Search results for ""TASCHEN""
Taschen GmbH Frida Kahlo. 40th Ed.
Among the women artists who have transcended art history, none had a meteoric rise quite like Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954). Her unmistakable face, depicted in over fifty extraordinary self-portraits, has been admired by generations; along with hundreds of photographs taken by notable artists such as Manuel and Lola Álvarez Bravo, Nickolas Muray, and Martin Munkácsi, they made Frida Kahlo an icon of 20th century art.After an accident in her early youth, Frida became a painter. Her marriage to Diego Rivera in 1929 placed her at the forefront of an artistic scene not only in the cultural Renaissance of Mexico, but also in the United States. Her work garnered praise from the poet André Breton, who added the Mexican painter to the ranks of international surrealism and exhibited her work in Paris in 1939 to the admiration of Picasso, Kandinsky, and Duchamp.We access the intimacy of Frida’s affections and passions through a selection of drawings, pages from her personal diary, and an extensive illustrated biography featuring photos of Frida, Diego, and the Casa Azul, Frida’s home and the center of her universe.This book allows readers to admire Frida Kahlo’s paintings like never before, including unprecedented detail shots and famous photographs. It presents pieces in private collections and reproduces works that were previously lost or have not been exhibited for more than 80 years.
£25.00
Taschen GmbH Hiroshige. One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world,” ukiyo-e was a particular genre of art that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries and came to characterize the Western world’s visual idea of Japan. In many ways images of hedonism, ukiyo-e scenes often represented the bright lights and attractions of Edo (modern-day Tokyo): beautiful women, actors and wrestlers, city life, and spectacular landscapes.Though he captured a variety of subjects, Hiroshige was most famous for landscapes, with a final masterpiece series known as “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” (1856–1858), which depicted various scenes of the city through the seasons, from bustling shopping streets to splendid cherry orchards.This reprint, bound in the traditional Japanese fashion, is made from one of the finest complete original sets of woodblock prints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo. It pairs each of the 120 illustrations with a description, allowing readers to immerse themselves in these beautiful, vibrant vistas that became paradigms of Japonisme and inspired Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau artists alike, from Vincent van Gogh to James McNeill Whistler.
£54.00
Taschen GmbH Herlinde Koelbl. Angela Merkel. Portraits 1991–2021
Angela Merkel: an era ends—and with it a project unique in the world. Between 1991 and 2021 this remarkable politician was photographed year after year, with a short hiatus, by Herlinde Koelbl. Each time they came together, a headshot and a three-quarter-length shot were taken before a plain white background; images that document with authenticity the astonishing ascent of a 37-year-old political outsider to one of the most powerful politicians in the free world. This long-term photo study strikingly shows how the traces of power changed Merkel, who at the start of this extraordinary photographic ritual was still almost 15 years away from becoming the first woman chancellor of Germany. What did she have to learn, how did she have to change in order to persist, indeed to survive politically? How did politics impact her private life? The renowned photo artist succeeded in capturing Merkel’s human side through other means apart from her camera lens. Usually extremely reserved, the politician answered Koelbl’s questions with such surprising openness and intimacy that, according to the Guardian, the two women share “one of the most unusual relationships in modern politics.” Herlinde Koelbl presents a documentary portrait in words and images, of a kind that does not exist for any other global leader. It travels through time, spanning the Angela Merkel epoch—from the first year to the last. It is the portrait of an extreme physical and psychological transformation, and the written record of a unique rapport.
£50.00
Taschen GmbH The Tarot of A. E. Waite and P. Colman Smith
A unique edition of bright texts, brilliant images, and historic reprints, this kit provides everything that both beginners and advanced Tarot users might need and want to read cards for themselves and to study and experience this cultural gem in all its beauty and significance.The valuable collector’s box includes a complete deck of the Waite Smith Tarot cards and Waite’s famous companion book The Key to the Tarot. In this illustrated book, with texts and images compiled by Johannes Fiebig, the Tarot cards become psychological mirrors and signposts leading toward new answers and personal solutions. The fact that this works well can be attributed to certain advantages inherent to the Waite-Smith cards, and these points are illuminated in an essay by Rachel Pollack.All 78 cards are presented individually and in detail. The explanatory texts provide several dimensions and levels of interpretation, including concrete practical tips. Further, the book offers a new feature: the quick check. This presents a concise hint regarding the meaning of each card in each possible position of all the spread patterns featured in the book.When Arthur E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith developed their Tarot deck in London in 1909, nobody could have predicted that it would have an overwhelming renaissance starting around 60 years later. What were the lives, works, and passions of these creators like? Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur E. Waite are brought vividly back to life in essays by Mary K. Greer and Robert A. Gilbert.
£100.00
Taschen GmbH The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher
“A woman once rang me up and said, ‘Mr. Escher, I am absolutely crazy about your work. In your print Reptiles, you have given such a striking illustration of reincarnation.’ I replied, ‘Madame, if that’s the way you see it, so be it.’” A fittingly sly comment from renowned Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972), whose complex and ambiguous drawings continue to leave hasty interpretations far behind. Long before the first computer-generated 3-D images, Escher was a master of the third dimension. His lithograph Magic Mirror dates as far back as 1946. By taking such a title for the book, mathematician Bruno Ernst stressed the enrapturing spell Escher’s work invariably casts on those who see it. Ernst visited Escher every week for a year, systematically talking through his entire oeuvre with him. Their discussions resulted in a friendship that gave Ernst intimate access to the life and conceptual world of Escher. Ernst’s account was meticulously scrutinized and made accurate by the artist himself. Escher’s work refuses to be pigeonholed. Scientific, psychological, or aesthetic criteria alone cannot do it justice. The questions remain: Why did he create the pictures? How did he construct them? What preliminary studies were necessary before achieving the final version? And how are his various creations interrelated? This updated and redesigned edition of a true classic—complete with biographical data, 250 illustrations, and a thorough breaking-down of each mathematical problem—offers answers to these and many other lingering mysteries, and is an authentic source text of the first order.
