This photographic exploration of the world’s most imaginative and surprising playscapes spans artist-designed play sculptures, picturesque soft play spaces and wildly creative conceptual playgrounds, from Copenhagen to Canberra, via Bangkok and Beijing. Discover over 100 playful environments – some recently installed, others currently serving their third generation of children, some private and many more public, but all united by their originality, visual appeal and power to help children unleash their creativity and adventurous spirit.
Santa Maria Assunta in Cremona, among the great Romanesque cathedrals of the Po Valley in northern Italy, is not only one of the most renowned for its artwork, but also one in which the slow stratification of time is most evident. The names of the greatest masters, in the first person or in the medieval sense of workshop, follow one another in quick succession: Wiligelmo, Antelami, the excellent Marco Romano, the Campionesi, enrich the façade with grandiose and superb sculptures, aristocratic and earthy. In the interior, the cycle of frescoes in the main nave with the Stories from the Life of the Virgin and Christ shows, as nowhere else, the symptoms of the pressing renewal taking place in early 16th century Italian painting, from the faultless classicism of Boccaccio Boccaccino to the eccentric Altobello Melone and Gianfrancesco Bembo, the Brescian Romanino and the Friulian Pordenone, who is given the grand finale with the resounding Crucifixion on the counter façade. Alongside these two poles, the façade and the nave, there are masterpieces from all centuries: paintings, sculptures, and goldsmithing, including frescoes and canvases by the Campi, the greatest exponents of the 16th-century Cremonese school of painting.
Martha Bibescu (Bucharest, 1886 – Paris, 1973) was one of the greatest and most representative protagonists of the extraordinary world of the Belle Époque, of which Paris, which became her adopted city, was the capital. Linked to the most important political and intellectual personalities of the time, from the kings of Romania to King Alfonso XIII of Spain, from Charles de Gaulle to Winston Churchill and Marcel Proust, Martha intertwined her life with that of the sculptor and architect Domenico Rupolo (Caneva, 1861-1945), the creator of the radical modernization, lasting almost twenty-five years, of the Bibescu palace in Mogoșoaia. To crown the profound association that bound him to Martha, Rupolo executed the hitherto unpublished marble portrait of her in 1933, on which this volume focuses. This face emerging enigmatically from the marble, a paradigm of the art and culture of an entire era, is a remarkable and unexpected addition to the portraiture of one of the most popular women of the 20th century.
Text in English and Italian.
More than other painters, the Impressionists wanted to shake off the dust of the studio, and swarmed the noisy streets of Paris, filling the cafés and living in garrets and humble little dwellings on the hill of Montmartre, which still seemed like the countryside at the time, its slopes covered with vineyards and vegetable gardens. Nor did they limit themselves to the city, planting their easels in the clearings of the forest of Fontainebleau, on the coast of Normandy, in the rustic villages in the Oise Valley and in Bougival and Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine. Like their Naturalist friends Zola and Maupassant, they liked to mix with the locals so they could experience the places directly, painting everywhere, even on a boat, like the one where Monet had his floating studio.
“The 230 beautifully rendered black & white images in the book provide a compelling tour of America’s wild places and national parks, from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Death Valley and Utah’s Canyonlands to the Hudson Valley in New York and beyond.” — Black & White Photography
“From towering redwoods in California to the remote canyons of Utah, his work shows us not just what these places look like, but what they feel like to those who dare to go.” — About Photography
“Ortner’s use of black-and-white film and large-format cameras for Visions of Paradise unveils the true essence of the natural world. By peeling away color, he forces us to immerse ourselves more deeply and see anew America’s breathtaking sites through the purified language of light and shadow, form and texture, shape and pattern…” — VIE Magazine
Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness is a singular, timeless publication—a photographic tour de force celebrating the extraordinary majesty and rich legacy of America’s wild places, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s foremost wilderness photographers, Jon Ortner, and conveyed through the transcendent medium of black-and-white film. Ortner has always been fascinated with the natural world, particularly as an avid hiker in the American wilderness. This luxurious book collects in a large format his inspiring landscape images, forming a passionate tribute to the American wilderness. In this sensational portfolio of 200 black-and-white images, Ortner has rediscovered and reinterpreted the compelling beauty of many of his most cherished wilderness locations with remarkable portrayals of their sublime, dramatic, tranquil, and transcendent aspects. Join Ortner as he guides us through his visions of paradise.
“…reignited a passion to explore the lesser-known parts of one of Europe’s most easily accessible countries” — Beer in the City
“This is more than a guide; it’s a beautiful spellbook that animates some of the most singular, compelling, and evocative beers ever brewed.” — Kate Bernot (Director of the North American Guild of Beer Writers, and beer writer with bylines at The New York Times, The Washington Post, Imbibe Magazine, and Thrillist).
