The American Museum’s collection of more than 250 quilts, ranging from the 18th to mid-20th centuries, is acclaimed as the finest of its type in Europe and the equal of many premier collections in the United States. Examples include early whole-cloth quilts, pieced and appliquéd work, Hawaiian and Amish quilts, and the African-American quilts of Gee’s Bend. Over 50 quilts and their unique stories are included in this new publication. Each entry is beautifully illustrated with stunning photography that celebrates the skill and artistry of these textiles. The selection includes celebrated favourites and new Museum acquisitions that have never been published before. Accompanying the individual quilt entries is an introductory essay that tells the story of how this remarkable Museum was established and the world-class quilt collection was formed.
The Focus series is a celebration of an institution’s chosen area of strength, appealing to the visitor interested in that specific area as well as a wider audience seeking out collections of their favoured genre.
Painter Roland Penrose and photographer Lee Miller’s move to Farleys in Sussex, UK, was not to settle down but to create, entertain, and inspire. In this publication, their son Antony Penrose, recalls the 1950’s with a fascinating insight into his parents’ lives, as they transformed Farleys from a traditional farmhouse into a hub of art. Farleys with unexpected decoration and surreal living had a wealth of 20th century artists visiting the home. The book is designed to reflect the colours and designs from the colour on the walls to the textiles of the furnishings.
The new monograph by Vienna-based media artist Sissa Micheli, originally from South Tyrol, presents the most important series of her works from the last ten years. Her photographs, videos, and installations focus on the transience of human existence and the contemplation of ephemeral phenomena. Billowing textiles, usually in front of the face and body, create fascinating temporary sculptures that evoke the fleeting and the ephemeral in a sensual game. By contrast, her series of photographs featuring arrangements of objects from both everyday and museum settings provides humorous insights into a surreal microcosm that also exists solely for the photographic moment. Sissa Micheli is a master of staging. With a highly aesthetic approach, she explores the structures and intermediate spaces of photography in its duality between reality and fiction resulting in stunning images.
Text in English, German and Italian.
The Ashmolean Museum catalogue Italian Maiolica and Europe (2017) included a range of works from Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Mexico, as well as Italy, to illustrate the rich history of European tin-glazed pottery. Since then, the Ashmolean has expanded its holdings of tin-glazed and related earthenwares to consolidate its position as one of the world’s most important and wide-ranging collections. Among the acquisitions described here is the only known piece of Italian maiolica made for a Tudor Englishman, a plate made for Humphrey Dethick, who caused a nationwide stir in 1602 by an apparent attempt to assassinate King James VI of Scotland. The bequest from Sidney Knafel of New York has transformed the Museum’s holdings of French faience; while important 16th-century maiolica comes from the collection of the late Airlie Holden-Hindley. Among the lustrewares included are fin-de-siècle pieces by Clément Massier and work by some of the world’s supreme contemporary masters of the technique.
China’s Song dynasty (960-1279) ceramics have long been famed for their simple shapes and beautiful glazes. Ceramics in Song China is the first book to look beyond their creation and aesthetics to explore how they functioned in Chinese society in their own time, and beyond. Looking at connections between ceramics and daily life, it takes in geology and environmental impacts as well as the movement of ceramics throughout the expanding Song urban environment. It shows how some ceramics document otherwise forgotten lives and social practices while illuminating how the concerns of poets, scholars and officials are present in others. Concluding with a survey of Song ceramics in the collections of Chinese emperors, Japanese temples, European royalty and English writers, this book presents a new account of how one of the world’s greatest ceramic productions touched every Song life and went on to intrigue generations of admirers across the world.
This is the the exhibition catalogue of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s exhibition starting September 2026 dedicated to Gustave Fayet as an artist and a collector. First major reference work devoted to the creative activity of Gustave Fayet in decorative arts, this book brings together leading specialists across multiple media, including stoneware, stained glass, drawing, textiles, wallpaper, carpets, and books. It explores a largely overlooked field and restores attention to a figure well known to experts yet long forgotten. Neither aligned with Art Nouveau nor Art Deco, Fayet remains deeply rooted in his time, collaborating with major artists such as Louis Süe, André Mare, and Paul Poiret. His friendship with Odilon Redon encouraged his artistic development. Combining art and business, he founded decorative arts enterprises in the 1920s. His sudden death, just five years later, was followed by a successful posthumous exhibition in 1926 at the Pavillon de Marsan in Paris, where his carpets were displayed alongside Redon’s works.
