuge and a salvation’. Prolific as a painter, he was equally disciplined in recording the events of his life in pencil, ink, and watercolour in his journals. At a time when abstract art tended to dominate aesthetic discourse, he preferred to observe the world around him, to portray people going about their daily business. Some of his most compelling works depict theatre-goers and art lovers doing what they do best – looking.

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Luke Hughes & Company’s enduring and meticulously engineered furniture, an eloquent response both to the architecture it inhabits and to the true Arts and Crafts spirit, has been placed at the forefront of the ‘craft-led renaissance in British manufacturing.’ Flexible in use, commercially viable and environmentally sustainable, the work furnishes many of the world’s most distinguished buildings, from Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and most of the Oxford and Cambridge University colleges to the Keystone Academy in Beijing and one of New York City’s most vibrant synagogues. Through an introduction to the studio and 25 case studies, Furniture in Architecture explores the company’s place in the Arts and Crafts tradition and examines the philosophy and work of founder Luke Hughes. Aidan Walker sheds light on how the studio balances modern manufacturing technologies with abiding craft values, rendering the small furniture workshop a relevant and profitable proposition even when fulfilling large-scale commissions. This fascinating survey defines the elements of successful design and addresses the meaning of craft and craftsmanship in the digital age.

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Why did the Romans never try to conquer Ireland? Why did the King of Spain give his name to an Irish county? And how did brandy change the course of Irish history? Turtle Bunbury explores unexpected corners of the past to offer an informative and entertaining glimpse into 36 lesser-known tales from Irish history, from the eruption of a massive volcano in County Armagh sixty million years ago to more recent events that have made Ireland the vibrant place it is today. In his inimitable sparkly style, Bunbury explores the people and events from high to low that played major roles in Ireland’s fascinating past but have since been overlooked. These alternative annals include tales of spymasters and scientists, battlefields and brothels, tailors and traitors. Ireland’s Forgotten Past paints a surprising, witty and engaging new portrait of an Ireland you thought you knew.

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As testified by the monumental success of the recent Dior retrospective curated by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’, which attracted over 700,000 visitors over its extended run, John Galliano’s creations for the house of Dior have entered fashion history and are widely recognized as some of the most breathtaking and imaginative collections ever created. John Galliano for Dior is the first publication entirely dedicated to showcasing these unforgettable designs, which have become collectors’ items and form a key chapter of the history of the house of Dior – ‘the greatest house in the world’, as Galliano stated when he was first placed at its helm. ‘I see myself as a guardian of [Christian Dior’s] spirit, a keeper of his dreams,’ he added. The book unfolds chronologically, revisiting the most iconic creations and revealing previously unseen behind-the-scenes moments that capture models, hairdressers, stylists, make-up artists and John Galliano himself at their most creative. Robert Fairer’s stunning and high-energy photographs convey the drama, glamour and wild imagination that defined Galliano’s Dior shows. A treasure trove of inspiration, they make this publication a must-have reference for fashion and photography lovers alike.

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Comet presents the amazing story of the Rosetta space probe and its interstellar voyage to the comet Tchoury. Its mission – to find clues to the origins of our solar system and the emergence of life on Earth. Following a ten-year voyage and a journey spanning millions of kilometres through our Solar System, the Rosetta entered the comet’s orbit. Its lander, Philae – a miniature science laboratory – landed directly on Tchoury’s surface and was able to take the photographs presented here. This triumph of scientific endeavour brought back a raft of incredible new photographs, the best of which are featured here. The book is built around the various phases in Rosetta’s journey: leaving Earth, breaching its atmosphere and watching the lights of home recede; skirting the Moon and coming close to Mars; plunging into the cosmos’ starry void and approaching the comet; and, finally, landing on Tchoury. The photographs are accompanied by a text that reflects on the objectives of the mission and the accomplishment of such a technological feat for humanity. Detailed captions provide the reader with accessible scientific information, enabling them to get to the heart of the subject.

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How has the seaside been photographed? From the roaring waves of the nineteenth century through the reportage of the 1960s and the critical documentary of the 80s and 90s, to what is perhaps the more intimate work of the last ten years. No-one can tell it exactly the way it is. We all have a vision of the seaside which is uniquely our own. Memories, false and real, are aided and abetted by photography, a unique, fascinating, but in the end unreliable source of evidence. And time changes everything. What remains are a set of substantial fragments, thoughts along the way, obsessions, records, constructions, journeys. Ours for the taking

