Even though they belong to the mineral kingdom, the stones in the collection of the French writer Roger Caillois appear miraculously similar to works of art. Beginning from this mysterious but captivating link between two such apparently distant universes, the book collects a carefully curated selection of the finest stones in the collection and recounts the life of Caillois (sociologist, member of the surrealist movement…), reviewing and presenting his essays on stones. The persona and the personality of this atypical 20th-century intellectual emerge from the essay by Stefano Salis, who introduces us to Caillois’ world and that of Marguerite Yourcenar, who took his place in the Académie de France after his death with a speech reviewing his life and work. The literary critic Carlo Ossola traces the outlines of the cultural climate in which Caillois lived and operated, while François Farges, now in charge of the collection, illustrates it in the final essay.
Holly Addi is a U.S.-based artist who creates abstract paintings focused on the philosophy of beauty in imperfection. With a background in psychology, Addi examines energy, color, space, and landscape through tempered abstraction. Addi considers her practice as a “composition of imperfectionism.” By utilizing abstraction, she creates moments by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, providing a space for contemplation. Her works do not reference any particular form, and interpretation becomes multifaceted. She has exhibited nationwide, and has been featured in Architectural Digest, My Domain, and Electrify Magazine. Holly’s work can be found in public and private collections worldwide.
Color in Knitting: By Designers, for Designers delves into the methods of constructing multicolor knits using knitting structures, techniques, and technologies. The book not only showcases the beauty of multicolor knitwear but also provides a solid foundation for readers to further explore and manipulate these methods for their own design work. The book begins with a color journey of fascinating patterns, designed and implemented by Stoll from both past decades and recent collections, which illustrate the different color effects of multicolor knitting. In the second part of the book, the authors provide insight into the specific structures and techniques used to create these patterns; the section also includes stitch diagrams written using basic knitting symbols to further elucidate the construction of a knit.
“…sumptuous large illustrations of the selected Works, with a beautifully printed tonality”
“lt is exciting to think about how this important collection can continue to grow while this publication is already a beautiful tribute to Scottish art.” — Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Volume 29, 2024-2025, p.128
The National Galleries of Scotland is home to the most important collection of Scottish art in the world. This beautifully illustrated book introduces the collection through 100 works, specially chosen by the curatorial team who care for them.
The selection ranges chronologically from a 16th-century portrait of a Scottish king to 21st-century instalations and prints. Some of the most famous painters in Scotland’s history feature alongside some of the finest artists working in Scotland today. Many of the most distinctive movements in Scotland’s artistic heritage are represented, including the Celtic Revival, Arts and Crafts, the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
Each of the 100 works is reproduced alongside a text by one of 23 three expert contributors. The introduction gives an overview of the collection and Scottish art history more broadly. It is perfect for those who already love Scottish art, and those who are yet to discover its riches.
“Images of life, love, humor, and the surreal on London’s Brick Lane form the basis of this sumptuous catalogue of photographs” — Street Photography
Images of life, love, humor, and the surreal on London’s Brick Lane form the basis of this sumptuous catalogue of photographs. Today Brick Lane is a favorite tourist destination, famous for its street art and theater, and colorful market stalls. For centuries it was a hub for immigrant communities entering Britain through the nearby docks on the River Thames.
Sonya and David Newell-Smith, whose careers began in professional news photojournalism, have spent decades recording the changing streetscape and vibrant personalities of this East End district. This publication serves as a tribute to their passion for street photography, for capturing a ‘decisive moment’, and for documenting everyday lives and diverse cultures, their interactions, and emotional connections. Scholarly texts accompany over 170 photographs curated by Sonya in memory of David (1937–2017).
Two years after the successful launch of the first edition, this new volume presents 20 new projects in the Middle East by renowned architects and interior designers. Packed full of inspiration and stunning photography, this coffee table book also includes a profile of each architect and designer, along with a presentation of each photographer specializing in the Middle East whose work is showcased.
This theoretical work on architecture examines the meaning and relevance of a neutral stance in the face of contemporary urban chaos. It stems from a desire to move beyond a paradigmatic reading of urbanization and to establish a calmer relationship to this condition. The neutral stance in question is not one of passivity, but of heightened receptivity. It articulates a desire for a just relationship with the present that is attentive and unassuming, and that readily accepts the polyphonic character of the contemporary city. Its central argument concerns the creative and productive potential of neutrality and the way it engages with chaos as an inexhaustible source. This research draws on a broad body of multidisciplinary work (art, literature, photography, psychoanalysis etc.) to define a position within the architectural discipline.
