Search results for ""Metropolitan Museum of Art""
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide (Arabic edition)
This completely reconceived and rewritten guide to the Metropolitan's encyclopedic holdings—the first new edition of the guidebook in nearly thirty years—provides the ideal introduction to almost 600 essential masterpieces from one of the world's most popular and beloved museums. It features a compelling and accessible design, beautiful color reproductions, and up-to-date descriptions written by the Museum's own experts. More than a simple souvenir book, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide provides a comprehensive view of art history spanning more than five millennia and the entire globe, beginning with the Ancient World and ending in contemporary times. It includes media as varied as painting, photography, costume, sculpture, decorative arts, musical instruments, arms and armor, works on paper, and many more. Presenting works ranging from the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur to Canova's Perseus with the Head of Medusa to Sargent's Madame X, this is an indispensable volume for lovers of art and art history, and for anyone who has ever dreamed of lingering over the most iconic works in the Metropolitan Museum's unparalleled collection.
£19.99
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide
Featuring beautiful color reproductions and enlightening descriptions, this is the definitive guide to one of the largest, and most beloved, collections of art in the world More than a simple souvenir book, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide provides a comprehensive view of art history spanning five millennia and the entire globe, beginning with the ancient world and ending in contemporary times. It includes media as varied as painting, photography, costume, sculpture, decorative arts, musical instruments, arms and armor, works on paper, and many more. Presenting works ranging from the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur to Canova’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa to Sargent’s Madame X, this revised edition is an indispensable volume for lovers of art and art history, and for anyone who has ever dreamed of lingering over the most iconic works in the Metropolitan’s unparalleled collection.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
£18.99
Metropolitan Museum of Art European Clocks and Watches: in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The first detailed discussion of the greatest timepieces from the exceptional collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Among the world’s great technological and imaginative achievements is the invention and development of the timepiece. Examining for the first time the Metropolitan Museum’s unparalleled collection of European clocks and watches created from the early middle ages through the 19th century, this fascinating book enriches our understanding of the origins and evolution of these ingenious works. It showcases 54 extraordinary clocks, watches, and other timekeeping devices, each represented with an in-depth description and new photography showing the exterior as well as the inner mechanisms. Included are an ornate celestial timepiece that accurately predicts the trajectory of the sun, moon, and stars and a longcase clock by David Roentgen that shows the time in the ten most important cities of the day. These works, created by clockmakers, scientists, and artists in England, Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, have been selected for their artistic beauty and design excellence, as well as for their sophisticated and awe-inspiring mechanics. Built upon decades of expert research, this publication is a long-overdue survey of these stunning visual and technological marvels.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art (10/26/15–05/22/16)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The brightly colored tin-enameled earthenware called maiolica was among the major accomplishments of decorative arts in 16th-century Italy. This in-depth look at the history of maiolica, told through 140 exemplary pieces from the world-class collection at the Metropolitan Museum, offers a new perspective on a major aspect of Italian Renaissance art. Most of the works have never been published and all are newly photographed. The ceramics are featured alongside detailed descriptions of production techniques and a consideration of the social and cultural context, making this an invaluable resource for scholars and collectors. The imaginatively decorated works include an eight-figure group of the Lamentation, the largest and most ambitious piece of sculpture produced in a Renaissance maiolica workshop; pharmacy jars; bella donna plates; and more.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art (08/29/16–02/26/17)
£50.00
Rizzoli International Publications The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Masterpiece Paintings
This impressive volume's broad sweep of material, all from a single museum, makes it at once a universal history of painting and the ideal introduction to the iconic masterworks of this world-renowned institution. Lavish color illustrations and details of 500 master- pieces, created over 5,000 years in cultures across the globe, are presented chronologically from the dawn of civilization to the present. These works represent a grand tour of painting from ancient Egypt and classical antiquity and prized Byzantine and medieval altarpieces, to paintings from Asia, India, Africa, and the Americas and the greatest European and North American masters. This unprecedented book includes an introduction and illuminating texts about each artwork written by Kathryn Calley Galitz, whose experience as both a curator and educator at the Met makes her uniquely qualified. European and American artists include Duccio, El Greco, Raphael, Titian, Botticelli, Bronzino, Caravaggio, Turner, Velazquez, Goya, Rubens, Rembrandt, Brueghel, Vermeer, David, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Degas, Sargent, Homer, Matisse, Picasso, Pollock, and Warhol. For those wishing to experience the Met's unparalleled collection or to study masterpieces of painting from throughout history, this important volume is sure to become a classic cherished by art lovers around the world.
£54.00
Abrams Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute: Updated Edition
An updated and expanded edition, covering the past five years of the Met Costume Institute’s exhibitions and galas through the lens of Vogue The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition is the most prestigious of its kind, featuring subjects that both reflect the zeitgeist and contribute to its creation. Each exhibition—from 2005’s Chanel to 2011’s Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty and 2012’s Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations—creates a provocative and engaging narrative drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors. This updated edition includes material from 2015’s China: Through the Looking Glass, 2018’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (the most visited exhibition in the museum’s history), and 2019’s Camp: Notes on Fashion. The show’s opening-night gala, produced in collaboration with Vogue magazine, is regularly referred to as the party of the year, and draws a glamorous A-list crowd, drawing an unrivaled mix of Hollywood fashion. This updated edition of Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute once again invites you into the stunning spectacle that comes when fashion and art meet at The Met.
