History & Criticism
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The Cabbage Babies: Repopulation Postcards & the First Movie Ever Made
Where do babies come from? According to hundreds of early 1900s postcards, they hail from “Cabbage Patches.” Far from being just an ’80s doll craze, the idea of Cabbage Patch babies has roots that span centuries. These aren’t just quirky artworks; they’re early precursors to the surrealism movement, and they hint at a darker, lesser-known history. Embark on a captivating journey through alternative history as we decode the messages in these artworks. These are genuine postcards from 1900-1920s, sent across Europe and the US, many containing clues in the messages on their backs. By delving into lesser-known histories like the orphan trains and foundling hospitals, and even tapping into ancient references, we shed new light on these fascinating postcards.Read more
£46.00 -
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
The Cambridge Illustrated History of China is an illuminating account of the full sweep of Chinese civilisation – from prehistoric times to the intellectual ferment of the Warring States Period, through the rise and fall of the imperial dynasties, to the modern communist state. Written by a leading scholar and lavishly illustrated, its narrative draws together everything from the influence of key intellectual figures, to political innovations, art and material culture, family and religious life, not to mention wars and modern conflicts. This third revised edition includes new archaeological discoveries and gives fuller treatment of environmental history and Chinese interaction with the wider world, placing China in global context. The Qing dynasty is now covered in two chapters, while the final chapter brings the story into the twenty-first century, covering the transformation of China into one of the world’s leading economies and the challenges it faces. Lively and highly visual, this book will be appreciated by anyone interested in Chinese history.Read more
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The Creative South (Volume 2): Buddhist and Hindu Art in Mediaeval Maritime Asia, volume 2
This edited volume programmatically reconsiders the creative contribution of the littoral and insular regions of Maritime Asia to shaping new paradigms in the Buddhist and Hindu art and architecture of the mediaeval Asian world. Far from being a mere southern conduit for the maritime circulation of Indic religions, in the period from ca. the 7th to the 14th century those regions transformed across mainland and island polities the rituals, icons, and architecture that embodied these religious insights with a dynamism that often eclipsed the established cultural centres in Northern India, Central Asia, and mainland China. This collective body of work brings together new research aiming to recalibrate the importance of these innovations in art and architecture, thereby highlighting the cultural creativity of the monsoon-influenced Southern rim of the Asian landmass.
“Although Maritime Asia in mediaeval times was not as densely populated as the agrarian hinterland, Asia’s coasts were highly urbanized. The region from southern India to south China was a heterogeneous blend of cultures, leavened with a strong interest in trade. This cosmopolitan society afforded plentiful opportunities for artists to find patrons and develop individual styles and aesthetic sensibilities. In the bustling ports of Asia’s south coast, rulers sought to embellish their prestige and attract foreign merchants by sponsoring the development of monumental complexes and centres of learning and debate. These educational institutions attracted teachers from all over Asia, and in their cloisters they developed new intellectual frameworks which were reflected in works of art and architecture. Scholars moved frequently by sea, influencing and being influenced by other foreigners such as Japanese and central Asians who were also attracted to these places.
This very variety has hindered scholarly research in the past. This volume contributes to the endeavour to show how Maritime Asia was not an incoherent jumble of misunderstood influences from better-known civilizations; there was a pattern to this creativity, which the authors in this collection clarify for us. The maritime world of Asia may have lain on the margins of the land, but it provided a physical and intellectual medium through which artistic ideas from east and west flowed freely. Maritime Asia also made significant original contributions which hold their own with those of the hinterland of the Asian continent. Unconstrained by the burden of static hierarchical courts, the peoples of Maritime Asia built on the inspiration provided by a hybrid society to demonstrate a high degree of artistic originality while testing but not breaking the link with conventional iconography.”– Professor John Miksic, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore (NUS)
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£13.20£64.10 -
The Illustrated Story of Art: The Great Art Movements and the Paintings that Inspired them
This is your A to Z guide to art!
From cave paintings to pop art and modern masterpieces, this absorbing and beautiful art encyclopedia explores the development of art in spectacular detail.
