The extraordinary life of Barbara Cartlidge (b. 1922 in Berlin) – influential gallerist, curator, jewelry artist and author – together with the history of her legendary Electrum Gallery, which she founded in 1971 with Ralph Turner in London, are documented for the first time in a single publication. Pioneers and colleagues as well as around seventy internationally renowned artists of the gallery all have their say and, in anecdotes and recollections, countless illustrations and hitherto unpublished images, tell of a strong and resolute woman and the significance of her gallery as a promoter and platform for the understanding of contemporary art jewelry. Particular attention is paid to the life of Barbara Cartlidge, who fled from Germany in 1938. For over fifty years she was a driving force in what she described as the ‘the brotherhood of jewelers who make modern and thought-provoking jewelry all over the world’.
Chosen for the 59th Venice Biennale, to represent contemporary creation at the Lebanese pavilion Ayman Baalbaki is a Lebanese artist born in Beirut in 1975. He first trained at the Institute of Fine Arts of the university Lebanese school in Beirut, then at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris. Five years after his arrival in France, he received the silver medal in painting at the Francophone Games and then participated in several exhibitions worldwide. Lebanon, France, Great Britain, Argentina, Egypt and Niger are all countries that welcome the works of the artist.
His productions of the last 10 years have been compiled through this unpublished work, published in French, English and Arabic. The authors endeavor to decipher his paintings and installations, crossed by societal issues specific to Lebanon: war, abortive revolt, political and financial bankruptcy, the tragedy of the port of Beirut or even pandemic. The artist paints anonymous portraits of his contemporaries, which have today become symbols of the Middle East. It represents the city, its buildings, erected, but also in ruins. His art is vibrant, dynamic and textured.
Text in English, French and Arabic.
There are many ways to perceive and interpret contemporary craft objects – for instance, as works of representational art in materials like ceramics, glass, textile, metal or wood, or as functional, handmade everyday objects. In this publication, the editors have invited different voices in craft theory to investigate the perception of contemporary craft as a particular discourse and aesthetic vocabulary. According to the editors, contemporary crafts can benefit from being discussed as representations of reality that do not rely on the concept of autonomy. As such, neither do they rely on the conventional dualism between aesthetic objects and everyday things. The authors investigate the possibility to perceive craft objects from perspectives that relate to the aesthetic tradition of materialism.
This beautifully illustrated monograph chronicles the architecture of David C. Hovey, FAIA, and his influence on the discipline, as well as the story of his life and career. David Hovey founded Optima in 1978, with the goal of reinventing multifamily housing by combining development and design in a single company. Over the forty-plus years the company has existed, Hovey has built nearly 6,000 residential units. In the process, he has elevated the design of a building type that has, with a few exceptions, been left to developers to produce indifferent work. He challenges the market with something better, something worthy of enfolding families and individuals. Hovey is a modernist, steadfast in his belief in the future, in technology, in material honesty, in structural expression, and in architecture’s ability to improve the lives of people. His work has captured attention, winning critical acclaim as well as many national and regional awards for architecture. The dozen representative projects in this book range from single-family homes to towers and from the company’s early years to the present. Also showcased is Hovey’s work as an abstract sculptor, whose monumental work is installed at some of the multifamily projects examined here. A serious art collector of mostly twentieth-century art, Hovey’s acquisitions are detailed in an illustrated catalog at the end of the book.
The Alice and Louis Koch Collection of finger rings was originally collated by a jeweler from Frankfurt am Main, once described as the German ‘Cartier and Fabergé’. By 1909 the collection comprised 1,722 rings from Antiquity to 1900. Rene Lalique, a contemporary of the time, was included, undoubtedly as a modernizer of the ring form. In the past twenty-five years the fourth generation of the family continued where Louis Koch and his wife Alice left off and expanded the collection to include rings from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
This publication will present the complete collection of contemporary rings, now kept in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich. Nearly 600 rings by artist jewelers from around the world document how these miniature works of art have become modern sculptures showcasing new materials and techniques, daring designs and current themes.
Text in English and German.
Sverre Bjertnæs is considered one of the leading contemporary Norwegian artists today. He himself often refers to his body of works as a fragmented ‘stream of images’ collected from art history, vernacular culture and his own life.