£45.00
Yale University Press 100 Shoes: The Costume Institute / The Metropolitan Museum of Art
An exclusive look at one hundred fabulous shoes from the renowned Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art A hundred pairs of shoes, from the 16th to the 21st century, paint a vivid picture of how shoe styles have changed—sometimes radically—over the years. They also reveal how some trends have reappeared throughout the ages. For instance, platform shoes were worn by fashionable Venetian women from the 15th to the 17th century and by Manchu Chinese women in the 1800s. In the late 1930s, Salvatore Ferragamo introduced a modern version of the platform shoe, and updated versions appeared in the 1970s and 1990s. Beautifully designed and produced, this brilliant follow-up to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 100 Dresses presents examples of fashionable footwear in a range of styles, from flats to stilettos and everything in between. Among them are shoes designed by Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Roger Vivier, and Vivienne Westwood. Images of the shoes are accompanied by informative text and enhanced by works of art, contemporary photos, and portraits of designers. Sure to spark the imaginations of anyone interested in fashion and design, 100 Shoes details how women have used these essential fashion accessories to elevate their style, stature, and status throughout the centuries. An introduction by fashion-forward actress Sarah Jessica Parker adds to the accessibility and appeal of this delightful volume. Published in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art
£22.50
Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd Afterlives: Ancient Greek Funerary Monuments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In ancient Greece, funerary monuments were visual expressions of mourning that provided the opportunity for the living to commemorate and communicate with the dead. Today they offer a wealth of information about the deceased and the communities of which they were a part, for example, their status, material aspects of their lives, and how they wanted to be depicted. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the finest collections of Greek funerary monuments outside of Greece. This richly illustrated volume, by renowned author Paul Zanker, presents more than 50 outstanding examples, created from the 7th to the 2nd century B.C., that represent a variety of media and geographical regions. Through their shared focus on memorialising the dead, these extraordinary works of art offer insights into all facets of life in ancient Greece.
£31.50
Simon & Schuster All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
£22.18
Yale University Press 100 Dresses: The Costume Institute / The Metropolitan Museum of Art
An irresistible look into more than 300 years of fashion through an exquisite collection of designer dresses What woman can resist imagining herself in a beautiful designer dress? Here, for the first time ever, are 100 fabulous gowns from the permanent collection of the renowned Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, each of which is a reminder of the ways fashion reflects the broader culture that created it.Featuring designs by Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Madame Grès, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, and many others, this one-of-a-kind collection presents a stunning variety of garments. Ranging from the buttoned-up gowns of the late 17th century to the cutting-edge designs of the early 21st, the dresses reflect the sensibilities and excesses of each era while providing a vivid picture of how styles have changed—sometimes radically—over the years. A late 1600s wool dress with a surprising splash of silver thread; a large-bustled red satin dress from the 1800s; a short, shimmery 1920s dancing dress; a glamorous 1950s cocktail dress; and a 1960s minidress—each tells a story about its period and serves as a testament to the enduring ingenuity of the fashion designer’s art.Images of the dresses are accompanied by informative text and enhanced by close-up details as well as runway photos, fashion plates, works of art, and portraits of designers. A glossary of related terms is also included.Published in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art
£23.03
Princeton University Press The Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume XV: Decorative Arts
This volume catalogs more than four hundred decorative objects in the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including painted enamels, snuffboxes, porcelain, pottery, ceramics, jewelry, furniture, cast metal, and textiles from throughout Europe and Asia, with the majority dating from the late seventh century to the twentieth century. Highlights include a a superb seventeenth-century oval-shaped watch decorated with enamels by the master Susanne de Court of Limoges; a dazzling domed cup supported by a carved alabaster figure of a bearded Turk, replete with jewels and precious stones, crafted in early eighteenth-century Germany; and a French secretaire from the 1780s set with painted enamels from the famed Sevres Manufactory. Provenance information, exhibition histories, and references are provided, and selected comparative illustrations are incorporated. The volume also includes a bibliography and an index.
£82.80
The American University in Cairo Press Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art [Arabic Edition]
This expansive book reveals the great diversity and range of art of the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and later South Asia. Published to coincide with the historic reopening of the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum's Islamic Art Department, it presents nearly three hundred masterpieces from one of the finest collections in the world. The works range chronologically from the origins of Islam in the seventh century through the nineteenth century, and geographically from as far west as Spain and Morocco to as far east as India. Outstanding miniature paintings and illuminated manuscripts, ceramics, textiles, carpets, glass, and metalwork reflect the mutual influence of artistic practice in the sacred and secular realms. Many of these beautiful objects display the rich traditions of calligraphy, vegetal ornament (the arabesque), and geometric patterning that distinguish the arts of the Islamic world.With seven informative essays and almost three hundred catalogue entries-supplemented by introductory essays on the collection and its display-this handsome and comprehensive overview will enlighten the specialist and the general reader alike.
£50.00
University of Texas Press The Capitalist and the Critic: J. P. Morgan, Roger Fry, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A skillful and fascinating retelling of the often testy relationship between J. P. Morgan and Roger Fry, two men who did more to establish the preeminence of the Metropolitan Museum of Art than any collector and curator before or since. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, the Metropolitan Museum of Art began an ambitious program of collection building and physical expansion that transformed it into one of the world’s foremost museums, an eminence that it has maintained ever since. Two men of singular qualities and accomplishments played key roles in the Met’s transformation—J. P. Morgan, America’s leading financier and a prominent art collector, and Roger Fry, the headstrong English expert in art history who served as the Met’s curator of painting. Their complicated, often contentious relationship embodies and illuminates the myriad tensions between commerce and art, philanthropists and professional staff, that a great museum must negotiate to define and fulfill its mission. In this masterful, multidisciplinary narrative, Charles Molesworth offers the first in-depth look at how Morgan and Fry helped to mold the cultural legacy of masterpieces of painting and the development of the “encyclopedic” museum. Structuring the book as a joint biography, Molesworth describes how Morgan used his vast wealth to bring European art to an American citizenry, while Fry brought high standards of art history from the world of connoisseurs to a general public. Their clashes over the purpose and functions of the Met, which ultimately led to Fry’s ouster, reveal the forces—personal and societal—that helped to shape the Metropolitan Museum and other major American cultural institutions during the twentieth century.