£30.82
Taschen GmbH Decorative Art 50s
Published annually from 1906 until 1980, Decorative Art, The Studio Yearbook was dedicated to the latest currents in architecture, interiors, furniture, lighting, glassware, textiles, metalware, and ceramics. Since the publications went out of print, the now hard-to-find yearbooks have become highly prized by collectors and dealers. TASCHEN’s Decorative Art 50s explores the spirit of optimism and the fervent consumerism of the decade. Technology and construction had been enervated by research during the war and these discoveries could now be applied in peacetime. The popularization of plastics, fiberglass, and latex literally shaped the decade. Rising incomes and postwar rebuilding on both sides of the Atlantic led to a massive housing boom in both the suburbs and inner cities, and these new homes reflected the new style. While European design was extraordinarily inventive, American design was looking to an idealized vision of the future—between them a modern idiom was developed that can be seen vividly on these pages. This overview of the decade includes the work of such famous innovators as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Hans Wegner, and Gio Ponti.
£30.00
Taschen GmbH Bruegel. The Complete Works
The life and times of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/30–1569) were marked by stark cultural conflict. He witnessed religious wars, the Duke of Alba’s brutal rule as governor of the Netherlands, and the palpable effects of the Inquisition. To this day, the Flemish artist remains shrouded in mystery. We know neither where nor exactly when he was born. But while early scholarship emphasized the vernacular character of his painting and graphic work, modern research has attached greater importance to its humanistic content. Starting out as a print designer for publisher Hieronymus Cock, Bruegel produced numerous print series that were distributed throughout Europe. These depicted vices and virtues alongside jolly peasant festivals and sweeping landscape panoramas. He would eventually increasingly turn to painting, working for the cultural elite of Antwerp and Brussels. This monograph is a testament to Bruegel’s evolution as an artist, one who bravely confronted the issues of his day all the while proposing new inventions and solutions. Rather than idealizing reality, he addressed the horrors of religious warfare and took a critical stand against the institution of the Church. To this end, he developed his own pictorial language of dissidence, lacing innocuous everyday scenes with subliminal statements in order to escape repercussions. This collection captures all the breadth and splendid detail of Bruegel’s oeuvre like never before, and gathers all 40 paintings, 65 drawings, and 89 engravings in pristine reproductions—each piece a unique witness to both the religious mores and the close-knit folk culture of Bruegel’s time.
£60.00
Taschen GmbH Frida Kahlo. The Complete Paintings
Among the few women artists who have transcended art history, none had a meteoric rise quite like Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954). Her unmistakable face, depicted in over fifty extraordinary self-portraits, has been admired by generations; along with hundreds of photographs taken by notable artists such as Edward Weston, Manuel and Lola Álvarez Bravo, Nickolas Muray, and Martin Munkácsi, they made Frida Kahlo an icon of 20th century art. After an accident in her early youth, Frida became a painter. Her marriage to Diego Rivera in 1929 placed her at the forefront of an artistic scene not only in the cultural Renaissance of Mexico, but also in the United States. Her work garnered praise from the poet André Breton, who added the Mexican painter to the ranks of international surrealism and exhibited her work in Paris in 1939 to the admiration of Picasso, Kandinsky, and Duchamp. We access the intimacy of Frida’s affections and passions through a selection of drawings, pages from her personal diary, letters, and an extensive illustrated biography featuring photos of Frida, Diego, and the Casa Azul, Frida’s home and the center of her universe. This large-format XXL book allows readers to admire Frida Kahlo’s paintings like never before, including unprecedented detail shots and famous photographs. It presents pieces in private collections and reproduces works that were previously lost or have not been exhibited for more than 80 years, forming the most extensive study of Kahlo’s work and life to date.
£150.00
Taschen GmbH The Computer. A History from the 17th Century to Today
The story of the evolution of machines in computer history is full of the disruptive innovations that have led to today’s world. From the early beginnings of computing to the bulky mainframe to the personal computer era, we now live in an almost entirely digital age. The Computer explores steps from the first ideas of a calculating machine in the 19th century and early experiments with autonomous driving in the 1920s to oversized office computers in the 1950s to laptops and wearables of today. Jens Müller delivers a visual understanding of the emergence of the Information Age that hasn’t been shown before. Tracing the stories of tech visionaries, pioneers, and entrepreneurs, the book combines compelling visuals, historical documents, and in-depth explanations to reveal significant events in computer history. Encompassing the invention of machines, coding, and software development, as well as technology's influence on today's political landscape. This survey presents creations from Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Grace Hopper, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs. Showcasing forgotten gadgets and prototypes connecting iconic products such as the Apple Macintosh and the Sony Play Station. As well as remembering milestones in software development, videogaming, and the web. Infographics explain wireless communication and other fundamental technical concepts, while the history of corporations such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Atari, Amazon, and Google is retraced through rare photographs and advertising campaigns. A fascinating read, this book acknowledges the computer’s stupendous power and social impact. For techies and everyone interested in culture, economics, politics, and science, it illustrates how we got here today and helps us ask better questions about where we will be tomorrow.
£68.43
Taschen GmbH King Tut. The Journey through the Underworld
Buried in the 14th century BC but unearthed by Howard Carter in 1922, the objects entombed with Tutankhamun are an invaluable window into a long-extinct belief system. Seen today, they create an intricate picture of how the ancient Egyptian people viewed the perilous journey to paradise, a utopian Egypt that could only be entered following the final judgment. When acclaimed photographer Sandro Vannini started his work in Egypt in the late ’90s, a technological revolution was about to unfold. Emerging technologies enabled him to document murals, tombs, and artifacts in unprecedented detail. Using the time-consuming and strenuous multi-shot technique, Vannini produced complete photographic reproductions that revealed colors in their original tones with vivid intensity. Through these extraordinary images, we discover the objects’ quintessential features alongside the sophisticated and cleverly hidden details. In collaboration with a series of international exhibitions, starting with King Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh at the California Science Center in March 2018, this comprehensive guide marks the centenary of Carter’s first excavations in the Valley of the Kings. These inestimable works endure through Vannini's photographs in their full, timeless splendor. From offerings and rituals to Osiris and eternal life, Vannini’s portfolio covers all facets of ancient Egyptian culture—but it is Tutankhamun’s unique legacy that dominates these images. With texts by the photographer, captions by specialist Mohamed Megahed, and chapter introductions from scholars in the field, King Tut. The Journey through the Underworld puts much-debated mysteries to rest. The learned yet accessible forewords come from distinguished Egyptologists including Salima Ikram and David P. Silverman. Insightful narratives, resplendent images, and a contemporary standpoint make this title a fitting tribute to the Boy King’s odyssey, illuminating an epoch that spanned an unimaginable 4,000 years.