“More than a guidebook, this elegantly-written, deeply researched book gets right to the heart of Europe’s most fascinating brewing culture.” — Will Hawkes (Beer, food, and travel journalist with bylines at The Washington Post, Financial Times, Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, and Daily Telegraph, among others)
“No country has more wonderful yet obscure beers than Belgium, and no one in as good a position to reveal them as Kearney and Joanna.” — Jeff Alworth (Author of The Beer Bible, The Secrets of Master Brewers, and The Widmer Way).
Under the hood of Belgium’s famous beer scene, beyond the big-name brands, exists a trove of breweries and blenderies producing lesser-known but extraordinary beers.
For drinkers, these hidden beers are often difficult to discover because of language barriers, Belgian beer’s complex culture, and just the overwhelming number of beers in Belgium.
That is, until now.
Writer Breandán Kearney and photographer Ashley Joanna have profiled 24 of the most exciting Belgian beers which you likely never knew existed.
Learn how each beer was made and why it tastes the way it does. Get to know the diverse places these beers are from and the fascinating people who make them. Read their inspiring stories and navigate this landscape of hidden beers with tips for where you can try them.
These hidden beers showcase all the reasons that Belgium is the greatest beer nation in the world.
Discover them here. And then, go out there and find them.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) remains arguably the most powerful artist in the Western canon. Painter, sculptor, architect, poet, he redefined both the possibilities of the imagination and the image of the artist. In 1550, he became the first artist to be the subject of a biography within their own lifetime, presented by Giorgio Vasari as the divinely inspired culmination of the history of art. Dissatisfied with Vasari’s treatment, Michelangelo encouraged his close friend and fellow-painter Ascanio Condivi to publish a rival biography. Condivi’s Life is an impassioned, intimate portrait, giving an unparalleled picture of the master’s life, work and personality. This compelling narrative of genius and its struggles in the treacherous world of Papal politics and Italian wars remains one of the most fascinating and influential texts in art history. This edition reproduces the long unavailable translation by Charles Holroyd and has 49 pages of illustrations covering the span of Michelangelo’s achievement.
Tuscan cooking lives in the region’s homes and gardens, its small shops and market stalls. With From the Markets of Tuscany, at once a collection of traditional, seasonal recipes and a guide to the area’s top food markets, Giulia takes readers on a journey through her beloved Tuscany, exploring famous places but also more remote areas – from Florence’s urban streets and enchanting Volterra to mountainous Garfagnana and the wilds of Lunigiana, the gentle rolling hills of Val d’Orcia, and the vineyards and olive groves of Chianti. Through photographs, words and recipes, Giulia tells the story of Florence’s historic markets, local organic farmers’ markets, and the weekly market days held in Tuscan towns and villages. She also explores Tuscany’s coastal fish and seafood markets, together with the roadside vendors of the Maremma area, with their vibrant fresh fruit and vegetable stands. With each encounter, Giulia delves into the stories of Tuscany’s food markets, drawing on memories and recipes that taste of home.
The Japanese tea ceremony is usually identified with chanoyu and its bowls of whipped, powdered green tea served in surroundings influenced by the aesthetics of Zen Buddhism. Tea of the Sages introduces the philosophy and material culture of an alternate Japanese tea ceremony featuring sencha (steeped green leaf tea). Sencha initially gained popularity among Japan’s Sinophile intellectuals, who learned of it from immigrant seventeenth-century Chinese scholar-monks of the Ōbaku Zen school. They championed the beverage as an elixir consumed by ancient Chinese sages. Sencha inspired painters and poets, and fostered major advances within craft industries, especially ceramics, metalwork, and bamboo basketry. Its popularity as an everyday drink remains strong and has spread widely outside Japan. The sencha tea ceremony survives as well, with more than a hundred schools still in existence today.
“This is a kind of poetics where precision of lyricism attains a meaning that crosses the boundary of language. And for that, I am grateful.” — Ilya Kaminsky, contemporary poet and author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa
Petr Hruška is widely considered one of the most important Czech poets.
Based on ‘The First Voyage around the World’, written exactly 500 years earlier by Antonio Pigafetta, Hruška’s I Caught Sight of my Face turns the glorious saga of Magellan’s voyage of discovery into an unsettling exploration of human behavior, showing how man remains an anxious, insecure, sometimes cowardly, evil, xenophobic and violent being.
It is an uncomplicated, yet at the same time, deeply profound book, brought to life through illustrations by Jakub Špaňhel (1976), an acclaimed contemporary Czech visual artist, who creates an interesting dialogue between the text and its visual accompaniment.
