“It is wonderful, an instant classic and certainly the most comprehensive and useful single volume on the subject ever written.” – Donald J. La Rocca, Curator, Arms and Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art “For those looking for an informed introduction to the topic this book is a treasure trove.” – Natasha Bennett, Curator of Oriental Collections, Royal Armouries, Leeds, UK Arms & Armour Of India, Nepal & Sri Lanka is a very visually-driven and broad-based introduction to the unique world of arms and armor of the Indian region, encompassing India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, areas with strong martial traditions. It provides an overview of types of arms and armor, with extensive geographical and historical context with many illustrated maps, their decoration and methods of adornment, as well as the iconographic and religious symbology. A unique and valuable feature of the book is an illustrated glossary. It is specifically designed to suit the needs of anyone wanting to familiarize themselves with this topic and the region. It can serve as a reference for the novice collector, and as an image resource for experts. This would include anyone interested in arms and armor in general, antique dealers, museums, general art market, educators, and of course, collectors. There has been increased interest in both collecting and scholarship regarding Indic arms and armor. Nearly every major auction on Indian and Islamic material tends to include arms and armor. Contents: Introduction; Terra Indica; Warfare In The Early Centuries; History: The Essentials; Steel, Trade And Distant Influences; Arms; Armour; Tribal Arms And Armour; Nepal; Sri Lanka; Decoration; Symbolism; Extraordinary Exemplars; Illustrated Glossary; Resources; Tips On Collecting; Museums/Collections; Further Reading; Index.
Darwishi Ur-atum Msamaki Minkabh Ishaq Eboni, the son of an Egyptian pharaoh, is only nine years old when he dies. He is mummified and laid to rest in a tomb, with the powerful Golden Scarab of Mukatagara hanging around his neck. Thousands of years later, during a transport of three precious sarcophaguses, there is a terrible storm. Lightning strikes, the lorry plunges from a flyover and the sarcophaguses are hurled through the air. During all this, a little white shape escapes the wreckage unnoticed…
Angus Gust is ten and has a perfectly normal life. Then one night a little mummy appears in his room! Life changes completely. Angus and Dummie (short for his real name) become best friends. One dreadful day, Dummie’s scarab goes missing. Without the scarab Dummie falls terribly ill. Angus must now do everything he can to find the scarab, so Dummie doesn’t have to face death again. Can Dummie be saved in time?
In this second book in the Dummie the Mummy series, Dummie, Angus and Nick travel to Egypt. It’s Dummie’s great wish to return to his country to visit the grave of his father, Pharaoh Akhnetut. Unfortunately, Egypt has completely changed in four thousand years and Akhnetut’s grave seems untraceable. To make matters even worse, Nick falls ill and Angus and Dummie set off without him. Then something terrible happens – Dummie has to give everything he’s got to save his best friend. Yet he is also determined to find his father’s grave. Fortunately, he remembers more and more about his life long ago and this proves to be very handy!
The current social and economic situation in Flanders has shown that European decisions definitely do have a national and regional impact. Flemish policymakers, too, are compelled to pay heed to Europe, as the latter’s decisions are becoming increasingly reflected in domestic policymaking and vice-versa. Against the background of the Pact 2020 and Flanders in Action, the Europe 2020 strategy and its industrial dimension have been translated into a regional long-term strategy and put into practice, even before the European programme was given the EU’s rubber stamp. As an innovative and open economy, part of Europe’s logistical hub, Flanders can lead the way in boosting Europe’s innovative, integrated industrial policy, while raising the region’s profile in the European and international forum. Industry and Innovation in Europe offers an extensive and insightful analysis of how the Flemish and European industrial policies add to each other and back each other up. Apart from policy statements from the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, and the Flemish Minister-President, Kris Peeters, and a report on round table talks involving a few Flemish captains of industry, Industry and Innovation in Europe also features the positions, initiatives and projects being promoted in this area by key Flemish stakeholders/Vleva members, such as representatives of employers, the farm sector, education and research institutes, the provinces, cities and municipalities. Industry and Innovation in Europe is the second in a series of Vleva journals. The Liaison Agency Flanders-Europe (Vleva) is keen for the journals to raise the profile of key European themes and spread the word more about the related positions of Flemish civil society and the authorities.
Geared towards young readers and families, Myths, Angels, and Masquerades explores themes including religious art, landscapes, still-life painting, and portraiture. It accesses these topics through forty-seven works of art, chosen from the collection of The San Diego Museum of Art. Interactive features provide opportunities for further investigation, while “Your Turn” activities invite you to try your own hand at creating art inspired by the work of past masters.
