Known today for his atmospheric views of the river Oise, Charles François Daubigny was a pioneer of modern landscape painting and an important precursor of French Impressionism. Although commercially highly successful he was often criticised for his broad, sketch-like handling and unembellished view of nature, and was dubbed the leader of ‘the school of the impression’. As a result he drew the attention of the next generation of artists, among them Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, who were inspired by Daubigny’s frank naturalism, bold compositions and technical innovations. Theirs was an artistic dialogue which spanned thirty years, from the early 1860s to the end of Van Gogh’s short life.
Bruges is a city with a fascinating history. Bruges is a city full of people and stories. Bruges is a city like those in the fairy tales…
Historian Paul Van Damme’s book is an ode to the city, its inhabitants and its heritage. This history book reads like a page-turner: city views act as backdrops for wondrous events, homes and squares become the decors for true stories.
Paul Van Damme proves that historical accuracy and engaging storytelling can go hand in hand. This accessible, intriguing book is an ideal introduction for those who visit Bruges for the first time. But it is also a great read for those who frequent the city; even lifelong residents will find charming stories and anecdotes they may never have heard before.
In this book, photographer Henk van Cauwenbergh introduces us to the marvellous worlds of matador Jean-Baptiste Jalabert (France) and prima ballerina Francesca Docli (Italy). The public’s favourite ‘Juan Bautista’, born in Arles, France and ballet dancer Francesca Dolci, a flamboyant member of the Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, are the representatives par excellence of a world in which sports and art seamlessly melt together. Follow both top athletes/performers during their daily preparations, become a privileged witness to the particular rituals preceding each performance and be a spectator of a dazzling sham fight at the Mediterranean! Text in English, French and Dutch.
In After Us The Deluge, Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizen, co-founder of the photo agency NOOR Images, shows the consequences of rising sea levels for mankind. He travelled to six different regions in the world (Greenland, US, Bangladesh, the Netherlands, UK, and the Pacific) and captured the effects of global warming. The resulting photo essay is thought-provoking, illuminating, and aesthetically impactful. Each chapter includes a contribution from a local expert that addresses the specific problems in their region.
When does a carpet transcend the category of interior accessory to become art? This well-illustrated book features 200 carpets found in behind-the scenes tours of amazing homes around the world. In thematic chapters, it covers the main international trends, from Ethnic to Art Deco and from Contemporary to Artsy. These dressed-up living spaces provide inspiration for anyone fascinated by stylish living, creative interior design and the myriad possibilities for home decor. In addition, the author provides helpful information on the provenance of materials, quality of design, composition and workmanship possibilities for home decor. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the homes of people with a good taste. Carpets & Rugs is comprehensive and more relevant than ever.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s Surrealism collection is world famous, but this Boijmans Study is not devoted to the oeuvres of great names in the canon like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. Instead, it tells the story of the idiosyncratic finds made by the Dutch collectors Laurens Vancrevel and his wife Frida de Jong. Long before museums started to take notice, the couple had collected art and poetry by then relatively unknown Surrealists. Over the years, they let themselves be guided by chance, friendships and random encounters, and this has resulted in a unique collection of Surrealist art from which the museum has been allowed to make a selection. The study examines the 50 artworks that have been gifted and reflects on two approaches to collecting: the creation of a private collection and the way Surrealism was acquired by Dutch museums like Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
This beautifully illustrated book is an ode to art restoration. It takes the secrets of this special profession from the studio and sheds light on its art‐historical and scientific aspects. It zooms in on meticulous restorations of centuries‐old paintings, complex treatments of contemporary works, but also the use of innovative technology for the analysis, treatment and consolidation of works of art in the most diverse materials.
Based on 40 high‐profile restorations, this book takes a look behind the scenes of the art restoration profession. Restorers testify about the challenges of their profession, while collection managers and art professionals delve deeper into the importance and future of restoration. Handled with Care pays tribute to the profession and offers a glimpse into an often hidden world.
With text contributions by, among others, Philippe Van Cauteren, Robert Read, Claire Tillekaerts, Peter De Wilde and about works of art by none other than Peter Paul Rubens, Antoon Van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Henry van de Velde, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Sol LeWitt, Luc Tuymans etc.
