“These photos are stunning, bittersweet visions of a past shared by all of us.” – Tom Hanks.

“Brian Hamill is best known as a still photographer and a photojournalist. But I’ve always regarded him – first and foremost – as a master portraitist. And this book bears that out – capturing as it does, the many-faceted phenomenon that was John and Yoko – artists, lovers, cultural comrades and – most elusively – business partners. Behind his camera, Hamill is something of a phenomenon himself.” – Richard Price

John Lennon’s life, death and music shaped the world. His reputation as a philanthropist, political activist and pacifist influenced millions worldwide. If Elvis was King, Lennon was his rightful successor – and fittingly, several images in this collection of both classic and unseen photos show him wearing a diamond-studded ‘Elvis’ pin over his heart, in homage to his forefather on the throne of Rock ‘n’ Roll. John Lennon is seen here in several sessions in New York, performing on stage, relaxed at home and walking on the street with Yoko Ono.

Renowned celebrity photojournalist Brian Hamill delivers his own insider view of this Beatles icon, through intense, intimate photographic portraits and insightful text. Whether Lennon is dominating the stage, posing on the roof of the Dakota building, or relaxing with Yoko Ono, Hamill’s photography takes this quasi-mythical figure from the world of Rock ‘n’ Roll and shows him as the man he really was.

“Brian looked at the John Lennon who had become an icon and saw instead a familiar face. He saw a working-class hero like those that built the City of New York. And so when John Lennon came to live in New York, Brian captured him as a New Yorker, in the joyous images that you will find in this book.” – Pete Hamill

“Lennon, one of the most famous men in human history, wanted to live as one among many. Of course, he hit it off with Hamill. The guy that flew so high needed some oxygen. Hamill is fresh air. His folio of Lennon images shows Lennon focused, present, but edgy, never relaxed.” – Alec Baldwin

“What is Bangkok like?” asked an American visitor, rhetorically in 1903. Some answer the question by relying on cliches ‘Venice of the east’ or ‘city of places in temples’. Others insisted that its contrasts and contradictions made an easy description impossible.

Bangkok at the turn of the 20th century was a city in transition, mixing as it did east with west and traditions with modernity. Here live the diverse communities which made it what it is today but this collection of writings by a huge variety of visitors to Bangkok captures the city through foreign eyes. 

In Bangkok is a collection of texts which reflect the foreign experience of the city the foreigners in question being both long-term residence and short-term visitors. It draws on a wide range of sources including travel books, memoirs, novels, short stories, verses, inscriptions, newspaper reports, directories and advertisements. It is richly illustrated with contemporary artwork and photographs.

Dalí in 400 Images explores the full range of one of the most significant Surrealist painters of the 20th century. The exhaustive selection of works will reveal key masterpieces by perhaps the most famous of the Surrealists, as well as less familiar works including drawings and objects. Spanning the entire scope of the artist’s career, this volume shows the complexity of the artist’s vision from the early works inspired by Post-Impressionism and his engagement with Cubism in the mid-1920s, his major Surrealist paintings of the 1930s, through the American years (1940s), the artist’s embracing of Classicism in the 1950s, with his return to Spain, and finally his re-engagement with avant-garde experimentation in the 1960s and beyond. The 400 reproductions of Dalí’s work are complemented by a unique selection of historical photographs.

Alive with images and information, this compact gem is a must-have for all art enthusiasts and connoisseurs.

How do you portray sin, evil and foolishness in humans? Religious and political tensions and even the weather – we are talking about the depths of the Little Ice Age – contributed to a boom in representations of the Seven Deadly Sins in the Low Countries and immediate surroundings in the long sixteenth century. In this publication, four accessibly written essays highlight different sides of the pictorial tradition of the Seven Deadly Sins, with the renowned print series of the same name designed by Pieter Bruegel the Elder at its center. A fifth, literary essay describes the feverish visions of one of the victims of a true 16th-century series of murders permeated by the deadly sins.

Contemporary Living presents 20 new residential projects – houses and apartments – in the Middle East designed 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.

Includes the work of Giacuzzo Design Studio – H+A Architects – Neeshay Nouman The Niche Corner – Tristan Du Plessis – HiProjects Melissa Charlier – Studio M Abboud Malak – VSHD – Leila Khalil – XO Atelier with Augustine Wong – ArchiSense – Leila Khalil, JMDA, NAQSH, Hana Hakim.

