Rare Special Editions available from ACC Art Books –  More Information

Step into the captivating world of Chanel, where heritage, reinvention, and effortless chic intertwine in a story of timeless allure. This expanded volume guides you through the legendary house of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, exploring its journey from a trailblazing atelier to a global symbol of modern elegance.

Uncover the tales behind Chanel’s most iconic creations—from the little black dress and the classic tweed jacket to the legendary No. 5 fragrance—and the unforgettable women who made them iconic, from Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy to contemporary muses like Keira Knightley and Kristen Stewart.

Trace the evolution of Chanel’s creative vision, from Coco’s revolutionary designs that liberated women to the innovative interpretations of Karl Lagerfeld and today’s forward-thinking creative directors. With exclusive photographs and fresh perspectives, this book reveals the captivating world of Chanel and its lasting influence on fashion and culture.

Also available is ISBN 9788794190589 The Essence of Chanel.

The new edition of Elliott Erwitt’s acclaimed volume Kolor showcases a fresh compilation of the legendary photographer’s colour images. Carefully curated from an archive of nearly half a million Kodachrome slides, the 304 pages reveal a vibrant kaleidoscope of photographs—some of them over 70 years old—whose colours have been remarkably preserved. The subjects span a diverse range, from world leaders to playful showgirls, bustling marketplaces to military camps, and from Las Vegas to Venice—all imbued with Erwitt’s signature dry wit and keen sensitivity. An essential addition to any Elliott Erwitt collection.

Women Photographers are Dangerous celebrates more than 60 women photographers who have long deserved greater recognition for their extraordinary work.

Many of these pioneers, innovators and artists have ventured into war zones, politics, feminist activism and more. All have taken risks and freed themselves from established frameworks, simply by being who they are and doing what they do.

Ever since Louis Daguerre introduced the first camera to the world in 1838, women photographers have been present and excelled in every field, from art and the sciences to journalism and advertising. Yet all too often, they are denied the spotlight they deserve. Written and compiled by renowned historians Laure Adler and Clara Bouveresse, these pages set the record straight.

Featuring over 100 outstanding photographic works by women photographers including Eve Arnold with her famous Marilyn Monroe portraits; Vivian Maier, whose photos were discovered only after death; and Anne Atkins, who is believed by some to have created the first ever photographic image.

Photographers include: Anna Atkins, Julia Margaret Cameron, Virginia De Castiglione, Christina Broom, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Alice Austen, Olive Edis, Laure Albin Guillot, Imogen Cunningham, Claude Cahun, Dorothea Lange, Tina Modotti, Berenice Abbott, Anita Conti, Lisette Model, Margaret Bourke-White, Grete Stern, Dora Maar, Julia Pirotte, Lee Miller, Edith Tudor-Hart, Gerda Taro, Eve Arnold, Helen Levitt, Janine Niépce, Diane Arbus, Lisetta Carmi, Vivian Maier, Agnès Varda, Claudia Andujar, Claude Batho, Letizia Battaglia, Marianne Wex, Martine Franck, Sarah Moon, Sandra Eleta, Abigail Heyman, Graciela Iturbide, Paz Errázuriz, Catherine Leroy, Christine Spengler, Paola Agosti, Ishiuchi Miyako, Susan Meiselas, Sophie Ristelhueber, Erica Lennard, Donna Gottschalk, Alix Cléo Roubaud, Sophie Calle, Nan Goldin, Anne Noble, Cindy Sherman, Pushpamala N., Ouka Leele, Shirin Neshat, Francesca Woodman, Lorna Simpson, Angèle Etoundi, Essamba, Désirée Dolron, Géraldine Lay, Zanele Muholi, Sara Bennett, Shadi Ghadirian, Tarrah Krajnak, Gohar Dashti, Laia Abril, Bieke Depoorter, Maya Inès Touam.

Painters and alchemists alike strive to transform reality into its highest expression. Thus Andy Warhol can truly be seen as a modern alchemist – capable, by means of his art, of transforming matter into shape as it meets colour and surface, only to merge with light and supreme beauty. This volume retraces the creative universe of the Father of Pop Art through 140 works of art: masterpieces ranging from his most famous icons – Jackie and John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe – to a critical observation of contemporary society via the serial reproduction of consumer products and the analysis of other aspects of daily life such as
music or the sexual revolution.

Text in English and Italian.

