Search results for ""Thames Hudson""

At the turn of the twenty-first century, many felt sceptical or confused about painting’s on-going cultural relevance. In this context, Julian Bell’s What is Painting? provided an accessible and inspired account of artistic thinking and practice, and of the complexities then facing artists and their audiences. Eighteen years on, the situation is partly reversed. Painting has proved too resilient a practice to be marginalized any longer. Yet is there any sense of forward momentum for the art? Interrogating the factors that have changed our ideas of painting over the past two centuries, Bell addresses relations between figuration and abstraction and between narrative and non-narrative painting, as well as the waning of conceptual art’s dominance and the proliferation of experiments with the physical limits of painting. He also clarifies general concepts such as ‘expression’ and ‘representation’. Fully revised to provide a fresh look at the situation of painting, this new edition maintains the objective of lucid, historically informative explanation that earned the original edition its status as a text of lasting value. The book provides a general reader’s introduction to theories of painting that is not only reliable, but also stimulating and amusing to read.

Read more less

The international significance of the art produced in Hungary in the 1960s and 1970s has come to the fore in recent years. Nevertheless, studies of modern and contemporary art in Eastern Europe during the Soviet era tend to focus on their relationship to Western art, with an emphasis on the parallel development of similar artistic practices – an approach that risks overlooking the specific circumstances of the art’s making. In Hungary’s case, artists of the neo-avant-garde found themselves in an increasingly isolated position, caught between the ruling communist authorities, who condemned their art as a product of capitalist cultural imperialism, and a predominantly conservative public, which rejected it as a foreign creation alien to the spirit of national culture. Art in Hungary, 1956–1980 provides a unique insight into the ways in which Hungarian neo-avant-garde artists both responded to and fought against a system that was determined to deny them a sense of autonomy. At the heart of the book is a commitment to understanding Hungarian contemporary art of the 1960s and 1970s – a time of oppressive communist rule in the aftermath of the failed revolution of 1956 – in the context of the conditions in which it was created. Featuring more than 250 illustrations, a bold design and essays on a diverse range of subjects, this book, the outcome of a major international research project, represents the authoritative account and analysis of a remarkable period in the history of Hungarian art.

Read more less

In recent years Eric Ravilious has become recognized as one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, whose watercolours and wood engravings capture an essential sense of place and the spirit of mid-century England. What is less appreciated is that he did not work in isolation, but within a much wider network of artists, friends and lovers influenced by Paul Nash’s teaching at the Royal College of Art – Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Tirzah Garwood, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus and Helen Binyon among them. The Ravilious group bridged the gap between fine art and design, and the gentle, locally rooted but spritely character of their work came to be seen as the epitome of contemporary British values. Seventy-five years after Ravilious’s untimely death, Andy Friend tells the story of this group of artists from their student days through to the Second World War. Ravilious & Co. explores how they influenced each other and how a shared experience animated their work, revealing the significance in this pattern of friendship of women artists, whose place within the history of British art has often been neglected. Generously illustrated and drawing on extensive research, and a wealth of newly discovered material, Ravilious & Co. is an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and tragedy.

Read more less

In this first systematic introduction to contemporary Chinese art, Wu Hung provides an accessible, focused and much-needed narrative of the development of Chinese art across all media from the 1970s to the 2000s. From its underground genesis during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), contemporary Chinese art has become a dynamic and hugely influential force in a globalized art world where the distinctions between Eastern and Western culture are rapidly collapsing. The book is a richly illustrated and easy-to-navigate chronological survey that considers contemporary Chinese art both in the context of China's specific historical experiences and in a global arena. Wu Hung explores the emergence of avant-garde or contemporary art - as opposed to officially sanctioned art - in the public sphere after the Cultural Revolution; the mobilization by young artists and critics of a nationwide avant-garde movement in the mid-1980s; the re-emphasis on individual creativity in the late 1980s, the heightened spirit of experimentation of the 1990s; and the more recent identification of Chinese artists, such as Ai Weiwei, as global citizens who create works for an international audience.

Read more less

If you find yourself in Hull, Cork or Dundee, what paintings should you go and look at? Many masterpieces are waiting for you around the British Isles, sometimes neglected, in our galleries and museums. Here, broadcaster, critic and President of the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), Christopher Lloyd, identifies over 265 masterpieces in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales – from the National Gallery to The Burrell Collection in Glasgow – some acknowledged greats, others surprising, quirky and richly rewarding. All the paintings are the personal selection of Lloyd who has come across and enjoyed or admired them in public collections during the course of his career. His purpose throughout is to encourage others to visit the same places and experience the same pleasures. For tourists, this book offers a treasure trail; for the art lover, a vade mecum and companion – in all an expert guide to the highlights of British collections – our country’s galleries have found their Pevsner!

Read more less

The art of Makoto Azuma uses flowers and plants as its starting point, but juxtaposes their timeless yet transient beauty with an incredibly diverse range of striking settings. In a series of sculptures, installations and interactive events, he delights in blurring the boundaries between nature and artifice. Azuma founded the floral atelier Jardins des Fleurs in 2002, taking commissions from private clients as well as brands and corporations, both in Japan and all over the world. His parallel career as an artist began in 2005 and involves creating and exhibiting artworks that turn flowers and plants into a medium for self-expression. In 2008, Azuma founded AMKK (Azuma Makoto Kaju Kenkyujo), a group specializing in experimental floral creation, with the aim of seeking new forms of botanical beauty and new ways to exhibit them. His works have travelled the globe, from barren deserts to frozen expanses, from thousands of feet below the sea to the very edge of space. Featuring more than sixty projects captured in breathtaking photography, this beautiful book is the most comprehensive showcase of Azuma’s art ever published.

