Search results for ""Thames Hudson Ltd""

In February 2012, in a Munich flat belonging to an elderly recluse, German customs authorities seized an astonishing hoard of more than 1,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. When Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove became public in November 2013, it caused a worldwide media sensation. Catherine Hickley has delved into archives and conducted dozens of interviews to uncover the story behind the headlines. Her book illuminates a dark period of German history, untangling a web of deceit and silence that has prevented the heirs of Jewish collectors from recovering art stolen from their families more than seven decades ago by the Nazis. Hickley recounts the shady history of the Gurlitt hoard and brings its story right up to date, as 21st-century politicians and lawyers puzzle over the inadequacies of a legal framework that to this day falls short in securing justice for the heirs of those robbed by the Nazis.

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Designed to equip the cultural tourist and art student with the means to interpret each painting, building, or artifact in terms of the iconography and symbolism of Islam, this book will deepen understanding not only of Islamic art and architecture but also of Islam itself.

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Body art, practised across all world cultures and throughout history, is the most intimate art form, linking the self, the senses, and the social and political. In recent years, it has proliferated in an unprecedented way, borrowing motifs and practices from many different traditions. What is it that these new and borrowed body arts do, and what do they tell us about the global culture that we now inhabit? Nicholas Thomas explores these questions and many more in this wide- ranging survey of body arts from prehistoric origins to the present. He illuminates their role in expressing cultural identity; their associations with ritual, theatricality, criminality and beauty; and their recent resurgence via the Modern Primitive movement and in the work of contemporary artists. More than 180 illustrations chronicle the diversity of body arts, from painting and scarification to footbinding, Russian prison tattoos, Harlem drag balls and the inked designs worn by celebrities such as Tupac Shakur and David Beckham. For everyone with any interest in the subject, Body Art offers an intelligent celebration of this quintessentially human art form.

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A revised edition of a compelling photographic history of Queen Elizabeth II’s life and reign This book is a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, from her first official photograph as a baby in 1926 to her Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Each of the book’s chapters begins with a text by bestselling historian and biographer Philip Ziegler, covering the key royal and historical events of the period, with some contextual photographs, followed by a sequence of plates in chronological order. With over 200 images of the Queen by internationally distinguished photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Lord Snowdon and Rankin, the Queen is captured in a variety of poses, from formal photographs as a working monarch, to intimate portraits relaxing with her family at Balmoral and Windsor. All the images have been officially approved by the Palace, making this the only illustrated book that anyone will ever need on Queen Elizabeth II.

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A compelling and lively history that examines the lives of British artists from the late-19th century to today. In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the ‘long twentieth century’, from the closing years of Queen Victoria’s reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain. Bird examines how the rhythms of change and adaptation in art became embedded in the collective consciousness of the nation and vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story, looking beyond individual careers and historical moments to weave together interconnecting currents of change that flowed through London, Glasgow, Leeds, Cornwall, the Caribbean, New York, Moscow and Berlin. From the American James McNeill Whistler’s defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson’s melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times. At the heart of this original book are the successive waves of displacement caused by global wars and persecution that conversely brought fresh ideas and new points of view to the British Isles; educational reforms opened new routes for young people from working-class backgrounds; movements of social change enabled the emergence of female artists and artists of colour; and the emergence of the mass media shaped modern modes of communication and culture. These are the ebbs and flows that Michael Bird teases out in this panoramic account of Britain and its artists in across the twentieth century.

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The first book dedicated to Picasso’s self-portraits, many held in private collections and published here for the first time. Much has been said and written about Picasso’s life and art, but until now his self-portraits have never been studied and presented in a single book, perhaps because the artist always left many doubts about his work. However, there is no doubt that Picasso represented himself ceaselessly, whether in a dashed-off pencil sketch, as a flourish at the bottom of a letter, or on a giant canvas. At the suggestion of Picasso’s widow Jacqueline, the distinguished art historian Pascal Bonafoux began researching Picasso’s self-portraits more than forty years ago. This meticulously researched book presents the fruits of his decades-long project. From the first attributed painting in 1894 as a thirteen-year-old boy, until Picasso's final self-portrait in 1972, a year before his death, Bonafoux charts the evolution of the artist's life and art. Here is Picasso as a student; as a young bohemian; an impetuous artist in Paris; as harlequin; as lover, husband and father; and finally, as an old man confronting his mortality. The book comprises about 170 drawings, paintings and photographs, some from private collections and previously unpublished, bringing together for the first time the attributed self-portraits of this genius of 20th-century art.

