The tale of the shepherd girl Radha and the Hindu god Krishna is probably the most famous love story in India. Written by Jayadeva at the end of the twelfth century, the Gitagovinda narrates the highs and lows of Radha and Krishna’s relationship. As a vivid metaphor for the human yearning for god, the work is today closely associated in India with the religiosity of Krishna. In the eighteenth century, in the former princely residence of Guler, the artist family of Nainsuhk and Manaku created the outstanding picture series of the second Guler Gitagovinda of 1775/80, which recounts the love story with an unparalleled elegance. This book retells the story using selected pieces from this series (printed in original size) and whisks the reader off into the atmospheric world of Indian miniature painting and poetry. This book accompanies an exhibition at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 24 October 2019 – 16 February 2020.
Text in English and German.
Painting and graphic prints are the preferred mediums of the Norwegian artist Hanne Borchgrevink (b.1951), who over the course of time has focused her attention on the house as the leitmotif of her work. She reduces it to its elemental forms, which forever encounter new constellations. At the intersection of figuration and abstraction, of the verbal and non-verbal, the artist explores in her reduced language of forms colour, surface and perception in a methodical and analytical way. Borchgrevink has long occupied a prominent position in the contemporary art of Norway, for in the repetition of her painterly and motivic vocabulary she always manages to find ever new and surprising as well as provocative answers.
Text in English and Norwegian.
The Norwegian painter Bjørn Ransve (b. 1944) is one of the best-known contemporary Scandinavian artists. Very few painters indeed express themselves so brilliantly in two dimensions, thematically, technically and formally. The third volume of the catalogue raisonné is devoted to Ransve ‘s graphic oeuvre: in over 1,300 illustrations it documents prints and multiples, created from the 1960s to 2013. This book is not only an indispensable standard reference for all scholars, art dealers and collectors, it also provides insights in the complex interrelations between prints, paintings and drawings in Ransve ‘s artistic work. The accompanying text by Lars Eisenlöffel investigates the changing and recurrent groups of motifs and places the works in their art historical context.
Since each page of the book has been designed individually in close collaboration between Ransve and the graphic artist and book designer Silke Nalbach, Bjørn Ransve ‘s development as an artist can be traced in a way that is particularly illuminating.
Text in Norwegian.
The Norwegian painter Bjørn Ransve (b. 1944) is one of the best-known contemporary Scandinavian artists. Very few painters indeed express themselves so brilliantly in two dimensions, thematically, technically and formally.
The third volume of the catalogue raisonné is devoted to Ransve’s graphic oeuvre: in over 1,300 illustrations it documents prints and multiples, created from the 1960s to 2013. This book is not only an indispensable standard reference for all scholars, art dealers and collectors, it also provides insights in the complex interrelations between prints, paintings and drawings in Ransve’s artistic work. The accompanying text by Lars Eisenlöffel investigates the changing and recurrent groups of motifs and places the works in their art historical context. Since each page of the book has been designed individually in close collaboration between Ransve and the graphic artist and book designer Silke Nalbach, Bjørn Ransve’s development as an artist can be traced in a way that is particularly illuminating.
The Story of the America’s Cup 1851-2021 tells the chronological history of 150 years of the most exciting and exhilarating yacht race, open the pages and you can almost feel the wind in the sails and the salt spray.
Full page colour illustrations bring the yachts alive, set as they are in their natural element, at sea, on the waves; detailed descriptions give an amazing insider’s view of the construction of individual boats, the routes sailed, the crews, the highs and lows of what was undoubtedly, extremely tough and competitive sailing, the victories and the defeats.
Paintings by Tim Thompson, a leading marine artist are an integral part of the book’s appeal; he has captured the pure essence, the spirit of the race and its place in history.
This monograph is the first title in a new series titled Opera Maestra, specifically focused on the work and itinerary of the artists who made history, from an unprecedented perspective. The series begins with Leonardo da Vinci, captured by the expert Marco Versiero.
At the core the analysis is the specific soul, among the thousands of Leonardo’s, that Marco Versiero wants to underline: his mirror-soul; namely, Leonardo’s eye between Human and Nature. In other words, the eye that allowed the artist to mediate between his favourite dimensions (the human and the natural one), and allowed them to communicate with each other without cancelling themselves, but rather managing to reflect one in the other’s light, like in front of a mirror.
