With this publication a comprehensive study of Impressionism in Canada is available for the first time: from its beginnings in France, via the dissemination of the new style through artists, gallerists, dealers and collectors in North America, and its incorporation into and propagation within a hitherto conservative milieu, to the reception of Canadian Impressionism both nationally and internationally.

The study culminates in the concise portrayal of the lives and works of fourteen of the most significant Canadian artists – including William Blair Bruce, Maurice Cullen, J. W. Morrice, Laura Muntz Lyall, Marc-Aurele de Foy Suzor-Cote, Helen McNicoll and Clarence Gagnon – along with several other artists who for some time also employed Impressionist techniques. In this overview not only are the sources of inspiration in French Impressionism presented but also how masterfully and with aplomb these artists found their own artistic form of expression, which has decisively shaped Canadian Impressionist painting today.

With a foreword by Guy Wildenstein and an introduction by William H. Gerdts.

“For Iris Fishof, a piece of jewelry is not merely an ornament but it can be a reflection of societal history. Her extensive, beautifully illustrated history, “Jewellery in Israel Multicultural Diversity 1948 to the Present” is the first book of its kind. Fishof, an Israeli art historian and curator, begins with folk artists who worked in pre-state Israel and covers the establishment of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in 1906 and the role of immigrants, like the Germans who brought the modernist Bauhaus tradition with them in the 1930s and Yemenites who brought their own intricate silversmith traditions in the 1950s. She describes contemporary internationally recognized artists working in various materials and styles, still with a ‘distinctly local flavor’.” – The Jewish Week

In Israel East meets West. Their jewelry traditions blend, resulting in creative innovations. In the 1930s, European immigrants introduced the spirit of the Bauhaus, while oriental craftsmanship was invigorated in the 1950s and 1960s by immigration from Islamic countries. State jewelry companies preserved traditional crafts, while at the same time developing a new and elegant style, designed to express the national identity of the still young state of Israel. There are important links between native jewelry makers and European and American jewelry artists, who were guest lecturers at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in the 1970s and had a lasting influence on Israeli artists. The transition to art jewelry was finally completed in the 1980s, paving the way for artists who are now internationally renowned. A further chapter is dedicated to contemporary works by some outstanding young artists. Although their works are part of the global jewelry scene, they are also dedicated to their homeland, for example through unequivocal references to local political tensions.

Artists (a selection): Bianca Eshel Gershuni, Esther Knobel, Deganit Stern Schocken, Vered Kaminski, Attai Chen.

As the 1930s began, Alfred H. Barr Jr., founder of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Philip Johnson, distinguished architect, brought the principles of the Bauhaus to America – even before exiles from Nazi Germany fully established the idea of architecture and furnishings as a functional whole in the United States. Barr’s organization of the museum reflected the departmental structure of the Bauhaus, elevating architecture, graphic design, utilitarian furniture design, industrial design, photography and film to be on an equal footing with painting and sculpture, and endorsing all to be recognized as art. Barr and Johnson curated exceptional exhibitions such as Modern Architecture, International Exhibition (1932) and Machine Art (1934) at MoMA and created modern interiors in private living quarters. In this book, comprehensive essays and series of photos trace how modernism found its way into the American cultural landscape.

Text in German.

The collection of British silver at the Ashmolean Museum has all, with one notable exception (a tankard of 1574 given in 1790), been acquired since shortly after World War II. In relation to other major museum collections, therefore, it is young. Yet amounting to over 550 objects, many of which are of spectacular quality and rarity, it is one of the most important collections of its kind in the world, equaled only for the ‘golden age’ of English silver by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The collection has never been fully catalogued and this will be the first time a complete catalogue has been published.

In keeping with an editorial strategy that aims to bring to public attention all of the various groups of works belonging to the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, a book devoted to its drawings and watercolors has been published. Featuring texts by Manuela Fidalgo, who worked as a curator at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum until her retirement, this edition is the product of several years of thorough research underpinned by technical and scientific rigor and the involvement of several international experts in the art of drawing.

This publication therefore plays an essential part in raising awareness of one of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum’s least-well known collections, which includes works produced in the main centers of European art (France, Holland, Flanders, England and Italy) between the 16th and early 20th centuries by great masters such as Dürer, Watteau, Boucher, Turner and Sargent, among others. This book also gives us a clearer picture of Calouste Gulbenkian’s artistic sensibility as a collector: despite claiming not to be attracted to drawing, the beauty and quality of the works brought together here were such that he could not resist purchasing them.