Recognised since the early 2000s for his poetic and pluridisciplinary practice, Joël Andrianomearisoa opens a window onto his world at the Ludwig Museum, where design, textiles, poetry, sound, neon lights, and craftsmanship all come together within the exhibition space. Born in Antananarivo in 1977, Andrianomearisoa lives and works between Madagascar and Paris. Navigating this cultural in-between, he draws on multiple roots, working across languages and weaving together cultural and historical references to create an art that is both deeply personal and broadly universal.
This exhibition devoted to Andrianomearisoa is the first to revisit and show his early production phase. Bringing together works from 2003 to the present, this exhibition is more than a retrospective; it acts as an introspective, moving through different periods to delve into Joël’s sentimental universe. Spread across two floors of the Ludwig Museum, the exhibition opens with a first chapter immersed in darkness: walls draped in black veils, illuminated by a few white neon lights, reveal a series of black tapestries. Upstairs, the second chapter continues with light, raffia, and woven textures.
Often described as sentimental, Joël Andrianomearisoa blends minimalism’s elegance with the emotional resonance of natural materials. His work awakens memories, histories, and desires, inviting visitors on an emotional journey where desire becomes a force for engagement, transformation, and transcendence.
Text in English and German.
FLOSS is a monographic series of retrospective portraits photographed by Roger Erickson on urban fashion, Hip Hop and Rock’n Roll artists from the 1990s through the early 2000s. These uniquely stylised images explore the aspirational, unrestrained and often extravagant nature of artists during an era when urban pop culture burst into international prominence. His wholly original vision captures the vitality of urban music, arts and culture in the ’90s. Often delving into the psyche of these personages for his inspiration, crafting iconic conceptual portraits that have become synonymous with the recording artists. The celebrities include Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Eminem, Joan Jett, Neil Young, Ozzy Osbourne, Ice Cube, Lil’Kim, Chaka Khan, LL Cool J, Fat Joe, Da Brat, Ja Rule, Nelly, EVE, and many more.
Commissioned by the Water Colour Society of Ireland, this book is the first to chronicle in depth the history of this distinguished Society, established in Lismore, County Waterford in November, 1870 and recognised today as being one of the oldest and most outstanding art societies in these islands. Members have included such prominent participants as Sir William N.M. Orpen, R.A., R.I., H.R.H.A., Sarah H. Purser, R.H.A., Walter F. Osborne, R.H.A., Mildred A. Butler, R.W.S., H.B.A.S., Mainie Jellett, Paul Henry, R.H.A., Evie Hone, H.R.H.A., Tom Carr, H.R.H.A., R.U.A., R.W.S., O.B.E and many others who succeeded in achieving recognition for their work not only in Ireland but on the international stage. The author sets out to trace the historical development of watercolour painting in Ireland, the difficulties encountered by artists in relation to exhibiting watercolours in eighteenth and nineteenth century Ireland. Brief accounts of the establishment of the Royal Dublin Society’s Drawing Schools are included together with the influence of the nineteenth century English watercolour tradition in relation to Irish students, the foundation of the N.G.I, the role of the governess and drawing master, together with the influences which the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art exerted on countless future members of the Society. The difficulties encountered by women in establishing themselves as either professional or amateur artists in nineteenth century Ireland, the opportunities for training not only in the field of art but in crafts such as wood-carving and lace and the availability to pursue an art academic training abroad all form part of this book. The vital role of Sketching Clubs and Drawing Societies which led to the birth of the Amateur Drawing Society (later to become known as the Water Colour Society of Ireland) are included. Founded by six enterprising ‘Lady Artists’, their largely unknown biographical information is provided here for the first time. Descriptions of early exhibitions, the aristocratic glamour attached to openings, conversaziones, the day to day running of the Society and the need by many artists, particularly women to transform themselves into professional painters form part of the early development of this remarkable Society. The birth of the nineteenth century exhibition watercolour and the requirement by members to market and sell their work throughout Ireland and the U.K. is described. The author provides concise biographies of over one hundred W.C.S.I artists from the relatively unknown to the widely acclaimed together with illutrations of works from both public and private collections, the latter, due to the generosity of their owners being illustrated here for the first time.
Hotspot Leipzig and the subsequent Neue Leipziger Schule represent a highly influential movement within contemporary figurative art. Originating at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, this artistic tradition places strong emphasis on craftsmanship and realism. Artists such as Werner Tübke, Bernhard Heisig, and Wolfgang Mattheuer laid the foundation with their technically refined and socially engaged works. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Neue Leipziger Schule emerged, with artists like Neo Rauch, Rosa Loy, and Matthias Weischer blending realism with dreamlike and surreal elements.
