Aligned with the resurgence of feminism in pop culture, Broad Strokes offers an entertaining corrective to that omission. Art historian Bridget Quinn delves into the lives and careers of 15 brilliant female artists in text that's smart, feisty, educational, and an enjoyable read. Replete with beautiful reproductions of the artists' works and contemporary portraits of each artist by renowned illustrator Lisa Congdon, this is art history from 1600 to the present day for the modern art lover, reader, and feminist.

    Simply constructed, the book explores 50 key works, from the wall paintings of Lascaux to Damien Hirst installations, and then links these to sections on art movements, themes and techniques.The design of the book allows the student or art enthusiast to easily navigate their way around key periods, artists and styles. Accessible and concise, it simplifies and explains the most important and influential concepts in art, and shows how they are connected. The book explains how, why and when art changed, who introduced certain things, what they were, where they were produced, and whether they matter. It demystifies artistic jargon, giving readers a thorough understanding and broad enjoyment of art.'Susie Hodge has culled through hundreds of art movements to highlight and present 36 that illustrate transitions of art, its ideas, representations, characteristics, and production from Prehistoric times up to the dynamic shifts of the 1960s and '70s. As complex as art history is, this book is a welcome, succinct introduction to some classic Western masters.' Cindy Helm, New York Journal of Books'Excellent introduction to the subject. A good quality book, tightly bound, and well illustrated.'– Colin, Amazon reviewer 'The Short Story of Art is an attractive volume that serves as a convenient introduction to major movements, works, themes, and techniques of Western art. The works within are featured more for their seminal or illustrative nature than their fame per se, so the "story" part of the title is apt. The cross referencing and "Other works by…" sections makes it clear that this book is encouraging the reader to explore art on his own.' –Tommy Grooms, Goodreads reviewer

    His writings have been edited and selected to create an enlightening, uplifting, and helpful book for art lovers and creatives, amateur and professional alike.

    The terrain is rugged, the machines are deadly and your tools are primitive. This book will provide everything you need to overcome the odds, get a deeper understanding of this unique world and see all that the adventure has to offer.Get an Overview of How Things WorkOur breakdown of the game's systems is as in-depth as it gets. You'll have the benefit of countless hours' play at your fingertips, with analysis of the skills, crafting and rewards that makes knowing what to do next as clear as possible.Plan Your Route Through the GameWe provide everything you need to plot out your own route through the game, based on your way of playing. Tackle the main quests, side quests and activities in the order you want, or follow our recommendations for an easy, optimal experience.Hone Your Combat SkillsAloy has a staggering repertoire of hunting tools and abilities to learn and master. We'll provide all the information you need to choose the ones that suit you best. The Hunting Guide chapter lays bare all the workings of the game's enemies, weapons, tools and combat.Dig Beneath the SurfaceOur focus on dissecting Horizon Zero Dawn extends deeply into the game's story and its mysteries. This book is steeped in the game's lore and features design insights and artwork alongside interviews with the team at Guerrilla Games.A Beautiful BonusTo really know everything about the world of Horizon Zero Dawn you'll need to explore its outer reaches and collect every artifact and trinket you can. With that in mind, we've included a gorgeous world map poster to make sure you won't have trouble finding whatever you desire.

    Begin with the early Renaissance and follow art movements through the centuries to some of the most well-known artists alive today.A gorgeous exploration of the defining people of the art world including pioneers like Giotto and Jan van Eyck, the greats like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, and the visionaries like Frida Kahlo and Hokusai.The large format art book is overflowing with information and pictures of your favorite classics. The full-page prints are especially spectacular, allowing you to get the full effect of the work that inspired, defined and encapsulated art movements.Over 500 years of the craft is discussed, with the chapters organized by century starting with Before 1500" and ending with "1945 - Present." Each chapter features the relevant painters of those years with its own directory. Read about the historical context of art movements in sections which include timelines and fact panels giving incredible insight into the art world, the past lives of artists and their visions and techniques.Discover the unconventional stories of the artists' lives, including their influences, developments, friendships, loves and rivalries. Read about the portraits that Holbein did for Henry VIII to play matchmaker, Caravaggio's astonishing reaction to a badly cooked artichoke and the many romantic affairs of Picasso. Sometimes scandalous and often tumultuous, the lives of artists like Raphael, Hogarth, van Gogh, O'Keeffe, Magritte, Warhol and Kiefer are as interesting and captivating as their work.The Artists Behind the Paint BrushesA beautiful coffee table book that would make a lovely gift for those interested in art history and artist biographies, or to browse the attractive reproductions of the famous artworks. Includes a foreword by Ross King, who is the author of the bestselling Brunelleschi's Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, as well as the novels Ex-Libris and Domino.- Over 80 biographies of the standout artists over the centuries since the early Renaissance. - Beautiful reproductions of artworks that allow you to get up close to their brush strokes. - Insight into historical art themes and movements that influenced the periods.

    Basquiat first came to prominence when he collaborated with Al Diaz to spray-paint enigmatic statements under the pseudonym SAMO(c). He went on to work on collages, Xerox art, postcards, performances, and music before establishing his reputation as one of the most important painters of his generation. Accompanying a major exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery, this book opens with introductory essays from the curators, which place his practice in a wider art historical context and look at his career through the lens of performance. Six thematic chapters offer new research, with essays from poet Christian Campbell on SAMO(c); curator Carlo McCormick on New York / New Wave; writer Glenn O'Brien on the downtown scene; academic Jordana Moore Saggese on Basquiat's relationship to film and television; and music scholar Francesco Martinelli on Basquiat's obsession with jazz. This insightful new survey also features extended captions, rare archival material, and extensive photography, demonstrating how Basquiat's legacy remains more powerful and relevant than ever today.

    Exhibitions since the 1980s have presented his long career as a chronological sequence. This publication, which will coincide with an exhibition at the British Museum, takes a fresh approach based on innovative scholarship: thematic groupings of late works are related to the major spiritual and artistic quests of Hokusai’s life.Hokusai’s personal beliefs are contemplated here through analyses of major brush paintings, drawings, woodblock prints, and illustrated books. The publication gives due attention to the contribution of Hokusai’s daughter Eijo (Oi), also an accomplished artist. Hokusai continually explored the mutability and minutiae of natural phenomena in his art. His late subjects and styles were based on a mastery of eclectic Japanese, Chinese, and European techniques and an encyclopedic knowledge of nature, myth, and history.Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave draws on the finest collections of his work in Japan and around the world, making this the most important publication for years on Hokusai and a uniquely valuable overview of the artist’s late career.

    Richly illustrated with images of her art and views of the two homes she designed and furnished in New Mexico, the book also includes never before published photographs of O'Keeffe's clothes. The author has attributed some of the most exquisite of these garments to O'Keeffe, a skilled seamstress who understood fabric and design, and who has become an icon in today's fashion world as much for her personal style as for her art. As one of her friends stated, O'Keeffe -never allowed her life to be one thing and her painting another.- This fresh and carefully researched study brings O'Keeffe's style to life, illuminating how this beloved American artist purposefully proclaimed her modernity in the way she dressed and posed for photographers, from Alfred Stieglitz to Bruce Weber. This beautiful book accompanies the first museum exhibition to bring together photographs, clothes, and art to explore O'Keeffe's unified modernist aesthetic.

    

    Now best-selling artist and art instructor Mark Crilley presents the most complete look yet at the variety of creative options available in the world of manga. Crilley fills each chapter with gorgeous, original artwork created with a variety of tools (pencils, colored pencils, digital art, pen and ink, and more) and in a variety of manga-inspired styles. He pairs each piece with information on the materials used and the inspiration that led to its creation. Manga Art provides readers a one-of-a-kind chance to hear from one of the leading artists in the field of manga instruction, as he reveals the unlimited possibilities of manga and the creative secrets behind over 100 pieces of original, never-before-seen artwork.

    Before Vasari’s extraordinary book, art was considered a technical skill rather than an intellectual pursuit, and artists were mere decorators and craftsmen. It was through Vasari’s visionary writings that artists like Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came to be regarded as great masters of life as well as art, their creative genius celebrated as a divine gift. Their enduring reputations testify to Vasari’s profound yet unspoken influence on western culture.An advisor to kings and pontiffs—and a confidant to Titian, Donatello, and more—Vasari enjoyed an exhilarating career amid the thrilling culture of Renaissance Italy. In The Collector of Lives, Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney offer a lively and inviting introduction to this pivotal figure in art history, and immerse readers in the world of the Medici of Florence and the popes of Rome. A narrative of intrigue, scandal, and colorful artistic rivalry, this vivid biography shows the great works of western art taking shape under Vasari’s keen eye—and reveals how one Renaissance scholar completely redefined how we look at art.