An essential biographical note introduces the reader to Marco Versiero’s pages, enriched with 61 detailed pictures. The pictures, proposing not only a selection of Leonardo’s paintings but also of his drawings, enhanced with comprehensive captions, tell the itinerary of the genius from the years of his apprenticeship in Verrocchio’s workshop till the days of his maturity.
In her paintings, the Swiss artist Regula Syz (b. 1946) opens up a space for contradiction. They depict blossoming life, but also foreboding and destruction. To this end, the artist works with elementary manifestations of the life cycle, which she links to humankind’s internal and external struggles. Regula Syz’s oeuvre, which spans more than fifty years, is characterised by a turning point in 1999: a studio residency in Genoa marked her transition from precise watercolour techniques to large-format acrylic paintings; beauty and harmony were followed by expressiveness and movement. Red Raven – Black Poppy focuses on this second phase of her work, though it also features earlier works and excerpts from her sketchbooks, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of Syz’s artistic practice.
Text in English and German.
The Addison Gallery of American Art, located at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, is internationally recognised for its outstanding collection of paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, and photography. When its founder, Thomas Cochran, opened the Addison to the public in 1931, it was one of the few museums in this country devoted solely to American art. Cochran initially donated four hundred significant works of art, commissioned a building, and provided generous endowments. Today the holdings total over 12,000 objects that span the history of American art from the seventeenth century to the present.
Among the some 240 notable examples from the collection included in this tiny tour are paintings from the eighteenth century by Gilbert Stuart and John Singleton Copley; from the nineteenth century by Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, and F. Childe Hassam; and from the early twentieth century by John Sloan, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, and Andrew Wyeth; and contemporary works by Frank Stella, Sol Lewitt, and Brice Marden. Also featured here are images from such masters of photography as Walker Evans, Eadward Muybridge, Berenice Abbott, and Robert Frank. In addition, there are outstanding works of sculpture from Paul Manship and Elie Nadelman to Alexander Calder and Martin Puryear.
Young Rembrandt concentrates on the first ten years of the career of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669). Born in Leiden, he trained there with Isaac van Swanenburg and in Amsterdam with Pieter Lastman. After a short stay in Amsterdam he returned to Leiden and set up a studio where he began his extraordinary career, painting scenes from the Bible and classical mythology and history, as well as a handful of genre scenes and portraits. His progress is remarkable: from the earliest hesitant paintings of the Five Senses in about 1624 to the wonderfully assured Jeremiah of 1630 it is almost possible to trace his development and his increasing fluency and self-confidence from month to month and certainly from year to year. Published to accompany exhibitions at the Lakenhal, Leiden from November 2019 to February 2020, then at the Ashmolean Museum from February to June 2020.
With the help of 100 artworks, this book guides you through the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Learn more about Kazimir Malevich’s groundbreaking abstract paintings, the ingeniously knotted chair by Marcel Wanders, nearly kitschy art by Jeff Koons, and Rineke Dijkstra’s intense portraits.
Ten introductory texts impart everything you need to know in 1,000 words about modern art, photography, and design. For instance, why waste and junk can also be art. Or why skillfully appropriated art is better than badly conceived. Or why an unsuspecting visitor may suddenly find themselves part of a work of art. Included with the guide is a sheet of stickers featuring 100 works from the collection. With this guide, every curious visitor can be well prepared for their next encounter with modern art.
Frida the woman. Frida the artist. Frida the icon. Fragile and indomitable, she made herself a work of art, celebrating the beauty of imperfection. Hers was an existence made of passion, revolution, brightly coloured clothes, and paintings that mirrored her dances with death and love for life. A life like hers requires splendid images and intense text chronicling its many adventures. From her childhood to the accident, from her discovery of painting and the ties with extraordinary characters such as André Breton, Tina Modotti, Lev Trotsky, to her legendary marriage to Diego Rivera and her enchantment with the Casa Azul. This stunning book is a homage to the human being who became a symbol of emancipation and freedom. A hymn to diversity and joie de vivre, dedicated to all women of the world.