£50.00
Taschen GmbH History of Information Graphics
In the age of big data and digital distribution, when news travel ever further and faster and media outlets compete for a fleeting slice of online attention, information graphics have swept center stage. At once nuanced and neat, they distill abstract ideas, complex statistics, and cutting-edge discoveries into succinct, compelling, and masterful designs. Cartographers, programmers, statisticians, designers, scientists, and journalists have developed a new field of expertise in visualizing knowledge. This XL-sized compendium explores the history of data graphics from the Middle Ages right through to the digital era. Curated by Sandra Rendgen, some 400 milestones span astronomy, cartography, zoology, technology, and beyond. Across medieval manuscripts and parchment rolls, elaborate maps, splendid popular atlasses, and early computer-based information design, we systematically break down each work’s historical context, including such highlights as Martin Waldseemüller’s famous world map, the meticulous nature studies of Ernst Haeckel, and many unknown treasures. Hot on the heels of the best-selling Information Graphics and Understanding the World, this third volume fills the gap as an unprecedented reference book for data freaks, designers, historians, and anyone thirsty for knowledge. An enthralling exploration into the teachings, research, and lives of generations past.
£60.00
Taschen GmbH Martius. The Book of Palms
On December 15, 1868, Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), Professor of Botany at the University of Munich and director of the Royal Botanic Garden, was carried to his grave in a coffin covered with fresh palm leaves. These were a reference to his groundbreaking Natural History of Palms: a work in three volumes, published between 1823 and 1853. At the time, this encyclopedic treasury contained the sum of human knowledge on the topic, and included 240 exquisite chromolithographic illustrations, featuring landscape views of palm habitats and botanical dissections.This epic folio was based on von Martius’s expedition to Brazil and Peru with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix, sponsored by King Maximilian I of Bavaria, to investigate natural history and native tribes. From 1817 to 1820 the pair traveled over 2,250 km (1,400 miles) throughout the Amazon basin, the most species-rich palm region in the world, collecting and sketching specimens. On their return both men were awarded knighthoods and lifetime pensions. In his epic work, von Martius outlined the modern classification of palm, produced the first maps of palm biogeography, described all the palms of Brazil, and collated the sum of all known genera of the palm family. Apart from his own collection of specimens and notes, von Martius also wrote about the findings of others. Von Martius’s folio is unusual in its inclusion of cross-sectioned diagrams, conveying the architecture of these mighty trees, which central Europeans would have found hard to imagine accurately. Equally remarkable are the color landscapes showing various palms—often standing alone—which have a simple and elegant beauty. This famous work is an unrivaled landmark in botanic illustration and taxonomy.
£60.00
Taschen GmbH Schindler
Hailing from Vienna, Rudolph Michael Schindler (1887–1953) emigrated to Chicago in 1914, like his lifelong friend and rival Richard Neutra. Eventually hired by Frank Lloyd Wright to work in Los Angeles, Schindler took cues from notions found in Cubism and the International Style to shape his unique vision: a style he called “space architecture,” combining geometrical shapes, bold lines, and materials such as wood and concrete, with space as a medium in its own right, one to be controlled just like color or mass. This radical approach earned Schindler little recognition in his lifetime—but today, he is hailed as one of America’s most important Modernist pioneers. Discover such key projects as the Wolfe House, nestled in a steep hillside; the tree house-like Falk Apartment Building; the Lovell Beach House, recognized as one of the foremost examples of the Modernist canon in America; the Schindler/Chace House, Schindler’s most crucial work and his personal practice and home, which he shared with his family and that of Neutra. From private homes to small commercial buildings, Schindler’s groundbreaking designs heralded a new era of contemporary construction. This collection is complete with a map locating all of the architect’s most renowned projects, detailed entries, floor plans, as well as crisp photography of each structure and its interiors.
£16.37
Taschen GmbH Hundertwasser
Vivid color, organic forms, and a loathing of straight lines were just a few stalwart characteristics in the unique practice of Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000). A non-conformist hero, the artist, architect, and activist left a blazing trail of imagination and ideas in buildings, paintings, manifestos, initiatives, and more. Hundertwasser’s best-known work is considered by many to be the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, a structural synthesis of the vitality and uniqueness that determined the artist’s entire oeuvre. For Hundertwasser, rational, sterile, monotonous buildings caused human misery. He called for a boycott of the modernist paradigm championed by the likes of Adolf Loos, and campaigned instead for an architecture of creative freedom and ecological commitment. A fierce opponent of straight lines, which he called “godless and immoral,” Hundertwasser was fascinated by the spiral, drawing also on the Secessionist forms of Klimt and Schiele. This richly illustrated book traces Hundertwasser’s style and vision not only for each building, but for society at large. From naked addresses at the end of the 1960s to worldwide architecture projects and alternative blueprints for society, author Pierre Restany explores Hundertwasser’s most high-profile and innovative ideas in a thrilling introduction to a pioneering 20th-century mind.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Gaudí
From the towering Sagrada Família to the shimmering, textured façade of Casa Batlló and the enchanting landscape of Park Güell, it’s easy to see why Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) gained the epithet “God’s architect.” With fluid forms and mathematical precision, his work extols the wonder of natural creation: columns soar like tree trunks, window frames curve like flowering branches, and ceramic tiling shimmers like scaly, reptilian skin. With this outstanding attention to natural detail, his inspirations from both neo-Gothic and Orientalist aesthetics, and a lifelong commitment to Catalan identity, Gaudí created a unique brand of the Modernista movement which transformed, and defines, Barcelona’s cityscape. With seven of Gaudí’s projects listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, this book introduces the architect’s extraordinary vision and unique legacy, exploring the influences and the details which allow his buildings to impress, inspire, and amaze, one century after their construction.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Dalí
