Caravaggio defied the aesthetic conventions of his time; his use of ordinary people, realistically portrayed—street boys, prostitutes, the poor, the aged—was a profound and revolutionary innovation that left its mark on generations of artists. His insistence on painting from nature, on rendering the emotional truth of experience, whether religious or secular, made him an artist who speaks across the centuries to modern day.Called “racy, intensely imagined, and highly readable” by the New York Times Book Review, Caravaggio includes eight pages of color illustrations, and is sure to appeal to art enthusiasts interested in one of history’s true innovators. Caravaggio is part of the “Eminent Lives” series from HarperCollins, a selection of biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures.

    But in Art & Physics, Leonard Shlain tracks their breakthroughs side by side throughout history to reveal an astonishing correlation of visions.From teh classical Greek sculptors to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and from Aristotle to Einstein, aritsts have foreshadowed the discoveries of scientists, such as when Money and Cezanne intuited the coming upheaval in physics that Einstein would initiate. In this lively and colorful narrative, Leonard Shlain explores how artistic breakthroughs could have prefigured the visionary insights of physicists on so many occasions throughtout history.Provacative and original, Art & Physics is a seamless integration of the romance of art and the drama of science...and exhilarating history of ideas.

    In this lavishlyillustrated style compendium, InStyle magazinefashion director Hal Rubenstein reveals the fascinating origins and legacies ofthe most stunning dresses ever created. Perfect for backstage story snoops,gossip lovers, die-hard shoppers, and pop culture mavens who can't get enoughof these indelible, once-in-a-lifetime creations, 100 Unforgettable Dresses willchange the way you think about couture forever.

    On a cold January morning in 1981, a knock on an apartment door began what would become one of the bloodiest crime sprees in Arkansas history. In the coming days the bodies of newlyweds Larry and Jawana Price, businessman Holly Gentry, and Police Detective Ray Tate were discovered. They had been executed in cold blood and discarded like so much trash. What kind of person murders four people in cold blood? Did the right one go to prison?Praise for Anita Paddock, author of Blind Rage and Closing Time!“Paddock is a gifted storyteller, and Blind Rage is a riveting read.”– Sonny Brewer, author of The Poet of Tolstoy Park “The newest and strongest voice in true crime writing . . . makes you feel as if you are there, seeing what happened, and feeling the terror and sorrow of those felled by these brutal crimes.” – Marla Cantrell, author and Arkansas Art Council Fellow “Somehow [the author] is able to create tension and suspense even when the outcome is already known. She has a way of making each character as familiar as the guy next door, be they ordinary people or despicable creeps! Truman Capote, even though you can't roll over, maybe you should step aside because a new ‘true crime’ star is here!”– John McFerran

    In this intimate and revealing memoir, Stein tells us much about the great man (and herself) and offers many insights into the life and art of the 20th century's greatest painter.Mixing biological fact with artistic and aesthetic comments, she limns a unique portrait of Picasso as a founder of Cubism, an intimate of Appollinaire, Max Jacob, Braque, Derain, and others, and a genius driven by a ceaseless quest to convey his vision of the 20th century. We learn, for example, of the importance of his native Spain in shaping Picasso's approach to art; of the influence of calligraphy and African sculpture; of his profound struggle to remain true to his own vision; of the overriding need to empty himself of the forms and ideas that welled up within him.Stein's close relationship with Picasso furnishes her with a unique vantage point in composing this perceptive and provocative reminiscence. It will delight any admirer of Picasso or Gertrude Stein; it is indispensable to an understanding of modern art.

    Lewis' The Discarded Image paints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, as historical and cultural background to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It describes the image discarded by later ages as the medieval synthesis itself, the whole organization of their theology, science and history into a single, complex, harmonious mental model of the universe. This, Lewis' last book, was hailed as the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind.

    From fashion to music, Goth influences have crept into every area of pop culture, and nowhere is that influence creepier, more fascinating, and more playful than in the art world. Weirdo Noir is the follow-up volume to Weirdo Deluxe, the book that brought the once underground Low Brow art scene to prominence in the public eye. In these pages you'll find the latest and greatest work from 30 Low Brow arists who have embraced the dark side, employing gothic themes in their art. Spooky and witty, Weirdo Noir is destined to become a classic of the millennial Goth aesthetic.

    Over the past decade, she has gained international recognition for her room-sized tableaux, which depict historical narratives haunted by sexuality, violence and subjugation and are made using the paradoxically genteel eighteenth-century art of cut-paper silhouettes. Set in the antebellum American South, Walker's compositions play off of stereotypes to portray, often grotesquely, life on the plantation, where masters, mistresses and slave men, women and children enact a subverted version of the past in an attempt to reconfigure their status and representation. Over the years, the artist has used drawing, painting, colored-light projections, writing, shadow puppetry, and, most recently, film animation to narrate her tales of romance, sadism, oppression and liberation. Her scenarios thwart conventional readings of a cohesive national history and expose the collective, and ongoing, psychological injury caused by the tragic legacy of slavery. Deploying an acidic sense of humor, Walker examines the dialectics of pleasure and danger, guilt and fulfillment, desire and fear, race and class. This landmark publication, which is sure to win international design awards, accompanies Walker's first major American museum survey. It features critical essays by Philippe Vergne, Sander L. Gilman, Thomas McEvilley, Robert Storr and Kevin Young, as well as an illustrated lexicon of recurring themes and motifs in the artist's most influential installations by Yasmil Raymond, more than 200 full-color images, an extensive exhibition history and bibliography, and a 36-page insert by the artist.

