Search results for ""thames hudson ltd""
Thames & Hudson Ltd Linda Nochlin on The Body
Renowned art historian and pioneering feminist Linda Nochlin explores how, from the late 18th century, fragmented, mutilated and fetishized representations of the human body came to constitute a distinctively modern view of the world. 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.
£12.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd Mo Yi
Supported by an exhibition at Les Rencontres d'Arles in 2024, to be followed by an international tour, this is the first retrospective of one of China's most important photographic artists. Mo Yi is a photographic artist with a career spanning nearly forty years, from the 1980s to today. This retrospective contextualizes his work within the evolution of contemporary art following reform and opening in China in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. Working in a documentary tradition, but building on and reinterpreting the meaning of documentary, Mo Yi's practice is exemplified by experimentation. Regularly creating work in distinct series, he has continually tested ways of extending the boundaries of the medium and his own personal expression. This publication, supported by his first exhibition outside of China, surveys Mo Yi's experimentation in photographic production and performance over the course of his career. Organized into five chronological chapters that mark the mi
£40.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd How Banksy Saved Art History
A new take on the history of art from da Vinci to Warhol as reinterpreted and ultimately reinforced by the international phenomenon that is Banksy Few would dispute that Banksy is the most famous urban artist in the world today. That he is also one of the most perceptive art historians of our age might come as a surprise to many. But the myriad memorable works he has created over the past thirty years constitute an audacious commentary on the history of image-making a captivating critique waiting to be pieced together. Armed with little more than stencils, spray paint and an anonymizing cloak of after-hours darkness, Banksy has forged an alluring identity for himself as an incorrigible prankster who doesn't embrace tradition but shreds it. What actually illuminates Banksy's audacious murals, impromptu urban sculptures and vandalized paintings, however, is a profound understanding of the story of art. Banksy recasts masterpieces as powerful comments on contemporary
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Making of the Middle Sea
£31.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Places of the Mind (British Museum): British watercolour landscapes 1850–1950
A fresh perspective on British landscape drawing in the Victorian and Modern eras. The attempts by artists of the Victorian and early Modern period to convey not merely the physical properties of a landscape but also its emotional and spiritual impact – landscape as ‘places of the mind’, as the critic Geoffrey Grigson put it – is the focus of this fascinating new study of British watercolours produced between 1850 and 1950. Drawing on the British Museum’s impressive collection, this book explores artists’ spiritual quests to capture the essence of landscape and convey a sense of place. Artists of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries drew on earlier traditions but developed and extended the genre through their imaginative, personal responses to the artistic, cultural and social upheavals of the time. The book includes works by Victorian artists Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Edward Poynter and by many well known twentieth-century artists, such as John and Paul Nash, Ben Nicholson and Henry Moore, some of which have never previously been published.
£27.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Rethinking the Tropical House: 20 Years of RT+Q Architects
The first monograph from exciting young Singapore architecture practice RT+Q, celebrating 20 years of work. With more than 120 completed projects in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, RT+Q has established itself as a leading practice in the region. Perhaps best known for its striking residential architecture that draws on both vernacular and Modernist traditions, the practice always surprises, and consistently wins awards. This book brings together 29 of the best houses completed since the practice was founded in 2003 by Rene Tan and TK Quek. RT+Q's designs make the most of their tropical setting, with an easy interplay between indoor and outdoor spaces through permeable apertures, lush planting and airy mezzanine living. Elegant brickwork, textural concrete and slatted wooden facades are perennial features of their work. Design awards from the Singapore Institute of Architecture and the World Architecture Festival have followed, with Rene Tan named Designer of the Year at the President's Design Awards in 2016, Singapore's most prestigious award. Tropical indoor-outdoor living has seen a huge surge in interest during the Covid pandemic, whilst travel was so restricted. This title offers the armchair adventurer an aspirational tour of cutting-edge domestic architecture from a practice shaping the future of luxurious living in Southeast Asia.
£40.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Human Condition: Media Art from the Kramlich Collection, I
The first in a series of four thematic volumes devoted to the world-class Kramlich Collection, the largest and most significant private collection of modern and contemporary media art. How does art respond to contemporary social questions? How, especially, does moving-image art address the themes that move us most? Drawn on works from the Kramlich Collection of time-based media art, The Human Condition comments on a range of complex political issues such as civil war, psychological isolation, human rights, gender relations, nuclear catastrophe and planetary degradation. Along the way, the featured artists innovate in their hybrid use of sound, image, performance, sculpture and screen technology. Since their first acquisition in 1987, pioneering collectors Pamela and Richard Kramlich have established one of the foremost international collections of media, video, film, slide, photography and performance art. In the first of four volumes devoted to the collection, The Human Condition presents signature works by internationally recognized artists such as Marina Abramovic, Doug Aitken, Dara Birnbaum, James Coleman, Pierre Huyghe, William Kentridge, Christian Marclay, Steve McQueen, Richard Mosse, Bruce Nauman, Shirin Neshat and Nam June Paik. The Human Condition also features newly commissioned essays from leading curators and scholars specializing in time-based media art, including Erika Balsom, Bill Brown, Adrienne Edwards, Chrissie Iles, Isaac Julien, Barbara London, Mark Nash, Catherine Wood and others. This book engages both newcomers and experts in the field with captivating imagery and rigorous reflection on some of the most influential contemporary art practices of the 20th and 21st centuries.