Painter, sculptor, writer, filmmaker, and all-round showman Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was one of the 20th century’s greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics. One of the first artists to apply the insights of Freudian psychoanalysis to art, he is celebrated in particular for his surrealist practice, with such conceits as the soft watches or the lobster telephone, now hallmarks of the surrealist enterprise, and of modernism in general. Dalí frequently described his paintings as “hand-painted dream photographs.” Their tantalizing tension and interest resides in the precise rendering of bizarre elements and incongruous arrangements. As Dalí himself explained, he painted with “the most imperialist fury of precision,” but only “to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality.”Revolutionizing the role of the artist, the mustache-twirling Dalí also had the intuition to parade a controversial persona in the public arena and, through printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing, and film, to create work that could be consumed and not just contemplated on a gallery wall. This book explores both the painting and the personality of Dalí, introducing his technical skill as well as his provocative compositions and challenging themes of death, decay, and eroticism.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Bacon
Largely self-taught as an artist, Francis Bacon (1909–1992) developed a unique ability to transform interior and unconscious impulses into figurative forms and intensely claustrophobic compositions. Emerging into notoriety in the period following World War II, Bacon took the human body as his nominal subject, but a subject ravaged, distorted, and dismembered so as to writhe with intense emotional content. With flailing limbs, hollow voids, and tumurous growths, his gripping, often grotesque, portraits are as much reflections on the trials and the traumas of the human condition as they are character studies. These haunting forms were also among the first in art history to depict overtly homosexual themes.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Bourgery. Atlas of Human Anatomy and Surgery
We owe a great debt to Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery (1797–1849) for his Atlas of Anatomy, which was not only a massive event in medical history, but also remains one of the most comprehensive and beautifully illustrated anatomical treatises ever published. Bourgery began work on his magnificent atlas in 1830 in cooperation with illustrator Nicolas Henri Jacob (1782–1871), a student of the French painter Jacques Louis David. The first volumes were published the following year, but completion of the treatise required nearly two decades of dedication; Bourgery lived just long enough to finish his labor of love, but the last of the treatise’s eight volumes was not published in its entirety until five years after his death. The eight volumes of Bourgery’s treatise cover descriptive anatomy, surgical anatomy and techniques (exploring in detail nearly all the major operations that were performed during the first half of the 19th century), general anatomy and embryology, and microscopic anatomy. Jacob’s spectacular hand-colored lithographs are remarkable for their clarity, color, and aesthetic appeal, reflecting a combination of direct laboratory observation and illustrative research. Unsurpassed to this day, the images offer exceptional anatomical insight, not only for those in the medical field but also for artists, students, and anyone interested in the workings and wonder of the human body.
£20.00
Taschen GmbH Araki. Tokyo Lucky Hole
It started in 1978 with an ordinary coffee shop near Kyoto. Word spread that the waitresses wore no panties under their miniskirts. Similar establishments popped up across the country. Men waited in line outside to pay three times the usual coffee price just to be served by a panty-free young woman. Within a few years, a new craze took hold: the no-panties “massage” parlor. Increasingly bizarre services followed, from fondling clients through holes in coffins to commuter-train fetishists. One particularly popular destination was a Tokyo club called “Lucky Hole” where clients stood on one side of a plywood partition, a hostess on the other. In between them was a hole big enough for a certain part of the male anatomy. Taking the Lucky Hole as his title, Nobuyoshi Araki captures Japan's sex industry in full flower, documenting in more than 800 photos the pleasure-seekers and providers of Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood before the February 1985 New Amusement Business Control and Improvement Act put a stop to many of the country's sex locales. Through mirrored walls, bed sheets, the bondage and the orgies, this is the last word on an age of bacchanalia, infused with moments of humor, precise poetry, and questioning interjections.
£20.00
Taschen GmbH Abstract Art
Abstraction shook Western art to its core. In the early part of the 20th century, it refuted the reign of clear, indisputable forms and confronted audiences instead with vivid visual poems devoid of conventional representational imagery and characterized by allegories of emotion and sensation. This radical artistic adventure established new artistic means, as much as narratives. Expression became characterized by shocking juxtapositions of color, light, and line. Artists abandoned the conventions of brush and easel and played with new materials and methods of artistic gesture: commercial paints and housepainter’s brushes, working on unstretched and unprimed canvases, moving the canvas to the floor, and applying paint with hands. This essential introduction spans the international breadth, conceptual depth, and seismic impact of abstract art with a thorough survey not only of the big names such as Picasso, Klee, Kline, Rothko, and Pollock, but also lesser-known figures who made equally significant contributions, including Antoni Tàpies, K. O. Götz, Ad Reinhardt, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp.
£16.37
Taschen GmbH Louis I. Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (1901–1974) treated each building like a temple. Across the United States, in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Israel, his designs combined the sleek, utilitarian surfaces of modernism with a devotion to geometric forms and a reverence for natural light that suffused his stuctures with a monumental and breathtaking spirituality. This essential introduction brings together 17 of Kahn’s most important buildings across his cultural, governmental, religious, and residential repertoire. Plans, views, descriptions, and quality photographs trace the context and development of each project, while an introductory essay explores Kahn’s unique architectural ideology and his legacy as one of the most important 20th-century American architects since Frank Lloyd Wright. Through Kahn masterworks, such as the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, or Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, we’ll explore Kahn’s his “back to basics” grammar inspired by ancient sites in Italy, Greece, and Egypt; and his unique vocabulary of mass, void, and light that suffused the International Style with a near-celestial luminescence.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Michelangelo. The Graphic Work
Very few artists can claim such lasting and worldwide fame and importance as Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). The nickname il divino (“the divine one”) has been applied to him since the 1530s right through to today: his achievements as a sculptor, painter, and architect remain unparalleled and his creations are among the best-known artworks in the world. This Bibliotheca Universalis edition is devoted to the artist’s graphic work, a testimony to his masterly command of line, form, and detail, from architectural studies to anatomically perfect figures. The book brings together some of the artist’s finest drawings from museums and collections around the world as well as some of his own notes and revisions, offering stunning proximity not only to the ambition and scope of Michelangelo’s practice but also his working process. A chapter with a compilation of newly attributed and reattributed drawings provides further insights into Michelangelo’s varied graphic oeuvre and the ongoing exploration of his genius.
