Search results for ""Author Thames"

The coming of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century witnessed unprecedented changes in society: rapid economic progress went hand-in-hand with appalling working conditions, displacement, squalor and destitution for those at the bottom of the social scale. These new circumstances presented a challenge to contemporary image-makers, who wished to capture the effects of hunger, poverty and alienation in Britain, Ireland and France in the era before documentary photography. In this groundbreaking book, the eminent art historian Linda Nochlin examines the styles and expressive strategies that were used by artists and illustrators to capture this misère, roughly characterized as poverty that afflicts both body and soul. She investigates images of the Irish Famine in the period 1846–51; the gendered representation of misery, particularly of poor women and prostitutes; and the work of three very different artists: Théodore Géricault, Gustave Courbet and the less wellknown Fernand Pelez. The artists’ desire to depict the poor and the outcast accurately and convincingly is still a pertinent issue, though now, as Nochlin observes, the question has a moral and ethical dimension – does the documentary style belittle its subjects and degrade their condition?

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Taking a radically new approach to the history of abstract painting, Pepe Karmel applies a scholarly yet fresh vision to reconsider the history of abstraction from a global perspective and to demonstrate that abstraction is embedded in the real world. Moving beyond the orthodox canonical terrain of abstract art, he surveys artists from across the globe, examining their work from the point of view of content rather than form. Previous writers have approached the history of abstraction as a series of movements solving a series of formal problems. In contrast, Karmel focuses on the subject matter of abstract art, showing how artists have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural and spiritual experience. An introductory discussion of the work of the early modern pioneers of abstraction opens up into a completely new approach to abstract art based around five inclusive themes – the body, the landscape, the cosmos, architecture, and the repertory of man-made signs and patterns – each of which has its own chapter. Starting from a figurative example, Karmel works outwards to develop a series of narratives that go far beyond the established figures and movements traditionally associated with abstract art. Each narrative is complemented by a number of ‘featured’ abstract works, which provide an in-depth illustration of the breadth of Karmel’s distinctive vision. A wide-ranging examination of topics – from embryos to the surface of skin, from vortexes to waves, planets to star charts, towers to windows – is interwoven with detailed analysis of works by established figures like Joan Miró and Jackson Pollock alongside pieces by lesser-known artists such as Wu Guanzhong, Hilma af Klint and Odili Donald Odita.

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Susan Herbert's delightful feline reimaginings of famous scenes from art, theatre, opera, ballet and film have won her a devoted following. This unprecedented new compilation of her best paintings provides an irresistible introduction to her feline world. An array of cat characters take the starring roles in a variety of instantly recognizable settings. The masterpieces of Western art retain their distinctive styles while being cleverly filled with furry faces and pussycat tails. Cats then take to the stage in Shakespearean dramas and lavishly staged opera productions. The final stop is Hollywood, where cats are cast in everything from big-budget epics to cult classics, emulating the timeless glamour of the golden age of cinema. From Botticelli's Birth of Venus through Puccini's Tosca to James Dean and Lawrence of Arabia, Susan Herbert's brilliantly observed feline dramatis personae are a joy to discover.

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The Book of Kells is a masterpiece of medieval art – a brilliantly decorated version of the four Gospels with full-page depictions of Christ, the Virgin and the Evangelists as well as a wealth of smaller decorative painting. This new book, by the Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Library, Dublin, represents on a generous scale the glories of the Book of Kells for today’s readers, revealing the astounding detail and richness of one of the greatest treasures of medieval art. Its illustrations feature 59 full-size reproductions of complete pages of the manuscript, and, in addition, enlarged details that allow one to relish the intricacy of elements barely visible to the naked eye. We explore the Book of Kells through its historical background; a display of the elements of the book, actual size; the spectacular openings of the texts that precede the Gospels; a study of earlier and comparable manuscripts; detailed examination of symbols and themes, with special enlarged details; a look at the scribes and artists who worked on the manuscript; and a consideration of technical aspects, illuminated by recent scientific research.

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This volume is dedicated to 100 of the artist’s most beautiful and unforgettable canvases, as well as a rich selection of lesserknown works. It explores the paintings in the context of Van Gogh’s short but brilliant career, allying the works to his correspondence, which provides the narrative thread around which this study develops.

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From the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement to the present day, and from Art Nouveau and Bauhaus to hi-tech and green design, every style of interior design since 1900 is charted in this wide-ranging survey. Design in the 20th century saw an extraordinary evolution, with the emergence of professional interior designers and the growing appetite to redesign homes at frequent intervals. In recent decades the focus has been on sustainable design in public spaces such as offices, factories and ships. Anne Massey explores these developments in social, political, economic and cultural contexts. More than 200 illustrations of interiors from around the world, from William Morris’s drawing room to a 21st-century aircraft, reveal the fundamental changes in taste and style from Art Deco to Pop and from the Streamline Moderne to Post-Modernism. <This volume has been a classic introduction to the subject for almost thirty years. The new, fourth edition is brought up to date with a chapter on transnational design, encompassing mid-century modernist work in Singapore and Sri Lanka as well as very recent interiors for spaces as varied as luxury hotels in Dubai and a contemporary art museum in Cape Town. Anne Massey shows how a shared language of design and cutting-edge technology are reshaping interiors around the globe.