    A vociferous supporter and developer of Darwin s theories of evolution, he denounced religious dogma, abandoned an early career in medicine, authored philosophical treatises, gained a doctorate in zoology, and coined scientific terms which have passed into common usage, including ecology, phylum, and stem cell. Haeckel s colossal legacy has fascinated, confounded, and polarized generations. But what was at the heart of his extraordinary life s work? Rather like his intellectual forebear, Alexander von Humboldt, Haeckel was motivated not only to discover but also to explain. To do this, he created hundreds of detailed drawings, watercolors, and sketches of his findings which he published in successive volumes during the 20th century, including several marine organism collections and the majestic Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), which could serve as the cornerstone of Haeckel s entire life project. Like a meticulous visual encyclopedia of living things, Haeckel s work was as remarkable for its graphic precision and meticulous shading as for its understanding of organic evolution and cellular development. From bats to the box jellyfish, lizards to lichen, and spider legs to sea anemones, he emphasized the essential symmetries and order of nature, and found biological beauty in even the most unlikely of creatures. The prints not only furthered the study of natural history but also influenced generations of 20th-century artists and architects, from the emerging proponents of Art Nouveau to architects such as Hendrik Petrus Berlage, whose Amsterdam Commodities Exchange was inspired by Haeckel s illustrations. In this book, we celebrate the scientific, artistic, and environmental importance of Haeckel s work, with a collection of prints from several of his most important tomes on marine biology, including Die Radiolarien, Monographie der Medusen, Die Kalkschwamme: eine Monographie, and Kunstformen der Natur. At a time when biodiversity is increasingly threatened by human activities, the book is at once a visual masterwork, an underwater exploration, and a vivid reminder of the precious variety of life.Text in English, French, and German.CONTRIBUTORSThe AuthorsRainer Willmann holds a chair in zoology at Göttingen University, is director of its Zoological Museum, and is cofounder of its Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research. A specialist in phylogenetics and evolution, he conducts research into biodiversity and its history.Julia Voss studied German literature, art history, and philosophy at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, at the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, and at Goldsmith’s College in London. Her doctoral dissertation on visual representations of Darwinian evolution theory received the Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society. She is Deputy Editor of the Feuilleton and co-Editor of the Fine Arts section for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.PRODUCT DETAILSThe Art and Science of Ernst HaeckelRainer Willmann, Julia VossHardcover, 28.5 x 39.5 cm, 704 pagesISBN 978-3-8365-2646-3Multilingual Edition: English, French, German

    Bringing together artists from the worlds of comics, fine art, animation and illustration. Over 350 artists from all over the world have contributed art for this comprehensive collection. Also included in the book, an all-new introduction by horror director/actor/producer Eli Roth and an afterword by the Master of Horror himself, John Carpenter.

    The new book features the range and power of her heavily autobiographical work, from the early, disturbing explorations of personal suffering to the more dulled, painkiller-drenched paintings of her later life.

    This book presents numerous historically important art works spanning from the 19th century to Surrealism, including notable European illustrators such as Odilon Redon, Gustav Klimt, and many more.Each chapter comprehensively showcases such art works, grouping them by stylistic category or artistic movement: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Symbolism in France, Germany and Belgium; Wiener Secession; Art Nouveau and Art Deco; Eroticism; book illustrators; Surrealist artists and so on. This collection also explores the theme of the femme fatale through representations of Sirens, mermaids and witches, as well as characters from Greek mythology, modern literary works, and so on.Approximately 370 great art works are presented in a stylish layout designed by Reiko Harajo, the renowned book designer and creator of the gorgeous book designs of past PIE titles: George Barbier, William Morris and Harry Clarke. These art titles are available in English and include columns on themes related to these works.The Art of Decadence is sure to become a most treasured book for artists and illustrators, especially those with a keen interest in 19th-century European art. (English/Japanese Bilingual text.)

    He produced many illustrations, advertisements, postcards, packages and paintings throughout his life. The popularity of Mucha's distinctive style and demand for his beautiful works has continued to grow since the strong revival of interest in Art Nouveau during the 1960s. This book is the very best collection of Mucha's characteristic works, covering his entire career, from his beginnings in Paris to his final days in Czech after four years in the United States. His most representative works are featured, not only in the field of fine art but also in editorial design and graphic design. As a special feature, this book introduces more typography and package design works compared to other publications on Mucha's work. And, of course, Mucha's masterpiece the 'Slav Epic' is also covered in detail, along with an interpretation and its historical background. This beautifully-designed book will be a valuable reference for graphic designers and illustrators alike, and is sure to become a must-have book for Mucha's fans around the world to treasure.

    She ran the embroidery department of her father’s famous firm Morris Co., and had a successful freelance career as a designer, maker, and exhibitor, founding the Women’s Guild of Arts in 1907 and undertaking a lecture tour in the United States between 1909 and 1910. May’s approach to embroidery was innovative and widely influential in the UK and abroad, yet her important contribution to embroidery is often overshadowed by the accomplishments of her more famous father.May Morris: Arts Crafts Designer is an attractive introduction to May’s work, with exquisite images including close-up photographs of her embroideries. The book is divided into five chapters—Sketches and Watercolors, Wallpapers and Embroidery, Book Covers and Designs, May Morris and the Art of Dress, and Jewelry and Metalwork—each of which opens with an introductory text, followed by catalog entries with extended captions. Interspersed within the chronological arrangement of objects are feature spreads highlighting particular aspects of May Morris’s work.

    Famous for her groundbreaking performance works, she continues to expand the boundaries of art. This publication, accompanying her first major retrospective in Europe, gives an extensive overview of her work from the earliest years until today: film, photography, paintings and objects, installations and archival material.Since the early 1970s Abramovic has explored the intersection between performing and visual art in her work and, though rarely overtly political, posed questions of power and hierarchy. In addressing fundamental issues of our existence and seeking the core of such notions as loss, memory, pain endurance and trust, she both provokes and moves.

    A child prodigy, young rebel, and chronic provocateur, he caused uproar among the establishment with his contorted lines, distorted bodies, and explicit eroticism and continues to startle to this day with his unflinching images of himself and his nude subjects. In this expansive XXL-format book, we survey the complete catalogue of Schiele paintings from his most innovative and prolific decade between 1909 and 1919. The 221 featured works reveal how the artist reveled in stylistic freedom and shock, abandoning classical figuration for a distorted and exaggerated physicality that rendered emotional and sexual truth. His subjects are elongated, angular, and twisted. With protruding ribs, contorted limbs, and sickly skin, the body becomes a locus of anguish. The only reprieve is the promise of sex. Like no other early 20th-century artist, Schiele laid genitalia bare, bringing some of the most candid renderings of the vagina in Western art history, as well as scenes of masturbation and lesbian sex. These startling works are presented alongside biographical details, expert insights, as well as Schiele's own writings and poems, offering intimate access to the ideas behind his work and his extraordinary legacy through countless 20th-century masters, from Francis Bacon and Otto Muehl to Julian Schnabel, David Bowie, and Tracey Emin.

    In the midst of the anarchy we find those brave souls who have chosen not to flee the city. Titian, most celebrated of Venetian painters, his health failing badly; Sabastiano a gondolier who is the eyes and ears of the corrupted and crumbling city and Tullia, the most famous courtesan of the age who must fight to retain her status as well as her worldly possessions. And in the present day the echoes of what happened centuries earlier still ripple as the lives of ordinary people as far distant as London and New York are touched by the legacy of old Venice...

    Emphasizing the importance of African American migration, as well as L.A.'s housing and employment politics, Jones shows how the work of black Angeleno artists such as Betye Saar, Charles White, Noah Purifoy, and Senga Nengudi spoke to the dislocation of migration, L.A.'s urban renewal, and restrictions on black mobility. Jones characterizes their works as modern migration narratives that look to the past to consider real and imagined futures. She also attends to these artists' relationships with gallery and museum culture and the establishment of black-owned arts spaces. With South of Pico, Jones expands the understanding of the histories of black arts and creativity in Los Angeles and beyond.

    Stettheimer collaborated with Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson, befriended (and took French lessons from) Marcel Duchamp, and was a member of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe’s artistic and intellectual circle. Beautifully illustrated with 150 color images, including the majority of the artist’s extant paintings, as well as drawings, theater designs, and ephemera, this volume also highlights Stettheimer’s poetry and gives her a long overdue critical reassessment.    The essays published here—as well as a roundtable discussion by seven leading contemporary female artists—overturn the traditional perception of Stettheimer as an artist of mere novelties.  Her work is linked not only to American modernism and the New York bohemian scene before World War II but also to a range of art practices active today. Flamboyant and epicurean, she was an astute documenter of New York and parodist of her social milieu; her highly decorative scenes borrowed from Surrealism and contributed to the beginnings of a feminist aesthetic.