This authoritative monograph on the artist features his oeuvre from the 1990s to the present day, with more than 200 illustrations. The book presents the full range of Bjertnæs’s works, covering painting and drawing as well as sculpture and the tableaux installations he has developed in later years. Bjertnas embraces the conceptual approaches of photorealism as well as merging figurative and abstract painting, and experimenting with the use of new media.
Exhibition at the Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg (NO), 29 April – 8 September 2019.
Text in Norwegian.
Christian Krohg was a key figure in the Norwegian art community of the 1880s and 1890s, and was strongly influenced by the ideology of realism. In his view, art should have meaning for a broad segment of the population, not merely serve as wall decorations for the bourgeoisie. Three types of motifs were recurrent themes for Krohg during this period: the working-class hero, scenes from family life and “the fallen woman”. Many people responded to his literary and visual representations of the poverty-stricken girl Albertine. He depicted members of the working class with great sympathy in paintings such as Errand Boy Drinking Coffee and Woman Cutting Bread. The Gaihede family, fishermen from Skagen in Denmark, are portrayed in many everyday situations, as are members of Krohg’s own family. The catalogue sheds light on the subject matter of the exhibition, Krohg’s period of study in Berlin and its impact on him, his relationship with Georg Brandes, the novel Albertine and Krohg’s own use of photography as a model for his work and a medium.
Text in English and Norwegian.
The Norwegian Torbjørn Kvasbø (b. 1953) is considered a leading figure in the field of contemporary ceramic art. He exhibits regularly in Asia, Europe and the US and achieved a unique status as an artist and pioneer, and also as a teacher with widespread influence having been actively engaged in restructuring the art schools where he taught. The art historian Jorunn Veiteberg analyzes in this publication Kvasbø’s works from 1977 to the present day. Most critics have described his objects as forms inspired by nature, by lava eruptions or landscapes. Veiteberg is critical of this and sees them more as bodily expressions. Kerstin Wickmann, design historian and former professor at Konstfack in Stockholm, discusses Kvasbø’s twelve years as teacher in Stockholm and his influence on his students and the educational system.
Torbjørn Kvasbø’s work is represented in numerous international museums and private collections, such as the National Museum, Stockholm/SE, Designmuseum Danmark, Copenhagen/DK, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo/NO, Auckland Institute and Museum/NZ, Museum of Modern Ceramic Art, Gifu Ceramics-Park Mino, Gifu/JP, World Ceramic Exposition/KOR, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia MO/US.
Text in English, Swedish & Norwegian.
Our Colonial Inheritance explores the complex ways in which slavery and colonialism continue to shape the present, and examines the many entanglements of colonial knowledge systems and infrastructures with our everyday lives. This publication comes at a time when important conversations are happening about the role that the colonial past has played in shaping our society, and how we can engage with this past in the present. The use of the term “inheritance” in the title is a conscious choice, used to provoke what in our view is a different kind of relationship to the past. Throughout the publication, the authors interrogate what it means to inherit the (infra)structures of the colonial past, its categories, its relations and even its objects, and how we can deal with such bequests.
Ganesh Pyne (1937–2013), one of the foremost artists of post-Independence India, is no stranger to connoisseurs of art in India. His haunting images of intimations of mortality, the crepuscular light in his canvases, and his brilliant use of his own version of tempera are widely admired. But he was a shy, reclusive man, who has left little trace of himself in public memory. Memorialising Ganesh Pyne fills this gap by bringing to life the sensitive artist through a remarkable series of photographs shot by artist Veena Bhargava across two decades.
The portfolio of portrait and group photographs that capture glimpses of the artist at work and leisure also provide poignant insights into a very private person. This visual record is anchored by two essays: the first, by Bhargava, recounts her experience of taking these perceptive images; the second, by Ella Datta, analyzes the aesthetic value of these rarely seen portraits as well as Bharagava’s artistic experiment on a suite of photo collages featuring Pyne with elements from his works. A detailed timeline of politics and culture during Pyne’s life adds archival value to the book. The volume will be invaluable for Pyne enthusiasts and research scholars alike.
Published in association with Akar Prakar Gallery, Kolkata.
