This popular collection of the best of Art Monthly’s interviews since the magazine’s inception in the early 1970s provides a supplementary history of twentieth-century art, from over 150 perspectives, through discussions between artists and critics.

The interviews provide the most immediate access to an artist’s thought processes and offer compelling narratives of changing creative activities. Many leading practitioners – from Naum Gabo to Douglas Gordon – have been interviewed, often at highly significant moments in their careers.

The artist interview has occupied an important position in Art Monthly since its first issue, and the book was first published as part of the magazine’s 30th anniversary celebrations in 2007.

This direct, interactive approach to art – and to the world – promotes self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-expression. As it introduces basic artistic concepts, styles, and techniques, it also provides loads of fun. For children who want to know more about the artists whose works appear in the book, biographies are provided at the end, along with suggestions for further reading and an international list of museums where each artist’s works can be seen. As they begin to understand the multitude of ways that artists see, children will deepen their appreciation of art, the world around them, and, most importantly, their own unique visions.

The revised and updated fifth edition of the classic and indispensable history of women artists from the Renaissance to the present.

In this fifth edition of her best-selling survey, Nancy Heller incorporates the most recent discoveries about the women artists of the past—and carries the story forward into the 21st century, with the evocative, sometimes provocative work of artists like Pilar Albarracín, Liza Lou, and Julie Mehretu. This abundantly illustrated volume chronicles five centuries of women painters and sculptors, from Sofonisba Anguissola to Wendy Red Star. Nancy Heller’s text looks unflinchingly at the obstacles that women encountered, such as restricted access to education and apprenticeship, social pressures to marry and mother, and limited opportunities to travel and exhibit. But, at the same time, she emphasises the ingenious ways in which generations of women artists circumvented these obstacles to establish themselves as well-respected professionals. Though some of the artists in this book did not receive their due until centuries after their death, many, such as Lavinia Fontana and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, achieved local or even international fame in their lifetimes.

Featuring over more than 200 reproductions—all in full colour—as well as portraits of the artists themselves, Women Artists is an indispensable addition to every bookshelf devoted to art history or women’s studies.

There is a rich tradition of hand-woven bands made by the nomadic pastoralists of Iran. They have a large and detailed design vocabulary, and were executed using weaving skills that were not exceeded by any other weaving tradition. No study of nomadic life and weavings in Iran is complete without them. Among Qashqa’i tribal weavers in particular, the warp-faced bands used to attach loads to pack animals were a key symbol of their nomadic life. These bands carry a large repository of motifs that may be a source of archaic design elements. Bands illustrate a connection between and among groups of nomadic pastoralists, as great distances may have separated their ancestors for hundreds of years. Although the overwhelming majority of weavers were illiterate, they possessed a different form of literacy in which they were capable of transferring an image into a woven structure. This is the first book devoted exclusively to these weavings.

Contents: Introduction; The Functions of Warp-faced Bands in Nomadic Life; Structure and Construction; Buckles & Fastening Systems on Bands; Dating Textiles; Design & Structural Changes on Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Warp-faced Bands; Imagery & Design Elements; Tribal Confederacies; Plates; Bands, Ropes, Braids, and Tassels among Qashqa’i Nomads; Glossary; Bibliography.

Deceptively simple or fantastically intricate, ikat technique has been used for many centuries to create extravagant costumes and cloths of deep cultural meaning. The distinctively blurred, feathered or jagged patterns of ikat-dyed textiles are found across much of the world – from Japan in the east to Central and South America in the west, with vast areas of South-east Asia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East in between. The traditional patterns still hold cultural relevance today in significant parts of the long-established ikat-weaving areas. Textile artists and fashion designers in many and varied countries have taken ikat in new directions, respecting traditional forms and palettes while creatively diverging from them.
This is the first time all the different iterations of this textile have been comprehensively brought together in one volume, drawing from the wide-ranging collection of David Paly. It is a journey across the world through the lens of ikat. 

