Search results for ""five continents editions""

This book is the most important monograph devoted to the Swiss artist-photographer Béatrice Helg. It offers a survey of her work from the past twenty-five years, and is accompanied by a poem dedication by Robert Wilson, critical essays by Serge Linarès and Philippe Piguet, and a poem by Sylviane Dupuis. Helg's oeuvre has a singular position within the photographic tradition of "constructed images." Remote from hyperrealist or narrative imagery, her work displays abstract forms and luminous worlds. Drawing on a passion for music and a marked sensitivity to notions of space and time, to architecture, and to the staging of plays and operas, the artist creates monumental spaces in which sculpture, painting, installation, and light interact. As poetic as they are spiritual, her photographs show strangely beautiful universes of shadow and of light. Her work opens onto an infinity - onto a quest for the absolute or a search for inner mystery. Text in English and French.

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European fashion meets Asian traditional clothing. A lavishly illustrated catalogue on Asian textiles from the 1920s. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Baur Foundation in Geneva (details to be confirmed). European fashion was profoundly influenced in the early decades of the 20th century by the style, textiles, patterns and colour combinations of Asian clothing. The discovery of the kimono, in particular, with its loose cut, fluid lines and broad range of decorations, captivated the great couturiers of the period. It enabled adventurous women in the Roaring Twenties to cast out their corsets and social straightjackets, while offering a new, daring kind of elegance with exotic overtones. From the meeting of these two sartorial cultures has sprung an exhibition and this catalogue, in which the drawings of Paris fashion designers are compared with examples of contemporary East-Asian textiles from the Baur Foundation in Geneva. The wonderful garments discussed include the collections of kimonos and other Japanese clothes gifted by Sato Mariko (2008) and Sugawara Keiko (2015), as well as Chinese textiles that are the pride of the Foundation.

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Carlo Zinelli is one of the leading figures in Art Brut. Contains previously unpublished archive material. Lavishly illustrated and published to accompany an exhibition at Art Brut Collection, Lausanne, 7 June - 2 December 2019. Carlo Zinelli, called Carlo (1916-1974), is one of the leading figures in Art Brut, along with Aloïse Corbaz and Adolf Wölfli. The book devoted to him by Collection de l'Art Brut, in Lausanne - the public institution that possesses the largest body of work by the Italian artist - gathers together a series of articles on Zinelli by experts in different disciplines. This makes it possible to give due weight to relatively neglected aspects of a rich and diverse opus, such as Carlo's writings, which mingle with his graphic compositions, well known for their characteristic accumulation of motifs, especially stylised human beings and animals, as well as vehicles. This bilingual book is lavishly illustrated throughout with reproductions of Zinelli's paintings and many photographs, several of which are by John Phillips, as well as previously unpublished archive material. Text in English and French.

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The Farnese Cup: the largest cameo hardstone cup to have survived from the ancient world. A treasured piece that travelled over centuries. A meticulously prepared publication illustrating the Farnese Cup in varying perspectives. A tour de force of a carver's skill and craftsmanship, the Farnese Cup is the largest cameo hardstone cup to have survived from the ancient world. Thought to be made in Hellenist Egypt sometime between 300 BC and 30 BC, the Cup was not an archaeological find but rather a treasured piece that travelled over centuries through many hands from Alexandria to Rome to Constantinople and back to Rome before joining the Farnese Collection now housed at the National Archeological Museum of Naples. The Cup, carved out of sardonyx agate, remains the subject of scholarly debate: what do the enigmatic figures in the inner scene mean? And the terrifying face of the Gorgon on the outside? Why was it made? And in what context? Whatever its inherent meaning, the piece itself is commanding, requiring a close-up view of each hand-carved detail, the balance and impact of the whole, and the subtle variations in the material itself. This book provides that close-up in a series of photographs and varying perspectives that pull back from the delicate infinitesimal cut to the magnificent, perfect whole. There is no better way - in fact no possible way - for the general reader or connoisseur to fully appreciate the Farnese Cup than through the pages of this meticulously prepared publication.

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A Pre-Columbian art lover and noted curator journey into a fine art collection, describing the rich cultural context and artistic merits of each work. Along with 150 full-colour glossy illustrations of the terracotta, earthenware, stone, silver and copper objects, the acclaimed author, explorer and filmmaker Hugh Thomson gives a detailed, exciting narrative, based upon extensive research, of the role art played in the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés and of Peru by Francisco Pizarro. It is rare that a collector takes such a personal, descriptive part in publishing his treasure trove, but in this lavishly illustrated book, Stuart Handler describes why he gathered Pre-Columbian art, what attracted him to the individual pieces, and, from his forty-five years of building art collections in various media and genres, what artistic attributes make these objects outstanding works of art.