Read more less

Founded in 1780 in Paris, Chaumet quickly made history by becoming the official jeweller to Empress Josephine, soon turning the house into the most sought-after jeweller in Europe with a loyal and prestigious clientele, from empresses and queens to Maharajas. Tiaras, as social symbols and fashion accessories, are Chaumet’s speciality and were particularly sought after throughout the centuries – from historical pieces created for royalty to strikingly modern Art Deco pieces crafted for wealthy 1920s flappers. Rarely seen and exhibited, the tiaras illustrated in this book are presented thematically (‘Nature’, ‘Skies’, ‘Graphic Lines’ and ‘Power’) and are introduced by two short essays: V&A jewelry curator Clare Phillips examines the history of tiaras through the centuries, while fashion expert Natasha Fraser focuses on their role in the history of fashion. Presented in a luxurious, slipcased package, Chaumet: Tiaras is a unique tribute to that most elite of jewels. It will be a must-have reference for lovers of luxury and high jewelry.

Read more less

A revised and updated edition of a bestselling introduction on one of the leading architects of the 20th century. Le Corbusier is probably the most famous architect of the 20th century. The richness and variety of his work and his passionately expressed philosophy of architecture have had a gigantic impact on the urban fabric and the way we live. Weaving through his long and prolific life are certain recurrent themes his perennial drive towards new types of dwelling, from the early white villas to the Unité d'Habitation at Marseilles; his evolving concepts of urban form, including the Plan Voisin of 1925 with its cruciform towers imposed on the city of Paris and his work at Chandigarh in India; and his belief in a new technocratic order. The distinguished critic and architecture historian Kenneth Frampton re-examines all the facets of his artistic and philosophical world-view in light of recent thinking, and presents us with a Le Corbusier for the 21st century. This revise

Read more less

The third edition of this classic study, a thorough introduction to one of the most popular and recognizable artists of the 20th century. Salvador Dalí was, and remains, among the most universally recognizable artists of the twentieth century. What accounts for this popularity? His excellence as an artist? Or his genius as a self-publicist? In this searching text, partly based on interviews with the artist and fully revised, extended and updated for this edition, Dawn Ades considers the Dalí phenomenon. From his early years, his artistic friendships and the development of his technique and style, to his relationship with the Surrealists and exploitation of Freudian ideas, and on to his post-war paintings, this essential study places Dalí in social, historical and artistic context, and casts new light on the full range of his creativity.

Read more less

Gainsborough is one of the most appealing artists of the eighteenth century. Renowned for such elegant portraits as The Blue Boy and Countess Howe, he also pioneered a new form of landscape with a moody sensibility that prefigured the Romantic movement. He was a brilliant draftsman, and his art is full of inventiveness and visual delight.William Vaughan draws on recently discovered material to provide a fresh perspective on both the life and art of this master. He shows how closely Gainsborough’s innovative manner can be connected to social and political developments in Britain, in particular the celebration of original genius in a time of burgeoning entrepreneurial commercialism. Above all, he demonstrates how, beneath the artist’s charm, there lay a bedrock of shrewd observation and pictorial intelligence that gives his work a value for all time.

Read more less

Since its invention in c.100 BC, paper has been a cornerstone of civilization and a key component of the human experience. Artist Matthew Shlian has always recognized paper’s significance as a material for experimentation and understanding. In his hands, engineering, science and geometry can all be expressed within the medium of paper. Folded, tessellated, compressed, extrapolated – two-dimensional paper becomes three-dimensional sculpture in beautiful and unexpected ways. Unfolding is a complete overview of Shlian’s oeuvre over the past ten years, including small- and large-scale works, unseen development sketchbooks, collaborations with scientific researchers and scientists, three-dimension reliefs and sculpture – all in paper. Printed in full colour on two paper stocks, the book features an introduction by Diana Gaston, an interview between Stuart Kestenbaum and the artist, and essays by acclaimed writer Lawrence Weschler and Islamic design scholar Eric Broug. In keeping with the geometric underpinning of Shlian’s work, the dimensions of the book are ‘16 cubed’: 16cm squared by 16cm squared by 16 signatures of 16 pages. Unfolding is a journey into the new possibilities of folding technology, the intricate complexities of Islamic patterns, and the sheer potential offered by a simple sheet of paper.With 200 illustrations, 150 in colour

Read more less

‘I have a more or less irresistible passion for books’ Vincent van Gogh Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was famously driven by his passion for God, for art – and for books. Vincent’s life with books is examined here chapter by chapter, from his early adulthood, when he considered becoming a pastor, to his decision to be a painter, to the end of his life. He moved from Holland to Paris to Provence; at each moment, ideas he encountered in books defined and guided his thoughts and his life. Vincent’s letters to his brother refer to at least 200 authors. Books and readers – whether dreaming or deeply absorbed – are frequent subjects of his paintings. Vincent not only read fiction, he also knew many works of art from detailed descriptions and illustrations in monographs, biographies and museum guides. Always keeping up to date, he never missed the latest literary and artistic magazines. This thought-provoking and original study takes the reader on an artistic-literary journey through Vincent’s discoveries, his favourite authors and best-loved books, revealing a continuous dialogue between his own work, the artists and the authors who inspired him, and giving life to his comment: ‘Books and reality and art are the same kind of thing for me.’