Maria Lai always had a special relationship with fairy tales. She considered them a metaphor for art and a way of communicating with the public in a simple, straightforward way. Starting in the 1980s, fairy tales became central to her art. Tenendo per mano il sole, Tenendo per mano l’ombra, Curiosape and Maria Pietra, are her most famous “sewn fairy tales” – books created by the artist using castoff textiles.

Maria Lai’s fairy tales are not merely children’s stories, but profound reflections on life and what it means to be a human being. They are often inspired by Sardinian myths and legends, to which the artist gives a personal twist, adding autobiographical details and philosophical reflections.
This edition of Tenendo per mano l’ombra is a printed version of Maria Lai’s 1987 tale. The original consists of fabric pages sewn together and collages of dyed textiles, on which the artist has embroidered geometric figures, yarn and other materials. The fairy tale tells the story of a human being (and his double) who must learn to accept shadows, the dark part of the world and of himself. The figure’s shadow, in Maria Lai’s fairy tale, is not a negative element to be rejected, but an integral part of his personality. To live an untroubled and complete life, one must learn to accept and live with it.

Elena Pontiggia’s concluding essay accompanies the reader in a fascinating page by page interpretation of the fable, and discusses Lai’s artistic and stylistic approach in the context of an extensive network of philosophical, literary and artistic references: from Kant and Manzoni to Klee and Malevič.

Text in English and Italian.

Textiles are an integral part of our daily lives, and designing them is still a typically female métier. In this illustrated publication, Stephanie Kahnau presents 40 female textile designers of the 20th and 21st centuries and their outstanding and individual approaches to their medium. The stances presented grant access to the concept, technique, and function of textiles from different positions. For textile practices can take many forms: from a single “line”—the thread—structures ranging from flat to expansive emerge. Not only do they embrace our bodies, protect and clothe them; our bodies also embrace them: we become absorbed in their structured spaces and immerse ourselves in their visual appearance. This publication presents multiple perspectives on this fascinating medium at the interface between functionality and aesthetics.

With contributions by Sabine Flaschberger, Silke Geppert, Christina Leitner, and Catrin Lorch.

Text in English and German.

Like other books by Susan Meller, Remnants of Childhood gathers up everyday objects from people’s lives and brings them into focus on the pages of this book–pieces of cloth designed especially for kids; patterned cotton feed and flour sacks repurposed into dresses; children’s hankies; whimsical baby bibs; muslin storybook books, and much more. The common thread weaving through this book is cotton cloth. The time period is the 1880s through the 1950s. The theme is Americana.

For millennia, horses have captivated humans with their beauty, strength and majesty. From Türkiye to Japan, civilisations have elaborately costumed these prized animals. A magnificent selection of saddle blankets, horse covers and other equestrian textiles from the past 1,300 years communicates the significance and status of horses and their riders. 

This latest volume in the On Words series is dedicated to Mai-Thu Perret, one of Switzerland’s most recognised contemporary artists. In conversation with Sarah Burkhalter, she talks about her personal fascinations, the randomness of glazing ceramics, and her love of reading. Burkhalter and Perret also explore artistic and intellectual means of including the importance of motherhood into art discourse without being reduced to that role.

Born in Geneva in 1976, and of Franco-Vietnamese heritage, Perret combines ceramics, installation, film, sculpture, painting, and textiles in her practice, which is based on an original affinity for writing and storytelling. She draws on the artistic and historic genealogies of the avant-garde as well as on Zen and feminist literature to create objects, spaces, and performances in which anthropology and political history give rise to intriguing heterotopias.

Text in English and French. 

The classic How Artists See series that opens children’s eyes to the world as seen by great artists, now available in boxed sets perfect for home or classroom. Includes: Animals, People, Feelings, and Weather With over 200,000 copies in print, the How Artists See series has introduced thousands of children to the timeless visions of some of the world’s most celebrated artists. Now all twelve books in this remarkable series are available in boxed sets of four and six volumes, making it easy for parents, grandparents and teachers alike to build a meaningful art library designed especially for young minds. In How Artists See children learn about the world by looking at art and about art by looking at the world. Each volume presents sixteen diverse works of art devoted to a subject familiar to children through their own experience, organised into four subcategories for better comparison and contrast.