£23.99
Princeton University Press The Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Volume III
Robert Lehman, one of the foremost art collectors of his generation, embraced traditional and modern masters. This work catalogues 130 nineteenth- and 20th-century paintings that are part of the Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. It includes paintings by Ingres, Theodore Rousseau, and Corot among other early 19th-century artists.
£98.10
Princeton University Press The Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume IV: Illuminations
This book presents the exceptional group of illuminations in the Robert Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The miniatures and cuttings from medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in this collection represent the major schools of illumination that flourished in Europe from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Robert Lehman (1892-1969), one of the great private art collectors of the twentieth century, collected these illuminations as an extension of his remarkable collection of early European paintings and drawings. Among the works catalogued here are a miniature by Simon Marmion--the "prince d'enluminure"--painted for a Breviary for Charles the Bold and Margaret of York, and, among the Italian illuminations, a Last Judgment in an Initial C by the great Florentine painter Lorenzo Monaco and an Adoration of the Magi by Francesco Marmitta. A Self-Portrait by Simon Bening and a Virgin and Child by Francesco Morone are early examples of small paintings on parchment conceived as independent works of art rather than as illustrations for manuscripts. Also here are a leaf painted for the Hours of ftienne Chevalier by Jean Fouquet, the most celebrated French painter of the fifteenth century, and a miniature Holy Face by Gerard David that was possibly created as an independent devotional image. All the illuminations in the Robert Lehman Collection are reproduced in color, and copious comparative illustrations supplement the extensive catalogue entries. This is the seventh in a projected series of sixteen volumes that will catalogue the entire Robert Lehman Collection.
£75.60
Metropolitan Museum of Art Hector Zamora: Lattice Detour: The Roof Garden Commission
Features new analysis of Héctor Zamora’s oeuvre alongside a discussion of his topical, site-specific work created for the 2020 Roof Garden Commission at The Met The work of Mexican artist Héctor Zamora engages with urban or built environments, both disrupting and rearticulating the viewer’s interaction with the site. Lattice Detour, his most recent intervention, commissioned by The Met for its Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, is fabricated from terracotta bricks produced in Mexico and transported to New York. This compact volume, the first book in English on Zamora, presents images and analysis of the new artwork, setting its creation in the context of his past work. An interview with Zamora sheds further light on his formation as an artist, his process, and his inspirations.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (August 29–December 7, 2020)
£9.65
Metropolitan Museum of Art Charles Ray: Figure Ground
This career-spanning publication features conceptual, political, formal, and technical perspectives on the work of contemporary sculptor Charles Ray For Charles Ray (born 1953), sculpture is a way of thinking that informs his work across a wide range of media—from gelatin silver prints to porcelain, fiberglass, wood, and steel. Charles Ray: Figure Ground spans the whole of the artist’s fifty-year career, from his early photographs and performances through his intriguing, often unsettling sculptures, some of which are published here for the first time. The essays foreground Ray’s engagement with preexisting traditions, as well as charged issues around race, gender, and sexuality (notably expressed through his explorations of Mark Twain’s 1884 novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) and investigate the modalities of touch that run through his work. In addition, a reflection by Ray himself and a conversation between the artist and Hal Foster offer further insights into his multifaceted practice. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 31–June 5, 2022)
£20.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art
Placing artists at the center of nineteenth-century Demark’s dramatic cultural, political, and philosophical transformation, this publication explores their persistent national pride in a time of turmoil Though known as the Danish Golden Age, nineteenth-century Denmark was one of the most tumultuous periods in the nation’s history—from the disastrous siege of Copenhagen and the collapse of Denmark’s monarchy to the swelling tide of nationalism that eventually engulfed all of Europe. This volume places artists at the center of Denmark’s dramatic cultural, political, and philosophical transformation by bringing together 90 drawings, paintings, and oil sketches by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Christen Købke, Constantin Hansen, Martinus Rørbye, Johan Thomas Lundbye, Vilhelm Hammershøi, and others. Five thematic essays by leading scholars in Denmark and the United States explore the way Danish artists manifested the pride, traditions, and anxieties of their nation; the sea’s ever-changing role as a marker of Danish identity; the evolving nature of portraiture; nostalgia for the Danish landscape and folk traditions; and the influence on Danish artists of their travels throughout Europe. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 26–April 16, 2023)The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (May 23–August 20, 2023)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Africa and Byzantium
The first exploration of the artistic and cultural intersections of the African continent and the Byzantine world Medieval art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire, but less known are the profound artistic contributions of Nubia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with Byzantium had an indelible impact on the medieval Mediterranean world. Bringing together more than 170 masterworks in a range of media and techniques—from mosaic, sculpture, pottery, and metalwork to luxury objects, panel paintings, and religious manuscripts—Africa and Byzantium recounts Africa’s centrality in transcontinental networks of trade and cultural exchange. With incisive scholarship and new photography of works rarely or never before seen in public, this long-overdue publication sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of late antique Africa. It reconsiders the continent’s contributions to the development of the premodern world and offers a more complete history of Africa as a vibrant, multiethnic society of diverse languages and faiths that played a crucial role in the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (November 19, 2023–March 3, 2024)The Cleveland Museum of Art (April 14–July 21, 2024)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts
How Walt Disney and the Disney Studios wove the aesthetics of French decorative arts into the fairy-tale worlds of beloved animated films, from Cinderella to Beauty and the Beast and beyond Pink castles, talking sofas, and objects coming to life: what may sound like the fantasies of Hollywood dream-maker Walt Disney were in fact the figments of the colorful salons of Rococo Paris. Exploring the novel use of French motifs in Disney films and theme parks, this publication features forty works of eighteenth-century European design—from tapestries and furniture to Boulle clocks and Sèvres porcelain—alongside 150 Disney film stills, drawings, and other works on paper. The text connects these art forms through a shared dedication to craftsmanship and highlights references to European art in Disney films, including nods to Gothic Revival architecture in Cinderella (1950); bejeweled, medieval manuscripts in Sleeping Beauty (1959); and Rococo-inspired furnishings and objects brought to life in Beauty and the Beast (1991). Bridging fact and fantasy, this book draws remarkable new parallels between Disney’s magical creations and their artistic inspirations.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (December 10, 2021–March 6, 2022)Wallace Collection, London (April 6–October 16, 2022)Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA (December 10, 2022–March 27, 2023)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Last Knight: The Art, Armor, and Ambition of Maximilian I
A detailed look at the ambition and artistic legacy of Emperor Maximilian I and his passion for armor and chivalry Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519) crafted a public persona and personal mythology that earned him the romantic sobriquet the “Last Knight” and that perpetuates his legend to this day. In his lifelong quest to establish himself as Europe’s noblest ruler, he commissioned art, epics, and lineages, as well as exceptional armor from the most celebrated armorers in Europe. Published to coincide with the 500th anniversary of his death, this book discusses the ramifications of Maximilian’s wide-ranging political aspirations and artistic legacy and is the first to concentrate on the importance of armor and concepts of chivalry in the construction of his identity. Maximilian established the prominence of the Habsburgs through advantageous alliances, expanding their dominions across Europe and into the New World. He commissioned grandiose projects, some of which rank among the most ambitious in European history. But more than this, he created a profile for the ruler—a combination of idealism and vainglory—that not only helped shape the identity of the growing German nation but also has resonances in the current political climate worldwide. This superb volume provides a rare picture of how art, armor, and the cult of personality helped shape the politics of Europe at the dawn of the Renaissance.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 7, 2019–January 5, 2020)
£51.74
Metropolitan Museum of Art How to Read Islamic Calligraphy
An accessible introduction to the quintessential art form of the Islamic worldHow to Read Islamic Calligraphy explores the preeminence of the written word as a means of creative expression throughout the Islamic world. Aimed at a general audience, the book introduces all five major Islamic calligraphic script types, demonstrates their distinctive visual characteristics, and explains the various contexts in which each one came to be used, whether for transcribing the Qur’an, composing poetry, or issuing written edicts from the sultan’s court. Numerous examples illustrate how the transmission of these styles and techniques from master to pupil was fundamental to the flourishing of Islamic calligraphy, and handwriting models from as early as the 10th century continue to inspire students of calligraphy today. Superbly illustrated, the works discussed include manuscripts, glass, metalware, and ceramic tiles. This accessible and engaging book traces the progression of calligraphic styles over centuries and across geographical regions, affirming the spectacular range of creative possibilities afforded by this unique art form.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
£19.95
Metropolitan Museum of Art How to Read Greek Sculpture
Featuring decorative, religious, and utilitarian objects from the Geometric period to the Hellenistic Age, this is the ideal introduction to Greek sculpture Introducing eight centuries of Greek sculpture, this latest addition to The Met’s compelling and widely acclaimed How to Read series traces this artistic tradition from its early manifestations in the Geometric period (ca. 900–700 BCE) through the groundbreaking creativity of the Archaic and Classical periods to the dramatic achievements of the Hellenistic Age (323–31 BCE). The 40 works of art featured represent a broad range of objects and materials, both sacred and utilitarian, in metal, marble, gold, ivory, and terracotta. Sculptures of deities and architectural elements are joined by depictions of athletes, animals, and performers, as well as by funerary reliefs, perfume vases, and jewelry. The accompanying text both provides insight into Greek art as a whole and illuminates centuries of Greek life. Detailed commentaries on each work and an overview of major themes in Greek art offer a fascinating, object-focused introduction to one of the most influential cultures in Western civilization.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
£19.95
Metropolitan Museum of Art Inscriptions from Lisht: Texts from Burial Chambers
This volume incorporates all of the inscribed material associated with more than one hundred burial chambers and graves found at Lisht North and Lisht South, two sites excavated by the Egyptian Expedition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1907 until 1934 and from 1984 to 1991. The inscribed objects found in or close to the burial chambers of Middle Kingdom officials and others provide an important addition to our appreciation of ancient Egyptian funerary culture. These include the coffins and sarcophagi as well as canopic chests and jars, mummy masks, ivory wands, miniature coffins, and shawabtis. Two kings, members of the royal family and many elite persons, as well as a community of middle-class people, found their resting place in and around the royal pyramids at Lisht, which served as the principal cemetery for Egypt's capital during the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2030-1650 B.C.). The material published here represents a sequence of seven chronological phases at Lisht that range from the reigns of the kings Amenemhat I and Senwosret I through the late Dynasty XIII and the Second Intermediate Period. The inscribed texts presented here are transliterated and translated, and are accompanied by extensive drawings that meticulously detail these texts, as well as annotations to some previously published material. The lavishly illustrated volume includes heretofore unpublished photographs from the Department of Egyptian Art's archives. Each object has been assigned a code referring to the primary individual associated with it, and its description includes transliterations of the deceased's name(s) and title(s). Because the location of an inscription on a coffin or sarcophagus is usually significant and because some of these include multiple texts, the author has designed a system of references that reflects the location on the object. Further, the catalogue of objects draws on Museum archives and also provides information concerning the findspot and current location of the object as well as relevant archival material and bibliography.