Read more less

In the course of a career thinking and writing about art, Martin Gayford has travelled all over the world both to see works of art and to meet artists. Gayford’s journeys, often to fairly inaccessible places, involve frustrations and complications, but also serendipitous encounters and outcomes, which he makes as much a part of the story as the final destination. Entertaining and informative, Gayford includes trips to see Brancusi’s Endless Column in Romania, prehistoric cave art in France, the museum island of Naoshima in Japan, the Judd Foundation in Marfa, Texas, and a Roni Horn work in Iceland. Interwoven with these accounts are journeys to meet artists – Robert Rauschenberg in New York, Marina Abramovic in Venice, Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris – or travels with artists, such as a trip to Beijing with Gilbert & George. These encounters not only provide insights into the way artists approach and think about their art but also reveal the importance of their personal environments. And in the process, Gayford discusses how these meetings have impacted on his own evolving ideas and tastes.

Read more less

Marcel Broodthaers filled his twelve-year artistic career with more ideas and works than most artists manage in a lifetime. This career began in 1964, following a period of more than two decades labouring in some obscurity as a poet in the Belgian Surrealist circle of René Magritte and Paul Nougé. He also wrote articles on art during these years, including early critiques of Pop art. Traversing media freely – from installation and sculpture to artist’s books, prints, film and writings – Broodthaers embodied the ‘post- media artist’ for whom any form could be recruited in the service of a larger conception. Those conceptions included institutional critique (of which he is a pioneer), art-historical critique, pastiche and philosophical-linguistic puzzles. Edited by Broodthaers’ daughter Marie-Puck, and with a range of both classic and never-before-seen works, a biography, exhibition chronology and a selected bibliography, this volume is the largest and most authoritative Broodthaers monograph ever published.

Read more less

Subject to passionate controversy during his lifetime, the work of Joseph Beuys is now considered one of the most significant and influential contributions to twentieth-century fine arts. This book provides a survey of Beuys’s oeuvre, which he viewed as part of a larger, philosophically based practice emphasising direct democracy, free access to education and the restructuring of society to meet ecological requirements. A total of 152 works from Beuys’s many fields of activity – drawings and watercolours, prints and multiples, sculpture and objects, spaces and actions – are arranged in chronological order, demonstrating the artist’s formal versatility, creative richness and conceptual depth. The peculiar poetry of the materials Beuys used – felt, grease, honey, wax, copper and sulfur – emerges along with the gentle melancholy suffusing the work of this sensitive agent provocateur. Alain Borer analyses Beuys’s motivation with special reference to the artist’s written and spoken statements. The book is an informed introduction to the artistic work and conceptual world of Joseph Beuys, for anyone interested in art.

Read more less

The Book of the Dead of Sobekmose, in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, New York, is one of the most important surviving examples of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead genre. Such ‘books’ – papyrus scrolls – were composed of traditional funerary texts, including magic spells, that were thought to assist a dead person on their journey into the afterlife. The ancient Egyptians believed in an underworld fraught with dangers that needed to be carefully navigated, from the familiar, such as snakes and scorpions, to the extraordinary: lakes of fire to cross, animal-headed demons to pass and, of course, the ritual Weighing of the Heart, whose outcome determined whether or not the deceased would be ‘born again’ into the afterlife for eternity. This publication is the first to offer a continuous English translation of a single, extensive, major text that can speak to us from beginning to end in the order in which it was composed. The papyrus itself is one of the longest of its kind to come down to us from the New Kingdom, a time when Egypt’s international power and prosperity were at their peak. This new translation not only represents a great step forward in the study of these texts, but also grants modern readers a direct encounter with what can seem a remote and alien civilization. With language that is, in many places, unquestionably evocative and very beautiful, it offers a look into the mindset of the ancient Egyptians, highlighting their beliefs and anxieties about this world as well as the next.

Read more less

An entirely fresh and accessible approach to reading ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs by a proven expert, this step-by-step introduction assumes no previous knowledge of grammar or ancient languages, but guides readers through the inscriptions, from simple to more complex, supported by full explanations and translations. Readers' will see their knowledge and skills grow as Bill Manley clearly explains the mysteries of hieroglyphs without jargon or technical terms, guiding the reader step by step through 27 real-life, unaltered texts from stelae, tombs and portable objects. Specially commissioned line drawings present engaging texts clearly and elegantly, while fact boxes bring to life images of monuments of high officials and kings, giving glimpses of ancient Egyptian society and beliefs. This guide is essential reading for anyone interested in Ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs or ancient languages and contains all the knowledge you need in order to start deciphering hieroglyphic texts for yourself.

Read more less

At once polemical, insightful and thought-provoking, Conceiving God is essential reading for all those interested in the origins of religious thought, and the respective roles of science and religion in contemporary society. Building on the insights and discoveries of his two earlier books, The Mind in the Cave and Inside the Neolithic Mind, cognitive archaeologist David Lewis-Williams explores how science developed within the cocoon of religion and then shows how the natural functioning of the human brain creates experiences that can lead to belief in the supernatural realm.