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An elegant collection of Christian Dior’s maxims on style, women and inspiration, presented in a fashionable gift format. Credited with creating some of the most luxurious and spectacular haute couture pieces of all time, Christian Dior became a fashion icon overnight in 1947 with the launch of his ‘New Look’ - sumptuous hourglass silhouettes that provided a welcome tonic to the austerity of wartime. Its wild success, and the global fame that ensued, was built on the designer’s subtle understanding of fashion, couture, style, elegance and women - a perspective and insight best revealed in Dior’s own words, which are gathered here for the first time. Rightly described as the ‘Designer of Dreams’ in the recent blockbuster exhibition on the house of Dior that attracted millions of visitors the world over, Christian Dior was an unrivalled arbiter in the world of high fashion. Dior was generous with his advice on all things, from style and how to dress (‘No elegant woman follows fashion blindly’, he once declared), to his insights into the creative process, invaluable for any budding designer. Presented in a beautiful package and accessible format, The World According to Christian Dior is the perfect gift for fashion fans, publishing on the occasion of the house’s 75th anniversary.

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Explores the lifestyles of families and individuals around the world who have escaped the daily grind to create a new life in harmony with nature. The impact of climate change and the pressures of city life – not to mention the life-changing events of the last few years – have left many of us dreaming of a simpler existence that benefits the environment and resets the mind. The lifting of restrictions, including travel, has meant that more of us than ever are re-evaluating how and where we live, eschewing disposable culture in favour of a more meaningful and sustainable way of life. From a family who relocated to the remote Australian bush to a young couple who live and work on a narrowboat on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal in the UK, Living Wild tells the stories of people around the world who have made the leap into the unknown, exploring what inspired them and how the move has impacted upon their families and livelihoods. From tackling the daily challenges of living off-grid to minimizing waste and growing your own food, this book will be inspirational reading for anyone who aspires to live more sustainably.

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A brand-new perspective on early modern art and its relationship with nature as reflected in this moving account of overlooked artistic genius Adam Elsheimer, by an outstanding writer and critic. Seventeenth-century Europe swirled with conjectures and debates over what was real and what constituted 'nature', currents that would soon gather force to form modern science. Natural Light deliberates on the era’s uncertainties, as distilled in the work of painter Adam Elsheimer – a short-lived, tragic German artist who has always been something of a cult secret. Elsheimer’s diminutive, intense and mysterious narrative compositions related figures to landscape in new ways, projecting unfamiliar visions of space at a time when Caravaggio was polarizing audiences with his radical altarpieces and circles of ‘natural philosophers’ – early modern scientists – were starting to turn to the new ‘world system’ of Galileo. Julian Bell transports us to the spirited Rome of the 1600s, where Elsheimer and other young Northern immigrants – notably his friend Peter Paul Rubens – swapped pictorial and poetic reference points. Focusing on some of Elsheimer's most haunting compositions, Bell drives at the anxieties that underlie them – a puzzling over existential questions that still have relevance today. Traditional themes for imagery are expressed with fresh urgency, most of all in Elsheimer's final painting, a vision of the night sky of unprecedented poetic power that was completed at a time of ferment in astronomy. Circulated through prints, Elsheimer’s pictorial inventions affected imaginations as disparate as Rembrandt, Lorrain and Poussin. They even reached artists in Mughal India, whose equally impassioned miniatures expand our sense of what 'nature' might be. As we home in on artworks of microscopic finesse, the whole of the 17th-century globe and its perplexities starts to open out around us.

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A compelling social and cultural history of Britain since the Second World War, showing how photographers have depicted the country over the last seventy years. Another Country offers a lively, vital rethinking of British documentary photography over the last seven decades. This collection includes a diverse range of photographers working in an exciting array of photographic and artistic modes, encompassing images from iconic reportage to photo-text pieces, from self-portraits to political photo-collages. As Britain takes an increasingly significant place in the history of documentary photography, award-winning photography writer and critic Gerry Badger brings vital context and breadth to the conversation. Organized chronologically, each chapter spans a particular period of social and cultural history, focusing on the major photographers, figures, institutions, publications and galleries that shaped the photographic climate of their time, as well as the broader tastes of the era. Chapter-by-chapter picture sections present famous works alongside forgotten masterpieces, interspersed with focused commentaries on selected photographs by both Badger and a range of contributors. This multilayered approach provides a rich understanding of the evolution and sheer variety of British documentary photography. With more than 165 photographers represented – including work by Bert Hardy, Lee Miller, Bill Brandt, Nigel Henderson, Don McCullin, Jane Bown, Yinka Shonibare, Maud Sulter, Nadav Kander, Tom Hunter, Chloe Dewe Matthews, Cold War Steve and many more – this book is a comprehensive overview of how photographers and photo-artists have depicted Britain and British society over the last seventy years.