£54.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd The African Gaze
An accessible yet critical introduction to African photography and cinema from the mid-20th century to the present day. The African Gaze is a comprehensive exploration of postcolonial and contemporary photography and cinema from Africa. Drawing from archival imagery and documents, interviews with the photographers and filmmakers (in some cases family members/close associates if the artist is deceased), and contributions from writers, scholars and curators, it maps a comprehensive introduction to African moving and still imagery. This is a hugely important and timely publication engagement with Black and African histories is stronger than ever before (and long overdue). The major names of African photography, such as Malick Sidibé, Sanlé Sory and Seydou Keïta, have become highly collectible in the art market, while African cinema, pioneered by filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembène in 1960s Senegal, is now recognized for its creative innovation and storytelling. For anyone draw
£40.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Chinese Art Since 1970: The M+ Sigg Collection
Central to the stories of many of the world’s great art galleries are the acquisitions and bequests that shaped their collections. So it is with M+ – a new museum of visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong – and the M+ Sigg Collection. Acquired by the museum in 2012 from the Swiss businessman, diplomat and art collector Uli Sigg, the collection consists of 1,510 works of contemporary Chinese art, dating from the 1970s to the present and ranging across all media. Most significantly, perhaps, it offers a unique window on the remarkable flowering of experimental artistic practices in China during this time – a period of unprecedented social and economic change in the country that saw artists devise new, sometimes radical, approaches to artmaking, formulating new connections between art and society, and developing ground-breaking conceptual methodologies. Published to coincide with the presentation of the M+ Sigg Collection at the opening of the M+ building, Chinese Art Since 1970 features more than 600 works by more than 300 artists represented by the collection, among them Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei and Geng Jianyi. After introductory essays by Pi Li and Uli Sigg, an illustrated chronology spanning the years 1972 to 2020 highlights important social events, exhibitions and artistic movements to establish a context for the discussion of the featured artists and their work that follows. Punctuating this discussion are contributions from renowned art historians, curators and critics from across the globe on specific works and practices, together with in-depth explanations of key concepts and events, from Cynical Realism to the seminal exhibition China/Avant-Garde. Through the medium of the world’s pre-eminent collection of contemporary Chinese art, Chinese Art Since 1970 offers an unparalleled introduction to one of the most culturally dynamic periods in modern Chinese history. With over 700 illustrations
£58.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Making of M+
The new M+ museum of modern and contemporary visual culture will open its permanent new home in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong in the autumn of 2021. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the building is set to become a striking landmark on the waterfront of Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. But even before the new building opened, M+ has been busy engaging with local and international audiences through a broad range of programmes and exhibitions and a strategic approach to collecting. The opening of M+’s new home is undoubtedly a milestone in the institution’s ongoing story, yet it also marks an important moment to reflect on its development to date. The Making of M+ is an immersive visual encounter with the many stages of the museum’s evolution. H. G. Masters, the book’s guest editor, and Sulki & Min, its award-winning designers, present images and words relating to M+’s first three decades – starting with the reclamation of the land on which the M+ building stands. While the hundreds of images in the book document the programmes, collections, staff, audiences and architecture that have helped shape the museum, the texts have been carefully selected from key moments in the institution’s formation, encompassing official pronouncements, staff mantras, public reactions, and snippets from the local and international press. Offering a wide range of perspectives and voices, The Making of M+ is an innovative companion to the creation of a remarkable cultural institution – the first of its kind in Hong Kong and Asia.With 360 illustrations in colour
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Cats in Art: A Pop-Up Book
You may be familiar with Old Master paintings; you may even be familiar with cats inserting themselves into Old Master paintings – but you’ve never seen them in three-dimensional pop-up form. Cats in Art: A Pop-up Book celebrates the work of Susan Herbert, whose paintings have been delighting the world since her very first collection, A Cats Gallery of Art, was published in 1990. Since then, her work has appeared in numerous books, featuring cats in iconic works of art, as well as scenes from operas, Shakespearean plays and films, all with her trademark blend of humour and ability to capture those essential feline characteristics so instantly recognizable to cat lovers everywhere. In this new compilation of her work, six of the all-time best-known and loved works of art, spanning the 15th to the 19th centuries are transformed into three-dimensional form by renowned paper engineer Corina Fletcher. Each of these clever and charming feline tableaux is accompanied by engaging and lively text, telling a mini-story of the drama unfolding on the page.