Read more less

The tomb of Tutankhamun, with its breathtaking treasures, remains the most sensational archaeological find of all time. This brilliantly illustrated volume takes the reader through Tutankhamun’s tomb room-by-room in the order that it was discovered and excavated by Howard Carter. Dr Zahi Hawass imbues the text with his own inimitable flavour, imagining how the uncovering and opening of the tomb must have felt for Carter, while Sandro Vannini’s extraordinary photographs reproduce the objects in infinitesimal detail. This sumptuous volume is the definitive record of Tutankhamun’s glittering legacy.

Read more less

A major new monograph on the American photographer Louis Stettner (19222016), published to accompany the largest retrospective on his work to date. Brooklyn-born Louis Stettner (19222016) created thousands of images over the course of a career that spanned almost eighty years. Acquiring his first camera as a young teenager, he quickly made a name for himself at New York's famous Photo League, where he formed friendships with Sid Grossman and Weegee. He served as a combat photographer in World War II, and the experience of fighting fascism left him with a lasting belief in the fundamental humanity of the common man. After the war, Stettner arrived in Paris in 1947, where he stayed for five years. During this time, he forged a lasting relationship with Brassaï, the city and its people. Stettner's work defies categorization, containing elements of both the New York street photography aesthetic and the lyrical humanism of the French tradition. A lifelong Marxist, Stettner celebrated

Read more less

A substantial new appraisal of Consuelo Kanaga (18941978), one of the pioneers of modern American photography. Consuelo Kanaga (18941978) was one of the pioneers of modern American photography. Beginning her career in 1915 as a photojournalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Kanaga quickly became a highly skilled darkroom technician, developing a distinctly artistic aesthetic style inspired by the photography of Alfred Stieglitz. Over the next six decades, she produced beautifully composed images over a wide range of subjects, characterized by an abiding interest in the social conflicts of her time including urban poverty, workers' rights, racial segregation and prevailing inequality. She became especially known for her emotional and introspective portraits of African Americans, which combined modernist formal technique and radical documentary commentary. Featuring 200 photographs from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, this substantial new appraisal of Consuelo Kanaga's w

Read more less

A collection of writings that sets out Kengo Kuma's theories of architecture, but also a left field critique of where the architecture world finds itself today. Kengo Kuma is one of Japan's leading architects and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Widely known as a prolific writer and philosopher, he proposes architecture that opens up new relationships between nature, technology and human beings. Through a series of thought-provoking essays, he unveils his vision of architecture as a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation, critiquing the megastructures and capitalist influences of the 20th century and challenging readers to reconsider the role of architecture in shaping our world. Drawing from diverse disciplines including art history, philosophy and literature, Kuma crafts a narrative that transcends the boundaries of traditional architectural theory, presenting a compelling manifesto for a new era of design one that dismantles hard concrete volumes i

Read more less

Griselda Pollock, feminist art historian and longstanding advocate of gender and racial inclusivity, unpacks the racist, sexist and imperialist underpinnings of works by Gauguin and others as they competed for pre-eminence in the European avant-garde of the 1880s and 90s. 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.

Read more less

'A thrilling insight into one of the 20th century's great artists. Agar's exuberant and colourful life and work come alive in this book' Katy Hessel 'A vivid panorama of an adventurous and stimulating age' Financial Times Whether dancing on the rooftops in Paris, sharing ideas with Pablo Picasso, or gathering starfish on the beaches of Cornwall, Eileen Agar (18991991) transformed the everyday into the extraordinary. Her legacy as a pioneering figure in the Surrealist movement is firmly established, and her work continues to captivate audiences with its otherworldly beauty and imaginative power. Agar's life was no less extraordinary than her art. Here, she traces her life from her birth in Argentina to the late 1980s. She gives an intimate account of very different worlds: grand house parties in Buenos Aires and Belgravia as a young girl give way to la vie bohème in London and Paris, and a peripatetic existence with her lifelong partner, Hungarian writer Joseph Bard. She enjoyed e

Read more less

An exquisite photography book featuring the collaborative work of fashion photographer Tom Kublin and renowned haute couture designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. This is the first book to document the short yet prolific artistic career of fashion photographer and filmmaker Tom Kublin, and a celebration of his creative union with Cristóbal Balenciaga during the fashion house's postwar heyday in Paris. More than 140 photographs and film stills by Kublin capture the golden age of Balenciaga couture in the 1950s and 1960s, from the impeccable elegance of the collection shoots including exclusive film footage of Balenciaga himself at work to striking covers and editorials for high-profile magazines. The book begins with a foreword by the photographer's daughter, María Kublin, and continues with a biography by Ana Balda, charting Kublin's career, his place in the artistic milieu of the European avant-garde, and his working relationship with Cristóbal Balenciaga. Miren Vives, head of the

Read more less

An accessible introduction to the life and work of this trailblazing pioneer of early modernism, published to coincide with a major exhibition at the Royal Academy, London. Paula Modersohn-Becker is today hailed as one of the great pioneers of modernism. When she died in 1907 at the age of just 31, she had completed more than 700 paintings and 1,000 drawings and prints. Despite selling only a few paintings during her lifetime, her distinct style, daring subject matter and perseverance in overcoming barriers to women left a significant artistic mark on the brief epoch between the old and the new, and paved the way for the German avant-garde. Uwe M. Schneede, one of the foremost experts on Modersohn-Becker’s work, shows how the artist translated her life’s experiences into her own, very distinctive, pictorial language. He focuses in particular on her time in Paris, where she absorbed the luminous palette and expressive brushwork of the French avantgarde, and which so strongly impacted her ambitions and artistic trajectory. Schneede’s lively narrative is supported by some 120 illustrations, and peppered throughout with quotations from Modersohn’s letters and diaries.