£20.00
Taschen GmbH Niemeyer
Until his death at age 104, Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) was something of an unstoppable architectural force. Over seven decades of work, he designed approximately 600 buildings, transforming skylines from Bab-Ezzouar, Algeria, to his homeland masterpiece Brasília. Niemeyer’s work took the reduced forms of modernism and infused them with free-flowing grace. In place of pared-down starkness, his structures rippled with sinuous and seductive lines. In buildings such as the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Edifício Copan, or the Metropolitan Cathedral in Brasília, he brought curvaceousness to the concrete jungle. In the futuristic federal capital of Brasília, he designed almost all public buildings, and thus became integral to the global image of Brazil. With rich illustrations documenting highlights from his prolific career, this book introduces Niemeyer’s unique vision and its transformative influence on buildings of business, faith, culture, and the public imagination of Brazil.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) is regarded as one of the key figures in 20th-century European art. A Modernist to his bones, he sent seismic waves through the art world with his hard-edged, intensely colored paintings and disseminated his ideas through Die Brücke art movement and the MUIM-Institut school of modernist painting, both of which he cofounded. Kirchner’s work reconciled past and present through an Expressionist prism, reflecting the latest avant-garde ideas in art, while exploring traditional academic approaches and subjects. His works tackled social, moral, and emotional questions with a fierce intensity. Distorted perspectives, rough lines, and unusual colors were mainstays of his practice, as well as a recurring interest in capturing the human form, whether in frenetic city vistas such as Berlin Street Scene (1913) or in his famously decadent studio. In this introductory book, we explore the stretch of Kirchner’s career through Germany and Switzerland, including his founding of Die Brücke, and his inclusion in the Nazis’ infamous “degenerate art” exhibition in 1937. Along the way, we’ll encounter vivid landscapes, stark nudes, intense urban settings, and, above all, a persistent emphasis on the emotional experience of painter and viewer.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Lichtenstein
American painter Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) pioneered a new epoch in American art, bursting onto a scene dominated by Abstract Expressionism in late 1950s New York and defining a new art vocabulary for a new era. With his groundbreaking use of industrial production techniques and trivial, quotidian imagery such as cartoons, comic strips, and advertising, Lichtenstein joined contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist to reflect and satirize American mass media and consumer culture. Works such as Look, Mickey! (1961), Drowning Girl (1963), and Whaam! (1963) deployed mass production techniques, particularly Ben-Day dots printing, to create a blow-up effect and pixelated “dot” style, with which Lichtenstein has become synonymous. This book provides an essential overview of Lichtenstein’s career, tracing his earliest Pop statements through to later “brushstroke” retorts to Abstract Expressionism and reinterpretations of modern masterpieces. We look at his leading position in midcentury modernism, and the ways in which his works both critique and chronicle 20th-century America.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Keiichi Tahara. Architecture Fin-de-Siècle
At the turn of the 20th century, architecture took an imaginative leap. As new construction materials and technologies met such far-flung stimuli as the Far East, nirvana, and the unleashed unconscious of Freudian psychoanalysis, buildings by the likes of Gaudí, Horta, Hoffmann, Loos, and Mackintosh instilled structure with the sinuous lines of nature, surfaces with a fairy-tale shimmer, and spaces with an ethereal wash of light or shadowy, mysterious hush. For this dramatic portfolio, printed for the first time ever in a book with five colors including gold, the late architectural photographer Keiichi Tahara traveled across Europe to present the finest examples of this Art Nouveau architecture. From the glamorous façade of the Grand Hotel Europa to the elaborate sweep of a staircase or the perfect poise of a single chandelier, Tahara captures the intricate details as much as the holistic spatial effects of these ambitious, marvelous structures. With an eye attuned to the style’s organic detailing, he surveys its floral patterns, vine-like balustrades, and the soft, hollow interiors that seem to summon us into some primordial place. Drenched in sunshine or draped in dramatic shadows, Tahara’s pictures excel in evoking not only the unrivaled aura of these buildings but also the particular, fin-de-siècle spirit of their age, caught on the axis of a century, and characterized by reflection and yearning, as much as technological, philosophical, and political advance. Texts by Riichi Miyake accompany Tahara’s pictures to describe the buildings’ floor plans, designs, and the broader context of their dreamlike environments.Limited and numbered edition of 10,000 copies
£275.37
Taschen GmbH Menu Design in America. 1850–1985
Until restaurants became commonplace in the late 1800s, printed menus for meals were rare commodities reserved for special occasions. As restaurants proliferated, the menu became more than just a culinary listing. The design of the menu became an integral part of eating out and as such menus became a marketing tool and a favored keepsake.Menu Design is an omnibus showcasing the best examples of this graphic art. With nearly 800 examples, illustrated in vibrant color, this deluxe volume not only showcases this extraordinary collection of paper ephemera but serves as a history of restaurants and dining out in America. In addition to the menu covers, many menu interiors are featured providing an epicurean tour and insight into more than a hundred years of dining out. An introduction on the history of menu design by graphic design writer Steven Heller and extended captions by culinary historian John Mariani accompany the menus throughout the book. Various photographs of restaurants round out this compendium that will appeal to anyone who enjoys graphic and gastronomic history.
£56.22
Taschen GmbH Matisse
The work of Henri Matisse (1869–1954) reflects an ongoing belief in the power of brilliant colors and simple forms. Though famed in particular for his paintings, Matisse also worked with drawing, sculpture, lithography, stained glass, and collage, developing his unique cut-out medium when old age left him unable to stand and paint. Matisse’s subjects were often conventional: nudes, portraits, and figures in landscapes, Oriental scenes, and interior views, but in his handling of bold color and fluid draftsmanship, he secured his place as a 20th-century master. It was Matisse’s palette that particularly thrilled the modern imagination. With vivid blue, amethyst purple, egg-yolk yellow, and many shades beyond he liberated his work from a meticulous representation of reality and sought instead a “vital harmony,” often referring to music as an inspiration or analogy for his work. A comprehensive and informative source, this lavishly illustrated publication includes preparatory studies, full-page reproductions, and enlarged details. Discover the artist's adventurous path, from the chromatic brilliance of his Fauve period, right through to his invention of gouache cut-outs at the ripe age of 80. Each image has been reproduced with painstaking care to create a viewing experience worthy of the expressionist par excellence. The bard of color deserves no less.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) was a German-born biologist, naturalist, evolutionist, artist, philosopher, and doctor who spent his life researching flora and fauna from the highest mountaintops to the deepest ocean. A vociferous supporter and developer of Darwin’s theories of evolution, he denounced religious dogma, authored philosophical treatises, gained a doctorate in zoology, and coined scientific terms which have passed into common usage, including ecology, phylum, and stem cell. At the heart of Haeckel’s colossal legacy was the motivation not only to discover but also to explain. To do this, he created hundreds of detailed drawings, watercolors, and sketches of his findings which he published in successive volumes, including several marine organism collections and the majestic Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), which could serve as the cornerstone of Haeckel’s entire life project. Like a meticulous visual encyclopedia of living things, Haeckel’s work was as remarkable for its graphic precision and meticulous shading as for its understanding of organic evolution. From bats to the box jellyfish, lizards to lichen, and spider legs to sea anemones, Haeckel emphasized the essential symmetries and order of nature, and found biological beauty in even the most unlikely of creatures. In this book, we celebrate the scientific, artistic, and environmental importance of Haeckel’s work, with a collection of 450 of his finest prints from several of his most important tomes, including Die Radiolarien, Monographie der Medusen, Die Kalkschwämme, and Kunstformen der Natur. At a time when biodiversity is increasingly threatened by human activities, the book is at once a visual masterwork, an underwater exploration, and a vivid reminder of the precious variety of life.