Beauty and drama come together in a true and compelling story set in the colorful, turbulent world of late-15th-century Florence. The talented son of a successful banker and the beautiful daughter of an influential patrician: their marriage seemed made in heaven, but they were both to meet untimely and tragic ends. This book tells the story of two forgotten protagonists of the Florentine Renaissance: Lorenzo Tornabuoni (1468-97) and his wife, Giovanna degli Albizzi (1468-88). Unpublished documents from family archives allow us to glimpse their daily lives, while poems and works of art offer insight into their notions of love, marriage, birth, death and hopes of eternal life. The contradictions of Italian Renaissance culture clearly emerge, such as the tendency to combine a highly principled intellectual life and aesthetic refinement with self-glorification and political ruthlessness. The author shows how life and art were completely interwoven in this period, and explains the significance of works of art by the likes of Botticelli and Ghirlandaio and their place in the lives of Lorenzo and Giovanna. Contents:
Preface; 1. Two Households; 2. The Wedding; 3. Wisdom and Beauty; 4. Lorenzo’s Beautiful Chamber; 5. The Vicissitudes of Fortune; 6. Hope of Eternal Life; 7. Years of Turmoil; 8. The Final Act; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Notes; Sources and Bibliography.
The career of Y.G. Srimati – classical singer, musician, dancer and painter – represents a continuum in which each of these skills and experiences merged, influencing and pollinating each other.
Born in Mysore in 1926, Srimati was part of the generation much influenced by the rediscovery of a classical Sanskrit legacy devoted to the visual arts. Soon swept up in the nationalist movement for an independent India, she was deeply moved by the time she spent with Mahatma Gandhi. For the young Srimati, the explicit referencing of the past and of religious subjects came together in an unparalleled way, driven by the conscious striving for an indigenous agenda. This experience gave form and meaning to her art, and largely defined her style.
As John Guy demonstrates in this sumptuous volume, as a painter of the mid and late twentieth century, Y.G. Srimati embodied a traditionalist position, steadfast in her vision of an Indian style, one which resonated with those who knew India best.
Handmade and handcrafted objects are a part of daily life in Gujarat. The crafts of Gujarat demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between humans and nature and offer meaningful lessons in sustainable living for future generations. The ingenious use of natural and locally available materials is combined with a unique aesthetic, bringing together form and function in each magnificent product. With simple tools, adherence to norms set by tradition and with their imagination, the artisans of Gujarat have embodied human potential. Traditional skills are now applied to create products for the contemporary world, demonstrating convincingly that natural and handmade products are adaptable over time, and, that tradition continues to be relevant in modern times.
The Auroville Architects Monograph Series documents the pioneering work of the architects whose vision shaped Auroville, a unique international township in southeastern India. This monograph, the second in the series, is a comprehensive record of the work of Piero and Gloria Cicionesi, whose architectural legacy translates Auroville’s philosophy of community living into built form. Piero (b 1935) and Gloria (b 1933) Cicionesi hail from the magical town of Florence in Italy. They arrived in Auroville a week after its inauguration on 28 February 1968 and have since made it their karma-kshetra. This unique International Township based on the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother is a source of inspiration to many architects around the world. This publication brings together essays, drawings and photographs to demonstrate the elegant legacy of Piero and Gloria Cicionesi, for whom architecture is not only a search for beauty but also has a deeper social aspiration. This book has been enhanced with 7 augmented reality videos, each linked to a photograph marked with the symbol. These videos include interactions with Piero and Gloria as well as documentation of their journey and work in Auroville. The videos are available through the BooksPlus mobile app. To play the videos, please follow the instructions given on the copyright page.
Benjamin West’s The Death of a Stag, a tour de force of pictorial theater and his own unique Scottish masterpiece, has been the focus of high drama for over two centuries. Painted for the Clan Mackenzie in 1786, the gigantic canvas, measuring twelve by seventeen feet, is still the largest in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. The painting almost moved to America, but after a successful campaign, it was purchased in 1987. In 2004, the work was conserved in situ in the National Gallery of Scotland and this book tells the story of the picture, both in terms of its history and the conservation process.