In 1970, photographer Giorgio Colombo began a great relationship of friendship and esteem with Alighiero Boetti, to whom he dedicated this book. Certain biographical photos of Alighiero Boetti, taken by Colombo, have become iconic: when he is spraying cast iron, in the studio with Salman on his moped, drawing a comma on squared paper or in front of his Map in an exhibition. In catalogues and various publications, the few biographical images usually have the task of accompanying the photos of works and the critical texts in order to embellish the publication, to humanize it, to contextualize and ‘lighten’ it. One studies the texts and looks at the photos of the works and then relaxes and sees who made these works and in what context through the biographical photos. What the photographer Giorgio Colombo has done, following Alighiero Boetti over 30 years, photographing him regularly, capturing almost all his exhibitions, many of his works, his various studios, his career and his family is gold for art history, sacred material for archives and an object of documentation. By publishing this collection, Colombo also generously conveys Alighiero’s thoughts, helping the public to enter Boetti’s infinite world.
Text in English and Italian.
The Family of Migrants is inspired by the legendary exhibition The Family of Man, an ode to humanity created by photographer and curator Edward Steichen, that opened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955. This book features around 200 photographs and will show the most striking photography that tells universal, timeless stories of human existence, such as departure, journey and arrival, and themes like family, loss and love.
Among the hundreds of images are iconic as well as unknown photos by, among many others, Lewis Hine, Chien-Chi Chang, Abbas Attar, Robert de Hartogh, Wang Fuchun, Dorothea Lange, Stephan Vanfleteren, Ara Güler, Leonard Freed, Ata Kandó and Ishiuchi Miyako.
.
The Art of Endurance is a coffee table book about the 2024 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), which is one of the most exciting competitions in motorsport. This book is based on the very rich production of images that will be developed and embellished over the eight races that are held around the globe on internationally renowned circuits, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The main goal is to capture the “spirit” that characterizes these endurance races. This beautiful publication will be a perfect promotional tool for the championship, whose considerable drawing power is due to the number of competitors and manufacturers who are taking part.
Since 1999, Loods 5 has been the go-to place in the Netherlands for true interior enthusiasts. Thousands of visitors find interior inspiration daily in one of the five megastores spread across the country. Loods 5 has been a phenomenon for 25 years, not only with its stores but also as one of the best-known Dutch interior brands online. With over half a million followers across all social media channels, Loods 5 is a prominent name in the industry.
Loods of Living is organized by various interior trends, provides a rich overview of contemporary interior design. This ultimate, colorful coffee table book is filled with inspiration and is an absolute must-have for every interior design aficionado!
Albert Dros has a passion for landscape photography. Although he travels the world in search of the most beautiful images, the Netherlands is still his favorite subject. After all these years, Albert has created extremely atmospheric, colorful and almost romantic photographs of the Netherlands. His dream images in this book show everything that makes the Netherlands the Netherlands: from tulips to windmills, from purple moors to vast river landscapes and from picturesque towns to animals in meadows and in the wild. The Beauty of the Netherlands is the result of ten years of craftsmanship by an internationally renowned photographer who captures a Netherlands that few people will ever see with their own eyes.
This new book is the long-awaited successor to Rendez-Vous and Visite Privee. Sense of Style showcases artists and creatives who continuously fascinate us – not only because of their creative work, but also because of the inspiring home in which they live and work.
The journey begins in the vibrant heart of New York’s Tribeca, and finishes in Stockholm, via Antwerp, Copenhagen, Brussels, Berlin, Long Island, Rio de Janeiro, and Milan.
The founder and patron Reinhard Ernst planned a home for his unique collection; the city of Wiesbaden provided a site in the heart of the city and the Japanese star architect Fumihiko Maki delivered the plans. The result is the Museum Reinhard Ernst for abstract art, an architectural gem, but also a building open to the public and a magnet for the international art public alike.
When African-American music broke out of the church in the early 1960s and singers such as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke added secular lyrics to gospel in order to tap into a new audience, the 7″ single was the medium of the hour. The early soul LPs were mostly compilations of successful singles, enriched with cover versions, but this was to change radically in 1971 when Marvin Gaye released “What’s Going On” against the resistance of his label Motown. After that, there was no stopping him.
Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, The Temptations, James Brown and countless criminally ignored groups used the medium to comment on grievances and experiment. Songs stretched over ten minutes and left the radio-friendly three-minute format. The music was also given a visual aesthetic, the musicians were given a face and told their story on the backs of the covers. Anyone who had previously raved about Al Green’s voice could now hold him in their hands as an LP, reclining on a wicker chair in a white suit.
Today, original LPs are traded for sometimes dizzying sums. Record shops and online exchanges are booming. The feel of the record, the crackling when the needle grips the groove, analogue playback and, last but not least, DJ culture have simply defied the logic of technological progress. They say that the dead live longer. This certainly applies to the LP. This calendar is dedicated to the aura that only an original pressing can have.
