“Just Must” (in Estonian: “black and nothing but”) was the theme of a jewellery exhibition in Tallinn in 2008, initiated and organised by the Estonian professor of jewellery Kadri Mälk. Fifty-eight artists from eighteen countries presented their own, widely varying, individual solutions to this subject as documented in the present book. The jewellery shown here is “black” on the one hand because dark or black materials such as jet, ebony or black diamonds have been used to make it. But it is also “black” in the figurative sense, for example in the way it deals with existential problems. Pieces such as Konrad Mehus’ gold Valium-dispenser brooch, Tanel Veenre’s “Guilty Conscience” or Francis Willemstijn’s “The Widow” are overtly about human anxieties, cares and crises. A “Dark Painting” by Tore Svensson, on the other hand, is just what the title says: a black painting that can be worn as a brooch. The approaches taken by these artists to the “black” theme documents the avant-garde stance represented in their art works: jewellery is no longer viewed as merely decorative or a status symbol whose value depends solely on the material of which it is made. Instead it becomes a vehicle for expressing aesthetic ideas by means of unconventional materials and forms.

Artists featured: Robert Baines (Australia); Manfred Bischoff (Italy); Peter Chang (UK); Giovanni Corvaja (Italy); Johanna Dahm (Switzerland); Karl Fritsch (Germany); Mari Funaki (Japan); Therese Hilbert (Germany); Rian de Jong (the Netherlands); Otto Künzli (Germany); Kadri Mälk (Estonia); Ruudt Peters (the Netherlands); Karen Pontoppidan (Denmark); Ramón Puig Cuyàs (Spain).

Text in English & Estonian.

With passion and expert insight, Frank Nievergelt compiled an impressive collection over forty-five years of more than 900 pieces of contemporary ceramics, ranging from vessels and sculptures via display pieces to monumental works. Over one hundred leading figures of the international ceramic scene from 1970 to 2015 are represented in the collection, the emphasis of which is on newer objects. In this publication, the most significant pieces of this renowned collection are presented in a selection of forty-one artists, hence impressively highlighting the unaffected beauty and diversity of contemporary ceramic art. Moreover, Nievergelt introduces the artists individually, enhanced with reflections from Anne-Claire Schumacher (curator of the Musée Ariana) and Prof. Volker Ellwanger. The catalogue documents the latest inventory of the Musée Ariana in Geneva. Text in German and French.

This catalogue features a selection of fifty exquisite European drawings dating from the 16th to the early 18th century in the Print Room of Musea Brugge. It brings together the most relevant findings of recent research, including new attributions and significant new insights into the drawing and workshop practices of the period. The selection includes drawings by important Flemish and Dutch artists such as Frans Floris and Govaert Flinck, as well as by Italian masters like Federico Zuccari and French artists Jacques Callot and Pierre Mignard. In addition to these well-known names, significant works by lesser-known draughtsmen like Jan van Mieris, Johan van Lintelo and Louis de Deyster are represented.

The volume is dedicated to the work of New York-based Croatian artists TARWUK, presented, for the first time in Italy, at the Maramotti Collection in Reggio Emilia. A constant depiction of the human form – exploring the multiple ways it can exist and the flowing, expressive quality of the body – represents the formal result of TARWUK’s deep, probing research into identity and the marks that memories and subconscious tensions leave on our bodies, shaping them physically.

The artists, who were born in socialist Yugoslavia and grew up in the Balkans during the Croatian War of independence (1991-5), see their anatomically dissected sculptures as symbolising loss and conflict. However, they are also organisms with the potential for regeneration and rebirth: traces of beauty and the opportunity for transcendence can be glimpsed amidst the waste technological materials and signs of devastation. Drawing is another essential part of TARWUK’s practice: TARWUK’s drawings, which are fully fledged forms of expression, not preparatory works, have a dreamy and immediate quality, with echoes of late 19th-century and early 19th-century symbolism and the Vienna Secession, a period the artists see as a sort of equilibrium, a moment of balance between opposing tensions – death and beauty, decadence and decoration – that competed for dominance.

The volume includes a text by Mario Diacono and a conversation between Bob Nickas and TARWUK.

Text in English and Italian.