Since 2009, the Drents Museum has devoted considerable attention to these movements. Exhibitions such as Realism from Leipzig and solo presentations by Rosa Loy, Kristina Schuldt, Mirjam Völker and Tilo Baumgärtel reflect the museum’s long-standing commitment to these artists. The museum has also built an extensive collection of works from both the original and the new Leipzig schools, including recent acquisitions like Baboom by Tilo Baumgärtel. The book includes essays by leading authors and a comprehensive selection of works.
Text in English and Dutch.
The ensemble of Masters’ Houses in Dessau became the epitome of an artists’ colony in the 1920s: this was where the Bauhaus Masters lived next door to one another. With the Bauhaus Residency Programme, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation makes it possible for young artists to once again live and work in the Masters’ Houses. The publication presents the programme, the exhibition House Gropius || Contemporary, and the artists-in-residence at the Bauhaus in the years 2016 to 2018 and examines the influence of architecture on creative processes, the importance of artistic residencies, and the relevance of the Bauhaus for artistic practice today. Artists: Alexandar Hadjiev, Amor Muñoz, Anael Berkovitz, Andrea Canepa, Andrea Grützner, Clemens Krauss, Gabi Schillig, Jakob Gautel, Jiyoung Yoon, Marit Wolters , Markus Hoffmann, Martyna Marciniak, Mervyn Groot, Minha Lee, Paul Beckett, Rudy Decelière, Sebastian Stumpf, Spela Mastnak, TM Sisters, Wagehe Raufi.
How do artists produce exquisite art? Part of the answer is that each one must discover and create their own particular working space, harnessing inspiration from their surrounds, be it from the humble backyard shed, a beautifully refurbished industrial space, a room inside the home, a loft, or an architecturally designed house/studio set on a cliff, overlooking the natural beauty of the landscape. Some artistic souls thrive in seeming chaos while others must have an ordered studio space about them. In each instance, the role of the “studio” plays an important part in stimulating the artistic process.
This book offers an intriguing and exhilarating peek into the often secretive and off-limits creative spaces of thirty artists and practitioners. Whether it be for photography, music, sculpting, painting, architecture, writing, film, or furniture making, this selection of highly illustrated case studies from around the world reveals how these artisans and practitioners have crafted and designed their unique working environment. This beautiful collection of works also provides practical advice and innovative ideas on the architecture, interior design, site, and setting of workspaces that help these artists flourish through their creative journey.
The name of Anne Hoffmann is instinctively related by many artists, architects, museum people, and especially by book-lovers, to the range of media the Danish-born Swiss book and graphic designer has created over the course of three decades: posters, flyers, cards, CD booklets, and – above all – countless books. Hoffmann came to Basel in the 1980s to study with Armin Hofmann, one of Switzerland’s preeminent graphic designers and teachers of his art, at the city’s School of Design. In Basel she also established her own studio in 1986, which she moved to Zurich in 2007, and soon began working closely with Swiss and international artists such as Silvia Bächli, Richard Hamilton, or Karim Noureldin. In Mostly Books, naturally designed by studio Anne Hoffmann Graphic Design, she reviews thirty years of work. The selection comprises some 120 objects, featured in an annotated book diary. Besides this panorama, the book explores the topic of graphic design from a variety of perspectives. Statements by artists Chris Bünter, Miriam Cahn, and Claudio Moser; architect Kana Ueda Thoma; author and curator Peter Suter; jewellery designer Torben Hardenberg; museum director and curator Beat Wismer; musician Jürg Halter; and scholar Etienne Lullin reflect on the importance of the book per se and its design. Text in English and German.
In Israel East meets West. Their jewellery traditions blend, resulting in creative innovations. In the 1930s, European immigrants introduced the spirit of the Bauhaus, while oriental craftsmanship was invigorated in the 1950s and 1960s by immigration from Islamic countries. State jewellery companies preserved traditional crafts, while at the same time developing a new and elegant style, designed to express the national identity of the still young state of Israel. There are important links between native jewellery makers and European and American jewellery artists, who were guest lecturers at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in the 1970s and had a lasting influence on Israeli artists. The transition to art jewellery was finally completed in the 1980s, paving the way for artists who are now internationally renowned. A further chapter is dedicated to contemporary works by some outstanding young artists. Although their works are part of the global jewellery scene, they are also dedicated to their homeland, for example through unequivocal references to local political tensions.
Artists (a selection): Bianca Eshel Gershuni, Esther Knobel, Deganit Stern Schocken, Vered Kaminski, Attai Chen.