As the book’s provocative title indicates, a woman reading was once viewed as radical. In chapters – such as: Intimate Moments and The Search for Oneself – Bollmann profiles how a woman with a book was once seen as idle or suspect and how women have gained autonomy through reading over the years. Bollmann offers intelligent and engaging commentary on each work of art in Women Who Read Are Dangerous, telling us who the subject is, her relationship to the artist, and even what she is reading. With works ranging from a 1333 Annunciation painting of the angel Gabriel speaking to the Virgin Mary, book in hand, to 20th-century works, such as a stunning photograph of Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses, this appealing survey provides a veritable slideshow of the many iterations of a woman and her book; a compelling subject to this day.

An excellent gift for graduates, teachers, or Mother’s Day, this elegant book should appeal to anyone interested in art, literature, or women’s history.

This volume is dedicated to the phenomenon of staged photography, the trend that has revolutionised the photographic language since the 1980s.

Through over 100 works, the catalogue tells how photography was able to reach the heights of fantasy and invention between the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st-century, previously almost exclusively entrusted to cinema and painting.

Goldfish invading bedrooms, icefalls in the desert, imaginary cities, Marilyn Monroe and Lady D shopping together: all of this can happen thanks to veritable stages set up in order to build a parallel reality, or thanks to new technologies and, in particular, through the increasingly sophisticated use of Photoshop, released in 1990.

Photography, the realm of documentation and (presumed) objectivity becomes the realm of fantasy, invention and subjectivity, completing the last decisive evolution of its history.

Works by: Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman, James Casebere, Sandy Skoglund, Yasumasa Morimura, Laurie Simmons, David Lachapelle, Bernard Faucon, Eileen Cowin, Bruce Charlesworth, David Levinthal, Paolo Ventura, Lori Nix, Miwa Yanagi, Alison Jackson, Julia Fullerton Batten, Jung Yeondoo, Jiang Pengyi.

Text in English and Italian.

The history of the most famous perfume in the world lives on in the pages of this illustrated book. For a century, Chanel No.5 has resisted the whims of fashion and the passing of time, as if Coco Chanel had found the formula for eternal femininity. What is the secret to its success? A sensual amber blend that is still today considered a milestone in perfumery. But it’s also about that magnificent square bottle, a masterpiece of simplicity that inspired the work of avant-garde artists. It is exhibited at MoMA as a work of art, a timeless icon that conquered Dalí and Andy Warhol. Starting with the liaison between Coco and a Russian prince and ending with today, this book tells the story of how the legend of a fragrance entered the collective imagination thanks to the words of Marilyn Monroe: “What do I wear to bed? Five drops of Chanel No. 5 and nothing else.” From that moment on, Maison Chanel has always chosen gorgeous stars with innate class for the ads of the iconic perfume, which are made even more fascinating by the great photographers who shoot these faces. They are faithful, like millions of other women, to the law of Coco Chanel: “A woman who doesn’t wear perfume has no future.”

For four decades film historian Ira M. Resnick has been amassing a superb collection of 2,000 vintage movie posters and 1,500 stills, which has never before been published. Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood features the best of Resnick’s collection, with vivid reproductions of 250 posters and forty stills from the golden age of Hollywood, 1912 to 1962. 

In a moving introduction, Resnick relates how his love of vintage movie art translated into a career as a collector and the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies. Resnick’s first-hand account offers entertaining anecdotes about how he managed to acquire such stellar film artwork, as well as historical information about the stars and films shown on the pieces he collected.

Guiding the reader through the best posters and stills of his collection, Resnick provides a tour of cinematic history, starting in the silent film era and continuing up to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). By showcasing several posters for each performer—such as Lillian Gish, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, John Barrymore, and Audrey Hepburn—Resnick offers a unique method of charting the evolution of each movie star’s career. 

Organising his account both chronologically and thematically, in later chapters Resnick discusses some of Hollywood’s legendary directors and films, and critiques fantastic graphic art from little-known films. Bonus material includes a list of Resnick’s fifty favourite one-sheets, helpful tips for the collector, and a glossary of terms and poster sizes.

A must-have book for every collector and film buff, Starstruck offers a beautifully illustrated, personal tour of a bygone age of the motion picture advertising industry.