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Expressing one of many Luba sub-styles, the tall, standing male figures created by master carvers of the Hemba culture in southeastern Congo since at least the mid-1800s arguably rank among the noblest sculptural depictions of the human figure in sub-Saharan Africa. With their serene gaze and meditative expression, they exude a tranquility and dignity that befits these idealised likenesses memorialising esteemed leaders of the past. Infused with a life-force or vital energy, these spirit-invested objects were able to communicate between the living and the dead. Thanks to their inner power they had the capacity to impact the material sphere by allowing the ancestors to positively influence the well-being of their surviving relatives. In this publication, through the perceptive lens of art photographer Luigi Spina, we discover nine of the most accomplished Hemba creations whose classical style has triggered comparisons with some kouroi sculptures of ancient Greece. Spina's photographic interpretations help us understand why these proportionally balanced and symmetrically conceived ancestral figures have earned the admiration of African art lovers around the world. These personal readings of the beloved Hemba commemorative portraits also confirm why these sensitive renderings of the human anatomy deserve inclusion in the universal history of artistic creativity and a place in André Malraux's 'Museum Without Walls'. Text in English and French.

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Featuring visionary creators from various fields, from art and contemporary dance to architecture and robotics, this lavishly illustrated book reports from the forefront of the crossdisciplinary synthesis that creates new forms of art. The project was initiated by Diana Vishneva, principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater in New York (2005-2017) and the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, and a tireless experimenter known for collaborations that have redefined the future of dance. The book presents interviews with choreographers William Forsythe and Carolyn Carlson; photographer Nick Knight; artists Bill Viola and Olafur Eliasson; architects Toyo Ito and Santiago Calatrava; robotics inventor Raffaello d'Andrea, and other creators who actively stretch the conventional limits of their fields. Included in the volume is a DVD of a film created for this project using state-of-the-art technologies to translate the language of dance into that of cinema.

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Kulango Figurines is designed to introduce various miniature works created by the Kulango in northeastern Côte d'Ivoire, who were formerly vassals of the two kingdoms that inhabited the country (Bouna and Gyaman). Their extraordinarily varied art, which can be both intriguing and disconcerting, is relatively unknown. Their metal sculptures in particular display a strikingly free expressiveness, breaking as they do with the iconographic codes that govern their works in wood. Doing away with immobile remoteness, bodies seem to reinvent movement, sometimes adopting almost choreographic gestures, an airy grace, sinuous lines. Or, in trembling tension, some display unexpected twists and provocative curves, while others stretch out impossibly or offer a chance for virtuoso foreshortening and stylised bodies. Still others are even stranger, like Siamese twins, inseparable triplets, headless figures or figures with one head on two torsos, with one leg or four, webbed feet, outsize arms and hooped bodies. Who are these enigmatic beings whose bulging eyes peer at the invisible? Is the sculpture confined to just these specimens? The range of styles is simply astonishing, the forms beyond imagination. The collection includes over 100 figurines, none of which is over 10cm tall: pendants, amulets, fortune tellers' statuettes or weights for gold. Introduced into our world through the metamorphosis of photography, transfigured by lighting and framing effects, these resurrected works have been revitalised, like apparitions from another world. Text in English and French.

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Published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Alfred Baur's birth (1865-1951) and the 50th anniversary of the Baur Foundation, Museum of Far Eastern Art, this book presents one of the major collections of Asian art through an opulent selection from the 9000 objects of the arts of China and Japan, today housed in an elegant private mansion constructed in Geneva during the late nineteenth century. Alfred Baur, Pioneer and collector combines the history of the Far East with that of the man who founded the company A. Baur & Co. Ltd. in Colombo (Ceylon) in 1897. Guided by the stunning photographs of Hughes Dubois, readers are led into the museum to discover both the essence of the collection and the life of a man fascinated by the arts of the Far East. Sabre fittings, netsuke, lacquer ware, prints, jades and imperial ceramics: the illustrations show the diversity of the works and the quality of the collection as a whole. The precious Japanese objects, so meticulously worked and of technical perfection, reveal the outstanding skills of Japanese craftsmen, while the simplicity of the forms of the Chinese monochrome ceramics display the contemporaneity of the visionary master ceramists of the Song dynasty.

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The first book devoted to the art of the vast South Seas island groups in the Bismarck Archipelago. This book features stunning, ephemeral creations made with natural materials such as plant fibre, light woods, bark cloth, and tree pith - among the most colourful of the Pacific Island arts. An inspiration to the German Expressionists and the Surrealists, these pieces combine colour, fragility, and a sense of temporal purpose. Essays explore the art history of the region and set the beautifully photographed works in cultural context.