£82.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Mandalas
Exploring the significance of Tibetan mandalas from their ancient origins to the present day, this gorgeously illustrated volume provides a contemporary perspective on a centuries-old Buddhist model of the universe
£25.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Hidden Faces
Highlighting the creativity and symbolism of covered portraits, this volume explores an intriguing but largely unknown aspect of Italian and Northern European Renaissance art
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art How to Read Chinese Ceramics
Chinese ceramics are among the most significant and widely collected decorative arts produced anywhere in the world, with a history that spans millennia. Despite the saturation of Chinese ceramics in global culture—in English, the word “china” has become synonymous with “porcelain”—the function of these works and the meaning of their often richly decorated surfaces are not always readily apparent. This new installment in the successful How to Read series enlightens readers on Chinese ceramics of all kinds, using highlights from the outstanding collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a teaching tool. Accessible to a general audience and written by an expert on the subject, this book explains and interprets 40 masterworks of Chinese ceramics. The works represent a broad range of subject matter and type, from ancient earthenware to 20th-century porcelain, and from plates and bowls to vases and sculptural figures. Lavish illustrations showcase these stunning works and the decorations that adorn them, including symbolic scenes, flowers, and Buddhist and Chinese historical figures. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
£19.95
Metropolitan Museum of Art Jewelry: The Body Transformed
A cross-cultural examination of jewelry spanning 5,000 years that investigates not only the objects themselves but also the bodies they decorated As an art form, jewelry is defined primarily through its connection to and interaction with the body—extending it, amplifying it, accentuating it, distorting it, concealing it, or transforming it. But how is the meaning of jewelry bound to the body that wears it? Establishing six different modes of ornamenting the body—Deconstructed, Divine, Regal, Idealized, Alluring, and Resplendent—this artfully designed book illustrates how these various definitions of the body give meaning to the jewelry that adorns it. More than 200 examples of exceptional jewelry and ornaments, created across the globe from antiquity to the present, are shown alongside paintings and sculptures of bejeweled bodies to demonstrate the social, political, and aesthetic role of jewelry. From earflares of warrior heroes in Pre-Columbian Peru to designs by Yves Saint-Laurent, these precious and most intimate works of art provide insight not only about the wearer but also into the designers, artisans, and cultures that produced them.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (11/12/18–02/24/19)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Jerusalem, 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven
A comprehensive and timely exploration of the key role Jerusalem played in shaping the art and culture of the Middle Ages Medieval Jerusalem was a vibrant international center and home to multiple cultures, faiths, and languages. Harmonious and dissonant influences from Persian, Turkish, Greek, Syrian, Armenian, Georgian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Indian, and European traditions invested Jerusalem with a key role in shaping the art of the Middle Ages. Through compelling essays by international and interdisciplinary experts and detailed discussions of more than 200 works of art, this beautiful, authoritative volume breaks new ground in exploring the relationship between the historical and the archetypal city of Jerusalem, uncovering the ways in which the aesthetic achievements it inspired enhanced and enlivened the medieval world. Patrons and artists from Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions alike focused their attention on the Holy City, endowing and enriching its sacred buildings and creating luxury goods for its residents. This artistic fertility was particularly in evidence between the 11th and the 14th centuries, notwithstanding often devastating circumstances—from the earthquake of 1033 to the fierce battles of the Crusades. Dazzling illustrations featuring new photography complement this unprecedented, panoptic story of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art (09/26/16–01/08/17)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll
A brash and dazzling celebration of the instruments that created the sounds of rock and roll from the 1940s to the present dayPlay It Loud celebrates the musical instruments that gave rock and roll its signature sound—from Louis Jordan’s alto saxophone and John Lennon’s Rickenbacker to the drum set owned by Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Lady Gaga’s keytar, and beyond. Seven engrossing essays by veteran music journalists and scholars discuss the technical developments that fostered rock’s seductive riffs and driving rhythms, the thrilling innovations musicians have devised to achieve unique effects, and the visual impact their instruments have had. Abundant photographs depict rock’s most iconic instruments—including Jerry Lee Lewis’s baby grand piano, Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES-350T guitar, Bootsy Collins’s star-shaped bass, Keith Moon’s drum set, and the white Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock—as works of art in their own right. Produced in collaboration with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, this astounding book goes behind the music to offer a rare and in-depth look at the instruments that inspired the musicians and made possible the songs we know and love.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (04/08/19–09/15/19)The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland (11/20/19–09/13/20)
£35.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Oceania: The Shape of Time
Offering a fresh look at Oceania that incorporates new scholarship and perspectives from Indigenous voices, this book uses art to explore histories of expression and aesthetic innovation that epitomize this vast and expansive region. The visual arts of Oceania tell a wealth of dynamic stories about origins, ancestral power, performance, and initiation. This publication explores the deeply rooted connections between Austronesian-speaking peoples, whose ancestral homelands span Island Southeast Asia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the island archipelagoes of the northern and eastern Pacific. Unlike previous books, it foregrounds Indigenous perspectives, alongside multidisciplinary research in art history, ethnography, and archaeology, to provide an intimate look at Oceania, its art, and its culture. Stunning new photography highlights more than 130 magnificent objects, ranging from elaborately carved ancestral figures in ceremonial houses, towering slit drums, and dazzling turtle-shell masks to polished whale ivory breastplates. Underscoring the powerful interplay between the ocean and its islands, and the ongoing connection with spiritual and ancestral realms, Oceania: The Shape of Time presents an art-focused approach to life and culture while guiding readers through the artistic achievements of Islanders across millennia. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule: Museum of Art Pudong, ShanghaiJune 1–August 20, 2023National Museum of Qatar, DohaOctober 16, 2023–January 15, 2024 Accompanies the reopening of The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in Spring 2025
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Women Dressing Women: A Lineage of Female Fashion Design