“Warhol is the Raphael of American mass society that gives a surface to every depth of the image, making that image immediately available, ready for consumption like every product that crowds our daily life. In his aesthetic transformation, he develops an original classicism. This is how the advertising of the form leads to the epiphany, that is the apparition, of the image.” – Achille Bonito Oliva

This volume presents the figure of the artist Andy Warhol through a selection of over 200 works of art including paintings, unique works, serigraphs, drawings, polaroids, photographs and other artifacts, which retrace the salient moments of his career, from the beginnings in the 1950s to his success in the 1980s: a multifaceted artist, who in three decades has revolutionised the history of 20th century art.

Text in English and Italian.

From Coco Chanel and Grace Kelly to Twiggy and Lady Diana, here are ten women who changed 20th-century fashion forever!

Coco Chanel once proclaimed, “I don’t do fashion, I am fashion,” and in one line she established a mantra for a handful of women who revolutionised the concept of femininity in the mid-20th century. A Matter of Style documents the unforgettable lives of Chanel and nine other female icons of style and elegance who captivated entire generations and remain inspiring models of beauty and fascination. An extraordinary collection of photographs brings these women back to life: Coco Chanel, Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mary Quant, Twiggy, and Lady Diana. These are the stories of unparalleled lives, captured in a volume without precedent.

Douglas Kirkland is the legendary photographer who captured the Hollywood elite. Kirkland has been at the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism and portraiture, working for the world’s most reputable magazines for more than 50 years. As a young photographer in 1961 he was assigned to shoot Marilyn Monroe over several hours in a closed studio one night, and he captured a stunning portfolio of alluring and intimate images that survive to this day as a testament to her beauty and vulnerability. Kirkland was born in Toronto, Canada and started out as an assistant to Irving Penn when he first moved to New York at the age of 24. After an early stint working for Look Magazine, he joined Life Magazine as a staff photographer. He worked there in the ’60s and ’70s – an era often referred to as the golden age of photojournalism. Known for his charming and gentle attitude, Kirkland has served as the only photographer on the sets of hundreds of films, from The Sound of Music to Titanic. His extensive archive of A-list portraits includes Elizabeth Taylor, Coco Chanel, Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, Michael Jackson, Brigitte Bardot, Andy Warhol, Naomi Campbell and Nicole Kidman.

Text in English and Italian.

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.

The Mediterranean coast of France witnessed the rise and development of modern art over a century, from Cézanne in the 1860s to Matisse, Picasso and Klein in the 1950s and 1960s. These artists and the many more featured here discovered an inexhaustible source of inspiration in this storied region, whose glittering, languid sea stretches out towards the far horizon beneath brilliant azure skies. Indelibly associated with the classical past, this magical land of eternal spring and spiritual renewal came to signify a state of mind, and avant-garde artists sought to convey the vitality and élan it inspired in them through new paradigms of modernist invention.

As you crest the ridge, the green valley below and the ocean beyond come into view. This is Shobac, a seaside village featuring an ensemble of buildings that, at first glance, looks like a monumental work of Land Art. What is this place? A fishing village from the future? A monastery teleported here from another planet? A utopian colony with a message for the world? Shobac is recognised internationally as the masterwork of famed Canadian architect Brian Mackay-Lyons. In partnership with his wife Marilyn Mackay-Lyons and their family, he has built a unique community over the granite ruins of a historic settlement on the fogbound coast of Nova Scotia, an area identified on Champlain’s first map of North America from 1604. Among the structures at Shobac are homes, barns, studios, cottages, fishing shacks, a boathouse, even a schoolhouse, all designed in Mackay-Lyons’s compelling architectural language that fuses contemporary Modernism with Nova Scotia building traditions. It’s a sublime accomplishment that feels equally part of the past and the future, a living manifesto that expresses how landscape, climate, culture and architecture can ideally come together in elevating the human experience.

Gabi Blum creates walk-in, room-filling installations that translate images from our collective pop-culture memory into real, three-dimensional scenes. Her location and context-specific work questions the creation of icons and myth-making, as well as the forms of staging of highbrow and popular culture. Figures—personified by herself, by others or by the visitors—act within her evocative spaces, blurring the borders between reality and fiction. Blum uses simple materials to reveal the artistic process, transforming the familiar into something new. The subject matter of her stagings include visibility, power, and the narrative of heroism. The monograph The Rise and the Fall (of the Great) looks back on 15 years of creative work, placing it in an art historical and societal context, and illuminates the challenges of artistic existence beyond commercial structures.

Text in English and German. 