£135.00
Taschen GmbH Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world,” ukiyo-e was a particular woodblock print genre of art that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries. Subjects ranged from the bright lights and attractions of Edo (modern-day Tokyo), to spectacular natural landscapes. In the West, Hiroshige’s prints became exemplary of the Japonisme that swept through Europe and defined the Western world’s visual idea of Japan. Because they could be mass produced, ukiyo-e works were often used as designs for fans, greeting cards, and book illustrations. The style influenced Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Art Nouveau artists alike, with Vincent van Gogh and James Abbott McNeill Whistler both particularly inspired by Hiroshige’s landscapes. This introductory book presents key images from Hiroshige’s vibrant, vivid portfolio of blooming cherry trees, beautiful women, Kabuki actors, and busy shopping streets to introduce one of the greats of Asian art history.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Neutra. Complete Works
Originally from Vienna, Richard Neutra came to America early in his career, settling in California. His influence on postwar architecture is undisputed, the sunny climate and rich landscape being particularly suited to his cool, sleek modern style. Neutra had a keen appreciation for the relationship between people and nature; his trademark plate glass walls and ceilings which turn into deep overhangs have the effect of connecting the indoors with the outdoors. His ability to incorporate technology, aesthetics, science, and nature into his designs brought him to the forefront of Modernist architecture. In this volume, all of Neutra’s works (nearly 300 private homes, schools, and public buildings) are gathered together, illustrated by over 1,000 photographs, including those of Julius Shulman and other prominent photographers.
£60.00
Taschen GmbH Kandinsky
Over the course of his artistic career, Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) transformed not only his own style, but the course of art history. From early figurative and landscape painting, he went on to pioneer a spiritual, emotive, rhythmic use of color and line and is today credited with creating the first purely abstract work. As much a teacher and theorist as he was a practicing artist, Kandinsky’s interests in music, theater, poetry, philosophy, ethnology, myth, and the occult, were all essential components to his painting and engraving. He was involved with both the influential Blaue Reiter and Bauhaus groups and left a legacy not only of dazzling visual work, but also of highly influential treatises such as Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Key tenets included the connections between painting, music and mystical experience, and the purification of art away from material realism and towards an emotional expression, condensed in particular by color. This book presents key Kandinsky works to introduce his repertoire of vivid colors, forms, and feelings. Tracing the artist’s radical stylistic development, it shows how one painter’s progression paved the way for generations of abstract expression to come.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Rivera
Diego Rivera (1886–1957) is a loud presence on the art historical stage. With devout political principles and a turbulent romantic history, he was at once husband and paladin of Frida Kahlo, advocate and adversary of Stalin’s Soviet Union, and liberator and traitor of Leon Trotsky. Vibrant, graphic, and often monumental, Rivera’s paintings carry the same live political and passionate charge as his personal biography. Fusing European influences such as Cubism with a socialist ideology and an exaltation of Mexico’s indigenous and popular heritage, he created a new iconography for art history and for his country. He became one of the most important figures in the Mexican mural movement and won international acclaim for his public wall paintings, in which he presented a utopian yet accessible vision of a post-revolutionary Mexico. In 1931, Rivera was the subject of MoMA’s second ever monographic exhibition. This book explores the unique blend of influence and ideology which secure Rivera’s place as both a unique and a universal painter, bound to the particular turbulent experience of early 20th century Mexico, and yet preoccupied with subjects such as revolution and class inequity which continue to speak to us today.
£15.00
Taschen GmbH Dark City. The Real Los Angeles Noir
In the years following World War I, Los Angeles was a city awakening to its darker side, transforming itself from a backwater town to a gleaming metropolis and city of the future. But along the way a tarnished patina began to coat its ever-more glamorous façade. As thousands flocked to the city with their dreams and desires, so too came get-rich-quick schemes, phony religions, organized crime, and corruption. A visual history like no other, Dark City brings together images from archives, museums, newspaper photo morgues, private collections, and the author’s extensive image library to reveal the true grit, grime, and sheer horror stories of Los Angeles from the 1920s to 1950s. In large format, we roam through the back alleys, gin joints, tattoo parlors, gambling dens, nightclubs, and the most brutal crime scenes, to uncover a city crawling with murder and mayhem. From Sunset Boulevard to a jazz-saturated Central Avenue, tabloid headlines chronicle the most famous celebrities and infamous crimes in a hopped-up city that provided inspiration for journalists, pulp fiction scribes, and filmland script writers in their creation of the noir genre. With rare vintage magazine reprints from the crime tabloids of the time, this is a uniquely evocative visual history through which the crime, crooks, crazies, and mean streets of the City of Angels are transformed from myth to reality.
£36.00
Taschen GmbH Modernist Cuisine at Home French Edition
The French edition. The culinary revolution that has transformed restaurant menus around the world is also making its way into home kitchens. The Cooking Lab, publisher of the encyclopedic six-volume set Modernist Cuisine, which immediately became the definitive reference for this revolution, has now produced a lavishly illustrated guide for home c
£148.44
Taschen GmbH Cubism
Pioneered by Picasso and Braque, Cubism has been described as the first avant-garde art movement of the 20th century. With inspiration from African and Native American art and sculpture, its practitioners deconstructed European conventions of viewpoint, form, perspective to create flattened, fragmented, and revolutionary images. Picasso’s celebrated painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is typically regarded as the original cubist work, with its radical fracturing of objects and figures into distinct areas, corresponding to multiple different viewpoints. Cubism thereafter developed two distinct trends: Analytical Cubism, which continued to interweave perspectival planes in muted blacks, greys and ochre, and later Synthetic Cubism, characterised by simpler shapes, brighter colors, and collage elements such as newspaper. This book presents the prime protagonists of Cubism, with work from artists including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes, and Robert Delaunay.