Here’s what you’ll find inside the pages of this visually stunning art book:
– Covers every major movement in art from prehistory to the present day
– Each movement is tracked in a visual timeline that showcases its key paintings and notable artists and explains its context – the major events in its evolution
– Each section ends with a stunning image of a masterwork and a curator’s analysis that encapsulates its values, style, composition, and subject matter
– Glossary of technical terms and a comprehensive indexGet ready to embark on a unique guided tour throughout the history of art. Get to know more than 700 of the greatest artists, from Michelangelo and Monet to Damien Hirst and Picasso. Discover 2500 of the world’s most iconic artworks, paintings and sculptures that have shaken the art world through centuries and across continents.
Truly comprehensive in scope, The Illustrated Story of Art presents the most remarkable art movements throughout history in chronological order and explains the social and cultural background of each period. Turning-point paintings that triggered or epitomised each artistic movement are identified and explained, against a backdrop of influences – from admired techniques of an earlier artist to the changes in society that enabled new directions in art.
A must-have for your bookshelf, this is an indispensable art reference book for art-lovers everywhere!
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£12.20£23.80 -
The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia: 1
Dark Horse Books and Nintendo team up to bring you The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda franchise. This handsome hardcover contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! Starting with an insightful introduction by the legendary producer and video-game designer of Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto, this book is crammed full of information about the storied history of Link’s adventures from the creators themselves! As a bonus, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia includes an exclusive comic by the foremost creator of The Legend of Zelda manga – Akira Himekawa!Read more
£24.70 -
The Marriage Portrait: the Instant Sunday Times Bestseller, Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023
A Reese’s Bookclub December Pick (2022)
An Instant Sunday Times, New York Times and Irish Times Bestseller (August 2022)
A Guardian and LitHub Book of the Year (December 2022)‘Every bit as evocative and spellbinding as Hamnet. O’Farrell, thank God, just seems to be getting better and better’ i newspaper
‘Her narrative enchantment will wrest suspense and surprise out of a death foretold’ Financial Times
‘Ingenious, inventive, humane, wry, truthful . . . better than her last novel’ Scotsman
‘Finely written and vividly imagined’ Guardian
‘In O’Farrell’s hands, historical detail comes alive’ Spectator
Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her.
Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence’s grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband.What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival.
The Marriage Portrait is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.
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£4.80£9.50 -
The Rossettis
A visually stunning book devoted to the radical Rossetti generation.The Rossettis’ approach to art, love and lifestyles are considered revolutionary. This is explored by a range of short thematic essays containing fresh, and surprising research, accompanied by beautiful and iconic Pre-Raphaelite illustrations. Featuring artworks and writings by Dante Gabriel, Christina and Elizabeth (née Siddal), the book distinguishes the Rossettis from Victorian culture and foregrounds their countercultural roles.
The publication accompanies the first retrospective of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at Tate and the largest exhibition of his iconic pictures in two decades, and what will also be the most comprehensive exhibition of Elizabeth Siddal’s work for 30 years, featuring rare surviving watercolours and important drawings.
The Rossettis will take a fresh look at the fascinating myths surrounding the unconventional relationships between Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Elizabeth Siddal, Fanny Cornforth and Jane Morris.
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£23.70£28.50The Rossettis
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The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A Postsecret Book
New York Times Bestseller
Postsecret.com founder Frank Warren is back with an irresistible addition to his bestselling PostSecret series. For The Secret Lives of Men and Women, Warren has selected a never-before-seen collection of postcards bearing the explosive confessions and captivating revelations of men and women everywhere. Created using photographs, collages, illustrations, and more, the handmade cards offer a compelling dialogue on some of today’s most provocative topics–from marriage and infidelity, to parenting, office politics, repressed fantasies, and even abortion–daring us to consider how well we really know our friends, family, even ourselves.
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£19.60 -
The Simple Chinese Cookbook: 50 Essential Chinese Recipes You Need To Have
DISCOVER AMAZING CHINESE RECIPES WITH THE AMAZING SIMPLE CHINESE COOKBOOKTODAY!