Read more less

A full-career retrospective on the work of Vivian Maier, bringing together a selection of key works from throughout her life and career. When Vivian Maier's archive was discovered in Chicago in 2007, the photography community gained an immense and singular talent. Maier lived in relative obscurity until her death in 2009, but is now the subject of films and books, and recognized as one of the great American photographers of the 20th century. Born in New York in 1926, she worked as a nanny in New York and Chicago for much of her adult life. It was during her years as a nanny that she took many of the photographs that have made her posthumously famous. Maier's incredible body of work consists of more than 150,000 photographic images, Super 8 and 16 mm films, various recordings and a multitude of undeveloped films. Working primarily as a street photographer, Maier's work has been compared with such luminaries as Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus and Joel Meyerowitz. Drawing on p

Read more less

A unique look at the visionary artist, educator and activist Ruth Asawa (1926–2013). ‘I state, without hesitation or reserve, that I consider Ruth Asawa to be the most gifted, productive, and originally inspired artist that I have ever known personally’ R. Buckminster Fuller, 1971 Although less known outside North America, Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa is an artist of vital importance to modern art. Ruth Asawa: Citizen of the Universe, which accompanies the first exhibition of Asawa’s work to be staged in public galleries in Europe, introduces European audiences to both Asawa’s powerful art - including her signature hanging sculptures in looped and tied wire - and her pioneering education practice. It positions her expansive ethos – her self-identification as ‘a citizen of the universe’ and belief that art education can be life enriching for everyone - as a catalyst for creative forward-thinking in the 21st century. Focusing on a dynamic and formative period in her life from 1945 to 1980, this book gives readers a unique experience of the artist and her work, exploring her legacy from a European perspective and positioning her as an abstract sculptor crucial to American modernism. It is a wonderful celebration of her holistic integration of art, education and community engagement, through which she called for a revolutionary and inclusive vision of art’s role in society.

Read more less

A major overview of Singapore’s most exciting architecture practice, documenting the complete corpus of WOHA’s pioneering sustainable and built work. WOHA is at the vanguard of urban and ecological revitalization in Singapore and a pioneer of Southeast Asia’s green-building revolution. Founded by Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell in 1994, Singapore’s most dynamic architecture studio is known for delivering innovative and sustainable design solutions to combat the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and urbanization. Even within Singapore’s leading-edge architecture scene, WOHA have broken new ground, and they are continuing to do so in our rapidly expanding cities where far-sighted thinking is imperative to sustainable and sociable development. Its projects stretch from Singapore to Bangladesh, China and Australia, where the practice’s ambitions are being realized in works like the self-sufficient Punggol Digital District in Singapore. This complete overview documents WOHA’s pioneering sustainable and built work, with important ongoing projects followed by a listed chronology. It is a timely assessment of the practical realization of WOHA’s theories and principles, and the environmental responsibilities now shouldered by architects and urban planners worldwide.

Read more less

The definitive celebration of the work, life and times of Sir Kenneth Grange (born 1929), one of the most revered, innovative and influential industrial designers of the modern age. 'You may not know the name Kenneth Grange, but you'll almost certainly know his work. He has designed just about everything' The Guardian The work of renowned design pioneer Sir Kenneth Grange (born 1929) has touched the lives of almost every consumer worldwide and has had a lasting influence on today's younger designers, from Sir Jonathan Ive, Jasper Morrison and Marc Newson to Thomas Heatherwick and the founding brothers of Joseph Joseph. For decades, Grange's iconic products including the InterCity 125 train for British Rail, the TX1 London black taxi, domestic appliances for Kenwood, lighting for Anglepoise, cameras for Kodak, pens for Parker and post boxes for Royal Mail, among many others have been at the centre of tastemaking and key to the establishment of Britain's worldwide post-war reput

Read more less

A lavishly illustrated reference on a little-known chapter in art history – the art of the three Baltic States, covering a wide range of mediums, movements and styles. The Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – retain strong cultural identities that have survived despite centuries of colonization by powerful neighbouring lands. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists and writers were starting to reclaim and promote their own artistic heritage as radically distinct from that of the invading nations, with pioneers such as M. K. Ciurlionis and Vilhelms Purvitis demonstrating rare originality in their work. In the wake of the First World War, the three Baltic countries regained their autonomy, and the 1920s and 30s became a rich period of openness and international artistic exchange. Modernism in all its forms flourished, not only in painting but in sculpture, printmaking, photomontage and the decorative arts, ranging from the elegant abstraction of Arnold Akberg to the provocative figuration of Karlis Padegs and the experimental photography of Domicele Tarabildiene. Art of the Baltic States is organized into three main chapters, documenting the history of art in each country. Enriched with illustrations from important museum collections, Fauchereau covers key art movements as well as their complex historical background, from time under the Czars and the German crown to the invasion by the Soviet Union and beyond. With each country showcased in its own lavishly illustrated section, this is a wonderful guide to a vibrant field in European art history that is often overlooked but deserves rediscovery and a place on the global stage.