Building on her experience following a several-week trip to Taliesin West, Kora Bürgi investigates Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and traces his work in the USA and Switzerland. The result of the field research is a presentation of his influence on the Central Swiss architectural landscape – a theme that has not been studied before. That influence ranges from partial copies of elements of Wright’s architecture to own interpretations of his architectural ideas.
This publication analyzes 14 buildings in Central Switzerland – from the Heimbach school and the Villa Schnyder (both in Lucerne) to the residential buildings in Brodhubl (Canton of Obwalden) – including Wright’s influence on various architects, such as Josef Gasser, Lisbeth Sachs and Otto von Deschwanden. The author also sheds light on the distribution of Wright’s urban-planning principles and the future of his architecture in Switzerland.

Text in German.

In an era of rapid technological and social change Trends in the Transformation Economy offers insights into a new economic landscape. It explores how companies can navigate a world where customers seek not just products, but meaning. The book offers strategies to meet these new customer aspirations and thereby it makes a positive impact on the planet, society and individuals.

“This book is a fascinating look at a history rarely told.” —The Guardian

“a fascinating look at a history rarely told” — The Observer

“In his new book “Around the World in 200 Globes” (Luster), he spot-lights some of the most significant and interesting, shpwing that a globe is more than a map on a ball.” — Wall Street Journal

“…a superb illustrator of changing boundaries and national self-regard” — Strong Words

“…exquisite examples that speak to our species’ ever-shifting ideas of who we are and where we live” — National Geographic Traveler

“…beautifully put together – and the photographs of the globes are straightforward but show off the magnificence of the collection admirably” — Amateur Photographer

The Dutch architect Willem Jan Neutelings (co-founder of Neutelings Riedijk Architects) is known as the architect of, among other things, the MAS in Antwerp and the Gare Maritime in Brussels’ Tour & Taxis district. Few people know, however, that Neutelings is also an avid collector who, over the years, has built up a very extensive and also very specific collection of hundreds of globes, made between 1900 and 2000. In this book, he presents his collection to the public for the first time. He selected 200 globes, each telling a very individual and interesting story about the time and place when and where they were created. Some globes bear witness to technological innovations by the way they were made, some show how advanced people’s knowledge of space was at the time, some were intended as navigational aids. Neutelings’ collection includes globes in cast iron, steel, wood and even paper; some look very old and fragile, others are very colorful, and some even give off light. Each one is a beautiful and intriguing object that teaches us a lot about the ever-changing world view of mankind. This beautiful and skillfully crafted book is an ode to these stories, to the unique objects often anonymous craftsmen produced in the last century, and to the special dedication of collectors.

In a world where Photoshop creates the stereotype of perfect and flawless images, Steve Dean Mendes decided to row against the tide and do just the opposite as a photographer. By deciding not to retouch his images and to not use makeup for his models, only using natural light in the studio, Steve Dean Mendes created a safe environment for his protagonists, initiating a process of removing all masks. In this series he worked predominantly with women and attempted, through art, to facilitate the experience for self-discovery and acceptance.

His aim? To capture raw and unaltered emotions and to present a story of love, joy, but also of pain, suffering and abandonment. Inspired by the great Flemish Old masters and the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Steve Dean Mendes wanted to show the real human beings behind these protagonists, with all their natural fragility and beauty of their soul.

Text in English and Dutch.

Where’s the best place to go out on a Saturday night in Barcelona? What off-beat museums can be discovered after Sunday brunch (and where to have it)? Which locations offer the best viewpoints of the Catalan capital? What Gaudí buildings are essential? Where does Barcelona’s modernizm reach its zenith? Where to take the children? What’s the best place to buy wine? And where do the locals hang out?

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona reveals hundreds of good-to-know addresses, avoiding the touristy places and pointing out the urban details you are likely to miss. Mark Cloostermans, a Belgian journalist living in Barcelona, unlocks the various districts, pointing out historical details in the streets of the old town, taking you from green Montjuïc hill to the beach and back. The best places to eat halal, the must-visits for Barça fans and the various festivals you can plan your visit around: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Barcelona reveals it all.

Edited by Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls, The Bernard and Mary Berenson Collection of European Paintings at I Tatti surveys the 149 works assembled by the Berensons for their home in Florence from the late 1890s through the first decades of the twentieth century at the time that they were making their mark on the world as connoisseurs. The catalogue presents a privileged window on the Berensons’ intellectual interests through the objects they owned. The entries, written by an international team of art historians, take full advantage of the extensive correspondence from the Berensons’ friends, family, and colleagues at I Tatti as well as the couple’s diaries and notations on the backs of their vast gathering of photographs. All the entries are lavishly illustrated with full scholarly and technical accountings of the objects. There are also 17 illustrated reconstructions of the original contexts of panel paintings. The catalogue includes essays on the progress of the Berensons’ collecting, their love for Siena, the Sienese forger Icilio Federico Joni, the critic Roger Fry, and René Piot’s murals at I Tatti, as well as a listing of 94 pictures that were once at I Tatti including donations made to museums in Europe and America.