Without Delay, You Will Find Amazing Recipes In This Book Such As:
★ Hot & Sour Soup
★ Wonton Soup
★ Honey Walnut Shrimp
★ Steamed Fish
★ Stir-Fried Shrimp & Scallions
★ Kung Pao Chicken – Keto-Friendly
★ Orange Chicken
★ Chinese Pork BBQ (Char Siu)
★ Chinese Pork Dumplings
★ Chop Suey
★ Easy Moo Shu Pork
★ Peking Pork Chops – Slow-Cooked
★ Crispy Tofu With Sweet & Sour Sauce
★ Shiitake & Scallion Lo Mein
And Much Much More!
Pick up your copy of the book right now by clicking the BUY NOW button at the top of this page!
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£6.00£23.80 -
The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever
Longlisted for the National Book Award
The never-before-told story of an obscure little street at the lower tip of Manhattan and the remarkable artists who got their start there.
For just over a decade, from 1956 to 1967, a collection of dilapidated former sail-making warehouses clustered at the lower tip of Manhattan became the quiet epicenter of the art world. Coenties Slip, a dead-end street near the water, was home to a circle of wildly talented and varied artists that included Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, James Rosenquist, Delphine Seyrig, Lenore Tawney, and Jack Youngerman. As friends and inspirations to one another, they created a unique community for unbridled creative expression and experimentation, and the works they made at the Slip would go on to change the course of American art.
Now, for the first time, Prudence Peiffer pays homage to these artists and the unsung impact their work had on the direction of late twentieth-century art and film. This remarkable biography, as transformative as the artists it illuminates, questions the very concept of a “group” or “movement,” as it spotlights the Slip’s eclectic mix of gender and sexual orientation, abstraction and Pop, experimental film, painting, and sculpture, assemblage and textile works. Brought together not by the tenets of composition or technique, nor by philosophy or politics, the artists cultivated a scene at the Slip defined by a singular spirit of community and place. They drew lasting inspiration from one another, but perhaps even more from where they called home, and the need to preserve the solitude its geography fostered. Despite Coenties Slip’s obscurity, the entire history of Manhattan was inscribed into its cobblestones–one of the first streets and central markets of the new colony, built by enslaved people, with revolutionary meetings at the tavern just down Pearl Street; named by Herman Melville in Moby Dick and site of the boom and bust of the city’s maritime industry; and, in the artists’s own time, a development battleground for Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses. The Slip’s history is entwined with that of the artists and their art–eclectic and varied work that was made from the wreckage of the city’s many former lives.
An ambitious and singular account of a time, a place, and a group of extraordinary people, The Slip investigates the importance of community, and makes an argument for how we are shaped by it, and how it in turns shapes our work.
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£26.10£29.70 -
The Story of Contemporary Art
What does it mean?
Is it really art?
Why does it cost so much?
While these questions are perpetually asked about contemporary art, they are not the questions that E. H. Gombrich set out to answer in his seminal book The Story of Art. Contemporary art is very different from what came before. From the 1960s, where Gombrich’s account concludes, artists began to abandon traditional forms of art and started to make work that questioned art’s very definition. This is where Godfrey picks up the story.Developments in contemporary art have followed no straightforward line of progress or sequence of movements. Recognizing this, Tony Godfrey creates a narrative from a series of often dramatic creative conflicts and arguments around what art is or should be. From object versus sculpture and painting versus conceptual to local versus global, gallery versus wider world, The Story of Contemporary Art traces a history in terms of drastic changes in social and political life over the last sixty years.
How do we experience being human in a world that seems to change so quickly? In exploring art’s relationship to this question, Godfrey asserts that multiple voices must be heard: critics, theorists, curators and collectors, but also audiences and artists themselves. Key to the book is the story of how a perception that art was made almost exclusively by white men from North America and Western Europe has been radically overturned. Compelling and intelligent, but never academic, this book tells us how.