Artists of The Spanish Golden Age such as Murillo, Zurbarán and Velázquez were the key to instigating a truly passionate appreciation of Spanish art among the great collectors at the end of the Modern Age, as well as the public institutions or other institutions that sprang from private initiative after the Industrial Revolution.

There are notable sets of works created by Spanish artists in the United Kingdom, from the Osonas to Joan Miró, such as the ones conserved in Apsley House, Pollok House and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The collections owned by public institutions also include a significant number of masterpieces of Spanish art, including the National Gallery of London and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. Other public and private collections, such as the Wallace Collection, the Duke of Stafford Collection, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Bowes Museum, also contain masterpieces.

María Campos Carlés de Peña, a leading expert in furniture history, has undertaken an exhaustive project of research into the large and varied production of furniture made in Peru in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries – the colonial period – for churches, convents, monasteries and private collections. Over eleven chapters she provides a thorough description of this type of furniture, which was inspired by artistic styles ranging from Mannerism to Neoclassicim, with their many variants and creators.

Her analysis allows for an appreciation of the way vice-regal furniture in Peru is a valuable witness to its time: an example of a syncretism of varied and different cultures, endowed with symbolism, iconographic meaning and enormous beauty.

In Love With Photography is a unique treasure in the history of photography, lifted from the archives of Volker Hinz, one of the most important and indefatigable photographers of our time. A treasure, amassed in almost 50 years by a passionate collector of portraits and presented here for the first time. Volker Hinz photographed those who normally remain hidden behind their cameras. Whenever and wherever he encountered them: at work, at home, in public or private moments. This is how a unique collection of the most renowned photographers of the second half of the 20th and the early 21st centuries came about. Contents: Prelude; Out and about discovering people; The plates; Index. Text in English and German.

On the whole, when one thinks of seventeenth-century sculpture in Rome, one has in mind the wonderful and famous works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, such as the Fountain of the Rivers or The Ecstasy of St. Theresa. The very idea of Roman baroque is commonly identified with the century’s great genius. And indeed, the influence of Bernini’s work on the sculpture and art in general of the period was, especially in Rome, decisive. However, this domination spread only during the second half of the seventeenth century, and less unequivocally than one might suppose.Other great sculptors, with personalities that were often very different form Bernini’s, contributed to making the extraordinary proliferation of Roman statuary extremely complex and varied at that time.

This book is aimed especially at students and museum visitors who would like to learn more about the topic and discusses the art in a straightforward and strictly chronological fashion. The narrative begins in the early decades of the seventeenth century with sculpture created by a motley and conspicuously cosmopolitan group of artists. Later, with the growing success of the great masters, commissions began to gravitate around Bernini, Alessandro Algardi, and François Duquesnoy. A new approach to Antiquity went hand in hand with a marked predilection for striking chromatic effects, borrowed from Venetian painting, and a desire to make a strong impact and achieve a particular tone, often with results of surprising originality.

Taking the most up-to-date and best founded historiographic observations on the subject we have tried to highlight the workshop relationships between the great masters and the ‘giovani,’ their pupils or occasional assistants, and in this way put into relief the experimental approach of some of these apprentices, such as Melchirro Caffà or Antonio Raggi, or the ability of certain others, for instance Ercole Ferrata, to fuse the most diverse influences. The book thus aims to show how marble and travertine were used throughout the century to create a whole army of statues that were positioned in the open and in churches, lending modern Rome its truly incomparable new face.

Archaeological objects offer outstanding opportunities to explore the way people conceived life in past ages. Their study demonstrates that subjects such as fertility, myths, rituals and cosmogony are embedded in all man-made artefacts, as they have always been part of daily human life. Even when creating artefacts for individual use, we have adopted imaginative and ingenious ways to represent and convey a message, a narrative that is a facet of our personal and social identity. That’s why the amulets presented in this outstanding catalogue hold secrets: memories of deeds, lands and sacred representations. Objects used as offerings are full of life: the warrior recalls his heroic condition during his long mortal journey; the deceased person, who travels to the other world equipped with his objects of power, arrives satisfied and disposed to be generous toward his descendants, who receive fertility and well-being in return.