Contents:
Preface Lino Pertile; Acknowledgments – Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Israëls; Note to the Use of the Catalogue; Abbreviations; Glossary of People in the Berenson Circle Mentioned in the Text; Section I: Introductory Essays and Entries 0 to 111; Essay I: “Bernard and Mary Collect: Pictures Come to I Tatti” – Carl Brandon Strehlke; Essay II: “The Berensons and Siena” (working title) – Machtelt Israëls; Essay III: “Passions Intertwined: Art and Photography at I Tatti” – Giovanni Pagliarulo; Entries: Paintings from the 14th to 18th century – Plates 0 to 111; Section II: Fakes; Essay IV: The Berensons and the Sienese Forger Federico Ioni – Gianni Mazzoni; Entries: Fakes – Plates 112 to 116; Section III: Roger Fry; Essay V: “Roger Fry and Bernard Berenson” – Caroline Elam; Entry: Fry – Plate 117; Section IV: René Piot; Essay VI: “A Failure: René Piot and the Berensons” – Claudio Pizzorusso; Entries: Piot – Plates 118 to 131; Section V: The Berensons, Family and Friends; Entries: Portraits – Plates 132 to 138; Entries: Miscellanea – Plates 139 to 148; Appendix: Paintings Formerly Owned by the Berensons – Carl Brandon Strehlke and Machtelt Israëls; Bibliography; Photo Credits; Index.

“If you really want to get under the skin of a city, the 500 Hidden Secrets series, which covers a number of cities from Havana to Ghent, all written by people who know the cities inside out, is ideal. It’s an innovative and refreshing take on the traditional travel guide.”– The Independent
Discover the city’s best-kept secrets, with this practical guide to Antwerp’s most beautiful, interesting and often unknown places. This book takes you off the beaten track to discover the city’s hidden gardens, small museums and intimate coffee bars. On its pages you will find the 5 best places to eat frites, the 5 most secret courtyards and the 5 best independent record shops in town. It also guides you to some of the more unusual experiences that you can track down in Antwerp. So you can find out where to eat the best dim sum in Chinatown, sample a chocolate flavored with fried bacon, or dance the night away. The aim of this book is not to cover the city from A to Z, but to inspire; it is a guide to the places the author would recommend to a friend who wants to discover the real Antwerp.
The 500 Hidden Secrets of Antwerp offers a practical way to explore Antwerp’s finest places, and Derek Blyth covers all bases to ensure no visitor to the city is ever anything short of captivated. Packed with accessible, easy-to-read information summarized in handy lists, maps, itineraries, sections on food & drink, accommodation, green spaces, museums, galleries and shops; this guide is an essential resource for the inquisitive traveler.

Gertrude Jekyll was perhaps the most important British garden designer of the 20th century. She famously argued that gardening ought to be considered a Fine Art, highlighting that it becomes a point of honor to be always striving for the best. This volume examines Jekyll’s work at Manor House, Upton Grey in Hampshire, offering an insight into her eclectic, imaginative, and inspiring art. Designed between 1908 and 1909, and once maintained by as many as nine gardeners, the garden fell into disrepair by the second half of the twentieth century, before a full and accurate restoration was carried out in the early 1980s. Gertrude Jekyll: Her Art Restored at Upton Grey presents a visual record of the garden’s plants and layout, with original plans and photographs, as well as beautiful images of the garden taken since its restoration. There is also a fascinating chapter about Miss Jekyll’s discovery, admiration and use of Mediterranean plants. The book succeeds in illustrating exactly why Jekyll was so admired in her lifetime and why she continues to inspire and influence gardeners today. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: The Garden from 1902 to the Start of its Restoration in 1984 Chapter 2: The Rose Garden Chapter 3: The Dry-Stone Walls Chapter 4: The Main Herbaceous Borders Chapter 5: The Pergola, the Rose Arbour and Surrounding Garden Chapter 6: Miss Gertrude Jekyll’s mediterranean travels and plant discoveries and their use at Upton Grey Chapter 7: The Wild Garden Chapter 8: The Art Completed Also available: The English Garden Through the Twentieth Century ISBN: 9781870673297

The Art of the Architect celebrates the role that drawing and watercolor painting play in architecture. Architectural drawing as we know it dates from the Renaissance, but with the arrival of computer design programs this ancient art—formed of pen, pencil, and brushstrokes on paper—is sometimes regarded as obsolete. The work of Michael G. Imber, whose watercolors and sketches are published for the first time in paperback, shows what a vital contribution they can still make at every stage of an architectural project. His personal example is followed by his colleagues in a visual culture that permeates his practice, Michael G. Imber Architects.

