Rare Special Editions available from ACC Art Books –  More Information

A great American novelist, illustrated by a great American artist – now available in a collectable two-volume set.

In 1936, the Heritage Press, a publisher of fine editions, commissioned Norman Rockwell to illustrate Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer; four years later, they asked him to illustrate The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well. For each book, Rockwell created eight full-colour paintings and numerous pen-and-ink drawings, the product of extensive on-the-ground research in Twain’s hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. Famously, Rockwell even tried to buy some Hannibal residents’ old clothes, to dress his models in.

For years, the Rockwell editions of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have been unavailable in stores. Now, Abbeville Press is proud to reissue them as a handsome new clothbound set. The colour plates are reproduced from new photography of Rockwell’s original paintings, the typesetting has been done anew to a high standard, and new introductions – illustrated with Rockwell’s rarely seen preliminary sketches – examine this unique encounter between two legendary chroniclers of America.

Also available: Treasure Island and Kidnapped boxed set ISBN 9780789214089

Sonja Sekula (1918-63) was born and educated in Lucerne, but emigrated to the United States in 1936 together with her family. In 1941, she began studying art at the Arts Students League in New York and made the acquaintance of André Breton and his friends among the surrealists. Her automatic paintings and texts soon captured the interest of Peggy Guggenheim and Marcel Duchamp, and in 1943 she was invited to show her work at Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery. In the late 1940s Betty Parsons Gallery featured Sekula’s paintings in a number of group and solo exhibitions. Mental health problems dogged her throughout her life and forced her to return to Switzerland, where she committed suicide in 1963.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of Sekula’s art in context of the work of her friends and fellow artists from the period. Richly illustrated, it offers a chance to rediscover an immensely talented artist who has been unjustly neglected.

This elegant exhibition catalogue is presented by The San Diego Museum of Art to accompany the 2023 major exhibition O’Keeffe and Moore, which explores the evolution of Modernism through the work of Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore. Featuring essays from prominent scholars, including representatives of both the Henry Moore Foundation and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the catalogue’s richly illustrated text delves into each artist’s motivation and methodology, and the parallels between them, in particular, the inspiration both took from nature and organic forms, such as bones and seashells. The publication serves as an essential companion to the exhibition. In addition to explorations of the artists’ studios that provide further insight into their working methods, the catalogue presents drawings, paintings, and sculpture that illustrate the organic roots of Modernism developed independently, yet concurrently, by O’Keeffe and Moore. Thematic sections of the catalogue include the Real and the Surreal; The Artists’ Studios; Bones; Stones; Seashells, Flowers, and Internal/External Forms; and Landscapes of Forms. Essay topics include Henry Moore: Modernism, Nature, and National Identity; “A Revelation of the Perfect Relation”: The Influence of D.H. Lawrence on the work of Henry Moore and Georgia O’Keeffe; and Finding the Form, and the publication will also include a comparative chronology of the lives and careers of the two artists.

This volume represents an important tool for getting to know every aspect of Leonardo da Vinci’s work: his pictorial technique, his scientific and technological investigation, his study on anatomy, his Codices, and every suggestion produced by his genius. All works and paintings are accompanied by descriptive and technical sheets, and ample space has been given to images and details, to the updated report on his most controversial works, to those of recent critical acceptance, and to the masterpieces that have animated the international debate such as The Encarnate Angel, the Salvator Mundi, and La Bella Principessa (Portrait of Bianca Sforza). The narrative captions reveal the most curious aspects of the history of each painting. Thanks to the direct contribution of collectors and museums the photographic reproductions of paintings and works reflect the last restorations.

Text in English and French.

Send your best wishes with the beautifully reproduced artwork on these full-colour full size Notecard Boxes, packaged in a large format 2 piece glossy reusable box.

The work of Vincent van Gogh is reproduced in full colour as notecards, including reproductions of 5 joyous, bright expressive paintings.

Our museum quality Notecard Boxes are perfect to keep on hand for any occasion notes and greetings to friends and family. 