£14.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Emperors of Byzantium
A compelling and vivid narrative history of one of the founding civilizations of the modern world, the Byzantine empire, evocatively told through the lives of its 92 emperors. The Byzantine empire was one of the most successful states of the Middle Ages, ruling over a huge terrain straddling Europe and western Asia for an unrivalled eleven hundred years. Yet its history remains largely unfamiliar. This chronicle brings this majestic yet turbulent period to life through the lives of its emperors: supreme military commander, Head of State and God’s representative on earth, no less. These were the men and women that presided over many of the foundations of the modern world, from the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith, to the magnificent artistic heritage of Hagia Sophia and Mount Athos, and the creation of a visual template for Christian art. Each illustrated biographical entry contributes to the story of how Byzantium shaped our art, culture, religious beliefs and justice systems, and the role this extraordinary empire played in halting repeated invasions, allowing the idea of ‘Europe’ to flourish. Through stories of nobility and petty revenge, of religious devotion and brutal genocide, and of sexual intrigue and artistic brilliance; from soaring intellectuals to illiterate peasants, eunuchs and despots, this is a humanizing portrayal of individuals, whose role impacted the lives of millions.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Wild Kitchen: Nature-Loving Chefs at Home
Green is the new black. With environmental concerns at an all-time high, many of us are looking to promote sustainability in everyday ways, especially at home. It is more important than ever that our kitchen and dining spaces allow us to live in harmony with nature. This glimpse into the home kitchens and dining areas of twenty of the world’s top chefs, food bloggers and restaurateurs reveals inspiring ways that the food-obsessed are embracing the 'wild' at home in their everyday cooking and dining. From a chef who experiments with herbs in a city apartment to a blogger who forages with her family in a local forest, each personality’s featured kitchen story offers a behind-the-scenes view of their unique cooking philosophy along with their insider tips for creating a unique kitchen space. Each chef – from Julia Sherman and David Tanis to Judy Williams (of Via Carota) and Rita Sodi – provides a simple recipe that uses their favourite natural ingredients. Offering advice on essential utensils, entertaining and bringing the outside in, the book also features a directory of websites and restaurants for those interested in finding out more. The desire to know where our food comes from and to minimize our carbon footprints is ever-growing. Wild Kitchen offers fresh insights into kitchen design and styling from those who understand the sustainable lifestyle best, and will inform, delight and inspire all food lovers looking to get back to nature.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Street Art Africa
This visually rich survey – the first of its kind – showcases the work of over 200 artists and celebrates the explosion of street art in Africa over the last decade. Including eleven in-depth interviews with street artists active in Africa today as well as coverage of the continent’s major street art projects, collectives and festivals, it takes the reader on an introductory tour of the many African street art scenes, with a deeper focus on the most prominent players in Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Topics and projects covered include the monumental project Murais da Leba in Angola, which saw a huge wall covered by local graffiti and visual artists in the Serra da Leba mountain range; the cultural influences and idiosyncrasies of individual street art scenes, and how they mesh with local communities; and eL Seed’s project ‘Perception’, a huge multi-part mural stretching across more than fifty buildings in Cairo’s Zaraeeb neighbourhood, revealing a message of hope to its marginalized community in the artist’s distinctive ‘calligraffiti’ style. Text commentaries elaborating on styles and processes, and social and cultural context, are peppered throughout the book, giving the reader further insight into a wealth of striking contemporary visual cultures – and helping make this a must-have for street art fans and practitioners.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd National Museum of Qatar
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.
£54.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Shaping the World: Sculpture from Prehistory to Now
In this wide-ranging, thought-provoking and sometimes provocative new book, leading sculptor Antony Gormley, informed and energised by a lifetime of making, and art critic and historian Martin Gayford, explore sculpture as a transnational art form with its own compelling history. The authors’ lively conversations and explorations make unexpected connections across time and media. Sculpture has been practised by every culture throughout the world and stretches back into our distant past. The first surviving shaped stones may even predate the advent of language. Evidently, the desire to carve, mould, bend, chip away, weld, suspend, balance – to transform a vast array of materials and light into new shapes and forms – runs deep in our psyche and is a fundamental part of our human journey and need for expression. With more than 300 spectacular illustrations, Shaping the World juxtaposes a rich variety of works – from the famous Lowenmensch or Lion Man, c. 35,000 BCE to Michelangelo’s luminous Pietà in Rome, the Terracotta Warriors in China to Rodin’s The Kiss, Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades, Olafur Eliasson’s extraordinary Weather Project and Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus, and Tomas Saraceno’s ongoing Aerocene project, as well as examples of Gormley’s own work. Antony Gormley and Martin Gayford take into account materials and techniques, and consider overarching themes such as light, mortality and our changing world. Above all, they discuss their view of sculpture as a form of physical thinking capable of altering the way people feel, and they invite us to look at sculpture we encounter – and more broadly the world around us – in a completely different way.
£36.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Imagine John Yoko (Collector's Edition)
A Collector's Edition of Imagine John Yoko - the definitive inside story of the making of the legendary album and all that surrounded it - personally compiled and curated by Yoko Ono. In 1971, John Lennon & Yoko Ono conceived and recorded the critically acclaimed album Imagine at their Georgian country home, Tittenhurst Park, in Berkshire, England, in the state-of-the-art studio they built in the grounds, and at the Record Plant in New York. The lyrics of the title track were inspired by Yoko Ono's `event scores' in her 1964 book Grapefruit, and she was officially co-credited as writer in June 2017. Imagine John Yoko tells the story of John & Yoko's life, work and relationship during this intensely creative period. It transports readers to home and working environments showcasing Yoko's closely guarded archive of photos and artefacts, using artfully compiled narrative film stills, and featuring digitally rendered maps, floorplans and panoramas that recreate the interiors in evocative detail. John & Yoko introduce each chapter and song; Yoko also provides invaluable additional commentary and a preface. All the minutiae is examined: the locations, the key players, the music and lyrics, the production techniques and the artworks - including the creative process behind the double exposure polaroids used on the album cover. With a message as universal and pertinent today as it was when the album was created, this landmark publication is a fitting tribute to John & Yoko and their place in cultural history.