The choice of materials is a fundamental aspect of such objects. The use of metals, for example, is etched into the language of social communication, whereas the vital force that moves the universe is found immersed to a large degree in magical materials like fired clay, the product of extensive chemical transformation, or shell, a product of the sea, its brilliance a sign of spirituality, or imperishable gold, which is the embodiment of the Sun itself, ductile and able to express extraordinary religious ideas.

This catalogue introduces us to this world of magic, life and death.

Text in English and Spanish.

While the foundations of the Josette and Jean-Claude Weill Collection lie in painting, their passion for seeking out exciting new forms soon led them to embrace the infinite diversity of tribal art. Expanded over the decades under the enthusiastic stewardship of their son Jean-Pierre, the collection now includes over 120 works of the very highest order, covering Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Several large categories can be discerned, reflecting the Weill family’s liking for daring, expressionistic forms: Dogon and Tellem statues combining geometric shapes with textured surfaces, as well as Kongo powerful figures endowed with magic properties. The expressive arts of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Melanesia are also well represented in the collection. Among the more classic works there are pieces that have iconic status – such as the Bena Lulua statue that used to belong to Jacques Kerchache, Edward Robinson’s Fang reliquary figure, or the Biwat powerful flute plug from the Lemaire Collection – that testify to the sureness of the Weill’s taste and to the shrewd instinct that led them to appreciate this art from another world. An important group of finely carved small ivories makes up one-third of the whole collection. This book will provide an opportunity to unveil the Parisian collection shrouded in mystery, whose importance is matched only by its confidentiality. In order to enable the reader to capture the full richness and diversity of its contents, the works are all accompanied by notes written by experts, including Viviane Baeke (Africa Museum, Tervuren), Philippe Dagen (historian and art critic), Jean-Paul Colleyn (anthropologist), Bertrand Goy (author specializing in the Ivory Coast), Hélène Joubert (Musée du Quai Branly-Jaques Chirac), Hélène Leloup (historian and antiquarian), Sean Mooney (the Rock Foundation), and Philippe Peltier (formerly at Musée du Quai Branly-Jaques Chirac).

First to translate two of the oldest accounts of Musashi’s career – the Bushû denraiki and the Bukôden – William de Lange presents a full biography of the most famous yet enigmatic of swordsmen. In doing so, he draws extensively on a wealth of additional and often neglected sources to reconstruct the meandering course of Musashi’s eventful life: his dramatic encounter with Sasaki Kojirô on Ganryû island, his multiple bouts with the famed Yoshioka brothers, and the remarkable gestation of his life’s influential work: The Book of Five Rings. In the course of this highly readable account, many of the convenient myths that have arisen around Musashi are debunked. The more controversial incidents of the warrior’s life that have been left hidden, perhaps deliberately, are uncovered: his troubled relationship with his father, his whereabouts during the battle of Sekigahara, the siege of Osaka castle, and the birth and death of an illegitimate child, which was an event that deeply influenced his art. The biography reveals how Musashi’s path through life was shaped by strong personal traits: his reckless valor in the face of danger, his sensitive intelligence in the fields of art and architecture, his generosity toward peers and pupils, and his defiant stubbornness in old age. The complex yet human portrait that arises is a far cry from the accepted one-dimensional caricature of this medieval swordsman.

The Baptistery of San Giovanni is not only one of the most magnificent monuments in all Italy, but also a splendid anthology of great Florentine art in marble and stone, in mosaic and bronze, and the emblem of the religious and political ideals of Florence.

Mirabilia Italiæ is a unique series. It owes its existence to an innovative and ambitious project: an atlas of the great monuments of Italy that will display them in all their details, from the best known to the least. This series represents a completely new way of documenting art. Mirabilia Italiæ provides a guided tour of each monument, fully and accurately explained. Each atlas contains hundreds of color photographs, arranged in a precise topographical sequence and accompanied by diagrams showing the exact location of each detail. The atlas is complemented by a volume of texts edited by the premier scholars in the field, consisting of critical essays and descriptive notes. Essays examine the monument from the art-historical point of view, and record the alterations it has undergone over time. Descriptive notes analyze the content and significance of the images. Extensive cross-references link the essays and notes to the images, facilitating consultation of the work. The General Editor of Mirabilia Italiæ is Salvatore Settis, Director of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

Text in English and Italian.