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The definitive catalogue of an unparalleled collection of Indian jewelry and luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and the Deccan sultanates. This is the definitive catalogue of an unparalleled collection of Indian jewelry and jewelled luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and Deccan sultanates in the 16th and 17th centuries. The collection, widely regarded as one of the finest in the world, was assembled by Sheikh Nasser and Sheikha Hussa al-Sabah for The al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, and reveals the beauty, sophistication and diversity of Indian jewelled arts. The Indian subcontinent is naturally rich in gems. From ancient times master jewellers developed a wide array of unique techniques and made it home to the most sophisticated jewels on earth. Exotic birds and animals, flowers, trees and mythological scenes rendered in precious gemstones, gold and enamel demonstrate these artists’ prodigious imagination and skill. They produced not only an unmatched range of jewelry to adorn the body but also ritual and household items of astonishing refinement and luxury, as well as extravagantly large engraved gemstones to serve as symbols of their princely patrons’ royal power – including a spinel of nearly 250 carats believed to be the legendary Timur Ruby. This volume includes not only the finest and most valuable pieces in the collection – some familiar to connoisseurs, others published here for the first time – but also many previously unknown types that extend our understanding of artistic output in the region. With specially commissioned photography giving unprecedented new views of more than 300 jewelled objects, this is a publication of historic importance and beauty, for all lovers of jewelry, the arts of India and of the Islamic world.

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This is the first major study of the subject in over seventy years. In a triumph of scholarship, Stefano Carboni has drawn on a huge range of sources to produce a beautiful and comprehensive history.The book is based on the superb al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait and includes detailed descriptions of some 500 objects, accompanied by hundreds of newly taken photographs and specially commissioned drawings. Beginning with the legacy of Roman and Sasanian traditions in the early years of Islam, the coverage extends well over a thousand years to the last phase of glass production in Mughal India and Safavid and Qajar Iran in the 18th and 19th centuries.Dr Carboni’s authoritative text, the beauty of the objects themselves and the fine quality of the reproductions combine to reveal to scholar and layman alike an aspect of Islamic art that has for too long been neglected.

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The Monocle team celebrates the endlessly fascinating and culturally rich country of Japan. Ever since it launched in 2007, Monocle has had a rich and deep connection with Japan. From day one the magazine has had a Tokyo bureau – which today also encompasses a Monocle shop and radio studios – run under the watchful eye of Asia bureau chief Fiona Wilson. Over the past decade the magazine has built up a unique understanding and passion for the nation. It has covered everything from a live journey on the Emperor’s jet and the tastiest places to eat in Kagoshima to the fashion designers crafting new levels of excellence and the businesses with remarkable stories untold outside Japan. This new book reveals the best of the nation in the run up to the 2020 Olympics. Complete with stunning photography and intriguing essays, it is a unique showcase of a country that for many remains a mystery.

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The Monocle team dips its toe into the world of swimming, revealing 100 beautiful and inspiring places to take the plunge. Swimming is excellent exercise of course, but it’s so much more than that: it can be a transcendental experience, offering us space to reflect and to escape. It’s an antidote to screens and all-encompassing technology. Perhaps it’s the shedding of inhibitions that come with a dip, or could it be that getting somewhere under our own steam is an act that’s health-giving, refreshing and life-affirming? Whatever it means to you, swimming – alone or with others, badly or brilliantly – is about being in the moment. This new book celebrates bathing in glorious full-colour photography, revealing the editors’ chosen spots from inner-city architectural wonders to lakes, beach clubs and bagni. So whether you’re looking to do laps in Italy, tread water in Australia, sink into the icy depths in Iceland – or perhaps just sit on the side and let others do the hard work – this guide includes a setting for everyone. Dive right in.

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Following the success of The Monocle Book of Japan, Monocle’s latest book is a celebration of all things Italian. Few countries pack a punch like Italy – energetic, enigmatic and effortlessly cool, it’s a country of chic beach clubs, tradition-steeped hilltop towns and cities full of soul. Its cuisine is celebrated the world over, its design aesthetic has become synonymous with both functionality and style, and it’s home to the undisputed capital of fashion: Italy's appeal is undeniable. Covering all these topics and many more, The Monocle Book of Italy is packed with insight and is fully illustrated with specially commissioned photography to paint a unique portrait of the nation. From the vaporettos of Venice and the boutiques of Milan to the family-run trattoria of Trieste and the sunny shorelines of Sicily, discover the people, places and products that define this captivating country. La dolce vita never looked so good.

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Carpets from Islamic lands have been treasured for centuries on nearly every continent on earth. Prized by European monarchs and traded as far afield as Tibet and the Americas, these woven and knotted masterpieces are both distinguished works of art and revealing utilitarian objects that offer a rare glimpse of life in the Islamic world. Carpets from Islamic Lands features more than forty fine classical carpets held in the al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait, along with several important pre-Islamic carpet fragments. Friedrich Spuhler describes this spectacular collection in the context of the history of Islamic art, recounting the carpets’ fascinating stories and celebrating their intricate designs and masterful craftsmanship. Including pictures of many carpets never before reproduced in print, and a few that may have been lost forever following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, this richly illustrated volume is essential reading for modern admirers of oriental carpets, and a treasure in its own right.