Known today for his atmospheric views of the river Oise, Charles François Daubigny was a pioneer of modern landscape painting and an important precursor of French Impressionism. Although commercially highly successful he was often criticized for his broad, sketch-like handling and unembellished view of nature, and was dubbed the leader of ‘the school of the impression’. As a result he drew the attention of the next generation of artists, among them Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, who were inspired by Daubigny’s frank naturalism, bold compositions and technical innovations. Theirs was an artistic dialogue which spanned thirty years, from the early 1860s to the end of Van Gogh’s short life.
This scholarly catalogue provides a rich survey of the outstanding English drawings and watercolors in the National Gallery of Scotland’s collection. It ranges from the art of the Stuart court to the late Victorian period – from Isaac Oliver to Lord Leighton. Highlights include important works by artists such as William Blake, John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens, John Flaxman, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Girtin, Edward Lear, John Frederick Lewis, Paul Sandby and J.M.W. Turner. Key works are illustrated in colour and the text provides an authoritative commentary on issues such as their function, history, date and technique. The catalogue will be a valuable resource for students, art historians, collectors, dealers, picture researchers and all serious enthusiasts for British art.
This book brings together works from one of the most important private collections of modern and contemporary art, the D. Daskalopoulos Collection with key pieces from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Providing a new context for both collections, it specifically focuses on the theme of the body, investigating the many and varied approaches that artists have taken across several decades when dealing with this most fundamental of subjects. Highlighting the work of artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Beuys, Robert Gober, Matthew Barney, Marina Abramovic and Sarah Lucas, the publication documents the confrontations and dialogues staged between the two collections, and provides a rich insight into one of the most compelling and provocative themes in twentieth- and twenty-first century visual art.
With vivid memories of his first visit to the Scottish National Gallery in the 1970s and his initial encounter with Hugo van der Goes’ The Trinity Altarpiece, Rembrandt’s A Woman in Bed, Velázquez’s An Old Woman Cooking Eggs and Degas’ Diego Martelli, Robert Storr discusses the shifting balance of museum collections from historically ‘certified’ classics to art whose status and significance remains in active contention and from singular ‘treasures’ to ensembles that speak to the larger scope of an artist’s endeavor. Also available: Unfinished Paintings: Narratives of the Non-Finito Watson Gordon Lecture 2014 ISBN 9781906270919 ‘The Hardest Kind of Archetype’: Reflections on Roy Lichtenstein The Watson Gordon Lecture 2010 ISBN 9781906270384 Picasso’s ‘Toys for Adults’ Cubism as Surrealism: The Watson Gordon Lecture 2008 ISBN 9781906270261 Sound, Silence, and Modernity in Dutch Pictures of Manners The Watson Gordon Lecture 2007 ISBN 9781906270254 Roger Fry’s Journey From the Primitives to the Post-Impressionists: Watson Gordon Lecture 2006 ISBN 9781906270117
In the last twenty-five years contemporary art in Scotland has grown from a tiny and tightly knit scene to a globally recognized center of artistic innovation and experiment. Generation Reader provides the first collection of key documents from the period including essays, interviews, critical writing and artists’ own texts. This publication will fill a significant gap in the scholarship of the period and provide a resource for the future, an illustrated guide to the ideas, events and debates that shaped a generation. The selected archive texts from the period will sit alongside some newly-commissioned writing which includes essays by the novelist Louise Welch and by Nicola White, Dr Sarah Lowndes, Francis McKee, Professor Andrew Patrizio and Julianna Engberg. GENERATION is a landmark series of exhibitions tracing the remarkable development of contemporary art in Scotland over the last twenty-five years. It is an ambitious and extensive program of works of art by more than 100 artists at over 60 galleries, exhibition spaces and venues the length and breadth of Scotland between March and November 2014.
The Darnley jewel, a masterpiece of the goldsmith’s art on display at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace, has been deemed a love token, but has also been labelled an emblem of political ambition. Taking the shape of a heart, the jewel was produced at a moment (1565-75) when such objects worn by courtiers were a primary means of asserting status and proclaiming allegiances. With a deep medieval history – originally the fleshly power center of the human body, the seat of the soul, and place of memory and emotion – the heart has many aspects to offer. This book shows how the understanding of the heart changed during the Middle Ages, from spiritual locus of the body, to source of devotion to country, and finally, to the font of love and sentimentality.
Intizar Husain is the finest writer of Urdu prose and the most brilliant story-teller of the post-partition generation. The two novellas, Day and Dastan (Din Aur Dastan), his favorite texts, show his versatility and fictional inventiveness. Day, a realistic story, is a meditation on the cruellest of events to have scarred our times – migrations. When people are forced to move to new homes or new geographies, they only recall a mix of uncanny facts, streets lost in sad nostalgias, fantasies of lovers, parables of simple things, or an unending romance about a possible life and a world. While physical geographies are redrawn, moral landscapes become so bewildering as to leave one emotionally paralyzed. As in Intizar Husain’s other work, India’s partition haunts the tale like an inexplicable shadow.