Founded probably in the 5th or 6th century, the Cathedral of Genoa was later rebuilt in Romanesque style and devoted to St. Lawrence the martyr. Money came from the successful enterprises of the Genoese fleets in the Crusades. After a fire in 1296, the building was partly restored, the inner colonnades rebuilt and matronei and frescoes added. In 1550 the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi was commissioned by the city magistrates to plan the reconstruction of the entire building, but the construction of the cathedral didn’t finish until the 17th century.

Among the artworks inside the church are ceiling frescoes, paintings and altarpieces by Luca Cambiaso, Federico Barocci, Lazzaro Tavarone and Gaetano Previati, while sculpture include works by Domenico Gagini, Andrea Sansovino, Giacomo and Guglielmo Della Porta. Impressive are also the works of art and silverware kept in the Museum of the Treasury which lies under the cathedral. One of the most important pieces is the Sacred bowl brought by Guglielmo Embriaco after the conquest of Cesarea and supposed to be the chalice used by Christ during the Last Supper.

Contributors include: Gianluca Ameri, Beatrice Astrua, Michele Bacci, Piero Boccardo, Antonella Capitanio, Marco Ciatti, Marco Collareta, Anna De Floriani, Clario Di Fabio, Grazia Di Natale, Gabriele Donati, Lucia Faedo, Marco Folin, Maria Flora Giubilei, Henrike Haug, Karin Kranhold, Anna Rosa Calderoni Masetti, Roberto Paolo Novello, Linda Pisani, Stefano Riccioni, Giorgio Rossini, Philippe Sénéchal, Carlo Tosco, Gerhard Wolf, Photographs by Ghigo Roli.

Text in English and Italian.

Adorned on the outside with a magnificent marble entrance, the Libreria Piccolomini possesses on the inside a jewel-like cycle of frescoes painted by Pinturicchio. For the first time this fresco cycle – of remarkable pictorial quality – is fully illustrated in all in inexhaustible narrative and chromatic richness. Mirabilia Italiæ is a unique series. It owes its existence to an innovative and ambitious project: an atlas of the great monuments of Italy that will display them in all their details, from the best known to the least. This series represents a completely new way of documenting art.

Mirabilia Italiæ provides a guided tour of each monument, fully and accurately explained. Each atlas contains hundreds of color photographs, arranged in a precise topographical sequence and accompanied by diagrams showing the exact location of each detail. The atlas is complemented by a volume of texts edited by the premier scholars in the field, consisting of critical essays and descriptive notes. Essays examine the monument from the art-historical point of view, and record the alterations it has undergone over time. Descriptive notes analyze the content and significance of the images. Extensive cross-references link the essays and notes to the images, facilitating consultation of the work. The General Editor of Mirabilia Italiæ is Salvatore Settis, Director of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

Text in English and Italian.

The Scrovegni Chapel, a masterpiece in the history of painting in Italy and Europe in the 14th century, is considered to be the most complete series of frescoes executed by Giotto in his mature age. Mirabilia Italiæ is a unique series. It owes its existence to an innovative and ambitious project: an atlas of the great monuments of Italy that will display them in all their details, from the best known to the least. This series represents a completely new way of documenting art. Mirabilia Italiæ provides a guided tour of each monument, fully and accurately explained. Each atlas contains hundreds of color photographs, arranged in a precise topographical sequence and accompanied by diagrams showing the exact location of each detail. The atlas is complemented by a volume of texts edited by the premier scholars in the field, consisting of critical essays and descriptive notes. Essays examine the monument from the art-historical point of view, and record the alterations it has undergone over time. Descriptive notes analyze the content and significance of the images. Extensive cross-references link the essays and notes to the images, facilitating consultation of the work. The General Editor of Mirabilia Italiæ is Salvatore Settis, Director of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.

Text in Italian.