    Join Sister Wendy on a journey through Lent, and discover the timeless wisdom to be found in some of the world's greatest paintings.Illustrated in full colour with over forty famous and lesser-known masterpieces of Western art, this beautiful book will lead you into a deeply prayerful response to all that these paintings convey to the discerning eye.'For those who want to appreciate the spirituality behind some of the world's greatest works of art, this book will be hugely inspiring - not only during Lent but at any time of the year.'Dr Janina Ramirez, art historian and broadcaster

    Drawing on his huge specialist archive, historian and paint expert Patrick Baty traces the evolution of pigments and paint colours together with colour systems and standards, and examines their impact on the colour palettes used in interiors from 1650 to 1960. He first charts the creation in paint of the common and expensive colours made from traditional earth pigments between 1650 to 1799. Next he examines the emergence of colour systems and standards and their influence on paint colours together with the effect of industrialized production on the texture and durability of paints. Alongside the authoritative and revealing text are specially commissioned photographs of pages from rare colour books. Throughout the book reproductions of interiors from home decor books, highlighting the distinctive colour trends and styles of painting particular to each period, accompany the in-depth analysis of the history of colour and the development and use of paint colours in interior design.

    Emblazoning its logo onto t-shirts, the group wryly envisioned female collective textile making as a practice that could upend conventions, threaten state structures, and wreak political havoc. Elaborating on this example as a prehistory to the more recent phenomenon of “craftivism”—the politics and social practices associated with handmaking—Fray explores textiles and their role at the forefront of debates about process, materiality, gender, and race in times of economic upheaval. Closely examining how amateurs and fine artists in the United States and Chile turned to sewing, braiding, knotting, and quilting amid the rise of global manufacturing, Julia Bryan-Wilson argues that textiles unravel the high/low divide and urges us to think flexibly about what the politics of textiles might be. Her case studies from the 1970s through the 1990s—including the improvised costumes of the theater troupe the Cockettes, the braided rag rugs of US artist Harmony Hammond, the thread-based sculptures of Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña, the small hand-sewn tapestries depicting Pinochet’s torture, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt—are often taken as evidence of the inherently progressive nature of handcrafted textiles. Fray, however, shows that such methods are recruited to often ambivalent ends, leaving textiles very much “in the fray” of debates about feminized labor, protest cultures, and queer identities; the malleability of cloth and fiber means that textiles can be activated, or stretched, in many ideological directions. The first contemporary art history book to discuss both fine art and amateur registers of handmaking at such an expansive scale, Fray unveils crucial insights into how textiles inhabit the broad space between artistic and political poles—high and low, untrained and highly skilled, conformist and disobedient, craft and art.

    Long overshadowed by the complexity of her family life and romantic entanglements, the editors assess Bell in the context of her relationship with sister, Virginia Woolf, and as muse and confidant to Roger Fry and Duncan Grant but ultimately present an intrepid artist deserving of fresh consideration.

    The artist traveled with his collection even to temporary residences, and letters to family members often included requests for objects to be moved to where he was working, revealing them to be critical creative stimulants. Featured frequently in the modern master's bold paintings, drawings and cutouts, and influencing the development of his work in sculpture, Matisse's objects formed a secret history hiding in plain sight.Works that span Matisse's entire career are presented here alongside the objects that inspired them, from Asian vases and African masks to intricate textiles from the Islamic world. An introduction and five chapters take readers through studies of the object as actor and the studio as theater, the importance of African art in Matisse's renderings of the human form and his sitters' inner selves, and the invention and transformation of his own language of signs. With lush illustrations and archival images, Matisse in the Studio provides exceptional insights into the artist at work.

    As soon as I saw it that was my country.” Beginning with her teaching career in Texas, through her time in New York City and Lake George, and ending at her two desert ranches in New Mexico, this sumptuous life history explores the influence of the various landscapes and cities inhabited by Georgia O'Keeffe on her life and artwork. Fully illustrated throughout, the book features Georgia's own drawings and paintings together with archival imagery of her houses, friends and family – many of the photographs taken my notable contemporaries, including her husband Alfred Stieglitz – from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Georgia O'Keeffe at Home is a fascinating glimpse into the world of one of the most significant and intriguing artists of the twentieth century.

    A Day With Claude Monet in Giverny

    He became the leading exponent of a fierce new photographic style that corresponded perfectly to the abrasive and intense climate of Tokyo during a period of great social upheaval. Between June 1972 and July 1973 Moriyama produced his own magazine publication, Kiroku, which was then referred to as Record. It became a diaristic journal of his work as it developed. Ten years ago, after a decades-long interval, he was able to resume publication of Record. Now this book collects work from all thirty published issues, edited into a single sequence, punctuated by Moriyama’s own text as it appeared in the magazine. Produced at the magazine’s original size, with an introduction by Mark Holborn, this volume features more than 200 works from throughout the magazine’s history.It used to be assumed that Moriyama’s peculiarly Japanese style was tied to his Tokyo roots. The evidence of the last ten years demonstrates that Moriyama, a restless world traveler, has been able to apply his unique vision to northern Europe; southern France; the cities of Florence, London, Barcelona, Taipei, Hong Kong, New York, and Los Angeles as well as the alleys of Osaka; the landscape of Hokkaido; and Afghanistan.

    What is less appreciated is that he did not work in isolation, but within a much wider network of artists, friends and lovers influenced by Paul Nash’s teaching at the Royal College of Art – Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Tirzah Garwood, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus and Helen Binyon among them. The Ravilious group bridged the gap between fine art and design, and the gentle, locally rooted but spritely character of their work came to be seen as the epitome of contemporary British values. Seventy-five years after Ravilious’s untimely death, Andy Friend tells the story of this group of artists from their student days through to the Second World War. Ravilious & Co. explores how they influenced each other and how a shared experience animated their work, revealing the significance in this pattern of friendship of women artists, whose place within the history of British art has often been neglected. Generously illustrated and drawing on extensive research, and a wealth of newly discovered material, Ravilious & Co. is an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and

    Instead, we meet these creatures between the pages of a book, on the floor of an obliging library. Down through the centuries, illustrated books have served as our paper zoos, both documenting the world’s extraordinary wildlife in exquisite detail and revealing, in hindsight, how our relationship to and understanding of these animals have evolved over time. In this stunning book, historian of science Charlotte Sleigh draws on the ultimate bibliophile’s menagerie—the collections of the British Library—to present a lavishly illustrated homage to this historical collaboration between art and science. Gathering together a breathtaking range of nature illustrations from manuscripts, prints, drawings, and rare printed books from across the world, Sleigh brings us face to face (or face to tentacle) with images of butterflies, beetles, and spiders, of shells, fish, and coral polyps. Organized into four themed sections—exotic, native, domestic, and paradoxical—the images introduce us to some of the world’s most renowned natural history illustrators, from John James Audubon to Mark Catesby and Ernst Haeckel, as well as to lesser-known artists. In her accompanying text, Sleigh traces the story of the art of natural history from the Renaissance through the great age of exploration and into the nineteenth century, offering insight into the changing connections between the natural and human worlds. But the story does not end there. From caterpillars to crabs, langurs to dugongs, stick insects to Old English pigs; from the sinuous tail feathers of birds of paradise to the lime-green wings of New Zealand’s enormous flightless parrot, the kakapo; from the crenellated plates of a tortoise’s shell to imagined likenesses of unicorns, mermaids, and dinosaurs, the story continues in this book. It is a Paper Zoo for all time.

    While there are many histories of botanical art featuring beautiful paintings and finished drawings, the artists' preparatory sketches, first impressions, and scribbled notes on paper are rarely seen. But it is often these early attempts that give us real insight into the firsthand experiences and adventures of the botanists, artists, collectors, and explorers behind them.This exquisite visual compendium of botanical sketches by eighty artists from around the world brings these personal and vividly spontaneous records back into the light. Filled with remarkable images from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, sourced from the unparalleled collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Library, Art & Archives, and other libraries, museums, and archives, Botanical Sketchbooks also provides fascinating biographical portraits of the intriguing characters featured within, including such renowned artists, scientists, and amateur botanists as Leonardo da Vinci, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Carl Linnaeus, Maria Sibylla Merian, Mark Catesby, and Helen and Margaret Shelley (sisters of the novelist Mary Shelley), among many others.

    The sigle-volume collection focuses primarily on works designated as Japanese National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties and features the various depictions of "Hell" by prominent artists such as Kazunobu Kano, Nhichosai, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka and Kyosai Kawanabe. This volume also features the 19th century woodblock-printed edition of Ojoyoshu(The Essentials of Rebirth in the Pure Land) written by the medieval Buddhist monk Genshin (942-1017) and is accompanied by modern bilingual text. Written in 985, this influential Buddhist text is often compared with Dante's La Divina Commedia (La DIvine Comedie/The Divine Comedy). Its brutal scenes of underworld realms display the suffering and cruelty one might endure as a consequence of harmful acts committed in life or the judgement by the Ten Kings of Hell. These ideas of "Hell" in Ojoyoshu have played an enduring role in inspiring Japanese Buddhist paintings and other subsequent texts, particularly from the medieval period onward, and are vividly portrayed in the painting featured in this volume. Essays from historians of both Japanese art and Buddhism are also included in bilingual text.