In contrast, Dastan is a traditional tale of wonder. Its language is lyrical and exaggerated; its narrative, obsessed with action, weaves dreams and adventure, heroism and mercy, beauty and love, magic and grace. It is located in another time of turmoil and uncertainty when mysterious forces cause havoc in nature, and societies rise up suddenly to avenge old wrongs. The 1857 war of independence is prophesied by a mysterious faqir; rivers suddenly break their banks; an old haveli is left desolate; a princess weeps beside a fountain; a parrot shows a soldier the road to take; and hope of political change is fatally lost. Intizar Husain is neither a social critic nor a preacher; he is a story-teller – a supreme one.
Faith and Freedom: Gandhi in History offers a meticulously researched account of Gandhi – his historical background, campaigns, impact on Indian life, and the guidance he still continues to offer in dealing with contemporary problems. The book offers a particularly illuminating and long overdue account of Gandhi’s association with Muslim leaders, and shows how politically tragic religious nationalism can be. Written by one of India’s leading historians, this book is a must read for everyone interested in understanding the political landscape of modern India.
This field guide is the result of the author’s intense study of the flora of the southern western ghats as well as those of Palni hills for several years. The book lists more than 200 species of trees, herbs, and shrubs, that can be found in the region. The author names the genus, the species, the short name of the botanist who classified the plant, and the family name of the plant, in all the cases. She also takes great pains to provide the common English names as well as the local names of the species in various regional languages of India. Not only is the distribution of the species in various parts of the world explained, but the author also gives a physical description of the species, including its leaves, flowers, and fruits. Medicinal as well as general uses of any part or parts of the plant is also explained in most cases. The author, however, warns the reader that use of any species for medicinal purposes must be preceded by doctoral advice.
Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Trees; Shrubs; Herbs; Line Drawings; Glossary; Bibliography; Indices – Trees, Shrubs, Herbs; Index.
This volume reveals the roles of foreign and Indian Jews in the Indian national art project and raises issues such as: Is an “Indian artist” any artist born into an Indian family? What role can foreigners and members of Indian minority groups play in the Indian National Art Project as scholars, critics, or artists? Is a piece of work “Indian art” because of its subject matter or its style? Is it possible to utilize “foreign techniques” in creating “Indian art”? Jews and the Indian National Art Project documents the work of artists such as Anna Molka Ahmed, Mirra Alfassa (The Mother), Siona Benjamin, Carmel Berkson, and Fredda Brilliant as well as those of photographers (David Mordecai and Man Ray) and architects (Otto Königsberger, Moshe Safdie). Also covered in this volume are the work of critics, scholars and art patrons like Ernst Cohn-Wiener, Charles Fabri, Stella Kramrisch, and Marion Harry Spielmann.
Three things come together in the series of paintings depicted in this book: a great text, a delectable old romance, and the work of one of the most talented families of painters.
The text is the 12th century Naishadhacharita of Sriharsha, one of the last great kavyas of Sanskrit literature; the story, told with the utmost delicacy, centres around the intense love that grew – mutual sights heard of, but yet unseen – between King Nala and Princess Damayanti. The painter family that produced this exquisitely painted series came from the small principality of Guler in the “Pahari” hills: today’s Himachal Pradesh. The intent of the painter/s was to cover the story in close to 110 paintings, but only 47 paintings could be completed all of them now in the collection of the Amar Mahal Museum and Library at Jammu, and here published the remaining having survived only in the form of highly finished drawings.
Jack Allanach leaves home impulsively – in search of his true self – meets a married man, Michael (whose wife he also marries several years later), becomes his lover and sets out to travel with him, doing Dynamic Meditation on a Bombay beach. They take sannyas as Krishna Prem and Divyananda – disciples of Osho – and take part in a quasi-survivor experiment in a group of thirty people, building huts by a river with their hands. A commune establishes around Osho in Pune and people from all over the world arrive for discourses, therapy and meditation. As head of the commune’s Press Office, Krishna Prem meets Indian Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai, as well as international journalists probing Osho’s controversial views on sex and consciousness. In a hive of mysticism, past-life experiences and inexplicable events, Krishna Prem embarks on his first fulfilling relationship with a woman.