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Discover the real-life stories of some of the greatest artists of all time. Splat! traces art history through the artists who helped to make important artistic innovations, including Michelangelo and the High Renaissance; Bruegel and his paintings of everyday peasant life; Manet and the shock of Impressionism; and Duchamp and the Dada revolution. Read the real-life stories of artists, such as Caravaggio, Jan Vermeer, Henri Rousseau, Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky and Frida Kahlo, who dared to imagine new ways of depicting the world. The achievements of these artists and the challenges, difficulties and dangers they faced are excitingly brought to life.

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A Financial Times Book of the Year 2022An inspiring tale from Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman celebrating the world’s most iconic train, Flying Scotsman, and its greatest fan, a young girl named Iris. Iris knows everything there is to know about Flying Scotsman. Her dad is the famous train’s driver, and every year her favourite birthday treat is a trip to see him at work. But each time Flying Scotsman pulls away, Iris wishes more than anything that she could be in the driver’s cab, just like her dad. Then again, who’s to stop her… Published in association with the National Railway Museum, York, Flying Scotsman and the Best Birthday Ever takes readers on a journey through the golden age of steam travel, paying tribute to the women who kept the railways running during the Second World War. With family at its heart, the story is warmly written and joyously illustrated by national treasures Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman.

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What did the Earth look like 300 million years ago? Here's a chance to travel back through time and discover the days when the Earth was a very different place. In this cleverly designed book, lifting the tracing paper pages is like peeling back the layers of history, allowing readers to compare animals living in prehistoric landscapes with the fossils they left behind. The changing face of our planet comes to life, while the science behind the Earth's geology and climate is clearly explained. Packed with fascinating illustrations, this is a wonderful way to understand the story of evolution, from the earliest single-cell lifeforms to the mighty dinosaurs and onwards to the first human beings. Winner of a Non-Fiction Special Mention, Bologna Ragazzi Awards 2021

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The Big Book of Belonging is for all the children who like to climb trees, run barefoot, splash in puddles, search for bugs, sing with the birds, taste snowflakes and count the stars. By placing children at the heart of the natural world, the book celebrates our connection with planet Earth and reveals the often surprising similarities between humans, animals and plants. Illustrated in Yuval Zommer's inimitable style and packed with quirky natural history facts, readers will discover that sea otters hold hands just like humans do; hermit crabs have homes; and that butterflies also have bedtimes. They'll learn that just as humans have unique fingerprints, zebras have different stripes, cowrie shells have distinct spots and that no two snowflakes are identical. The book's uplifting message will inspire environmentalists young and old alike – we all belong to nature, and nature belongs to us all.

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When night falls, everything is dark. Or is it? The moon shines with a pale light. A car drives along the street, and when its headlights flash, we see two bright dots run by. Is it a cat? Or perhaps a fox? If we stand still for a moment, our eyes will adjust to the darkness. We can see twinkling stars in the sky, and sometimes even the bright belt of stars called the Milky Way. The night contains both light and darkness. Come on a journey and visit the dark forest, the deep ocean and the shadows of the city, and discover everything that’s glows, glitters and shines in the night!

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It’s Franklin’s birthday! Luna and all the villagers are planning a surprise party, and Franklin’s family are visiting from the moon. While the party is being set up, Luna takes Franklin book shopping. They find a padlocked book of fairy tales, which the bookseller tells them is full of dangerous magic. Luna’s tortoise, Neil, can’t help picking the lock… but when he peers inside, the book swallows him whole. Franklin and Luna dive into the book to rescue Neil. They tumble into cobwebbed forests and meet dusty fairy-tale characters who have been trapped inside these pages for hundreds of years. After several encounters and some narrow escapes, they finally find Neil – who has won a gold medal after racing a hare – and, all together, they break out of the book and into the real world. Exhausted but victorious, all the fairy-tale characters, Franklin, Luna and Neil arrive at Franklin’s birthday party. They’re not sure it’s a happily ever after, but they’re certainly very full of cake… and that will more than do for now.

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In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late ‘Happy Prince’, who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isn’t allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.

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The last book completed by William Klein within his lifetime: A landmark retrospective encompassing Klein's legacy of creativity across photography, filmmaking, painting, book design, graphic design and beyond. Photographer. Filmmaker. Artist. Designer. To master one of those disciplines would be a lifetime achievement for any creative individual, yet William Klein's career was celebrated in each of them over the last eight decades. Klein was one of the great image makers of the 20th century and one whose work remains an enduring creative influence on the work of contemporary artists, photographers and filmmakers. With over 250 images, this career retrospective explores the late William Klein's entire creative and artistic arc. Directed by Klein himself, from the selection of content to book design, this large-format publication looks back at his uncompromisingly creative lifetime, showcasing Klein's prolific and relentlessly innovative contribution to the world of photography, art, design and filmmaking. Published in association with a major retrospective at the International Center of Photography, this book is a comprehensive take on his career. While best known as a photographer who broke all the rules and conventions, William Klein: Yes focuses on the full range of Klein’s work, from his abstract paintings through to his startling, authentic street photography and photobooks and his dynamic, satirical take on filmmaking. With a flowing, chronological text by David Campany, this book will be both an introduction to William Klein for a new generation and a source of fresh insights for those who already know who William Klein was: a true original.

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Many of Magnum’s most renowned photographers – beginning with Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson on assignment in the 1930s – have been captivated by China. They’ve returned time and again, their fascination growing in line with China’s burgeoning accessibility and international influence. – both an outstanding photobook and a fascinating social history – illustrates the agency’s evolving relationship with this increasingly influential nation to give a visually rich, informed photographic account of the country, its people and the changes witnessed over the last nine decades. Chronologically organized to present key periods in the development of the modern state and its associated territories, Magnum China presents in-depth portfolios by individual photographers, accompanied by introductory commentaries on the featured projects and group selections illustrating the diversity of Magnum’s interaction with the region. Supplemented with introductory essays by Jonathan Fenby, historical timelines, lists of photographers’ travels and a fold-out map of China, Magnum China offers detailed and perceptive socio-political, geographical and historical context to complement the outstanding photography of some of the world’s finest photographers.

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Abbas – veteran Magnum photographer of political and social conflict in Northern Ireland,Vietnam, the Middle East, South America and South America – turns his attention in this collection to the Islamic world in the wake of 9/11. In over 170 compelling duotone images, Abbas exposes an inside view of a world seen by very few people in the West until now. Focusing on the resurgence of Islam everywhere on the planet since September 2001, these pictures swell with the undercurrents of global disturbance, uncertainty and threat. A member of Magnum for more than 25 years, Abbas is widely recognized as one of the most exceptional photographers of our time: these images represent some of the most memorable work he has produced, on a subject of compelling interest across the globe.

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This is the most ambitious book ever published on the ruby, the king of gems. From Emperors and Empresses, Kings and Queens, Maharanis to Hollywood royalty, a stunning array of style icons are shown wearing their favourite ruby jewelry, alongside classic images of rubies from art, advertising and fashion. The book also showcases sixty of the world’s most significant and renowned pieces of ruby jewelry, including many previously unseen designs from royal and private collections. Historic creations are represented alongside pieces from major modern jewelry houses, among them Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chaumet, Harry Winston and Graff. Additionally, Ruby offers practical guidance on what to look for in a quality ruby.

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The Anatomy of Colour is the definitive book on the use of colour and paint in interior decoration over a 300-year period. Drawing on his huge specialist archive, historian and paint expert Patrick Baty traces the evolution of pigments and paint colours together with colour systems and standards, and examines their impact on the colour palettes used in interiors from 1650 to 1960. He first charts the creation in paint of the common and expensive colours made from traditional earth pigments between 1650 to 1799. Next he examines the emergence of colour systems and standards and their influence on paint colours together with the effect of industrialized production on the texture and durability of paints. Alongside the authoritative and revealing text are specially commissioned photographs of pages from rare colour books. Throughout the book reproductions of interiors from home decor books, highlighting the distinctive colour trends and styles of painting particular to each period, accompany the in-depth analysis of the history of colour and the development and use of paint colours in interior design.

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The Writer's Map winner of Trade Illustrated category in the British Design and Production AwardsPhotography & Illustrated Travel Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2019Maps can transport us, they are filled with wonder, the possibility of real adventure and travels of the mind. This is an atlas of the journeys that writers make, encompassing not only the maps that actually appear in their books, but also the many maps that have inspired them and the sketches that they use in writing. For some, making a map is absolutely central to the craft of shaping and telling their tale. A writer’s map might mean also the geographies they describe, the worlds inside books that rise from the page, mapped or unmapped, and the realms that authors inhabit as they write. Philip Pullman recounts a map he drew for an early novel; Robert Macfarlane reflects on his cartophilia, set off by Robert Louis Stevenson and his map of Treasure Island; Joanne Harris tells of her fascination with Norse maps of the universe; Reif Larsen writes about our dependence on GPS and the impulse to map our experience; Daniel Reeve describes drawing maps and charts for The Hobbit trilogy of films; Miraphora Mina recalls creating ‘The Marauder’s Map’ for the Harry Potter films; David Mitchell leads us to the Mappa Mundi by way of Cloud Atlas and his own sketch maps. And there’s much more besides. Amidst a cornucopia of images, there are maps of the world as envisaged in medieval times, as well as maps of adventure, sci-fi and fantasy, maps from nursery stories, literary classics, collectible comics – a vast range of genres.

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Today’s designers are often presented with a seemingly infinite number of creative choices, with the ability to push their materials to the limits of what they can do. Understanding these materials properly helps designers make inspired decisions in a practical and confident manner. The Materials Sourcebook for Design Professionals is the one-stop resource for all design professionals, providing comprehensive, accurate information about the basic materials with which they work on a daily basis, as well as a complete breakdown on new and exciting developments in high-tech materials. Written by Rob Thompson, this book comprises six main parts on all the major ‘design’ material groups. These parts are then separated further into chapters that examine the properties of individual types of materials, e.g. ‘Iron’, ‘Steel’ and ‘Aluminium’. In total, there are nearly 100 material types featured, each one supported by examples of how it can be used in a variety of industries, an outline of its most desirable properties and details on its form and texture. With 450 vibrant illustrations and a clear layout, the design professional or student is presented with a long-term reference tool that tells them everything they need to know about the materials they use habitually, with information delivered in a wholly unbiased and accessible manner.