£166.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Postures: Body Language in Art
Examining the body language displayed in works of art is a whole new way of looking at art. The gestures portrayed can reflect the mores of a particular period in history, the customs of a certain culture or a fashion in artistic styles. Exploring these with masterful subtlety, celebrated artist and anthropologist Desmond Morris uncovers fascinating insights about changing social attitudes and conventions through history and around the world, finding surprising similarities as well as now rarely used gestures. Morris selects a number of key gestures, such as the handshake, the pointed foot, or the glove-slap, and groups them by the message they are intended to convey, such as Greetings, Status and Threats. He discusses the previously unconsidered symbolism behind these. What is understood as a gang sign today may have borne a more enigmatic meaning for Botticelli. And what did Napoleon’s hidden hand really mean? Postures: Body Language in Art uniquely combines the author’s expertise in both art and social science, so that even the most familiar paintings are suddenly seen in a new light.
£22.46
Thames & Hudson Ltd Home Computers: 100 Icons that Defined a Digital Generation
Home Computers showcases the quirky and characterful beginnings of a commercial product that would come to unite the globe: the personal computer. As so much technology is forgotten once it is superseded, this is a celebration of machines, industrial design and techno-utopianism of an era in the not-so-distant past. Conceived as a visual sourcebook of the most popular, most powerful and most idiosyncratic computers to grace our workspaces, this timely publication offers a reflection on how far we’ve come and a nostalgic look at a time when digital worlds could be contained in a box and turned off, rather than ever-present in our lives. Home Computers opens with a scene-setting retrospective by computer and gaming writer Alex Wiltshire. The book’s heart is a series of specially commissioned photographs that capture details of switches and early user-interface design, letterforms and logos, and the quirks that set one computer off from another. Images are complemented by a potted history of each device, the inventors or personalities behind it, and its innovations and influences.
£22.46
Thames & Hudson Ltd Wayne Thiebaud: Draftsman
Best known for his luscious paintings of pies and ice-cream cones, American artist Wayne Thiebaud (born 1920) has been an avid and prolific draftsman since he began his career in the 1940s as an illustrator and cartoonist. This book of about ninety drawings – compiled with the full cooperation of the artist to accompany a major new exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum – explores the wide range of Thiebaud’s production on paper, including early sketches, luminous pastels and watercolours, and charcoal drawings made in connection with his teaching. In subjects ranging from deli counters and isolated figures to dramatic views of San Francisco’s plunging streets, Thiebaud’s drawings endow the most banal, everyday scenes with a sense of poetry and nostalgia. Fully illustrated and beautifully designed, with illuminating texts, including an extensive interview with the artist, Wayne Thiebaud: Draftsman is the first major publication devoted to his lifelong engagement with drawing.
£22.46
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Wyvern Collection: Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture and Metalwork
This catalogue of the Wyvern sculpture collection, which is not open to the public, comprises outstanding European sculptures of the medieval period, as well as some Late Antique and Byzantine pieces and related works of the post-medieval era. Objects are made from wood, stone (including alabaster and marble) and terracotta. Also included are medieval works of art in metal, mostly consisting of crucifix figures (corpora), and other functional metalware such as aquamanilia (water vessels for the washing of hands) and candlesticks. This sumptuous publication will interest all those concerned with the material culture of the Middle Ages.
£67.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Mr & Mrs Smith Presents the World's Sexiest Bedrooms
There are numerous luxury hotels to choose from when planning a romantic getaway, but finding a unique and unforgettable experience in a stunning location is a greater challenge. Mr & Mrs Smith was founded in 2003 by James and Tamara Lohan to discover the world’s finest hotels and travel experiences. Now, with a million members and counting, their global presence has made them leading experts on hotels and destinations, crafting bespoke experiences for their clients. This selection of thirty-five of the sexiest hotel rooms features bedrooms in a wide variety of stunning locations all over the world. From a rustic safari lodge to a luxurious Venetian pallazzo, this essential overview tells the story behind the design and decor of each unique room, the history of the hotel and the essentials for where to go when you visit. Written by Sarah Jappy, and with reviews by trusted tastemakers, such as Lauren Laverne, Raymond Blanc and Stella McCartney, all of the featured rooms are presented alongside tips from those who have visited, with their recommendations for the unique features and experiences on offer for each hotel and within its surrounding area. Illustrated with over 300 colour photographs of the rooms, hotels and locations by art photographer Polly Brown, this is the insider’s guide to everything you need to know, whether you are planning a honeymoon, mini-break or the romantic adventure of a lifetime.
£31.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Matisse: The Books
The livre d’artiste, or ‘artist’s book’, is among the most prized in rare book collections. Henri Matisse (1869–1954) was one of the greatest artists to work in this genre, creating his most important books over a period of eighteen years from 1932 to 1950 – a time of personal upheaval and physical suffering, as well as conflict and occupation for France. Brimming with powerful themes and imagery, these works are crucial to an understanding of Matisse’s oeuvre, yet much of their content has never been seen by a wider audience. In Matisse: The Books, Louise Rogers Lalaurie reintroduces us to Matisse by considering how in each of eight limited-edition volumes, the artist constructs an intriguing dialogue between word and image. She also highlights the books’ profound significance for Matisse as the catalysts for the extraordinary ‘second life’ of his paper cut-outs. In concert with an eclectic selection of poetry, drama and, tantalizingly, Matisse’s own words, the books’ images offer an astonishing portrait of creative resistance and regeneration. Matisse’s books contain some of the artist’s best-known graphic works – the magnificent, belligerent swan from the Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé, or the vigorous linocut profile from Pasiphaé (1944), reversed in a single, rippling stroke out of a lake of velvety black. In Jazz, the cut-out silhouette of Icarus plummets through the azure, surrounded by yellow starbursts, his heart a mesmerizing dot of red. But while such individual images are well known, their place in an integrated sequence of pictures, decorations and words is not. With deftness and sensitivity, Lalaurie explores the page-by-page interplay of the books, translating key sequences and discussing their distinct themes and creative genesis. Together Matisse’s artist books reveal his deep engagement with questions of beauty and truth; his faith; his perspectives on aging, loss, and inspiration; and his relationship to his critics, the French art establishment and the women in his life. In addition, Matisse: The Books illuminates the artist’s often misunderstood political affinities – in particular, his decision to live in the collaborationist Vichy zone, throughout World War II. Matisse’s wartime books are revealed as a body of work that stands as a deeply personal statement of resistance.