This book is published on the occasion of 10 years of IPARC (International Platform for Art Research and Conservation Ltd).
Text in English and Dutch.
Photographer Jeffrey Van Daele is an internationally renowned nature and animal photographer. This striking and intimate duotone report on African wildlife not only shows us wild animals in their habitat, but also warns that they need this place to survive.
Text in English, French and Dutch.
The 500 Hidden Secrets of Rotterdam is a guide to the city’s hidden gems. It takes you off the beaten track to discover the city’s turbulent history, its modern architecture, its little-known museums, the best restaurants and the coolest clubs.
True locals Saskia Naafs & Guido van Eijck selected 500 addresses and facts about Rotterdam that few people know and presents them in lists of 5, alongside beautiful photographs. Guido and Saskia’s favourite addresses include a former harbour warehouse turned daily fresh market where you can sample a perfect locally roasted coffee or a homemade cider, a bright-red light-vessel ship where you can attend an intimate concert, or a former subtropical swimming paradise where you can grow your own oyster mushrooms.
“For several years I have been retrieving, buying and collecting old photographs, old identity portraits and family photographs from an earlier era. Little by little I started drawing with a Posca felt-tip painting pen, on the originals, initially just for the fun of it and without anything specific in mind. Later on, as I really liked that support, I continued to develop that approach by initiating a dialogue between the illustration and its photographic support. I started masking the faces, moving away from those rather set portraits to introduce a form of mystery, of uncanny. I derive my inspiration both from the effervescence in less affluent neighbourhoods and from the imagery of the sacred or in the tradition of masks in so-called ‘primitive’ societies. The sources merge, creating a universe which I can call mine. The sources merge, creating a universe that is both dream-like and a bit bashed up, inhabited by nice monsters and phantasmagoric creatures.” – Mathieu Van Assche
Text in English and French.
Els Sirejacob and Bram Debaenst take you on their camper van travels through the most beautiful regions of Italy, sharing along the way the most delicious recipes tailored to each destination.
This sequel to Camper Food & Stories is a personal record of the Italian summer road trips of food stylist Els Sirejacob and photographer Bram Debaenst, with absolutely stunning photos of their favourite spots in the Dolomites, the Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Le Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo, Piemonte, Liguria and the Amalfi coast. It’s also an ode to the culinary traditions and the local specialities of the regions where Els and Bram went camping. They selected the tastiest recipes from Italian cuisine that you can prepare in or near your camper van: uncomplicated dishes that simply burst with flavour, made from fresh, local ingredients, like risotto with hazelnut pesto, authentic ragù, pasta al limone, insalata di polpo or coffee zabaglione? Obviously, all these recipes can also be cooked at home, with the added bonus of feeling like you’re on vacation in the land of la dolce vita.
Van Overstraeten is one of the oldest and most exclusive interior design companies in Belgium, started in 1891 and now with a worldwide reputation working with the best architects, interior designers and decorators for private and public projects. In this stunning debut monograph, beautifully presented with all new photography is a selection of more than 40 projects from recent years.
Text in English, French and Dutch.
This well-illustrated book – previously published as Carpets & Rugs (9789401476928) – features 200 carpets found amazing homes around the world. Get inspired and upgrade your own interior with amazing carpets and rugs. In thematic chapters, the book covers the main international trends, from Ethnic to Art Deco and from Contemporary to Artsy. These dressed-up living spaces provide new ideas for anyone fascinated by stylish living, creative interior design and the myriad possibilities for home decor. In addition, the author provides helpful information on the provenance of materials, quality of design, composition and workmanship possibilities for home decor. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the homes of people with a good taste.
The Barrack, 1572–1914 tells the little-known history of a building type that many people used to register as an alien interloper in conventionally built-up areas. The barrack is a mostly lightweight construction, a hybrid between shack, tent, and traditional building. It is a highly efficient structure that sometimes also proves to be extremely durable. Easy to erect and to take down, it is—after the introduction of railways and later motor vehicles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—also easy to transplant from one location to another. Originating as a standardised accommodation in the late 16th century, the barrack became a mass-produced utility of military and civilian mobilization in the 19th century, providing immediate shelter for soldiers as well as for displaced persons, disaster victims, or prisoners. The barrack played a decisive role in shaping the political space of modernity.
