Nadia Kaabi-Linke. Seeing Without Light features a selection of artworks by the Berlin-based artist spanning more than two decades. Through paintings, works on paper, sculptures, photographs, and mixed-media installations Kaabi-Linke confronts historical erasure, and explores the hidden traces of violence that don’t noticeably shape our understanding of the past and the present. For her solo exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof, the artist created a new video and sound installation that was shot in Ukraine in the spring of 2023. Titled Bud’mo (a popular Ukrainian toast that loosely translates to “let us be”), the work is a poetic yet sobering acknowledgment of tragedies perpetrated by man and of cycles of life and death. Central to the exhibition is Blindstrom for Kazimir (2023), a conceptual installation that refers to a number of paintings, now preserved at the National Art Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, which were censored and confiscated by Soviet intelligence during the 1930s. Through this work, the artist examines the role of censorship and violence in Central Europe’s art and political history.
This is the third in a series of publications accompanying solo exhibitions of contemporary artists at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. It comprises a curatorial text by Sam Bardaouil, an interview with the artist by co-curator Daria Prydybailo, and a contribution by Paul Ardenne that situates Nadia Kaabi-Linke’s work within a larger context.
Text in English and German.
The study of fifteenth-century painting in France was inaugurated a century ago by the exhibition Primitifs français (1904) and has developed considerably over the past few decades, especially thanks to the work of Charles Sterling, Michel Laclotte, Nicole Reynaud, and François Avril. This research has led to the revival of several forgotten figures (Barthélemy d Eyck, André d Ypres, Antoine de Lonhy, Jean Hey, Jean Poyer, etc.) and the reassessment of many centres of artistic production. Linked together, they formed a crucial part of the trade network across Europe. It is this extremely complex artistic geography that this book’s three sections attempt to recreate. The first is devoted to the interplay between the French courts and Paris, as a thriving centre of artistic production at the time of the flowering of international gothic (1380-1435). The second examines the spread of ars nova (the illusionist art of Flanders) and its selective adoption in the kingdom of France in the time of Charles VII and Louis XI (1435 1483). The third concentrates on the gradual development of a generally accepted standard form of the French language, based on the model of Jean Fouquet and evolving in parallel to the work of the grand rhetoricians under Charles VIII and Louis XII (1483-1515).
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.
Renowned throughout the world as purveyors of beauty, mystery and allure, geisha have come to represent the epitome of Japanese elegance and chic. The rich 250-year history of these performance artists is vividly presented in this volume, taking the reader behind the mask-like makeup and into both the studios where they train and rehearse and the teahouses where they entertain. Geisha have altered definitions of feminine beauty and identity and are the prevailing icons of Japanese womanhood. Their influence on Japan’s decorative arts is documented by their beautiful kimono and hair ornaments and by the musical instruments and fans they use in their performances. The contributors to this book, all prominent specialists on Japanese culture, each consider a particular aspect of geisha tradition and aesthetics, from their music and dance to misperceptions of the profession by foreigners, from the portrayal of geisha as recurring characters in the theatre and film to profiles of talented women who choose this life and work today. Illustrated with woodblock prints and paintings as well as historical and contemporary photographs, this groundbreaking study also explores the dynamic tension between image and reality in the art of these exquisite entertainers. Geisha: Beyond the Painted Smile is a comprehensive presentation of geisha culture from its origins nearly three centuries ago to contemporary Japan. Disciplined performance artists of supreme grace and beauty, geisha are unique ambassadors of Japan’s traditional culture.
The America’s Cup has been the world’s most prestigious yacht race for over 170 years. This beautifully illustrated and fully updated new edition tells the story of the cup from its inception through to the most recent race, held in 2024.
Named in 1851 in honour of the first winner (New York pilot, ‘America’), the Cup was dominated by American yachts for well over a century. At last, in 1983, Australia II wrestled the trophy away from the USA, albeit briefly. At Barcelona in 2024, the Cup produced one of the best contests yet, with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron winning the race for a fifth time, and a British yacht, Britannia, competing in the finals for the first time in 60 years.
With a painting of each race since 1851, by marine artist Tim Thompson, and detailed descriptions of the boats involved, The Story of the America’s Cup 1851-2024 is an elegant, insightful celebration of a storied contest.
