Search results for ""thames hudson""

If you want to know how we know what we know about dinosaurs, read this book! Steve Brusatte 'I defy anyone who is, like me, a non-scientist to read it and not feel a sense of wonder’ Tom Holland, Guardian Startling new fossil finds are the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology. Giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons from Patagonia, dinosaurs with feathers from China, and even a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber – complete down to every detail of its filament-like feathers, skin, bones and mummified tail muscles – inspire awe in a global audience enthralled by the idea of these great creatures walking the earth. Dinosaurs are of perennial interest to all ages, as illustrated by the huge range of dino-themed films, books and live attractions, from the enduring popularity of the Jurassic Park franchise to the success of London’s immersive ‘Dinosaurs in the Wild’ experience. In the past twenty years, dinosaur study has changed from natural history to testable science. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the bones in a way nobody predicted – we can now work out the colour of dinosaurs, their bite forces, speeds and parental care as well as how they came to die out.This groundbreaking book illustrates how science has replaced speculation and how our understanding of dinosaurs and their world hascompletely changed. The subject has never been so vigorous, has never changed so fast, and has never been so attractive to so many.

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The MR PORTER Guide To A Better Day covers all aspects of a man’s daily life, from morning rituals, to flawless grooming to handy tips for taking the work out of your working and social life. Compiled by MR PORTER’s Editors and featuring wisdom from Messrs Tom Ford, Laird Hamilton and more, this volume is packed with expert advice, helpful illustrations and full-colour photography that explores the habits and routines of the world’s most stylish men. Of course, it’s also got the wardrobe side of things covered: between each chapter, a dedicated section on ‘How To Dress’ offers a deep dive into the ins and outs of contemporary menswear, offering rules and guidelines on what to wear and how to wear it, whether you’re heading out for a fancy dinner, or spending a weekend recovering from just such a thing. Drawing on MR PORTER’s unparalleled experience of dressing discerning gentlemen across the globe, it is the definitive volume that every man of taste should have on his bookshelf this season.

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Ian Jeffrey is a superb guide in this profusely illustrated introduction to the appreciation of photography as an art form. Novices and experts alike will gain a deeper understanding of great photographers and their work, as Jeffrey decodes key images and provides essential biographical and historical background. Profiles of more than 100 major photographers, including Alfred Stieglitz, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Paul Strand and Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, highlight particular examples of styles and movements throughout the history of the medium. Each entry includes a concise biography along with an illuminating discussion of key works and nuggets of contextual information, making this book the ideal gallery companion for photography aficionados everywhere.

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Lively and informative, The World Atlas of Tattoo is a superbly illustrated and compelling reference book that, through examining the meeting point between tattoo artists and their personal understanding of their environment, presents a well-informed and nuanced account of what has become a widespread art practice. Organized geographically, each section is introduced by a short historical overview of the types of tattooing traditionally practised in that area of the world, enabling the reader to trace historical threads in the careers of some of the profiled tattooers, as well as marvel at how other artists have managed to create novel forms of tattooing that transcend any previous context. The book also tracks the movement of styles from their indigenous settings to diasporic communities, where they have often been transformed into creative, multicultural, hybrid designs. Written by an international team of scholars, historians and journalists, this comprehensive atlas will enlighten and excite anyone who is passionate about tattoo art in its many forms worldwide.

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The definitive history of the Maya, fully updated with the latest archaeological studies. The Maya has long been established as the best, most readable introduction to the ancient Maya on the market today. This classic book has been updated by distilling the latest scholarship for the general reader and student. This tenth edition incorporates the most recent archaeological and epigraphic findings, which continue to proceed at a fast pace, along with full-colour illustrations. The new material includes evidence of the earliest human occupants of the Maya region and the beginnings of agriculture and settled life; analysis from lidar on swampy areas, such as Usumacinta, that show enormous rectangle earthworks, including Aguada Fénix, dating from 1050 to 750 BC; and recent advances in decoding Maya writing and imagery. It also expands on information on the roles of women, courtiers and outsiders; covers novel research about Maya cities, including research into water quality, marketplaces, fortifications and integrated road systems; and features coverage of more recent Maya history, including the displacement and mistreatment of the Maya people, along with growing affirmations of their cultural identity and rights. Highlighting the vitality of current scholarship about this brilliant culture, The Maya remains the gold standard introductory book on the subject.

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Sunday Times Art Book of the Year 2018'If you are interested in modern British art, the book is unputdownable. If you are not, read it.' - Grey Gowrie, Financial Times 'All the good stories, and more, are here … this is a genuinely encyclopaedic work, unlike anything else I have come across on the topic, informed by a deep love and understanding of modern painting. Everybody interested in the subject should read it.' - Andrew Marr, Sunday Times A masterfully narrated account of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s, illustrated throughout with documentary photographs and works of art The development of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s is the story of interlinking friendships, shared experiences and artistic concerns among a number of acclaimed artists, including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling and Howard Hodgkin. Drawing on extensive first-hand interviews, many previously unpublished, with important witnesses and participants, the art critic Martin Gayford teases out the thread connecting these individual lives, and demonstrates how painting thrived in London against the backdrop of Soho bohemia in the 1940s and 1950s and ‘Swinging London’ in the 1960s. He shows how, influenced by such different teachers as David Bomberg and William Coldstream, and aware of the work of contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock as well as the traditions of Western art from Piero della Francesca to Picasso and Matisse, the postwar painters were allied in their confidence that this ancient medium, in opposition to photography and other media, could do fresh and marvellous things. They asked the question ‘what can painting do?’ and explored in their diverse ways, but with equal passion, the possibilities of paint.