    These objects tell the story of the origin of the Roman state (Latium) from the Early Iron Age cultures of Etruria and the pseudo-historical “period of the kings” (753–509 BCE), through to the end of the Late Empire in the West in 476 CE. Over a period of more than 1,000 years, Roman culture evolved administratively, socially, and politically, with many elements still recognizable in the sociopolitical infrastructure of the modern Western world.Richly illustrated with detailed photographs of every object, the informative text reveals how each artifact is a key object in its own right—a creation that commemorates a great event or heralds the start of a new era in creativity or politics. From coins of the fifth century BCE to pottery made at the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, all the objects reveal an important insight into this highly influential ancient civilization.

    Amidst the tumult and revolution that characterized the latter half of the 20th century in Latin America and the US, women artists were staking their claim in nearly every field. This wide ranging volume examines the work of more than 100 female artists with nearly 300 works in the fields of painting, sculpture, photography, video, performance art, and other experimental media. A series of thematic essays, arranged by country, address the cultural and political contexts in which these radical artists worked, while other essays address key issues such as feminism, art history, and the political body. Drawing its design and feel from the radical underground pamphlets, catalogs, and posters of the era, this is the first examination of a highly influential period in 20th-century art history.

    His achievements as a sculptor, painter, draftsman, and architect remain unrivalled and unique. This fresh edition celebrates the artist s graphic work, with a selection of his most masterful and mesmerizing drawings.Gathered from some of the world s most prestigious collections, these works show the full ambition and reach of Michelangelo s practice, spanning architectural elements, facial expressions, and countless, meticulous anatomical drawings. Whether finely-tuned or left unfinished, each and every drawing testifies to the artist s dedicated scrutiny of the world around him and his compelling mastery of line, form, and detail.There is an intimacy in these works, too. As different sketches occupy the same pages, and notes intersperse the drawings, we may not only marvel at the meticulously rendered textures or anatomically-perfected figures, but also feel a spine-tingling proximity to the very process, as much as the product, of genius.About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!"

    This magnificently illustrated book presents more than 200 objects currently housed in public collections around the world that offer both context and immediacy to the rich culture of ancient Greece. From the bifacial hand tools of the Lower Palaeolithic to the Hellenistic Great Altar of Pergamon,the artifacts presented here reveal a complex sociocultural history of shifting priorities, spiritual beliefs, and cultural traditions. Objects from across the Greek world, valued in life and in death, reflect the transmission of shared ideals across vast distances through relationships maintained for centuries at a time.Pocket Museum: Ancient Greece also offers an insight into the history of collecting and methods of interpretation, examining how the perception of objects has changed over time. Beautifully illustrated with photographs of each featured artifact, this is an absorbing introduction to a culture that has exerted an unparalleled influence on Western civilization.

    For the world's greatest cultural icon still has secrets to reveal - not the silly secrets that the 'Leonardo loonies' continue to advance, but previously unknown facts about the lives of Leonardo, his father, Lisa Gherardini, the subject of the portrait, and her husband Francesco del Giocondo. From this factual beginning we see how the painting metamorphosed into a 'universal picture' that became the prime vehicle for Leonardo's prodigious knowledge of the human and natural worlds. We learn about the new money of the ambitious merchant who married into the old gentry of Lisa's family. We discover Lisa's life as a wife and mother, her association with sexual scandals, and her later life in a convent. We meet, for the first time, the illegitimate Leonardo's real mother and find out where he was really born. The tiny hill town of Vinci is placed before us, with its widespread poverty. We find out about the career and possessions of his father, a notable lawyer in Florence. The meaning of the portrait that resulted from these human circumstances is vividly illuminated though Renaissance love poetry and verses specifically dedicated to Leonardo. We come to understand how Leonardo's sciences of optics, psychology, anatomy and geology are embraced in his poetic science of art. Recent scientific examinations of the painting disclose how it evolved to assume its present appearance in Leonardo's experimental hands. Above all, we cut though the suppositions and the myths to show that the portrait is a product of real people in a real place at a real time. This is the book that brings back a sense of reality into the creation of the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. And the actual Mona Lisa, it turns out, is even more astonishing and transcendent than the Mona Lisa of legend.

    Focusing on the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Whitney Chadwick charts five intense, far-reaching female friendships among the Surrealists to show how Surrealism, female friendship and the experiences of war, loss and trauma shaped individual womens transitions from beloved muses to mature artists. Her vivid account includes the fascinating story of Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbes subversive activities in occupied Jersey, as well as the experiences of Lee Miller and Valentine Penrose at the frontline. Chadwick draws on personal correspondence between women, including the extraordinary letters between Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini during the months following the arrest and imprisonment of Carringtons lover Max Ernst at the beginning of World War Two, and the letter Frida Kahlo shared with her friend and lover Jacqueline Lamba years after it was written in the late 1930s during a difficult stay in Paris, marred by her intense dislike of Breton. Thoroughly engrossing, this history brings a new perspective to the political context of Surrealism, as well as fresh insights on the vital importance of female friendship to its artistic and intellectual flowering.

    They established a rich nomadic culture originating in southern Siberia and extending to northern China and as far as the northern Black Sea. Mobility and mastery of local resources were central to their culture and their achievements. Forerunners of the Sarmatians, the Huns, the Turks, and the Mongols, the Scythians were feared adversaries and respected neighbors of the Assyrians, Persians, and ancient Greeks. They left no written records of their own and historians have previously relied on the descriptions by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, but archaeological research now adds considerable new information about their origins and lifestyle.This book offers unique insights into the life and funerary customs of the Scythians with exceptionally well preserved organic objects buried in conditions of permanent frost in the high Altai mountains. Some of the objects are from new excavations and others come from the famous Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. They include many rare finds of personal garments and possessions made from gold, leather, fur, and felt and reveal the impact and achievements of one of the earliest great nomadic peoples.

    The dark interiors of caves, wherever they may be found, seem to have had a powerful draw for ancient peoples, who littered the cave floors with objects they had made. Later, they adorned cave walls with sacred symbols and secret knowledge, from the very first abstract symbols and handprints to complex and vivid arrangements of animals and people. Often undisturbed for many tens of thousands of years, these were among the first visual symbols that humans shared with each other, though they were made so long ago that we have entirely forgotten their meaning. However, as archaeologist Bruno David reveals, caves decorated more recently may help us to unlock their secrets.David tells the story of this mysterious world of decorated caves, from the oldest known painting tools to the magnificent murals of the European Ice Age. Showcasing the most astounding discoveries made in more than 150 years of archaeological exploration, Cave Art explores the creative achievements of our remotest ancestors and what they tell us about the human past.

    The current sense of the word emerged simultaneously with industrialization, mass politics, and consumerism. From Manet onwards, when art represents the everyday within modern life, encounters with tedium are inevitable. And starting with modernism's retreat into abstraction through subsequent demands placed on audiences, from the late 1960s to the present, the viewer's endurance of repetition, slowness or other forms of monotony has become an anticipated feature of gallery-going.In contemporary art, boredom is no longer viewed as a singular experience; rather, it is contingent on diverse social identifications and cultural positions, and exists along a spectrum stretching from a malign condition to be struggled against to an something to be embraced or explored as a site of resistance. This anthology contextualizes the range of boredoms associated with our neoliberal moment, taking a long view that encompasses the political critique of boredom in 1960s France; the simultaneous aesthetic embrace in the United States of silence, repetition, or indifference in Fluxus, Pop, Minimalism and conceptual art; the development of feminist diagnoses of malaise in art, performance, and film; punk's social critique and its influence on theories of the postmodern; and the recognition, beginning at the end of the 1980s, of a specific form of ennui experienced in former communist states. Today, with the emergence of new forms of labor alienation and personal intrusion, deadening forces extend even further into subjective experience, making the divide between a critical and an aesthetic use of boredom ever more tenuous.Artists surveyed include Chantal Akerman, Francis Alÿs, John Baldessari, Vanessa Beecroft, Bernadette Corporation, John Cage, Critical Art Ensemble, Merce Cunningham, Marcel Duchamp, Fischli & Weiss, Claire Fontaine, Dick Higgins, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ilya Kabakov, Boris Mikhailov, Robert Morris, John Pilson, Sigmar Polke, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Gerhard Richter, Situationist International, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Andy Warhol, Faith Wilding, Janet ZweigWriters includeIna Blom, Nicolas Bourriaud, Jennifer Doyle, Alla Efimova, Jonathan Flatley, Julian Jason Haladyn, The Invisible Committee, Jonathan D. Katz, Chris Kraus, Tan Lin, Sven Lutticken, John Miller, Agne Narusyte, Sianne Ngai, Peter Osborne, Patrice Petro, Christine Ross, Moira Roth, David Foster Wallace, Aleksandr Zinovyev

    When Renaissance artists sought to imitate ancient sculpture, their medium of choice was pure, white marble, but little did they know that the works they emulated were originally painted in dazzling and powerful hues--from red ocher and cinnabar to azurite and malachite. By illustrating painted reconstructions of well-known sculptures in relation to original examples, this volume reveals how ancient artists in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Aegean, Greece, and Rome brought unexpected and breathtaking color to their artworks. Accompanying these reproductions are watercolors of Greece's landscapes dating from different years, which show how our perception of ancient art has changed over time. Generously illustrated, this book testifies that the study of ancient sculpture is incomplete without an understanding of the many ways that color was employed to bring such art to life.

