What is beauty? Umberto Eco, among Italy’s finest and most important contemporary thinkers, explores the nature, the meaning, and the very history of the idea of beauty in Western culture. The profound and subtle text is lavishly illustrated with abundant examples of sublime painting and sculpture and lengthy quotations from writers and philosophers. This is the first paperback edition of History of Beauty, making this intellectual and philosophical journey with one of the world’s most acclaimed thinkers available in a more compact and affordable format.From the Trade Paperback edition

    Beginning in 1936, when she became a fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, Vreeland established herself as a controversial visionary with an astonishing ability to invent and discover fashion ideas, designers, personalities, and photographers. She was a memorable writer with a vivid personality and a talent for coining aphorisms. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel chronicles 50 years of international fashion and Vreeland’s rich life. With more than 350 illustrations, including original magazine spreads and many famous photographs, this intensely visual book shows fashion as it was being invented, and how Vreeland shaped American taste through her superb vision.Praise for Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel:“Before there was Daphne Guinness, before there was Lady Gaga, there was the original style setter. A new book takes a look at the career and influence of the woman who made fashion modern.” —Town & Country “A must-have and the perfect addition to anyone’s holiday gift list, the book begs to be displayed on a coffee table and leisurely reviewed from the corner of a comfy couch, when there is ample time to savor Vreeland's pioneering five decades in fashion.” —Publishers Weekly

    . . thoroughness and most impressive scholarship . . . much entertaining detail and . . . pleasant humour." — The Times Literary Supplement (London)Underwear — practical garments with a utilitarian function or body coverings that serve an erotic purpose? As this fascinating and intelligently written study shows, the role played by underclothing over the last several centuries has been a varied one.In a well-documented, profusely illustrated volume combining impressive scholarship with an entertaining, often humorous style, two distinguished clothing historians consider undergarments worn by the English over the past 600 years. Beginning with the Middle Ages, the authors cover centuries of clothing history, including the Tudor period, the Restoration, the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and the twentieth century up to the eve of World War II. Drawing on extensive, research, the Cunningtons illuminate the role and function of underwear: it protected the wearer against the elements, supported costume shapes, served as an erotic stimulus, symbolized class distinctions, and fulfilled other social, sanitary, and economic functions. Enhancing the detailed, comprehensive text are more than 100 period illustrations and photographs depicting a laced-up bodice of the twelfth century, embroidered linen drawers of the sixteenth century, a hooped petticoat support in bentwood (c. 1750), footed long drawers (1795), nineteenth-century bustles, early nineteenth-century corsets for men, "Frillies for the Tiny Lady" (1939), and much more. A bibliography, appendix, and index complete a valuable reference work that will appeal to costume historians, sociologists, and other readers.

    This collection presents fifty large-scale artworks from the American master's color field period (1949–1970) alongside essays by Rothko's son, Christopher Rothko, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art curator of painting and sculpture Janet Bishop. Featuring illuminating details about Rothko's life, influences, and legacy, and brimming with the emotional power and expressive color of his groundbreaking canvases, this essential volume brings the renowned artist's luminous work to light for both longtime Rothko fans and those discovering his work for the very first time. A textured case and large-scale tip-on on the front cover round out this sumptious package.

    Benjamin Spock, September 1969The connection between all the rhetoric and all the poetry, between the words of a Black Panther and those of a rock star or a pacifist, between the scars of a pop artist and those of a napalm victim, have haunted and informed the structuring of this book, with its own peculiar version of a beginning, a middle, and an end.

    The American Quilt shows how these virtuoso textiles, long appreciated for their bold graphic appeal and naive charm, are also a fascinating reflection of cultural and social attitudes, painting an indelible portrait of our nation’s history and the remarkable women who lived it. America of the 18th and 19th centuries developed at a breathtaking pace, and the changes that marked each era were inevitably mirrored in the prevailing quilting styles of the period. The American Quilt marks the first time the evolution of quilting has been traced chronologically, identifying the fabric, design, and construction hallmarks of each period and showing the genesis of beloved patterns and styles. A thorough discussion of America’s textile history, complete with a fabric time-line, provides further insight into antique quilts, offering important clues to their age and provenance.The American Quilt charts the course of quilting in America, from the earliest whole-cloth and broderie perse quilts through the emergence of the block style in all its regional and popular permutations. Special sections are devoted to quilt subgenres, including Amish quilts, Baltimore Album quilts, mourning quilts, and African-American quilts, that are highly prized by collectors today.Quilt collectors will also find helpful information on displaying, storing, and caring for quilts, as well as an exhaustive directory of dealers and quilt collections that have been updated for this edition.Filled with more than 250 photographs of rarely seen quilts and delightful evocations of quilting’s colorful past, The American Quilt is a thought-provoking and important step forward in our ever-expanding knowledge of this remarkable folk art.“[The American Quilt] offers a profusely illustrated survey that ingeniously weaves the threads of America’s social, political, economic, and industrial history into the evolution of the quilt-making arts.” —New York Times“A longtime dealer of antique quilts, Kiracofe has given us a guide to evaluating and dating old quilts, and has included methods of tracking down the makers, and advice on their cleaning, storage, hanging, and restoration. A pleasure for the generalist, this book will be indispensable to serious students and collectors.” —Washington Post“A must for any serious student of quilts.” —Quilter’s NotebookA “classic quilt tome.”—USA Today

    To give an accurate impression of what is in a designer's mind it is vital to have complete mastery of the rules of figure drawing. Here, realism and anatomical precision are the chief values, whereas for costume and fashion, stylization and exaggeration are ways of adding individuality and verve to a plate, and of focusing attention on specific elements. FIGURE DRAWING FOR FASHION DESIGN offers a concise, topic by topic guide to acquiring and perfecting these skills, concentrating on the female form. The coverage provided means that this book is ideal both for those who want to apply themselves professionally to fashion design, and for all enthusiasts of drawing the human body.