Whatever the place occupied by photographs, simulations, and visual graphics in the design process of today, hand drawing still facilitates a moment of deeper connection between an architect and his environment. Unlike a snap taken on a smart phone, a hand drawing is an active response to its subject: what is understood about a place in sensory terms cannot help but inform the finished design, creating buildings which maintain the balance between the way we live and the natural world around us.

Not only do Michael’s sketches allow him to visualize his environment more clearly, but they provide an immediate visual language with which he can communicate with his team, his craftsmen, and his clients. Pen and wash is a suggestive, selective, and emotive technique. Rich in examples of the art and philosophy that have inspired him over the years, this book is both an ode to a precious art form, and a visual delight to anyone who may turn its pages. Michael’s attention to light, color, line, shape, and space in these “working paintings” reveals a love for the medium that extends from his architectural practice into the time he spends both traveling, and at his summer home on an island in Maine. The beauty of the result will be inspiring to anyone who loves architecture and the attendant arts.

As soon as Bill Wyman was given a camera as a young boy, he quickly developed a passion for photography. After joining what would become the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band, Wyman continued his hobby. When he didn’t have his bass, he had his camera. The result is an arresting, insightful and often poignant collection of photographs, showing his exclusive inside view of the band. From traveling to relaxing, backstage and on, Stones From the Inside is a unique view captured by a man who was there, every step of the way. Along with the images of the band at work and play, Wyman includes remarkable images of those along for the ride, from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, David Bowie and Iggy Pop to John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. To accompany his photographs, Wyman offers up wonderful insights, anecdotes and behind-the-photo stories, giving all us a front-row seat and backstage pass to what it was like to be there, as music history was made as a member of The Rolling Stones. Limited to just 300 copies, this slipcased edition is accompanied by a print.

“So far, there haven’t been many women who have dared to dream on a truly megalomaniac scale—and see those dreams through to completion.” — Niki de Saint Phalle.
The story of the Tarot Garden, created by Niki de Saint Phalle (1930–2002), unfolds like a fairy tale. For the first time, this book documents the extraordinary adventure of its construction, from 1978 to 1998. It all began when, at the age of twenty-five, Niki de Saint Phalle visited Gaudí’s Park Güell and decided to give form to her lifelong “desire for grandeur.” The result was the creation of twenty-one monumental and esoteric sculptures spread across two hectares in Tuscany’s Maremma region—an artistic interpretation of the Tarot’s major arcana, a system that had long captivated her imagination. The Tarot Garden stands within a visionary lineage of fantastical environments, alongside the Palais Idéal of Ferdinand Cheval, Gaudí’s Park Güell, Alain Bourbonnais’s Fabuloserie, and the Gardens of Bomarzo in Lazio. Enriched with rare archival material, this book reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Niki de Saint Phalle’s magnum opus, shaped by Etruscan heritage, local craftsmanship, and rituals drawn from cultures around the world.

“Seeing the garden Gaudí built in Barcelona changed my life. From that moment on, my path would be a slow apprenticeship—until the day I, too, would be capable of creating a magnificent work like his, a place of joy.” — Niki de Saint Phalle.

Text in English, Italian and French.

“The subtle forms and modelled curves and planes in a skeleton were to George Stubbs what a symphony is to a musician.” — Oxford Companion to Art

“The most unique thing of its kind ever compiled. This heroic effort, an epic of the eighteenth century, is as great and unselfish a work as anything could be.” — Sir Alfred Munnings

George Stubbs was one of the most original artists Britain has produced, and it is easy to forget how much his success was based on rigorous scientific observation. In 1756 he rented a farmhouse where he erected scaffolding to hold the cadavers of horses as he dissected and drew. After 18 months, Stubbs produced the drawings for The Anatomy of the Horse, which he later etched. The result was sensational. Scientists from all over Europe sent their congratulations, amazed at the perfection of the work. The Anatomy remained a textbook for artists and scientists for over a century, and its strange, spare beauty continues to fascinate.

