A Guide to Rubens’ Antwerp highlights the life and work of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in a comprehensive and accessible way. The Antwerp museums and churches contain about a hundred paintings, drawings, designs and sketches by Rubens. A large part of those are public. Antwerp is the only city in the world that is so deeply rooted with Peter Paul Rubens and his baroque heritage. A Guide to Rubens’ Antwerp allows you to experience Rubens and the Baroque in an intense way. This multifaceted acquaintance with Rubens goes hand in hand with a dive into the glorious past of the vibrant city of culture, where the master’s life largely took place. A mapped walk takes you to the various places in Antwerp where Rubens’ work can be seen. You can visit his house with the studio, where so many masterpieces came about. You also visit the homes of his friends Balthasar Moretus and Nicolaas Rockox, and you can admire paintings of him in the historic churches in the rooms for which they were made.

Text in German.

From 2006 to 2023, the Russian-Swedish photographer and curator Xenia Nikolskaya travelled to Egyptian churches and monasteries documenting noteworthy Coptic artefacts and holy relics. The impressive images in the collection bear witness to the profound and enigmatic connection between Coptic believers and their centuries-old traditions and rituals—but also to the changes they are undergoing in the face of today’s mass consumerist culture. Plastic Jesus is both a tribute to the power of the fantastical and an empathetic examination of lived spirituality and its material expression. In this context, faith is revealed in everyday wonders, large and small, that transcend religion in the conventional sense.

Aidan Dodson’s British Royal Tombs covers all the burials of the kings, queens (and lords protector) of England, Scotland and the United Kingdom, from the occupant of the great Sutton Hoo ship burial, to George VI, last Emperor of India, including of course the long-lost Richard III. This fully revised edition of a book that became an immediate classic of its kind will be equally interesting to the interested visitor and the student. The career of each ruler is briefly described, followed by what is known about his or her burial arrangements and the subsequent history of the tomb and its contents. Each tomb is illustrated as far as possible by at least one photograph or drawing. The posthumous fate of royal spouses is also included, together with information on each of the cathedrals, churches, chapels and other structures that house or once housed royal tombs; there are detailed diagrams for the major sites. A list of monarchs, family trees and an extensive bibliography complete the book.

Born in 1943 in Bristol, Nigel Hall RA studied at the West of England College of Art in Bristol and at the Royal College of Art in London before winning a Harkness Fellowship to study in America, where he travelled in California and the Mojave Desert.

One of the foremost sculptors of his generation, Hall has created acclaimed works in steel, aluminium and polished wood. As a boy he watched and worked with his grandfather, a stonemason who restored churches and other buildings in the West of England: ‘Experience of carving has affected the way I make sculpture and drawings, which is very much to do with light and shade, and edge.’

In this appealing new volume, Hall’s skill as a draughtsman is revealed, as is the importance of drawing to his sculptural practice. Indeed, his abstract drawings in gouache and charcoal show the same preoccupation with space and balance as his sculptures. Some 80 of Hall’s beautiful works on paper are included, with an intriguing introduction to them by the renowned art writer Andrew Lambirth.

With Macromancy, the British photographer Mark Pinder (*1966) presents a photographic essay on the state of the nation that spans three and a half decades. In it, he examines the social, political, and economic changes that Great Britain (and the North East of England in particular) experienced in the years when traditional industries such as coal mining, engineering, and shipbuilding were declining, as well as the social and political tensions that resulted from this, which have led to the situation in which Great Britain finds itself today.

The work of Polhemus Savery DaSilva (PSD) synthesises ideas from modernism, Shingle Style, and New England vernacular architecture into special homes that are carefully crafted for each different site and client. PSD’s poetic architecture reflects on the joy of living by the New England coast, and this major new monograph, The Art of Creating Houses: Polhemus Savery DaSilva, beautifully presents that work and the ideas embodied within it. This lavishly illustrated and clearly written coverage of PSD’s most recent work features 27 select homes designed and built by the firm. This stunning volume also contains a foreword by Brian Vanden Brink; an introduction by Victor Deupi, PhD; and text by John R. DaSilva, FAIA, the firm’s Design Principal. This new volume is a brilliant companion to the firm’s earlier monographs, namely Living Where Land Meets the Sea, Shingled Houses in the Summer Sun, and Architecture of the Cape Cod Summer.

