“A lush, illustrated book shows the “Equestrian Life” in the rich paradise around New York – and is also great fun for non-equestrians.” — Monopol

“His book overflows with breathtaking imagery and rich history.” —  Frederic

Equestrian life has an enduring appeal for many of us, but it has a special place in the hearts of Hamptonites. Written by renowned fashion and lifestyle editor, Blue Carreon — an avid equestrian who lives and breathes the Hamptons when not in Manhattan — this luxurious book is his photographic showcase of the glamorous, often exclusive, and intriguing horse-sporting life in the Hamptons. This is a place dotted by bucolic barns and exclusive stables, coexisting with the shingle-style mansions with sweeping manicured lawns and modernist beach houses with uninterrupted views of the dunes and ocean beyond. Wending and looping through the picturesque hills and townships of the Hamptons are horseback-riding trails, world-class public and private equestrian facilities and estates, and premier blue-ribbon horse shows, polo competitions, and more. Blue Carreon also explores the hard work that comes with the glamor that comes with the sport. The thrill and danger that come with the sound of a horse’s galloping steps; the frustration of falls and ecstasy of big wins. Equestrian Life in the Hamptons offers a historic framework to the evolution of equestrian culture in the region, provides details on stables and how they are designed, barn and tack room tours, and the fashions on and off the field (both human and equine) as well as interiors inspired by all things equestrian. These pages are jam-packed with stories and interviews with not only the wealthy weekenders but with those who have devoted their life to their equine passions and the equestrian life.

Appreciation of the works by the German artist couple Annelies and Fred Stelzig from Besigheim in the discipline of art made for architecture has been a long time coming. To mark the 100th anniversary of them both, the town of Besigheim has made this its task. For the large retrospective, a publication is launched that focuses on the incredible breadth of their production for the very first time. Waiting to be discovered alongside wall ceramics and carpets are works in wood, glass, and enamel. Numerous contributions by authoritative experts present the personal backgrounds of the couple, trace lines of development, and highlight the material specificities of their works. Over 300 illustrations additionally provide a lively impression of the couple’s ability to be versatile yet at the same time retain continuity during their long creative period, from the 1950s to their last work in 2006.

With contributions by Christian Behrer, Dieter Büchner, Christiane Fülscher, Sabine Gärttling, Inken Gaukel, Regina Ille-Kopp, Andreas Janssen, Cornelia Marinowitz, Martha Pflug-Grunenberg, and Sandy Richter.
Text in German.

According to medieval theologians, faith is a deadly serious business. Humor and virtue are irreconcilable, because laughter is uncontrollable and escapes the control of reason. A modest smile is permitted. But laughing loudly, grinning and grimacing: these are the playing field of the devil – just as pernicious as other uncontrollable urges, such as physical love or the addiction of the gambler. That is the domain of the peasant or fool.

In the late Middle Ages, every right-thinking town-dweller knew the difference between the peasant and the fool. Peasants are innocently gullible, primitive, throwing themselves into feasting, gorging, drinking and sex. The peasant is the antithesis of the cultivated urbanite, who fastidiously controls his urges – and who therefore above all must not laugh too loudly. Only during Innocents Day parties or Shrove Tuesday celebrations is it permitted for urban partygoers to play the fool and to show their ‘underbelly’.

In contrast to the peasant, the fool escapes the existing order. He holds up a mirror to the self-declared wise citizens, because ‘the fool reveals the truth through laughter’, even though it may be hidden between piss and shit, sex and snot. It is for precisely this reason that Erasmus, in his In Praise of Folly writes not as himself but through the persona of Folly, a broad back behind which the wise person can hide when he denounces social problems. Laughter thus alters the world.

In this context, the fool and irony became important motifs in medieval art, especially in the Low Countries. This original art book is illustrated with dozens of top-quality works by Flemish masters from worldwide collections.