The publication emerges from Ido Avissar’s in-depth research at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles. It is closely connected to a monograph on the work of LIST, the architecture and urban planning office founded by Avissar in 2012, and complements it with a more in-depth theoretical perspective.
Beyond Borders. Isabel Miquel Arqués in Dialogue with Georgia O’Keeffe marks the final chapter of Arqués’ Beyond Borders trilogy and forms an intense visual dialogue with one of the most iconic female artists of the twentieth century.
Following in O’Keeffe’s footsteps, Isabek Miquel Arqués traveled to New York and New Mexico, from the city to the vast landscapes of Ghost Ranch. Her travel journal runs like a common thread throughout the book, weaving together personal impressions with quotations from O’Keeffe’s letters. Through her photography, Arqués explores themes such as nature, silence, light, and form. The result is a poetic interplay of word and image, in which the two artists meet across time and distance.
Tales in Ink by Rob Walbers and Bart Luijten is a visually and conceptually rich exploration of identity, creativity, and self-expression through the art of tattooing. This loose-leaf publication brings together a series of intimate portraits and conversations with renowned figures from the creative world from Tokyo to Los Angeles, who share personal stories about how their tattoos have become integral to whom they are. Each interview delves into the symbolic meaning behind their ink, revealing how body art can reflect transformation, personality, memory, or artistic philosophy. Beyond documentation, the book’s graphic design introduces a new visual dialogue, merging photography, typography, and illustration into a layered aesthetic that treats each page as a living canvas — a “new tattoo” in itself. By intertwining word, image, and design, Tales in Ink transcends the boundaries of traditional portraiture and celebrates tattoo culture as a profound expression of creative identity and individuality.
Text in English and Japanese.
Between 2008 and 2016, Magnum photographer Bieke Depoorter traveled through Russia, the United States, and Egypt, asking random people if she could spend the night in their homes. Day after day, different people prepared a bed for her – on air mattresses, couches, carpets, on the ground, in living rooms, or kitchens. A decade later, she happened upon the hundreds of images she had taken of these beds, which were never intended for publication, and wondered if she had been collecting evidence. This book is the compelling result.
Christian Martin, author of Life in Ferrari Red and Best of Porsche, presents his new work dedicated to the most exclusive and expensive car manufacturer in the world (a Bugatti Chiron costs €2.4 million). In 1998, Bugatti rose from its ashes under the aegis of the Volkswagen Group. After a long period of inactivity and a failed revival attempt in Italy, the brand finally made a comeback under the guidance of a powerful industrial group. This unique destiny—marked by drama and brilliant achievements—is what this book reveals. It offers a stunning rediscovery, through magnificent photography, of the diversity of Ettore and Jean Bugatti’s work across the major periods of an adventure that is as much human as it is industrial. All the iconic models of this prestigious brand are showcased through rich, highly aesthetic, and varied imagery. The ultimate book for seeing life in Bugatti blue!
Milan is one of fashion’s supercities. The home of Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Moschino, Armani and Prada, as well as one of the world’s most lauded fashion weeks, the Italian city has become a byword for class, style and sophistication.
Milan. In Fashion is a sumptuous exploration of everything the city has to offer, from the fashion shows to trattorias, basilicas, boutiques and more. Immerse yourself in the historical artistry, fairytale glamor and modern chic of a cultural epicenter that never disappoints.
From Paris and New York to more surprising hotbeds of style, the In Fashion series invites you to discover the most fashionable locations in the world. Covering high fashion, classic street style and trendsetting people, as well as interiors, streets, shops and more, each beautifully presented volume offers a unique glimpse into the clothes and fashion culture of a distinct and remarkable destination.
Perfect for fans of fashion and travel.
