Illuminations includes Benjamin's views on Kafka, with whom he felt the closest personal affinity, his studies on Baudelaire and Proust (both of whom he translated), his essays on Leskov and on Brecht's Epic Theater. Also included are his penetrating study on "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," an illuminating discussion of translation as a literary mode, and his thesis on the philosophy of history. Hannah Arendt selected the essays for this volume and prefaces them with a substantial, admirably informed introduction that presents Benjamin's personality and intellectual development, as well as his work and his life in dark times. Reflections the companion volume to this book, is also available as a Schocken paperback.Unpacking My Library, 1931The Task of the Translator, 1913The Storyteller, 1936Franz Kafka, 1934Some Reflections on Kafka, 1938What Is Epic Theater?, 1939On Some Motifs in Baudelaire, 1939The Image of Proust, 1929The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1936Theses on the Philosophy of History, written 1940, pub. 1950

    Photos by DeCarava, poetry by Hughes, set in a Harlem neighborhood, told from a woman’s point of view as she looks through her apartment window.

    This book, the permanent embodiment of Edward Steichen's monumental exhibition, reproduces all of the 503 images that Steichen described as a mirror of the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world. Photographs made in all parts of the world, of the gamut of life from birth to death. A classic and inspiring work, The Family of Man has been in print for more than 40 years. The New York Times once wrote that it symbolizes the universality of human emotions. First produced by a magazine publisher and sold by the hundreds of thousands on newsstands and in airport shops, The Family of Man has been in more recent years published by the Museum. It has been continuously in print since 1955; the present thirtieth-anniversary edition was prepared from original photographs with all new duotone plates in 1986.

    Containing 4,789 photographs, it illustrates some 163 different types of action: elderly man lifting log, woman sweeping, woman climbing ladder, men boxing and wrestling, child crawling, man lifting weight, man jumping, and 155 other types of action, some of which are illustrated by as many as 62 different photographs. Taken at speeds ranging up to 1/6000th of a second, these photographs show bone and muscle positions against ruled backgrounds. Almost all subjects are undraped, and all actions are shown from three angles: front, rear, and three-quarter view. These historic photographs, one of the great monuments of nineteenth-century photography, are reproduced original size, with all the clarity and detail of the originals. As a complete thesaurus of human action, it has never been superseded. Muybridge was a genius of photography, who had unlimited financial, technical, and scientific backing at the University of Pennsylvania. This volume presents the final selection from more than 100,000 negatives made at an expenditure of more than $50,000. It has never been superseded as a sourcebook for artists, students, animators, and art directors. "An unparalleled dictionary of action for all artists, photographers." — American Artist."Impressive and valuable collection." — Scientific American.

    It is both an introduction to the study of art and, for those with more specialized interests, a profound discussion of art and life in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Panofsky's historical technique reveals an abundance of detail, detail he skillfully relates to the life and work of individual painters and their times. The papers in this volume represent a cross-section of Panofsky's major work. Included are selections from his well-known Studies in Iconology and The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, plus an introduction and an epilogue—"The History of Art as a Humanistic Discipline" and "Three Decades of Art History in the United States: Impressions of a Transplanted European"—as well as pieces written especially for this collection. All display Panofsky's vast erudition and deep commitment to a humanistic conception of art and art history.

    Using lively anecdotes, Fleming shows how the styles are linked together by common purposes, themes, and ideas.

    It contains 85 black-and-white press photographs from World War II which Brecht himself cut out of newspapers and magazines. They date from his exile in Sweden and Finland in 1940 and 1941, but were mainly collected during his exile in the USA, from July 1941 till the end of the war. To each picture, Brecht added a four-line poem - poignant, angry, personal or political, or a combination of these. This book therefore constitutes an intriguing record of World War II from the viewpoint of one of the 20th-century's greatest and most politically-engaged poets.

    Leading us along rustic winding roads bordering fields and farmhouses, Eric Sloane captures our imaginations as he offers us a guided tour that evokes the America of pioneer times.This fascinating narrative describes networks of canals, corduroy roads, and turnpikes; tollgates, waterwheels, and icehouses; country inns and churches; ingenious and colorful road signs; and massive snow-rollers that packed snow into hard surfaces for great sleds. Here also are engrossing accounts of toll-road owners, sign painters, circus folk, and other entertainers of the period.Brimming with anecdotes about people and the times, this delightful, warmly written book remains a genuine and permanent contribution to the field of Americana.