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The years since 1989 have seen a complete untethering of what art can be, who makes it and where it can be found, which has been matched by a reassessment of art's appropriate place in society and the financial value that should be attached to it. In this new book in the World of Art series, Kelly Grovier surveys the dynamic developments in art practice worldwide since 1989, going in search of those artists who have undertaken to shape a fresh visual vocabulary and whose work reflects on these turbulent years. The book’s ten chapters examine the key themes in contemporary art, from portraiture in the age of face transplants and facial recognition software, to political activism, science and religion. Artists discussed include Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Damien Hirst, George Condo, Marlene Dumas, Sean Scully, Cindy Sherman, Banksy, Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley, Christo and Jean-Claude, Jenny Holzer, Chuck Close and Cornelia Parker. The final chapter, a timeline, traces the evolution of art practice in this period by looking closely at one key artwork from each year.

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A fully updated and revised edition of a classic bestseller: the definitive guide to Tutankhamun and his tomb – what it contained, why, and what it means today. On 4 November 1922, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter’s long search in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings drew to a triumphant close: Tutankhamun’s tomb had been found. As news of the discovery spread, and as images of the breathtaking treasures began to circulate, this once-obscure pharaoh would capture the imagination of the entire world. A hundred years on, and both the fascination and the drama continue. Scientific research has pushed forward, and the results have been impressive: the tomb’s ground-plan and setting are now fully remapped; CT-scanning and aDNA have begun to shed their unique light on Tutankhamun in life and in death; super-accurate recordings have been secured of the Burial Chamber’s decorated walls; and we possess at last high-quality photography of Pharaoh’s possessions. Our access to Carnarvon and Carter’s extraordinary find is greater today than it has ever been, and from this fuller evidence comes one new realization among many – that both the tomb and its treasures had been intended for someone else. In this new edition of his landmark book Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves revisits Tutankhamun in the context of his time, the excavators in the context of theirs, and every aspect, old and new, of the tomb’s discovery, archaeology, architecture and art. If what was discovered in 1922 had the ability to amaze, then what has been discovered since will simply astonish.

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Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) was, with Calder, Noguchi and David Smith, one of the great American sculptors of the 20th century. She created extraordinary work, from room-size installations composed of boxes to gnarled and majestic steel structures. Her life story is no less interesting. She was born in czarist Russia, but her family emigrated to the States and she grew up in Maine. Nevelson endured a repressive marriage to a New York millionaire, whom she escaped to pursue the life of an artist. She gained recognition as an abstract sculptor at the age of 59, and spent the next 30 years taking the art world by storm, becoming a colourful New York personality and minor celebrity. Laurie Wilson, who knew Nevelson personally, draws extensively on her own research in this crisp new biography. She conducted interviews not just with Nevelson but with her siblings, son, and gallery owner Arne Glimcher. Wilson has also had complete access to Glimcher’s archives, Nevelson’s personal assistant, Diana Mackown, and Lippincott studios, where much of Nevelson’s work was cast, among others

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A contemporary reimagining of Alex Webb’s long out-of-print, limited edition book Dislocations. Recognised as a pioneer of colour photography, Alex Webb is able to juxtapose gesture, colour and contrasting cultural tensions into a single beguiling frame, resulting in evocative images that elevate fractured and multilayered meanings. His book Dislocations, first published in 1998 as a limited edition accordion book with Canon Laser prints (then considered state of the art), brings together pictures from the many disparate locations over Webb’s oeuvre, meditating on the act of photography as a form of dislocation in itself. Spurred by the pandemic, and its world of closed borders and disrupted travel, Webb reconsidered the impossibility of creating this series of images: the result is this reimagined edition of Dislocations, which includes new photographs taken in the twenty-five years since the original. This characteristically exquisite book brings a fresh perspective to Webb’s expansive catalogue, and speaks to the palpable sense of dislocation in our time.

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A compelling and authoritative overview of the drawings of Vincent van Gogh, one of the most celebrated and intriguing figures in the history of art. Vincent van Gogh believed that drawing was the ‘root of everything’. This was reflected in the remarkable number of more than a thousand graphic works produced by the artist during his short, dramatic life – many of them personal, often lonely explorations of the emerging modern world, anxieties that still speak to us today. The Drawings of Vincent van Gogh is a comprehensive account celebrating the genius and singularity of the artist’s achievements in this field. Arranged by theme – from drawings of humble harvesters to beautifully rendered depictions of landscape, pensive life studies to memorable sketches of the famous Yellow House in Arles and other places – Van Gogh’s works on paper are explored from a fresh perspective by art historian Christopher Lloyd, who records the artist’s successes, failures, experiments, trials and disappointments. Primarily self-taught, Van Gogh approached drawing instinctually, but soon recognized the importance of mastering the grammar of art – anatomy, modelling, foreshortening, perspective – as well as materials and techniques, in order to convey his emotional responses to a subject as vividly as possible. Using examples from the artist’s voluminous and highly charged family correspondence, sketchbooks, as well as comparative artworks by Rembrandt, Dürer and others, the resulting overview gives us a greater understanding of why drawing is so important within Van Gogh’s unique oeuvre and equals the intensity and reputation of his paintings.