Exploring the vast range of materials and techniques used in the making of Tibetan clothing and ornaments, this book takes a closer, more intimate look at the different cultural groups within this diverse country, discussing how national costume relates to their everyday life. The technical approach will appeal to spinners, weavers, felt makers, braiders, embroiderers, jewellers and costume enthusiasts. The book will also interest many general readers in Europe and America who are fascinated by the aura of the Tibetan Region; the lifestyle of the people who live amongst Tibet’s high peaks, emerald forests, and stunning lakes command world-wide interest. Richly illustrated with the author’s evocative contemporary high quality photographs, dating from the mid 1980s, this book is a visual journey into the heart of the country. It documents the people, and their costumes and related crafts, focussing on the historical Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham. Tibetan Dress is unique in its reflection of historical material. It combines this academic knowledge base with original observations and wide-ranging interviews with nomads and farmers, all of which centre around costumes locally possessed and worn by Tibetans today.

This history marks the tercentenary of Jacques de Gastigny’s founding bequest for La Providence, the French hospital for the Huguenot community in England. Its survival and continuing existence today bears witness to the tenacity of the community of Huguenot refugees and their descendants. Chapters on the successive phases of its history are illustrated with portraits of the Directors and Officers, and the silver, furniture, engravings, heraldry and other memorabilia associated with them. The book traces the history of this institution from the building of the original hospital in the parish of St. Luke’s, Finsbury, and the granting of the Royal Charter by George I in 1718, to the construction of a new building in Victoria Park, Hackney, in the 1860s designed by Robert Roumieu, an architect of Huguenot descent. In its present location in Rochester, Kent, La Providence provides sheltered housing for elderly people of proven Huguenot descent. For more information please visit: http://www.johnadamsonbooks.com/frenchhospital.html

“The first and taboo-breaking book on negative birthing experience. Will provide a big support for many women!” Tosca Gort, psychologist “An eye-opener for women with birth trauma and a must-read for care professionals who want to learn more.” Dr. Claire Stramrood, gynecologist “I wish this book had existed four years ago. My friends and family seemed to be pushing the joy of motherhood down my throat while, to me, the delivery felt more like a landslide. Thanks to Diana’s coaching, I became the old Maria again.” Maria, mum of two daughters Childbirth deeply affects the life of a woman and her partner. Fortunately the effect is usually a positive one. Many people declare the day their child was born as the most beautiful day of their lives. However, giving birth can also be a negative experience, with long-term consequences. This book explains how a negative birthing might affect you, your relationship with your baby and your partner. With the help of practical exercises and honest accounts from women who have overcome birth trauma themselves, you will learn to process this experience and restore your inner balance. Described as “The first and taboo-breaking book on negative birthing experience,” this book will provide a pillar for many women, who have been suffering in silence for too long.

The city is not just a place where creative talents meet and work, it is also a place where they live. Feeling Living magazine has selected 20 of the most fascinating and beautiful city abodes of people who spend their lives pushing the envelope of innovation and creativity. Scattered around major European cities, these lofts, houses, industrial-style spaces, and Hausmann-style apartments are often surprising, and always interesting. This book invites you into their homes, and shares with you their vision of city life. Text in English, French and Dutch.

From 22 September 2017 to 21 January 2018 Palazzo Strozzi will be hosting a splendid exhibition devoted to the art of the second half of the 16th century in Florence, the third and final act in a trilogy which began with Bronzino ISBN 9788874611546, in 2010 and was followed by Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino ISBN 9788874612161, in 2014. Curated by Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali, the show, and this accompanying book, explores the development of Florentine art in the second half of the century through the painting, sculpture, and draughtsmanship of such artists as Andrea del Sarto, Bronzino, Pontormo, Giorgio Vasari, Giambologna and Bartolomeo Ammannati. The exhibition will also provide a unique opportunity to celebrate the outstanding cultural and intellectual era that was marked by the Council of Trent and its Counter-Reformation, and by the figure of Francesco I de Medici, one of the most outstanding figures in the history of court patronage of the arts in Europe.

The Mughals established a mighty empire that dominated India for two centuries. With their passion for nature and art, the Mughal emperors laid out verdant gardens, built splendid monuments including the Taj Mahal, and commissioned beautiful books. Books were precious to the Mughal kings. Expensive and laborious to produce, they were symbols of royal wealth, power and intelligence. At the height of Mughal power, the imperial studios hummed with the activity of hundreds of papermakers, calligraphers, painters and bookbinders, all producing books for the royal libraries. Many manuscripts were illustrated with exquisite miniature paintings, in which the Mughals took a special delight. Today these books and paintings, treasured by museums around the world, offer us unique perspectives into Mughal lives.