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£21.80£28.50The Story of Contemporary Art
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The Universal Penman. Engrav’d by George Bickham
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
The eighteenth-century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity followed the systematic excavation of the ruins at Pompeii and Herculaneum in southern Italy; and after 1750 a neoclassical style dominated all artistic fields. The titles here trace developments in mostly English-language works on painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theater, and other disciplines. Instructional works on musical instruments, catalogs of art objects, comic operas, and more are also included.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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British LibraryT086160
Engraved throughout and printed on recto only. Plates bear various dates 1733-41. Additional titlepage dated 1741: ‘The universal penman; or, the art of writing .. Exemplified in all the useful and ornamental branches of modern penmanship; .. Written wi
London : printed for the author, and sold by John Bickham, engraver, 1733-41. 52 parts ; 2°
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£20.90£24.70The Universal Penman. Engrav’d by George Bickham
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The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters
The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer turns his eye to the seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age
Twenty years ago, Benjamin Moser followed a love affair to an ancient Dutch town. In order to make sense of this new place, he threw himself into the Dutch museums. Soon, he found himself unearthing the strange, inspiring and sometimes terrifying stories of the artists who shaped one of the most luminous moments in the history of human creativity, the Dutch Golden Age.
As he explored the hidden world of the Dutch Masters (and one Mistress), Moser met a crowd of fascinating personalities: the stormy Rembrandt, the intimate Ter Borch, the mysterious Vermeer. Through their art, he got to know their country, too: from Pieter Saenredam’s translucent churches to Paulus Potter’s muddy barnyards, and from Pieter de Hooch’s cozy hearths to Jacob van Ruisdael’s tragic trees. Over the years, Moser found himself on increasingly intimate terms with these centuries-dead artists, and found that they, too, were struggling with the same questions he was. Why do we make art? What is art, anyway – and what is an artist? What does it mean to succeed as an artist, and what does it mean to fail?
The Upside-Down World is an invitation to ask these questions, and to turn them on their heads: to look, and then to look again. It is a brilliant, colourful and learned book for anyone, whether lifelong scholar or curious tourist, who has ever felt the lure of the Dutch galleries. It shows us art, and artists, as we have never seen them before.
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£24.50£28.50 -
TIGERTASTIC: A Collection of Killer Comic Book Cover Designs
A richly varied showcase of comics featuring the Tiger, from Dave Richardson’s Tigerrific CollectionRead more
£47.50 -
Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India
With new photography of extraordinarily rare works of art, this pioneering study features discoveries and research essential to understanding the origins and meaning of Buddhist artistic traditionsNamed for two primary motifs in Buddhist art, the sacred bodhi tree and the protective snake, Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India is the first publication to foreground devotional works produced in the Deccan from 200 BCE to 400 CE. Unlike traditional narratives, which focus on northern India (where the Buddha was born, taught, and died), this groundbreaking book presents Buddhist art from monastic sites in the south. Long neglected, this is among the earliest corpus of Buddhist art surviving, and among the most sublimely beautiful. An international team of researchers contributes new scholarship on the sculptural and devotional art associated with Buddhism, and masterpieces from recently excavated Buddhist sites are published here for the first time―including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenized and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself.
Published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
(July 21–November 13, 2023)National Museum of Korea, Seoul
(December 22, 2023–April 14, 2024)Read more
£45.50£47.50Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India
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Une Semaine De Bonté: A Surrealistic Novel in Collage
The great surrealist’s collage masterpiece was printed in 1934 in a limited edition of five now-priceless pamphlets. This single-volume edition contains all of the original publication’s 182 bizarre, darkly humorous scenes of violent dreams and erotic fantasies. “One of the clandestine classics of our century.”― The New York Times.Read more
£17.70£19.90 -
Vermeer – The Rijksmuseum’s major exhibition catalogue
PUBLISHED TO ACCOMPANY THE ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EXHIBITION AT THE RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM, THIS IS THE FIRST MAJOR STUDY ON VERMEER’S LIFE AND WORK FOR MANY YEARS.
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‘Proust was once so excited to see a Vermeer show that he collapsed … I got chest pains merely leafing through the catalogue’ Jonathan Jones, Guardian
‘Invest in the fat catalogue, stuffed with scholarly discoveries and photographic closeups, and you will learn about everything from Vermeer’s optical mastery to his moral symbolism’ Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times
‘Excellent’Artists & Illustrators
‘Getting a ticket for the once-in-a-lifetime Vermeer exhibition, above, at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam this year might frankly be a bit of a challenge, but you can at least console yourself with the exhibition catalogue, published by Thames & Hudson, which is a gorgeous thing. Nothing matches seeing a painting in the flesh, but this comes mightily close.’The Herald
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Vermeer’s intensely quiet and enigmatic paintings invite the viewer into a private world, often prompting more questions than answers. Who is being portrayed? Are his subjects real or imagined? And how did he create such an unrivalled sense of intimacy?