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An exploration of echoes and resonances across two millennia of visual culture, celebrating ten years of The Public Domain Review. Gathering a remarkable collection of over 500 public domain images, Affinities is a carefully curated visual journey illuminating connections across more than two thousand years of image-making. Drawing on a decade of archival immersion at The Public Domain Review, the book has been assembled from a vast array of sources: from manuscripts to museum catalogues, ship logs to primers on Victorian magic. The images are arranged in a single captivating sequence which unfurls according to a dreamlike logic, through a play of visual echoes and evolving thematic threads – hatching eggs twin with early Burmese world maps, marbled endpapers meet tattooed stowaways, and fireworks explode beside deep-sea coral. At once an art book, a sourcebook, and a kaleidoscopic visual poem, Affinities is a unique and enthralling publication that will offer something different on each visit. Its playful and imaginative space invites the reader to transcend familiar categories of epoch, style, or historical theme, and to instead revel in a new world of creative possibilities played out between the images – opening up new connections, ways of seeing, and forms of knowledge. Praise for The Public Domain Review 'An Aladdin’s cave of curiosity ... the best thing on the web' Guardian 'A gold mine of fantastic images and stories' The New York Times

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Draws on a lifetime’s study and a decade of new research to address the first question that every visitor asks: how was Stonehenge built? Icon of the New Stone Age, sculptural and engineering marvel, symbol of national pride: there is nothing quite like Stonehenge. These great sarsen and bluestone slabs, arranged with simple, graphic genius, attract visitors from across the world. The monument stands silent in the face of the questions its unlikely existence raises: who built it? Why? How? There has been endless speculation about why Stonehenge was built, inspiring theories ranging from the academically credible to the improbable, but far less investigation into how. In the millennia since its creation, pieces of Stonehenge have been knocked over by heavy machinery, found their way to Florida (and back again), and been exposed to radioactive sodium, but the seemingly impossible endeavour of raising the stones with Neolithic technology has remained inexplicable – until now. In the past decade ground-breaking discoveries, made possible by cutting-edge scientific techniques, have traced the precise provenance of the bluestones in Wales, but can we plot their journeys to the Salisbury Plain? And how might teams of labourers lacking machinery or even pack animals have dragged them 150 miles to the site? How did they carve joints into the sarsen boulders, among the hardest stones in the world, and then raise them into place? Mike Pitts draws on a lifetime’s study to answer these questions, revealing how Stonehenge stood not in austere isolation, as we see it today, but as part of a wider world, the focus of a megalithic cosmology of belief, ritual and creativity. With 109 illustrations

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This definitive survey of one of the most popular, collectable and dynamic periods of international design offers a rich overview of all aspects of the subject. It covers mid-century furniture, lighting, glass, ceramics, textiles, product design, industrial design, graphics and posters, as well as architecture and interior design, exemplifying post-war optimism and energy, use of innovative and affordable materials and forms of mass manufacture, and newly developed precepts of ‘good design’. Nearly 100 major and influential creators of the mid-century period are highlighted, whether based in Scandinavia, Western Europe, America, Japan, Brazil or Australia. An additional illustrated dictionary features hundreds more key mid-century designers and manufacturers as well as important organizations, schools and movements. Complete with thirteen specially commissioned essays by renowned experts and over 1,000 mainly colour illustrations, it is a must-have for any design aficionado, collector or reader seeking inspiration for their home.

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A Sunday Times Art Book of the Year: written by one of the UK’s foremost art critics, this new narrative history of the Renaissance takes in the whole of Europe and its global context. What was the 'Renaissance'? In the nineteenth century this flowering of creativity and thought was celebrated as the birth of the modern world. Today many historians are sceptical about its very existence. Earthly Delights rekindles the Renaissance as a seismic change in European mentalities, in a panoramic history that encompasses Florence and Bruges, London and Nuremberg. Artists from northern as well as southern Europe, including Leonardo, Bosch, Bruegel and Titian, star in a captivating and beautifully illustrated narrative that sets their lives against a period of convulsive change across a continent that was finding itself as it ‘discovered’ the world. Art critic and writer Jonathan Jones tells the story of Renaissance artists as pioneers, adventurers and ‘geniuses’, a Renaissance concept. Albrecht Dürer gazes with wonder on Aztec art in Brussels in 1520, Leonardo da Vinci tries to perfect a flying machine, Hieronymus Bosch finds inspiration in West African ivory carvings imported by the Portuguese to Antwerp. A then unknown Netherlandish painter, Pieter Bruegel, arrives in 1550s Rome just as Michelangelo is striving in the same city to raise the new St Peter’s Basilica towards heaven. From Atlantic voyages to Germanic woods, Italian palazzi to the royal castle of Prague, this was an age when people dared to experiment with the occult and dabble in utopias: to think and create new worlds.

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A Sunday Times Art Book of the Year A visual journey through five centuries of the city known for centuries as 'La Serenissima' – a unique and compelling story for both lovers of Venice and lovers of its art. Venice was a major centre of art in the Renaissance: the city where the medium of oil on canvas became the norm. The achievements of the Bellini brothers, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese are a key part of this story. Nowhere else has been depicted by so many great painters in so many diverse styles and moods. Venetian views were a speciality of native artists such as Canaletto and Guardi, but the city has also been represented by outsiders: J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Howard Hodgkin, and many more. Then there are those who came to look at and write about art. The reactions of Henry James, George Eliot, Richard Wagner and others enrich this tale. Nor is the story over. Since the advent of the Venice Biennale in the 1890s, and the arrival of pioneering modern art collector Peggy Guggenheim in the late 1940s, the city has become a shop window for the contemporary art of the whole world, and it remains the site of important artistic events. In this elegant volume, Gayford – who has visited Venice countless times since the 1970s, covered every Biennale since 1990, and even had portraits of himself exhibited there on several occasions – takes us on a visual journey through the past five centuries of the city known ‘La Serenissima’, the Most Serene. It is a unique and compelling portrait of Venice that will delight lovers of the city and lovers of its art.

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The ultimate collector’s resource, including hundreds of pieces by both well- and lesser-known designers from around the world. From armchairs and chaises longues to cabinets and nightstands, the period between the late 1930s and early 1970s was one of the most productive, inventive and exciting eras for objects and furniture in the home. Post-war optimism combined with new manufacturing methods and material techniques to create an explosion of new design and objects of desire. The appetite for mid-century modern remains as strong as ever, both for classic designs – many still in production since they were launched – and for rare, hard-to- find or out-of-production pieces from lesser-known designers. While numerous books surveying mid-century modern style have appeared over the years, no publication has been specifically conceived for the increasing collector’s market in mid-century modern design, focusing on each piece of furniture as an object of formal invention, manufacturing intelligence and material innovation. This definitive book profiles hundreds of pieces in a substantial format perfect for reference in design libraries, studios and the homes of private collectors – or as an object of design in its own right. Each item of furniture is presented in detail, illustrated in colour and profiled via in-depth descriptive texts by Dominic Bradbury. The book’s substantial reference section includes essays on materials (eg, plywood) and designer profiles. Work by a host of influential talents is profiled throughout, alongside lesser-known pieces by Piet Hein, Bruno Mathsson, Lina Bo Bardi and Alexander Girard.

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Known as the founding tailor of Savile Row, Henry Poole & Co. has been dressing the world’s most important men and women for over two centuries. Their craft of bespoke tailoring has been meticulously documented through the generations in a complete set of ledgers. Telling the story of Poole’s most colourful characters in six chapters, this fascinating account distills Sherwood’s research into sixty iconic customers, men and women. Each client is profiled with details of their signature garment and connections with Poole’s. From artists and writers, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Wilkie Collins, to financiers J. P. Morgan and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, this book offers a unique window into an establishment at the very heart of 19th- and 20th-century public life. Illustrated with historic portraits and atmospheric photography of the premises as they are today, this intimate glimpse into the private lives of some of history’s most influential figures is essential reading for anyone interested Savile Row, the relationship between power and being well-dressed, and the evolution of style.

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Throughout history, patterns have come in countless permutations of motif, colour-way and scale. Yet what all have in common is the regularity of repetition, that insistent rhythm that animates a flat surface with a sense of movement and vitality and gives it depth. Evident in the arrangement of petals on a flower head, the branching growth of stems and vines, the spirals of a seashell – pattern is inherent in the natural world that surrounds us. Powerful and transformative, pattern has an irrepressible joie de vivre. With more than 1,500 illustrations of patterns from all ages and cultures, Pattern Design is a visual feast. This comprehensive compendium is arranged thematically according to type, with chapters on Flora, Fauna, Pictorial, Geometric and Abstract designs. These broad categories are supplemented by in-depth features highlighting the work of key designers from the rich history of pattern-making – such as William Morris, Sonia Delaunay, Charles and Ray Eames, Lucienne Day and Orla Kiely – along with sections detailing the characteristic motifs of key period styles from Baroque to Art Deco.

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Recent advances in technologies and home-generated renewable energy have made building away from urban and rural infrastructures more practical and affordable than ever. This survey of the world’s most innovative off-grid homes reveals the cuttingedge architecture and technology that is enabling us to escape to some of the most extraordinary natural environments on the planet. All of the houses featured in this book are fully, or almost fully, self-sufficient in terms of energy, water and, in some cases, food. Architecture and interior design expert Dominic Bradbury reveals how each architect has made everyday living in these wild and natural settings a rewarding and tempting reality. From snowbound cabins in the far Northern Hemisphere to coastal retreats that can only be accessed by boat, the diverse projects collected here show the innovative ways in which architects and their clients are tackling extreme climates, remoteness and construction challenges to enable a new way of life that is both liberating and sustainable. The imperative to reduce our carbon footprints and refocus on renewable sources of energy is having a profound impact on our domestic lives. This fascinating survey demonstrates that creative architecture, design and technology are redefining the possibilities for leading a truly rewarding and responsible lifestyle.