The Lake District delights its visitors with a series of superlatives: England’s largest national park, highest mountain, deepest lakes and now a new World Heritage status. One of Britain’s best-loved and most visited locations unveils its secrets. This unusual guidebook explores 111 of the area’s most interesting places, it leaves the well-trodden paths to find the unknown: marvel at a stained glass window which inspired the American flag, let others flock to Hill Top while you explore Beatrix Potter’s holiday home, walk through ancient forest to talk to fairies and swim with immortal fish. Pause to wonder at a stunning lake where a President proposed, view a constellation of stars like nowhere else, find out why exotic spices are used in local cuisine.
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.
Trained at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris in the atelier of Georges Jeanclos, Elsa Sahal quickly focused on working with ceramics for their sensuality and fragility. Former resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, in 2013 (Helena, MT), at Alfred University, New York State College of Ceramics, in 2009-2010 (Alfred, NY) and at the Manufacture Nationale de Sèvres (2007-2008), Elsa Sahal has also taught at the Haute École d’Art et de Design in Geneva and at the École Supérieure d’Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg.
She experiments in particular with the idea of volume and balance in sculpture, while returning to an exploration of the themes of the body and femininity. Ambiguous, dense, sensual and colorful, her works oscillate between anthropomorphic landscape and the landscaped body, taking up Cézanne’s dream of uniting women’s curves with the shoulders of hills. Elsa Sahal conceives, kneads and then produces complex and disturbing forms sustained by dense colors and sublimated through enamel.
Winner of the MAIF prize for sculpture, in 2008, and the contemporary sculpture prize awarded by the Fondazione Francesco Messina, in 2007, Elsa Sahal has presented her work in one-woman shows and group exhibitions in numerous museums around the globe: at the Bonnefantenmuseum, ‘Ceramix, Ceramic art from Gauguin to Schütte’, in 2015 (Maastricht); at the MAD Museum, ‘Body and Soul, New International Ceramics’, in 2013 (New York); at the Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, ‘Sculptures’, in 2008 (Paris); and at the Incheon Women Artists Biennale, in 2008 (Korea).
Text in English and French.
The rose is generally seen as the most romantic flower. No other plant blooms for so long and profusely, and comes in so many different shapes, scents and colors. Roses deserve a place in everyone’s home, outside – in the garden or on the balcony – but certainly also indoors on the table. The Joy of Roses answers every question you may have about roses: from the history of the rose to applications in the home. The different types of roses are discussed in detail with descriptions of the flower, the scent, the thorns, the inflorescence and information about the best place for this specific species. The book also provides information about cultivators, which flowers go well with roses and their care. Anneke Beemer’s beautiful photos complete the book.
‘The Indian tribal art, a new field of exploration of contemporary art’ – Le Monde.
India’s cultural richness makes it an endlessly fascinating country. India is known for its profusion of sacred art reaching back several thousand years, but we are less aware of the fact that over 60 million Indians come from the several hundred miscellaneous tribes with which the country is studded. The Indian government has done more than any other to preserve and give visibility to its tribal and popular art and since 1976 the Indian authorities have regularly accorded the great names in tribal art the same status as those in the modern art that has followed independence. These are India’s ‘other Masters’, as the title of an exhibition held in New Delhi in 1998 put it. At the instigation of the great modern painter and guru Jagdish Swaminathan, the year 1982 saw the inauguration in the very heart of India of the Bharat Bhavan, the first museum to give an equal standing to contemporary artists from both dominant and minority cultures. The groundbreaking historical figures among these other masters, such as Jangarh Singh Shyam and Jivya Soma Mashe, who were present in the historic exhibition Magicians of the Earth (Centre Pompidou, 1989), are enjoying a burgeoning international reputation. Their works are now on display in the great private collections, from the Devi Art Foundation to the Fondation Cartier, and the international press, ranging from the New York Times to Le Monde and including The Hindu, have celebrated these artists’ imaginative range. India astonishes once again through its extraordinary capacity simultaneously to provide a stage for all the best examples of contemporary art generated by its diverse cultures, whether they be dominant, minority, global, local, urban or rural. Like contemporary art, India is itself multi-faceted. One word, manifold cultures.
The red-figure vases from the National Museum “Domenico Ridola” in Matera and the Rizzon Collection – rich in precious Apulian and Lucanian pieces – offer a unique opportunity to grasp Magna Graecia antiquity from an unusual perspective through the photographs by Luigi Spina. Significant testimony to vase painting between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the museum’s artifacts largely date back to the discoveries of Domenico Ridola (1841-1932) and form part of elaborate funerary assemblages, possessing great aesthetic and historical value through which everyday life is reflected in myths.