Published to coincide with the exhibition at Kettle’s Yard, Christopher Wood: In Love offers an intimate and revelatory encounter with one of Britain’s most compelling modern artists. Drawing on new research and previously unpublished works from private collections, the book traces Wood’s brief yet incandescent career through the relationships, places and creative exchanges that shaped his art. Structured in a series of thematic ‘acts’, it moves from London and Paris to the Mediterranean and Brittany, weaving together painting, drawing, stage design and archival material to illuminate Wood’s passionate devotion to both art and life. Six newly commissioned essays explore questions of love, performance and sexuality in the early twentieth century, situating Wood within an international avant‑garde network that included Jean Cocteau, Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Beautifully designed and richly illustrated, this publication is an essential contribution to Christopher Wood scholarship and a vital companion to a vibrant moment in British modernism.
Chinese Wild Plants in Botanical Illustration presents 300 beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations of China’s native plants. From common wildflowers and wild grasses to rarer species found on mountains and in forests, these botanical artworks reveal the extraordinary in what we commonly take to be the ordinary. With her uncanny ability to bring real life to the page, illustrator Wu Xiuzhen exposes the exceptional beauty that is inherent in the natural world all around us.
Blending scientific precision with artistic tradition, Wu Xiuzhen combines natural observation with her strong artistic and cultural knowledge of China’s native plant life. With poetic expression, harmony, rhythm and symbolic meaning, flowers like plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum appear as artistic marvels, scientific record and enduring cultural expression.
Chinese Wild Plants in Botanical Illustration presents 300 beautiful, hand-drawn illustrations of China’s native plants. From common wildflowers and wild grasses to rarer species found on mountains and in forests, these botanical artworks reveal the extraordinary in what we commonly take to be the ordinary. With her uncanny ability to bring real life to the page, illustrator Wu Xiuzhen exposes the exceptional beauty that is inherent in the natural world all around us. Blending scientific precision with artistic tradition, Wu Xiuzhen combines natural observation with her strong artistic and cultural knowledge of China’s native plant life. With poetic expression, harmony, rhythm and symbolic meaning, flowers like plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum appear as artistic marvels, scientific record and enduring cultural expression.
China’s Song dynasty (960-1279) ceramics have long been famed for their simple shapes and beautiful glazes. Ceramics in Song China is the first book to look beyond their creation and aesthetics to explore how they functioned in Chinese society in their own time, and beyond. Looking at connections between ceramics and daily life, it takes in geology and environmental impacts as well as the movement of ceramics throughout the expanding Song urban environment. It shows how some ceramics document otherwise forgotten lives and social practices while illuminating how the concerns of poets, scholars and officials are present in others. Concluding with a survey of Song ceramics in the collections of Chinese emperors, Japanese temples, European royalty and English writers, this book presents a new account of how one of the world’s greatest ceramic productions touched every Song life and went on to intrigue generations of admirers across the world.
Rising near the baths of Diocletian, where Imperial Rome once proclaimed its power, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome stands as a different but no less enduring monument to Italian genius. Inaugurated in 1880 as the Teatro Costanzi, it was born at a pivotal hour – when a newly unified Italy sought not only political coherence but a shared cultural soul. Within its crimson and golden interiors, that soul found one of its most resounding expressions. Here Puccini’s Tosca premiered in 1900, at a time when the theater became both witness and protagonist of modernity – surviving war, regime, and reinvention – while safeguarding a repertoire that binds Italy to the wider world. To enter its auditorium is to step into a continuum: ancient stone outside, velvet and light within, and above all the breath of singers transforming silence into shared memory. This is a stunning volume, enriched by glorious photography, that honors and uplifts one of the most important opera houses in the world.
Text in English and Italian.
Matisse in 400 Images offers a vibrant introduction to one of the most influential artists of modern art. Bringing together 400 carefully selected works, this compact volume traces Henri Matisse’s artistic journey from his early experiments at the turn of the twentieth century to the bold cut-outs of his final years. Alongside celebrated masterpieces, readers will discover lesser-known paintings, drawings, and decorative works that reveal the richness and evolution of his vision.
Organized chronologically, the book follows Matisse’s development through key periods — from the discovery of modern art and the explosive Fauvist years, through phases of decoration, abstraction, and experimentation, to the luminous works created in Nice and the radical innovations of his late career. A remarkable selection of historical photographs further illuminates the artist’s life and creative environment. Accessible and visually engaging, this beautifully illustrated volume is an ideal introduction for a broad audience and an essential companion for all admirers of Matisse and modern art.