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Original catalogue to the Paris exhibition and a core part of the blockbuster retrospective at the V&A. It was in 1947 that Christian Dior presented his first collection and heralded the birth of a new fashion silhouette for women. After the austerity of the war years, the cinched waistlines, full skirts and soft shoulders of the New Look came to embody a revival of Parisian luxury. Paris regained its place as the global capital of fashion and the name of Dior became a synonym for haute couture. For this book, published to mark the 70th anniversary of the House of Dior, seventy of the most memorable looks created Christian Dior and his successors – Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri – have been specially selected and photographed in fascinating detail. These wonderful designs are also featured in sketches, runway shots and fashion shoots by the world’s greatest fashion photographers, including Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, William Klein, Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier, Paolo Roversi, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino and Nick Knight. The seventy 'looks' are prefaced by essays from Olivier Gabet, Jérôme Gautier, Patrick Mauriès and Florence Müller. Recurring themes from the history of Dior are discussed in depth: the concept of line and architecture in fashion; the influence of history and art (the Palace of Versailles, the Empire style, Impressionism, the Belle Époque, the Ballets Russes, Picasso, Dalí, Pollock); the use of colour; the influence of gardens and landscapes as sources of inspiration; and, of course, the brand’s muses and famous clients: the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Princess Grace of Monaco, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Isabelle Adjani, Princess Diana, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence and more.

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Containing poetry, drawings, pressed flowers, photographs, excerpts from scripts and notes, this biography and part social history is an intimate pictorial record of the relationship between Derek Jarman's personal and professional life, revealing the detailed planning and research, and creative and emotional engagement, behind each of his films.

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Among the many treasures of the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, are hundreds of chess and other games pieces dating from the 7th to the 19th centuries ce. Intricately crafted in a rich variety of materials, including ivory, wood, ceramic, glass, jade and agate, these tiny objects are of enormous historical and artistic significance. They not only mark the evolution of familiar games into their modern forms, but also evoke the imperial palaces, military camps and herders’ tents in which they were played over many centuries, from the Sasanian period through the Islamic era in Central Asia, Iran, present-day Iraq and northern India. The chess pieces include both early figural sets and the more abstract forms that later became popular throughout the Islamic world. Dice, pachesi sets and a medieval Arabic treatise on chess complete the collection.

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Landmark is a defining survey of contemporary landscape photography. It features more than 230 images by over 100 leading photographers of today, all of whom present an individual viewpoint about a shared concern for our changing landscape and environment. The book is organized around ten themes and includes work by such distinguished practitioners as Edward Burtynsky, Stéphane Couturier, Mitch Epstein and Sally Mann. From restful, bucolic images capturing the last vestiges of ‘nature’, through shocking depictions of a sullied Earth, scarred and abused, to surreal and artificial landscapes where the ‘natural’ landscape is a highly controlled one, the book provides a thought-provoking meditation on the meaning of landscape in today’s world. The well-known writer and curator William A. Ewing contributes introductory texts to each of the sections, as well as the preface and introduction. Landmark also features statements by the artists themselves.

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Patricia Rieff Anawalt probes deeply into the significance and meaning of shamanic practices in Northeast Siberia, Alaska and British Columbia, and also points up the intriguing differences in the ritual garb as generation after generation sought to influence events through the aid of spirits. From the prehistoric Ice Age up to the 20th century, related peoples across these vast territories created a wide cultural universe derived from the cross-fertilization of ideas, oral traditions and art. With supernatural helpers, shamans sought to ensure their people’s survival by controlling and pacifying the spirits of the animal world. It was vital to have the ‘right’ clothing and equipment: it not only protected the shamans and enabled them to wield their power over the spirits, but also created a powerful mystique among their human clients. The surviving items of regalia, often collected by anthropologists under the most challenging circumstances, bequeath an acute sense of the animistic world and the early interactions between man and nature, offering us an astonishing window into the worldviews of our distant ancestors.

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Brooklyn-born photographer Helen Levitt (1913–2009) was an assistant to Walker Evans and a friend of Henri Cartier-Bresson, but forged her own path with fierce independence and endless curiosity about the world around her. She is best known for her street photography, capturing children at play on the streets of Depression-era New York and chalk drawings on walls, but she also cast her eye upon the adult world, seeking out moments of movement, transience and theatricality. Following her first solo exhibition at MoMA in 1943, she devoted more than a decade to filmmaking, but returned to photography in the late 1950s and began to work in colour as well as black and white. Lyrical and witty, her images reveal the streets of New York as flowing with life and unexpected poetry.With 68 illustrations

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A rich, vibrantly illustrated account of the history and sources of manga As contemporary as this graphic art form may appear to readers outside of Japan, manga has, in fact, deep roots in Japanese culture, drawing on centuries-old artistic traditions: traces can be found in seventh century temple paintings, folding screens decorated with comic characters, and painted medieval Emakimono scrolls. The more familiar manga comics of today echo similar themes, both light and serious, and draw on narrative forms present in the sagas and skits from Japan’s rich cultural heritage. This book spans the history of manga in all its splendour and diversity: from Hokusai’s seminal Manga in 1814 to the onset of the gekiga in the 1950s; from the landmark Astro Boy of Tezuka Ozamu to Lady Oscar, Riyoko Ikedan’s shôjo manga aimed at young girls; from samurai sagas to the more alternative productions of the review Garo; and from the demons that populate the works of Mizuki Shigeru to the latest creations from Jirô Taniguchi, each period is covered in detail. One Thousand Years of Manga is both a rich documentary account and a visual delight with over 400 illustrations, many never before seen outside of Japan. A thorough exploration of the sources of manga, this book makes it possible to understand how this mass-produced cultural artifact – aimed at adults as much as at children – has developed into an essential facet of Japanese culture that is now enjoyed across the globe.

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Published to accompany the exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this catalogue examines the impact of Futurism and Cubism on British modernist printmaking from the beginning of World War I to the beginning of World War II. Imagery ranges from powerful artistic impressions of the first fully mechanized war, to radical geometric abstractions, to the colourful, streamlined jazz age images of speed, sport and diversion which the Grosvenor School artists created in order to introduce a broader public to modern art and design. Interest in this era is peaking among collectors, curators and art historians and this is an ideal moment to introduce these innovative British printmakers to a wider public.

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A revised edition of this classic survey that presents a thorough overview of Georgia O’Keeffe’s life and work. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) was a major figure in American art for seven decades. Throughout that long and prolific career she remained true to her unique artistic vision, creating a highly individual style that synthesized the formal language of modern European abstraction and the themes of traditional American pictorialism. The main subjects to which she returned again and again were the flowers, animal bones and the landscapes around her studios in Lake George, New York, and finally New Mexico, with which she has been ultimately identified. This comprehensive and illuminating book by a noted scholar on O’Keeffe and her work, surveys the complete oeuvre – drawings, watercolours and paintings from all periods – and explains her life in the context of her artistic output. Now revised with updated bibliography, this edition features colour reproductions of artworks throughout.

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Claude Monet (1840–1926) is one of the most admired and famous painters of all time, and the architect of Impressionism: a revolution that gave birth to modern art. His technique – painting out of doors, at the seashore or in the city streets – was as radically new as his subject matter, the landscapes and middle-class pastimes of a newly industrialized Paris. Painting with an unprecedented immediacy and authenticity, Monet claimed that his work was something new: both natural and true. In this new introductory study, James H. Rubin – one of the world’s foremost specialists in 19th-century French art – traces the development of Monet’s practice, from his early work as a caricaturist to the late paintings of waterlilies and his garden at Giverny. Rubin explores the cultural currents that helped to shape Monet’s work: the utopian thought that gave rise to his politics; his interest in Japanese prints, gardening, and trends in the decorative arts; and his relationship with earlier French landscape painters as well as such contemporaries as Manet and Renoir.

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Immerse yourself in the wit and wisdom of Coco and Karl: two elegant collections of the legendary designers’ maxims on style, creativity and life. Chic, sharp and always on point, Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld continue to captivate young generations of fashion fans. Chanel was fierce and uncompromising in her opinions on fashion, women and life, while Lagerfeld’s famously controversial pronouncements were seized upon by fashionistas, acolytes and sages around the world. Cultivated, surprising and sometimes shocking, their ‘bons mots’ are always impossible to ignore. This elegant box set contains two slim volumes of their pithiest, wittiest and most provocative quotations, and will be required reading for us all today as we negotiate the trickiest curves of modern life. ‘Fashion changes, but style endures’ Coco Chanel ‘People who tell all appal me’ Karl Lagerfeld ‘The best things in life are free. The second-best are very expensive’ Coco Chanel ‘You must never be afraid of progress. Otherwise you are damned’ Karl Lagerfeld

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An interpretation of the history of mural painting from ancient Egypt to the twentieth century by one of most eminent art historians of all time, who wielded huge influence over both his professional peers and a vast popular readership. 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 first major monograph on sculptor Ronald Moody, exploring his legacy and impact through his key artistic relationships, networks and influences, and his relationship with nature, humanity and spirituality. Ronald Moody (19001984) was a leading modernist sculptor and yet, until now, there has been no comprehensive overview of his work. This biography explores the development of his sculpture, re-establishing his place within the story of 20th-century art. Contributions by those who knew him Paul Dash, David A. Bailey, Cynthia Moody, Errol Lloyd and Val Wilmer punctuate Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski's biographical account. Their personal reflections and photographs, and transcripts of Moody's BBC radio broadcasts, offer insights into his cultural influences and studio life, with his brother Harold, a campaigner for racial equality, and the Caribbean Artist Movement, at the core. Born in Jamaica, Moody arrived in Britain in 1923 and initially trained as a dentist, before switching p

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A chronicle of post-9/11 America, at war and at home, as seen through the lens of one of Magnum Photos' leading photographers: a compelling and ground-shaking meditation on war and society. Through reportage and memoir, in photographs and words, Look at the U.S.A. documents the major fault lines that have defined post-9/11 America at home and abroad, beginning with the war in Iraq and ending with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Fuelled by ideology, insecurity, ambition and a deep fascination with war, Peter van Agtmael began documenting America's war in Iraq in 2006. So began a photographic odyssey that would span nearly two decades, generating work that grew from a deep need to understand and peel back the layers of his troubled society. Confronting the mythologizing of war and seductive nature of conflict on the American psyche, Look at the U.S.A. explores the disconnect between the intergenerational wars and the home front, juxtaposing American troops in combat with

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Marco Polo, Ferdinand Magellan, David Livingstone, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong: these are some of the greatest travellers of all time. This book chronicles their stories and many more, describing epic voyages of discovery from the extraordinary migrations out of Africa by our earliest ancestors to the latest voyages into space. In antiquity, we follow Alexander the Great to the Indus and Hannibal across the Alps; in medieval times we trek beside Genghis Khan and Ibn Battuta. The Renaissance brought Columbus to the Americas and the circumnavigation of the world. The following centuries saw gaps in the global maps filled by Tasman, Bering and Cook, and journeys made for scientific purposes, most famously by von Humboldt and Darwin. In modern times, the last inhospitable ends of the earth were reached – including both poles and the world's highest mountain – and new elements were conquered. With evocative photographs, paintings and portraits, The Great Journeys in History reveals the stories of those who were there first, who explored the unexplored and who set out into the unknown, bringing alive the romance and thrill of travel.