Karen Pontoppidan (b. 1968), Curator and Professor of Jewellery and Devices at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, invites 30 international artists to the annual jewellery exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum to present contemporary positions in studio jewellery. The publication SCHMUCKISMUS reveals that artists of this medium of expression no longer start from the mere decoration of individuals. Instead jewellery becomes a platform for discourse on cultural norms and values. Reflecting less on themselves as individuals, this new generation of artists is concentrating more on issues affecting society as a whole, such as ecology, consumer society or feminism. This book accompanies the exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Munich (DE), 16 March – 16 June 2019 ARTISTS: T. Alm (SE), Y. Aydin (TR/SE), D. Bernadisiute (LT/SE), B. Brovia (IT/SE), C. Castiajo (PT), N. Cheng (HK/SE), E. Chun (KR/DE), S. Cohen (IL), I. Eichenberg (DE/US), C. Gimeno (AR), D. Hakim (IL), S. Hanagarth (FR), S. Heuser (DE), H. Hedman (SE), M. Iwamoto (JP/DE), H. Joris (BE/US), S. Khalil (LB), M. Klein (DE), G. Kling (SE), N. Kuffner (DE), B. Lignel (FR), J. Matzakow (DE), N. Melland (NO), N. Scholz (DE), K. Spranger (DE/GB), G. Stach (DE), V. Touloumidi (GR/DE), T. Tuupanen (FI), J. Yang (CN/DE), P. Zimmermann (AT)

Text in English and German.

For the very first time an overview is published featuring the works of Belgium’s finest street art and graffiti artists.
Belgian Street Art Today contains a selection of works made by 50 selected artists, such as Roa, Djoels, Dzia, Jaune, Mata One, 2 Dirty, Bué The Warrior, Joachim, Zenith…  
Some of these artists are working around the globe and have received international acclaim; a few of them are even represented by prestigious art galleries abroad.
The selection is preceded by a brief history of street art and a never-before-published comprehensive overview of street art projects and street art and graffiti walks in Belgium. Therefore this book is a must-have for art lovers looking for insider tips and unique experiences.
For more than two years, photographer Vincent Willems crisscrossed Belgium in search of the most spectacular interventions and murals, a passion culminating in this stunning book. 

A unique insight into the ways in which one of today’s leading artists is inspired by great works of the past. In 16 emphatically modern new paintings, renowned artist, Alison Watt, responds to the remarkable delicacy of the female portraits by eighteenth-century Scottish portraitist, Allan Ramsay. Watt’s new works are particularly inspired by Ramsay’s much-loved portrait of his wife, along with less familiar portraits and drawings. Watt shines a light on enigmatic details in Ramsay’s work and has created paintings which hover between the genres of still life and portraiture. In conversation with curator Julie Lawson, Watt discusses how painters look at paintings, explains why Ramsay inspired her, and provides unique insight into her own creative process. Andrew O’Hagan responds to Watt’s paintings with a new work of short fiction and art historian Tom Normand’s commentary explores further layers of depth to our understanding of both artists.

British realist art of the 1920s and 1930s is visually stunning – strong, seductive and demonstrating extraordinary technical skill. Despite this, it is often overshadowed by abstract art. This book presents the very first overview of British realist painting of the period, showcasing outstanding works from private and public collections across the UK. Of the forty artists featured in the show, many were major figures in the 1920s and 1930s but later passed out of fashion as abstraction and Pop Art became the dominant trends in the post-war years. In the last decade their work has re-emerged and interest in them has grown. Interwar realist art embraces a number of different styles, but is characterised by fine drawing, meticulous craftsmanship, a tendency towards classicism and an aversion to impressionism and visible brushwork. Artists such as Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, Meredith Frampton, James Cowie and Winifred Knights combine fastidious Old Master detail with 1920s modernity. Stanley Spencer spans various camps while Lucian Freud’s early work can be seen as a realist coda which continued into the 1940s and beyond. Featuring many Scottish and women artists, this book promises a fascinating insight into this captivating period of British art.

As some American artists began to eliminate people and remove extraneous details from their compositions, they often employed neat, orderly brushwork or close-up, unemotional photography. Artists as diverse as Patrick Henry Bruce, John Covert, Georgia O’Keeffe, Paul Strand and Arthur Dove navigated European and American avant-garde circles, picking and choosing new ideas and methods.

Inspiration ranged from cubism and machine parts to new technologies, and they found ways to bring order to the modern world through extreme simplification. For them, abstraction involved absence and presence – the evacuation of human beings but also the desire to depict something that would not otherwise be visible or to render visible unseen natural processes like the passage of time, sound waves, or weather patterns. Their artworks provide a new context for the precisionist works in the subsequent sections and point to modern ideas about what art could be. How does a crisp painting technique relate to an aesthetic of absence?