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The Banjara – an ethnic group composed of nomadic tribes, centered in the Indian state of Rajasthan – are renowned for their highly colourful textiles, often embellished with mirrors and intricate embroidery and produced from natural resources. Created to satisfy the needs of the tribe, occasionally incorporating shells, beads, mirrors, and tassels for decoration, the Banjara technique is unique in India and a celebration of the strength of the women who practise it. Recent genetic and linguistic evidence supports ties between the Banjara and the European Roma, eliciting much debate about the exact nature of the connection. This is the first book to be devoted to the traditions and embroidery of the Banjara, illuminating their history and investigating their links with the European Roma. Photographs by documentary photographer Tim McLaughlin illustrate the highest quality pieces of Banjara embroidery and costume, both historic and contemporary, and are accompanied by a foreword by Rosemary Crill, a senior curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and an appendix of line drawings.

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Derek Jarman’s Sketchbooks – Deluxe Edition. Edited by Stephen Farthing and Ed Webb-Ingall. With a preface by Tilda Swinton. Featuring contributions from Keith Collins, Christopher Hobbs, Andrew Logan, James Mackay, Jon Savage, Howard Sooley, Neil Tennant and Toyah Willcox. DELUXE SLIPCASED EDITION. INCLUDES THREE PRINTS. Containing poetry, drawings, pressed flowers, photographs, excerpts from scripts and notes, Derek Jarman’s sketchbooks are part autobiography and part social history, bursting with the energy and creativity of this groundbreaking artist. This publication collates the best of Jarman’s sketchbooks to reveal the detailed planning and emotional engagement behind each of his films in more depth than ever before. This deluxe edition is limited to 500 copies, each presented in a cloth-covered slipcase. Each numbered copy is accompanied by three prints reproduced from the sketchbooks, housed in an envelope tipped into the book. The book, which is covered in real blue cloth with gold foil blocking on the spine and in a debossed recess on the frontboard, is c.15% larger than the standard edition. 196 illustrations, 187 in colour, 31.0 x 24.0cm, 256pp, ISBN 978 0 500 517185 . £150.00 slipcased hardback + 3 prints

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This book captures the new mood – a return to a preference for the unique and the handmade. Design expert and acclaimed blogger Olivier Dupon has sourced the cream of the contemporary design world from all over Europe, Australia and the United States, profiling 75 artisans who use craft techniques, rather than mass-production methods, to create stylish, whimsical, covetable objects. Hundreds of colour photographs feature a huge variety of crafts, including art, ceramics, furniture, glasswork, jewelry, lighting, metalwork, papercraft, textiles and woodwork. Complete with a directory of products, and Dupon’s personal recommendations for inspiring shops and websites to visit, this is the perfect resource for discovering unique and beautiful objects made by new, talented artisans from all around the world.

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One spring morning in 1957, veteran photojournalist David Douglas Duncan paid a visit to his friend and frequent photographic subject Pablo Picasso, at the artist's home near Cannes. As a co-pilot alongside Duncan in his Mercedes Gullwing 300 SL was the photographer's pet dachsund, Lump. Photographer and dog were close companions, but Duncan's nomadic lifestyle and his other dog - a giant jealous Afghan hound who had tormented Lump - made their life in Rome difficult. When they arrived at Picasso's Villa La Californie that historic day, Lump decided that he had found paradise on earth, and that he would move in with Picasso, whether the artist welcomed him or not. This is the background for a totally original book that offers an uncommonly sensitive portrait of Picasso. Lump was immortalized in a Picasso portrait painted on a plate the day they met, but that was just the beginning. In a suite of forty-five paintings reinterpreting Velasquez’s masterpiece ‘Las Meninas’, Picasso replaced the impassive hound in the foreground with jaunty renderings of Lump. Today, as a gift from the artist to his hometown as a youth, all of those historic canvases are now the centerpiece exhibition in the Picasso Museum of Barcelona. Fourteen of the paintings are reproduced here in full colour, juxtaposed with Duncan’s dramatic and intimate black-and-white photographs of Picasso and Lump, bringing full circle the odyssey of a lucky dachshund who found his way to becoming a furry, super-stretched icon of modern art.