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Tibetan yoga is the hidden treasure at the heart of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition: a spiritual and physical practice in pursuit of an expanded experience of the human body and its energetic and cognitive potential. Ian A. Baker progressively introduces the core principles and practices of Tibetan yoga in this pioneering overview. In addition to meditations, visualizations and practices for the breath and body, these include elements rather less familiar to yoga initiates in the West, including sexual yoga; dream yoga or lucid dreaming; and yoga practices enhanced by psychoactive plant or mineral substances. Baker draws on contemporary scientific research and contemplative and humanitarian traditions to enable the reader to understand these practices. The book includes ethnographic photography and works of Himalayan art that have never been published before, as well as illustrations of yogic practice and theory from historical books of instruction.

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An introduction to the work of the celebrated fashion photographer. An experimenter and innovator, Erwin Blumenfeld (1897–1969) produced an extensive body of work including portraits and nudes, celebrity portraiture and advertising campaigns – but it is his fashion photography for which he is best known. Having fled Paris during World War II, Blumenfeld forged a stellar path in New York, where he worked for Harper’s Bazaar, American Vogue, Helena Rubinstein, L'Oréal and Elizabeth Arden. Discover Blumenfeld’s masterful work through sixty full-page reproductions in this title in the Photofile series. The curator Emmanuelle de l’Ecotais contributes an introduction.

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Marwa al Sabouni was a little-known architect, living in battle-ravaged Homs, unable to practice her profession as the buildings and the lives around her and across Syria were reduced to rubble. Rather than flee her country, like so many of her compatriots, she remained, committed to the belief that the multilayered and multifaceted society she grew up in was worth rebuilding. She turned her fierce intelligence to chronicling how her city and country were undone through decades of architectural mismanagement and mistakes. The result was The Battle for Home. Published in 2016, the book and her story attracted the attention of international news media and received critical acclaim around the world. She became a TED fellow; some suggested she be nominated for architecture’s highest honour, the Pritzker Prize. Until the book was published, al Sabouni had rarely travelled outside of her native country, but The Battle for Home gained her invitations to speak to audiences, institutes and experts across the world. Her travels, combined with her deep understanding of the Middle Eastern heritage and values, provided al Sabouni with insights into a wide range of cities, which informed her views on how cities best work, how they might fail, and what can be done to enrich and harmonize the lives of all their inhabitants. This is a rich journey, drawing together several narratives: her personal observations of some of the world’s most fascinating cities, from Detroit to Helsinki, from Bristol to Amsterdam; the lessons that Western societies might learn from Islamic culture; and philosophical reflections, drawing on a range of thinkers, on how our personal and communal spaces can provide the basic foundations for happiness. Through this rich tapestry of personal experience, unblinking perspective, and unsettling insight, al Sabouni offers the reader real-world solutions – and hope – for how the conditions for enduring peace might be created in an increasingly polarizing world.With 24 illustrations

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Egon Schiele lived in Vienna during its last years as capital of the declining Habsburg Empire. Rejected by his family and hounded by society for his interest in young girls, he expressed through his art a deep and bewildering loneliness and an obsession with sexuality, death and decay. Schiele died at the age of twenty-eight, yet he left behind him a body of work that sustains a huge public reputation – and myth. This profusely illustrated book delves into both the controversial sexual themes and neglected aspects of Schiele’s art, notably his formal experiments and his later expressionist portraits and allegorical paintings – works that reveal much about the importance of his short career.

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If you want to know how we know what we know about dinosaurs, read this book! Steve Brusatte 'I defy anyone who is, like me, a non-scientist to read it and not feel a sense of wonder’ Tom Holland, Guardian Startling new fossil finds are the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology. Giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons from Patagonia, dinosaurs with feathers from China, and even a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber – complete down to every detail of its filament-like feathers, skin, bones and mummified tail muscles – inspire awe in a global audience enthralled by the idea of these great creatures walking the earth. Dinosaurs are of perennial interest to all ages, as illustrated by the huge range of dino-themed films, books and live attractions, from the enduring popularity of the Jurassic Park franchise to the success of London’s immersive ‘Dinosaurs in the Wild’ experience. In the past twenty years, dinosaur study has changed from natural history to testable science. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the bones in a way nobody predicted – we can now work out the colour of dinosaurs, their bite forces, speeds and parental care as well as how they came to die out.This groundbreaking book illustrates how science has replaced speculation and how our understanding of dinosaurs and their world hascompletely changed. The subject has never been so vigorous, has never changed so fast, and has never been so attractive to so many.