“I couldn’t think of a better place to have a dialogue about art today and what it can be” – Jeff Koons Curated by Koons himself, together with guest curator Norman Rosenthal, this show features seventeen important works, fourteen of which have never been exhibited in the UK before. They span the artist’s entire career and his most well-known series, including Equilibrium, Statuary, Banality, Antiquity and his recent Gazing Ball sculptures and paintings.

This exhibition will provoke a conversation between his creations and the history of art and ideas with which his work engages. Jeff Koons burst onto the contemporary art scene in the 1980s. He has been described as the most famous, important, subversive, controversial and expensive artist in the world. From his earliest works Koons has explored the ‘ready-made’ and ‘appropriated image’, using unadulterated found objects and creating painstaking replicas of ancient sculptures and Old Master paintings which almost defy belief in their craftsmanship and precision. Throughout his career Koons has pushed at the boundaries of contemporary art practice, stretching the limits of what is possible. This publication accompanies an exhibiton, running from February to June, 2019 at the Ashmolean.

Koons will be in conversation with Martin Kemp at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, in May 2019. Contents: Director’s Foreword; interview with Jeff Koons (by Xa Sturgis); Jeff Koons and the Sheen and Shine of Time (Sir Norman Rosenthal); catalogue entries; Jeff Koon biography.

The collection of drawings in the Ashmolean is one of the greatest treasures of the University of Oxford. It began spectacularly in 1843 when a group of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo that had previously belonged to the portrait painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence, was bought by subscription. Lawrence’s collection was one of the greatest collections of Old Master drawings ever assembled and its dispersal was much regretted. The Raphaels and Michelangelos, however, were the jewels in its crown. Following their arrival in Oxford, their fame attracted a number of gifts and bequests of drawings and watercolours by Dürer, Claude Lorraine, Brueghel, J. M. W Turner, Henry Moore and many others.

This is a story not only of Old Masters but of benefactors – Francis Douce, Chambers Hall, John Ruskin and their successors – whose different tastes account for the variety of the drawings in the modern Print Room. It is a story also of the curators who bought them. In particular, it is the story of Sir Karl Parker who arrived at the museum in 1934 and left a collection when he retired in 1962 that comprehensively covered the history of the art of drawing in Europe from its origins to the present day. The exhibition, Master Drawings: Michelangelo to Moore, celebrates this history. It includes many of the finest drawings in Oxford, representing the work of many different artists: Raphael and Michelangelo; Dürer and the artists of the Northern Renaissance; Guercino and Rubens; Boucher and Tiepolo; German Romantics; J. M. W. Turner; Degas and Pissarro; the artists of the Ballets Russes; British twentieth-century artists from Gwen John to Hockney; and much else.

At the end of 2020, the concrete factory in Ghent, popularly called ‘the Betoncentrale’, was demolished. With this book, Cultuur Gent, the cultural department of the City of Ghent, aims to keep the memory of this graffiti paradise alive. A team of experts selected the 10 most important street artists who were active onsite: ROA, Klaas van der Linden, and Bue the Warrior, among others. This book showcases the most beautiful work that adorned the walls of the factory. Street art expert Tristan Manco frames the local scene in its international context and Giulia Riva, a street art blogger, spoke to the artists about their memories of that unique place.

Text in English and Dutch.

“… this volume is a true coffee-table book straight out of a picture book.” — Ideat 

Rocked is a luxurious coffee table book that showcases the timeless beauty of natural stone and marble in the most prestigious interiors. Filled with stunning images, it explores how these materials bring strength and elegance to spaces, from minimalist designs to opulent salons. Enriched with in-depth interviews with leading designers and artists, Rocked offers insight into the craftsmanship and design possibilities of natural stone and marble. A must-have for enthusiasts of high-end interior design.

One of the most prestigious contemporary art awards, the Marcel Duchamp Prize was created in 2000 by the ADIAF, Association for the international diffusion of French art which groups together 400 contemporary art collectors rallied around the French scene. Its ambition is to bring together the most innovative artists and help them raise their international profile. Each year, the Marcel Duchamp Prize is awarded to one of four artists, either French or living in France, all of them working in the field of the plastic and visual arts. Since the outset, this collectors’ prize benefits from a close partnership with the Centre Pompidou who invites the four nominated artists for a 3-month group show in its Galerie 4. The winner is chosen by an international jury of collectors and directors of leading institutions. Text in English and French.