Wedding floristry has always been one of the most important fields of interest for florists all over the world. Time and again floral designers manage to redefine wedding bouquets, churches and table decorations. Florever Wherever presents around 15 complete wedding stories from 15 different countries. All weddings are decorated by world famous, top-class florists, all of them being spokespersons for the floral wedding traditions of their country. This magnificent publication will show every aspect of this unforgettable day: the bridal bouquet, corsages, bridesmaids, car decoration, church/venue decoration, table arrangements and the wedding party. A book that will have you lost in sweet reveries, a romantic feast for the eyes or a source of inspiration and a fountain of ideas for couples dreaming of chiming wedding bells. Featured Florists:
Moniek Vanden Berghe (BE), Daniel Santamaría I Pueyo (ES), Markus Donati (D), Jouni Seppänen (FIN), Robert Koene (GR), Kristin Voreland (N), Damien Koh (SGP), Giordano Simonelli (I), Mark Pampling (AU) and David Beahm (US).

Faith Flowers is a guide to arranging flowers in places of worship. The book starts with the fundamentals of flower arranging and works up to advanced designs for festivals. Step-by-step instructions and photographs clearly show how to create many different arrangements. Flower recipes are included describing what is needed for each design. Lots of inspiration for new ideas and colour combinations. Flower designs are provided for regular services, weddings, funerals, Christmas, Easter and much more. Learn how to create a volunteer group to provide flowers for your worship services. Author Laura Larocci shares her knowledge from 16 years as Flower Guild Chair of one of the largest cathedrals in the country. Over the years she has organised, led and taught hundreds of volunteers at the cathedral and churches across the US. She shares the triumphs and struggles of creating beautiful flowers within budget and volunteer flower guilds. The book has good reference guides with photos of flower varieties, greenery and materials needed, sample ordering forms, budgets and tips for saving money. Sources for flowers and materials are also discussed.

Ethiopia is an amazing and mysterious country. People are moved by its rich nature, culture and history, which are linked both with the Western and Islamic worlds. Ethiopia is the home of coffee and khat, the place where the oldest human being in the world was found. It harbours the source of the Blue Nile in the west and numerous treasures of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Rock hewn churches and their relics lie hidden in the majestic mountainous landscapes of the north. In the east, people and landscapes blend into different customs, scents and colours, almost unnoticeably. In this warm fertile lowland, the impressive Harar is found: the city of a hundred mosques. Further south, there is a land of promise with lush meadows, glittering lakes and natural parks. This is the region of many colourful peoples with their centuries-old values and customs. In this country of rich traditions much is changing. In Ethiopia, modernisation has begun, not only in terms of construction, technology and education, but also in the minds of its inhabitants. With its diversity of peoples, landscapes, cultures and traditions, this creates a stimulating force. Ethiopians are proud, friendly and religious. Regardless of whether they are Christian or Muslim, or worship ancient nature gods, religion provides most Ethiopians harmony, a foothold and hope. Ethiopia: Footsteps in Dust and Gold is an amazing journey through an incredible landscape, beautifully illustrated with evocative text and illuminating photographs that fully capture its colourful diversity.

Josef Albers (1888-1976) believed firmly in art’s spiritual dimension. Among his several aphorisms on the topic, none reflects the humble, ascetic character of his spiritual disposition better than the following: ‘Easy to know that diamonds are precious. Good to know that rubies have depth. But more to see that pebbles are miraculous’. Conceived by the renowned Albers expert Nicholas Fox Weber, who directed the Albers Foundation for 20 years and knew the artist well, Spirituality and Rigor presents a selection of work by Albers that illustrates his ascetic spirituality and his deeply felt Catholicism. The book stems in part from Fox Weber’s The Sacred Modernist: Josef Albers as a Catholic Artist, and is augmented with additional work by Fabio De Chirico. It includes Albers’ early drawings of country churches and cathedrals; ‘Rosa Mystica’, his stained glass window for St Michael’s Church, and other glass works containing religious imagery; his abstractions of crosses and geometric abstractions with spiritually themed titles, from his ‘Black Mountain’ years; his prints of Mexican gods; photographic interpretations of the theme of angels; and a selection from the ‘Homage to the Square’ series.

Text in English and French.