As early as 1934 Charlotte Perriand began to reflect on the architectural aspects of leisure activities for all, but it was with Les Arcs, her greatest work, that she completed her reflection on the art of living in the mountains.
Alongside the developer Roger Godino, Charlotte Perriand displayed all the facets of her immense talent: design, urban planning, but also bioclimatic architecture, of which she was a pioneer. She had to deal with financial and time constraints in order to design most of the Arc 1600 and 1800. Thanks to her perseverance and growing inventiveness, her integration of architecture into the sites, her innovative and human approach to traffic, and the life she breathes into the resort, especially on the rooftops, she has made it a friendly place, in harmony with the environment. Thus, she designs the interior architecture of more than 4,500 homes, 25,000 beds, for an annual flow of more than one million people. Her wish to combine the art of living in the mountains with housing for the greatest number of people has been largely realized.

Today, it seems more urgent than ever to focus more attention in design on the common good. This is because we are faced with the consequences of a design methodology that is geared towards the good of individuals wherever we look. The concept of public value seems ideal as a way of focusing design education more strongly on the common good: Public value is what the public values. It provides an alternative to one-sided orientations such as the shareholder value paradigm.

The iF Design Foundation 2022 has carried out the present study in order to determine the public value of design study programs at German universities. This study provides a basis for encouraging and realizing a form of design education in Germany geared towards the common good. This publication also contains a list of all design courses of study at German universities.

One of the oldest storytelling traditions, shadow theater combines puppetry with music, philosophy, history, storytelling, fashion, ritual, religion, and education.

While each nation in Southeast Asia has its own distinct culture, shadow theater is a shared theme. Many of the masters make their own puppets, play all the musical instruments, learn long texts in ancient languages, sing, study movement, and perform for long period of time in what is one of the most difficult and challenging art forms. Most of the performers are farmers, fisherman, factory workers, or teachers by day and artists by night.

Through documentary photography, A Life in Shadows by Constantine Korsovitis, illustrates the sophistication and value of shadow theater and its creators, and the author has been capturing the spirit and multiplicity of shadow theater since 1999 in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, the common thread being the use of the Hindu epics of the Ramayana and the Mara Mahabharata as a source stories.

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.

China, nearly half a century after economic transformation and development, is changing not just itself, but the world around it. The BRI (Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure and economic development program initiated by the Chinese government) promises investments in countries along the ancient overland trading routes between China and the West, with maritime arcs around Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian peninsula, down the eastern coast of Africa and through the Mediterranean. In this book are selected many distinctive, wonderful shots taken in about 21 countries participating in the BRI, covering 50 regions and a distance of over 267,000 kilometers the author visited from early 2023 to late 2025 as photographer. Through words and pictures, he takes the reader on a tour along the new Belt and Road, showing it as it is actually unfolding in the real world across Asia, Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa. This book serves as a good observation and thinking of the reality of China today.

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.

Flowers and plants are a staple of British life. Nearly 40% of our population considers themselves to be gardeners, making this and associated activities a national pursuit. And yet, while we hold endless discussions over how to seed, grow, and disseminate our cherished plants, we still known relatively little about how they were collected, exchanged, circulated, identified, and modified, and how much art has shaped our understanding and appreciation of them. This publication, designed to accompany the homonymous exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, explores some of these plant stories through highlights from Oxford’s collections. Bringing together historical and scientific expertise, art and material culture, traditional and contemporary artworks, this book ultimately reflects on the long-lasting impact of flora on our society – and of us on it.  

Changes of materials and concepts used in modern furniture design are closely related to ancient Chinese furniture design. This book expounds the content that has to do with “Chinoiserie” in the history of furniture. “Chinoiserie” here refers to the form, function and design principle of traditional Chinese furniture. By sorting out the part of modern furniture design related to Chinoiserie, it is concluded that the Chinese furniture system is one of the two major systems in the development of the global furniture system, and the emergence and maturity of the Chinese furniture system was almost independent, and completely dominated by social functionalism.

This book systematically discusses the decorative feature, beauty in form and development of traditional Chinese furniture, and elaborates on the modern design theory contained in traditional Chinese furniture, its influence on Western design and the development of furniture in the world. 

The close relationship between Edvard Munch and the National Gallery of Oslo, today part of the National Museum, is a subject well worthy of a detailed publication.

The first Munch painting acquired by the museum was Night in Nice, purchased in 1891. Today the collection encompasses 57 paintings and 186 works on paper. The paintings include masterpieces such as The Sick Child, The Scream, Madonna, The Girls on the Bridge, and Man in the Cabbage Field. How did the museum come by all these works? And what is the story behind the famous ‘Munch Room’? Answers to these and many other questions can be found in this book, which contains reproductions of all the works in the collection.

The book contains texts by Karin Hindsbo, Nils Messel, Sidsel Helliesen, Gerd Woll, Thierry Ford, Mai Britt Guleng, Øystein Ustvedt, Wenche Volle and Vibeke Waallann Hansen.

Text in English and Norwegian.

Erling Viksjø’s buildings challenge our notions about what constitutes good architecture. His extensive use of concrete, modules and repetitive shapes has caused many to describe him as Norway’s foremost Brutalist architect. Viksjø also went furthest in collaborating with visual artists. Concrete in Transition examines the encounter between art and architecture in Viksjø’s projects. How could one attain a unified design where art was no longer an addition to, or in competition with, the architecture?

This publication discusses Viksjø’s collaborations with well-established artists such as Hannah Ryggen and Kai Fjell, and young Modernists including Odd Tandberg, Carl Nesjar and Inger Sitter. In addition, it discusses the projects in which he collaborated with Pablo Picasso.

Text in English and Norwegian.

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.

The collection of 18th- and early-19th-century French silverware brought together by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian is the most important of its time and one of the most significant sections of the Gulbenkian Museum’s collection. Amassed between 1900 and 1950, these pieces constitute a unique group due to their diversity and quality. The collection comprises over 150 works, including several world-class masterpieces that represent the collector’s taste.

The catalogue is dedicated to a selection of silver works of different typologies, such as centerpieces, tureens, salt cellars, candelabras and candlesticks, made by renowned silversmiths such as François-Thomas Germain, Antoine-Sébastien Durant, Robert-Joseph Auguste and Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Despite this diversity, these works all share the characteristics that make this collection unique: quality and authenticity combined with original designs, technical expertise and distinguished provenances, with former owners including members of European aristocracy and the Russian imperial family. These works were mostly purchased in Paris, but there is also an important group of works from the Hermitage collection, acquired through negotiations made between Calouste Gulbenkian and the Soviet government between 1928 and 1930.

After an initial text about Calouste Gulbenkian’s passion for 18th-century French silverware, the most prominent pieces of the collection are presented in chronological order of acquisition and are accompanied by comprehensive descriptions and analyses, as well as detailed information on hallmarks, inscriptions, provenances and historical and bibliographical sources. An excellent photographic survey, carried out specifically for the purpose, illustrates the 43 catalogue entries.

At the end of the publication, the reader can find a list of secondary silverware, an index of names and the group of archive documents and bibliography consulted.

Images Credits: Panorama

The Gulbenkian Museum published its long-awaited catalogue of Calouste Gulbenkian’s collection of illuminated manuscripts, marking the culmination of several years of research and collaboration by a group of international scholars.

This group of works, which was particularly prized by the collector, was acquired for his own personal enjoyment and kept at his home in Paris before being transferred to Portugal. In the 1960s, when they were housed at the Marques de Pombal Palace in Oeiras, the codices were damaged by flooding. The restoration work that allowed these specimens to be studied and exhibited at long last was only completed in 2014.

The first article, by Manuela Fidalgo, the emeritus curator of this group of works from the collection, explores the milestone moments in the creation of the collection, homing in on Gulbenkian’s choices and the way in which he sought to preserve his books. She has also written a brief account of the flooding of 1967 and the restoration of the damaged specimens.