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From the dawn of history to the death of Cleopatra, ancient Egypt was home to larger-than-life personalities. Across one hundred lives, Toby Wilkinson explores the true character and diversity of human experience in the ancient world’s greatest civilization. Some of those profiled are famous: pharaohs and queens such as Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Ramesses II and Tiye. Others are lesser known but equally engaging: Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid; Perniankhu, the court dwarf; and the royal sculptor Bak. Equally illuminating are the lives of commoners, so rarely given their own voice: ordinary men and women who include a doctor, a dentist, a housewife, a musician – and a serial criminal.

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Chocolate – ‘the food of the Gods’ – has had a long and eventful history. Its story is expertly told here by the doyen of Maya studies, Michael Coe, and his late wife, Sophie. The book begins 3,000 years ago in the Mexican jungles and goes on to draw on aspects of archaeology, botany and socio-economics. Used as currency and traded by the Aztecs, chocolate arrived in Europe via the conquistadors, and was soon a favourite drink with aristocrats. By the 19th century and industrialization, chocolate became a food for the masses – until its revival in our own time as a luxury item. Chocolate has also been giving up some of its secrets to modern neuroscientists, who have been investigating how flavour perception is mediated by the human brain. And, finally, the book closes with two contemporary accounts of how chocolate manufacturers have (or have not) been dealing with the ethical side of the industry.

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Geometric patterns are perhaps the most recognizable visual expressions of Islamic art and architecture, magnificent in their beauty and awe-inspiring in their execution. Now, with the aid of this book, anyone can learn how to master this ancient art and create intricate patterns or re-create classic examples. An introduction guides the reader through the basics, and is followed by some of the best examples of geometric patterns from around the world, arranged into three levels of complexity, with careful, step-by-step instructions taking the reader through the stages of composition.

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Focusing on fifty diverse women artists, from Lavinia Fontana and Artemisia Gentileschi through Judy Chicago, Ana Mendieta and the Guerrilla Girls to Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman and Louise Bourgeois, this book equips the reader with a general understanding of the history of art by women, as well as an appreciation of its most outstanding figures. Traditionally women have been among art’s favoured objects of representation, while their contributions as art producers have been subordinated to those of men. This book documents women artists in context to offer readers an accessible but rich understanding of key female artists from the Baroque to the present day.

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Here is the fabric and textile directory that dressmakers and fashion designers everywhere have been waiting for. This book is like having your own personal shopper – able to recommend fabrics to suit the effects you want to achieve, show you how the fabric will perform, and tell you the best ways of using it. - Organized by function: do you want a fabric for structure, fluidity and movement, added volume, definition or decoration? This book works in such a way that you can view the fabric as the medium from which the garment design can be achieved right from the beginning. - Each textile in the directory is accompanied by samples of the fabric presented so that its properties come alive, allowing you to really understand how a fabric might behave. - The chart section at the back of the book includes essential guides to fibre properties, fabric structure and weight, fabric characteristics and end use.

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Architect and designer Michael Embacher’s unique collection of more than 250 bicycles, the only one of its kind, was lovingly collected over many years and exhibited around the world. This new compact edition of Cyclepedia offers an expanded selection of Embacher’s finest, most unusual and most coveted pieces, despite the fact that the collection is no longer intact. With a foreword by design guru Paul Smith and a history of bicycle design by Michael Zappe and Martin Strubreiter, this homage to the beauty of two wheels is a celebration of the fastest, lightest, most innovative – and most inventive – bicycles designed over the past century. This stunning, carefully curated selection features some of the rarest, most beautiful and most sought-after bicycles from around the world, including classic racing bikes from the Tour de France, high-tech machines that employ the latest advances in materials science, and eccentric bikes designed for unusual uses. With a redesigned layout that makes the most of Bernhard Angerer’s colourful photography, this edition features ten new bicycles from Embacher’s collection, including designs from Alex Singer, Alan, Textima and Puch. Published in a new and more accessible compact format, Cyclepedia is a cornucopia of all that bicycle design has to offer, the ultimate gift for cycling enthusiasts everywhere.

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Here is an informative and entertaining guide to everything that any tourist needs for a journey back in time to ancient Rome in AD 200. You need only pack your imagination and a toothbrush – this guide provides the rest, describing all the best places to stay and shop, what to do, and what to avoid. Brought to life with wonderful computergenerated reconstructions of ancient Rome, this highly original, witty book will appeal to tourists, armchair travellers and history buffs.