The first institutional presentation with works by Sven Drühl took place in 2002 under the title Die Aufregung at the Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen. The rooms in which the museum presented the then young positions have been used by the Kunstverein Leverkusen Schloss Morsbroich e. V. for many years. Sven Drühl, who is known for his artistic adaptations and remixes, has now returned to this location with his new landscape paintings, which are based purely on virtual models. In the place where his artistic career began, the artist is now showing paintings and bronzes from the past six years.
Text in English and German.
In October 2024 The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, in collaboration with the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, in Madrid, presented the exhibition Splendour in Venice. From Canaletto to Guardi, devoted to 18th century Venetian painting.
Painters such as Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, Bernardo Bellotto, and Giambattista Tiepolo, authors of some of the most brilliant compositions of their time and undeniable highlights in the collections of both Iberian museums, are among the artists selected for this exhibition.
This publication, released on the occasion of the exhibition, is divided into two parts: the first dedicated to three essays, and the second comprising catalogue entries related to the works of art on display.
Mar Borobia, Chief Curator of Old Master Painting at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, opens the first part with an essay on the history of the collection of 18th century Venetian painting belonging to the Madrid museum. Next, Vera Mariz, curator at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, reflects on Gulbenkian’s admiration for the work of Francesco Guardi, which led him to purchase 19 paintings by the Italian master for his collection. Finally, Alberto Craievich, director of Ca’ Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento Veneziano, explores the artistic context of the city of Venice during the 18th century.
The second part consists of 34 catalogue entries written by Luísa Sampaio, the curator of the exhibition.
Alongside the written content, the publication is illustrated by a large number of images of the artworks on display, allowing readers to observe the exquisite details for which they are notable.
Pioneers of Art in Oman: Rasheed Abdulrahman celebrates one of Oman’s most influential visual artists through a stunning bilingual presentation in English and Arabic. This definitive volume features over 60 meticulously curated paintings and sculptures that chronicle Rasheed’s remarkable artistic evolution and his pivotal role in shaping Oman’s cultural landscape.
Beyond showcasing his visionary work, this book offers intimate biographical insights into the artist who transformed raw materials into vibrant masterpieces and mentored countless emerging talents. Detailed analyses of selected artworks reveal the profound symbolism and philosophical depth that characterise his unique artistic vision.
As the inaugural edition in a prestigious series documenting Oman’s artistic heritage, this publication represents a collaboration between the National Museum of Oman and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth. For art enthusiasts, collectors, and cultural historians alike, this book provides unprecedented access to Rasheed Abdulrahman’s legacy – a testament to his enduring influence on contemporary Omani art and his ability to illuminate tradition while pioneering new artistic frontiers.
Text in English and Arabic.
The dramatic landscape photographs of Saskia Boelsums manifest a strong connection to the Dutch tradition of landscape paintings. She is inspired by nature, weather, and the seasons, with clouds and skies characterised by moody chiaroscuro and painterly monumentality. The reality of the changing climate, and what this will mean for the future, is a theme that runs throughout her work. She captures not only the beauty of the landscape, but also a vague sense of uncertainty and threat. As she says: “It looks like the classic historical Dutch landscapes and skies are being pushed out by landscapes and skies that are the result of climate change. I am very aware of that tension.” “I am photographing when most people think the weather is too bad to go outside. By exploring different landscapes in all four seasons, I feel strongly connected to the universe. That feeling I’m trying to pass on through my landscape photos.” – Saskia Boelsums.
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.
“Fascinating details of the original pictures and a social history of footwear fashion” VOGUE
In acclaimed photographer Lois Lammerhuber’s pictures, shod feet in the Louvre paintings reveal undreamt-of information about people. The details are not only separate works of art, but also studies on centuries of shoe fashion and an excursion into social history. Almost intimate, the photographs raise the world of feet and footwear to eye level, showing delicate shoes and stout limbs; feet without shoes and shoes without feet. The viewing angle is a special one, not only for art enthusiasts but also for shoe lovers. Raphael, Goya, or Ingres did not produce or design footwear, but they all ‘recorded’ shoes, contributing to a history of footwear and at the same time creating fashion archives of shoes that people stepped out in between 1280 and 1863. In a brilliant discourse, Margo Glantz, an icon of Mexican literary studies, introduces the viewer to original thoughts on painting and footwear design, the history and sociology of shoes. Text in English, German, French & Spanish.