Bringing together diverse strands of the Dutch master’s professional and private worlds, this is the first major authoritative study of Vermeer’s life and work for many years, throwing light on all thirty-seven of his paintings.
The book was designed by Irma Boom, the ‘Queen of Books’, and printed on an uncoated ‘Munken Print White’ paper, specially commissioned to ensure the veracity of colours. Irma Boom says: ‘the matte paper brings you closer to Vermeer; there is no gloss or glare in between, just like with the real works.’ With a wide selection of contextual illustrations, commentaries and up-to-date research by distinguished international Vermeer scholars, this is the definitive volume on the most admired of all seventeenth-century Dutch masters.
With contributions by
Bart Cornelis, National Gallery, London
Bente Frissen, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Sabine Pénot, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Pieter Roelofs, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Friederike Schuett, Staedel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Christian Tico Seifert, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
Ariane van Suchtelen, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Gregor J.M. Weber, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Marjorie E. Wieseman, National Gallery of Art, WashingtonRead more
£34.10£47.50 -
Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterworks from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum
A spectacular introduction to the greatest masters and masterpieces of Dutch art, from one of the world’s finest museums. The art of the Dutch Masters in the Golden Age is among the most popular ever created. Artists featured in this volume include Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Steen, Willem Claesz Heda and many others, making this a thorough survey the world of Dutch art in the 17th century. Packed with 200 colour photos, but produced as an affordable paperback, this is a beautiful gift book.Read more
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Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art
As seen in Forbes, Colossal, and The Art Newspaper
Over 100 global artists working with collage, as chosen by a team of art experts – an indispensable who’s who of the most exciting and innovative names working in the medium
Collage is an artistic language comprising found images, fragmentary forms, and unexpected juxtapositions. While it first gained status as high art in the early twentieth century, the past decade has seen a fresh explosion of artists using this dynamic and experimental approach to image making.
Organised in an A-Z sequence by artist, the book features both well-known collagists including Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Ellen Gallagher; Peter Kennard; Linder, Christian Marclay; Wangechi Mutu; Deborah Roberts; Martha Rosler; and Mickalene Thomas, and a plethora of lesser-known names deserving of greater attention. Taking a broad definition – from analog cut-and-paste compositions and photomontages to digital composed imagery and animations – Vitamin C+ showcases 108 living artists who employ collage as a central part of their visual-art practice, as selected by 69 leading experts, including museum directors, curators, critics, and collectors. The survey also features an engaging and informative introduction by Yuval Etgar, an internationally renowned expert in the area.
The 69 expert nominators include: Cecilia Alemani; Iwona Blazwick; David Campany; Raphael Chikukwa; Patrick Elliott; Max Hollein; Hettie Judah; Christine Macel; Roxana Marcoci; Duro Olowu; Scott Rothkopf; Russell Tovey; Zoe Whitley; and Heidi Zuckerman.
Artists include: Njideka Akunyili Crosby; Kader Attia; Adam Broomberg; Sara Cwynar; Moyna Flannigan; Ellen Gallagher; Lauren Halsey; Lyle Ashton Harris; Thomas Hirschhorn; Peter Kennard; Justine Kurland; Linder; Christian Marclay; Wangechi Mutu; Frida Orupabo; Heather Philipson; Tabita Rezaire; Deborah Roberts; Martha Rosler; Dee Shapiro; Eva Stenram; John Stezaker; Mickalene Thomas; Kara Walker; and Billie Zangewa.