“The book is compact, beautifully designed, and includes excellent essays by Linsey Young and Kathleen Soriano, with introductions on each section by the artist, reproductions of each work in the show, as well as others on Cooper and Soriano’s wish list which could not be accommodated.” — Printmaking Today
Eileen Cooper OBE RA has been consistently successful across her 50-year career, the influence of her art seen in the range and depth of her work as well as in her contribution to art education. Cooper’s artistic experiences – which, in the words of Linsey Young, disrupt the neat patriarchal understandings of women – are brought together in this thoughtfully designed and elegant hardback. Early works are illustrated alongside previously unseen drawings, paintings, prints, ceramics and portraits, many of which will surprise readers. The authors also consider Cooper’s work in relation to the collections of Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, including works by Peter Doig, Paula Rego, Pablo Picasso, Dame Laura Knight and Lotte Laserstein.
Today, known for its black and white portraits covering entire buildings, Hendrik Beikirch today presents the Siberia project, a project in the continuity of Tracing Morocco started in 2014. The intensity of these powerful foreign faces recalls a familiarity that can be experienced anywhere in the world. Beikirch takes these studies of humanity with him on his travels and permeates them as traces of personified life in new contexts. The project is the result of Beikirch’s meeting with this distant immensity that is Siberia. From this project was born the book Siberia, which gives an overview of all the works created, paintings, and 10 murals carried out all over the world.
Text in English, French and Russian.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Netherlands was a popular travel destination for artists. The American artists Gari Melchers and George Hitchcock visited the country in the 1880s. In 1884, they settled in Egmond aan Zee, then little more than a small, isolated fishing village. There they painted the life of the people and the landscape. Melchers soon garnered international success with The Sermon, while Hitchcock caused a furore with A Tulip Field. The presence of Melchers and Hitchcock in Egmond exerted a great attraction on professionals. A large crowd of artists travelled to Egmond, especially after Hitchcock in 1891 started his summer courses, which attracted remarkably many female artists. Among the artists who worked there were James Jesuba Shannon, Henri Moret, Florence Upton and Letta Crapo Smith. Longing for Egmond offers an overview of the developments in the Egmond artist colony and the key role played by Hitchcock and Melchers fulfilled there.
Over her forty-plus-year career, Gunderson has tackled subjects from clouds to royalty to the cosmos.
Widely collected in Hollywood and New York, artist Karen Gunderson is perhaps best known for her work since the 1980s, when she transitioned from painting in colour to working only in black. Over her forty-plus-year career, Gunderson has tackled subjects from clouds to royalty to the cosmos. Her long-developed, labour intensive technique, including rigorous brushwork and paint layering, employs a range of black shades that create a unique three-dimensional effect: The multiple textures from the paint catch light and make the paintings shimmer and appear to move, alternating with shadows and highlights that illuminate her subjects—historic royal figures, bodies of water, mountains, and constellations—depending on how the viewer moves in front of each artwork.
This beautifully illustrated book, with over 300 colour reproductions, showcases many of the greatest masterpieces of 19th century Orientalist art. During this period, colonization, and a revolution in means of transportation allowed artists to visit countries from North Africa to the Middle East that had previously been relatively inaccessible. The patterns, colours, and light of this region influenced artists such as Delacroix, Decamps, Berchère, Bridgman, Ziem, Gérôme, Corrodi, Dinet, Matisse, Majorelle and many others. Upon returning to Europe, these artists captured the atmosphere of these distant and exotic lands in painted scenes of daily life and wrote memoirs of their travels. Some returned to settle there, including painters like Dinet, who spent a large part of his life in Algeria, and Majorelle, known as the “painter of Marrakech.” This book offers insight into the Orientalist aesthetic that inspired the movement, and lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding of these vibrant works of art.
Text in English and French.
Embark on another cosmic adventure and discover the striking artistry of NASA’s mission patches and logos. This beautifully illustrated book offers a visual tour of NASA’s heritage symbolism from the early Mercury missions of the 1960s to the rovers, orbital telescopes and brand-new lunar capsules of the 2020s.
The countdown is underway! NASA’s first Moon landing since 1972 is now on the near horizon and this follow-up to the popular Space: Posters & Paintings is the perfect way to prepare for take-off. Celebrating the achievements of the men and women who dared to venture into the beyond, Space Mission Patches uncovers the story of the space administration through the indelible artwork of their historic insignias. Perfect for space aficionados, design enthusiasts and kids old and young, this meeting of art and exploration is the definitive testament to the enduring legacy of NASA’s trailblazing journeys to the unknown.