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The Big Idea shortlisted for series design in the British Design and Production AwardsIs Capitalism Working? is a highly relevant question today – not least to a generation coming of age in a world still experiencing aftershocks from the near-meltdown of the world economy in 2008. Economic theory can be complex, but Jacob Field’s wellstructured and thought-provoking text lays out the debate in a clear, accessible and engaging manner. Infographics and timelines ensure that readers grasp the basic tenets, history and context of capitalism, without distracting from the compelling arguments. Jacob Field presents a measured conclusion that reviews the evidence on each side, allowing room for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions.

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All students with a budding interest in architectural design will value this book for its solid foundational orientation and instruction. Mo Zell introduces readers to architecture’s visual language, showing them how to think spatially and getting them started in architectural drawing with a series of instructional tutorials. Using three-dimensional design problems, she coaches students through the fundamentals of proportion and scale, space and volume, path and place and materials and textures. A series of study units cover virtually every aspect of architectural drawing. This book concludes with practical advice for anyone considering a career in architectural design, offering ideas on building a portfolio, getting advanced training and continuing on a path to a professional career.

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The Books That Shaped Art History provides an invaluable roadmap of the field by reassessing the impact of the most important texts of art history published during the 20th century. Each of the sixteen incisive chapters, focusing on a single book, is written by a leading art historian, curator or one of the promising scholars of today. In bringing these cross-generational contributions together, the book presents a varied and invaluable overview of the history of art, told through its most enduring literature. Each essay – with writers including John Elderfield, Boris Groys, Susie Nash and Richard Verdi – analyses a single major work, mapping the intellectual development of its author, setting out the premises and argument of the book, discussing its position within the field of art history, and looking at its significance in the context both of its initial reception and its legacy. Enlivening debates and questioning the very status of art history itself, this is a concise and brilliant study of the discipline and an invaluable resource for anyone interested in visual culture and its histories.

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Monsters have preoccupied mankind from the earliest times: even cave art includes animal-human monsters. Certainly monsters were present in the ancient religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia; the Old Testament describes the giant land and sea monsters Behemoth and Leviathan, while in the world of Classical mythology, monsters embody the fantasies of the gods and the cruellest punishments of human beings. While we may no longer worry about being eaten by trolls on the way home, there remains a fascination with these creatures who have shadowed us throughout history. This book explores monsters down the ages and throughout the world. It provides a dark yet engrossing visual history of the human mind, lit up by flashes of wild and unearthly inspiration.

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The ten extraordinary houses and castles featured in this book have all survived the vicissitudes of Scotland’s history with almost all of their original families still in residence. Each house also represents a landmark in Scotland’s architectural history, ranging from the early seventeenth to the early twentieth century. The architectural revelation is matched by sensational settings, which merge designed gardens and landscape with the unparalleled wildness and vistas of Scotland. All of these cherished houses are chockablock with memories of the past, from swagger portraits to sporrans, from vintage photographs to ancient weaponry, from curling stones to fading chintz. James Fennell’s masterly photographs capture the distinctive atmosphere of each residence. As he guides the reader on an intimate tour of the houses, Knox recounts their histories and profiles the colourful lairds, clan chiefs and nobles who have called them home.

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The legions of Rome were among the greatest fighting forces in history. For almost half a millennium they secured the known world under the power of the Caesars. This pioneering account gathers together the stories of each and every imperial legion, telling the tales of their triumphs and defeats as they policed the empire and enlarged its borders. Focusing on the legions as the core of the Roman army, and chronicling their individual histories in detail, this volume builds on the thematic account of the Roman military force given by its companion The Complete Roman Army , and is vital reading for anyone who has enjoyed that book.

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Susan Herbert’s feline versions of famous paintings have delighted cat and art-lovers everywhere. In this book, now available in paperback, she turns her eye to the works of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, whose popularity is reaching new heights today. The epitome of their style and period, these wonderful paintings can be viewed in a new and entrancing way when their protagonists are endearing cats. The Beggar Maid, ‘more beautiful than day’ in Tennyson’s poem, takes on a particularly touching relationship with King Cophetua, while Medea gives new meaning to the word enchantress as she prepares the ingredients for a spell. And were ever two creatures so frightened and so abandoned as the poor cat princes wickedly imprisoned in the Tower, or two lovers so sad and so stoical as the young officer cat and his fiancée on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo? A special feature of this book is its inclusion of small black-and-white reproductions of all the original paintings that have inspired Susan Herbert. Once again she has risen to the challenge of endowing the world’s best- loved works of art with a certain feline charm.

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Graffiti School is the world’s first fully illustrated graffiti coursebook for college use. It opens with an exploration of graffiti’s background and history, from Pompeii to the Hip Hop revolution to the present day, as well as how to stay on the right side of the law. It then introduces modern-day graffiti media and terminology, going on to conduct the reader through the process of designing graffiti, setting out the possibilities and skills needed to create a successful work on paper, ready to be transferred to a wall. The author explains the practical techniques of using a spray can, and the step-by-step methods and skills required to create artistic graffiti. The final section is a manual designed specifically to be of use to teachers. It gives ideas for running both theoretical and practical graffiti lessons and units, as well as providing suggestions on the details, such as marking schemes and ideas for class trips.