£17.80
Taschen GmbH Living in Asia. 40th Ed.
Zen, soothing, mystical, meditativewords cannot do justice to Asia's most beautiful interiors. Whether it's a gilded Tibetan monastery, a plantation in Sri Lanka, or a private villa in Thailand, each of the havens featured in this book are remarkable not only in aesthetic, but also in spirit.This showcase features about 40 exceptional locations across Tibet, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Highlights include traditional Burmese stilt houses; the breathtaking Shiv Niwas Palace in India, visited by James Bond in Octopussy; Cambodian temples; a rice barge-turned houseboat in Thailand; the Blue Mansion, an magnificient, indigo-painted courtyard house featured in the film Indochine; a breathtaking garden designed by Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa; and many, many more.
£25.00
Taschen GmbH Harry Benson. The Beatles
In early 1964, photographer Harry Benson received a call from the photo editor of London's Daily Express, who asked him to cover the Beatles' trip to Paris. It was the beginning of a career-defining relationship, which would both make Benson's name and produce some of the most intimate photographs ever taken of the Beatles. In Paris, Benson captured the Fab Four in the midst of a pillow fight at the George V Hotel, a spontaneous moment which came to epitomize the spirit of the bandBenson himself has called it the best shot of his career. Later that year, he followed the group on the road for their debut U.S. tour, documenting their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, their surprising encounter with Cassius Clay, and the hysteria of New York Beatlemania. Benson also photographed George Harrison's honeymoon in Barbados,
£13.19
Taschen GmbH Sebastiao Salgado. Trabajadores. Una arqueologia de la era industrial
Sebastião Salgado's photo book classic Workers. An Archaeology of the Industrial Age (first published in 1993) pays tribute to the time-honored tradition of manual labor in the new millennium when machines and computers replace human workers throughout the globe. With images of striking beauty and integrity, Salgado composes a visual elegy for the working men and women, whose indomitable spirit has prevailed over the harshest of conditions to achieve a singular grace.More than those of any other living photographer, Sebastião Salgado's images of the world's poor stand in tribute to the human condition. Salgado defines his work as militant photography, dedicated to the best comprehension of human being; over the decades he has bestowed great dignity on the most isolated and neglected among us from famine-stricken refugees in the Sahel to the indigenous peoples of South America. With Workers, Salgado brings us a global epic that transcends mere image making t
£58.90
Taschen GmbH Sebastiao Salgado. Arbeiter. Zur Archaologie des Industriezeitalters
Sebastião Salgado's photo book classic Workers. An Archaeology of the Industrial Age (first published in 1993) pays tribute to the time-honored tradition of manual labor in the new millennium when machines and computers replace human workers throughout the globe. With images of striking beauty and integrity, Salgado composes a visual elegy for the working men and women, whose indomitable spirit has prevailed over the harshest of conditions to achieve a singular grace.More than those of any other living photographer, Sebastião Salgado's images of the world's poor stand in tribute to the human condition. Salgado defines his work as militant photography, dedicated to the best comprehension of human being; over the decades he has bestowed great dignity on the most isolated and neglected among us from famine-stricken refugees in the Sahel to the indigenous peoples of South America. With Workers, Salgado brings us a global epic that transcends mere image making t
£72.00
Taschen GmbH Dali. Die Diners mit Gala
Les diners de Gala is uniquely devoted to the pleasures of taste If you are a disciple of one of those calorie-counters who turn the joys of eating into a form of punishment, close this book at once; it is too lively, too aggressive, and far too impertinent for you.Salvador DalíFood and surrealism make perfect bedfellows: sex and lobsters, collage and cannibalism, the meeting of a swan and a toothbrush on a pastry case. The opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí (19041989) and his wife and muse, Gala (18941982) were the stuff of legend. Luckily for us, Dalí published a cookbook in 1973, Les diners de Gala, which reveals some of the sensual, imaginative, and exotic elements that made up their notorious gatherings.This abridged reissue features 78 of his recipes over 12 chapters, specially illustrated by Dalí, and organized by meal courses, including aphrodisiacs. The illustrations and recipes are accompanied by Dalí's extravagant musings on subjects s
£15.00
Taschen GmbH The Book of Colour Concepts
The earliest forms of human creativity in carvings, markings, and cave paintings bear witness to humanity's engagement with color. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to assign structure, order, and meaning to this universal yet elusive concept, and it is this fascination that unites the works compiled in this expansive edition.Gathering over 65 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the most distinguished color collections worldwide, The Book of Colour Concepts takes the reader on a chromatic odyssey across four centuries and over 1,000 images of luscious wheels and globes, painstakingly collated charts, and meticulous diagrams, many of them newly photographed exclusively for this edition. Some of these concepts provide exhaustive taxonomies of color, while others reflect upon the relationship of color and music, or the affinities between color and human emotions.Seminal works of color theory, such as Isaac Newton's O
£99.40
Taschen GmbH Basilius Besler. The Garden at Eichstätt
When Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen (1593/95–1612) undertook a radical renovation of the Willibaldsburg Castle, overlooking the Altmühl River in Eichstätt, Bavaria, he also created a surrounding palatial pleasure garden of magnificence and grandeur. To preserve the garden for future generations – and provide an ‘evergreen’ record of its contents, compiling plants from all four seasons and presenting them in that order – he commissioned the garden’s director, Nuremberg apothecary Basilius Besler (1561–1629), and a team of engravers to immortalize its treasures in print.The resulting Hortus Eystettensis, published in Nuremberg in 1613 and containing 367 hand-colored plates and detailed descriptions, was a work of meticulous execution and spectacular diversity, and remarkably expensive for its time. As the garden contained a variety of plants imported from exotic locales, the three volumes exhibited a remarkable range, covering a total of 90 families and 340 genera. Due to the decorative, stylized execution of these illustrations, which began to see plants in aesthetic, rather than merely practical or medicinal terms, the book is seen as a milestone in the art of botanical illustration. While published before a time of standardized classification systems, it was nonetheless later described by Carl Linnaeus as an “incomparable work”.Besler’s catalog long outlived the gardens, which were destroyed in 1634 by invading Swedish troops during the Thirty Years’ War. However, a lengthy redevelopment project at the historic site has culminated in the opening of the modern Bastion Garden in 1998, containing many of the plants shown in the Hortus Eystettensis.Offering high-quality reproductions of these arresting illustrations, based on the copy of the Hortus Eystettensis at the University Library of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, this facsimile edition is accompanied by detailed plate descriptions of each plant’s botanical, pharmaceutical, and symbolic significance and an appendix of further essays which place the garden and the book in their historical contexts.This edition presents a valuable piece of botanical literature which, on the rare occasions where a copy appears on the market, can fetch prices of over $1,000,000 at auction. In line with Besler’s original intentions, this facsimile unfurls the garden to a wider audience and captures it for posterity.