Stucco decorations have traditionally been studied considering their formal and artistic qualities. Although much research and numerous publications have explored the works of stucco artists and their cultural context, little attention has been paid to their professional role in relation to the other actors involved in the decorative process (architects, painters, sculptors, patrons), the technical skills of these artists, and how their know-how contributed to the great professional success they enjoyed. From the 16th to the 18th century, many of the stucco decorations in churches and palaces throughout Europe were made by masters from the border area between what is now Canton Ticino and Lombardy. This collection of essays aims to examine how these artists worked from Spain to Poland, from Denmark to Italy, via the Netherlands, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria, adapting to the realities of the different contexts. The authors examine these issues with an interdisciplinary approach, considering art history and social history, the history of artistic techniques, and the science of materials. 

Text in English and Italian.

John Ruskin wrote this fable for a teenage family friend, Effie, and later he married her. The marriage was famously disastrous, but before it fell apart the Ruskins allowed The King of the Golden River to be published. It became one of the most popular works for children of its time. Richard Doyle contributed over 25 full-page illustrations and vignettes.

The King of the Golden River is the first literary fairy tale in English (as opposed to collected folk tales). Ruskin himself said it was ‘a fairly good imitation of Grimm and Dickens, mixed with some true Alpine feeling of my own’. Later he spoke of the capacity of the traditional tales ‘to fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science’.

It remains a powerful fable about humanity’s dual capacity for destructiveness and redeeming love, with as strange fairy-tale creatures as one could hope to meet.

An essay by Simon Cooke explains the book’s importance.

For Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, each garden is unique—a one-of-a-kind reflection of architecture and nature, imbued with the personality of those who inhabit it. Never static, ever-changing, these gardens are inspired by experience and imagination, and the fine balance of natural elements. When loved and cherished, gardens can flourish for generations as places for gathering, entertaining, contemplation, and refuge.

With stunning colour photography and intricately detailed sketches, Enduring Gardens: The Tame and the Wild immerses readers in the unique gardens designed by CHLA and invites them behind the scenes to learn more about the firm’s approach to landscape design. Exploring the individual components of an enduring garden through the creative eyes of CHLA, this monograph reveals the thought and intention that goes into crafting meaningful gardens, from exploring the sensory stimuli of nature to connecting with architecture and balancing the tame and the wild.
Essential inspiration for architects, landscape architects, and discerning, passionate gardeners, this captivating monograph shares what CHLA defines as the essential and intrinsic elements of a well-loved garden. 

From Rolex to Swatch, the evolution of watches through fashion, sports, and history is highlighted through the 30 most iconic and essential wristwatches of all time. Designed for timepiece enthusiasts and collectors who want to explore the stylistic and technical evolution of the most representative models, this book also acts as a guide for those dreaming of purchasing their first watch or starting a personal collection. A fresh and engaging work that intertwines design, innovation, culture, and style, Watches: The Essentials is the must-have guide to the world’s most-celebrated timepieces.

Highlights the Essentials: Features 30 iconic watches that have defined eras, set trends, and marked historical moments.

In-Depth Analysis: Includes 30 chapters with each one dedicated to an essential watch.

Collectable Item: This essential guide is perfect for timepiece experts or fashion and lifestyle enthusiasts.

Stunning Photographs: Each chapter contains dozens of beautiful photographs that make the watches come to life on the page.

“It’s less of a traditional reference book and more of a meditation on place – through its people, purpose, and possibility. With a healthy yet necessary and perhaps overdue dose of historical context, political awareness, nuance, and care, they offer a portrait of California wine that finally acknowledges all the hands that shaped it.” — Decanter

“The most complete panorama yet of California wine today… An ambitious, thought-provoking book, The Wines of California is a new classic for you to read and add to your bookshelf.” — World of Fine Wine 

“… It’s as interested in power structures as in Parker points, and that’s what makes it essential.” — Forbes 

“… anybody interested in how California wine became a world force ought to read this book.” — NY Times
“This book is core, essential. For anyone just beginning their journey, this will put wine in context in straightforward language with little jargon…. Brown’s book is both current and timeless. Chukan Brown takes at in-depth look at the forces that made, moved and continue to shape Califorina wine. In investigating the history, they look hard at the instrumental part played by Indigenous Peoples and the reliance of the wine (and other agricultural sectors) on inexpensive farm labour. It will appeal to an audience far beyond the typical wine book reader.” — Grape Collective
A concise, complete, smartly delivered and cohesive book for serious readers and students of wine. Focusing on the world’s fourth largest producer of wine – California – the book takes readers on a journey through the golden state’s wines, paying due attention to famous regions such as Sonoma and Napa as well as introducing readers to exciting up-and-coming regions to explore.