This edition is taken from the 1853 printing, the last to use Stubbs’ original plates. The full Stubbs’ commentary is included for the veterinarially minded. Extensive texts by Constance Anne Parker and Oliver Kase place Stubbs’ work in the context of his life and times, and of 18th-century medical science.

“The subtle forms and modelled curves and planes in a skeleton were to George Stubbs what a symphony is to a musician.” — Oxford Companion to Art

“The most unique thing of its kind ever compiled. This heroic effort, an epic of the eighteenth century, is as great and unselfish a work as anything could be.” — Sir Alfred Munnings

George Stubbs was one of the most original artists Britain has produced, and it is easy to forget how much his success was based on rigorous scientific observation. In 1756 he rented a farmhouse where he erected scaffolding to hold the cadavers of horses as he dissected and drew. After 18 months, Stubbs produced the drawings for The Anatomy of the Horse, which he later etched. The result was sensational. Scientists from all over Europe sent their congratulations, amazed at the perfection of the work. The Anatomy remained a textbook for artists and scientists for over a century, and its strange, spare beauty continues to fascinate.

This edition is taken from the 1853 printing, the last to use Stubbs’ original plates. The full Stubbs’ commentary is included for the veterinarially minded. Extensive texts by Constance Anne Parker and Oliver Kase place Stubbs’ work in the context of his life and times, and of 18th-century medical science.

“Seldom does a collection of art history essays leave readers yearning for a second volume…”—Barbara Wisch, Renaissance Quarterly

Roman church interiors throughout the Early Modern age were endowed with rich historical and visual significance. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in anticipation of and following the Council of Trent, and in response to the expansion of the Roman Curia, the chapel became a singular arena in which wealthy and powerful Roman families, as well as middle-class citizens, had the opportunity to demonstrate their status and role in Roman society. In most cases the chapels were conceived not as isolated spaces, but as part of a more complex system, which involved the nave and the other chapels within the church, in a dialogue among the arts and the patrons of those other spaces. This volume explores this historical and artistic phenomenon through a number of examples involving the patronage of prominent Roman families such as the Chigis, Spadas, Caetanis, Cybos and important artists and architects such as Federico Zuccari, Giacomo della Porta, Carlo Maderno, Alessandro Algardi, Pietro da Cortona, Carlo Maratta.

A Sino-Chinese family find their destiny is inseparably entangled with that of the country they have adopted as a home. Not long before the Communist revolution, Tong, sent by his peasant-parents in impoverished rural China to work with a relative in Siam, has risen to become a rice-trading tycoon in Bangkok’s Chinatown, married a former palace cook and built a large family in the town of Pad Riew. Haunted by the dream of returning to his true home in China, Tong, along with his wife and their five children, are swept along by the torrents of history as World War II breakout and China turns red, while the military strongman in Thailand act out the interminable cycle of power struggle, rebellion and coup d’état.

Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat, the award-winning second novel by Veerapon Nitiprapha, is a generations-spanning family saga that explores the roots of the Chinese diaspora in Siam and how the tragedy of ruined love, maternal betrayal and futile ambition shape the lives of Tong’s clan members, each of them hounded by their own ghosts and burdened by their own sins. All of this is played out against the backdrop of Siam’s mid-century social and political history, the most chaotic period the formation of the nation.

In 1856, just months after Britain and Siam had finalized the historic Bowring trade treaty that would prevent the countries colonization, the violent death of a Siamese official at the new British consulate threatens to scuttle the deal and lead to war. The King and the Consul explores UK and Thai archives to reveal the twists, turns and tensions of this little-known episode that pitted Thailand’s renowned King Mongkut, Rama IV, against the first British Consul, Charles Hillier. The crisis was resolved without war, but not without cost for the participants who suffered unintended tragic outcomes. By examining the background to this tragedy, the book reveals how history has often overlooked the importance of an issue that lay behind it the right of foreigners to own land in the country, and issue that continues to be a thorn in the side of Thailand’s foreign relations to this day.

“The tragic deaths in 1856 of the first British consul to Siam and a Siamese official had an unusual impact on Thailand‘s property law and Britain’s diplomatic presence in the country. This intriguing book could only be written by someone with long residence in Bangkok, through knowledge of Thailand’s property law, and enthusiasm for history. Simon Landy gives us a slice of legal and diplomatic history with close attention to its human dimensions. An unusual and lovely read” – Chris Baker