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£36.90£47.50Vitamin C+: Collage in Contemporary Art
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Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing
Phaidon’s ‘Vitamin’ series has long proved an extraordinarily accurate predictor of tomorrow’s stars. This paperback edition of the latest volume is a cutting-edge and indispensable survey of the very best of contemporary drawing, as chosen by a panel of the world’s leading art experts
Over the past 50 years, drawing has been elevated from a supporting role to a primary medium, ranking alongside painting as a central art form. Since Phaidon’s publication of the first such surveys (Vitamin D in 2005 and D2 in 2013), contemporary artists have continued to explore drawing’s possibilities – from intimate to large-scale works, in a diversity of mark-making processes and materials. Vitamin D3 showcases more than 100 such artists, as nominated by a global panel of more than 70 international art experts.
The more than 70 nominators include such iconic figures as: Iwona Blazwick, Louisa Buck, Mark Coetzee, Thelma Golden, Laura Hoptman, Geeta Kapur, Pablo León de la Barra, Christine Macel, Kate Macfarlane, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Zoe Whitley.
The more than 100 selected artists include: Miriam Cahn, Robert Crumb, Tom Friedman, Tania Kovats, Claudette Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Otobong Nkanga, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Deanna Petherbridge, Christina Quarles, Qiu Zhijie, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Wael Shawky, Emma Talbot, and Johanna Unzueta.
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£28.30£33.30Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing
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Walead Beshty: Walead Beshty Studios Inc. at Dane Chantala Associates Ltd., 2009–2022: 1
Walead Beshty is a carefully curated guide to key bodies of work by the acclaimed conceptual artist presented in collaboration with Thomas Dane Gallery in London, Turin and Naples.One of today’s leading conceptual artists, Los Angeles-based Walead Beshty (b. 1976, London) works across photography, sculpture and words. Beshty’s art is expansive and best described as an ongoing conversation, to which this monograph is his next articulation. Through a deconstructing lens, Walead Beshty explores every exhibition and project the artist has presented in collaboration with Thomas Dane Gallery in London, Turin and Naples. The monograph offers a guide to some of the artist’s key bodies of work.
Uncovering processes is central to Beshty’s art. He deliberately incorporated marks made by oxidation and human touch into his FedEx copper works and Copper Surrogate works, as well as photographing the many individuals involved in his exhibitions in Industrial Portraits. The work that has gone into this substantial new monograph, which features contributions from publisher Francis Atterbury, book designer Billie Temple and Thomas Dane partner Francois Chantala, is, quite literally, laid bare. Also presented is an insightful essay by leading professor of Juridical Sociology at Univer¬sity of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Carlo De Rita.
Adopting a semiotic approach to books as ‘not just a thing you hold, but something held in common’, Walead Beshty embraces the archetypal format, tropes and conventions of a traditional – if unorthodox – book, employing printing and publishing practices seldom seen in contemporary bookmaking. It reflects on what an artist’s monograph might represent as it explores the contingencies that allow art to function. Walead Beshty is itself another carefully curated exhibition of his work.
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£26.30£33.30 -
Warhol
Andy Warhol (1928–1987) is hailed as the most important proponent of the Pop art movement. A critical and creative observer of American society, he explored key themes of consumerism, materialism, media, and celebrity.
Drawing on contemporary advertisements, comic strips, consumer products, and Hollywood’s most famous faces, Warhol proposed a radical reevaluation of what constituted artistic subject matter. Through Warhol, a Campbell’s soup can and Coca Cola bottle became as worthy of artistic status as any traditional still life. At the same time, Warhol reconfigured the role of the artist. Famously stating “I want to be a machine,” he systematically reduced the presence of his own authorship, working with mass-production methods and images, as well as dozens of assistants in a studio he dubbed the Factory.
This book introduces Warhol’s multifaceted, prolific oeuvre, which revolutionized distinctions between “high” and “low” art and integrated ideas of living, producing, and consuming that remain central questions of modern experience.
About the series
Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:
a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
a concise biography
approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions
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£11.40£14.30Warhol
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Wassily Kandinsky Wall Calendar 2024 (Art Calendar)
Wassily Kandinsky was a renowned Russian-born painter who is often regarded as one of the earliest pioneers of abstract art. This art calendar brings together some of his most striking works. Informative text accompanies each work and the datepad features previous and next month’s views. Printed on FSC-certified paper, with plastic-free packaging.Read more
£9.60£10.40 -
Women of Abstract Expressionism (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities/Princeton University Press Lec)
The celebrated survey of female Abstract Expressionist artists revealing the richness and lasting influence of their workThe artists Jay DeFeo, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, and many other women played major roles in the development of Abstract Expressionism, which flourished in New York and San Francisco in the 1940s and 1950s and has been recognized as the first fully American modern art movement. Though the contributions of these women were central to American art of the twentieth century, their work has not received the same critical attention as that of their male counterparts.