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Diamond jewelry has long been symbolic of political power and authority in Europe. This book focuses on the individuals who commissioned and wore extraordinarily precious diamond ornaments from the mid-14th century until the ‘democratization’ of diamonds that followed the opening of mines in South Africa in 1867. This enthralling story covers seven centuries of history, showing the way in which rulers such as Charles V of France, Queen Elizabeth I of Great Britain, Louis XIV of France and Catherine II of Russia used diamond jewelry to reinforce their power and authority. As works of art, these precious creations mirror the successive styles of each period – late Gothic naturalism, the culture of the Renaissance, Baroque splendour, Rococo elegance and the Imperial grandeur of the First and Second Napoleonic Empires. The recurring themes – religion, sentiment, heraldry, military glory, miniatures and cameo portraiture – are reinterpreted by each generation of jewelers. Like royal dress, diamond jewelry was worn to dazzle and impress – at weddings, coronations, christenings and state visits – and was presented as gifts reflecting princely generosity. Over the centuries, these displays proved remarkably successful as instruments of government, symbolizing the pride and glory of a nation. Arranged chronologically, Diamond Jewelry includes some legendary masterpieces of diamond jewelry. Written by an acknowledged expert, it offers an intriguing overview of one of the world’s most precious gems.

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The idea of heaven on earth haunts the human imagination. The day will come, say believers, when the pain and confusion of mortal life will give way to a transfigured community. Such a vision of the world seems indelible. Even politics, some reckon, has not escaped from the realm of the sacred: its dreams of the future still borrow their imagery from the prophets. In Heaven on Earth, T.J. Clark sets out to investigate the very different ways painting has given form to the dream of God’s kingdom come. He goes back to the late Middle Ages and Renaissance – to Giotto in Padua, Bruegel facing the horrors of religious war, Poussin painting the Sacraments, Veronese unfolding the human comedy. Was it to painting’s advantage, is Clark’s question, that in an age of enforced orthodoxy (threats of hellfire, burnings at the stake) artists could reflect on the powers and limitations of religion without putting their thoughts into words? At the heart of the book stands Bruegel’s ironic but tender picture of The Land of Cockaigne, but also Veronese’s inscrutable Allegory of Love. The story ends with Picasso’s Fall of Icarus, made for UNESCO in 1958, which already seems to signal – perhaps to prescribe – an age when all futures are dead.

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California Houses brings together thirty-six houses completed over the past ten years that capture the spirit of California in distinctive ways and respond creatively to context and the environment. They engage forests and deserts, the ocean and city streets. Large or small, they demonstrate the extraordinary range of invention emerging from the offices of established and younger architects. This is a celebration of the best talent as well as clients with the imagination and means to commission houses that are one-of-a-kind and advance the art of architecture. California is a hotbed of sustainable construction, as mandated by state legislation, and all of these houses employ active and passive strategies to reduce their carbon footprint. There's a strong emphasis on natural light and ventilation, thermal insulation and solar panels. Rainwater is harvested for irrigation. These are homes constructed to conserve energy, withstand earthquakes and, often, to resist wildfires, but witho

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'A wonderfully fresh and funny story about a dog who knows how to have a fabulous time at home' Axel Scheffler

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Some children fight sleep with all their might. And we can see why – it is so exciting to be awake! But nobody can live without sleep, which is why we’ve created this bedtime ABC, a book with the power to have everyone nodding off long before the alphabet ends. It never fails. Some people begin to yawn by the letter ‘B’; others go out like a light at ‘P’. Almost all arrive at the ‘S’ page already snoring. Even the title of the book fell asleep.

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Artists ask questions when they make art – and viewers ask questions when they look at art. This gently provocative book provides an engaging way for young people to start asking and answering questions for themselves. Why is art full of naked people? is structured around 22 questions, each one tackled over two spreads. The opening spread explores the question and answer, inviting the reader to study a full-bleed image of an important artwork. The second spread shows a selection of work on the theme from across history, showing how art can run with an idea to hugely different ends. The tone of the text is fresh and informal but not flippant.

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The latest title in Vassiliki Tzomaka’s graphically illustrated 'Extreme Environments' series takes young readers on a journey through the world's reefs to discover the remarkable diversity of life they contain. Through a series of detailed landscape scenes, it demonstrates the degree to which flora and fauna depend on each other for survival, and the unique tactics the fish and marine life use to protect themselves. Focus spreads zoom in on specific species that are especially unusual, clever, or at risk, while infographic illustrations help to quantify the many dangers faced by creatures that inhabit the reefs. By taking a scientific approach to illustrated non-fiction, it raises awareness of the marine environment in a way that makes nature fascinating, engaging and deeply impressive to young children.

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A new way of appreciating art that puts the artwork front and centre, brought to us by one of the freshest and most exciting voices in cultural criticism. What makes great art great? Why do some works pulse in the imagination, generation after generation, century after century? From Botticelli’s Birth of Venus to Picasso’s Guernica, some paintings and sculptures have become so famous, so much a part of who we are, that we no longer really look at them. We take their greatness for granted; our eyes have become near-obsolete. We need a new way of seeing. Unsatisfied with traditional interpretations of masterpieces, which are so often interested only in learning about art, and not from it, Kelly Grovier combed the surface of revered works from the Terracotta Army to Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits, in a quest to find the key to their lasting power to move and delight us. He discovered that every truly great work is hardwired with an underappreciated detail that ignites it from deep within. Stepping away from biography, style and the chronology of ‘isms’ that preoccupies most art history, Grovier tells a new story in which we learn from the artworks, not just about them.