    Through the skill and immense knowledge of Erwin Panofsky, the reader is dazzled not only by D�rer the artist but also D�rer in a wide array of other roles, including mathematician and scientific thinker. Originally published in 1943 in two volumes, The Life and Art of Albrecht D�rer met with such wide popular and scholarly acclaim that it led to three editions and then, in 1955, to the first one-volume edition. Without sacrifice of text or illustrations, the book was reduced to this single volume by the omission of the Handlist and Concordance. The new introduction by Jeffrey Chipps Smith reflects upon Panofsky the man, the tumultuous circumstances surrounding the creation of his masterful monograph, its innovative contents, and its early critical reception. Erwin Panofsky was one of the most important art historians of the twentieth century. Panofsky taught for many years at Hamburg University but was forced by the Nazis to leave Germany. He joined the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1935, where he spent the remainder of his career and wrote The Life and Art of Albrecht D�rer. He developed an iconographic approach to art and interpreted works through an analysis of symbolism, history, and social factors.This book, one of his most important, is a comprehensive study of painter and printmaker Albrecht D�rer (1471-1528), the greatest exponent of northern European Renaissance art. Although an important painter, D�rer was most renowned for his graphic works. Artists across Europe admired and copied his innovative and powerful prints, ranging from religious and mythological scenes to maps and exotic animals. The book covers D�rer's entire career in exacting detail. With multiple indexes and more than three hundred illustrations, it has served as an indispensable reference, remaining crucial to an understanding of the work of the great artist and printmaker. Subsequent D�rer studies have necessarily made reference to Panofsky's masterpiece. Panofsky's work continues to be admired for the author's immense erudition, subtlety of appreciation, technical knowledge, and profound analyses.

    It was founded by Henry Clay Frick, the Pittsburgh industrialist, who bequeathed his New York residence and the most outstanding of his many artworks to establish a public gallery.

    In nine richly illustrated chapters Chiang Yee explores the aesthetics and the technique of this art in which rhythm, line, and structure are perfectly embodied. He measures the slow change from pictograph to stroke to the style and shape of written characters by the great calligraphers.Speech and writing are two organs of the same human impulse--the conveyance of thought: the one operating through hearing, the other through sight; the one by sound from mouth to ear, the other by form or image from hand to eye. But each can do something besides convey thought. Spoken words can be so arranged as to discharge aesthetic "musical" significances, as in much Western poetry. Written words can be formed to liberate visual beauties; and it is these which form the subject of this book. In addition to aesthetic considerations, the text deals with such more practical subjects as the origin and construction of the Chinese characters, styles, technique, strokes, composition, training, and the relations between calligraphy and other forms of Chinese art.For the third edition the author has added two new chapters: "Calligraphy and Painting" discusses the dependence of Chinese painting on calligraphic training and techniques; "Aesthetic Principles" explores the fundamental concepts underlying every Chinese art form.Chinese Calligraphy is a superb appreciation of beauty in the movement of strokes and in the patterns of structure--and an inspiration to amateurs as well as professionals interested in the decorative arts.

    Strand asked Zavattini to choose a village with the elusive "special quality" he sought. Zavattini knew just such a village: his own birthplace of Luzzara, in the Po Valley. The collaboration of these two remarkable artists resulted in the classic book Un Paese. Published in Italian in 1955, and now available for the first time in the English language, Un Paese captures in photographs and in spoken testimony the essential experience of daily life in Luzzara. It presents a series of intense portraits, graceful landscapes, and images of everyday objects. Paul Strand's photographs are carefully distilled, deeply powerful; they contain the flavors and the rhythms of an entire culture crystallized in a single village. Zavattini successfully synthesizes text and image, aligning with the new cinematic trend of the day, a movement known as Italian neorealism. Their Luzzara is an ordinary village, neither overly picturesque nor greatly unusual, yet it is a town sustained by a grounded humanity and a profound love for the land by its people.

    

    Like the other vibrant titles in this series, The Edwardian Scrapbook offers a glimpse of cultural history using Robert Opie's unrivaled collection of ephemera and packaging. It contributes to our knowledge of the recent past and is a treasure trove of information and nostalgia. The Scrapbook series will eventually cover every decade of the twentieth century.

    

    Media such as advertising, packaging, book and periodical page designs, etc. have brought the glories of the master penmen of the past back into vogue. This volume, prepared by a noted authority and containing numerous examples of his handiwork, is a basic guide to the construction of the script letter and its practical use.The book gives the beginner a thorough, straightforward course of instruction, with advice on virtually every facet of the art of script lettering. In his clear and economical presentation, the author tells you how to hold the pen, how the letters should be slanted, how to "build" the letters out of a few primary strokes, the direction of the pen in inking, and every other step of the process. He also deals with the construction of numerals, the flourish and its basic elements, how to correct mistakes, commercial handwriting, etc and gives a concise introduction to layout and package design. Throughout his account, Thompson stresses materials, tools, and equipment needed and provides exact specifications, brand names, penpoint types and sizes, and the like.The history of lettering is also briefly sketched, and there are examples from early copybooks, including the work of some of the famous penmen and engravers of history: Bickham, Tompkins, Cocker, Barbedor, and others. In addition, the book offers dozens of illustrations of script work in present-day advertising and packaging, together with samples of various styles (round hand, bâtarde, coulée, free style, and more). All this illustrative material furnishes excellent models for study and practice.This, then, is an essential book for every art director and designer concerned with lettering. It is also a fundamental text used in advertising and commercial art courses throughout the country; no student in the field should be without a copy.

    Rare images illustrate the essence of this pivotal era.

    

    The description for this book, American Painting From the Armory Show to the Depression, will be forthcoming.