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Why Your 5 Year Old Could Not Have Done That is Susie Hodge’s passionate and persuasive argument against the most common disparaging remark levelled at modern art. In this enjoyable and thought-provoking book, she examines 100 works of modern art that have attracted critical and public hostility – from Cy Twombly’s scribbled Olympia (1957), Jean-Michel Basquiat’s crude but spontaneous ‘LNAPRK’ (1982), to the apparently careless mess of Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998) – and explains how, far from being negligible novelties, they are inspired and logical extensions of the ideas of their time. She explains how such notorious works as Carl Andre’s Equivalent VIII (1966) – the infamous bricks – occupy unique niches in the history of ideas, both showing influences of past artists and themselves influencing subsequent artists. With illustrations of works from Hans Arp to Adolf Wölfli, Hodge places each work in its cultural context to present an unforgettable vision of modern art. This book will give you an understanding of the ways in which modern art differs from the realistic works of earlier centuries, transforming as well as informing your gallery visits for years to come.

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The book that turned the art world on its head, now with new and exciting discoveries. Hockney takes his thesis further, demonstrating how Renaissance artists used mirrors and lenses to develop perspective and chiaroscuro – radically challenging our view of how these two foundations of Western art were established.

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The gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, worshipped for over half of recorded history, are among the most fascinating and complex of any civilization. Here is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the deities that lay at the heart of Egyptian religion and society. It examines the evolution, worship and eventual decline of the numerous gods and goddesses – from minor household figures such as Bes and Taweret to the all-powerful deities Amun and Re – that made Egypt the most completely theocratic society of the ancient world, and made Egyptians, according to Herodotus, ‘more religious than any other people’.

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Brett Whiteley was one of the most dynamic and talented artists in the history of Australian art, an artist whose recognition had spread worldwide before his untimely death in 1992. Early in his career he established a name for himself in London, exhibiting at the Whitechapel Art Gallery and coming into contact with many British painters - Francis Bacon and David Hockney among others. His early paintings startled critics and fellow artists, but even at that point, two basic subjects were evident: the landscape and the nude, elements which became the mainstay of his oeuvre. At the root of all Whiteley's work was a draughtsmanship of stunning virtuosity, capable of capturing all the poetic arabesque of a river in a single sweeping line of brush and ink, or the erotic curves of the human body in a few searching strokes of charcoal. This volume presents an illuminating evaluation of Whiteley's achievement. Works dating from the 1950s to the last years of his life, illustrated in over 180 colour plates, allow Whiteley's career to be surveyed in its entirety. Barry Pearce, Head Curator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, provides a comprehensive overview of Whiteley's life and art; Bryan Robertson offers an impression of the artist's years in London; and Wendy Whiteley, the artist's wife and companion for over three decades, contributes an intimate portrait of the man behind the work. Superbly illustrated and produced, Brett Whiteley: Art & Life is a fitting tribute to one of Australia's most significant artists, a man whose outstanding work excites, amazes and impresses us no less now than it did when first created.

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In recent years, demand for kilims (flatwoven textiles) in the West has reached unprecedented levels. Kilim: The Complete Guide unravels the complex questions surrounding the origins and history of these unique flatweaves and of the peoples who make them. Hundreds of illustrations, many in colour and many specially taken, show them in all their glory. A detailed account of techniques - materials, dyes and dyeing, tools, kilim structures and weaving - is followed by a systematic analysis of motifs and symbolism. Here, the complex relationship between Islam and the animistic or shamanistic traditions that preceded it is explored. The core of the book is devoted to the specific characteristics of region, tribe and kilim type. Four major sections present much original research, fully informing the reader about kilims from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia; Anatolia; Persia and the Caucasus; and Afghanistan and Central Asia. Chapters on new kilims and the use of kilims as bags or trappings as well as rugs - together with a reference guide to collecting, care and further study, conclude what has become the standard work on this widely appealing subject.

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The essential guide to the complex, fascinating world of Chinese myths: retelling the stories and exploring their significance in Chinese culture. This is a concise and entertaining guide to the complex tradition of Chinese mythology. While many around the world are familiar with some aspects of Chinese myth – through Chinese New Year festivities or the classic adventures of the Monkey King in Journey to the West – few outside of China understand the richness of Chinese mythology, influenced by Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Offering much more than any competing overview of Chinese mythology, The Chinese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Chinese religions, culture and history. Tao Tao Liu introduces us to an intriguing cast of gods, goddesses, dragons and monks, including: the ancient hero, Yi the Archer, who shot suns out of the sky to save humanity from a drought; Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, to whom there are temples dedicated all over East Asia; and Madame White Snake, a water snake spirit in the guise of a mysterious widow, her story adapted into countless films and operas. This book is for anyone interested in China, as knowing its myths allows readers to understand and appreciate its culture in a new light.