£67.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Carnet by Michelle Ong
Michelle Ong established Carnet, her Hong Kong-based boutique jewelry house, over twenty-five years ago, and her unique one-off creations draw on Chinese motifs and her love of European culture and craftsmanship. Her multi-hued jewels crystallize natural forms with invisible mastery. The hovering translucency of dragonfly wings, the succulence of ripe fruits, the whisper-light touch of a feather, the seductive fragility of black lace, meticulously hand-wrought from silver, the velvet petals of an anemone, a voluptuously curled seashell, the evanescence of a floating cloud evoked in a scroll of diamonds: each jewel is a miniature sculptural work of art. Jade, China’s imperial gemstone, is reworked into an Art Deco-style cocktail ring. Her Chinese dragon, a fiercely benign creature, writhes in blackened gold and pavé-set emeralds, breathing a stream of fiery rubies. Ong’s work is now acknowledged among the greatest names in high jewelry, renowned for her sublime designs, idiosyncratic colour combinations and deft craftsmanship. This volume will be required reading by serious collectors and aficionados, and a source of deep delight for all those seeking inspiration from the finest of contemporary jewelry creators.
£58.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Forms of Enchantment: Writings on Art & Artists
Art-writing at its most useful should share the dynamism, fluidity and passions of the objects of its enquiry, argues Marina Warner. In this new anthology of some of her most compelling work, she captures the visual experience of the work of several artists – with a notable focus on the inner lives of women – through an exploration of the range of stories and symbols to which they allude. Metamorphosis features vividly in the imagery, stories and media of the art that Warner has chosen to write about: in connection with animals in the work of Louise Bourgeois, for instance; with the Catholicism of Damien Hirst; and with performance as a medium of memory and resistance in the installations of Joan Jonas. Rather than drawing on connoisseurship, the author’s approach grows principally out of anthropology and mythology. She argues that art and aesthetics increasingly fulfil a magical social function – a principle that runs through these writings to give the collection a quality that is polemical as well as coherent. With an introductory essay and illustrations throughout, Marina Warner investigates how artists noted for their treatment of disturbing, uncanny material have reached beyond the visible, to express interior states. Truly inspiring, her writing unites the imagination of artist, writer and reader, creating a reading experience parallel to the intrinsic pleasure of looking at art.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Is it Just Me?
A humorous new book from the acclaimed author-illustrator Shinsuke Yoshitake. Everyone has something that makes them feel self-conscious. It might be the smell of your breath, the size of your nose, or the way your shirt sleeves bunch up under your jumper. At the centre of this story is a little boy who has a small but embarrassing problem: every time he pees, a few drops dribble on to his underpants. Curious, he asks other children if they have the same issue. He soon discovers a simple life lesson: everyone is battling some kind of irritation.
£10.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd This or That?
Do you prefer cats or dogs? Chocolate or vanilla ice-cream? The hen or the egg? Mummy... or Daddy ?? These pages are packed with interactive tabs that put children in the driving seat. A pop-up book with flaps to lift, tabs to pull and plenty of surprises
£8.95
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Craft Companion
Once the domain of the domestic, craft has now infiltrated every creative sphere – including food, fashion, fine art and architecture. If this craft renaissance is indicative of a new wave of keen creatives, then The Craft Companion is the ultimate guide to navigating the new craft frontiers. From appliqué and baskets to weaving and zakka, The Craft Companion features over 30 new and old crafting techniques. Each chapter includes a short historical overview of the craft, with design notes and explanations of key techniques helping beginners to get started. Tools and methods are explored through a combination of hand-drawn illustrations and photography. A range of project ideas, including one basic project for each craft and a further Top 5 selection, will kickstart the reader’s creativity, while examples of inspirational work from contemporary artisans display the possibilities of each medium. With over 20 years in the craft and design industries, Ramona Barry and Rebecca Jobson are bona fide craft gurus. Readers will love Ramona and Rebecca’s witty voice and will be inspired to experiment and dip their toes into new crafts.
£22.46
Thames & Hudson Ltd Photobox: The Essential Collection
An irresistible anthology of photography’s greatest and most famous images. PhotoBox presents a collection of 250 photographs by 200 of the world’s most prominent photographers, ranging from legendary masters to contemporary stars, in a compact paperback format. Photographers include Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, and many more. Each image is accompanied by an engaging commentary and a brief biography of the photographer. This revised edition features fifty new photographs by an international array of practitioners, including Dayanita Singh, Cristina de Middel, Gregory Halpern, Lua Ribeira and more.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd The Arabian Horse: History, Mystery and Magic
Tracing the history of the Arabian (or Arab) horse from before the time of King Solomon to the present day, the text by Peter Upton – author, artist and internationally recognized expert on the subject – begins by explaining the myth and legend, the true origins of the breed, and its recorded development up to the time of the Prophet Mohammed. The story continues with the role that the Arab horse has played in Islamic conquest and Arab history, highlighting the importance that Islam has always accorded ‘this most noble of animals’. Woven into this tapestry is the interplay between the Christian and Muslim worlds, illustrated by legendary and factual human anecdotes and peopled by fascinating figures and colourful adventurers, both Arab and Western. With its unrivalled range of illustrations, a comprehensive list of Arab horse organizations, registries and societies, a glossary of Arabic terms and a useful bibliography, here is the definitive book, in both words and pictures, of the noblest breed in all the equine world.
