Building on his interest in evolution, philosophy, and society, in his project A Gift From Him Maximilian Prüfer (b. 1986) explores the destruction of natural habitats to make way for agriculture in China. To this end, Prüfer took two trips to the Szechuan Province, where the fruit trees need to be pollinated by hand due to insect deaths caused by the increased use of pesticides. These developments are attributable to Mao’s campaign to “Destroy the Four Olds,” which entailed the killing of around two billion sparrows in order to restore the natural equilibrium. Prüfer documented the entire manual pollination process in photos, collected items, and films which make for an ambivalent exploration of the cultural evolution of humankind.
Text in English and German.
Switzerland has been globally connected and entangled with colonies established by the seafaring European nations in Africa, the Americas, and Asia since the 16th century. Colonial — Switzerland’s Global Entanglements offers a timely overview of this highly topical matter, placing a wide range of aspects in historical context and addressing as well questions of colonial continuities.
Contributions by distinguished scholars and experts from various disciplines investigate questions such as the involvement of Swiss companies in the trade with enslaved people, Swiss mercenaries in the service of colonial powers, the colonial legacy of the country’s missionary societies, and the research and collection of artefacts by Swiss scientists in former colonies. Light is shed also on the involvement of anthropological institutes at the universities of Zurich and Geneva in scientific racism.
Conceived as an illustrated reader, this volume is both an invitation and a stimulus to explore and to engage critically with Switzerland’s history of global interdependence.
The term ‘craftsmanship’ is associated with individuality, uniqueness, decorative potential, artistic quality, attention to material and to process. But what does craftsmanship mean today? This exhibition catalogue of nearly 600 pages explores the meaning of craftsmanship in the context of the outstanding collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst (Frankfurt, Germany) in a monumental survey of 700 items dating from 1945 to the present. Scale reproductions of plates, furniture, cutlery, jewellery and vases highlight their surprising variety of form. In their essays, the ten authors take diverse approaches to the broad terrain of craftsmanship: from the relationship between East Asia and Western ceramics, via the handicrafts of the Romantic period, to the adventure that is arts and crafts today. The title plays on the perceived parallel between the ability of the cactus to survive and thrive in adverse conditions, and the future of the hand-made object in an industrial world.
Text in German.
The new French art movement known as ‘impressionism’ blew through Europe like ‘a breath of fresh air’. This publication focuses on artists from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, including important representatives of the movement such as Anna Ancher, Lovis Corinth, Isaac Israels, Johan Barthold Jongkind, Peder Severin Krøyer, Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt. A selection of highlights from the collections of three museums showcases the individual varieties of ‘Northern Impressionism’. The catalogue accompanies the touring exhibition of the same name, a cooperation between the Museum Singer Laren, the Museum Kunst der Westküste, Alkersum/Föhr, and the Landesmuseum Hannover.
Text in English and Dutch.
Collecting objects gives enormous pleasure to approximately one third of the population, providing such benefits as intellectual stimulation, the thrill of the chase, and leaving a legacy. On the other hand, the same pursuit can engender pain; for example, paying too much for an object, unknowingly buying a fake, or dealing with the frustrations of collection dispersal. Until recently, there was no objective way to enhance the positive (pleasure) aspects of collecting and minimise the negative (pain). Now, for the first time, scientific research in neuro- and behavioral economics gives us a way to turn this around.
Neuroeconomics is the study of the biological foundation of economic thought, while behavioral economics incorporates insights from psychology and other social sciences into the examination of monetary behavior. By using examples from these disciplines, Shirley M. Mueller, MD, relates her own experiences as a serious collector and as a neuroscientist to examine different behavioral traits which characterise collectors.
The contents of this book are cutting edge, unique and sure to get attention. Mueller breaks new ground in an area not previously explored. Her information is relevant not only for collectors, but also for colleges, and universities which teach collection management, plus museum staff who interact with collectors and dealers of objects desired by collectors. Heavily illustrated with ceramics from Mueller’s collection and packed with useful information, this book will become a required vital resource.
Bouke de Vries, based in London, gets the viewer thinking with his extraordinary artworks of broken porcelain and discarded shards. He creates extraordinary works of art from broken porcelain and pottery and discarded shards. With these he makes the viewer think about what beauty and perfection are. This combination of craftsmanship and creativity makes his art both visually impressive and conceptually stimulating. De Vries’ museum work is included in many leading international collections and he is represented by leading international galleries. This book presents an overview of the highlights of his career, in which he plays with the theme of decay and recovery. In his still lifes, relics and large installations, Bouke de Vries respects the history of objects, but adds humour and depth. The observant viewer experiences how the life of an object through the ages changes its owner, context and meaning. Several international art critics wrote a contribution for this book.
Text in English and Dutch.
Despite its consistent presence in architectural practice throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, collage has never been considered a standard form of architectural representation like drafting, model making, or sketching. The work of Marshall Brown, an architect and artist, demonstrates the power of collage as an architectural medium. In Brown’s view, collage changes the terms of architectural authorship and challenges outdated definitions of originality.