Author Colleen Carroll engages readers with open-ended questions about the works, stimulating their thoughts, building their visual literacy and communication skills, and expanding their own artistic imaginations. For children curious to learn more about the artists featured, short biographies are provided at the end of each volume, along with suggestions for further reading and a list of museums where the artists’ works can be seen. Handsomely packaged in sturdy slipcased sets, these classic books make ideal gifts for the home and essential resources for the classroom. As teaching tools they are especially versatile, being readily adaptable to grades K-6 and intersecting with disciplines as various as literature, history, science, and social studies through the many activities detailed in the series Teachers’ Guide (available separately). Whether pouring over Matisse’s goldfish, Jacob Lawrence’s Olympic athletes, or Hiroshige’s moonlit cityscapes, readers of How Artists See will delight in discovering how the world can be transformed by great artists’ creativity-and their own.

With over 200,000 copies in print, the How Artists See series has introduced thousands of children to the timeless visions of some of the world’s most celebrated artists. Now all twelve books in this remarkable series are available in boxed sets of four and six volumes, making it easy for parents, grandparents and teachers alike to build a meaningful art library designed especially for young minds.

In How Artists See children learn about the world by looking at art and about art by looking at the world. Each volume presents sixteen diverse works of art devoted to a subject familiar to children through their own experience, organized into four subcategories for better comparison and contrast. Author Colleen Carroll engages readers with open-ended questions about the works, stimulating their thoughts, building their visual literacy and communication skills, and expanding their own artistic imaginations. For children curious to learn more about the artists featured, short biographies are provided at the end of each volume, along with suggestions for further reading and a list of museums where the artists works can be seen.

Handsomely packaged in sturdy slipcased sets, these classic books make ideal gifts for the home and essential resources for the classroom. As teaching tools they are especially versatile, being readily adaptable to grades K-6 and intersecting with disciplines as various as literature, history, science, and social studies through the many activities detailed in the series Teachers’ Guide (available separately). Whether poring over Matisse’s goldfish, Jacob Lawrence’s Olympic athletes, or Hiroshige’s moonlit cityscapes, readers of How Artists See will delight in discovering how the world can be transformed by great artists’ creativity—and their own.

“…it’s the colorful photographs (over 500!) of one-of-a-kind Hopi and Moroccan-inspired mosaic pieces featured in her memoir, out in October, that truly command attention, from ammonite fossils and ivory animal renderings to stunning lapis, coral, and turquoise designs.” — Natural Diamonds
North African-born Eveli Sabatie had a long-time fascination with Native American culture and history. As a young woman, she left her home in Paris in 1968 to move to San Francisco, hoping to learn more. A chance encounter with a Hopi traditionalist led to an invitation to Arizona, where she apprenticed with a master Native American jewellery-maker. For her, this was the beginning of a new world.

Art can never be fully divided from the artist’s voice, nor the natural world. When Eveli encountered red jasper while roaming the Arizona mountains, she knew she had to incorporate her local geology into her work. Yet raw materials are just one of many ways in which the world around Eveli shapes her art. This book is a direct and personal exploration of Eveli’s work, following her arc of growth, challenges and internal workings.

Eveli’s jewellery is entirely created by her, from gathering material to fabricating the body of the piece, doing the lapidary work and finally adding stone settings and finishings. She works in a rustic, ancient environment, often choosing to use rudimentary and home-made tools over commercial techniques. This book explores her creative process through five sections: THE JOURNEY, a biographical overview of her time at the Hopi reservation in Northern Arizona, where she apprenticed under Charles Loloma; CLOUDS AND RAIN, exploring the influence of the Hopi and the desert on her work; BEING HOME, which talks in greater detail about Eveli’s relationship with the environment; BEING HUMAN, a philosophical study of humanity through jewellery; and BRANCHING OUT, which features Eveli’s other artworks, which are sought after by collectors from around the world.