£25.20
Thames & Hudson Ltd Murder Maps: Crime Scenes Revisited; Phrenology to Fingerprint 1811–1911
The most captivating and intriguing 19th-century murders from around the world are re-examined in this disquieting volume, which takes readers on a perilous journey around the world’s most benighted regions. In each area, murders are charted with increasing specificity: beginning with city- or region-wide overviews, drilling down to street-level diagrams and zooming-in to detailed floor plans. All the elements of each crime are meticulously replotted on archival maps, from the prior movements of both killer and victim to the eventual location of the body. The murders revisited range from the ‘French Ripper’ Joseph Vacher, who roamed the French countryside brutally murdering and mutilating over twenty shepherds and shepherdesses, to H.H. Holmes, who built a hotel in Chicago to entrap, murder and dispose of its many guests. Crime expert Dr Drew Gray illuminates the details of each case, recounting both the horrifying particulars of the crimes themselves and the ingenious detective work that led to the eventual capture of the murderers. He highlights the development of police methods and technology: from the introduction of the police whistle to the standardization of the mugshot and from the invention of fingerprinting to the use of radio telegraphy to capture criminals. Disturbing crime-scene photographs by pioneers of policework, such as Alphonse Bertillon, and contemporary illustrations from the sensationalist magazines of the day, including the Illustrated Police News and the Petit Journal, complete the macabre picture.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Central and Eastern European Art Since 1950
In this path-breaking new history, Maja and Reuben Fowkes introduce outstanding artworks and major figures from across central and eastern Europe to reveal the movements, theories and styles that have shaped artistic practice since 1950. They emphasize the particularly rich and varied art scenes of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia, extending their gaze at intervals to East Germany, Romania, the Baltic states and the rest of the Balkans. While politics in the region have been marked by unstable geography and dramatic transitions, artists have forged a path of persistent experiment and innovation. This generously illustrated overview explores the richness of their singular contribution to recent art history. Tracing art-historical changes from the short-lived unison of the socialist realist period to the incredible diversity of art in the post-communist era, the authors examine the repercussions of political events on artistic life – notably the uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the collapse of the communist bloc. But their primary interest is in the experimental art of the neo-avant-garde that resisted official agendas and engaged with global currents such as performance art, video, multimedia and net art.
£15.29
Thames & Hudson Ltd Paris A Short History
A concise history of Paris and the great events and personalities, from prehistory to the present, that have shaped its unique cultural legacy. Once described as that metropolis of dress and debauchery' by the Scottish poet David Mallet, then as now Paris had a reputation for a peculiar joie de vivre, from style to sex, cookery to couture, captivating minds and imaginations across the Continent and beyond. In Paris: A Short History, Jeremy Black explores the unique cultural circumstances that made Paris the vibrant capital it is today. Black explores how Paris has been shaped through the centuries from the first century BCE, when the city was founded by the Parisii. From a small Gallic capital conquered by the Romans, Paris transformed into a flourishing medieval city full of spectacular palaces and cathedrals, including Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame de Paris. During the illustrious reigns of Louis XIV and XV Paris became one of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan capitals in
£15.29
Thames & Hudson Ltd Harry Gruyaert: Morocco
The vivid colours of Morocco as seen by master of colour photography Harry Gruyaert. When Harry Gruyaert first visited Morocco in 1972, it was love at first sight. On every return visit, he has tried to relive that initial feeling of enchantment, the splendid harmony between form and colour, people and nature. From the High Atlas mountains to the desert, from rural areas to the bustling streets of Marrakech and Essaouira, Gruyaert’s photographs take us on a dreamlike cinematic journey through a reality that is nonetheless highly physical, its textures shaped by light and shadow. Each image has its own power and all of them reflect the importance of family, community and faith to the people of Morocco, as well as Gruyaert’s own innate curiosity and desire to understand different realities.
£45.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Treasures of Ukraine: A Nation’s Cultural Heritage
A celebration of Ukraine’s rich cultural heritage, drawing on over 100 of the country’s most important works of art and architectural monuments from prehistory to the present. Showcasing more than one hundred objects and buildings — from Byzantine icons and wooden churches to gold-domed cathedrals, folk art, and avant-garde masterpieces — Treasures of Ukraine chronicles the rich arts and heritage of a country currently facing destruction and devastation. The significance of the pieces is explained by renowned artists, curators, and critics, revealing the nation’s complex history and its impact on the present. From the development of ancient cultures like Trypillia and Scythia to early states such as Kyivan Rus and the Cossack Hetmanate, to the dawn of Modernism and the striking contemporary paintings and political artworks being produced today, Treasures of Ukraine reminds us that art and monuments represent powerful sources of collective memory and identity. All proceeds will be donated to PEN Ukraine, to help Ukrainian authors in need and support museums in Ukraine.