New Ecologies: Gegenwarten | Presences II is the title of an ambitious public art project organised by the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. The open-air exhibition aims to examine perspectives on ecological sustainability, raise awareness of climate policy issues, and explore possible fields of practice. Artistic interventions by established and internationally renowned artists, as well as young artists and initiatives from Chemnitz, will highlight the impact of the climate crisis and encourage global discourse at the local level. New Ecologies marks the first art project in an urban space in Germany to address and discuss the problem of climate change and its environmental consequences. The exhibition thus also hopes to provide a practical contribution to a broad sociopolitical debate. The accompanying catalogue documents the artworks in public space and provides important background information in texts by leading authors.

ARTISTS: Irwan Ahmet und Tita Salina, atelier le balto, Begehungen e.V., Claire Fontaine, Forensic Architecture, Tue Greenfort, Haubitz + Zoche, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden, Klub Solitaer e.V., Margrethe Pettersen, Pochen e.V., Ooze & Marjetica Potrc, Raumlabor, Gil Shachar, Simon Starling, Simon Weckert, Weltecho mit Oscar e.V.

Text in English and German. 

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) is among the most distinguished 20th-century African-American painters. He is widely known for his modernist illustrations of everyday life as well as epic narratives of African American history and historical figures. The new book Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence explores his life, work, and legacy not only as an acclaimed artist but also as a storyteller, educator, and chronicler of the mid-20th-century African American experience. The book’s first part, ‘Relations’, traces some of the engagements that shaped Lawrence’s personal and professional life. It presents his work in dialogue with that of his contemporaries, mentors, and historically significant artists, such as Josef Albers, Richmond Barthé, Romare Bearden, José Clemente Orozco, George Grosz, Marsden Hartley, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, Horace Pippin and Augusta Savage. Its second part, ‘Legacy’, explores Lawrence’s influence on contemporary artists living and working today and those who share similar formal and conceptual concerns.

Christo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) created some of the most breathtaking artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. Their projects radically questioned traditional conceptions of painting, sculpture, and architecture.

This lavish photo book is the first comprehensive publication on the artists’ oeuvre to be released after Christo’s death in May 2020. It also serves as a curtain-raiser for Christo und Jeanne-Claude’s last major project – the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which will be carried out posthumously in the fall of 2021.

Presenting a wealth of photographs and studio snapshots from 1949 to 2020, some of which are private, this book allows an intimate peek behind the scenes of Christo und Jeanne-Claude’s monumental installations which fascinated the public for decades. In addition to pictures capturing the artists at work, it includes photos documenting all of their major projects.

Matthias Koddenberg (b.1984), art historian and close friend of the artists, spent many years compiling the more than 300 images featured in this volume. Among them are pictures taken by companions and friends and hitherto unpublished photographs from the artists’ estate. Together they tell the extraordinary story not only of the couple’s artistic collaboration, but also of their five-decade-long partnership.

CENTRALE presents BXL UNIVERSEL II: multipli.city, a multidisciplinary exhibition and events project in collaboration with 10 artists and 5 Brussels‐based organisations. On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, CENTRALE celebrates its city, its artists and its inhabitants with the project BXL UNIVERSEL II: multipli.city. This exhibition‐forum takes the form of a patchwork of singularities and paths, through the proposals of 10 artists who chose to live in Brussels – and includes not‐for‐profit organisations working within the city. Questioning both the strata of cosmopolitan Brussels, and the living‐together woven into it, the art centre opens its space to all, exchanging and sharing artistic and participative processes.

Text in English, French and Dutch.

After their successful books on micro tattoos and fine line tattoos, Sven Rayen and Ti Racovita present this third tattoo bible. This time, the tone is light and playful. Happy Tattoos showcases the work of the best tattoo artists from around the world, focusing on funny and/or cute tattoos. From a kitten in an astronaut suit with the caption “Suck it, Neil Armstrong” to a guitar-playing-Kermit—these tattoos are guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Following the major exhibition European Realities in Chemnitz, Museum More will present a focused selection of approximately 70 works from this international project, opening on 10 October 2025. The exhibition explores how artists across Europe responded to the turbulent interwar years through diverse Realist styles. Featuring renowned names like Otto Dix and Pablo Picasso alongside lesser-known artists from Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe, the show reflects themes such as the modern city, labour, gender roles, and rising political ideologies.