This survey of women-led fashion design centered around the twentieth and twenty-first centuries emphasizes the creative agency and artistic legacy of female creators “This excellent book is recommended for readers interested in women fashion designers, particularly those who are not well-known today.”—Sandra Rothenberg, Library Journal (starred review) Exploring the enduring impact of fashions created by and for women, this book traces a historical and conceptual lineage across more than 70 female designers— from unidentified dressmakers in eighteenth-century France, to contemporary makers who are leading the direction of fashion today—all culled from the incredible permanent collection of The Costume Institute. Insightful essays that consider notions of anonymity, visibility, agency, and absence/omission reveal women’s impact within the field of fashion, highlighting celebrated designers and forgotten histories alike. The publication includes fashion houses such as Mad Carpentier, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Madeleine Vionnet, American makers like Ann Lowe, Claire McCardell, and Isabel Toledo, along with contemporary designers such as Rei Kawakubo, Anifa Mvuemba, Simone Rocha, and Iris van Herpen. New photography, created especially for this volume, uses light, shadow, and reflection to connect the garments to the four themes of the essays, which situate the works within a larger social context, and a fold-out genealogical chart traces connections between the makers featured. This overdue look at women-led design will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of fashion. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (December 7, 2023–March 3, 2024)
£35.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Alice Neel: People Come First
Positioning Alice Neel as a champion of civil rights, this book explores how her paintings convey her humanist politics and capture the humanity, strength, and vulnerability of her subjects “One of the most ambitious and thorough collections of Neel’s work to date.”—Allison Schaller, Vanity Fair “For me, people come first,” Alice Neel (1900–1984) declared in 1950. “I have tried to assert the dignity and eternal importance of the human being.” This ambitious publication surveys Neel’s nearly 70-year career through the lens of her radical humanism. Remarkable portraits of victims of the Great Depression, fellow residents of Spanish Harlem, leaders of political organizations, queer artists, visibly pregnant women, and members of New York’s global diaspora reveal that Neel viewed humanism as both a political and philosophical ideal. In addition to these paintings of famous and unknown sitters, the more than 100 works highlighted include Neel’s emotionally charged cityscapes and still lifes as well as the artist’s erotic pastels and watercolors. Essays tackle Neel’s portrayal of LGBTQ subjects; her unique aesthetic language, which merged abstraction and figuration; and her commitment to progressive politics, civil rights, feminism, and racial diversity. The authors also explore Neel’s highly personal preoccupations with death, illness, and motherhood while reasserting her place in the broader cultural history of the 20th century.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (March 22–August 1, 2021) Guggenheim, Bilbao (September 17, 2021–January 30, 2022) de Young Museum, San Francisco (March 12–July 10, 2022)
£35.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India
With new photography of extraordinarily rare works of art, this pioneering study features discoveries and research essential to understanding the origins and meaning of Buddhist artistic traditions “Both the show and the book are extraordinary achievements. . . . They will astonish even those who think they are familiar with the art of Buddhism.”—William Dalrymple, New York Review of Books Named for two primary motifs in Buddhist art, the sacred bodhi tree and the protective snake, Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India is the first publication to foreground devotional works produced in the Deccan from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Unlike traditional narratives, which focus on northern India (where the Buddha was born, taught, and died), this groundbreaking book presents Buddhist art from monastic sites in the south. Long neglected, this is among the earliest corpus of Buddhist art surviving, and among the most sublimely beautiful. An international team of researchers contributes new scholarship on the sculptural and devotional art associated with Buddhism, and masterpieces from recently excavated Buddhist sites are published here for the first time—including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenized and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (July 21–November 13, 2023) National Museum of Korea, Seoul (December 22, 2023–April 14, 2024)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England
A fascinating new look at the artistic legacy of the Tudors, revealing the dynasty’s influence on the arts in Renaissance England and beyond Ruling successively from 1485 through 1603, the five Tudor monarchs changed England indelibly, using the visual arts to both legitimize and glorify their tumultuous rule—from Henry VII’s bloody rise to power, through Henry VIII’s breach with the Roman Catholic Church, to the reign of the “virgin queen” Elizabeth I. With incisive scholarship and sumptuous new photography, the book explores the politics and personalities of the Tudors, and how they used art in their diplomacy at home and abroad. Tudor courts were truly cosmopolitan, attracting artists and artisans from across Europe, including Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543), Jean Clouet (ca. 1485–1540), and Benedetto da Rovezzano (1474–1552). At the same time, the Tudors nurtured local talent such as Isaac Oliver (ca. 1565–1617) and Nicholas Hilliard (ca. 1547–1619) and gave rise to a distinctly English aesthetic that now defines the visual legacy of the dynasty. This book reveals the true history behind a family that has long captured the public imagination, bringing to life the extravagant and politically precarious world of the Tudors through the exquisite paintings, lush textiles, gleaming metalwork, and countless luxury objects that adorned their spectacular courts.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 10, 2022–January 8, 2023) The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 26–May 14, 2023) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (June 24–September 24, 2023)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art In America: A Lexicon of Fashion
Articulating eight decades of American style through the emotive language of clothing—from celebrated designers that established the modern legacy of sportswear to emerging creatives shaping the future of fashion in the United States “The design of the exhibition and the catalog is straightforward and compartmentalized, allowing the clothes to speak for themselves and contain their own narratives.”—Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue.com This new presentation of American fashion features a revised vocabulary that emphasizes its expressive qualities. Stunning new photography showcases over 100 garments from the 1940s to the present that offer a timely new perspective on the diverse and multifaceted nature of American fashion. The catalogue features works that display qualities such as belonging, comfort, desire, exuberance, fellowship, joy, nostalgia, optimism, reverence, spontaneity, strength, and sweetness by designers, from the pioneers who established the nation’s style to the up-and-coming creatives shaping its future. In America: A Lexicon of Fashion includes designs by Gilbert Adrian, Geoffrey Beene, Thom Browne, Bonnie Cashin, Willy Chavarria, Telfar Clemens, Dauphinette (Olivia Cheng), Oscar de la Renta (Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim), Denim Tears (Tremaine Emory), Perry Ellis, Tom Ford, Rudi Gernreich, Halston, Elizabeth Hawes, Carolina Herrera, Conner Ives, Charles James, Donna Karan, KidSuper (Colm Dillane), Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, LRS (Raul Solís), Vera Maxwell, Claire McCardell, Norman Norell, Heron Preston, Pyer Moss (Kerby Jean-Raymond), Christopher John Rogers, Collina Strada (Hillary Taymour), Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, and many more. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (September 18, 2021–September 5, 2022)