Read more less

The definitive monograph on Alex Prager, one of the truly original image makers of our time. Alex Prager is a photographer and filmmaker whose elaborate sets and complex staging draw on a rich cultural heritage of cinematic style, informed by street photography, to produce work that is unerringly memorable. At once temporal and timeless, bright but shadowed, Prager’s images exist within a hyperreal world, deeply rooted in the eerie undertones of Los Angeles, where the line between reality and fiction is blurred. Prager’s critically acclaimed work is introduced here, spanning a decade of photographic work and five films. This collection of carefully curated photographs is complemented by an in-depth interview by Nathalie Herschdorfer, director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts Le Locle, Switzerland, and discursive essays by Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michael Mansfield, executive director of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine, and Clare Grafik, senior curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, London.

Read more less

A fully updated edition of the most comprehensive illustrated survey of the life and work of Peter Blake, one of Britain’s most popular artists. Since his emergence in the early 1960s as a key member of the Pop Art movement, Peter Blake has become one of the best-known and most popular artists of his generation. Though primarily a painter, he has worked across many media, from drawings, watercolours and collages to sculpture and printmaking, as well as commercial art in the form of graphics and album covers – most notably his design for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album in 1967. Exploring his remarkable creative output from the 1950s to the present, Peter Blake is the most comprehensive illustrated survey available of the life and work of the artist. Marco Livingstone grounds Blake’s art firmly in his working-class origins, identifying a yearning for the innocence of childhood in his bittersweet paintings of the early to mid-1950s that depict children reading comics or going to the Saturday matinee at the cinema. From that moment, while studying at the Royal College of Art in London, Blake concerned himself with popular entertainments as subject matter, and as the source of formal solutions, for his paintings. The directness with which Blake gave expression to his enthusiasms for mass culture during the 1950s brought him to the forefront of the Pop Art movement before it had even been named, and independently of the investigations into similar areas by other British, American and European artists. The radical nature of his collage paintings of 1959–62, in particular, in which he combined existing imagery from popular culture with unapologetically bold and bright colours, made him a singularly influential figure within British Pop. This fully updated edition includes a new chapter on what the artist has jokingly styled his ‘Late Period’, in which Blake has continued to mine the many strands of his art with undiminished energy and completed some of his most ambitious long-standing projects. As well as the sheer scale of Blake’s production, what becomes clear is the kaleidoscopic variety of subject matter, form and medium to be found in his work, its humour and friendly appeal, and, above all, its celebration of life and humanity.

Read more less

‘I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory.’ Harold Pinter, English PEN President and Literature Nobel 2005 PEN – ‘Poets, Essayists, Novelists’ – was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship, intellectual co-operation and exchange between writers from around the world. It has since become a worldwide network of writers, a community extended to more than 100 countries who for 100 years has worked to celebrate all literatures without exception and protect freedom of expression. What was PEN’s role in shaping the very concept of human rights even before it was adopted by the United Nations in 1948? How did PEN develop fundamental ideas on free speech as well as the equality of languages and literatures? This book tells the extraordinary story of how writers from around the world placed the celebration of literature and the defence of free speech at the centre of humanity’s struggle against repression and terror. From opposing book burning and the persecution of writers in Nazi Germany, to supporting dissident writers during the Cold War and campaigning for imprisoned writers in China today, PEN has worked to safeguard against all kinds of censorship and self-censorship. The extraordinary writers who have been PEN cases is a history of bravery and include Federico García Lorca, Stefan Zweig, Musine Kokalari, Wole Soyinka, Salman Rushdie, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Anna Politkovskaya, Hrant Dink and Svetlana Alexievich. Those writers’ voices, and those of the many others who have battled to uphold the opening phrase of PEN's Charter - 'Literature knows no frontiers' - are still very much with us. Without them, PEN International could not have become the strong, vibrant, active movement it is today.

Read more less

A bold, stylish look at the global rise of Korean culture and style in the words and images of those shaping and living it. K-pop, K-fashion, K-drama, K-beauty: over the last decade, K-style has exploded onto the global scene. What is behind this phenomenon? Where does K-Style go from here? Make, Break, Remix: The Rise of K-Style makes no attempt to define or categorize, instead celebrating the eclectic, multi-faceted nature of K-Style and its home city of Seoul. Through interviews with eighteen tastemakers who are shaping K-style across creative sectors, from 1Million Studio's Lia Kim to rock band leader Hwang Soyoon, world famous tattooist Doy to Asia’s leading designer Teo Yang, Fiona Bae tells untold stories from true insiders, exploring a sense of identity in their work, how living in Seoul affects them and their creative output, and the decade of changes that has brought about the current K-style. Interwoven with these texts, five distinct photo-essays from celebrated photographer less_TAEKYUN KIM (recent credits including Vogue Korea, GQ Korea, i-D Korea) capture the vibrant energy of Seoul's streets and the incredible style of its youth. Contributors such as BLACKPINK songwriter and A&R Danny Chung, add their own vital perspectives on the scene, while fashion journalist Sukwoo Hong sits down with brands to watch for his K-fashion directory such as PAF(Post Archive Faction). Designed by Hezin O, with a distinct typography that blends Hangul and Roman writing systems, this is an inventive, genre-breaking look at K-style in the words of those shaping it.