£180.00
Taschen GmbH Marvel Comics Library. Fantastic Four. Vol. 1. 1961–1963
Hoping to break out of a sales slump at Marvel in the early 1960s, veteran comic creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby hit on the idea of doing a super team. Kirby, who thought superheroes were due for a revival after 15 years of being pushed aside by romance, horror, and war comics, saw it as smart business. Lee just once wanted to “do the type of story I myself would enjoy reading.” The Fantastic Four forever changed their careers, their lives, and the comic book industry. Some of the most iconic moments in Marvel history are here, starting with Reed Richards, his girlfriend Sue Storm, his best friend Ben Grimm, and her little brother Johnny Storm crash landing their rocket after it has been hit cosmic rays and discovering they have been transformed into Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Thing, and the Human Torch in issue No. 1. They were emotionally complex characters, who weren’t always sure whether their powers were a benefit or burden. Stories were set in New York City, not some fictional stand-in, and Marvel heroes regularly crossed over into each other’s books. The art was dynamic and the writing conversational and engaging. Lee and Kirby were like the Lennon and McCartney of comic books. Where the talents of one ended and the other began was not always clear, but together one plus one equaled three. Collected here in an XXL-size volume are the first 20 issues reproduced from the most pristine pedigreed original comics, which were cracked open and photographed in close collaboration with Marvel and the Certified Guaranty Company. Featured alongside the comics is an in-depth essay by acclaimed Marvel writer Mark Waid, a foreword by former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, and original art, photographs, and other rarities. Welcome true believers to the Marvel Age of Comics. © 2022 MARVEL
£217.33
Taschen GmbH David Bowie. The Man Who Fell to Earth. 40th Ed.
First advertised as a mind-stretching experience, Nicolas Roeg's 1976 The Man Who Fell to Earth stunned the cinema world. A tour-de-force of science fiction as art form, the movie brought not only hallucinatory visuals and a haunting exploration of contemporary alienation, but also glam-rock legend David Bowie in his lead role debut as paranoid alien Newton. Based on Walter Tevis's 1963 sci-fi fable of the same title, The Man Who Fell to Earth follows alien Newton from his arrival on earth in search of water; his transition to wealthy entrepreneur, leveraging the advanced technologies of his native planet; his sexual awakening with the young Mary-Lou; and then the discovery of his alien identity, his imprisonment, abandonment, and descent into alcoholism. Throughout, Roeg coaxed a beguiling performance from his cast, presenting not only Bowie in ethereal space-traveler glory, but also pitch-perfect sup
£22.50
Taschen GmbH Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 6: 1970s Under the Counter
In the late 1960s specialty bookstores selling magazines under the counter were replaced by sex shops, or “adult bookstores” in the U.S., at which point every subject, with few exceptions, was freely available. It started with Swedish Private and its shockingly explicit covers. Denmark’s Theander brothers countered with Rodox and Color Climax, with equally explicit content. Soon they were supplying most of Northern Europe, with the Netherlands pitching in. In the U.S. Reuben Sturman was hailed King of Porn, with affiliates churning out hardcore of every kind to fill his 800 bookstores. Suddenly men used to taking what was offered could be picky. Lesbian dominance? Hot housewives? Black and Asian women? Hippie nudists espousing free love and drug use? Hairy women? Shaved women? Shaved women giving hairy women enemas? It was all there. For the kinky, every fetish was represented: spanking titles Zap and Smack cuddled up to dominance titles Bitch and Aggressive Gals, and to Wet Dreams, Diapered and Dominated and Enema Pick ups. For rubberists there was quirky Atomage, and even quirkier Belly Button. Yes, Belly Button. Are you familiar with the name Edw. Wood, Jr., called the world’s worst film director? Then you’ll enjoy his little-known porn magazines, including Balling, Skin & Bones and Party Time. What a decade. Warning: everything in this volume is uncensored and for mature adults only. The photos do not represent the majority. Volume 6 features over 600 covers and photos from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the U.S. with the usual, amusing text.
£50.00
Taschen GmbH Dian Hanson’s: The History of Men’s Magazines. Vol. 5: 1970s At the Newsstand
Pubic hair appeared on the American newsstand in 1970 compliments of Penthouse magazine. Within a year it was everywhere, and in 1975 Midwest redneck Larry Flynt parted the hair and made the pink beyond the centerpiece of Hustler. In Northern Europe censorship laws fell like dominos after Berth Milton confronted Swedish parliament with hardcore photos in 1967, asking what it would do if he published them in Private magazine. The answer was nothing. Denmark followed, producing magazines for France as well. England, always lagging, finally got the knickers off, but kept its censorship laws. Japan, long suppressed, found release in bondage magazines like New Roman Porno and SM Select, though pubic hair stayed forbidden. Italy passed a law in 1975 exempting newsstand dealers from responsibility for the content of magazines; much like in Sweden hardcore was suddenly everywhere, while just five years before divorce was illegal. The Pill removed pregnancy fear and couples embraced swinging, the suburban sexual revolution, with swing magazines in the U.S. and Europe helping to hook them up. Behind much of it was politically motivated idealists and oddballs. Peter Wolff and the “Love family” made reader written magazines, bringing publishing power to the people. Al Goldstein challenged American censorship with Screw, while a Texas ad exec tried to keep tasteless hillbilly humor alive with Sex to Sexty. History of Men’s Magazines Volume 5 includes over 600 hair-raising covers and photos from Denmark, England, France, Germany, Japan, the U.S. and more, with the usual inspired text.
£50.00
Taschen GmbH Sacred Sites. The Library of Esoterica
A visual pilgrimage through holy mountains, great pyramids, and golden shrines, Sacred Sites celebrates the ways we transform the world around us through ritual, creativity, and worship. Essays, interviews and more than 400 images explore spaces ranging from ancient temples to modern works of spatial art.
£22.72