After the great success of the first issue, we are now following up with the eagerly awaited Volume II. Guido Weiß alias DJ MAD from the ABSOLUTE BEGINNER has fished out 366 absolute gems from the last four decades from his extensive and well-stocked vinyl collection for this fine hip-hop and rap tear-off calendar.
In addition to the well-known US classics, there are also many French, English and German artists. An absolute must for all B-boys and girls out there! And of course, many albums can be played immediately using the printed SPOTIFY codes.
Sculptures of Stones by Ronny Delrue depict female statues that are either made of bricks or covered with masonry-like patterns. They form a critical riposte to the heroic male statues of former leaders that are scattered around our cities. Furthermore, the forms also broaden our prior knowledge of the depiction of figures in the public sphere. Sculptures of Stones shows drawing to be a form of spontaneous expression. It offers an alternative to the all-pervasive means of instant communication that govern the world today, namely digital tools and social media systems. Delrue’s drawings are both action and representation. Unlike the electronic devices, a drawing redeems the option of an unmediated, direct action and reflection in and on the world. It re-positions the function of the artist as a free, sovereign subject, who touches the world and is ready to participate and influence history.
English, Dutch and French.
Graphic Design of Scheld’Apen is a colorful and punchy poster archive book; a shining star for anyone who loves typography, graphic design, drawing and creative archive material.
Two artists / musicians from Antwerp worked together for two years, coordinating the poster archive of a former music and art venue in Antwerp called Scheld’Apen, an underground, rough and raw artist center where many creatives came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each event, a fantastically cool and experimental poster was made and thanks to Benny and Bent, we have a publication that brings this energetic and legendary archive together.
Dismissed by contemporaries as the ravings of a deluded enemy of modernity, The Storm Cloud of the Nineteenth Century is an eerily prescient denunciation of capitalism’s assault on the atmosphere – and the profound danger for the earth but also the spiritual well-being of humanity. It is one of Ruskin’s final writings, conducted with both rigorous scientific observation and a sense of Biblical prophecy.
Ruskin’s call to action is even more urgently needed today. His rallying cry, There is no Wealth but Life, is implicit throughout the Storm Cloud. How his thought developed through a conflicted relationship with the professional science of his day, and what we can take from his writings, are examined by Peter Brimblecombe, Professor of Atmospheric Pollution at the University of Essex, in his Introduction. A foreword by the Master of the Guild of St George, Ruskin’s association for social and spiritual reform, sets out what Ruskinians today can do and are doing.
These pages tell the story without words of a journey through Spain in which the author, the photographer Fernando Manso, visited unknown and hidden corners and captured them on the plates of his large-format camera. From the remotest parts of Galicia to those of Almería, he passed through coasts, deserts and mountains, stopping at old churches, ghostly castles or majestic cathedrals, in forests and gorges, at natural pools and salt mines, and at cemeteries, Arab baths and hermitages carved out of the rock.
Fernando has made the light of these places into the leading figure of his journey. His is a different light, as he has relinquished blue skies and brilliant sunshine, often the stuff of clichés, to make way for visions of places that appear to us with such intimate truth that even if we know them, we can barely recognize them. This is thanks to his technique, his art and the patience with which he waits for the light.
Fernando’s luxury is being able to use all the time in the world to draw us into an artistic heritage that is sometimes secret and hard to reach, and which the viewer has to know how to see. He reveals these places, often in danger of disappearing, after detailed investigation. Both architecture and landscape – for he knows that natural scenery is also a major patrimony that has to be affectionately preserved and protected from speculation – belong to all of us, and we are responsible for their care. We must be aware of this.
The result of that trip is this publication, with beautiful images in reproductions of exceptional quality that present us with a vision of Spain in a different light.
An artist travels to Communist China to learn the secrets of Chinese ink painting
Was it really reasonable to drop everything overnight and go off alone into the depths of Communist China in search of the forgotten secrets of ancient Chinese art? Fabienne Verdier never stopped to ask herself: in the early 1980s, the brilliant young Beaux-Arts student thought of nothing else but her desire to learn the art of painting and calligraphy – something that had been devastated by the Cultural Revolution.
And when, a foreigner in the province of Sichuan, she found herself in an art school run by the Party, she was determined to adjust to the situation: the language and the mistrust of the Chinese, the unbearable lack of privacy, the poverty and disease and an inquisitorial administrative system. Blocking the West from her mind, Fabienne Verdier became the pupil of great artists working at the margins of society, who introduced her to the secrets and techniques of an age-old art form.
This unique experience amounted to a true adventure story, leading eventually to Verdier’s fascinating artistic practice that combines east Asian inspiration with contemporary painting. Passenger of Silence, an autobiographical travel journal by turns gripping and wholly moving, is an expanded English edition of the original French language text published by Albin Michel in 2005. New color photographs supplement the already richly illustrated volume, with over 100 images alongside a newly written glossary of aesthetic terms.