In the book, black is the protagonist: it enhances the red figures and brings out the keen eye of photographer Luigi Spina. Anatomical details, drapery, and decorative motifs emerge in all their strength without the filter of museum cases, while touches of white enrich the vases’ bichrome palette.
Photographing a work of art means capturing its deep meaning to communicate it to the world. Far from the idea of a museum catalog, the volume is rather a figurative atlas of antiquity.
Text in English and Italian.
This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist Journey at Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, Quebec City, Canada 20 June 2024 to 05 January 2025. Edited by Anne-Marie Bouchard, curator of Modern Art, the volume focuses on the idea of mobility in the life of the Canadian artist Helen McNicoll (1879-1915).
In the early 1900s, when women from well-to-do backgrounds were often confined to family and domestic life, Canadian Impressionist Helen McNicoll stood out for her love of travel and the discovery of new spaces. The artist emphasized painting outdoors and researching the effects of light and atmosphere that her numerous trips sustained. Her favorite subjects were scenes of everyday life, although she succeeded in offering an interpretation distinct from the Impressionists in that she focused more extensively on women’s labor.
The Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist Journey exhibition presents more than 60 works by the artist, 25 of them from the Pierre Lassonde collection. Through the prism of travel, the book thus examines the themes of female independence, risk-taking, friendship, and freedom for women in the stimulating context of the struggle by English suffragettes to win the right to vote.
Text in English and French.
Manish Pushkale, born in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, is an autodidact who honed his artistic style and sensibility at Bharat Bhavan’s fertile and creativity-filled ambience of the time. His engagement at the art center cemented Pushkale’s deep engagement with indigenous folk and tribal traditions. The installation To Whom the Bird Should Speak? is a visual enquiry into the significance of language as a medium of communication. Pushkale’s artistic research into indigenous cultures was inspired by the story of the Aka-Bo tribe in the Andaman Islands and their oral tradition of communicating with birds that was lost to the world after the death of its last speaker, Boa Sr.
As a contemporary artist and an abstract painter, Pushkale works at the intersection of linguistics and archaeology in an immersive 125 square meters of hand-painted installation, as he imagines a visual ‘script’ of a lost history that we would like to recover, or should it be allowed to fade inexorably into oblivion?
With contributions by Claire Bettinelli, Yannick Lintz, Ganesh Devy and Devika Singh, and a poem by Ashok Vajpeyi.
Text in English and French.
“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.
The jarring emptiness following the loss of a loved one, the expansive out-of-body sensation of sensual touch, the lassitude of melancholy and the ecstatic receptivity to sunshine. His ability to capture and convey sensation and feelings through the materials of art, places the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944) at the forefront of European art at the turn of the last century.
Interestingly, Munch’s artistic exploration of perception, and his persistent questioning of the objectivity of vision, intersect with ideas that matured within the fields of psychology and experimental optics at the time.
Edvard Munch: Inner Fire examines these connections, demonstrating his continuing exploration of the conditions of sight. The essays in this catalogue examine this phenomenon while also probing a lesser-known aspect of the artist’s work: Munch’s relationship to Italy.
The first essay, Lasse Jacobsen’s ‘Edvard Munch. Italian Impressions’, explores this connection explicitly, as part of a general overview of Munch’s life and work.
The second text, ‘Reflections in Munch’s Inner Eye’ by Patricia G. Berman, charts the art historical context of Munch’s exploration of experience’s subjective dimension. Emil Leth Meilvang’s ‘Seeing without Sight. Munch’s Vision’, on its part, explores the relationship between Munch’s artistic development and simultaneous developments within the perceptual sciences. Edvard Munch. Inner Fire includes essayistic pieces by authors Melania G. Mazzucco and Hanne Ørstavik: ‘I am a Romantic’ and ‘Who Am I’. Each demonstrates Munch’s continuing ability to light the inner fires of other artists.