£22.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Make Every Day Creative
Celebrated illustrator Marion Deuchars is on a mission. Sharing a host of inspiring projects and ideas, this book shows people of all ages and artistic abilities how a little creativity every day can make a big difference. Live the life of a true creative! With over 100 projects and ideas, Marion invites you to release your artistic potential. Spill some ink. Draw with a stick. Have a go at hand lettering, or painting with a mop! The ideas in this book are all about having fun and realising it's never too late to discoveror rediscoveryour artistic side. Projects like hand printing, marbling, cyanotype, and rubber stamping will absorb you for an enjoyable afternoon; others like street photography, beach sculpture, and dog doodling can be done in the moment. Get painting, printing, drawing, making and imagining and discover how little moments of creativity can bring great joy.
£15.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd Embroidery: Learn in a Weekend
An easy way to get into this popular craft, with instructions, templates and contemporary projects that will soon get you going. The traditional craft of embroidery has gained a new excitement as a new generation of stitchers bring contemporary style to subjects like houseplants and modern interiors. This smart little book, written with beginners in mind, perfectly captures that aesthetic and gives you the skills you need to succeed. Embroidery covers the materials you need to get going, simple introductions to the key stitches, and ten contemporary projects that evolve in complexity. Each project has a template to be copied, enabling the reader to get started straight away and achieve great results in a short time. Brand-new step-by-step photography makes the whole process easy: and after only a couple of happy days with your needle and thread, you'll find that you're making designs to be proud of. Sew Botanical's Etsy store, where Alisha and Roisin's kits are available, carries hundreds of rave reviews for their designs, and has an average rating higher than 4.8*
£12.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd A Day by the Sea
From the creator of Home Alone comes this delightful celebration of a day spent by the sea, complete with salty air, run-ins with sea life, and making forever friends. Frido is back and this time he's at the seaside. While his owner takes a nap in the shade, Frido sets off to explore. There are sandcastles to dig, waves to surf, beach games to disrupt and the arrival of an ice-cream truck. But can Frido find his way back to their sun umbrella before his owner wakes up?
£10.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd Operation Alphabet
Welcome to England’s Ministry of Letters, the place where all the words in the world — in books, magazines, newspapers, road signs, posters, and more—start their lives, and from which the letters coordinate their critical missions to help children learn the alphabet. This book tells the story of Charlie Foxtrot, who starts school and finds mastering the alphabet confusing. The members of the Ministry’s Special Alphabet Service set off on a mission to Scotland to help Charlie and to open his mind to the power of letters and words. The charming artwork, reminiscent of classic children’s book illustrations from the 1950s and 1960s, combines with the witty text to bring the characters of the alphabet to life.
£7.78
Thames & Hudson Ltd Tim Walker: Shoot for the Moon
‘Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars’ Norman Vincent Peale Tim Walker’s monograph Story Teller, published by Thames & Hudson, introduced audiences to this unique photographer’s fantastical, magical worlds, conjured anew with each shoot. But every point must have its counterpoint, day its night, light its dark; creativity is no different. Shoot for the Moon, Walker’s much anticipated followup, draws audiences close to reveal fantasy’s other, darker side. Delving deep into the art and mind of one of the most exciting and original fashion photographers working today, Shoot for the Moon showcases the gamut of Walker’s weird, wild Wonderlands. In images that demand to be read as art as much as fashion, his signature opulence and decadent eccentricity encroach ever further beyond the ‘real’, exploring the mysteries of imagination and inspiration, and where it is they come from. Dazzlingly designed to a lavish spec, with images featuring some of the biggest names in fashion and contemporary culture, and texts and commentary by a collection of noteworthy contributors as well as Walker himself, Shoot for the Moon is set to be an unmissable addition to the lexicon of fashion photography.
£76.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Why Can’t I Feel the Earth Spinning?: And other vital questions about science
Why do I have to wash? Why don’t aeroplanes fall down? Where do mountains come from? Why is the sea blue? Why do I dream? This book invites young people to discover more about the world around them by asking and answering questions for themselves. The book is structured around twentytwo questions, each one tackled over two spreads. The first spread explores the question and answer, supported by a detailed illustration, photograph or diagram. The second spread asks further questions on a similar theme to help build an understanding of how science underlies everything from the ingredients in our fridge to reaching the moon. The tone of the text is fresh and informal without being flippant.
£12.95
Thames & Hudson Ltd Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World
An overview of the lost peoples and cultures who flourished and fought for survival alongside the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Beyond the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews of the Classical and Biblical eras, a rich diversity of peoples helped lay the foundations of the modern world. Philip Matyszak brings to life these cultures and individuals that made up the busy, brawling multicultural mass of humanity that emerged from the ancient Middle East and spread across the Mediterranean and Europe. He explores the origins of forty forgotten peoples, their great triumphs and defeats, and considers the legacy they have left to us today, whether it be in fine art or everyday language. This carefully researched and illuminating history is the perfect introduction for the modern reader, packed with surprising facts and fascinating stories, detailed maps and beautiful illustrations of artefacts and sites of interest. Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World offers a new understanding of these important civilizations that have been obscured by the passage of time.