Li Qiang: The Negative Sent to Future is a collection of photographic works by artist Li Qiang, taken between the 1980s and 2020s. It includes three series: Northern Homeland, Distant Memories, and City Encounter. Li Qiang’s photographs are predominantly black and white, capturing portraits, cityscapes, rural society, and plateau landscapes against specific cultural and historical backdrops. In his photographic language, Li Qiang maintains an existentialist style: profound yet not oppressive, as if the subjects themselves are speaking, seemingly saying everything, yet saying nothing at all. The Northern Homeland series takes us back to the countryside and wilderness of Northwest China, back to the existential realm of solitary wandering in the wilderness; the Distant Memories series records life under the pure sky of the Southwest Plateau, mostly indistinct silhouettes, as if embraced by the heavens while maintaining an impressionistic distance from them; while the City Encounter series transforms the commonplace things of the city into fresh experiences for the soul, as if the reader themselves has just arrived from the distant countryside, only having caught a fleeting glimpse of the dazzling lights of the big city. The three themes intertwine, leading readers back and forth between the city of real life and the distant spiritual homeland.
Using the formalist conventions of an ironic heritage, William Ludwig Lutgens attains the expression of something sincere. Like the philosophical idiot who did his utmost best to unlearn all the fallacies he was acquitted with since birth and now only knows he knows nothing, the artist made the world into his own theatre wherein he can stomp around like a bull in a china shop with the grace of a prima ballerina. Forcing a pathway to possible exits by presenting us with the alloy of his observations, imagination and scattershot references. Not merely asking questions, which seems to be the hype in contemporary art nowadays, he is unraveling the framework wherein these questions originate. The image deconstructed by the story of its creation, alternating between the power and impotence of the theatrical madness at the end of the world as we know it. William Ludwig Lutgens presents with his Comedy of Humours the dysfunctional family of man.
Text in English and Dutch.
“Although the street art is generally conveyed in a very natural matter, even his dead animal paintings seem at peace.” – Streetartbio.com “Detached from the artist’s identity, his detailed, illustrative animal paintings have brought him back to the world. With local species of animals as his main focus, ROA inevitably starts a dialogue about human interaction with nature and the environment, whether it is painting on the walls of a museum or in an abandoned rural factory.” – Hi Fructose – The New Contemporary Magazine “One of the most influential acts of street art around the world.” – The Huffington Post Fascinated by nature, the anonymous muralist and street artist ROA is inspired by the beauty of its non-human inhabitants. With great attention to detail, ROA draws over-sized black and white creatures of endemic or endangered species on buildings around the world, from Moscow to Mexico City, and from Los Angeles to London. His subjects are frequently survivors; scavengers, rodents, and unusual animals that thrive in their particular milieu.
In 2015, the Vendôme column regained its initial splendour thanks to a long restoration campaign supported by the Vendôme committee and particularly the Ritz.
During the dismantling of the scaffolding, David Bordes took exceptional shots of all the column plates. Published here for the first time, these 450 photographs form a fascinating and totally new corpus: the details of the battle scenes, the military costumes, the landscapes which constitute the setting of the battle of Austerlitz allow one to discover the column as it had never been revealed.
Based on the shots of David Bordes, but also on paintings, old photographs, period documents, this widely illustrated art book in exceptional format and workmanship brings the history of the column to life, its sources, its destruction, its restoration, and also describes the moving history of the daily life of the Grande Armée during the Austerlitz campaign.
In 2015, the Vendôme column regained its initial splendor thanks to a long restoration campaign supported by the Vendôme committee and particularly the Ritz.
During the dismantling of the scaffolding, David Bordes took exceptional shots of all the column plates. Published here for the first time, these 450 photographs form a fascinating and totally new corpus: the details of the battle scenes, the military costumes, the landscapes which constitute the setting of the battle of Austerlitz allow one to discover the column as it had never been revealed.
Based on the shots of David Bordes, but also on paintings, old photographs, period documents, this widely illustrated art book in exceptional format and workmanship brings the history of the column to life, its sources, its destruction, its restoration, and also describes the moving history of the daily life of the Grande Armée during the Austerlitz campaign.