This is a profound reflection on the earth, through the medium of jewellery.

Jean Otth (1940-2013) was a pioneer of video art in Switzerland. Even while studying art history and philosophy at the University of Lausanne and art at the Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne in the early 1960s he began to experiment with the then very new medium, making full use of its visual potential. Right from the beginning, Otth’s artistic trajectory, which still was influenced by the practice of painting, became closely tied to the emergence of new technologies. His works were soon exhibited in Switzerland as well as at major international shows, such as the 1973 Biennale São Paulo, the 1976 Venice Biennale, and the Documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977.

Throughout his career he mixed immaterial video projection with material reality, exploring their interaction. While constantly questioning the media he used, Otth produced borderline works that test the observer and provoke desire through covering-up, reframing, and shifting.

This new monograph, the first book ever available in English on this remarkable artist, features photographic and filmed works as well as his drawings from all periods of his career.

Text in English and French.

In How Artists See Jr.: Trains children will encounter pictures of steam trains, electric trains, morning trains, night trains, and more, created by Georgia O’Keeffe, Claude Monet, René; Magritte, and others.

The How Artists See Jr. board books are a child’s first introduction to the magic and beauty of art. Like a miniature museum exhibit that parent and child can explore together, this book features twelve diverse works of art from around the world, centered on a theme that little ones love: Babies, Dogs, Horses or Trains.

The ‘apples to apples’ comparisons will engage young children, helping them see the familiar in unexpected ways, while the books’ comfortable size and colourful presentation will make them lasting family favorites. Designed specifically to encourage parent-child interaction, thoughtful conversations and vocabulary enrichment, the books feature a ‘Parents’ Guide’ on their back covers suggesting questions for Mom or Dad to ask while browsing.

Adapted from the acclaimed How Artists See series by Colleen Carroll, the concise, appealing How Artists See Jr. format gives young learners a taste of the many exciting ways in which artists see their world. Once they have finished looking at the books, kids may want to create some art of their own!

Age Range: 2 to 6-year-olds

Vuillard’s greatest achievement as a printmaker, and some of the most characteristic images of his career, with their intimate focus and rich but exquisitely judged use of colour. Vuillard’s fascination with pattern and texture, and his almost tactile, painterly style are given free rein in the 13 etchings of this collection. They range from genteel, claustrophobic interiors to rapturous country views and colourful street scenes. This is one of the three hugely original portfolios of etchings brought out in 1899 by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard, and printed by the master craftsman Auguste Clot. The other two are by Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, and all three are being published simultaneously by Pallas Athene.

Text in French.

Vuillard’s greatest achievement as a printmaker, and some of the most characteristic images of his career are illustrated within this portfolio, with their intimate focus and rich but exquisitely judged use of colour. Vuillard’s fascination with pattern and texture, and his almost tactile, painterly style are given free rein in the 13 etchings of this collection. They range from genteel, claustrophobic interiors to rapturous country views and colourful street scenes. This is one of the three hugely original portfolios of etchings brought out in 1899 by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard, and printed by the master craftsman Auguste Clot. The other two are by Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, and all three are being published simultaneously by Pallas Athene. 

Abbeville Kids expands its award-winning series of interactive, inquiry-based books designed to teach children about the world by looking at art, and about art by looking at the world.

In How Artists See America, sixteen works of art show the many different ways a selection of great artists—from Winslow Homer and Childe Hassam to Georgia O’Keeffe and Romare Bearden—have perceived the breathtaking variety of landscapes and the diversity of people living in four major regions of the United States.
Each volume in the How Artists See series presents sixteen diverse works of art, all devoted to a subject that every child already knows from personal experience. Author Colleen Carroll’s engaging, conversational text is filled with thought-provoking questions and imaginative activities that spark children’s natural curiosity both about the subject of the artwork they are looking at and about the way it was created.
This direct, interactive approach to art—and to the world—promotes self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-expression. As it introduces basic artistic concepts, styles, and techniques, it also provides loads of fun. For children who want to know more about the artists whose works appear in the book, biographies are provided at the end, along with suggestions for further reading and an international list of museums where each artists works can be seen. As they begin to understand the multitude of ways that artists see, children will deepen their appreciation of art, the world around them, and, most importantly, their own unique visions.