£18.00
Thames & Hudson Ltd Medieval People: From Charlemagne to Piero della Francesca
This engrossing and often witty account tells the life stories of nearly 70 individuals who made the Middle Ages. There are kings and queens, popes and politicians, soldiers and merchants, scholars, authors and visionaries. They range from the important, such as El Cid or Frederick Barbarossa, to the little known, such as the dissolute Venetian nun Clara Sanuto. Some were astonishingly successful: the empire created by Chinggis Khan was one of the most extensive ever seen. Some, such as Charles the Bold, the over-ambitious 15th-century duke of Burgundy, were failures. Contrary to modern myth, medieval people did not believe the earth was flat; torture was far less common than in later centuries; and technological advances included guns, printing, blast furnaces, spectacles, stirrups and the compass. Full of insights such as these, this book shows how medieval people lived in an era that was more one of invention and innovation than of superstition and backwardness. It will appeal to all those who want a truer picture of a world often erroneously portrayed by bestselling novelists of today.With 26 illustrations in colour
£10.99
Thames & Hudson Ltd Hannah Ryggen: Threads of Defiance
The significance of Hannah Ryggen (1894–1970) as one of the most important figures in the history of Scandinavian art has only recently been recognized internationally. Beloved and renowned for her original contributions to modernist tapestry, Ryggen made radical political statements against Fascism and Nazism before and during the Second World War. Using primary sources, Ryggen expert Marit Paasche brings us a much fuller knowledge of the artist, weaving her life and work into a story that illuminates not only the artist herself, but also 20th-century art history in general. Hannah Ryggen’s visually spellbinding tapestries, made on a homemade handloom in her small farm on the remote Norwegian coast, depict a wealth of subjects: Mussolini’s Abyssinian campaign, her husband’s internment in a Nazi camp in occupied Norway, the post-war growth of nuclear power, and media coverage of the Vietnam War. At once hard-hitting and humorous, her works combine personal candour, social and political engagement and visual majesty. Paasche explores both the artist’s bold subject matter and particular balance of abstraction and figuration within the context of her life and beliefs. Including a comprehensive selection of works, this book provides an enthralling account of a remarkable, and unjustly overlooked, artist.
£22.46
Thames & Hudson Ltd GamesMaster: The Oral History
GamesMaster: The Oral History charts the highs and lows of Channel 4’s iconic and anarchic UK videogames entertainment show. First broadcast in 1992 amid a brash youth television takeover, the ambitious and sometimes chaotic production of GamesMaster is as much a story of the 1990s, set against a backdrop of videogame console wars, Britpop and a curious new thing called the World Wide Web. This definitive retrospective is guided by show host Dominik Diamond and features over 40 contributors, including production crew, celebrity guests and the games-playing members of the public who became either playground heroes or defeated outcasts vying for the iconic Golden Joystick prize.
£31.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Looking at Picasso
A major new survey that offers fresh insights on Pablo Picasso's artworks, written by a leading authority on the master. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. This important new monograph, released to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the artist's death, presents Picasso's unparalleled achievements in all media: painting, sculpture, drawing and prints. Art historian and curator Pepe Karmel offers fresh analysis of this great master for a 21st-century audience, considering Picasso's work through the lens of art rather than biography. He demonstrates how Picasso's style, evolving over the course of seven decades, introduced visual languages and narratives that transformed modern art. Arranged chronologically by themes and movements, Looking at Picasso is profusely illustrated with renowned paintings, such as the provocative Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and his monumental Guernica, protesting the horror of war; these are accompanied by numerous lesser-known works, including Picasso's daring sculptures and his animated reinterpretation of Velazquez's 17th-century masterpiece Las Meninas. Numerous exhibitions planned for 2023 will bring Picasso to the forefront. This engaging book will appeal to museum-goers curious to learn more about Picasso's career and anyone interested in modern art.
£40.50
Thames & Hudson Ltd Virgin by Design
Virgin by Design is the official publication volume celebrating 50 years of daring innovation and creativity at Virgin, presenting the stories, the people and the work that went into the building and shaping of a much-loved and globally respected brand. More than a retrospective, it gets to the heart of the values that make the Virgin brand so unique, communicating how those values resonate with people today – and will continue to do so in the future. Based on in-depth research and interviews with all the key people who have played a part in Virgin’s companies past and present, Virgin by Design is organized into ten chapters – each with fully illustrated case studies – that provide a sense of how hard work and brilliant ideas have resonated with audiences worldwide. Spanning the full 50-year period from Virgin’s beginnings as a record store to its bold future in space tourism with Virgin Galactic, it also embraces Virgin’s broad diversity in terms of its global presence as a brand, its mission and purpose to change business for good, and in its offerings across multiple sectors, including travel, banking, health and fitness, communications and entertainment. Virgin by Design is packed with the wit, verve, spirit of adventure and ‘how it was done’ insights that will make it a must-have publication.
£35.96
Thames & Hudson Ltd Party Pooper
The third title in the laugh-out-loud series of picture books starring Bad Apple, a truly terrible piece of fruit. It’s Granny Smith’s birthday party and all the apples are invited. There’s face painting, a piñata, a pile of presents and one of Snake’s finest cakes... Bad Apple can’t wait to spoil the fun! But it looks like this party pooper’s luck might have run out. Pineapple has had enough of Apple’s bad behaviour and is ready to teach him a lesson. In the third instalment of Huw Lewis Jones’s hilarious series of picture books, a truly terrible piece of fruit is once more wreaking havoc far beyond the rim of the fruit bowl. Illustrated in a deadpan, painterly style by Ben Sanders, Party Pooper will entertain the entire family.
£11.99