Edvard Munch’s Freia Frieze was installed in the women’s canteen at the Freia Chocolate Factory in 1923. More than a century later, these twelve paintings are now leaving the factory to be shown at MUNCH in the exhibition Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory. This book sheds light on the frieze from new perspectives: Curator Ana María Bresciani puts the works into a social and art-historical context, while author Marta Breen gives voice to the factory’s many female workers. Author Per Petterson writes about his mother, who worked at Freia, and about his own encounter with Munch’s art. Chipo Dendere, an expert on African studies, looks at the historically charged cacao industry, while painting conservators Lina Wulff Flogstad and Mie Mustad provide a rare insight into the conservation work behind the exhibition. The book shows how the Freia Frieze speaks not just about its own time but about ours – about art, work and community.
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.
The Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong is one of the most famous contemporary artists in Asia. His oeuvre depicts moments of human life with an extraordinary immediacy and exceptional empathy. A family, a refugee boat, agricultural workers, or the demi-monde – he shows a wealth of subjects, representing the unlimited diversity of people and cultures. His work is characterised throughout by the greatest possible degree of openness and tolerance toward the other.
Kunsthalle and NRW-Forum Düsseldorf are staging a major double exhibition on the artist. It is the first retrospective show dedicated to him in the world. The accompanying monograph attempts to capture the tremendous complexity of Liu Xiaodong’s art. It contains a selection of works from 1983-2018, about 60 paintings, drawings, photographs, and film stills.
Liu has always sympathetically portrayed minorities both in and outside China. For the very first time, this book showcases paintings from his project ‘Transgender/Gay’ – a series of portraits from Berlin’s gay and transgender scene, which Liu created in 2018 while staying in the German capital.
Text in English and German.
The catalogue Max Neumann – Journey comprises around 80 paintings and works on paper from all creative phases of the painter and graphic artist Max Neumann (b. 1949), who is an important representative of contemporary German figuration. His enigmatic human figures seated in enraptured pictorial settings are not geared toward capturing a subjective, distinct portrayal, but toward the crystallisation of an unmistakable humanlike allegory. His characters, in their at once disconcerting and graceful silhouettes, fall out of time and history as symbolic markers of a human state of mind. Neumann does not intend to narrate any incidents; he rather traces emotional human qualities, confronting the viewer with his own desires, fears, obsessions, and phantasms.
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.
Since taking the helm of the National Galleries of Scotland in 1984, Sir Timothy Clifford has overseen the acquisition of some of the finest, and best-loved works in the national collection. This book chronicles the development of the collection under his directorship and casts light upon the wide range of acquisitions, including the fascinating stories behind their purchase. Lavishly illustrated, highlights of the book include The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child by Botticelli, The Three Graces by Canova (purchased jointly with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London), and the most recent major acquisition, Venus Anadyomene by Titian. Works from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s internationally renowned Surrealist collection are also featured, as well as paintings from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.”
It is Cadell’s zest for life and the diversity of his subjects that makes him unique in the group of artists popularly known as the Scottish Colourists. Influenced by direct contact with the European avant-garde movements taking place at the turn of the century and with early knowledge of the work of Matisse and the Fauves, Cadell’s paintings are confident and rich with colour. Celebrated for his stylish portraits of Edinburgh New Town interiors and his vibrantly coloured, daringly simple still life’s of the 1920s, exceptional in British art of this period, he also captured the beauty of nature, especially in the evocative works portraying his beloved Iona.
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.
This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt’s fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate – and sometimes eccentric – enthusiasm for Rembrandt’s works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history. In this book, some of the world’s leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt’s paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt’s reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves.
The story of Rembrandt’s profound and inspirational impact on the British imagination is illustrated by over 130 sumptuous works by the master himself, as well as by some of Britain’s best-loved artists, including William Hogarth, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Eduardo Paolozzi and John Bellany.
Foreword; Introduction; 1 Rembrandt’s Fame in Britain, 1630 1900: An Overview- Christian Tico Seifert; 2 Rembrandt and Britain: The Modern Era – Patrick Elliott; 3 ‘The Finest Possible State’: Cataloguing and Collecting Rembrandt’s Prints, c.1700 1840 – Stephanie S. Dickey; 4 From Studio to Academy: Copying Rembrandt in Eighteenth-century Britain – Jonathan Yarker; 5 Regarding Rembrandt: Reynolds and Rembrandt – Donato Esposito; 6 Rembrandt: Paragon of the Etching Revival – Peter Black; 7 Rembrandt and Britain: A ‘Picture Flight’ in Three Stages, 1850 1930 – M.J. Ripps; Catalogue; Bibliography.