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A wonderful world of hope, metaphors and ideas, which in spite of the time that has passed is very similar to the world we live in now. Archaeological objects offer outstanding opportunities to explore the way people conceived life in past ages. Their study demonstrates that subjects such as fertility, myths, rituals and cosmogony are embedded in all man-made artefacts, as they have always been part of daily human life. Even when creating artefacts for individual use, we have adopted imaginative and ingenious ways to represent and convey a message, a narrative that is a facet of our personal and social identity. That's why the amulets presented in this outstanding catalogue hold secrets: memories of deeds, lands and sacred representations. Objects used as offerings are full of life: the warrior recalls his heroic condition during his long mortal journey; the deceased person, who travels to the other world equipped with his objects of power, arrives satisfied and disposed to be generous toward his descendants, who receive fertility and well-being in return. The choice of materials is a fundamental aspect of such objects. The use of metals, for example, is etched into the language of social communication, whereas the vital force that moves the universe is found immersed to a large degree in magical materials like fired clay, the product of extensive chemical transformation, or shell, a product of the sea, its brilliance a sign of spirituality, or imperishable gold, which is the embodiment of the Sun itself, ductile and able to express extraordinary religious ideas. This catalogue introduces us to this world of magic, life and death. Text in English and Spanish.

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A major new monograph on the Cuban artist Agustín Fernández. 'As a painter I use a realist technique, but the emblems I invent are not real. They are purely imaginative... Painting is a thing of the mind. My realism is not nature, or landscape, or still life, but the psychological world.' - Agustín Fernández. At the time of his death in 2006, Agustín Fernández (b. 1928) ranked among Cuba's most outstanding artists. Defying simple categorisation, today his work is most recognisable for its ambiguous and precariously balanced forms, erotic overtones, surreal juxtapositions, and metallic palette. This superbly illustrated book is the first comprehensive study of Fernández's work, and includes contributions by renowned critic Donald Kuspit and a team of experts. Fernández's work has been exhibited throughout Europe and North and South America, and is represented in major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work found a wider audience when one of his larger paintings was featured in the 1980 Brian de Palma film, Dressed to Kill.

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Front cover image The Art of Daily Life Portable Objects from Southeast Africa Constantine Petridis, with an essay by Karel Nel In stock 9788874395781 Paperback with flaps 5 Continents Editions Territory: World excluding Italy Size: 285 mm x 240 mm Pages: 112 Illustrations: 150 colour RRP £20.00 Features 78 exceptional works - many never published before - drawn from the Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., and a large number of American private collections The arts of southeast Africa embrace astounding diversity and limitless inventiveness in materials, forms, and styles. Small and portable in nature - snuff containers, pipes, headrests, staffs, clubs, beer vessels, beaded garments - they were created by semi-nomadic pastoral peoples and primarly intended for daily use. Whether figurative or abstract, carved out of wood, ivory, or horn, or made of cloth, glass beads, or clay, most of these works were much more than exquisitely designed functional objects. Some signalled status, gender, or age; others served as symbolic intermediaries between the world of humans and the realm of the ancestors.

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Mountains have been a central defining theme in Switzerland, as they have elsewhere in the world. This has fascinated artists and, since the earliest invention of the medium, photographers. Today mountain chains are seen differently than they once were, recognized as having an unsettling fragility in the face of their occupation by humans. What remains of the myths linked to mountains? Are mountains still a source of inspiration for today's artists? How do perceptions of them shift as their populations disappear, and cultural references are increasingly centred on an urban existence? High Altitude provides some of the answers to these questions. This book is a companion to the Swiss photography festival, Alt. +1000, held in Rossiniere in the foothills of the Alps. "High Altitude" features works by contemporary photographers who record mountains in their various and multiple states: spectacular, sublime, domesticated, constructed (even artificial!) and frightening. Artists from around the world, many of whom live far from a mountainous environment, celebrate and challenge deeply rooted myths, and individually interpret this elusive landscape. In addition, well-known photographer Olaf Otto Becker, renowned for his views of Greenland, created a portrait of a natural park close to Rossiniere. Becker's work is breathtakingly beautiful, but its beauty nonetheless reminds us that nature is being radically modified by climate change.