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First published in 1814 and expanded in 1821 – long before the era of colour photography or print – Syme’s edition of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours attempted to establish a universal colour reference system to help identify, classify and represent species from the natural world. Werner’s set of 54 colour standards was enhanced by Patrick Syme with the addition of colour swatches and further references from nature, taking the total number of hues classified to 110. The resulting resource proved invaluable not only to artists but also to zoologists, botanists, mineralogists and anatomists. In Nature’s Palette this technicolour trove has, for the first time, been enhanced with the addition of illustrations of the animals, vegetables and minerals Werner referenced alongside each colour swatch and accompanied by expert text explaining the uses and development of colour standards in relation to zoology, botany, minerology and anatomy. This fully realized colour catalogue includes elegant contemporary illustrations of every animal, plant or mineral that Syme cited. Readers can see for themselves Tile Red in the Cock Bullfinch’s breast, Shrubby Pimpernel and Porcelain Jasper; or admire the Berlin Blue that Syme identified on the wing feathers of a Jay, in the Hepatica flower and in Blue Sapphire. Displays of contemporary collector’s cabinets of birds, butterflies, eggs, flowers and minerals are interspersed at intervals throughout the compendium, with individual specimens colour matched to colour swatches. Still a much-loved reference among artists, naturalists and everyone fascinated by colour today, Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours finds its fullest expression in this beautiful and comprehensive colour reference system.With 1000 illustrations in colour

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The perfect introduction to the world of Japanese myth and legend. This is a smart and succinct guide to the rich tradition of Japanese mythology, from the earliest recorded legends of Izanagi and Izanami, their divine offspring and the creation of Japan, to medieval tales of vengeful ghosts, through to the modern-day reincarnation of ancient deities as the heroes of mecha anime. While many around the world love Japan’s cultural exports, few are familiar with Japan’s unique mythology - enriched by Shinto, Buddhism and regional folklore. Mythology remains a living, evolving part of Japanese society, and the ways in which the people of Japan understand their myths are very different today even from a century ago, let alone over a millennium into the past. Offering much more than any competing overview of Japanese mythology, The Japanese Myths not only retells the ancient stories but also considers their place within the patterns of Japanese religions, culture and history, helping readers to understand the deep links between past and present in Japan, and the ways these myths live and grow. Joshua Frydman takes the very earliest written myths in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki as his starting point, and from there traces Japan’s mythology through to post-war State Shinto, the rise of the manga industry in the 1960s, J-horror and modern-day myths. Reinventions and retellings of myth are present across all genres of contemporary Japanese culture, from its auteur cinema to renowned video games such as Okami. This book is for anyone interested in Japan, as knowing its myths allows readers to understand and appreciate its culture in a new light.

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Painstakingly researched from many sources, this is the first book to look at the artistic phenomenon known as turquerie. At the end of the 17th century, the long-standing fear of the Turk in Europe was gradually replaced by fascination. Travellers’ accounts of the Ottoman lands, translations of works such as One Thousand and One Nights, and the magnificent spectacle of Ottoman ambassadors and their retinues were among the catalysts that inspired the creation of a European fantasy of this world. In this new book, Haydn Williams shows how turquerie manifested itself in the arts across Europe. Its most intense and long-lasting expression was in France, but its reach was broad: from a mosque folly in Kew Gardens to an ivory statuette of a janissary created in Dresden for King Augustus II of Poland and the costumes worn for a carnival celebration in Rome in 1748. Focusing on categories including painting, architecture, interiors and the theatre, Turquerie provides an engaging account of this whimsical European fantasy.

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The coming of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century witnessed unprecedented changes in society: rapid economic progress went hand-in-hand with appalling working conditions, displacement, squalor and destitution for those at the bottom of the social scale. These new circumstances presented a challenge to contemporary image-makers, who wished to capture the effects of hunger, poverty and alienation in Britain, Ireland and France in the era before documentary photography. In this groundbreaking book, the eminent art historian Linda Nochlin examines the styles and expressive strategies that were used by artists and illustrators to capture this misère, roughly characterized as poverty that afflicts both body and soul. She investigates images of the Irish Famine in the period 1846–51; the gendered representation of misery, particularly of poor women and prostitutes; and the work of three very different artists: Théodore Géricault, Gustave Courbet and the less wellknown Fernand Pelez. The artists’ desire to depict the poor and the outcast accurately and convincingly is still a pertinent issue, though now, as Nochlin observes, the question has a moral and ethical dimension – does the documentary style belittle its subjects and degrade their condition?