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Chanel's combination of tradition, originality and style has always made it the most seductive of brands. Here the House of Chanel opens its private archives, revealing a galaxy of brilliant designs created by Coco Chanel from the 1920s onwards, and now reinterpreted to become the motifs for brand new garments, accessories and beauty products. Inspired by the House's signature fragrance, the legendary ‘Chanel No 5’, the book explores five central themes – the suit, the camellia, jewelry, fragrances and make-up, and the little black dress – and follows the threads from past to present to show how these key items have been rediscovered and reinvented by fashion designers working in the footsteps of their illustrious predecessors. This visual journey is enhanced by previously unpublished archive photographs and original drawings by Karl Lagerfeld, as well as glorious images from some of the greatest names in fashion photography. Dazzling clothes, intricate accessories, beautiful models and timeless design leave no doubt as to the lasting fame of the brand and embody everything that has come to symbolize the magic of Chanel.

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Packed with information and glaze recipes, The Glaze Book will enable you to reference hundreds of ceramic surfaces. Each glaze recipe is clearly illustrated so you can see the colour and surface responses it has to offer, and features a description including its firing range, and the uses to which it can be put. The Glaze Book provides easily accessible help on - Methods and Techniques - Raw Materials - Glazing Tools and Equipment - Mixing a Glaze - Methods of Application - Glaze Recipes for Earthenware, Stoneware and Porcelain

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A beautiful and informative gift book devoted to Edward Bawden's representations of England. Edward Bawden (1903-1989) was a printmaker, painter, illustrator and designer. He studied and later taught at the Royal College of art, served as a war artist in WW2 and worked extensively as a commercial artist for companies including London Transport, Fortnum and Mason, Shell-Mex, the Folio Society and Chatto and Windus. Aside from the years he spent in France, the Middle East and North Africa while serving as a war artist, and later visits to Canada and Ireland, Bawden rarely travelled far from home, but found inspiration in the fields and farms of his native Essex, at the seaside, and in classic London scenes: Kew Gardens, the Royal Parks, the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral, and the iron-and-glass monuments to Victorian engineering such as Liverpool Street station and the markets in Spitalfields and Smithfield. This book celebrates England as represented by Bawden in 85 works held in the V&A’s collection, including prints, posters, drawings, paintings, murals and advertising material. The illustrations include such early pieces as his poster Map of the British Empire for an exhibition in 1924; his mural English Garden Delights, designed for the Orient Line Navigation Company in 1946; illustrations for books including Good Food, The Gardener’s Diary and Life in an English Village; advertising work for London Transport, Shell and Fortnum & Mason; the poster Lifeguards, created to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953; and a varied selection of linocuts and watercolours. As this book demonstrates, it was England, with its quiet landscapes, its pleasures and pastimes, its history and ceremonies, its traditions and recreations, that was the source of Bawden's finest and most engaging work.

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A joyful and celebratory gift book devoted to the work of the much-loved English artist Eric Ravilious (1903–1942) and the influence of natural forms and themes in his work. Eric Ravilious was a designer, painter, printmaker and illustrator best known for his depictions of the English landscape, particularly the South Downs. Often described as a particularly ‘English’ artist, key to his style was an ability to convey in watercolour the mild vagaries of the British climate. His engagement with nature, though romantic rather than precise, pervades his works in many different techniques. This book explores his appreciation of the natural world and the techniques he used in a variety of media to convey those elements. Drawing on the V&A’s collections, more than 100 beautiful images capture Ravilious’s deep enjoyment of everything in nature, from dewponds, cockerels, grassy hills, owls, greenhouse geraniums, cornsheaves and snow, to the rainy seas, airport-runway puddles and tideswept beaches of his later work as a war artist. The book includes sections on weather, plants, landscape, animals and birds, and ends with a section devoted to man in the landscape, showcasing Ravilious’s love of rusting machinery and other signs of human presence within nature, not least his famous depictions of hillside chalk figures. This book will appeal to those with a love of English landscapes, flora and fauna or an interest in British art and design in the interwar period.

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Bringing together more than 100 items of clothing, this book reveals the intricacies of Japanese dress from the 18th century to the present. Including garments for women, men and children, the details have been selected both for their exquisite beauty and craftsmanship, and for how much they impart about the wearer’s identity, be it age, status or taste. A comprehensive introduction, illuminating the main periods and key themes of Japanese fashion history, is followed by thematic chapters that cover all aspects of clothing, from hair accessories and necklines to hemlines and shoes. Each garment or object is accompanied by a short text exploring its structure and the fascinating range of decorative techniques employed, including embroidery, weaving, lacquering, stencilling, dyeing and digital technology. Specially commissioned detail photography and line drawings provide an invaluable resource for Japanophiles, students, collectors, designers and lovers of fashion and world dress.