“Do come in as often as you like – the place is only alive when used” – Jim Ede
Take a room-by-room journey through the Kettle’s Yard house in Cambridge (UK), former residence of curator and ‘friend to artists’ Jim Ede and his wife Helen. Home to their substantial collection of 20th century art, furniture, ceramics, glass and natural objects, the house remains open for visitors to experience as the Ede’s intended: art as a way of life.
The carefully curated interior spaces in the original converted cottages (1957) and Leslie Martin-designed extension (1970) are a masterclass in balance and restraint, appealing to aesthetes across the spectrum of art and design from fine art to fashion; interior designers, architects and art historians.
Richly illustrated with new photography by Gilbert McCarragher and inspired by classic mid-century guidebooks, this book will catch the eye of long-time fans of Kettle’s Yard as much as those discovering the house for the very first time. A companion publication Kettle’s Yard Art & Artists ISBN 9781904561620 is also available.
Bright sun, blue sea, churning waves, shifting sand: these and other elements of surf life are featured here in work by 30 contemporary surf artists from around the world. In addition to the text are interviews with the artists, which gives a deeper understanding and insight into the transformation of their surf experience into art. Curated and written by surfing journalist Veerle Helsen, author of the bestselling travel guide Surf & Stay, this unique collection of paintings, watercolours, graphics, and digital artworks capture the joy, beauty, and energy of this sport and lifestyle.
This new publication from the Swiss art theorist Peter Stohler unites solo and group interviews with five women artists, who for various reasons no longer live and work in their native countries. With questions relating to the importance of their origins, their migrant status, their role as women working in art and the effect of their (in some cases traditional) training in art on their work, Peter Stohler proceeds like “tomography”, exposing section by section layers, which – viewed as a whole – reveal what is special about each artist’s work as well as the links between them. Peter Stohler has discovered what they all have in common: a refusal to be distracted by the trend towards working on an individual oeuvre, an approach which might, in the positive sense of the term, be called “anachronistic” in the context of the contemporary art scene. Photographs by Judith Schönenberger (b. 1977 in Zurich, lives in Bern), who took them during the interviews, complete the book. Interviewed artists: Katja Loher (Video, b. 1978 in Schaffhausen, CH, lives in New York), Joulia Strauss (Conceptual artist, b. 1974 in St Petersburg, lives in Berlin), Jung-Yeun Jang (painter, b. 1968 in Seoul, lives in Basel), Nicole Ottiger (painting/drawing, b. 1968 in Cliftonville, UK, lives in Lucerne and Zurich), Irina Polin (photography, b. 1975 in Moscow, lives in Berne). Text in English & German. Also available:
Radar – Texts on Contemporary Art; Essays and Interviews by Peter Stohler 9783897902787
Charting Richard Long’s critical reception, this anthology of writings explores the artist’s radical rethinking of the relationship between art and landscape.
Widely considered as one of the most influential British artists of his generation, Long’s practice stems from his deep love of nature and the experience of making solitary walks. He first came to prominence in the late 1960s and is part of a generation of international artists that extended the possibilities of sculpture beyond traditional materials and methods.
This volume includes a coherent span of over 30 essays and reviews on the artist from the late 1960s to the present, drawn together here for the first time. Featuring the writings of renowned art historians and critics Germano Celant, Richard Cork and Charles Harrison; Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England; and award-winning nature writer Robert Macfarlane, among many others.
The texts are accompanied by a selection of the artist’s own statements, key interviews, as well as an introductory essay by Clarrie Wallis that examines Long’s unique position within postwar art history.
From long lost paintings to ephemeral sculptures; from whimsical performances to iconic public murals; and from independent films to landmark design objects, the surprising and provocative contents of Moving Focus, India have been provided by a varied group of experts. A first of its kind, this book invited 54 artists, curators, historians and writers to each create a list of five works of art, made at any time since 1900, by artists living in India or identifying as part of its diaspora.
With over 250 individual nominations, including artists whose works have been exhibited at venues as various as Houghton Hall (Anish Kapoor, 2020), the Asia Society Museum, New York (MF Husain, 2019) and the Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai (SH Raza, 2018), the exercise produced thrilling and unexpected choices across many mediums. Drawing from a wide range of private and public collections, the selections reveal the diversity and inclusiveness of today’s art scene: an art scene that has embraced the progressive changes evident in society at large. In addition to these lists, the book includes reflections on collecting, curating and canon-formation from a range of important voices, by way of a roundtable discussion and a series of essays.