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.
In an age of fast-changing technologies, offering numerous ways of generating images, Elias Wessel challenges the conventional definition of a painting: he creates his “paintings” without resorting to traditional painting techniques and eschews classical genres. The artist’s abstract paintings – which in many ways show connections to painterly practices – are in fact made up of photographs and digital material.
Wessel, for example, takes photos of smartphone displays to produce monumental abstract compositions from the fingerprints left behind on them. He also documents his scrolling behaviour on social media platforms by using long-time exposure to superimpose accessed profiles and their contents: the result is visual and decontextualised structures. His other works present painterly-looking details of damaged displays: where else in the digital world can we experience such a close relationship with the canvas?
Above all, the quality of Elias Wessel’s working method lies in the way he links the fundamental discourses in the history of photography with the latest technology and current social debates. In so doing, he skilfully observes and questions the social consequences and instruments of digitalisation.
Text in English and German.
Félix Vallotton (1865–1925) remains a fascinating artist to this day. His paintings and prints, as well as his work as an illustrator and press cartoonist, are characterised by detached and critical observation, satirical sharpness, and a strong desire for independence. A century after his death, film director and screenwriter Lionel Baier, art historians Dario Gamboni and Choghakate Kazarian, literary scholar and writer Daniel Maggetti, and curators Catherine Lepdor and Katia Poletti share their views on Vallotton’s work and their passion for him and his art.
The French-language Vallotton Forever is published to coincide with a major retrospective at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts (MCBA) in Vallotton’s native city of Lausanne, which is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of his works. The volume celebrates an extraordinary artist who is considered one of the greats of art history in both his native Switzerland and his adopted home of France. It brings together key works from all periods of Vallotton’s career, from the early years and the icons of the Nabis period in the 1890s to his sophisticated dialogue with tradition in the modern era that marks his later years.
Text in French.
His mostly precisely composed, large-format paintings, with deserted spaces as their main motif, made Ben Willikens (*1939) famous in the second half of the 1970s. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue present nearly 50 works created between 1971 and 2021 and thus span the artist’s entire oeuvre. Three groups of works form the central pillars: the Anstaltsbilder of the 1970, in whose motifs Willikens processes a dark chapter in his life, and the series ORTE (PLACES) And ORTE 2 (PLACES 2), which deal with Willikens’s examination of the architecture of the National Socialist period. There are also various works from the series Räume der Moderne (Spaces of Modernity).
Text in English and German.
This lavishly illustrated book records the high profile restoration of Rembrandt van Rijn’s 17th century masterpiece, The Night Watch, one of the world’s most famous paintings. Many questions about the creation of this work have been answered by extensive technical studies done in conjunction with the restoration. The popular Dutch TV program The Secret of the Master has documented the restoration of The Night Watch in four episodes, assisted in this by various external specialists. This book, by the producer of that series, reveals the many secrets of this fascinating and important work.
This edition contains 126 colour plates (more than twice as many as the first edition), alongside 140 black-and-white illustrations. It invites the reader to appreciate the works of the greatest botanical illustrators both past and present.
Thorvald Hellesen (1888-1937) was a Norwegian avant-garde artist who lived and worked in Paris in the 1910s and 1920s. He and his wife, the French artist Hélène Perdriat, were part of a circle of artists that included Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Constantin Brâncuși, Piet Mondrian, Theo van Doesburg, and many others. In his short yet intense life, Thorvald Hellesen created an impressive unique oeuvre, oriented on Modernism, consisting of oil paintings, watercolours, gouaches, drawings, design projects, and textiles. Nevertheless, even in Norway he is only known to a few. With this publication the authors Dag Blakkisrud, Matthew Drutt, and Hilde Mørch have created a written portrait of Hellesen. In addition to classifying him within the history of art, they try to find explanations as to why his artistic practice is only now being considered important and interesting for Norwegian and international art history.
Text in Norwegian.