    Packed with beloved lines of verse, literary portraits, and illustrations — and statements from the bearers on their tattoos’ history and the personal significance of the chosen literary work — The Word Made Flesh is part photo collection, part literary anthology written on skin.

    Fashion Illustration represents a designer's point of view and Anna Kiper's aim is to contribute to the revival of this unique art form. Every illustration lesson in the book presents a story with exciting design details and ideas to inspire designers to rediscover the art of hand drawing as a tool for creating vibrant and original work. 'A hand drawing creates a direct connection to the artist, expressing the individual style, energy and creativity' - from Anna Kiper's introduction. Written for both newcomers and improvers, Fashion Illustration will help you to: achieve movement and attitude in figure drawing by following a few simple steps; develop striking and energetic page compositions; explore effortless ways to illustrate print, textures and embellishments; discover an exciting variety of media and techniques to enrich your individual drawing style. This beautifully illustrated and inspirational book is written by Anna Kiper, one of the world's leading fashion designers and illustrators. Contents: Introduction, The Fashion Figure, The Figure in Detail, Faces, Arms & Hands, Legs & Feet, Dressing the Fashion figure, Fashion Dictionary, Fashion Flats, Accessories, Page Composition with Impact, Illustrating Men, Illustrating Children, Fabric Rendering Techniques, Exploring Media, Model Drawing, Inspiration, Mood, Design.

    In this, his first book, he teaches readers everything they need to know about the provenance and history of furniture, as well as how to restore, update, and care for their furniture—from antiques to midcentury pieces, family heirlooms or funky flea-market finds. The heart of the book is an overview of Pourny’s favorite techniques—ceruse, vernis anglais,and water gilding, among many others—with full-color step-by-step photographs to ensure that readers can easily replicate each refinishing technique at home. Pourny brings these techniques to life with a chapter devoted to real-world refinishing projects, from a veneered table to an ebonized desk, a gilt frame to a painted northern European hutch. Rounding out this comprehensive guide is care and maintenance information, including how to properly clean leather, polish hardware, fix a broken leg, and replace felt pads, as well as recipes to make your own wax, shellac, varnish, stain, and more.

    From the taboo striped cloaks of the Middle Ages to the liberating stripes of the French and American flags, The Devil's Cloth chronicles the checkered past of this maligned and misunderstood pattern that has been linked to everything from medieval scandals to religious and political uprisings to contemporary fashion statements. The story begins nearly a thousand years ago, when the monks of the Carmelite Order were ordered by the Pope to surrender their striped garments--to superstitious minds a sure sign of the devil. Anti-stripe sentiment raged throughout the Middle Ages, becoming the de rigueur fashion for prostitutes, hangmen, lepers, court jesters, and disloyal Round Table knights. Over the centuries, the list expanded to include Jews, heretics, adulterous wives, madmen, convicts, and servants. Briefly rescued from ignominy by the Renaissance, the stripe enjoyed a resurgence in 1775, where its newly conferred status as an enduring symbol of freedom paved the way for a subsequent European comeback. With lively narrative style, Pastoureau traces the fascinating trajectory of the ubiquitous stripe from the stripe-related stress of biblical figures--Cain, Delilah, and Judas prominent among them--to the bathing suits, pinstripe suits, and pajamas of today. Not even the hapless zebra escapes the skewering lens of history. Whether its subject is horizontal or vertical, stylish or subversive, this richly informative book will appeal to readers of every stripe.

    Legendary screen star Aubrey Hepburn and designer Hubert de Givenchy were a brilliant meeting of fashion-forward minds. Over the course of their forty-year friendship and professional partnership, both became fashion icons whose collaborations influenced trends for generations to come -- the words "Audrey style" still conjure images of ballet flats, little black dresses, bateau necklines, capri pants, and countless stunning fashions. With gorgeous photography throughout, Audrey and Givenchy is a celebration of the duo's collaborations both onscreen and off, featuring fashion profiles on such classic films as Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, How to Steal a Million, and Funny Face, as well as their greatest off-screen fashion hits for awards shows and events.

    Archaeologist and medieval historian Alexander Langlands reaches as far back as the Neolithic period to recover our lost sense of craft, combining deep history with detailed scientific analyses and his own experiences making traditional crafts. Craft brims with vivid storytelling, rich descriptions of natural landscape, and delightful surprises that will convince us to introduce more craft into our lives.

    This unique selection of illustrations with commentaries and source texts guides us on a fascinating journey through the representations of the secret arts.

    Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn't alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others -- no one knows the precise number -- have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy.Jonathan Harr embarks on a journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ -- its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.