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'Benoy K. Behl’s remarkable photographs, painstakingly gathered and digitally restored over thirty years of hard labour, are probably the best and truest record of these fabulous treasures that will ever be created.' William Dalrymple A revised edition of a classic title, now with digitally restored photographs, showcasing the finest surviving examples of ancient Buddhist art. Since their chance re-discovery in 1819, the breathtaking paintings and sculptures of the Ajanta caves have inspired and delighted experts and amateurs alike. Ranging in date from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE, these ancient Buddhist artworks rank among the world’s most important cultural treasures. Benoy K. Behl captured the beauty and luminosity of these works using long exposures and only natural light and now presents them here digitally restored to show the paintings closer to their original glory than ever before. The exquisite murals, depicting the tales of previous incarnations of Buddha, scenes of princely processions and fantastical birds and beasts, provide virtually the only evidence of painting styles that first developed in India and remain crucially important to the understanding of Buddhist art throughout Asia. On UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites, the Ajanta caves survive as a potent symbol of the great beauty of India’s rich artistic past. This new edition provides for the first time a view of some of the masterpieces of Ajanta painstakingly digitally restored by Behl. Sensitively carried out, the restoration makes the paintings clearer without interfering with their original grace and nuance, leading to a deeper appreciation of their artistry. Accompanied by expert commentaries to fully immerse the reader in the cultural context of the murals, this book will help preserve the legacy of the glorious art of Ajanta for years to come.

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Fifteen new contributors bring fresh perspectives to the fifth edition of The Human Past, the most authoritative introduction to world prehistory, revealing our shared human story with the latest scholarship. Thoroughly updated by its team of authors, including 15 leading specialists new to this edition, this fifth edition introduces students to a more equitable and representative view of world prehistory. A total of 30 contributing authors a truly international team of experts introduce the enormous diversity of the human story as it occurred around the world, from the emergence of the first Homo species to human migrations, sedentism, domestication and agriculture, population growth and urban living, and the social systems and inequalities that were present across human groups of many sizes, from small societies to vast empires. Twenty chronological chapters focus on individual regions, and new content appears in every chapter. The new authors bring first-hand scholarship a

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Speed, regulation and mass production defined the first Industrial Revolution, but we have entered a new era. Today’s revolution has been driven by digital technologies and tools, giving rise to entirely new working methods, skill sets and consumer products. Spearheading this movement is a new generation of creatives who fuse the precision and flexibility of computing and digital fabrication with the skill and tactility of the master artisan to create unexpected and desirable objects and products. For the first time on a global scale, Digital Handmade selects a group of 80 pioneering designers, artists and craftsmen who represent the best of this new trend. Profiles of each artisan’s techniques are featured alongside the objects they produce, each conceived and made through a multifaceted process of hand and digital means and unique to its maker. Examples range from the affordable and obtainable to the extraordinary and priceless. Welcome to the next industrial revolution.

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An absorbing group biography revealing how exiles from war-torn France brought Surrealism to America, helping to shift the centre of the art world from Paris to New York and spark the movement that became Abstract Expressionism. In 1957 the American artist Robert Motherwell made an unexpected claim: ‘I have only known two painting milieus well … the Parisian Surrealists, with whom I began painting seriously in New York in 1940, and the native movement that has come to be known as “abstract expressionism”, but which genetically would have been more properly called “abstract surrealism”.’ Motherwell’s bold assertion, that Abstract Expressionism was neither new nor local, but born of a brief liaison between America and France, verged on the controversial. Surrealists in New York tells the story of this ‘liaison’ and the European exiles who bought Surrealism with them – an artistic exchange between the Old World and the New – centring on taciturn printmaker Stanley William Hayter and the legendary Atelier 17 print studio he founded. Here artists’ experiments literally pushed the boundaries of modern art. It was in Hayter’s studio that Jackson Pollock found the balance of freedom and control that would culminate in his distinctive drip paintings. The impact of Max Ernst, André Masson, Louise Bourgeois and other noted émigrés on the work of Motherwell, Pollock, Mark Rothko and the American avant-garde has for too long been quietly written out of art history. Drawing on first-hand documents, interviews and archive materials, Charles Darwent brings to life the events and personalities from this crucial encounter. In so doing, he reveals a fascinating new perspective on the history of the art of the twentieth century.

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Everything you’ve always wanted to know about forests, in a pop-up format! Open this book and discover the wonders at the heart of the forest! Find out how trees grow, how long they can live and which creatures call them home. Explore the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and why we need to protect it, discover the amazing network of roots and fungus under the ground, and learn some legends that have surrounded trees for centuries…

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