    

    Created by highly skilled armorers, often in cooperation with noted artists and commissioned by wealthy patrons, armor was worn for centuries on the battlefield, in festive tournaments, and for ceremonial events. Through informative discussions of representative works from the Metropolitan Museum’s world-renowned collection, this new addition to the popular How to Read series shows what to look for when examining armor, the pieces that make up a typical suit of armor, how the parts work, the various methods used to decorate armor, and how armor became an important part of so many museum collections today. The book features a wealth of new photography of historically important armor and other works of art from the Metropolitan Museum and select pieces from other institutions.

    A relentless traveler, Turner often turned his artistic attention to the theme of modern and ancient ports. In the mid-1820s, Turner exhibited two monumental, and controversial, paintings of ports: Cologne and Dieppe. Shocking for their intense luminosity and yellow tonality, as well as for Turner’s unorthodox handling of paint, these works marked a transition in the artist’s career as he moved away from naturalism and toward a new, poetic topography.   This in-depth study of these two seminal paintings also addresses a wide selection of Turner’s works in both oil and watercolor from the 1820s, placing them in the context of radical changes in British social and economic structures taking place at the time. Drawing from period travel accounts, contemporary critical commentary, and new technical analyses of Turner’s work, this magnificently illustrated book brings a fresh, new perspective to the pivotal middle years of Turner’s career.

    But these opportunities were generally open only to men; any woman who wished to succeed as an artist still had to overcome numerous obstacles. In a society in which women were expected to marry, become mothers, and conform to rigid social conventions, becoming a professional artist was a controversial choice. Nevertheless, if a woman possessed charm and ambition, and united her talent with hard work, success was possible.  Eighteenth-Century Women Artists celebrates the work of women who had the tenacity and skill (and sometimes the necessary dash of luck) to succeed against the odds. Caroline Chapman examines the careers and working lives of celebrated artists like Angelica Kauffman and Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun as well as the equally interesting work of artists who have now mostly been forgotten. In addition to discussing their varied artworks, Chapman considers artists’ studios, the functioning of the print market, how art was sold, the role of patrons, and the rise of the lady amateur. It is enriched by over fifty color images, which offer a rich selection of art from the time.

    Featuring thirty-six artists from eleven different countries, this beautifully illustrated book explores the strength of these women’s creative achievements, through paintings by acclaimed Impressionists such as Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot, and extraordinary lesser-known artists such as Marie Bashkirtseff, Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, and Hanna Pauli. It examines their work against the sociopolitical background of the period, when women were mostly barred from formal artistic education but cleverly navigated the city’s network of ateliers, salons, and galleries. Essays consider the powerfully influential work of women Impressionists, representations of the female artist in portraiture, the unique experiences of Nordic women artists, and the significant presence of women artists throughout the history of the Paris Salon. By addressing the long-undervalued contributions of women to the art of the later 19th century, Women Artists in Paris pays tribute to pioneers who not only created remarkable paintings but also generated momentum toward a more egalitarian art world.

    Deeply associated with Japanese culture both past and present, it has often been thought of as a highly gendered, rigidly traditional and unchanging national costume. This book challenges that perception, revealing the nuanced meanings and messages behind the kimono from the point of view of its wearers and producers, many of whom – both men and women – see the garment as a vehicle for self-expression.Taking a material culture approach, The Social Life of Kimono is the first study to combine the history of the kimono as a fashionable garment with an in-depth exploration of its multifaceted role today on both the street and the catwalk. Through case studies covering historical advertising campaigns, fashion magazines, interviews with contemporary kimono designers, large scale and small craft producers, and consumers who choose to wear them, The Social Life of Kimono gives a unique insight into making and meaning of this complex garment.

    Originally published between 2013 and 2017 through Daily Serving’s #Hashtags column, Vikram's text considers the specifics of equality and representation in the context of current events in the field of arts and culture in the United States and internationally. The columns cover a number of racially charged incidents in arts institutions during this period that received significant press attention, but little meaningful analysis. Vikram examines how arts institutions construct space and select programming in accordance with their expectations of their audience, and how a disconnect between the realities of contemporary urban demographics and the leadership at many arts institutions has led to controversy and embarrassment on numerous occasions. Contrasting with these case studies in institutional exclusion are a number of profiles of artists and artworks that bring art’s potential for inclusivity to fruition, working within institutions as well as outside of them to bring change.

    At the center of the Year of the Animal was the Royal Menagerie in the gardens of Versailles, dominated by exotic and graceful birds. In the unfolding of his original and sophisticated argument, Sahlins shows how the animal bodies of the menagerie and others were critical to a dramatic rethinking of governance, nature, and the human.The animals of 1668 helped to shift an entire worldview in France—what Sahlins calls Renaissance humanimalism toward more modern expressions of classical naturalism and mechanism. In the wake of 1668 came the debasement of animals and the strengthening of human animality, including in Descartes's animal-machine, highly contested during the Year of the Animal. At the same time, Louis XIV and his intellectual servants used the animals of Versailles to develop and then to transform the symbolic language of French absolutism. Louis XIV came to adopt a model of sovereignty after 1668 in which his absolute authority is represented in manifold ways with the bodies of animals and justified by the bestial nature of his human subjects.1668 explores and reproduces the king's animal collections—in printed text, weaving, poetry, and engraving, all seen from a unique interdisciplinary perspective. Sahlins brings the animals of 1668 together and to life as he observes them critically in their native habitats—within the animal palace itself by Louis Le Vau, the paintings and tapestries of Charles Le Brun, the garden installations of André Le Nôtre, the literary work of Charles Perrault and the natural history of his brother Claude, the poetry of Madeleine de Scudéry, the philosophy of René Descartes, the engravings of Sébastien Leclerc, the transfusion experiments of Jean Denis, and others. The author joins the nonhuman and human agents of 1668—panthers and painters, swans and scientists, weasels and weavers—in a learned and sophisticated treatment that will engage scholars and students of early modern France and Europe and readers broadly interested in the subject of animals in human history.

    Personally, I can trace my career in graphic design and publishing to a childhood interest in botany and horticulture. I used to cut out photographs of flowers and vegetables from the seed catalogues that arrived in the mail and paste them in new layouts of my own making in tiny notebooks. And although I had my own little garden plot and earned a few ribbons at the local children’s gardening competition, I realized that my true love wasn’t for the hard, dirty work involved in growing vegetables (although it is satisfying to get earthy now and again)—it was an appreciation for the beauty of the plants themselves. Sketching flowers from life and collaging pictures of plants in a scrapbook was what I enjoyed most. In a simple and organic way, led by a genuine curiosity, I had discovered illustration and design. And for the many creative and enterprising people profiled within the pages of Botanica, an infatuation with florals informed their art, careers and businesses. I’ve also included some historical sources and botanical ephemera, illustrating that we have an evergreen fascination with all things floral. Arranged alphabetically by eclectic topics, Botanica collects a veritable mixed bouquet of art, illustration and stories of botanically inclined lifestyles. Perhaps they will help sow the seeds for your own creativity!

    As bombs fell and soldiers marched through the streets, her mother stood guard, reminding her children to not be afraid?not of the bombs or anything else that may follow. They would always have their family and their faith. Soon thereafter, Tasoula found herself homeless and nation-less. A refugee.Decades later, she's a successful entrepreneur and the Honorary Consul of Cyprus in The Netherlands . But family and faith have remained her touchstones?and she's never lost her longing for "home" or for the gorgeous Cypriot churches and their icons.  One day, a dubious art dealer offers her a chance to buy stolen sacred artifacts looted from Cyprus during the war. Icons hold a special place in the hearts of Orthodox Christians. They are not just masterpieces?they are artistic manifestations of faith and a gateway to the divine.Outraged, Tasoula sets out on a quest to repatriate these artifacts. An immensely legally challenging and expensive undertaking, as provenance of icons are and other holy artifacts are easily manipulated by corrupt dealers and greedy auction houses.  Taking on these "merchants of God" will test Tasoula's fortitude and threaten her safety, yet she feels this mission is her calling.  In this book, she reveals her perilous road to “The Munich Case”?the largest art trafficking sting in European history since WWII?which is filled with mind games, subterfuge, global politics, and as shady figure named Van Rijn, whose motives are never entirely clear...  By turns heart-pounding and inspiring, The Icon Hunter is a powerful and gripping story that will resonate long after the final page.