The second essay, by François Avril, former curator of the Manuscripts Department at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, an expert in medieval manuscript volumes and the scientific coordinator of this catalogue, takes an in-depth look at the specimens that make up the collection, plotting the timeline of the acquisitions and uncovering their provenance. The catalogue, which covers 27 books and 10 fragments, was coordinated by Angela Dillon Bussi, a specialist in medieval history and former assistant director of the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana, Venice and the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana in Florence.

The catalogue entries, which are all illustrated, divide the codices into two sections. The first puts forward a codicological study by Angela Dillon Bussi, in collaboration with Davide Baldi Bellini. The second explores the history, content and artistic importance of the pieces, with contributions from renowned experts such as Angela Dillon Bussi, Federica Toniolo, François Avril, Giordana Mariani Canova, James Marrow, Jonathan Alexander, Lieve de Kessel and Nigel J. Morgan.

This beautiful book of her wartime fashion work addresses Lee Miller’s contribution to the fashion industry in these years and her significant service to the survival of British Vogue magazine.

Audrey Withers, Lee Miller’s editor at British Vogue, in 1941 wrote ‘she [Lee Miller] has borne the whole weight of our studio production through the most difficult period in Brogue’s [British Vogue’s] history’.

Containing over 130 images, with the majority printed full page this book also contains accompanying text by Ami Bouhassane, Lee Miller’s granddaughter and Co-Director of the Lee Miller Archives, who provides insights into Lee Miller’s work process. In two additional essays, fashion historian Amber Butchart writes on the fashion of the period and Robin Muir, contributing editor to British Vogue, discusses Lee Miller’s work for Vogue.

Neil Kirk in Vogue: The Supermodel Years is a unique retrospective of 1980s and ’90s fashion, as captured by one of the most exceptional photographers of the era. 

A prominent and prolific fashion photographer for over four decades, Neil Kirk’s sensational body of work has left a lasting impression on designers, editors and catwalk models across the fashion industry. A frequent contributor to Vogue US, British, Italia and Deutsch throughout the ’80s and ’90s, his photographs helped propel some of the biggest fashion names into the public sphere during an era when supermodels were becoming A-list celebrities and fashion designers were pioneering an innovative take on modern luxury.

With a foreword by Bryan Ferry and contributions from Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer, Manolo Blahnik, Sam McKnight, Stephen Jones, Yasmin Le Bon, Christian Lacroix and Jasper Conran among others, this is every fashion lover’s dream in one beautifully illustrated, must-have volume.

Featuring Salma Hayek, Carla Bruni, Cindy Crawford, Yasmeen Ghauri, Valentino Garavani, Vivienne Westwood, Malcom McClaren, Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet, Jerry Hall, Linda Evangelista, Rachel Williams, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robin Wright and many, many more.

This lavishly illustrated book, the third and final volume in the series Orchha, Datia, Panna: Miniatures from the Royal Courts of Bundelkhand, deals with the third, fourth, and fifth periods of Bundelkhand painting, which spans the years 1635 through 1840. It begins with the Mughalizing painting styles that predominated in Datia after the disintegration of Orchha in 1635 and the rise of Datia as an independent principality and major cultural center. It also addresses the development of Bundelkhand painting after 1675, when Raja Chhatrasal established Panna as the capital of his Bundela kingdom. Bundelkhand painting ceased with the raja’s death in 1731, and it was only after a long interruption that it experienced an Indian summer at the court of Datia during the period of British suzerainty in the 19th century. However, the style of the latter era no longer bore a resemblance to the Datia and Orchha schools of the 17th century, but was rather an offshoot of the prevailing Mighal-Rajput style developed by painters who had left Delhi in the second half of the 18th century. 

Through stylistic analyses and interpretations of more than 90 paintings from his collection, many of them published here for the first time, the author provides a rich insight into the many and varied developments of later Bundekhand painting.