“Legendary Bruce Springsteen photographer’s iconic travel images showcased in lavish new coffee-table book, from storms in South Dakota to penguins in Antarctica.” — The Daily Mail
“… a dazzling collection that bursts with vibrant colours and energy. This book is more than just a visual feast; it’s a journey into the stories behind each photograph, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look.” — Digital Photographer Magazine
“This richly designed monograph is both a masterclass in color photography and a deeply personal reflection on a life spent chasing light.” — About Photography
Bending Light: The Moods of Color showcases photographer Eric Meola’s use of light and color throughout his career of editorial, advertising, and personal work. In one hundred iconic photographs, including recent experiments with color abstracts, and in dozens of stories and anecdotes, he examines his five-decade journey using color in photography, its symbolism, and how it affects our moods.
Meola’s work is informed by writers, painters, musicians, and the desire to create visual metaphors with his imagery — whether intimate portraits, unique landscapes, or color-saturated abstracts, his use of geometry within the frame of the photograph creates a tension that is instantly recognizable.
In awarding him its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023, the Professional Photographers of America noted that “Eric Meola champions photography as a visual language capable of great emotion. He’s a photographer with a love affair for color, light, and artistic freedom.”
As Meola says, “Light and color are my subject as much as the subject itself. It’s the confluence of color with light — the movement within the color — that’s important to me. Although the end image is a still photograph, the story of its creation, the how and why it came to be, is part of every photographer’s psyche. Telling the stories behind the photographs is my way to revisit the creative process, both as a means of introspection as well as expression. Photography has always been a way for me to create what I feel, and feel as I create.”
Bending Light: The Moods of Color takes us on a visual journey around the world as Meola tells the story behind the creation of each image, giving insight into the thought process behind creating photographs. A photographer from Rangefinder magazine referred to him as one of “a handful of color photographers who are true innovators.”
Women’s history is everywhere in Washington, if curious locals and adventurous tourists know where to look. As the District of Columbia evolved into one of the world’s top tourist destinations, women emerged as pioneers and a town created to house the federal government matured into a gilded city affluent in feminist culture. Historic houses, hidden alleyways, and neighborhood parks stand as memorials to America’s founding mothers who built the nation’s capital. This book records the legacies of these women and encourages readers to explore their names on headstones, street signs, and buildings, while also discovering where hidden history is unmarked. Rising from a strong foundation, modern DC women have continued to nurture the legacy of their foremothers as chefs, artists, athletes, philanthropists, politicians, and entrepreneurs. Most notable are the stories of collaboration in which these women flout the myth that nothing gets accomplished in Washington.
Feminism in the city is fueled by the creativity, leadership, and fortitude of local women, each with a personal experience that is uniquely special. While no story is the same, the themes of preservation and progress are weaved throughout this book as a reminder; her story is history and it is still being written.
This is the first book to be entirely dedicated to the artwork of Jivya Soma Mashe. Through the quality of his work, Jivya Soma Mashe stands comparison with other outstanding enigmatic artists, such as Bill Traylor or Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, who broaden our understanding of the diversity of forms and cultures.
Jivya Soma Mashe (1934–2018) is a legendary figure among his people, the Warli, a tribe of around 300,000 inhabiting an area 150 km north of Mumbai (Maharashtra, India). Its members are animists and speak a language that has never developed a written form. To the best of human memory, it is Warli women who have always painted ritual and ephemeral paintings directly on the walls of their huts. The Warli have developed an extremely basic pictography based on circles, triangles, and squares to express their animist culture and represent their only deity, the mother goddess Palghatta, at the center of each painting.
After losing his mother at a young age, Jivya Soma Mashe took refuge in drawing, immersing himself in a personal style that first elicited the admiration of his peers and later that of regional, national, and international authorities. Jivya Soma Mashe received his first national award in 1976 – from Indira Gandhi herself. His works featured prominently in the Magiciens de la terre exhibition (Centre Pompidou, Paris 1989) and in the exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Cartier Foundation (Paris 2014).
Text in English and French.
In 1987 The Main: Portrait of a Neighborhood (9781550130461) was published and quickly sold out. The critically acclaimed project celebrated the communities around Montreal’s Boulevard Saint Laurent and contributed to the eventual designation of “The Main” as a Canadian heritage landmark.
In 2017 to celebrate the city’s 375th anniversary, the author was invited to re-imagine the original book. Returning to his former neighborhood, his new book weaves old and new photographs with texts and archives, inviting us on a journey into his creative process to reflect on questions of home, identity, time, memory, and the evolving urban landscape, and asking: in a globalized world where people and cities are in constant movement, what happens to places and memories? Can we go home again?
Text in English and French.