    Robin Jensen takes readers on an intellectual and spiritual journey through the two-thousand-year evolution of the cross as an idea and an artifact, illuminating the controversies--along with the forms of devotion--this central symbol of Christianity inspires.Jesus's death on the cross posed a dilemma for Saint Paul and the early Church fathers. Crucifixion was a humiliating form of execution reserved for slaves and criminals. How could their messiah and savior have been subjected to such an ignominious death? Wrestling with this paradox, they reimagined the cross as a triumphant expression of Christ's sacrificial love and miraculous resurrection. Over time, the symbol's transformation raised myriad doctrinal questions, particularly about the crucifix--the cross with the figure of Christ--and whether it should emphasize Jesus's suffering or his glorification. How should Jesus's body be depicted: alive or dead, naked or dressed? Should it be shown at all?Jensen's wide-ranging study focuses on the cross in painting and literature, the quest for the "true cross" in Jerusalem, and the symbol's role in conflicts from the Crusades to wars of colonial conquest. The Cross also reveals how Jews and Muslims viewed the most sacred of all Christian emblems and explains its role in public life in the West today.

    Yet recent literature on Renaissance globalism has revealed a very different picture of this era, one which is more complex and inter-connected. New scholarship has highlighted the contributions made by non-Western cultures to what is understood as a European 'Renaissance', and exposed the less-than-heroic side of the beginnings of European expansion into the world during this era.Examining art and visual culture through a series of accessible and thought-provoking case studies, this book provides insights into Europe's relationship with Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East in the 'age of exploration'. Written with the student's perspective in mind, it introduces theoretical topics in a clear and accessible way, foregrounding the close examination of compelling visual examples. Beginning with the Portuguese venture into Morocco in 1415, it looks at art history through the framework of the changes which occurred as Europe acquired new territory and trading advantages, as well as the long-term history of cultural exchange between Europe and the wider world in preceding centuries.This book will be an exciting and compelling intellectual experience for students, revisiting canonical works, as well as introducing a variety of objects and artefacts that have traditionally been left out of the canon. Aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate art history students, this beautifully illustrated volume will also attract readers with an interest in the history of art. These books should also appeal to the wider market of those interested in globalisation and its relationship with visual culture.

    Born of Cherokee descent, in 1940s Arkansas, Jimmie Durham takes up such issues as the politics of representation, histories of genocide, and citizenship and exile. This volume collects an array of Durham's sculptures, drawings, photography, video, and performance. It includes essays about Durham's material choices and their metaphoric potential; his participation in the NYC art scene in the 1980s; his use of language; and his ties to Mexico after living in Cuernavaca. An interview with Durham traces his involvement with the American Indian Movement and his self-exile from the US, which along with his essays and poetry, illuminate his life and work. This book provides an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Durham, arguably one of the most important artists working today.

    Their art, labeled impressionism, coincided with the Industrial Revolution, when the world was suddenly jettisoned into modernity. The young artists who gave rise to the movement confronted public disdain and oppression in Europe, but were applauded overseas for their radically contemporary aesthetic.This complete and accessible guide renews and refreshes conventional views on impressionism by placing this seminal moment in art in its historical context. Emblematic masterpieces are examined with a focus on each detail, allowing a deeper understanding and appreciation of the artworks. Biographies of all the major artists of the movement provide insight about their life and significant works, and period photographs illustrate this incredibly rich and exciting time in art history. Organized thematically, the guide includes chapters on photography, fashion, female impressionists, exhibitions, galleries and dealers, writers, the movement's influence on later artists, and recurrent impressionist themes including leisure activities, the garden, the city, and industry. Replete with illustrations and numerous firsthand accounts and quotations, this book recounts a story of emancipation.

    So argues Michael Findlay in this book that encourages a new way of looking at art. Much of this thinking involves stripping away what we have been taught and instead trusting our own instincts, opinions, and reactions. Including reproductions of works by Mark Rothko, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Jacob Lawrence, and other modern and contemporary masters, this book takes readers on a journey through modern art. Chapters such as “What Is a Work of Art?”, “Can We Look and See at the Same Time?”, and “Real Connoisseurs Are Not Snobs,” not only give readers the confidence to form their own opinions, but also encourages them to make connections that spark curiosity, intellect, and imagination. “The most important thing for us to grasp,” writes Findlay, “is that the essence of a great work of art is inert until it is seen. Our engagement with the work of art liberates its essence.” After reading this book, even the most intimidated art viewer will enter a museum or gallery feeling more confident and leave it feeling enriched and inspired.

    It explores the history and meaning of each colour in art, highlighting fascinating tales of discovery and artistic passion, and offering easily accessible explanations of the science and theory behind specific colours. From Isaac Newton's optics to impressionist theory, from the dynamics of Josef Albers to the contemporary metaphysics of Olafur Eliasson, this book shows how colour paints our world.

    W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts given at the National Gallery of Art, leading art historian Craig Clunas draws from a wealth of artistic masterpieces and lesser-known pictures, some of them discussed here in English for the first time, to show how Chinese painting has been understood by a range of audiences over five centuries, from the Ming Dynasty to today. Richly illustrated, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences demonstrates that viewers in China and beyond have irrevocably shaped this great artistic tradition.Arguing that audiences within China were crucially important to the evolution of Chinese painting, Clunas considers how Chinese artists have imagined the reception of their own work. By examining paintings that depict people looking at paintings, he introduces readers to ideal types of viewers: the scholar, the gentleman, the merchant, the nation, and the people. In discussing the changing audiences for Chinese art, Clunas emphasizes that the diversity and quantity of images in Chinese culture make it impossible to generalize definitively about what constitutes Chinese painting.Exploring the complex relationships between works of art and those who look at them, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences sheds new light on how the concept of Chinese painting has been formed and reformed over hundreds of years.Published in association with the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

    They include a near-life-sized nude mysteriously stolen from the Christchurch's McDougall Art Gallery and never seen again; an international court battle around ownership of major Italian paintings stolen from their Jewish owners by the Nazis, bought by a NZ soldier during WWII and later sold to Dunedin Public Art Gallery; a leading NZ painter who sold copies of his work as originals; paintings illegally sold by an unscrupulous art dealer; a blatant theft from the Auckland Art Gallery, and the embarrassing rip-offs by Goldie forger Karl Sim.Jackson shows that NZ is far from immune to the criminal activities increasingly affecting art around the world. 2015 saw the establishment of the NZ Art Crime Research Trust, of which Jackson is a founding trustee. Art Thieves, Fakes and Fraudsters will be launched first at the September 30 opening of a major art crime exhibition, The Empty Frame, at Waikato Museum, and featured at the trust’s second symposium, City Gallery Wellington, October 15.

    Guggenheim Museum, Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World explores recent experimental art from 1989 to 2008, arguably the most transformative period of modern Chinese and recent world history.Featuring over 150 iconic and lesser-known artworks by more than 70 artists and collectives, this catalog offers an interpretative survey of Chinese experimental art framed by the geopolitical dynamics attending the end of the Cold War, the spread of globalization and the rise of China. Critical essays explore how Chinese artists have been both agents and skeptics of China's arrival as a global presence, while an extensive entry section offers detailed analysis on works made in a broad range of experimental mediums, including film and video, ink, installation, land art and performance, as well as painting and photography.Featured artists include Ai Weiwei, Big Tail Elephant Group, Cai Guo-Qiang, Cao Fei, Chen Zhen, Chen Chieh-jen, Ding Yi, Geng Jianyi, Huang Yong Ping, Kan Xuan, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Libreria Borges, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaodong, New Measurement Group, Ou Ning, Ellen Pau, Qiu Zhijie, Shen Yuan, Song Dong, Wang Guangyi, Wang Jianwei, Yan Lei, Yang Jiechang, Yu Hong, Xijing Men, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Peili, Zhang Hongtu, Zhang Xiaogang and Zhou Tiehai. An appendix includes a selected history of contemporary art exhibitions in China, artist biographies and a bibliography.