    From diverse backgrounds, they met at The Slade in London between 1908 and 1910, in what was later described as the school’s “last crisis of brilliance.” Between 1910 and 1918 they loved, talked, and fought; they admired, conspired, and sometimes disparaged each others’ artistic creations. They created new movements; they frequented the most stylish cafés and restaurants and founded a nightclub; they slept with their models and with prostitutes; and their love affairs descended into obsession, murder, and suicide.

    These methods are so easy that anyone--from doodler to advanced artist--can master them in minutes! Step by step, you'll learn how to capture the look of metal, glass, weathered wood, skin, hair and other textures. Two detailed start-to-finish demonstrations show you how to use these textures to create drawings that look so real they seem to leap right off the page.

    On Antiques Roadshow, experts tell people whether they have a "match" and are in possession of a valuable antique or simply have another run-of-the-mill object. Leigh and Leslie Keno, the twin-brother experts who appear on Antiques Roadshow, have now written a book chronicling their history of discovering rare antiques -- Hidden Treasures: Searching for Masterpieces of American Furniture.These brothers have literally spent a lifetime learning about antiques. By the time the boys were 12, they were already dealers and were more than a bit familiar with the world of flea markets, tag sales, and antique shops. Having been raised in a home where they learned that the intrinsic value of an antique lies in its rarity and beauty, the brothers took that knowledge and built a life around what quickly became an obsession.In Hidden Treasures the Kenos' passion is not explained in a dry, academic lecture; instead, they detail some of the most exciting antiques hunts they've had. Although they are both obviously experts, there are still pieces that experts can question or pass over because years of refinishing and reupholstering have disguised the original design. Sometimes even experts can feel like they're on the other side of the table at Antiques Roadshow. In Hidden Treasures the Kenos face some trials, but their skill and determination always leads them to success.The brothers, who alternate writing chapters, don't simply want to tell readers about the fun they have -- they want the readers to understand antiques. Hidden Treasures is filled with photographs of the rare and beautiful pieces discussed in the text. Many of the pieces are shown in a series of photographs to explain exactly why those pieces are works of such incredible craftsmanship.Reading Hidden Treasures will not turn someone into the experts that Leigh and Leslie are. But it does allow for a much greater understanding of the antiques world that they love. They teach readers to appreciate the beauty that can transform an everyday object into a work of art, and in doing so, they teach readers to keep their eyes open to the beauty that people miss every day.

    All the while he has been writing some of the wittiest, most incisive criticism we have on an astonishing array of subjects—music, literature, photography, and travel journalism—that, in Dyer's expert hands, becomes a kind of irresistible self-reportage.Otherwise Known as the Human Condition collects twenty-five years of essays, reviews, and misadventures. Here he is pursuing the shadow of Camus in Algeria and remembering life on the dole in Brixton in the 1980s; reflecting on Richard Avedon and Ruth Orkin, on the status of jazz and the wonderous Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, on the sculptor ZadKine and the saxophonist David Murray (in the same essay), on his heroes Rebecca West and Ryszard Kapus´cin´ski, on haute couture and sex in hotels. Whatever he writes about, his responses never fail to surprise. For Dyer there is no division between the reflective work of the critic and the novelist's commitment to lived experience: they are mutually illuminating ways to sharpen our perceptions. His is the rare body of work that manages to both frame our world and enlarge it.

    As the crossroads between Europe and Asia, Istanbul has lived through several empires and has a character that is as many layered as its history – something that Güler’s photographs convey with great sensitivity. In these remarkable black-and-white images, the city’s melancholy aesthetic oscillates between tradition and modernity. Both writer and photographer were born in Istanbul, and each in his youth held the ambition of becoming a painter. Here, each in his own way paints a picture of his home town and captures its very soul.

    There she met the legendary couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Welcomed into their home, she immersed herself in their private lives and the cultural and artistic diversity of the country, taking hundreds of photographs. These powerful photographs, among the last taken before Kahlo’s death, bear poignant witness to Frida’s beauty and talent. Showcasing more than 100 of these rare images, many of which have never been published before, the book also includes previously unpublished commentary by Gisèle Freund about Frida Kahlo, texts by Kahlo’s biographer Gérard de Cortanze and art historian Lorraine Audric, as well as a link to a previously unreleased color film, shot by Freund, showing Diego Rivera at work.

    This book reveals how the relationship between the UK’s foremost broadcasting organization and the world’s most celebrated pop group developed between 1962 and 1970.This in-depth account of The Beatles’ BBC appearances features transcripts of broadcast interviews plus photographs of the group and fascinating documents from the archives. From the unprecedented excitement of Beatlemania to the mature reflection of the last interviews before the group’s split, it was all seen and heard on the BBC. Experience the history of The Beatles the way it really happened.