Age Range: 2 to 6-year-olds

Age Range: 2 to 6-year-olds

“A very well designed book. Great photography and I especially enjoyed the close-up images” – The Collector’s Companion Wemyss Ware is an evocative name to anyone with an interest in pottery. It conjures grinning cats and pot-bellied pigs, jugs and plates and other items of tableware, often decorated with an intricate pink cabbage rose or other such bucolic scenes. Produced in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, from 1882 to 1930 (and in Bovey Tracy, England, 1930-1952), Wemyss Ware has an illustrious history. From the Wemyss family, the patrons of this pottery line; to the Queen Mother and Prince Charles, Wemyss Ware has caught the eye of many individuals of note. Among these was George Bellamy, now a legendary collector of Scottish Wemyss, who has been seeking out his pieces since 1976. A treasure trove of Wemyss Ware, this book catalogues a collection lovingly compiled over decades. Carol McNeil’s essay traces the history of the Fife Pottery where Wemyss Ware saw its debut, while Bellamy’s introduction guides the reader through several of the key figures involved in the locating and preserving of these works of art. Scottish Wemyss Ware 1882-1930 celebrates the labour, design and artistry that poured into each hand-decorated pot. Often inspired by the Fife countryside where they first originated, these characterful creations are just as delightful now as when they were first produced.

The moment he was handed a glass of Cockburn 1908 vintage port by his grandfather at 13 years old, Steven Spurrier knew he would make wine his career. He travelled Europe in his red sports car (fitted with a compact wine fridge in the boot), working the vintage in Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne, before his first extraordinary move was to set up shop and sell wine to the French. As an Englishman in the heart of Paris, this seemed a remarkably bold (if not foolish) project, but the plan worked.

Steven’s adventures in wine did not stop there. In 1976, he went on to mastermind the ‘Judgement of Paris’, the France v California blind tasting that changed the wine world forever.

This memoir looks back on Steven’s life charting the incidents, adventures, ideas and discoveries that formed his wine journey. With tributes from Hugh Johnson, Miguel Torres, Oz Clarke, Jancis Robinson MW, Warren Winiarski and many more…

October 21, 1982. Three singers stand on the steps of the High Court with large cheques and broken dreams. The women are Annie (Annabel Leventon, the book’s author), GB (Gaye Brown), and Di-Di (Diane Langton). Their dream was of a British three-woman rock band, unique and different from anything that had gone before. They called themselves Rock Bottom. They were raunchy, rude and hilarious – the contemporary media described them as ‘a cross between the female Rolling Stones and the female Marx Brothers’ – and they nearly made it.

Until Thames Television stole everything and made a major award-winning series called Rock Follies, about them, based on them, but without them. It made stars of the three lookalikes playing them. And they lost everything.

A common enough tale of showbiz betrayal. Except that they fought back. At the offset of the Court trial, the Head of Drama at Thames TV sarcastically quipped, ‘three little actresses against the might of EMI?’ Forget it, the three ladies were told. Move on. They didn’t. They took the case to the High Court and won. Breach of Confidence is now on the Statute Books and it has become one of the defining cases in Intellectual Property.

The Real Rock Follies is a real-life story of youthful trust betrayed, dreams of stardom dashed and cruel lessons learnt. The three girls, then in their late twenties, learned too late that in the harsh showbiz world you can hardly trust anyone, not even your friends. However, despite everything, they got the last laugh. Their promising career couldn’t be returned to them but they enjoyed the huge satisfaction (both emotional and financial) that the ruling confirmed that the creative concept behind Rock Follies was fully theirs.