What makes the Book of Kells such an extraordinary example of the illuminated manuscript? Why is Durer's self-portrait so iconic? How did Turner's Rain, Steam, Speed turn the art world on its head? What's so great about Jasper Johns's Flag? And who was Whistler's mother, anyway? Art history is filled with paintings that shocked, intrigued, enraged, and mystified their audiences--paintings that exemplified the period in which they were created and forever changed the way we think. Here, 100 examples of these icons of art are presented in beautiful, high-quality reproductions. Each spread features comparative illustrations and details as well as an engaging text that explains why that particular painting belongs in the pantheon of world-changing art.

    With the rising popularity of MP3 files and streaming digital music--and the near-extinction of traditional album art--concert posters have become the most important visual representation of contemporary music.Gig Posters Volume I celebrates this dynamic medium with contributions from 101 top designers--including Rob Jones of Animal Rummy, Steve Walters, Jay Ryan, Gary Houston, Aesthetic Apparatus, Patent Pending Industries, and many more. Throughout the book, their voices offer fascinating commentary and behind-the-scenes information about the creation of gig posters.Readers will also discover 101 perforated and ready-to-frame posters promoting today's most innovative and original bands--including Radiohead, the White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Girl Talk, Queens of the Stone Age, Wilco, and many, many more.Complete with an introduction by founder and curator Clay Hayes, Gig Posters Volume I celebrates the most talented designers, artists, bands, and performers of the twenty-first century.

    Updated atlas contains maps of every U.S. state that are 35% larger than the standard atlas version plus over 350 detailed city inset and national park maps and a comprehensive, unabridged index. Road construction projects and updates highlighted for every state and conveniently located above the maps. Contains mileage chart showing distances between 77 North American cities and national parks with driving times map. Tough spiral binding allows the book to lay open easily. Other Features Best of the Road - Our editor's favorite road trips from our Best of the Road collection follows scenic routes along stretches of coastline, both east and west, to forests mountains, and prairies; and through small towns and big cities. For a weekend or a week there's something for everyone. Tell Rand! As much as we work to keep our atlases up to date, conditions change quickly and new construction projects begin frequently. If you know of something we haven't captured in our atlas, let us know at randmcnally.com/tellrand. Tourism websites and phone numbers for every U.S. state and Canadian province on map pages

    Illustrated with 100 of his paintings, the book is accompanied by an elegant biographical portrait of the artist’s life and achievements.

    Examining visual art from 1980 to the present, it takes an intriguing and accessible approach that motivates students and other readers to think actively about and discuss contemporary art--what it means and how it means what it does. The opening chapter provides a concise overview of the period, analyzing how four key changes (the rise of new media, a growing awareness of diversity, the influence of theory, and interactions with everyday visual culture) have resulted in an art world with dramatically expanded boundaries. Reflecting the paradigm shift from a formalist way of teaching studio art to more varied and open-ended concepts, the remaining six chapters each deal with a key theme--time, place, the body, language, identity, and spirituality. Each chapter features an introduction to the thematic topic; a brief look at historical precedents and influences; a detailed analysis of how contemporary artists have responded to and embodied aspects of the theme in specific works; and an in-depth and fascinating profile of an artist who has extensively explored aspects of the theme in his or her work. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 shows how art can be interpreted from several different angles: techniques and materials, historical circumstances, aesthetic qualities, theoretical issues, and an artist's ideas and intentions. Writing in a lucid and engaging style, the authors skillfully reveal the multiple levels of meaning in artworks, drawing connections between contemporary art, art of the past, and everyday existence. The volume is enhanced by 87 illustrations--19 in full color--that demonstrate an immense variety of materials, subjects, and styles. These well-chosen examples will help readers learn to critically describe, interpret, and evaluate contemporary visual art. A bibliography and a timeline that situates contemporary art in the context of major events in world history, art, and popular culture are also included. An ideal core text for courses in contemporary art history, Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art after 1980 can also be used as a supplement in modern art, art appreciation, art criticism/theory, and studio art courses.

    Powell has served as a handy reference of essential color combinations for almost 10 years. And now this collection of recipes is available in an updated, convenient format developed with your needs in mind! Conveniently packaged in a concealed wire-o-bound book that lies flat when opened, the recipe cards will always stay in order with no risk of getting lost. The book also includes a Color Mixing Grid—the perfect guide for accurately measuring paints. With mixing recipes for more than 450 color combinations, along with instruction in a variety of painting techniques, Color Mixing Recipes is a valuable and practical resource for both oil and acrylic artists

     What suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another and that's why there are 9 simple methods that you can choose from, to help you achieve a great outline. There is only one focus and that is how to reduce a subject into an outline. If you are looking for ways to get a solid foundation in drawing, then you have just stumbled onto the perfect book! See how each method is demonstrated with step-by-step examples and there are more than 50 basic illustrations to help you become familiar with this vital technique. This process sets the stage for all of your future drawings and gives you the confidence to tackle anything. Join Author Kate Berry as she shares the easy tactics she used to teach herself to draw successfully.