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Taking a radically new approach to the history of abstract painting, Pepe Karmel applies a scholarly yet fresh vision to reconsider the history of abstraction from a global perspective and to demonstrate that abstraction is embedded in the real world. Moving beyond the orthodox canonical terrain of abstract art, he surveys artists from across the globe, examining their work from the point of view of content rather than form. Previous writers have approached the history of abstraction as a series of movements solving a series of formal problems. In contrast, Karmel focuses on the subject matter of abstract art, showing how artists have used abstract imagery to express social, cultural and spiritual experience. An introductory discussion of the work of the early modern pioneers of abstraction opens up into a completely new approach to abstract art based around five inclusive themes – the body, the landscape, the cosmos, architecture, and the repertory of man-made signs and patterns – each of which has its own chapter. Starting from a figurative example, Karmel works outwards to develop a series of narratives that go far beyond the established figures and movements traditionally associated with abstract art. Each narrative is complemented by a number of ‘featured’ abstract works, which provide an in-depth illustration of the breadth of Karmel’s distinctive vision. A wide-ranging examination of topics – from embryos to the surface of skin, from vortexes to waves, planets to star charts, towers to windows – is interwoven with detailed analysis of works by established figures like Joan Miró and Jackson Pollock alongside pieces by lesser-known artists such as Wu Guanzhong, Hilma af Klint and Odili Donald Odita.

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In the late 1970s, New York City was bankrupt, dirty and dangerous. Born on these grimy streets, graffiti rapidly made its mark. Here, twelve legendary graffiti writers – the original subway artists whose creative genius fuelled the earliest flowering of the movement – give first-person accounts of their experiences. Individually interviewed for this book by Sacha Jenkins, they reveal an authentic, unparalleled insight into the golden age of graffiti. Illustrated with Henry Chalfant’s original photographs, this book captures all the raw, explosive creativity of that era.

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The making of pictures has a history going back perhaps 100,000 years to an African shell used as a paint palette. Two-thirds of it is irrevocably lost, since the earliest images known to us are from about 40,000 years ago. But what a 40,000 years, explored here by David Hockney and Martin Gayford in a brilliantly original book. They privilege no medium, or period, or style, but instead, in 16 chapters, discuss how and why pictures have been made, and insistently link ‘art’ to human skills and human needs. Each chapter addresses an important question: What happens when we try to express reality in two dimensions? Why is the ‘Mona Lisa’ beautiful and why are shadows so rarely found in Chinese, Japanese and Persian painting? Why are optical projections always going to be more beautiful than HD television can ever be? How have the makers of images depicted movement? What makes marks on a flat surface interesting? Energized by two lifetimes of looking at pictures, combined with a great artist’s 70-year experience of experimentation as he makes them, this profoundly moving and enlightening volume will be the art book of the decade.

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The 1910s and 1920s witnessed an outpouring of luxury publications that used a hand-stencilling technique known as pochoir (French for 'stencil'). The highly refined and painterly technique, which consists of applying layers of gouache paint or watercolour to achieve bold blocks of saturated colour, produced works of visual artistry formerly unrivalled in the history of illustration, and it became the medium of choice for avant-garde couturiers seeking to stand apart and cultivate an elite readership. Organized chronologically by publication and showcasing a carefully curated selection of the most exceptional illustrations from couture albums and high-end magazines, Fashion and the Art of Pochoir is the definitive tribute to the artists and couturiers who first united to redefine luxury, inaugurating the enduring alliance between fashion and art, from Schiaparelli and Dalì to Vuitton and Murakami today. Closing with biographical notices of illustrators and fashion designers, it offers a unique chance for illustrators, artists, designers and fashion enthusiasts to discover the rarely seen images that defined a short but magnificent golden age.

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Susan Herbert's delightful feline reimaginings of famous scenes from art, theatre, opera, ballet and film have won her a devoted following. This unprecedented new compilation of her best paintings provides an irresistible introduction to her feline world. An array of cat characters take the starring roles in a variety of instantly recognizable settings. The masterpieces of Western art retain their distinctive styles while being cleverly filled with furry faces and pussycat tails. Cats then take to the stage in Shakespearean dramas and lavishly staged opera productions. The final stop is Hollywood, where cats are cast in everything from big-budget epics to cult classics, emulating the timeless glamour of the golden age of cinema. From Botticelli's Birth of Venus through Puccini's Tosca to James Dean and Lawrence of Arabia, Susan Herbert's brilliantly observed feline dramatis personae are a joy to discover.

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The Book of Kells is a masterpiece of medieval art – a brilliantly decorated version of the four Gospels with full-page depictions of Christ, the Virgin and the Evangelists as well as a wealth of smaller decorative painting. This new book, by the Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Library, Dublin, represents on a generous scale the glories of the Book of Kells for today’s readers, revealing the astounding detail and richness of one of the greatest treasures of medieval art. Its illustrations feature 59 full-size reproductions of complete pages of the manuscript, and, in addition, enlarged details that allow one to relish the intricacy of elements barely visible to the naked eye. We explore the Book of Kells through its historical background; a display of the elements of the book, actual size; the spectacular openings of the texts that precede the Gospels; a study of earlier and comparable manuscripts; detailed examination of symbols and themes, with special enlarged details; a look at the scribes and artists who worked on the manuscript; and a consideration of technical aspects, illuminated by recent scientific research.

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This volume is dedicated to 100 of the artist’s most beautiful and unforgettable canvases, as well as a rich selection of lesserknown works. It explores the paintings in the context of Van Gogh’s short but brilliant career, allying the works to his correspondence, which provides the narrative thread around which this study develops.

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From the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement to the present day, and from Art Nouveau and Bauhaus to hi-tech and green design, every style of interior design since 1900 is charted in this wide-ranging survey. Design in the 20th century saw an extraordinary evolution, with the emergence of professional interior designers and the growing appetite to redesign homes at frequent intervals. In recent decades the focus has been on sustainable design in public spaces such as offices, factories and ships. Anne Massey explores these developments in social, political, economic and cultural contexts. More than 200 illustrations of interiors from around the world, from William Morris’s drawing room to a 21st-century aircraft, reveal the fundamental changes in taste and style from Art Deco to Pop and from the Streamline Moderne to Post-Modernism. <This volume has been a classic introduction to the subject for almost thirty years. The new, fourth edition is brought up to date with a chapter on transnational design, encompassing mid-century modernist work in Singapore and Sri Lanka as well as very recent interiors for spaces as varied as luxury hotels in Dubai and a contemporary art museum in Cape Town. Anne Massey shows how a shared language of design and cutting-edge technology are reshaping interiors around the globe.

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The Greek myths are so much part of our culture that we tend to forget how they entered it in the first place. Visual sources – vase paintings, engraved gems and sculpture in bronze and stone – often pre-date references to the myths in literature, or offer alternative, unfamiliar tellings. In some cases visual art provides our only evidence, as there is no surviving account in ancient Greek literature of such important stories as the Fall of Troy, or Theseus and the Minotaur. T. H. Carpenter’s book is the first comprehensive, scholarly yet succinct survey of myth as it appears in Greek art. Copiously illustrated, it is an essential reference work for everybody interested in the art, drama, poetry or religion of ancient Greece. With this handbook as a guide, readers will be able to identify scenes from myth across the full breadth of archaic and classical Greek art.With 297 illustrations in colour

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The years since 1989 have seen a complete untethering of what art can be, who makes it and where it can be found, which has been matched by a reassessment of art's appropriate place in society and the financial value that should be attached to it. In this new book in the World of Art series, Kelly Grovier surveys the dynamic developments in art practice worldwide since 1989, going in search of those artists who have undertaken to shape a fresh visual vocabulary and whose work reflects on these turbulent years. The book’s ten chapters examine the key themes in contemporary art, from portraiture in the age of face transplants and facial recognition software, to political activism, science and religion. Artists discussed include Jeff Koons, Louise Bourgeois, Damien Hirst, George Condo, Marlene Dumas, Sean Scully, Cindy Sherman, Banksy, Ai Weiwei, Antony Gormley, Christo and Jean-Claude, Jenny Holzer, Chuck Close and Cornelia Parker. The final chapter, a timeline, traces the evolution of art practice in this period by looking closely at one key artwork from each year.

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The first book to concentrate on the early ceramic work of ‘Transvestite Potter’, bestselling author, broadcaster and social commentator Grayson Perry. Grayson Perry is now a household name as a result of his widely viewed television documentaries, numerous publications – including his critically acclaimed book about masculinity, The Descent of Man – and dazzling appearances dressed as his alter ego, Claire. However, Perry first came to public attention in 2003 when he won the Turner Prize, the first ceramicist to do so, and rapidly established a unique brand as ‘the transvestite potter’. Ceramics are still central to Perry’s work as an artist, and this book examines the plates, pots and statues from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s that laid the foundations of his career. It traces his artistic development, examining the iconography and meaning behind the work, as well as placing his art in the context not only of his own psychological make-up in the period before he underwent therapy but also of the various subcultures of the London art scene. With essays by Grayson Perry, Andrew Wilson and Catrin Jones.

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‘I won't read a more interesting book all year... utterly fascinating' A. N. Wilson, Sunday Times ‘Enormously good-humoured and entertaining… Hockney asks big questions about the nature of picture-making and the relationship between painters and photography in a way that no other contemporary artist seems to.’ Andrew Marr, New Statesman A new, compact edition of David Hockney and Martin Gayford’s brilliantly original book, with a revised final chapter and three entirely new Hockney artworks Informed and energized by a lifetime of painting, drawing and making images with cameras, David Hockney, in collaboration with the art critic Martin Gayford, explores how and why pictures have been made across the millennia. What makes marks on a flat surface interesting? How do you show movement in a still picture, and how, conversely, do films and television connect with old masters? Juxtaposing a rich variety of images – a still from a Disney cartoon with a Japanese woodblock print by Hiroshige, a scene from an Eisenstein film with a Velázquez painting – the authors cross the normal boundaries between high culture and popular entertainment, and make unexpected connections across time and media. Building on Hockney’s groundbreaking book Secret Knowledge, they argue that film, photography, painting and drawing are deeply interconnected. Insightful and thought provoking, A History of Pictures is an important contribution to our appreciation of how we represent our reality. This new edition has a revised final chapter with some of Hockney’s latest works, including the stained-glass window in Westminster Abbey.