Robert Jan van Pelt traces nearly 350 years of barrack history up to 1914. That year, in which the Great War broke out, proved to be a turning point in the perception of the barrack, away from pragmatic emergency shelter and towards sinister forced housing. Richly illustrated with some 250 images, van Pelt’s book records the traditions of barrack design and the technological inventiveness that went into it in the late 19th century.
Sergio De Beukelaer has been working on a self-confident and uncompromising oeuvre of paintings for over 20 years. The work of Sergio De Beukelaer appears simple and colourful but unites all kinds of apparent contradictions. Although his painting looks sleek, formal, geometric and abstract, it always starts out from a strong desire for reality. It is not the reality itself that interests him. He is concerned with a translation thereof.
Through visual thinking and acting, he always achieves a certain form of abstraction within the formal framework of painting. Seemingly effortlessly, his art navigates between surface and space, text and image, intellectual seriousness and playful irony, painting and sculpture. Via the original and inimitable concept of the fat canvas, a three-dimensional painting, the artist breaks down the boundaries of classical painting. His paintings appropriate the space and generate a powerful visual impact on their environment. (cat.) is a bold and beautiful monograph of paintings and installations that look simple but combines a variety of paradoxes.
Text in English and Dutch.
The Belgian artist Sergio De Beukelaer has been working on a self-confident and uncompromising oeuvre of paintings for over twenty years. Leaf through his archive of sketches, designs and preliminary drawings made between the years 1997-2023. (cat.)(draw.) follows our first book published with Sergio called (cat.) and presents the prequel to the final result. Discover how an artist plots his designs, and handles his archive of drawings. This book gives a greater insight in the heart of the matter behind Sergio De Beukelaer’s artworks. Sergio’s drawings expose him indiscriminately, hence why he has waited until 2023 to reveal them. “What mathematics is to an engineer, drawings are to an artist. It is the seedbed from which an idea springs. When I am in a gallery or a museum, I want to gain insight and be nurtured. To paraphrase Umberto Eco, a work of art “is a machine for generating interpretations”. Sergio De Beukelaer is represented by PLUS-ONE Gallery.
Text in English and Dutch.
Magritte, Bacon, Ensor, Moore, Jordaens, Rubens … These were just some of the world-famous names on display at the MAS. The not-to-be-missed exhibition ‘Rare and Indispensable’ brought a unique selection of masterpieces from the Flemish masterpiece list and has been captured here in this accompanying catalogue. Works of art you normally would have to travel all over Flanders to see, or which were never even publicly accessible, could be temporarily admired in one museum hall. All in honour of the 20th anniversary of the ‘Flemish Masterpiece Decree’.
‘Rare and Indispensable‘ was an absolute must-see that took the visitor on an art-historical walk along several masterpieces from Flemish collections. Some 35 large and small museums, as well as churches, libraries and private collectors temporarily lended masterpieces from their collections. All of them works that have been included in the Flemish Masterpiece List since 2003.
Famous paintings by Hugo van der Goes, Rubens, Jordaens, Ensor, Magritte and Bacon, sculptures by Lucas Faydherbe and Henry Moore, as well as precious silver, medieval manuscripts and a rare piece of furniture by Pierre Gole, ébeniste du roi of the French king Louis XIV, were available to be admired in one place at the same time.
Curators Thomas Leysen and Ben Van Beneden, members of the ‘Topstukkenraad’ (Masterpiece council), selected all the masterpieces for this exhibition.
From classic to modern, from minimalist to eccentric: Her Eye showcases the leading female Dutch interior designers you need to see and know. Get to know each of them through personal interviews and an overview of their best work, photographed by Space Content Studio. Her Eye is an inspiring interior design book of the highest level.
Featuring Nicoline Beerkens, Nicole Dohmen (Atelier ND Interior), Lisca van Everdingen (Inside Stories Interiors), Sascha Faase, Evelijn Ferwerda, Sophie Van Der Graaf (Studio Sophie), Leonie Hendrikse (Stock Dutch Design), Ellen ten Hove (Studio Ocean), Mariska Jagt (Yume Atelier), Michelle Jager (Even Eleven), Linda Lagrand (Lagrand Interiors), Mabel Muijres (Mabella Artisans), Judith van Mourik, Martje Overmeer, Roelfien Vos, Derkina Wiegman and Anne Claire Winkelhagen (Clairz).
Atelier Les Deux Garçons is the artistic joint venture of Michel Vanderheijden van Tinteren and Roel Moonen. In this book, they celebrate 25 years of creating together. Their work is a mixture of taxidermy, bronze and objet trouvé; the results are collages that both enchant and bewilder. Their sculptures mirror the turbulence of our time, the struggle between humans and animals, the duality between beauty and confrontation. With three essays by leading Dutch art curators, this book shows us the themes that reoccur in the work of ‘Les Deux’, the urgency of their art, and the artistic evolution of their practice. The works in the book have been carefully selected by the artists themselves. An oeuvre which is far from finished, as ‘Les Deux’ still abound with youthful energy and artistic drive.
“Their works critique humanity’s disregard for animals, nature, and let’s face it, each other. But here’s the kicker: they deliver these truths with a sly wink.” – Edwin Becker, Van Gogh Museum.
“The method involves combining the inorganic (e.g., porcelain or other lifeless materials) with the organic (taxidermy), creating juxtapositions that are at once striking and unsettling.” – Dick van Broekhuizen, Museum Beelden Aan Zee.
“Whether you find their work terrifying or beautiful—or a combination of both—depends, I believe, on your perspective on life at the moment you encounter it”. – Madelief Hohé, Kunstmuseum The Hague
The footprint of modern-day floristry is considerable, however ideas and techniques from the past can be the solution to help create a sustainable future for the sector. In this fact and inspiration filled book, florists Max van de Sluis and Per Benjamin go as far back as the Stone Age and Ancient Egypt to find out about flower use, techniques and materials throughout the ages. They show us how intricate floral designs were made without single-use, non-compostable or non-reusable materials, and how these often simple, but clever and inventive ways can be adapted and upscaled to create contemporary ‘greener’ floral design.
“…it should be noted that the outstanding quality of Wautier’s paintings is well served not only by the exhibition itself but also by the design of the catalogue, in particular the superb quality of its numerous colour illustrations and the many well-chosen details.” — Burlington Magazine
Michaelina Wautier (1604–1689) is a name unfamiliar even to connoisseurs of Old Master painting. This handsome book seeks to correct that, by exploring the surviving portraits, history paintings, genre scenes and still-lifes that can be identified as hers. Born at Mons, Wautier pursued a successful career in Brussels, which was then ruled by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, whose collection ended up at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. This handsome book, produced by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in collaboration with the Royal Academy, brings together all the latest scholarship on the artist, alongside several exciting new attributions.
Sourdough doesn’t have to be complicated. The Sourdough Baking Book is your ultimate guide to mastering the art of sourdough. Belgian baker Miro Van Vreckem, from the renowned Norwegian bakery Elt Bakeri, takes you on a journey of fermentation and flavour. The story starts at the very roots — with the organic farmer growing the perfect grains and the miller transforming them into fine flour. From there, you’ll follow a clear, step-by-step path to creating your own sourdough starter with just flour and water. Soon, you’ll be baking crusty loaves, heavenly pastries, and both sweet and savoury delights straight from your own oven.
The Art Travel Book takes you on a journey across the globe, past iconic outdoor art installations and sculptures. The book showcases both well-known landmarks and hidden treasures: all extraordinary works that harmonise with their natural surroundings. From the arid plains of Texas to the cliffs of the South of France, from the verdant forests of England to the rugged beauty of Cape Town: many of the locations featured are freely accessible, making The Art Travel Book as much an invitation to travel as a source of inspiration for art and nature enthusiasts. The book provides background information on the artists, the artworks and their settings, while also offering curated recommendations for nearby sites of interest. It’s the perfect travel guide for art enthusiasts with a craving for new discoveries.