The book is divided into three major sections. The first presents the key ideas that help make sense of California wine as a whole, including the history of California wine in brief, how the topography delivers California’s overarching climatic and soil conditions, and the basics of vineyard and winery factors relevant to the state such as the role of the AVA.

The second section takes each major region in turn and looks into its history, growing conditions and varieties, as well as discussing the most significant and interesting producers. A final section looks at current themes in Californian wine and discusses the future of the industry across the state.

This publication is a definitive tribute to the vanishing architectural soul of one of Iran’s most historic districts, the Sang-e-Siah neighbourhood in Shiraz. Author Salman Goorangi and coordinator Hamid Kooros document the transition of traditional decorative arts across the Zand, Qajar, and Pahlavi eras. Central to the work is the mastery of Shiraz seven-colour (Haft Rang) tiles, detailing specialised moulding, firing, and traditional dye-making techniques. The book provides a rare technical record of endangered decorative ceiling craft techniques such as Parvaz-bandi and Marjuvak-kari, in addition to a biography of Master Mirza Abdol Razzoq. Introduced by a moving foreword recounting a familial design inheritance, this publication bridges personal memory and scholarly preservation. It is an essential resource for collectors and historians dedicated to the enduring legacy of Persian craftsmanship and culture.

Over the past decade, climate litigation has transformed from a niche legal strategy into one of the most powerful forces shaping global climate action. Turning the Tide charts this extraordinary evolution, telling the story of this David and Goliath struggle through 40 landmark cases that have transformed the landscape of climate justice, redefining accountability, justice, and the role of law in confronting the climate crisis.

Edited by leading climate litigator Sophie Marjanac, this book brings together the most significant legal challenges of the last ten years – from the groundbreaking Urgenda decision in the Netherlands, to Indigenous land rights victories, corporate accountability suits, and youth-led actions that have captured the world’s attention.

Each case reveals how courts are compelling governments and corporations to act – and how communities are using the law to demand a livable future.

With striking imagery and expert commentary, Turning the Tide is both a record of how far the climate justice movement has come and a call to action for what lies ahead. A vital resource for lawyers, policymakers, activists, and anyone who believes that the law can be a tool for change.

The architecture work of Brazil-based Raul di Pace is guided by creativity and innovation. The firm’s focus always comes with the awareness that it is providing a service to its customer. The firm’s ideas happen naturally, and relate to the needs of the residents and their dreams for the place where they will live. A house is a place that must adapt to fit in with the time for which it is designed, and then it must continue to be a living environment as time and generations evolve. Before, cities had no running water and electricity—today most things are automated. To follow time is to adapt to new technologies, new materials, new habits and demands. We cannot imagine something as unchangeable, untouchable. A contemporary house cannot be simply a sanctuary. It should primarily be a pleasant space that provides adequate housing that serves the residents before anything else; it is up to the architect to remake, adapt, orient and reorient—all the while fulfilling this overall mission. Since the beginning, Raul di Pace’s architecture is about the search to reinvent oneself, to propose new solutions, built to suit specific purposes. Heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, which was a process of reinvention from start to finish, this highly anticipated volume shows how Raul di Pace continues to reinvent its language based on the same premise: make less, splurge less, seek the essential.

Text in English and Portuguese.

Chronicling international art from Realism through Surrealism, ArtSpoke explains such popular but often misunderstood movements and organisations as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, the Salon, the Fauves, the Harlem Renaissance, and so on-as well as events ranging from the 1913 Armory Show to Brazil’s little-known Semana de Arte Moderna. Concise explanations of potentially perplexing techniques, media, and philosophies of art making-including automatism, calotype, found object, Pictorialism, and Readymade-provide information essential to understanding how artists of this era worked and why the results look the way they do. Entries on concepts that were crucial to the development of modern art-such as androgyny, dandyism, femme fatale, spiritualism, and many others-distinguish this lively guide from any other art dictionary on the market. Also unique to this volume is the ArtChart, a handy one-page chronological diagram of the groups discussed in the book. In addition, there is a scene-setting timeline of world history and art history from 1848 to 1944, overflowing with invaluable information and illustrated with 24 colour reproductions. Students, specialists, and casual art lovers will all find ArtSpoke an essential addition to their reference shelves and a welcome companion on visits to museums and galleries.