Read more less

This book offers a largely chronological illustrated guide to how the chemical elements were discovered over the past three millennia. It provides a view not just of how we came to understand what everything is made of but also of how chemistry developed from a trial-and-error craft of making and transforming substances into a rational modern science that provides us with new materials, drugs, and much else. While other books have described the properties of the chemical elements and often delved into their histories, none has done so in this highly visual manner. The closest comparison is Theodore Gray’s illustrated book The Elements - but this does not take a historical approach as this does here. The pictorial material for this subject is very rich, including some gorgeous alchemical documents as well as portraits, colour charts, woodcuts of mining, artefacts such as John Dalton’s wooden balls, advertisements (for example, for radium 'cures') and postage stamps. The book contains separate short sections for each element or groups of related elements, which are gathered into several sections to order the sequence into several chronological eras of element discovery. Included are short 'interludes' (or 'feature spreads') presenting important intellectual milestones in how we think about elements.With 192 illustrations

Read more less

This lavish publication celebrates the gentleman’s search for the perfect sartorial detail, the ideal accessory, or beautiful gift for a loved one. Presented through the eyes of a connoisseur looking for quality and bepoke goods in London’s key stylistic historic periods, it tells the stories of the personalities, shop-keepers and mastercraftsmen who have animated the business of luxury goods for centuries. The book is arranged chronologically in six chapters, each followed by three or four profiles of British luxury marques. A reference section presents the London gentleman’s social world, from the shopping arcades to classic hotels and the member’s clubs and antiquarians in between. This is the perfect book for the man who has everything.With 294 illustrations, 238 in colour

Read more less

The lively and revealing correspondence that Vincent van Gogh maintained with his art-dealer brother Theo is famous as a source of insight into the mind of one of the most celebrated artists of all time. But what of Anna, Lies and Willemien van Gogh, with whom Vincent had intimate and sometimes turbulent relationships? It was an argument with his oldest sister, Anna, in the aftermath of their father’s death that provoked Vincent to leave the Netherlands and never return. The Van Gogh siblings grew up at a time when long-distance travel by train first became possible. As each went their own way, following work and study to London, Paris, Brussels and beyond, they maintained the close relationships forged in their youth in the Netherland’s idyllic countryside by sending candid and personal letters. In this thoughtful and unprecedented biographical history, Willem-Jan Verlinden delves into previously unpublished correspondence in the Van Gogh family archives to bring Vincent’s three sisters out from their brothers’ shadow, poignantly portraying their dreams, disappointments and grief. The oldest sister, Anna, worked as a governess in England as a young woman before marrying a Dutch industrialist. The second sister, Lies, fell into poverty in spite of her literary aspirations and was forced to sell many of her brother’s paintings. Willemien, the third sister, was an active participant in the first feminist wave. She visited the studio of Edgar Degas in Paris with Theo and discussed art enthusiastically with her painter brother. She and Vincent also shared their struggles with mental health, which for Willemien resulted in institutionalization for the second half of her life. With great clarity and empathy, The Van Gogh Sisters captures a moment of profound social, economic and artistic change. The sisters’ intimate discussions of poetry and books, love, personal ambition and the opportunities afforded them broaden our understanding of this dramatic era in European history when the feminist movement was emergent and idealists of all stripes climbed the barricades in pursuit of revolution. With 132 illustrations, 21 in colour

Read more less

Throughout his entire career, from his debut in the 1860s up to his final works post1900, the Opera formed the focal point of Degas’s output. It was his own ‘front room’. He explored the theatre’s various spaces – auditorium and stage, boxes, foyers and dance studios – and followed those who frequented them: dancers, singers, orchestral musicians, audience members and black-attired patrons lurking in the wings. This closed world presented a microcosm of infinite possibilities, allowing all manner of experimentations: multiple points of view, contrasts of lighting, the study of motion and the precision of movement. This book is the first to consider the Opera as a whole, examining not only Degas’ passionate relationship with the House and his musical tastes, but also the limitless resources of this marvellous ‘toolbox’. The work of a truly great artist offers us a unique portrait of the Paris Opera in the 19th century.

Read more less

This volume is published on the occasion of the opening of the National Museum of Qatar in the state’s capital, Doha. It explores and celebrates architect Jean Nouvel’s innovative design which, inspired by the desert rose with its interlocking disks, responds to the country’s desert location by the sea. The museum, built around Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al-Thani’s original 19th-century palace, honours Qatar’s heritage while looking to its future as a thriving cultural hub. This special edition is in a larger format with additional images, and is produced to the highest standard of quality with multiple paper stocks, sprayed edges, gatefolds and a beautiful slipcase.