How do our minds work when we design? How do we organise and assimilate information, create and evaluate options, and make decisions? These questions have fascinated and absorbed architect and sculptor Richard Bertman (FAIA) since his graduate school days. Now, after a 40-year career, Bertman has used the design of a vacation house as an experiment to explore these questions. The result, documented in The Design Process and the Art of the Single Family Home, is a fascinating and revealing insight into the creative process. With detailed notes and sketches, Bertman charts each stage of the design process, questioning and examining why certain decisions are made, how problems are solved, and generally exploring the processes involved in creative thinking.

The Ashcan School and The Eight are now recognised as America’s first modern art movement: rejecting their academic training and the practices of the National Academy of Design, they forged a new art that represented America’s shifting values. By focusing on urban streets scenes, the lives of immigrants, popular entertainments, and the working poor, this loosely affiliated group of artists became synonymous with ordinary, everyday subjects — in the words of one critic, “pictures of ashcans.” Yet this is only part of their story: they also experimented with complex colour theory and embraced scientific studies about movement and perception, while also creating scenes of bourgeois leisure and society portraits in attempts to reconcile their high-art practices with their populist reputations.

This catalogue features nearly 130 works across media, including paintings, drawings, pastels, and prints — rarely seen objects and popular favourites. Collectively these works emphasise the Ashcan School’s and The Eight’s valuable contributions to the formation of American modernism at the beginning of the 20th century.

The last work of Burne-Jones: a series of woodcut illustrations to the first chapters of Genesis, making a perfect epitome of his art. Reprinted from the original edition of 1902.

This is the first comprehensive book on Venetian mosaics of the nineteenth century. It illustrates work by both the Salviati Company and the Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company. A carefully researched work, Venetian Glass Mosaics addresses the revival of the art of Venetian mosaic making in the mid-nineteenth century and discusses the complicity of both Antonio Salviati and Sir Austen Henry Layard in that revival. It is a comprehensive work, illustrating Salviati’s earliest surviving mosaics, the 1860 mosaic decoration of the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore and continuing through his company’s last commission, the Stanford Memorial Church in Palo Alto, California. The recovered art of Venetian mosaic in the late-nineteenth- and early twentieth-century is now seen as one of the most important aesthetic achievements of the Victorian-Edwardian era. Neglected and unappreciated for decades, surviving mosaics are being cleaned and restored worldwide. Whether highly visible monuments in major cities or small achievements of Venetian manufacturers are now treasured for the splendid masterpieces they are.

Nicknamed ‘the French Borromini’, Gilles Marie Oppenord (1672-1742) was born in Paris, the son of a royal cabinet maker. He was a royal pensioneer at the Academie de France in Rome. There he devoted much of his studies to Mannerist and Baroque architecture and ornament and the Louvre’s carnet (acquired in 1972) is a testament to this period of intense study. Only three sketchbooks of this period survive. When he returned to Paris he was trained as an architect by Jules-Hardouin Mansart and he soon became the architect of Philippe II Duke of Orleans, later Regent of France, for whom he decorated and designed the interiors of the Palais Royal. For the reception of the King in 1723, he was entrusted with the restoration and decoration of the Château de Villers Cotterets. Oppenord also carried out important church commissions, among them the completion of the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris. A talented draughtsman, he published two books of his engraved designs.

Text in French.

Sigurd Lewerentz (1885-1975) was initially educated as mechanical engineer in Gothenburg. Yet it was his architectural apprenticeship in Munich 1909-10 that set him on his path as an architect, opening his own office in Stockholm in 1911. Although his built work is relatively small, Lewerentz is revered as one of Sweden’s most eminent architects.

Cemeteries and sacred buildings became a core part of Lewerentz’s oeuvre, including Stockholm’s South Cemetery (1914-17), Malmö Eastern Cemetery (1916), St. Mark’s Church, Björkhagen (1956), and Petri Church, Klippan (1963). In association with Gunnar Asplund, he was also the main architect for the Stockholm International Exhibition (1930), and in collaboration with Erik Lallerstedt and David Helldén he created a masterpiece of functionalist architecture, the Malmö City Theatre (1935).

Sigurd Lewerentz, Architect is a reprint of the first ever monograph on his work, originally published in English 1987 and long out of print. It tells the story of Lewerentz’s life and presents his entire work in text and many photographs, drawings and plans. The new edition is rounded out by a new essay on Lewrentz and his significance by the German-Chinese architect, critic, and professor, Wilfried Wang.

Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, eastern France, is one of the most unique and surprising religious buildings of the twentieth century. Replacing an earlier church that had been destroyed in the Second World War – a church that itself had been built on the site of a fourth-century Christian chapel – Le Corbusier transformed an ancient pilgrimage site into a dramatic work of modern art. In this insightful and beautifully illustrated volume, Maria Antonietta Crippa and Françoise Caussé explore the particular set of circumstances that led one of the twentieth century’s most famous exponents of urbanism to create an ethereal space of worship on a remote hill in the French countryside. As well as putting the chapel into its historical context and exploring the controversies and arguments that have surrounded it, this book – part of a series that began with Matisse: The Chapel at Vence (RA Publications, 2013) – features stunning new photographs that capture the genius of Le Corbusier’s design.

Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) is one of the most admired architects of the 20th century. Even today, some 75 years after Gaudí’s death, his fanciful, exuberant buildings define Barcelona’s cityscape and continue to influence architects, sculptors, and designers. Perhaps best known for the dynamic, sculptural facades, found on such buildings as the church of the Sagrada Familia and Casa Milà, Gaudí is as much respected as a technological innovator as a daring stylist.

In this enlightening volume, a concise, knowledgeable text by the director of the Royal Gaudí Chair at the Polytechnical University of Catalonia (Barcelona) combines with striking images by a well-known architectural photographer to provide a new perspective on Gaudí’s remarkable career. The text covers the full range of his oeuvre, describing early assignments in the 1870s as a draftsman for leading architects in Barcelona, the innovative buildings he created for the Güell Palace and Estate, daring new structural solutions at Bellesguard, architecture inspired by nature at the Casa Calvet and in the Park Güell, and the construction of his unfinished masterpiece, the Church of the Sagrada Familia, which occupied him until his death. The author traces all the influences that led to his definitive style, from his fascination with the Orient and neogothicism to his affinity for naturalism and specific geometric forms.

Brilliantly illustrated, this incisive overview of Gaudí’s visionary work is ideal for those who delight in his architecture as well as those who look forward to travelling to Spain to see his monumental legacy.

Impressive monograph of artist Nick Ervinck

Nick Ervinck (b.1981) is an artist primarily interested in the field of tension between nature and culture, between tradition and innovation. In his work, he strives to push the boundaries of digital possibilities, always with respect for (art) historical heritage. Nick Ervinck – Works, GNI_RI_2022 brings together Ervinck’s well-known monumental sculptures and 3D prints, as well as drawings, ceramics and new work in brick and bronze.

Publication accompanying the exhibition Nick Ervinck – GNI_RI_may2022 in St James’ Church in Ghent from 23 May to 24 July 2022.

Includes a text contributed by writer and curator Jon Wood, a specialist in modern and contemporary sculpture, who led the Henry Moore Institute’s research programme for many years. Freddy Decreus, Professor Emeritus at Ghent University, and Michael Hübl also contributed texts.

Text in English and Dutch.

Inspired by poets, draftsmen and printmakers, painters also discovered Haarlem and its beautiful surroundings as rewarding subjects for their work. Jacob van Ruisdael and Gerrit Berckheyde both repeatedly pictured the city – the former with his ‘Haerlempjes’, where heavy cloudy skies dominate the landscape and the unmistakable St Bavo’s Church stands on the horizon. Berckheyde is known for his atmospheric cityscapes: the Grote Markt, with St Bavo’s as the focal point, the Weigh House on the River Spaarne and the city gates.

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

A charming photographic study of the quintessential American house style.

Originally developed in the 1600s to withstand harsh Massachusetts winters, the Cape Cod cottage—with its central door and chimney, flanking windows, and steeply pitched roof—is an instantly recognisable architectural form. Thanks to its simple and versatile layout, it has been adapted in countless ways by modern builders, and remains one of the most popular styles of American house.

In this photo essay—printed in beautiful black and white and accompanied by an insightful introduction—William Morgan traces the entire history of the Cape Cod cottage, from its Colonial origins, to the suburban starter homes of mid-century America, to the creative interpretations of contemporary architects. The images—most of them Morgan’s own—explore both the pleasingly understated exteriors and the cosy interiors of representative Cape Cod cottages.

Newly reissued in a handsome hardcover edition, The Cape Cod Cottage will be the perfect gift for anyone who lives in one of these classic American homes.