European Realities at Museum More sheds new light on a lesser-known chapter of European art history and highlights the shared yet varied responses to societal change during the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition is accompanied by this richly illustrated catalogue, offering insights into both Dutch and broader European perspectives on Realism.

This exhibition is a collaboration with Museum Gunzenhauser and Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz.

Text in English and Dutch.

Face: The Berlin Art Scene showcases the vibrant diversity of artistic expression in Berlin through the lens of photographer Dale Grant. Featuring 200 artists photographed in their studios, the book presents a compelling snapshot of the city’s creative landscape, capturing talents at various stages of their careers; from emerging artists embarking on their artistic journeys to seasoned professionals at the height of their success. This rich compilation not only highlights individual creativity but also celebrates Berlin as a pivotal hub for contemporary art. In addition to the visual narratives presented through Grant’s photographs, the accompanying quotes from artists provide invaluable insights into their personal struggles and artistic triumphs.

Image credits:

9783735610171_1_ALESSAND RO RAUSCHMANN Dale Grant 2024 Photography 28×27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant
9783735610171_3_CAROLINA DEL PILAR . STILL LIFE Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28×27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant
9783735610171_4_JUSTINA LOS Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28×27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant
9783735610171_5_RICHARD CRAWFORD Dale Grant 2023 Photography 28×27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant
9783735610171_6_SANGHYE OK LEE.STILL LIFE Dale Grant 2024 Photography 28×27 ©/courtesy of Dale Grant

This book is a unique and comprehensive illustrated dictionary of French Art Nouveau Ceramics.

A census conducted in 1901 indicated the existence of some 209 producers of pottery in France, employing a total of around 5,800 full-time labourers. This great activity stimulated a parallel development in the arts, including the search for new expressions in art pottery, giving birth to l’art nouveau, a great and eclectic synthesis of a number of other art styles. Largely through British arts and crafts, and the work of artists like the Manxman Archibald Knox, it reached far back into the prehistory of Celtic art. To this were added later medieval elements, through the gothic revival championed by William Morris.

The need for renewal, breaking away from the neo-Classical and academia, which was the realm of the upper-class culture, was largely theorised by John Ruskin, who searched elsewhere for inspiration. Thus did British art nouveau also partake of Chinese and Japanese styles, though never in so forceful a manner as did the French aesthetic. France, on the one side, looked back to the swirling and frivolous eighteenth century Rococo, primarily through the influence of the Goncourt brothers, Edmond and Jules, influential aesthetes of the mid-nineteenth century.

The book focuses especially on artists working stoneware or grès, faience, and terracotta. It aims to provide a general survey of the many artists working in these areas, and includes brief accounts of the ceramics work of sculptors and painters whose wider output is already well known.

The project Mongolia – The Post-Nomadic Experience is an artistic exploration of the processes of modernisation in Mongolia, the multifaceted dimensions of nomadic life, and its significance in the visual arts. This publication is the result of a comprehensive collaborative exchange between German and Mongolian artists and provides profound insights into the cultural and art-historical background of this network of relationships—without, however, reproducing the romantic mystifications of the likes of Joseph Beuys. Ultimately, the project examines the tensions between the traditional nomadic experience and the “Nomadism” of today’s Western artists, resulting in both critical and promising stimuli for trans-cultural discourse on contemporary art.

Artists: A.R. Penck, Anunaran Jargalsaikhan, Baatarzorig Batjargal, Badam Dashdondog, Batsaikhan Soyolsaikhan, Dalkh-Ochir Yondonjunai, Enkhzaya Erdenebileg, Franz Ackermann, Gerelkhuu Ganbold, Heike Baranowsky, Karl Heinz Jeron, Munguntsetseg Lkhagvasuren, Munkhtsetseg Batmunkh, Nadine Rennert, Narbayasgalan Ulambayar, Nomin Bold, Shijirbaatar Jambalsuren, Simone Koerner, Soninbayar Nyamkhishig, Tsenguun Odgerel, Tuguldur Bazarragchaa, Tuguldur Yondonjamts, Tuvshinjargal Tsend-Ayush, Zolboo Ganba.

Text in German and Mongolian.