Women of Abstract Expressionism is a long-overdue survey. Lavishly illustrated with full-color plates emphasizing the expressive freedom of direct gesture and process at the core of the movement, this book features biographies of more than forty artists, offering insight into their lives and work. Essays by noted scholars explore the techniques, concerns, and legacies of women in Abstract Expressionism, shedding light on their unique experiences. This groundbreaking book reveals the richness of the careers of these important artists and offers keen new reflections on their work and the movement as a whole.Published in association with the Denver Art Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C.
(10/22/16–01/22/17)Palm Springs Art Museum
(02/18/17–05/28/17)Read more
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Xia Gui: Landscape of Streams and Mountains; Collection of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Handscrolls: Paintings
- Part of a series of 10 paintings from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties of ancient China
- Presented in the traditional format of a handscroll
Ten more handscrolls from the series Collection of Ancient Calligraphy and Painting Handscrolls: Paintings have rich themes and diverse styles, such as vivid portraits, exquisite landscape paintings, and meticulous paintings of flowers and birds. The paintings are accompanied by texts written by experts, offering detailed analysis of the artists’ works. It is a powerful tribute to Chinese ancient paintings and provides original insight into the work itself. In this series (volumes 11-20), most of handscrolls are painted in Song Dynasty, in which painting became an art of high sophistication and reached a new level of sophistication with further development of landscape painting. The original paintings have been in the collection of the Palace Museum or the Taipei Palace Museum for many years.
The artworks are presented in the traditional format of a handscroll which can be extended indefinitely, so that the postscripts and observations of later generations can be directly followed by the end of the works.
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Yves Klein
In the mid-1950s, Yves Klein (1928–1962) declared that “a new world calls for a new man.” With his idiosyncratic style and huge charisma, this bold artist would go on to pursue a brief but bountiful career, producing more than 1,000 paintings over seven years in an oeuvre now considered a mainstay of postwar modernism.
Klein made his name above all with his large monochrome canvases in his own patented hue of blue. International Klein Blue (IKB), composed of pure pigment and binding medium, is at once rich and luminous, evocative and decorative, and was conceived by Klein as a means of evoking the immateriality and infinitude of the world. The works of this “Blue Revolution” seem to draw us into another dimension, as if hypnotized by a perfect summer sky. Klein was also renowned for his deployment of “living brushes,” in which naked women, daubed in International Klein Blue, would make imprints of their bodies on large sheets of paper.
This Basic Art introduction presents key Klein works to introduce an artist who was at once a showman, inventor, and pioneer of performance art. With page after page of the ever-alluring International Klein Blue, it is both an essential guide to a modern art master and a meditation on the unique effects of a single color.
About the series
Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art series features:
a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
a concise biography
approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions
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£11.40£14.30Yves Klein
£11.40£14.30 -
Zawa-Zawa: The Treasured Art Works of Ashley Wood
The only book to showcase Ashley’s key works from his past exhibition catalogues- which were previously available only as single limited edition publications. Features English and Japanese text.This comprehensive collection of the best of Ashley Wood’s work covers nearly 400 “treasured” art works in a range of media, from his oil paintings, sketches and drawings, to his package and figurine designs. These works have either been unpublished or have only been available in previous exhibition catalogues. Inspired by Osamu Tezuka (the legendary Japanese manga artist) and Nobuyoshi Araki (the Japanese photographer), Wood is in constant motion developing new epic stories and expanding universes populated with his designs and creations for toy lines, comics, videogames, film, and music. He continues to evolve and inspire many new artists. This is a must-have book for hardcore Ashley Wood fans around the world.
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£18.70£23.70Zawa-Zawa: The Treasured Art Works of Ashley Wood
£18.70£23.70