Read more less

A raucous yet reflective look back at the evolution of the music press and the passionate rock and pop journalists who defined the music of the 20th century. Totally Wired is the definitive story of the music press on both sides of the Atlantic, tracing the rise and fall of the creatively fertile media sector which grew from humble beginnings nearly 100 years ago to become a multi-billion business which tested the limits of journalistic endeavour. Covering the music press’s evolution from the 1950s to the 2000s, through rock & roll, Mod, the Summer of Love, Glam, Punk, Pop, Reggae, R&B and Hip Hop, Paul Gorman chronicles the development of individual magazines from Tin Pan Alley beginnings and the countercultural foundation of Rolling Stone, the underground press and the 70s heyday of NME, Melody Maker and Sounds. Illuminated by the author’s first hand interviews, Gorman paints a complete picture of the scene exploring the role played by such writers as Lester Bangs, Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent in the development of the careers of the likes of David Bowie, The Clash and Led Zeppelin, and tackling head on the entrenched sexism and racism faced by women and people from marginalized backgrounds by shining a spotlight on those publications and individuals whose contributions have often been unfairly overlooked. Evoking the music press’s kaleidoscopic visual identities, Totally Wired is illustrated with rare and legendary magazine artwork throughout. What emerges is a compelling narrative containing conflicting stories of unbound talent, blind ambition and sometimes bitter rivalries which make Totally Wired a rollercoaster and riveting read.

Read more less

Jenny Uglow narrates the story of Walter Crane, an intriguing and most prolific figure not only in illustration, but in political culture more broadly. Uglow expertly weaves a fascinating study of how Crane’s art and politics developed from his childhood love of Pre-Raphaelite painting to the influences of Morris and William Blake on the journals, books, banners, pamphlets and postcards he went on to create as he forged a new style for the international socialist movement. Comprising a staggering range of visual material, Crane’s images became a symbolic code that leapt over linguistic boundaries. This book is a brilliant record of an artist who blended styles and influences like no one before him.

Read more less

The National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy all saw either radical architectural interventions or rethinks of their mission under Charles Saumarez Smith’s leadership, making him uniquely qualified to explore the ways in which art museums have changed over the past century and examine where they might be headed in the future. For this book, Saumarez Smith has undertaken an odyssey to art museums across the globe. From Tate Modern in London to the Benesse House Museum on the Japanese island of Naoshima; from the Getty Center in Los Angeles to the Museum of New and Old Art, a ferry-ride from Hobart in Tasmania; from the Pompidou Centre in Paris to the West Bund Museum in Shanghai – he has visited them all, casting an acute eye on the way the experience of art is shaped by the buildings that house it and the organizing principles by which it is displayed. What has changed over the past century? Where the public once visited museums to be educated in art history, he argues, they are now more likely to be in search of a private, aesthetic experience. Museum displays that were automatically didactic, chronological and either national or Western in viewpoint are now thematic and global. While museums used to be invariably in city centres, they may now be in remote locations, destinations of cultural pilgrimage. And where architects once created neutral spaces in which to display art, they now build spectacular architectural landmarks, stamping an identity on run-down neighbourhoods and sparking regeneration through cultural tourism. With 122 illustrations in colour

Read more less

Written by a team of expert authors, this landmark textbook shows that art is more than European and extends far beyond the traditional canon. The History of Art: A Global View answers the urgent need for a more global, inclusive way to teach the history of the world’s art. Led by Jean Robertson and Deborah Hutton, eleven specialists have cohered around the shared goal of bringing multiple perspectives to a worldwide narrative. The resulting survey represents every global region as an important part of an integrated, chronological history that emphasizes cross-cultural connections, contrasts and comparisons. The first major art history textbook of the 21st century, The History of Art: A Global View equips students to understand the history of art in new and revealing ways.

Read more less

Look & See offers a very personal insight into the idiosyncratic influences and inspirations behind the creativity of Anthony Burrill, designer and letterpress guru. Selecting from his private collection of printed matter, lovingly gathered and curated throughout his career, this is a celebration of the pieces of paper that surround our everyday lives, offering a whimsical and, at times, almost philosophical perspective on how we view printed artefacts. Each piece is accompanied by an observation by Burrill that reveals his sensitive knowledge and understanding about design and its place it the real world. Beautifully crafted into a whole much greater than the sum of its delightful parts, this is a publication that will entrance and be treasured in equal measure.

Read more less

An overview of the life and work of much-loved children’s illustrator and author Judith Kerr, creator of classics such as The Tiger Who Came to Tea, and Mog. A thoughtful and intimate portrait, this book is not only a celebration of Judith Kerr’s classic work, but a record of the hard work, development and serious intent behind it. Referencing Kerr’s biographical novels, Joanna Carey introduces us to the illustrator as she goes about her daily life, showing us into her studio, exploring her materials, her relationship with her publisher and editors, and her reflections over the years. Drawing on a great range of previously unpublished visual material, we see behind the scenes of Kerr’s unforgettable creations.

Read more less

A new selection of letters, statements and interviews reveal the preoccupations, thoughts and ideas of Francis Bacon, one of the 20th century's most influential and important artists. The documents selected for Francis Bacon: A Self-Portrait in Words illustrate Bacon's sharp wit and ability to express complex ideas in highly personal, memorable language. Included here are not only letters to friends, patrons and fellow artists, but also intriguing notes and lists of paintings. They often come with a sketch as an aide-mémoire or an injunction to himself as he worked in the studio, and many have only come to light since his death. Bacon's letters mirror and reveal his dominant preoccupations at different points throughout his long career. Most of Bacon's letters have never been published and include several that he wrote to the author. Particularly intriguing is the record of a dream that he jotted down, outlining impossibly beautiful paintings he had conjured up in his sleep. To

Read more less