This publication offers a rare and fascinating insight into the teaching world of renowned architect Peter Zumthor. Based on previously unpublished material – including letters, sketches and photographs – as well as recent interviews with former students, assistants, colleagues and Zumthor himself, it examines the origins, historical context and far-reaching influence of his pioneering course “Primo Anno” (1996–1999) at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio. The “Primo Anno” exercises form the structural basis of the book, while thematically organized interviews open up diverse perspectives on Zumthor’s thinking and his unique didactic approach. Narrative chapters connect these elements into a common thread, reflecting on the findings and placing them in a broader theoretical context. Based on his dissertation, written between 2018 and 2021, as well as previously unpublished materials and interviews, the Swiss-Brazilian architect Rafael Lorentz documents a rediscovery that not only sheds light on Zumthor’s thinking, but also reveals his formative influence on the identity of the Accademia.
A uniform symbolizes the separation between the individual and their function, the citizen and the state. It also obscures the personality of the wearer.
In his book Uniform, Jan Kraus portrays individuals employed in the executive and judicial branches. Their uniforms change identities, set boundaries, and assign roles simultaneously. Observing these individuals in their private lives offers a fresh perspective, challenges stereotypes, and prompts us to reevaluate our relationship with the state and its representatives.
Text in English and German.
Nature in Close Up reveals flora and fauna like you’ve never seen them before. Award-winning nature photographer Yuan Minghui showcases his extraordinary sensibility and original eye for the natural world through his stunning selection of photographs of the wetlands in Wuhan, China. Each image surprises and thrills, rendering every object an artistic creation in its own right. Yuan Minghui’s ability to create beautiful and meaningful images from our surrounding environment is startling; from winding vines that look like treble clefs and floating aquatic plants with diamond droplets, to the unseen glimpses of insects and amphibians playing out their extraordinary lives. Yuan Minghui sets out to give each and every object the beauty and dignity that he sees in ordinary human life, with the aim of emphasizing the importance of our planet and how we need to give it the care and attention that it deserves.
The Letting Go is a long-standing, performative, and participatory practice by artist Natascha Stellmach. It explores themes of vulnerability and empowerment. Following a meditation and in response to the question, “What would you like to let go of?”, the practice involves identifying, naming, embodying, and experiencing healing and impermanence through the body. Its method includes ritual tattooing without ink (a bloodline tattoo) to address a personal obstacle and initiate an intimate enquiry.
Over a period of almost 10 years, Stellmach performed more than 120 sessions with individuals in galleries and privately, including herself. Through evocative photography, academic research, and participant-contributed selfies and reflections, the publication invites readers to embrace “the wonder in our wounds” and offers a deeply human portrait of what it means to let go.
The book includes a foreword by acclaimed actor Sandra Hüller, as well as essays by curator and arts writer Kelly Gellatly and psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Matthew McArdle.
This richly illustrated volume, produced by Uzbek publisher Dinara & Co. in partnership with Kulturalis, explores the enduring legacy and contemporary revival of miniature painting in Uzbekistan. Highlighting the work of acclaimed Bukharan master Davlat Toshev, the book guides readers through the intricate brushwork, symbolism and narrative depth of his recent creations. By situating Toshev’s oeuvre within the broader context of Islamic art and the cultural memory of the region, the book demonstrates how these seemingly fantastical images resonate with contemporary audiences. For art lovers, collectors and cultural historians alike, this publication is both a celebration of Uzbekistan’s artistic heritage and a key to unlocking the relevance of miniature painting in modern times.
Copenhagen. One of northern Europe’s chicest cities. A marvel of Scandinavian style, blending the traditional with the modern and the minimalist. Denmark’s capital is a burgeoning design hub, an increasingly popular destination for fans of modern architecture and an unexpected fashion hotspot with a proud ethos of sustainability and its own major biannual fashion week.
Copenhagen. In Fashion is an unmissable opportunity to discover the city’s historic harbor, squares, islands and islets, experience the warmth of the hygge lifestyle and find inspiration in the composed and impossibly urbane Scandi outfits without leaving your own home.
From Paris and New York to more surprising hotbeds of style, the In Fashion series invites you to discover the most fashionable locations in the world. Covering high fashion, classic street style and trendsetting people, as well as interiors, streets, shops and more, each beautifully presented volume offers a unique glimpse into the clothes and fashion culture of a distinct and remarkable destination.
Perfect for fans of fashion and travel.