Each year between 1819 and 1825, John Constable submitted a monumental canvas to the Royal Academy of Arts in London for display in the annual Exhibition. These so-called ‘six-footers’ vividly captured the life of the River Stour in Suffolk, where Constable grew up and where he returned to paint each year. The Leaping Horse, the last of these, is now a major work in the Academy’s collection, and is the subject of this fascinating new book, the latest in the Royal Academy’s studies of its masterworks. The art historian Richard Humphreys explores Constable’s often avant-garde working methods, as well as his struggle to gain full acceptance within the art establishment of the early nineteenth century. With reproductions of the artist’s full-scale preliminary sketches as well as brand new photography of the painting itself, this book is the ideal companion for art lovers who seek a deeper appreciation of Constable’s iconic depictions of the English countryside.

Brighton has transformed itself several times since the Middle Ages: once a small fishing village, it became the most fashionable seaside resort in the 18th century, a thriving tourist destination in the railway age and a liberal, multicultural university city in the 20th century. 200 years ago the party-loving King George IV built himself the playground of all royal playgrounds here: an oriental fantasy of a palace with onion-shaped domes and an exotic faux-Chinese interior, the Royal Pavilion.

Today Brighton, together with its surroundings, is culturally one of the most exciting places in Britain, boasting an impressive coast, lined with chalk cliffs and the rolling South Downs as a backdrop. Just 10 kilometres east of Brighton is the picturesque county town of Lewes, with a stunning array of historic buildings, including an 11th-century Norman castle. The people of Lewes are known for their revolutionary spirit, and host the biggest bonfire celebration in the country every year on 5 November.

“Forget the rural idylls. This sublime show recasts John Constable as the godfather of the Avant Garde, producing explosive, nightmarish paintings of a vanishing world.” – Jonathan Jones, Guardian

One of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, John Constable (1776–1837) was brought up in Dedham Vale, the valley of the River Stour in Suffolk. The eldest son of a wealthy mill owner, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1800 at the age of 24, and thereafter committed himself to painting nature out of doors. His ‘six-footers’, such as The Hay Wain and The Leaping Horse, were designed to promote landscape as a subject and to stand out in the Academy’s Annual Exhibition. Despite this, he sold few paintings in his lifetime and was elected a Royal Academician late in his career.

With texts by leading authorities on the artist, this handsome book looks at the freedom of Constable’s late works and records his enormous contribution to the English landscape tradition.

Boxes are beguiling because they can have the double delight of an enticing exterior and the anticipation and satisfaction of a fully fitted interior. This comprehensive guide to the decoration, style, use and contents of all types of boxes from diverse cultures is the first book to cover both these aspects. The coverage of decoration and styles of boxes is remarkably complete and includes the traditional, the exotic and the eccentric. Folk art to Faberge, tea caddies to tinder boxes, medicine chests to music boxes, ditty to document, voting to vampire, painting, sewing and writing boxes are just some of the topics that are included. The result is a pictorial treat, the text lavishly illustrated with images of nearly 2,000 boxes. It is a most valuable reference book for the dealer and the collector alike.

This book challenges the conventional idea of what constitutes the physical form of the contemporary city. Observing the absence of extended urban fabrics – the missing urbanism – in the new global cities developed today, it argues that these cities are merely statistical accumulations of density that lack the positive attributes of a genuine urban condition. Cities as urban places cannot be made by individual buildings alone but rather depend on the intertwined combination of an architecture that is bound to the creation of public spaces and streets, and engaged in the structure of urban blocks to form a complex field pattern of interactive solids and voids. Broad in scope, the book explores the nature of the fundamental relationship between architecture and urbanism as one of spatial formation. As an independently designed entity, the city forms the ordering framework in which architecture is partially subordinated to the mutual sustainability of the overall urban fabric. If a new urban architecture is to be an integral constituent of public place making, it must be composed using a radically different paradigm of positive, figurally constructed ‘space’ rather than the indefinite background of ‘anti-space’ as exemplified in the chapter on Mies van der Rohe’s architectural quest for the ineffable modern void. These two different spatial models are explored in depth in the eponymous article, ‘Space and Anti Space,’ first published in the Harvard Architectural Review in 1980, which forms the core of the book and postulates that the underlying attitudes toward spatial formation, at both domestic and urban scales, determine our ability to shape place and human experience. In a series of essays, articles and urban projects extensively illustrated by plans, analytic diagrams, and dramatic images, this book makes a visual and verbal argument for the steps that need to be taken to re-urbanise the city in order to achieve an urbanity consisting of multiple discrete places that depend on the essential concept of contained geometrical space. These spatial ideas are illustrated in this book in three proposals: for Rome, in ‘Roma Interrotta,’ 1979; Paris, the ‘Consultation Internationale pour L’Aménagement du Quartier des Halles,’ 1980; and New York in the ‘World Trade Center Site Innovative Design Study,’ 2002.

Founded in 2004 and based in Shanghai and London, neri & hu design and research office works internationally providing architecture, interior, master planning, graphic, and product design services. They work on projects in many countries with a multi-cultural staff. This diversity emphasises the firm’s vision to respond to a global worldview incorporating overlapping design disciplines.

This first ever book on neri & hu design and research office documents a selection of their work in architecture and product design. With a lavishly illustrated beautiful design concept, it is structured in three sections: Buildings features seven renovation projects in Shanghai, complete refurbishments as well as interior redesigns. Products presents four designs for household goods and furniture. Projects documents ongoing and unrealized architectural work in Florida, London, Shanghai, and Kuala Lumpur. An introduction and a topical essay on renovation as well as an overview of neri & hu design and research office’s projects to date round out the book.

Every month, the art association HMKV presents the latest videos by international artists in its series “HMKV Video of the Month” which has been ongoing since March 2014. The idea for the series came from the desire to show the newest artistic productions in rapid succession, changing works at a faster pace than in the exhibitions of the HMKV.

For the first time, this publication unites all 78 works that have been exhibited since 2014. The videos address a variety of different topics and stories, ranging from labour conditions, structural changes, speculative technologies, or posthuman machines to technology (and its history) as well as artificial intelligence. A wide array of works is devoted to the old ‘new’ right-wingers and the alt-right. The book not only shows stills of all videos, but each work is also accompanied by an introductory text to provide a comprehensive overview.

Text in English and German.

Tornabuoni Art Paris opens 2023 with an exhibition dedicated to the relationship between art and poetry, examining the case of Giuseppe Ungaretti, on the 110th anniversary of his arrival in Paris, a defining moment in his literary career.

The catalogue, with texts by Alexandra Zingone, literary critic and curator of the exhibition, tackles the analysis of the art of the ‘short century’ with a global view, taking into consideration the constant dialogue between the various exponents of the cultural world.

Through passages from critical texts by Ungaretti as an interpreter of art, the volume follows the exhibition among the many works by contemporary artists, including Giacomo Balla, Alberto Burri, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Piero Dorazio and others.

Throughout his multidisciplinary career, Ungaretti found himself indiscriminately analysing various genres, including Futurism, Metaphysical, Informalism, Socialist Realism and Expressionism of the Roman School.

The exhibition develops around the poet’s pieces, in some cases in the form of original manuscripts and first editions.

Accompanying the volume is an extremely rich iconographic and archival apparatus accompanies the reader in discovering a virtuous example of the links that have always existed between literature and the visual arts.

Get ready to go on a series of exciting maze adventures with fire-breathing dragons, beautiful princesses, and knights in shining armour. Can you find your way to the end of each puzzle – and count all the characters on the page, too? Are you ready for a challenge? Do you have a keen eye? Find out! Every richly designed maze on these colourful pages features dozens of princesses, dragons, and knights, all trying to distract you from reaching the end. Sharp solvers must find the right path, but they’ll also have to count the characters and the objects they see along the way – royal crowns, skulls, owls, ghosts, cauldrons, a wizard’s books – and add them up. Keep your concentration, and then check the solutions at the back of the book to see if you’ve got it right. Ages: 6 plus

Mixing Roman and medieval roots, Chichester sits at the heart of a storied landscape where South Down hills dotted with idyllic hamlets ripple back from a shoreline mixing wild dune-backed beaches with old-school seaside resorts. Reminders of smuggling and war add spice.