    

    Interest in modern and contemporary art from South—as well as North—Korea has grown in recent decades, and museums and individual collectors have been eager to tap into this rising market. But few books have helped us understand Korean art and its significance in the art world, and even fewer have told the story of the formation of Korea’s contemporary cultural scene and the role artists have played in it. This richly illustrated history tackles these issues, exploring Korean art from the late-nineteenth century to the present day—a period that has seen enormous political, social, and economic change. Charlotte Horlyck covers the critical and revolutionary period that stretches from Korean artists’ first encounters with oil paintings in the late nineteenth century to the varied and vibrant creative outputs of the twenty-first. She explores artists’ interpretations of new and traditional art forms ranging from oil and ink paintings to video art, multi-media installations, ready-mades, and performance art, showing how artists at every turn have questioned the role of art and artists within society. Opening up this fascinating world to general audiences, this book will appeal to anyone wanting to explore this rich and fascinating era in Korea’s cultural history.

    Learn the beautiful letter forms with step-by-step instructions, then refine your technique by copying inspirational words and phrases in the dedicated workbook section.By practising the meditative art of calligraphy you will gain a deeper appreciation of the beauty of order and balance. Ease your worries, improve your concentration and feel your spirits lift with each stroke of your pen.Màlleus studied with the most recognized international masters of calligraphy and founded the Antica Bottega Amanuense in Recanati, now the greatest Scriptorium in the world."

    Using a range of mixed media and unconventional materials, Kuksi builds intricate miniature worlds out of model train kits, army men, jewelry, rocks, tchotchkes, religious souvenirs, figurines, and ornamental fixtures sourced from all over the world. Each of the delicate and unique assemblages host endless intricate baroque and macabre narratives, reminiscent of lost civilizations, classical sculpture, and fantastic realism.This volume features more than 200 color reproductions and intricate details of his works. Much-anticipated, it is bound to be collected by both loyal fans and those only now discovering Kuksi's masterful, impossible-to-forget compositions, which draw the viewer in and capture the imagination.

    Traditional gender norms codifying males and females as active vs. passive and rational vs. emotional were heavily debated in modern art. While many artists adhered to stereotypes, others sought to subvert them. Drawing from the considerable holdings of the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt, Germany, and including works from artists such as Edouard Manet, Auguste Rodin, Gustav Klimt, Man Ray, Otto Dix, Claude Cahun, Meret Oppenheim, and Frida Kahlo, this sweeping examination explores the artistic representations of sexuality and gender. Scholarly essays cover such topics as Adam and Eve, the Femme Fatale in 19th century art, or sexual murder in the works of the Weimar Republic, while others provide perceptive analyses of the battle of the sexes in the oeuvres of Franz von Stuck, Edvard Munch, Lee Miller, and Jeanne Mammen. Dazzling reproductions and brief texts on the works, an extensive bibliography and chronology offer contextual background. This comprehensive book offers insights into the complexity of gender issues and sheds light on the art-historical dimension of an eminently relevant subject."

    Published in 1896, more than thirty years after the two Englishmen discovered a shared love of art and medieval literature while students at Oxford University, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer now newly imprinted represents the peak of their artistic collaboration.Morris was a man of many passions: an artist, designer, poet, publisher, businessman, and social activist, as well as being a founder of the Arts & Crafts movement in England. After establishing the Kelmscott Press in 1891, he turned to his friend Burne-Jones, a painter then in great demand, to help him create an ideal book, one patterned after the artistry and typography of medieval illuminated manuscripts and the best of fifteenth-century handprinting. In its 556 pages, the Kelmscott Chaucer included 87 elegant narrative illustrations by Burne-Jones and 32 of Morris's lush floral and foliate border designs, along with his decorative frames and initials. It was printed to exacting specifications in black and red using the (appropriately named) Chaucer typeface Morris designed for it.The great book took four years to make. "If we live to finish it," wrote Burne-Jones, "it will be like a pocket cathedral-so full of design and I think Morris the greatest master of ornament in the world." In the book's colophon, Morris too gave credit where credit was due:"Here ends the Book of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, edited by F. S. Ellis; ornamented with pictures designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and engraved on wood by W. H. Hooper. Printed by me William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex. Finished on the 8th day of May, 1896."The first two of the 438 books printed were presented to Morris and Burne-Jones in June 1896. Morris, who had been in declining health for several years, died four months later. Burne-Jones would survive him by less than two years.This colouring book's images are from a copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer in the collection of The British Library, which houses more than 150 million items representing every age of written civilization.

    Presented here for the first time in any language is a representative selection from over 16,000 letters sent by Isabella to addressees across a wide social spectrum. Together, they paint a nuanced and colorful portrait of a brilliant and influential female protagonist of early modern European society.

    1963). Although they were born almost a century apart, their work shares similar themes--gender, identity, masquerade, and performance.In 2015, Sarah Howgate traveled with Wearing to the island of Jersey, in the English Channel, where Cahun lived and worked until her death, and where her archive is housed. In examining Cahun's photographs, Wearing was struck by the remarkable parallels with her own explorations of the self-image through photography. Cahun was a contemporary of Andr� Breton and Man Ray, but her work was rarely exhibited during her lifetime. Wearing, who has exhibited extensively and is a recipient of Britain's prestigious Turner Prize, was no stranger to Cahun's work when she made the trip to Jersey--her 2012 self-portrait, Me as Cahun holding a mask of my face, is a reconstruction of Cahun's iconic Self-portrait, made in 1927. In this book, Howgate examines the work of both artists, investigating how their cultural, historical, political, and personal contexts have affected their interpretations of similar themes.This book features stunning reproductions of more than ninety key works, presented thematically by artistic evolution, performance, masquerade, and memento mori, among others. Also included are new works by Wearing, a revealing interview with her by Howgate, and an illuminating essay on Cahun by writer and curator Dawn Ades.Published in association with the National Portrait Gallery, London

    Her zest for adventure and freewheeling spending were as legendary as her ever-present cigarette.Flamboyant and witty in person, she was an incisive art writer who expressed maverick opinions in a deceptively casual style. As a painter, she melded Abstract Expressionism with a lifelong interest in bodily movement to capture subjects as diverse as President John F. Kennedy, basketball players, and bullfights.In her romantic life, she went her own way, always keen for male attention. But she credited her husband, Willem de Kooning, as her greatest influence; rather than being overshadowed by his fame, she worked "in his light." Nearly two decades after their separation, after finally embracing sobriety herself, she returned to his side to rescue him from severe alcoholism.Based on painstaking research and dozens of interviews, A Generous Vision brings to life a leading figure of twentieth-century art who lived a full and fascinating life on her own terms.

    Anybody who has ever set foot in a museum knows him as the inventor of the mobile, America's unique contribution to modern art. But only now, forty years after the artist's death, is the full story of his life being told in this biography, which is based on unprecedented access to Calder's letters and papers as well as scores of interviews. Jed Perl shows us why Calder was--and remains--a barrier breaker, an avant-garde artist with mass appeal. This beautifully written, deeply researched book opens with Calder's wonderfully peripatetic upbringing in Philadelphia, California, and New York. Born in 1898 into a family of artists--his father was a well-known sculptor, his mother a painter and a pioneering feminist--Calder went on as an adult to forge important friendships with a who's who of twentieth-century artists, including Joan Miro, Marcel Duchamp, Georges Braque, and Piet Mondrian. We move through Calder's early years studying engineering to his first artistic triumphs in Paris in the late 1920s, and to his emergence as a leader in the international abstract avant-garde. His marriage in 1931 to the free-spirited Louisa James--she was a great-niece of Henry James--is a richly romantic story, related here with a wealth of detail and nuance. Calder's life takes on a transatlantic richness, from New York's Greenwich Village in the Roaring Twenties, to the Left Bank of Paris during the Depression, and then back to the United States, where the Calders bought a run-down old farmhouse in western Connecticut. New light is shed on Calder's lifelong interest in dance, theater, and performance, ranging from the Cirque Calder, the theatrical event that became his calling card in bohemian Paris to collaborations with the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Virgil Thomson. More than 350 illustrations in color and black-and-white--including little-known works and many archival photographs that have never before been seen--further enrich the story.

    The histories of Mexico and the United States have been intertwined since the 18th century, when both were colonies of European empires. America's fascination with Mexican culture emerged in the 19th century and continues to this day. In turn, Mexico looked to the U.S. as a model of modernity, its highways and high-rises emblematic of "The American Way of Life." Exploring the design movements that defined both places during the 20th century, this book is arranged into four sections-- Spanish Colonial inspiration, Pre-Hispanic Revivals, Folk Art and Craft Traditions, and Modernism. Featured are essays by leading scholars and illustrations of more than 300 works by architects and designers including Richard Neutra, Luis Barragan, Charles and Ray Eames, and Clara Porset. The word translation originally meant "to bring or carry across." The constant migration between California and Mexico has produced cultures of great richness and complexity, while the transfers of people and materials that began with centuries-old trade routes continue to resonate in modern society, creating synergies that are "found in translation."