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Discover the stories of 100 women and men whose activities in the 19th century laid the foundations of modern China. Through telling the lives of one hundred significant individuals, this book explores how China transformed from dynastic empire to modern republican nation during the period 1796 to 1912. Both famous and surprisingly little-known women and men are brought together in eight thematic sections that bring to life the complexities of China’s path to modernity. Featured figures include the Dowager Empress Cixi, the power behind the throne of the Qing dynasty for fifty years; Yu Rongling, the aristocratic daughter of a Qing diplomat who trained in Paris with Isadora Duncan and is now seen as one of the founders of modern dance in China; Shi Yang, the most powerful woman pirate in the world, celebrated in popular culture as a female icon; the Manchu-Chinese Duanfang, a lynchpin of late Qing government and an avid collector of international art, murdered by his own troops in the 1911 Revolution that ended dynastic rule; Luo Zhenyu, a pioneer of Chinese archaeology whose discoveries and research empirically confirmed the antiquity of Chinese civilization; and many others. Written by an international team of specialists, this book populates the landscapes of modern Chinese history with extraordinary individuals, making sense of the drama and creativity of the country’s ‘long 19th century’.

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A passionate advocate of craftsmanship over mass-production, William Morris (1834– 1896) designed a huge variety of objects, but it is his highly original carpet, fabric and wallpaper patterns that have continued to capture the imagination and exert their influence on the decorative arts. Around 600 such designs are attributed to Morris, of which the vast majority are based on natural forms, including trees, plants and flowers. This beautifully designed, accessibly priced gift book offers a wealth of designs by Morris in which flowers are the principal motif, bringing together not only completed patterns but also working drawings in pen and watercolour, and examples of his pearwood, floral-pattern printing blocks. It also explores examples of the sources that inspired Morris’s flower-based designs: his own gardens at the Red House in Kent, Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire and elsewhere; 16th- and 17th-century herbals; illuminated medieval manuscripts; late medieval and Renaissance tapestries; and a range of decorated objects, particularly from the Islamic world, that Morris studied at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A). Authored by Rowan Bain, curator at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, north London, and lavishly illustrated with almost 100 colour illustrations, this exquisite book will both inform and delight

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The illustrations on this gorgeous giftwrap are all taken from award-winning designer Caz Hildebrand’s Herbarium, a 21st-century reboot of the traditional herbal compendium. The visual genius behind the international bestseller The Geometry of Pasta, she has created abstract forms and vibrant colours to illustrate 100 essential herbs and to reveal their hidden properties. This stylish giftwrap set includes twelve gift tags.

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Thirty-six postcards featuring iconic images of the Big Apple from the world's most famous photographic agency.

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Inspired by Susan Herbert’s delightful feline reimaginings of famous scenes from art, theatre, opera, ballet and film, are two gift products: a set of three small (A6) ruled notebooks and a boxed collection of 20 different notecards with high-quality envelopes.

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William Morris's patterns are enduringly popular for their originality and colour, and have captured the imagination of countless designers and artists. This colouring book explores the intricate work of William Morris and his Arts & Crafts contemporaries and allows you to invent your own colourways to complete their patterns. - 45 patterns to color, interspersed by full-colour reproductions of the original designs - Organized into four sections Nature, Colour, Pattern, and Craft to highlight different aspects of the designs, and the crafts and skills behind them - Explores Morris's love of nature, his artistry, mastery of colour, and innovation in pattern design in concise introductory texts

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The perfect primer on acclaimed French artist Sophie Calle. Sophie Calle is a French writer, photographer, installation artist and conceptual artist. Her work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is renowned for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives, which she has deployed in her acclaimed works Suite Venitienne, The Hotel and Address Book. She has had major exhibitions all over the world, including at the 2007 Venice Biennale, the Whitechapel Gallery in London, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, and has worked closely with the writer Paul Auster. The Guardian called her ‘the Marcel Duchamp of dirty laundry’, and she was among the names in Blake Gopnik's list 'The 10 Most Important Artists of Today', with Gopnik arguing, 'It is the unartiness of Calle's work — its refusal to fit any of the standard pigeonholes, or over anyone's sofa — that makes it deserve space in museums.'

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André Kertész is one of four new titles being published in Autumn 2007 in Thames & Hudson's acclaimed 'Photofile' series. Each book brings together the best work of the world's greatest photographers in an attractive format and at an easily affordable price. Handsome and collectable, the books are printed to the highest standards. Each one contains some sixty full-page reproductions printed in superb duotone, together with a critical introduction and a full bibliography.

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A definitive survey of the finest examples of residential architecture in Britain from 1900 to the present, featuring the major architects of the 20th century and leading emerging talents. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the architectural history and heritage of Britain. This has been driven by many important political, cultural and social factors, as well as a powerful and renewed interest in the design of house and home. The Iconic British House explores and celebrates fifty of the most architecturally significant houses from 1900 to the present. Encompassing major artistic movements, such as Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Modernism and Postmodernism, the houses include examples designed by architects Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edwin Lutyens, Berthold Lubetkin, Richard Rogers and many others. 21st-century innovation and imagination are evidenced in houses by established and emerging talents, such as Seth Stein, Nick Eldridge, Robin Partington and Ken Shuttleworth. Much more than a celebration of influential homes, this richly illustrated overview is also a comprehensive guide to shifting architectural movements and ideas, a survey of great architects with international relevance and a journey through changing tastes, styles, aesthetics and patterns of living.

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