But a thrilling thread of modernity runs through this slice of West Sussex too. Chichester’s modernist Festival Theatre provided the foundation for London’s National Theatre, while masterpieces of contemporary architecture that draw admirers from around the world include Sea Lane House in East Preston and The White Tower in Bognor Regis.

Evocative ancient memorials abound. Chichester is blessed with the only English cathedral visible from the sea, while England’s largest castle rises above the ravishing – and cosmopolitan – riverside town of Arundel. Ancient yew trees mark the burial spots of Viking warriors in an idyllic Downland spot. And it’s a land vibrant with creative imprints: poets, painters, composers, from Blake and Keats to Joyce and Chagall.

This guidebook takes you exploring Chichester and its surroundings to find incomparable natural beauty, hidden secrets, astonishing history, art of all kinds, and much more. 

Mixing Roman and medieval roots, Chichester sits at the heart of a storied landscape where South Down hills dotted with idyllic hamlets ripple back from a shoreline mixing wild dune-backed beaches with old-school seaside resorts. Reminders of smuggling and war add spice.

But a thrilling thread of modernity runs through this slice of West Sussex too. Chichester’s modernist Festival Theatre provided the foundation for London’s National Theatre, while masterpieces of contemporary architecture that draw admirers from around the world include Sea Lane House in East Preston and The White Tower in Bognor Regis.

Evocative ancient memorials abound. Chichester is blessed with the only English cathedral visible from the sea, while England’s largest castle rises above the ravishing – and cosmopolitan – riverside town of Arundel. Ancient yew trees mark the burial spots of Viking warriors in an idyllic Downland spot. And it’s a land vibrant with creative imprints: poets, painters, composers, from Blake and Keats to Joyce and Chagall.

This guidebook takes you exploring through Chichester and its surroundings to find incomparable natural beauty, hidden secrets, astonishing history, art of all kinds, and much more. 

A nostalgic road trip through America’s most charming motels—revived and reimagined. Vintage Motels showcases 40 historic motels across the USA, each transformed into an inviting boutique hotel while honouring its past. Through rich storytelling and stunning photography, this beautifully designed hardcover book captures the spirit of these mid-century roadside gems. Each motel is featured across 4 to 6 pages, with a detailed narrative (500 words) and a mix of archival and contemporary images. Perfect for design lovers, travellers, and history enthusiasts, Vintage Motels is an inspiring tribute to the golden age of American road travel.

“From painting nudes at a time when it was forbidden to sleeping among the troops in both world wars, the vitality of her work makes her still strikingly relevant.” – Lara Feigel, Guardian

Dame Laura Knight RA (1877-1970) was the first female member to be elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, submitting Dawn, her now famous painting of two female nudes, as her Diploma Work in 1936. In 1965 the Academy’s major retrospective of her work recognised her importance in British art. This autumn an exhibition of Knight’s drawings opens at the RA. Drawing was a key part of her practice, and allowed her to capture at speed her various subjects, which include travellers, circus performers, boxers, ballet dancers and ice skaters. Drawing allowed her to capture with immediacy the exuberant life of her models, as well as being a vital recording tool when she witnessed one of the most important events of the twentieth century: the Nuremberg trials. In this new publication on the artist, Annette Wickham and Helen Valentine present the Academy’s holdings of her drawings with an in-depth analysis focused on three key subjects within her work: the nude, the working woman and country life.

Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo has been at the heart of the Royal Academy Collections since it was bequeathed to the institution by Sir George Beaumont, John Constable’s patron, in 1830. The only Michelangelo marble in Britain, the tondo offers a fascinating insight into the master’s technical and experimental skills, given its tantalising lack of finish. Joshua Reynolds, the Academy’s first President, considered that Michelangelo represented everything that an artist should aspire to, combining ‘technical’ brilliance with sublime ‘poetical’ imagination, and the tondo shows this in scintillating relief. Expertly researched and written by the renowned Renaissance art historian Alison Cole, this book explores the life of the tondo, from Michelangelo’s rivalry with Leonardo to the marble’s arrival at the Royal Academy and its subsequent impact on its teaching. In a fresh and exciting look at the tondo’s role in revealing Michelangelo’s technical experimentation, Cole explores the importance of the ‘non finito’. Lavishly illustrated and including brand new photos of the tondo, this is an intriguing and enriching exploration of a lesser-known side of the great Renaissance master’s work.

The talented printmaker and Royal Academician Chris Orr turns his humorous gaze on some of the most famous – and fabulous – artists of the past. With over 30 new works, accompanied by Orr’s captions, artists from Edward Hopper to Pablo Picasso find themselves in weird and wonderful situations. Edvard Munch holidays at the seaside, John Constable RA is disturbed at his easel by frolicking nudists and an unfortunate incident occurs in Barbara Hepworth’s studio… No one can escape Orr’s imagination: Walter Sickert is distracted from a spread-eagled model by a fly in his soup, Dame Laura Knight RA is caught shoplifting, and Frida Kahlo enjoys a fry-up. Each image is packed with detail to pore over, and the book concludes with notes from the artist, ‘Notes from the Cages’, accompanied by preparatory drawings for the finished work. This new collection, published to coincide with an exhibition of Orr’s works at the Royal Academy, is a delightful fantasy, which affectionately pokes fun at well-loved artists.

“Good evening. I’m from Essex, in case you couldn’t tell.” Thus spoke the inimitable punk poet of the flat lands, Ian Dury, in 1977. Few other parts of England have so distinctive an identity, sent up by a hundred comedians since the 1990 birth of Essex Man, epitomised by the rise of the ‘Mockney’ radio celeb, and incarcerated through their hideous offspring in TV’s The Only Way is Essex. It’s not just an accent, it’s a way of life, a culture shaped by the Diaspora from London generation after generation, the lure of the sea and powerful Thames estuary, the encroaching of the waters from innumerable creeks and inlets, the dream seaside resort of Southend, the longing for the most succulent of seafood indulgences, the delicious countryside of copses and boughs painted by Constable, but also the threat of invasion by hostile forces repelled by Britain’s most formidable forts. It’s Essex. You can tell.

Distilling a lifetime’s study of English art, Duncan Robinson here looks at the six leading artists of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries through the lens of their relationship with writing. Hogarth, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Blake, Constable, Turner all engaged in different ways with literature and the word. From Hogarth, who developed a new kind of narrative from his experience of the theatre, to Turner who wrote increasingly elaborate and enigmatic epic poetry to explain his painting, passing by Blake’s naive Songs of Innocence and Experience and his hallucinatory deranged mythological visions, the originality and fascination of these great artists are brought into a new, sharper focus by Robinson’s approach. Written with his characteristic geniality and profound, but lightly worn scholarship, and richly illustrated with familiar and many unfamiliar images, this will be an unmissable book for all interested in this seminal period in English art.

With an introduction by Brian Allen, former Director of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

This is the first major book on English blue and white porcelain since the early 1970s. Not only is it the latest and most up-to-date work, but it includes types not previously studied and extends the range of wares into the early years of the nineteenth-century. It is a unique, comprehensive study. The number of instructive illustrations exceeds seven hundred, including helpful comparison photographs and details of identifying features – footrims, handle forms, manufacturing characteristics and marks. Apart from introductory chapters on collecting blue and white and on the introduction and development of this popular mode of decoration, this unique coverage comprises details of over twenty distinct makes, including the relatively newly researched eighteenth century factories at Isleworth, Limehouse and Vauxhall. The inclusion of the several post-1790 factories covers new ground. The section on fakes and reproductions will also prove instructive and helpful. Guidance is given on the popularity of the various types in the market and on past and more recent prices paid for specimens in the London auction rooms. Particular attention has been directed at the three large sales of the late Dr. Bernard Watney’s world renowned collection, held by Messrs. Phillips in 1999 and 2000. General estimates of market values are also offered.