    Particular focus is given to British India, which represents a shift from the usual attention paid to Orientalism and French art in this period. The sources and debates on this topic have never before been brought together in a satisfactory way and this book will represent a particularly significant and valuable contribution for postgraduate and undergraduate art history teaching.

    With a multiethnic population of perhaps one hundred thousand, at its peak in 400 CE, it was the cultural, political, economic, and religious center of ancient Mesoamerica. A devastating fire in the city center led to a rapid decline after the middle of the sixth century, but Teotihuacan was never completely abandoned or forgotten; the Aztecs revered the city and its monuments, giving many of them the names we still use today.  Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire examines new discoveries from the three main pyramids at the site—the Sun Pyramid, the Moon Pyramid, and, at the center of the Ciudadela complex, the Feathered Serpent Pyramid—which have fundamentally changed our understanding of the city’s history. With illustrations of the major objects from Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología and from the museums and storage facilities of the Zona de Monumentos Arqueológicos de Teotihuacan, along with selected works from US and European collections, the catalogue examines these cultural artifacts to understand the roles that offerings of objects and programs of monumental sculpture and murals throughout the city played in the lives of Teotihuacan’s citizens.    Published in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.   Exhibition dates: de Young, San Francisco, September 30, 2017–February 11, 2018 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), March 25–September 3, 2018 Phoenix Art Museum: October 6, 2018–January 27, 2019

    Otto Dix's career was transformed during the three years he spent in Düsseldorf, from 1922-1925. Working in an environment decimated by World War I, and amidst the turmoil that led to Hitler's rise in Germany, Dix portrayed the underworld of prostitution and tawdry nightlife that flourished during the Weimar Republic. Among such works, this book also features portraits Dix created of the influential personalities he befriended, including a prominent doctor whose wife Dix would seduce and, later, marry. Filled with captivating paintings and vibrant watercolors such as Nights, Soubrette, and Street III, this book also contains works from Dix's massive series of etchings, The War. This important opus, in which Dix repudiated the myth of a glorious struggle, is characterized by gruesome, realistic depictions of the battlefield. Featuring more than 230 paintings, watercolors, etchings, and archival materials, this collection of work from one of Germany's most important artists captures a critical period of creative and personal change that serves as a bridge between Dix's abstractionist roots and the objectivism that he ultimately embraced.

    Deploying film and television favorites for his toys, large-scale sculpture and bold, nearly abstract painting, KAWS recasts the familiar colors and forms of popular entertainment in cheeky and often poignantly human terms. Influenced by Andy Warhol and other Pop artists, hard-edge abstract painting and graffiti, KAWS' work deftly straddles consumer culture and artistic innovation, and his distinctive style is as much at home in his toys as in his monumental sculpture.KAWS: Where the End Starts explores the artist's prolific career in depth, featuring key paintings, sculptures, drawings, toys, and fashion and advertising designs. This extensive monograph, including contributions from Andrea Karnes, Michael Auping, Dieter Buchhart and Pharrell Williams, reveals critical aspects of KAWS' formal and conceptual development over the past 20 years, as his career has shifted from graffiti to fine art and collaborations with designers and brands such as Comme des Gar�ons, SUPREME, Nigo (A Bathing Ape) and Nike.Published in a hardcover edition with more than 150 color reproductions by the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth in conjunction with the major 2016 Fall exhibition on KAWS.

    Drawing on theories of Georg Simmel, Henri Bergson, Aby Warburg, and Jacques Derrida, Boym presents the off-modern as an eccentric, self-questioning, anti-authoritarian perspective with roots in the Russian avant-garde, now developed in surprising ways by contemporary artists, architects, and curators around the world. She illustrates the off-modern in discussions of (and with) figures as diverse as architect Rem Koolhaas, Albanian artist-turned-mayor Edi Rama, an art collective in Delhi, and the creator of the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles. Both a manifesto and a memoir, The Off-Modern often returns to themes of travel and immigration, exploring issues of diasporic intimacy and productive estrangement amid nostalgic landscapes of urban ruins.

    His work appeared on the covers and interiors of the New Yorker for nearly six decades, and his drawings, collages, prints, paintings, and sculptures have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. With essays by cartoonist Chris Ware and curator Mark Pascale, this lively book traces Steinberg’s imagery as it evolved over the full scope of his career, celebrating his refusal to distinguish between high and low art. The 60 works included traverse the realms of Steinberg’s world, from the witty black-ink takes on his newly adopted land of 1940s America to the watercolor paintings he made as a mature artist in the late 1980s.

    Though apparently offering a limited canvas--each set has 32 pieces, each board 64 squares--sets have nevertheless been designed in countless ways, using almost every imaginable material, from precious metals, to ivory and rock crystal. They have taken many forms, from figural to abstract, and used many diverse themes, from the historical and political to the beauty and variety of the animal kingdom.This book brings together some of the most beautiful and unusual chess sets ever made. Spanning hundreds of years and five continents, they are culled from private collections and museums, and include 200 year-old sets made by nameless Indian craftsmen, sets by Peter Carl Faberg�, sets from Soviet gulag prisoners, and sets by leading artists of the 20th century, such as Max Ernst.Each set has been specially photographed for this book, with detailed insights provided by an exceptional group of experts: Dr. George Dean, Jon Crumiller, Larry List and Will Wiles (Dezeen), with an introduction by the book's editor, Dylan Loeb McClain, former New York Times chess columnist.

    Artists of all ages, styles, and backgrounds took up watercolor in the 1870s, inspiring younger generations of impressionists and modernists. By the 1920s many would claim it as “the American medium.”   This engaging and comprehensive book tells the definitive story of the metamorphosis of American watercolor practice between 1866 and 1925, identifying the artist constituencies and social forces that drove the new popularity of the medium. The major artists of the movement – Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, William Trost Richards, Thomas Moran, Thomas Eakins, Charles Prendergast, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Charles Demuth, and many others – are represented with lavish color illustrations. The result is a fresh and beautiful look at watercolor’s central place in American art and culture.

    With 216 hand-colored copperplate engravings, the publication gives a comprehensive overview of applied arts in Europe from the 9th to the 16th centuries, spanning furniture, metalwork, jewelry, tapestries, and bookbinding.The book s lead editor was well placed to select masterpieces from the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance from both public and private collections. Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (1811 1903), was head of the Royal Cabinet of Prints and Drawings in Munich and later director of the Bavarian National Museum. The signatures on the plates of Kunstwerke und Gerathschaften show that he was also the work s main draftsman.As much an artwork in itself as a collection of applied arts over eight centuries, this exquisite catalog is now revived in a compact TASCHEN edition. From delicate jewelry to the most elaborate goblet, it offers the contemporary reader both a record and a sourcebook for all that can be achieved by the human hand and creative imagination.About the series: Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing.Bibliotheca Universalis brings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!Text in English, French, and German"

    Bambach delivers a thorough and engaging narrative of the artist’s long career, beginning with his training under Ghirlandaio and Bertoldo and ending with his 17-year appointment as chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.   In each thematic chapter, related drawings and other works are illustrated and discussed together, many for the first time, to provide new insights into Michelangelo’s creative process.  In addition to St. Peter’s, other featured projects include the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Tomb of Pope Julius II, and the architecture of the Campidoglio in Rome.  Michelangelo’s theories of art are also explored, and new consideration is given to his personal life and affections and their effect on his creative output.  Magnificent in every way, this book will be the foremost publication about this remarkable artist for many years.

    The period’s media of choice—paintings, manuscripts, prints, tapestries, embroideries, ivory sculpture, metalwork, and enamels—speak volumes about the pleasures of sensory engagement. Art objects were touched, smelled, tasted, and heard, as well as seen.   This sumptuous new book brings together sacred and secular art to reveal the shared intellectual culture that governed the understanding of perception and the role of senses in Europe from the 12th through the 16th century. A focused exploration of the performative and multifaceted nature of medieval art underscores its direct appeal to the senses, revealing the rich experiential world that informed its interpretation. Eight essays explore these themes through representations of religious practices, royal rituals, feasts and celebrations, music, and literature. Beautifully designed and produced, A Feast for the Senses contributes significantly to an emerging field in the history of art and showcases approximately 130 objects, each accompanied by a full description, provenance, and bibliography.

    In these image-rich pages, craft, fine art, design, and everyday objects offer us perspectives on casting's unique possibilities, its place in history, and its role in contemporary object creation. Comprehensive and insightful, the book includes writings on casting as it relates to Art History (by Suzanne Ramljak), Ceramics (by Ezra Shales), Glass (by Susie Silbert), Large Metal (by Joe Becherer), Jewelry (by Jen Townsend), and Alternative Materials (by Elaine King). A multi-disciplinary approach--including everything from traditional lost wax casting in non-ferrous metals to casting rubber, glass, porcelain, plaster, and some very unexpected materials--makes this an essential resource for artists, craftspeople, historians, designers, and everyone interested in the objects that populate our world.