£35.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Irving Penn: Centennial
The definitive book on the work of a virtuosic and revered American photographer “Irving Penn: Centennial . . . presents page after page of startlingly fresh images.”—Luc Sante, New York Times Irving Penn (1917–2009) was among the most esteemed and influential photographers of the twentieth century. Over the course of a nearly seventy-year career, he mastered a pared-down aesthetic of studio photography that is distinguished for its meticulous attention to composition, nuance, and detail. This indispensable book features one of the largest selections of Penn’s photographs ever compiled, including famous and beloved images as well as works that have never been published, spanning the entirety of his groundbreaking career. An enlightening introduction situates his work in the context of the various artistic, social, and political environments and events that affected the content of his photographs. Lively essays acquaint readers with Penn’s primary subjects and campaigns, including early documentary scenes and imagery; portraits; fashion; female nudes; peoples of Peru, Dahomey (Benin), New Guinea, and Morocco; still lifes; and much more. Irving Penn: Centennial is essential for any fan of this artist’s work or the history of twentieth-century photography. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: de Young, Fine Art Museums, San Francisco (March 16–July 21, 2024)
£55.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism
A groundbreaking volume resituating the Harlem Renaissance as integral to the development of twentieth-century modernism
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents
This timely study of Winslow Homer highlights his imagery of the Atlantic world and reveals themes of racial, political, and natural conflict across his career Long celebrated as the quintessential New England regionalist, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) in fact brushed a much wider canvas, traveling throughout the Atlantic world and frequently engaging in his art with issues of race, imperialism, and the environment. This publication focuses, for the first time, on the watercolors and oil paintings Homer made during visits to Bermuda, Cuba, coastal Florida, and the Bahamas. Among these, The Gulf Stream (1899), often considered the most consequential painting of his career, reveals Homer’s lifelong fascination with struggle and conflict. Recognizing the artist’s keen ability to distill complex issues, Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents upends popular conceptions and convincingly argues that Homer’s work resonates with the challenges of the present day.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (April 11–July 31, 2022)National Gallery, London (September 10, 2022–January 8, 2023)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid
An intimate survey of Cecily Brown’s paintings, drawings, and prints, providing a meditation on the intertwined themes of still life, memento mori, and vanitas in her work Cecily Brown (b. 1969) transfixes viewers with sumptuous color, bravura brushwork, and complex narratives that relate to some of European painting’s grandest and most time-honored themes, including still life motifs and meditations on mortality through vanitas This intimate survey of the acclaimed British painter reexamines the work of an artist whose influential output references both modern heavyweights, such as Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, and Joan Mitchell, and Old Masters like Goya, Hogarth, Manet, and Rubens. The book features 21 paintings and 26 works on paper—drawings, watercolors, sketchbooks, and monotypes—that span the three decades of Brown’s career to date, including recently completed and never-before published works. A conversation with the artist provides insight into her process and sources, while an insightful essay situates Brown in the lineage of the great artists of the last five hundred years. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (April 4–December 3, 2023)
£35.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Art of Native America: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection
A fresh exploration of Native American art that positions the work within the broader context of North American art history This landmark publication presents Native American art within the broader context of American art history, through an examination of notable works from a major private collection. The insightful texts provide a new evaluation of the art, culture, and daily life of numerous North American tribes, including Acoma, Apache, Cheyenne, Creek, Crow, Hopi-Twea, Kiowa, Lakota, Pomo, Seneca, Seminole, Tlingit, and Zuni, among others. The works featured in this lavish volume span centuries, from the period prior to contact with European settlers through the early 20th century, and represent the extensive artistic achievements of culturally distinct indigenous peoples. Both known and unrecorded makers’ innovative visions are manifest in a wide variety of aesthetic forms and media—from painting, sculpture, and drawing to costume, ceramics, and baskets. Challenging traditional presentations of American Indian art, this publication situates and analyzes them alongside other North American artistic practices. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (10/01/18–10/06/19)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Renaissance of Etching
The first comprehensive look at the origins and diffusion across Europe of the etched print during the late 15th and early 16th centuries The etching of images on metal, originally used as a method for decorating armor, was first employed as a printmaking technique at the end of the 15th century. This in-depth study explores the origins of the etched print, its evolution from decorative technique to fine art, and its spread across Europe in the early Renaissance, leading to the professionalization of the field in the Netherlands in the 1550s. Beautifully illustrated, this book features the work of familiar Renaissance artists, including Albrecht Dürer, Jan Gossart, Pieter Breughel the Elder, and Parmigianino, as well as lesser known practitioners, such as Daniel Hopfer and Lucas van Leyden, whose pioneering work paved the way for later printmakers like Rembrandt and Goya. The book also includes a clear and fascinating description of the etching process, as well as an investigation of how the medium allowed artists to create highly detailed prints that were more durable than engravings and more delicate than woodblocks.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 23, 2019–January 19, 2020)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Lauren Halsey: The Roof Garden Commission