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Lively and informative, The World Atlas of Tattoo is a superbly illustrated and compelling reference book that, through examining the meeting point between tattoo artists and their personal understanding of their environment, presents a well-informed and nuanced account of what has become a widespread art practice. Organized geographically, each section is introduced by a short historical overview of the types of tattooing traditionally practised in that area of the world, enabling the reader to trace historical threads in the careers of some of the profiled tattooers, as well as marvel at how other artists have managed to create novel forms of tattooing that transcend any previous context. The book also tracks the movement of styles from their indigenous settings to diasporic communities, where they have often been transformed into creative, multicultural, hybrid designs. Written by an international team of scholars, historians and journalists, this comprehensive atlas will enlighten and excite anyone who is passionate about tattoo art in its many forms worldwide.

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The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, worshipped for over half of recorded history, are among the most fascinating and complex of any civilization. Here is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the deities that lay at the heart of Egyptian religion and society. It examines the evolution, worship and eventual decline of the numerous gods and goddesses – from minor household figures such as Bes and Taweret to the all-powerful deities Amun and Re – that made Egypt the most completely theocratic society of the ancient world, and made Egyptians, according to Herodotus, ‘more religious than any other people’.

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The essential guide to the complex, fascinating world of Chinese myths: retelling the stories and exploring their significance in Chinese culture. This is a concise and entertaining guide to the complex tradition of Chinese mythology. While many around the world are familiar with some aspects of Chinese myth – through Chinese New Year festivities or the classic adventures of the Monkey King in Journey to the West – few outside of China understand the richness of Chinese mythology, influenced by Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Offering much more than any competing overview of Chinese mythology, The Chinese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Chinese religions, culture and history. Tao Tao Liu introduces us to an intriguing cast of gods, goddesses, dragons and monks, including: the ancient hero, Yi the Archer, who shot suns out of the sky to save humanity from a drought; Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, to whom there are temples dedicated all over East Asia; and Madame White Snake, a water snake spirit in the guise of a mysterious widow, her story adapted into countless films and operas. This book is for anyone interested in China, as knowing its myths allows readers to understand and appreciate its culture in a new light.

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The Greek myths are so much part of our culture that we tend to forget how they entered it in the first place. Visual sources – vase paintings, engraved gems and sculpture in bronze and stone – often pre-date references to the myths in literature, or offer alternative, unfamiliar tellings. In some cases visual art provides our only evidence, as there is no surviving account in ancient Greek literature of such important stories as the Fall of Troy, or Theseus and the Minotaur. T. H. Carpenter’s book is the first comprehensive, scholarly yet succinct survey of myth as it appears in Greek art. Copiously illustrated, it is an essential reference work for everybody interested in the art, drama, poetry or religion of ancient Greece. With this handbook as a guide, readers will be able to identify scenes from myth across the full breadth of archaic and classical Greek art.With 297 illustrations in colour

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What inspires explorers to push back the boundaries of the known world? Why do they risk their lives in unforgiving conditions far from home? How do they survive at the limits of human endurance? Who are the great pioneers of land, sea and space? Where next? This book charts the great expeditions of forty of the world’s most intrepid explorers, from da Gama to Gagarin. Gertrude Bell plotted the desert sands, politics and poetry of Arabia; Francis Garnier was driven almost insane on the banks of the Mekong; Edward Wilson twice tried to reach the South Pole with Scott; Nain Singh mapped the vast spaces of Tibet, counting every step. Written by a host of distinguished travel writers, broadcasters and historians, here are journeys to savour from every corner of the earth – and beyond.

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A beautifully illustrated exploration of the artistic and personal connections between Matthew Wong (19842019) and Vincent van Gogh. Shortly before his early death, the Chinese-Canadian artist Matthew Wong (19842019) emerged as a phenomenon. He started drawing and painting in 2011, at the age of 27, and within the space of just a few years had developed a highly personal style, using intense colours to paint imaginative landscapes. Wong's expressively lyrical works were inspired by both traditional Chinese painting and Western art. He was especially influenced by Vincent van Gogh (18531890), not only in terms of his painting style and choice of motifs, but also in some aspects of his life. Both artists were self-taught, acquiring their drawing and painting skills without tuition, and both faced mental health issues. Wong saw his own life reflected in that of Van Gogh, and once said: I see myself in him. The impossibility of belonging in this world.' Published to accompany the ex

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Comprehensive, practical and easy to follow the ideal introduction to the art of drawing for students, amateurs and beginners of all kinds. A comprehensive practice-based guide to the art of drawing, this book provides a chapter-by-chapter overview of key elements of drawing (such as line, shape, tone and value) before addressing the different genres (such as still life and portraiture). Written in an accessible and encouraging manner, Drawing: A Complete Guide seeks to build the learner's confidence in artistic exploration as well as developing his or her practical abilities. Stephen Gardner opens the book by making the case that anyone can draw. He then goes on to discuss and analyse more than 500 inspirational examples, ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary art, while step-by-step demonstrations of key techniques provide further guidance for realizing successful drawings. Prompts and projects throughout the book also encourage readers to make sketching a daily routin

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For anyone interested in the natural world and the extraordinary diversity and wonder of plants, this beautifully illustrated and presented range of stationery will be a delight. Products in the range are illustrated with exquisite and exotic images taken from the book Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World and all are attractively packaged.

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