Spread over two volumes and marked by an innovative and fresh design sensibility, whether you are familiar with modern and contemporary art from the subcontinent or looking for an introduction, Moving Focus, India contains a wealth of information. Lavishly illustrated with over 1,000 archival and freshly commissioned photographs, this book is an important and timely addition to the global art discourse and a key source of reference.
Nominated artists include Ramkinkar Baij, Chittaprosad, VS Gaitonde, Amrita Sher Gil, Rummana Hussain, Bhupen Khakhar, Nasreen Mohamedi, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Meera Mukherjee, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Gieve Patel, Sudhir Patwardhan, Nilima Sheikh, Jangarh Singh Shyam, KG Subramanyan, Vivan Sundaram, Zarina and many more.
In this book the five prominent contemporary artists Marlene Dumas, Terje Nicolaisen, Nalini Malani, Georg Baselitz and Tracey Emin have each compiled a personal selection of Edvard Munch’s drawings. Munch drew more or less daily throughout his long life and left behind approximately 7700 drawings. Each of the five selections provide a unique glimpse into this abundant material and is presented together with works by the artists, and an interview in which they reflect on Munch’s drawings and their own art.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and South Korea, this volume offers a unique point of view on the work of Ji-Young Demol Park and Lee Lee Nam. The evocation of nature unfolds through connections interwoven over the centuries between culture and objects, materials, colours, and motifs. Jade- and pine-coloured decorated ceramics, cobalt oxide for the horizon, porcelain white as snow or the moon, all feature in the work of both artists, their gazes meeting and reflecting in the landscapes of a great painter of old, Jeong Seon (1676-1759). Despite all their differences, the mountains rendered in ink by Ji-Young Demol Park and Lee Lee Nam’s virtual landscapes are truly united by the uniqueness of their relationship with this cultural heritage as well as the strength of their individual universes, oriented towards the re-enchantment of nature.
Text in English and French.
A single Congo does not exist – or is in any case fictitious. Yet the Democratic Republic of Congo has an extraordinarily vibrant art scene that attracts great interest from around the world. Nowhere else in Africa art production is as manifold in form, media, and materials used. For many years, Congolese artists have been exploring and reflecting upon the effects of globalised trade, colonialism, proselytisation, and virtual boundaries. As the works of artists such as Sammy Baloji or Sinzo Aanza demonstrate, these effects never before were more topical than today.
For the first time, this book, which is published in conjunction with an exhibition at Zurich’s Museum Rietberg, features objects and photographs collected by the German anthropologist Hans Himmelheber during his journey to the Congo in 1938-39. The coloured masks, imposing figures, and richly decorated everyday objects bear witness to the period’s extraordinary creativity and innovativeness as well as of the collector’s own idea of Congo. They are juxtaposed with works by contemporary Congolese artists and complemented by essays that investigate the fiction of Congo both as an African and Western World imagination. Thus, the book links the past with the utopia of contemporary artistic production in central Africa.
Published to accompany the exhibition Congo as Fiction: Art Worlds Between Past and Present at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, between 22 November 2019 and 15 March 2020.
Street Beauty is high visual impact one-of-a-kind street art photography book by renowned international street art photographer Hannah Judah. Playfully designed and curated by ATMA, Street Beauty unlocks the wonder and beauty of large scale murals from hundreds of the world’s most recognised street artists today.
Judah’s unique photographic aesthetic enhances the brilliance of the artists and captures the impact of their works with her own brand of creative genius: her singular vision elevating street art photography as we once knew it.
Street Beauty adeptly showcases extraordinary works of public art to their fullest advantage: the imagination from the artists amplified by the mighty force of Judah’s creative captures.
Often celebrated as a kind of genius trained in the “school of life” who managed to produce a singular body of work despite a lack of professional training, the autodidact questions and challenges our conceptions of art. Entitled The Self‐taught Riddle, the new exhibition presented at the MAMC + in Saint‐Étienne aims to revisit this idealising vision of the figure of the self‐taught artist in the history of contemporary art in an attempt to grasp what actually happens when artists learn by themselves. The exhibition assembles over 200 works by self‐taught artists from a wide range of backgrounds who implement, emblematically, different modes of constructing knowledge autonomously. It also features the works of a few professional artists who decided to start from scratch and launch themselves into the unknown. It seeks to identify the intentions, processes and gestures that lead – consciously, intuitively, or unconsciously – to aesthetic innovation and to obtain, sometimes retrospectively, to a prominent place in the history of art.
Text in English and French.