A primer on contemporary artist Lauren Halsey’s latest site-specific installation, outlining her process, past work, and influences drawn from Afrofuturism, ancient Egyptian iconography, and Los Angeles Lauren Halsey is known for her sculptures, mixed media works, and site-specific installations that remix (or, as Halsey says, “funkify”) history by combining signs, symbols, and architecture from the past, present, and future. In her new installation for The Met’s Roof Garden Commission series, she brings together ancient Egyptian–inspired iconography and sculpture with signage and texts drawn from the artist’s local community in South Central Los Angeles. Accompanied by new photography and unpublished sketches from Halsey’s studio, this compact volume contains an insightful essay by curator Abraham Thomas that examines Halsey’s artistic process and considers this installation in the context of her past work. In a revealing interview with poet Douglas Kearney, the artist discusses her diverse influences—which include ancient Egyptian relief carving, funk music, Afrofuturism, and the architecture of L.A.— and elaborates on the importance of community building and engagement in the spaces she creates. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (April 18–October 22, 2023)
£10.35
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512-1570
Portraits, an inherently personal subject, provide an engaging entry point to an exploration of the politics, patronage, and power in Renaissance Florence The Medici family ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494, but following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici demonstrated an unprecedented ability to wield culture as a political tool. His rule transformed Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. As Florence underwent these dramatic political transformations in the sixteenth century, portraits became an essential means of recording a likeness and conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that distinguished Florentine portraiture. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 26–October 11, 2021)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara
A comprehensive exploration, spanning 1,300 years, of the art and culture of the Sahel region of Africa This groundbreaking volume examines the extraordinary artistic and cultural traditions of the African region known as the Sahel (“shore” in Arabic), a vast area on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert that includes present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad. This is the first book to present a comprehensive overview of the diverse cultural achievements and traditions of the region, spanning more than 1,300 years from the pre-Islamic period through the 19th century. It features some of the earliest extant art from Africa as well as such iconic works as sculptures by the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali. Essays by leading international scholars discuss the art, architecture, archaeology, literature, philosophy, religion, and history of the Sahel, exploring the unique cultural landscape in which these ancient communities flourished. Richly illustrated and brilliantly argued, Sahel brings to life the enduring creativity of the different peoples who lived, traded, and traveled through this crossroads of the world.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 29–May 10, 2020)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Gifts from the Fire: American Ceramics, 1880-1950: From the Collection of Martin Eidelberg
This illustrated history highlights the diversity and innovation of American ceramics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as artists responded to historical precedents and emerging modernist styles around the world Between the early 1880s and the early 1950s, pioneering American artists drew upon the rich traditions and recent innovations of European and Asian ceramics to develop new designs, decorations, and techniques. With splendid new photography, this book showcases these American interpretations of international trends, from the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements, through the modernism of Matisse and the Wiener Werkstätte, to abstracted, minimalist styles. Illustrations of more than 180 exemplary works—some of these never before published—accompany engaging essays by two of the foremost experts on American art pottery. The featured makers include Rookwood, Grueby, and Van Briggle potteries, as well as artists including Maija Grotell, George E. Ohr, Frederick Hurten Rhead, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Rockwell Kent, Adelaide Alsop Robineau, and Leza McVey. A vivid and accessible overview of American ceramics and ceramists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this publication reveals how diverse and global sources inspired works of astonishing ingenuity and variety by artists working in the United States. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 2021–October 2022)
£50.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Cubism and the Trompe l'Oeil Tradition
A pioneering study of how Picasso, Braque, and Gris engaged with the pictorial tradition of illusion and deception in their influential Cubist works The age-old tradition of pictorial illusionism, known as trompe l’oeil (“deceive the eye”), employs visual tricks that confound the viewer’s perception of reality and fiction, truth and falsehood. This radically new take on Cubism shows how Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris both parodied and paid homage to classic trompe l’oeil themes and motifs with wit and invention. More than one hundred illustrated works juxtapose Cubist paintings, drawings, and collages with related compositions by the old masters. Essays based on new research explore connections between the Cubists and the trompe l’oeil specialists of earlier centuries and their games of creative one-upmanship. The informed and engaging texts trace the changing status of trompe l’oeil over the centuries, reveal Braque’s training in artisanal trompe l’oeil techniques as an integral part of his Cubist practice, examine the materials used in Gris’s collages, and discuss the previously unstudied trompe l’oeil iconography within Cubist still lifes—including newspapers, word puns, pictures-within-pictures, imitation wood grain, and tools of the trade.Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University PressExhibition Schedule:The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 20, 2022–January 22, 2023)
£40.00
Metropolitan Museum of Art Manet/Degas
The first publication on the personal and professional relationship between Manet and Degas, two giants of nineteenth-century French art Friends, rivals, and at times antagonists, Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas maintained a pictorial dialogue throughout their lives as they both worked to define the painting of modern urban life. Manet/Degas, the first book to consider their careers in parallel, investigates how their objectives overlapped, diverged, and shaped each other’s artistic choices. Enlivened by archival correspondence and records of firsthand accounts, essays by American and French scholars take a fresh look at the artists’ family relationships, literary friendships, and interconnected social and intellectual circles in Paris; explore their complex depictions of race and class; discuss their political views in the context of wars in France and the United States; compare their artistic practices; and examine how Degas built his personal collection of works by Manet after his friend’s premature death. An illustrated biographical chronology charts their intersecting lives and careers. This lavishly illustrated, in-depth study offers an opportunity to reevaluate some of the most canonical French artworks of the nineteenth century, including Manet’s Olympia, Degas’s The Absinthe Drinker, and other masterworks. Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press Exhibition Schedule: Musée d’Orsay, Paris (March 27–July 23, 2023) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024)
£45.00