    A new generation of artists--as well as some who never abandoned figurative painting in the first place--is relishing the solitary, slow, subtle set of processes involved in not just painting, but painting people. They are choosing paint's unique ability to distill a lifetime of events rather than photography's glimpse of a frozen moment. Painting People, edited by the prominent London art historian and critic Charlotte Mullins, unites and contrasts the work of a key group of artists from around the world, and investigates their richly varied accomplishments in lucid text with detailed commentaries, accompanied by more than 150 reproductions. The list of contributing artists is stellar, ranging from photo-based painters like Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig and Marlene Dumas to Pop artists like Sigmar Polke and Alex Katz, photorealists like Chuck Close and Gerhard Richter, Neoexpressionists like Cecily Brown, and comics-inspired painters like Yoshitomo Nara, Inka Essenhigh and Takashi Murakami. There are erotic grotesques from John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, meditations on the muse by Elizabeth Peyton and Lucian Freud, "Repro-realistic" work from Neo Rauch and of course self-portraits by Philip Akkerman and Marcel Dzama, among others.

    In the ensuing decades, he has led hundreds of metalsmiths to explore and expand on his pioneering work. Now for the first time, the results of those efforts are compiled into a comprehensive review. With practical techniques and over 450 photographs, this groundbreaking book sets a standard for breadth, authority, and inspiration. Eight by 10.5 inches; 160 pages; full color; hardcover with dust jacket; 450+ photos.

    Over 100 illustrations spotlight dozens of different varieties, including Oak, Willow, Pine, and Palmetto. Topics include shading techniques, composition, portraying shadow and light, and approaches to outlining.Author and illustrator Victor Perard, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was an art instructor at New York City's Cooper Union for twenty years. This informative volume reflects his extensive teaching experience and provides practical advice for artists at every level.

    He examines what really makes a caricature successful, what to look for in a face, and how to draw it. Readers also learn how to apply this skill, whether it's drawing live, theme-park-style caricatures, or creating caricature for publication work. Loaded with everything from basic theories and drawing instruction to professional tips and tricks, this book contains something for novices and experts alike. The Mad Art of Caricature! is the most comprehensive and complete how-to guide on the art of caricature ever published. With over 500 illustrations, it's the definitive guide to the art of caricature.

    Some mammoths were smaller than children. Owls are the dumbest birds in the world. Very few people with Tourette's syndrome swear. You can't get a six-pack from doing sit-ups. King Arthur's sword wasn't called Excalibur. Milk doesn't make your bones strong. There's no bones in your fingers. The Bible states that humans can't become angels. Humans have more than two nostrils. It's impossible to slide down a bannister. At a wedding, the bride doesn't walk down the aisle. Ties were invented for war, not fashion. Most Disney classics made almost no money. Slavery has only been illegal in the UK since 2010. George Washington wasn't the first American President. Velcro doesn’t exist. Nobody knows why we sleep.

    No human being who stood on her decks that fateful night was alive to commemorate the event on its 100th anniversary. Their stories are with us, however, and the lessons remain. From the moment the world learned the Titanic had sunk, we wanted to know, who had survived? Those answers didn’t come until the evening of Thursday, April 18, 1912―when the Cunard liner Carpathia finally reached New York with the 706 survivors who had been recovered from Titanic’s lifeboats. Harold Bride, “Titanic’s surviving wireless operator,” relayed the story of the ship’s band. “The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while still we were working wireless when there was a ragtime tune for us. The last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing ‘Autumn.’ How they ever did it I cannot imagine.” There were stories of heroism―such as that of Edith Evans, who was waiting to board collapsible Lifeboat D, the last boat to leave Titanic, when she turned to Caroline Brown and said, “You go first. You have children waiting at home.” The sacrifice cost Evans her life, but as Mrs. Brown said later, “It was a heroic sacrifice, and as long as I live I shall hold her memory dear as my preserver, who preferred to die so that I might live.” There was mystery. There was bravery. There was suspense. There was cowardice. Most men who survived found themselves trying to explain how they survived when women and children had died. But mostly, there was loss. On her return to New York after picking up Titanic’s survivors, Carpathia had become known as a ship of widows. Rene Harris, who lost her husband, Broadway producer Henry Harris, in the disaster, later spoke of her loss when she said, “It was not a night to remember. It was a night to forget.” Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished letters, memoirs, and diaries as well as interviews with survivors and family members, veteran author and writer Alan Rockwell brings to life the colorful voices and the harrowing experiences of many of those who lived to tell their story. More than 100 years after the RMS Titanic met its fatal end, the story of the tragic wreck continues to fascinate people worldwide. Though many survivors and their family members disappeared into obscurity or were hesitant to talk about what they went through, others were willing to share their experiences during the wreck and in its aftermath. This book recounts many of these first-hand accounts in graphic, compelling detail.

    A highly acclaimed action strategy RPG, the guide covers the best tips for completing each quest along with information on multiple outcomes and how they will affect your hero. Learn what can befall your hero with each promise you make and discover what happens if you keep it. Also includes area information, illustrated maps and a real estate guide with prices, rents and repairs plus much more.

    Her method begins with action-filled exercises that demonstrate how to play with paint, following no rules. Subsequent step-by-step projects add planning to the mix, demonstrating how to turn loose washes into light-filled watercolors with textural effects achieved by spraying, sprinkling, pouring, squirting, or stamping paint. Engle's approach, and her results, are dramatic and dynamic; now watercolor artists can create their own exciting paintings with help from How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself.