Sontag develops further the concept of 'transparency'. When anything can be photographed and photography has destroyed the boundaries and definitions of art, a viewer can approach a photograph freely with no expectations of discovering what it means. This collection of six lucid and invigorating essays, the most famous being "In Plato's Cave", make up a deep exploration of how the image has affected society.

    While some took their vote and joined the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement, others, well, took liberties. Compiled here for the first time are more than 200 publicity stills and photos of some of America's first "It" girls—the silent film-era starlets who paved the way for the cacophony of Monroes and Madonnas to follow. Accompanying these iconic images are the stories behind them, including accounts from surviving Ziegfeld Girls, as well as ads featuring them that helped perpetuate the allure of It girl glamour. When rare and striking portraits of these women surfaced on the internet in 1995, author Robert Hudovernik began researching their source. What he discovered was the work of one of the first "star makers" identified most with the Ziegfeld Follies, Alfred Cheney Johnston. Johnston, a member of New York's famous Algonquin Round Table who photographed such celebrities as Mary Pickford, Fanny Brice, the Gish Sisters, and Louise Brooks, fell out of the spotlight with the demise of the revue. A sumptuous snapshot of an era, this book is also a look at the work of this "lost" photographer.

    We lack the fashion know-how we need to dress professionally and beautifully. In The Lost Art of Dress, historian and dressmaker Linda Przybyszewski reveals that this wasn't always true.In the first half of the twentieth century, a remarkable group of women -- the so-called Dress Doctors -- taught American women that knowledge, not money, was key to a beautiful wardrobe. They empowered women to design, make, and choose clothing for both the workplace and the home. Armed with the Dress Doctors' simple design principles -- harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis -- modern American women from all classes learned to dress for all occasions in ways that made them confident, engaged members of society. A captivating and beautifully illustrated look at the world of the Dress Doctors, The Lost Art of Dress introduces a new audience to their timeless rules of fashion and beauty -- rules which, with a little help, we can certainly learn again.

    From the water's surface, it's a simple exercise: a dog's leap, a splash, and then a wet head surfacing with a ball, triumphant. But beneath the water is a chaotic ballet of bared teeth and bubbles, paddling paws, fur and ears billowing in the currents. From leaping Lab to diving Dachshund, the water is where a dog's distinct personality shines through; some lounge in the current, paddling slowly, but others arch their bodies to cut through the water with the focus and determination of a shark. In more than eighty portraits, award-winning pet photographer and animal rights activist Seth Casteel captures new sides of our old friends with vibrant underwater photography that makes it impossible to look away. Each image bubbles with exuberance and life, a striking reminder that even in the most loveable and domesticated dog, there are more primal forces at work. In Underwater Dogs, Seth Casteel gives playful and energetic testament to the rough-and-tumble joy that our dogs bring into our lives.

    Includes the work of many of Japan's most brilliant artists, including Hiroshige, Hokusai, and Yoshitoshi.

    This stunning collection features art from volumes 1-8 of this bestselling manga saga, along with information about characters and an exclusive interview with creator Yuki.

    Compiled by Maru’s owner, the user-named mugumogu, I Am Maru celebrates the unique abilities of this unforgettable feline contortionist with photographs and text, in English and Japanese. Cat lovers everywhere and readers who made Dewey, Zooborns, and I Can Has Cheezburger phenomenal hits will be delighted to get to know better this endearing celebrity cat with a big personality and an enormous established online fanbase.

    A hefty compilation of essays (both pictorial and prose), notes, concept sketches and interviews by (and with) Hayao Miyazaki. Arguably the most respected animation director in the world, Miyazaki is the genius behind "Howl's Moving Castle," Princess Mononoke" and the Academy Award-winning film, "Spirited Away."

    In the countryside, we want to preserve nature and the landscape. In impoverished parts of the world, the necessity for sustainable and economical shelter is stronger than ever. Lifestyles and daily routines are also changing. We live in an interconnected world in which digital communication, information, and entertainment are pervasive. Yet basic human needs remain constant: a roof over our heads and somewhere to cook, eat, and sleep. Increasingly, we look for ways to occupy our habitats more ecologically, flexibly, and efficiently.Digital design tools, sustainable materials, and new prefabrication technologies have led to an explosion in innovative ideas for designing domestic spaces, particularly those in tight surroundings. All the homes in Nano House are drawn from a broad array of climatic and environmental contexts, building methods, and spatial innovations.This lively book is the perfect resource and inspiration for designers, architects, builders—for anyone looking to maximize living space with minimal environmental impact.