We choose the best images from well-known classic and contemporary fine artists, plus talented emerging illustrators and designers from around the globe.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) had an artistic career lasting only ten years. However, in those years he left behind an astounding legacy of painting that has endured to this day. He was a mad genius and he poured that passion into the trembling energy of his paintings. His canvases are celebrations of humanity & earth, colour & texture.

The complex oeuvre of the American artist Cy Twombly (1928-2011) comprises a time period of around six decades, during which it never lost any of its expressive power. Twombly was one of the most productive artists in the history of more recent art. Acclaimed as one of the most important painters of the second half of the 20th century, he fused the legacy of American Abstract Expressionism with European and Mediterranean culture. The book focuses to a degree never before seen on his major cycles: Nine Discourses on Commodus (1963), Fifty Days at Iliam (1978), and Coronation of Sesostris (2000). The artist’s development as a whole is traced based on nearly 200 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photographs. This thus provides unique insights into the overall intellectual and sensual richness of the oeuvre. From his early works at the beginning of the 1950s, which are characterised by the use of text, to his compositions of the 1960s, his reaction to the minimal art and conceptual art of the 1970s to his final paintings, the overview of the oeuvre underscores the significance of the series and cycles in which Cy Twombly invented history painting anew. With its polyphonic conception, the monograph offers numerous approaches with essays that shed light on the various aspects and phases of Twombly’s path as an artist. It comprises et al. the reflections and personal impressions of other artists as well as the memories of his assistant Nicola Del Roscio. These diverse testimonies make it possible to discover Cy Twombly not only as an artist, but also as an individual.

Painter, illustrator, sculptor, Screenplay author, journalist, costume and stage designer: The renowned Georgian artist Rezo Gabriadse (*1936) is all this and much more. Life itself is always at the centre of his oeuvre, with the tragi-comical moments of everyday existence that he captures in many different ways, through his enormously intentive spirit, his creative powers and his intelligence. Throughout “a delicate, melancholy undertone runs through the creations of this gentle poet, like a cantus fimrus,” writes Michael Semff. Gabriadze’s paintings and the gouaches, which tend toward the painterly, comprise the centrepiece of this richly illustrated volume. The art of a great man, whose works have already been seen in famous museums like the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Dostoyevsky Museum in Moscow, the Pushkin Museum and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich. This multi-talent has drawn international attention, especially since opening his puppet theatre in Tiflis in 1981. This allowed him to fulfill one of his dearest wishes: to create a small universe in which all of the creative strings are held by his own hand, so to speak.

James Bishop can be called the only real painter of his generation still alive. He has developed a unique, poetic, and sensitive visual vocabulary, and describes himself as “an Abstract Expressionist of the quieter kind.” Bishop likes to have his art speak for him, as he believes it has a language of its own: “Artists should neither be seen nor heard, with the exception of opera singers, of course.” Although Bishop began his career with stronger colours on large canvases, which speak for themselves, he soon turned to earth tones, and then later greys in square, mostly unmodified, smaller formats. This tendency toward reduction has remained constant from the 1960s until just recently, especially with regard to individual works on paper. Bishop has been on a persistent search for an aesthetic balance among opposing factors: drawing and painting, opacity and transparency, two and three dimensions, open forms and simple tectonic elements. In his work he has succeeded in compellingly interweaving these opposing forces into a subtle tonal relationship, creating a miniature-like, intimate aura.

Contents: Emotional viewing – by Erich Franz; “Bishop’s Expressiveness” by Molly Warnock; Biography; Exhibition List.

Text in English and German.

Leng Bingchuan: Master of Chinese Black and White Painting is the most comprehensive collection of ink paintings he has created so far, containing his 256 works from 1980 to 2000. Through these works, we can see the author’s self-conscious pursuit of the theme, his straightforward, pure, strong and distinct characteristics, reflecting the spirit and charm of oriental art. With its unique cover design, Leng Bingchuan: Master of Chinese printmaking and Engraving also implies the design concept of minimalism.

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.