Search results for ""Skira""

Conceived as a retrospective, this book illustrates Kenro Izu’s refined artistic research and the work that for over thirty years he has been carrying out, like a tireless pilgrim, in the world’s most evocative holy sites: from the Egyptian pyramids and the ancient stones of Stonehenge to the site of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, from Buddhist temples in India and Indonesia to the Syrian desert and Tibetan peaks. Fascinated by the sublime beauty of ancient remains, he returns to the styles and printing techniques of 19th-century photography as best able to capture the mystical atmosphere of the places examined.

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A sumptuous and original European Tour through the palaces and the works of art belonging to royal and princely figures who have marked the histories of theur dynasties and countries. Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, this book allows us to enter 20 European courts for the first time, from palace to palace, and to meet great imperial, royal and princely figures, who have marked the histories of their dynasties and countries. Four centuries of history (XVI-XXth centuries) become animated through a sumptuous and original European Tour which sheds light on its sovereigns and their splendour: from Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland to the Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, including Tsar Alexander II of Russia and also Leopold I, first King of the Belgians… To illustrate this ambitious undertaking, seven hundred exceptional works of art – portraits, sculptures, furniture, porcelain, silver and gold, costumes and jewellery – taken from royal collections and prestigious institutions, enable the reader to discover the lives, roles, and passions of these individuals and couples, as well as their time and accomplishments in the fields of the arts, history and science.

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An illustrated study of African traditional figurative arts that reflects the continent’s rich artistic and cultural heritage. We often know the “Western life” of African art, such as the names of collectors and owners, but we almost always ignore the circumstances of their creation, the formal innovations introduced by the creators of the works and even of the makers’ existence. The marvellous achievements of African artists over thousands of years are revealed in this book. Sculpture is the chief means through which African artists expressed themselves. The human figure, evocative of real or symbolic key people in the community or entities facilitating contact with the supernatural, is the almost exclusive subject of their creations. This vast world of African sculpture is the result of a evolutionary process, based on a rich history and diversity deriving from contacts, migrations, wars and alliances. During the last century, the African continent has experienced radical transformations in the field of social and political organisation, economy and religion. Inevitably, new expressive forms are being established hand in hand with the globalisation process and the creation of works for the art market, which retain less and less ties with those of the past.

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Skira Mini ARTbooks is a pocket-sized series, conveniently priced, very practical and with lots of images dedicated to single international artists, artistic movements and painting genres. The genius of Italian painting, symbol of grace and beauty, is considered one of the greatest and most popular artists of all time. An introduction to the life of the artist, with his masterpieces.

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The first title of the Skira Contemporary Arab Artists series, directed by Brahim Alaoui, previous director of the Museum of the Institute of the Arab World in Paris. Bahraini-born Saudi national Faisal Samra graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked as an art and graphic design consultant for the Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris), and later a stage designer for Saudi television. In 2004 he taught in the Fine Arts department of the Amman University in Jordan and obtained his first artist residency in Paris, at the Cite International des Arts, in 2005, which he continues to be a part of today. Faisal Samra has taken part in numerous group shows, including “Word Into Art” at the British Museum (London and Dubai), “Languages of the Desert: Contemporary Arab Art from the Gulf States” (Abu Dhabi, Paris and Kunstmuseum, Bonn), and “Traversée”, (Paris, Cairo, Rabat). He has had solo exhibitions in Middle-Eastern and European institutions alike, and is in the collections of The British Museum (London) National Museum (Mexico City), Modern Art Museum (Cairo), Enrico Navarra (Paris), Saeb Eigner (London), Sheikha Paula Al Sabah (Kuwait), among others.

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The second volume in the Skira “Photography” series serving as a major reference in the field. The 50 years of artistic and mass photography taken into consideration in this volume are unquestionably the most important in the twentieth century. The acceleration of technological progress, the advent of the era of the machine and the metropolis, the epoch-making economic crisis, the dramatic aftermath of the collapse of the old nineteenth-century order in Europe with political upheavals, wars, revolutions and dictatorships, the first appearance of a mass society capable of expressing cultures and systems of communication in line with its needs: these are the most obvious stages of a history that was also recorded as it happened, in various forms and media. Among these, key importance certainly attaches to photography. It is evident that mankind had never before been in possession of an instrument capable of supplying such an enormous number of images of such universal accessibility as regards both visibility and creation. The Kodak camera, a device anyone could use, and the popular illustrated press are the two cornerstones of this aspect of the photographic history of the twentieth century. This richly illustrated book – complete with synoptic tables and a summary glossary – offers a wide-ranging survey of this era that will delight and inform a constantly growing audience.

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This volume examines the work of Francesco Vezzoli. Vezzoli creates video works and needlepoints that bring together pop culture icons, auteur cinema, art history, fashion, kitsch and camp.

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This general catalogue, which represents years of work on the systematic cataloguing of Pomodoro’s entire sculptural output, covers the full range of works produced by the artist between 1953 and 2003, supplemented with the first complete documentary research into the entire existing bibliography.

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The first definitive survey of works by the younger generation of Norwegian artists. Through the last decade we have witnessed a steadily increasing globalization of contemporary art. Norwegian artists are acknowledged as being part of a larger artistic milieu – a milieu in which they have become more visible and active participants. Among the artists: Jesper Alvær/Isabela Grosseová, Thora Dolven Balke, Siri Berqvam, Kyrre Bjørkås/Rune Andreassen, Ole Martin Lund Bø, Bjørn Båsen, Jan Christensen, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Ida Ekblad, Jan Hakon Erichsen, Matias Faldbakken, Jan Freuchen, Ivan Galuzin, Hjørdis Kurås, Ingvild Langgård, Jørgen Craig Lello/Tobias Arnell, Trine Lise Nedreaas, Martin Skauen, Eirin Støen, Stian Ådlandsvik, and Øystein Aasan.

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The ciliary muscle reproduces the effect of a lens and allows the eye to focus or blur vision. The ciliary muscle became the emblem of the critical vision that Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro) had of their heterogeneous fields of research and experimentation. Their interdisciplinary projects range from objects, installations and performances to media and architecture. In recent years they have expanded - with a third partner joining their studio - to embrace projects on an urban scale. Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function covers their development documenting about twenty works, from the earliest to the most recent and includes essays investigating the studio's context, influences and strategies, some interviews with the architects, and a scheme showing the evolution and growth of the studio from 1979 to today.

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