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A fully updated and revised edition of a classic bestseller: the definitive guide to Tutankhamun and his tomb – what it contained, why, and what it means today. On 4 November 1922, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter’s long search in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings drew to a triumphant close: Tutankhamun’s tomb had been found. As news of the discovery spread, and as images of the breathtaking treasures began to circulate, this once-obscure pharaoh would capture the imagination of the entire world. A hundred years on, and both the fascination and the drama continue. Scientific research has pushed forward, and the results have been impressive: the tomb’s ground-plan and setting are now fully remapped; CT-scanning and aDNA have begun to shed their unique light on Tutankhamun in life and in death; super-accurate recordings have been secured of the Burial Chamber’s decorated walls; and we possess at last high-quality photography of Pharaoh’s possessions. Our access to Carnarvon and Carter’s extraordinary find is greater today than it has ever been, and from this fuller evidence comes one new realization among many – that both the tomb and its treasures had been intended for someone else. In this new edition of his landmark book Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves revisits Tutankhamun in the context of his time, the excavators in the context of theirs, and every aspect, old and new, of the tomb’s discovery, archaeology, architecture and art. If what was discovered in 1922 had the ability to amaze, then what has been discovered since will simply astonish.

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Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) was, with Calder, Noguchi and David Smith, one of the great American sculptors of the 20th century. She created extraordinary work, from room-size installations composed of boxes to gnarled and majestic steel structures. Her life story is no less interesting. She was born in czarist Russia, but her family emigrated to the States and she grew up in Maine. Nevelson endured a repressive marriage to a New York millionaire, whom she escaped to pursue the life of an artist. She gained recognition as an abstract sculptor at the age of 59, and spent the next 30 years taking the art world by storm, becoming a colourful New York personality and minor celebrity. Laurie Wilson, who knew Nevelson personally, draws extensively on her own research in this crisp new biography. She conducted interviews not just with Nevelson but with her siblings, son, and gallery owner Arne Glimcher. Wilson has also had complete access to Glimcher’s archives, Nevelson’s personal assistant, Diana Mackown, and Lippincott studios, where much of Nevelson’s work was cast, among others

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It is time for a new book about bog bodies: the number of known bodies is growing. Lindow Man, the famous 'Pete Marsh' discovered in Cheshire in the 1980s, has been joined by new finds from Ireland and elsewhere. Who were these unfortunate people, and why were they killed? Archaeologists, armed with the latest analytical techniques, are today investigating these cold cases to reveal much about our distant past. Forensic science allows us to deduce the age, physical condition, status, cause and time of death of these ancient victims, helping to answer the fundamental questions that they pose: were these people executed, simply murdered, or victims of human sacrifice? Who selected them? Who delivered the killing blow, and why? Drawing on all the latest evidence and research, Miranda Aldhouse-Green has written an engrossing detective story, uncovering the hidden truths behind these murder mysteries.

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A contemporary reimagining of Alex Webb’s long out-of-print, limited edition book Dislocations. Recognised as a pioneer of colour photography, Alex Webb is able to juxtapose gesture, colour and contrasting cultural tensions into a single beguiling frame, resulting in evocative images that elevate fractured and multilayered meanings. His book Dislocations, first published in 1998 as a limited edition accordion book with Canon Laser prints (then considered state of the art), brings together pictures from the many disparate locations over Webb’s oeuvre, meditating on the act of photography as a form of dislocation in itself. Spurred by the pandemic, and its world of closed borders and disrupted travel, Webb reconsidered the impossibility of creating this series of images: the result is this reimagined edition of Dislocations, which includes new photographs taken in the twenty-five years since the original. This characteristically exquisite book brings a fresh perspective to Webb’s expansive catalogue, and speaks to the palpable sense of dislocation in our time.

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Published to accompany the major exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, this book is destined to become a must-have work of reference for all fashion lovers. The couturière Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) was a key figure in Paris fashion between the two World Wars. Following in the footsteps of her mentor Paul Poiret, she designed her first knitwear collection in January 1927. Decorated with trompe-l’oeil motifs in black and white, her sweaters were an immediate success in both France and the USA. In 1935, the Maison Schiaparelli opened in the Place Vendôme in Paris, selling collections designed for sports, city and evening wear. Like her arch-rival Gabrielle Chanel, Schiaparelli also worked closely with artists, including Man Ray, Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dalí, with whom she created a lobster dress. Taking a cue from Surrealism, her creations were hugely imaginative and made use of innovative new materials. The ‘Schiap’ style continued to develop through the 1930s. Her most famous collections had themes including the circus (summer 1938) and astrology (winter 1938–39). In 1937, Schiaparelli launched the fragrance Shocking, named after shocking pink, which had become her signature colour. Alongside vintage photographs, sketches and contemporary features from Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, this volume presents specially photographed masterpieces from the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. All 120 garments and accessories from the Schiaparelli archive are illustrated, along with a selection of her drawings dating from 1933 to 1953.

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