    In On Beauty and Being Just Elaine Scarry not only defends beauty from the political arguments against it but also argues that beauty does indeed press us toward a greater concern for justice. Taking inspiration from writers and thinkers as diverse as Homer, Plato, Marcel Proust, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch as well as her own experiences, Scarry offers up an elegant, passionate manifesto for the revival of beauty in our intellectual work as well as our homes, museums, and classrooms.Scarry argues that our responses to beauty are perceptual events of profound significance for the individual and for society. Presenting us with a rare and exceptional opportunity to witness fairness, beauty assists us in our attention to justice. The beautiful object renders fairness, an abstract concept, concrete by making it directly available to our sensory perceptions. With its direct appeal to the senses, beauty stops us, transfixes us, fills us with a surfeit of aliveness. In so doing, it takes the individual away from the center of his or her self-preoccupation and thus prompts a distribution of attention outward toward others and, ultimately, she contends, toward ethical fairness.Scarry, author of the landmark The Body in Pain and one of our bravest and most creative thinkers, offers us here philosophical critique written with clarity and conviction as well as a passionate plea that we change the way we think about beauty.

    Each day he would set forth, with a pouch full of colored pencils and a sketchpad, to visit different neighborhoods. This stunning book records the city that he got to know during his adventures, a gritty, vibrant place, full of ordinary people going about their daily lives. Realistically rendered city views or posters of pop stars contrast with cartoon sketches of iconic objects or droll vignettes, like a housewife walking her pet pig and a Godzilla statue in a local park.With wit, a playful sense of humor, and the colored pencils of his kit, Florent Chavouet sets aside the question of urban ugliness or beauty and captures the Japanese essence of a great city.

    The story of filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki's life and work, including his impact on Japan and the world A thirtieth‑century toxic jungle, a bathhouse for tired gods, a red‑haired fish girl, and a furry woodland spirit—what do these have in common? They all spring from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki, one of the greatest living animators, known worldwide for films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, and The Wind Rises.

    They extend from a region where the audience is pumped for tweets to a future of "neurocurating," in which paintings surveil their audience via facial recognition and eye tracking to assess their popularity and to scan for suspicious activity.In Duty Free Art, filmmaker and writer Hito Steyerl wonders how we can appreciate, or even make art, in the present age.What can we do when arms manufacturers sponsor museums, and some of the world's most valuable artworks are used as currency in a global futures market detached from productive work? Can we distinguish between information, fake news, and the digital white noise that bombards our everyday lives? Exploring subjects as diverse as video games, WikiLeaks files, the proliferation of freeports, and political actions, she exposes the paradoxes within globalization, political economies, visual culture, and the status of art production.

    This striking book contains full-color woodblock prints made during Japan's famous Edo Period, historic and contemporary photographs of geisha life, and images of the "floating world" Japan's mysterious artistic subculture. The accompanying text includes evocative Japanese poems and haikus. All celebrate the beauty and creativity of the geisha, who with her exquisitely detailed costume, elaborate make-up and hairstyle, and artfully ritualized behavior, chastely beguiles and entertains Japan's most powerful men.

    From Homer’s Odyssey and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Little Mermaid to T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and the Disney animated film The Little Mermaid, this sea vixen has long seduced popular imagination. Cosmetic companies have drawn inspiration for their makeup lines from mermaids, as have designers throughout fashion history, from Jean Patou to Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. The fishtail dress is a perennial long red-carpet staple, favored by the likes of Marion Cotillard, Sofia Vergara, and Blake Lively.Divided into four sections—Fashion and Beauty; Arts and Culture; Real Mermaids and Where to Find Them; and Food, Entertaining and Stories of the Sea—The Mermaid Handbook is a unique and sumptuous compilation filled with creative ideas for decorating and living inspired by these beauties from the deep. Learn to make a sailor’s valentine; a mermaid comb and crown; and a pearl and sequin paillette necklace. There are recipes for mermaid-themed poke bowls, aquatic-themed honey gingerbread cookies, and the official cocktail of the 1960s-era mermaid attraction Aquarama.Folklore expert Carolyn Turgeon also includes profiles of true modern mermaids, tail makers, and mermaid bars; visits mermaid attractions like Weeki Wachee Springs; and provides tips on getting beachy mermaid hair and creating an alluring eye. This collector’s item also includes an inset image on the front cover; ornate metallic blue foil patterning on the front, spine, and back; blue stained edges; a satin bookmark, and quality paper.