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Over the centuries, craftsmen have applied their creativity and technical skills to exploit the generous resources of Nature to marvellous effect. In this case they have employed seeds, leaves, flowers and fibres from the plant world, along with feathers, plain or iridescent shells, teeth, and fur from the animal kingdom to fashion objects of astonishing beauty, enhanced with the addition of elements in iron, copper, silver, and gold. Such materials have always provided the basis for magnificent headdresses of all varieties, including hats, caps, crowns, and headbands. In time, as the conditions of trade and pilgrimage routes improved, rare materials and manufactured products spread all over the globe, as well as new knowledge, techniques, and methods of fabrication. Each class of individual sported a distinct type of headdress: initiates and adults, hunters and warriors, religious dignitaries and healers, rulers and notables; unmarried girls, married women, and young mothers. In each case the author explains their opulence and symbolism to the reader.

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The story of Japanese design, told through works selected from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Japanese designers' special ability to combine aesthetic tradition with contemporary visual culture and material innovation has created a distinctive and exceptionally successful design industry in Japan, which has produced such divergent icons of modern design as Sori Yanagi's Butterfly Stool, the Sony Walkman, the Honey-Pop Armchair by Tokujin Yoshioka, and the Toyota Prius. This book traces the development of Japanese design from the country's craft revival in the early twentieth century to the extraordinary objects of high technology that have been a specialty of Japanese designers since mid-century. Paola Antonelli's lively introduction provides an overview of Japan's design culture; an essay and timeline by Penny Sparke illuminate the masterpieces of modern Japanese design that are superbly reproduced in the volume's plate section.

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This image-filled book features outstanding works of Luba art from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Major themes addressed include the role of visual and performance arts in Luba traditional politics; the symbolism of the female image and why 'the king is a woman' for Luba; the instrumentality of royal insignia in politics, problem-solving, and healing; and the use of art objects in the creation and transmission of historical knowledge in both the Luba heartland and its peripheries. Case studies from the authors' long research among Luba, Tabwa, and related peoples of Congo will illuminate the complex philosophical underpinnings of Luba through visual expression.

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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867), one of the most important followers of Jean-Louis David, was a pivotal figure in nineteenth-century painting and played a key role in the development of French art. After starting his career as a faithful admirer of the neoclassical style of David, Ingres turned into an extraordinarily eclectic artist, painting in a variety of styles reflecting diverse aesthetic positions during the course of a career lasting over fifty years. His inventive painting, which often flirted with linear abstraction, and the visual harmony he was able to give the most various subjects, often fell foul of the critics and the general public, as they deliberately ran counter to the fashion of the period. This monograph includes a detailed biography of the life he led in the artistic circles of Paris and Rome. It places his oeuvre within the context of the artistic movements of the nineteenth century, from his youth during Napoleon's rule right up until the Third Republic. The commentary follows the way his paintings managed to bridge the gap between the expectations of the public and his own aims as a painter. His drawings, portraits, and particularly his nudes are shown to be extraordinarily modern in their approach.

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Building on the extended fieldwork of numerous researchers since the 1950s, this text offers a unique window into the dynamic performance contexts of both masquerade and architecture in Central Africa. Although many societies in the Congo were once renowned for vibrant masquerades and architectural sculpture, these phenomena have only been studied as living traditions among a handful of peoples, most notably the Pende. Building on the extended fieldwork of numerous researchers since the 1950s, this text offers a unique window into the dynamic performance contexts of both masquerade and architecture in Central Africa. As much as possible, it privileges Pende voices and seeks to understand the inter-relationship between ritual practice and aesthetic form. Attentive to history, the text also shows these artistic practices have responded (sometimes unpredictably) to both colonial and post-colonial pressure. Lavish illustrations feature both iconic and hitherto unpublished masterworks, which have been selected to evoke the full range of Pende expression.

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Kifwebe masks are ceremonial objects used by the Songye and Luba societies (Democratic Republic of Congo), where they are worn with costumes consisting of a long robe and a long beard made of plant fibres. As in other central African cultures, the same mask can be used in either magical and religious or festive ceremonies. In order to understand Kifwebe masks, it is essential to consider them within the cosmogony of the python rainbow, metalworking in the forge, and other plant and animal signs. Among the Songye, benevolent female masks reveal what is hidden and balance white and red energy associated with two subsequent initiations, the bukishi. Aggressive male masks were originally involved in social control and had a kind of policing role, carried out in accordance with the instructions of village elders. These two male and female forces acted in a balanced way to reinforce harmony within the village. Among the Luba, the masked figures are also benevolent and appear at the new moon, their role being to enhance fertility. Although the male and female masks fulfil functions that do not wholly overlap, they do have features in common: a frontal crest, round and excessively protruding eyes, flaring nostrils, a cube-shaped mouth and lips, stripes, and colours. Art historians and anthropologists have taken increasing interest in Kifwebe masks in recent years.

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