Published in conjunction with the exhibition The Architecture of Collage: Marshall Brown at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the book features some forty collages by Marshall Brown. These works come from four of his collage series, including Chimera, Je est un autre, as well as the previously unpublished Prisons of Invention and Piranesian Maps of Berlin. Additionally, there are photographs of Ziggurat, an outdoor sculpture with a design based on a collage from Chimera. The full-color plates are supplemented with essays by critic and curator Aaron Betsky, scholar of art history and archaeology Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s curator James Glisson, and Marshall Brown that outline the conceptual foundations of Brown’s intriguing exploration of an intersection of architecture and art.
Between 1978 and 1987, renowned British photographer Derek Ridgers captured London youth culture in all its glory. With skinheads, punks and new romantics, in clubs and on the street, his images have come to define a seminal decade of British subculture.
This completely reimagined edition of 78/87 London Youth showcases a fresh selection of those images from the depths of Ridgers’ exceptional archive – including several previously unseen – beautifully printed and bound in an oversized volume.
Each picture is a tribute to the trials and triumphs of youth, and a precious document of style and culture in 1980s England, from the height of punk to the birth of acid house. Several have been exhibited internationally in cities as far-ranging as Moscow, Adelaide and Beverly Hills, in the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Somerset House. Ridgers has also collaborated with a number of major fashion houses, including Saint Laurent and Gucci, and his images continue to inspire photographers, artists and fashion designers around the world.
‘As time passes, this kind of observational photography attains a new importance’ – Sean O’Hagan, The Observer
‘Ridgers’ portraits of young boys and girls are weighted with a raw poetry and beauty’ – Cory Reynolds, artbook.com
Wu Changshuo is one of China’s most celebrated calligraphers and painters. On the 180th anniversary of his birth, the Shanghai Wu Changshuo Art Museum has put together this anthology of selected writings alongside over 130 works from the museum’s collection to accompany a year-long series of exhibitions of this celebrated artist. With each piece written from a different perspective, this fascinating book is an appreciation of the resolute character and accomplishments of this great Chinese calligrapher, painter, seal engraver and poet.
Born in 1844 in the late Qing period, Wu Changshuo went from impoverished farm worker to celebrated artist. Leading the Xiling Seal Art Society, Wu would go on to become part of the avant-garde Shanghai School with its unique ‘East meets West’ culture. A great believer and practitioner in studying the ancient masters and their techniques in order to create a solid foundation and expert knowledge of the arts, Wu went on to create his own school of thought which combined this ancient wisdom with his own innovative interpretations.
Luminous, with a silken glow and soft to the touch, yet harder than steel, created by nature and shaped by human hand: no other material has been more highly valued in China for millennia than jade. Since humanity’s earliest days, magical properties have been attributed to the mineral. As a burial gift it confers immortality and is said to improve health when given as medicine, as a talisman it bestows good fortune and protection. It is hardly surprising that jade objects became sought-after collectables as early as the 10th century.
Zurich’s Museum Rietberg is home to an exquisite collection of Chinese jade objects spanning four millennia. In his striking images, Zurich-based photographer Felix Streuli brings them to life and makes them glow. The images reveal the most intricate details and make these works of art almost tangible to the viewer. This book features around 60 of Streuli’s outstanding photographs, supplemented with concise texts on the objects they show and an introduction to the history of Chinese jade art. Interspersed short stories and poems revolving around the mythical gemstone and a reflection on the photographer’s gaze round out this carefully designed picture book.
Text in English and German.
The period 1870–1910 saw the heyday of a phenomenon of artist ‘colonies’ which, though centered on Europe, stretched to the USA and Australia. Despite most histories focusing on the urban and avant-garde, this was the dominant mode of international art practice – with its formative role in the emergence of modern tourism having ramifications still now.
Although at its core was a yearning and nostalgia for life that was pre-modern and immersed in nature, the authenticity it sought placed artists’ colonies firmly within a modern context. In doing so it set the scene for a qualitatively new encounter between artists and environment.
This book on the Staithes colony in Yorkshire is the first to present its activity in the context of painting on that coast, explore its international connections and influences and give a far fuller picture of the inter-relationship of its main artists, including Britain’s first female Royal Academician.
Exploring fashion and interior design through a gender lens, from the Victorian era to contemporary designers like Martin Margiela and Raf Simons
Fashion & Interiors. A Gendered Affair explores the relationship between fashion and interiors from a gender perspective.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, bourgeois ladies embellished both their bodies and their homes with drapes, fringing and ruches. Male designers such as Henry van de Velde and Josef Hoffmann waged war on that decorative excess and designed women’s clothing and interiors as part of a well-thought-out total work of art. Fashion designers Paul Poiret and Jeanne Lanvin drew inspiration from this approach and used interior design to create a powerful brand for their fashion houses. The impact of clothing also resonated with modernist (interior) architects such as Adolf Loos, Lilly Reich and Le Corbusier.
This complex history is reflected in surprising ways in the visual language and creations of contemporary fashion designers such as Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela, and Raf Simons.