NEW from ACC Art Books – Limited Edition: Sukita: EternityClick here to order

In the last twenty-five years contemporary art in Scotland has grown from a tiny and tightly knit community to a globally recognized center of artistic innovation and experiment. This book provides the first comprehensive and fully illustrated guide to the art of the period. Featuring the work of more than eighty contemporary artists who first made their careers in Scotland including Turner Prize winners Douglas Gordon, Simon Starling and Martin Boyce. An accessible introduction for new audiences and a handy reference guide to the art of this period.

“A must for art lovers who like their culture with a side of room service.”Boss Hunting

For centuries, art, design, and architecture have been used to transform, illuminate, preserve, and make sense of the world in which we live. Art and design, much like travel, are acts of discovery, invitations where influence, healing and enchantment are all possible. And as we travel, these art forms connect us to the unknown, deepening our comprehension and appreciation of the places and people we visit. The 28 hotels featured in this book creatively embrace art in its many forms to provide authentic reflections and experiences for every guest. The World’s Best Art & Design Hotels is dedicated to the influence, discovery, and power of art and design, as we travel — bon voyage!

Bright sun, blue sea, churning waves, shifting sand: these and other elements of surf life are featured here in work by 30 contemporary surf artists from around the world. In addition to the text are interviews with the artists, which gives a deeper understanding and insight into the transformation of their surf experience into art. Curated and written by surfing journalist Veerle Helsen, author of the bestselling travel guide Surf & Stay, this unique collection of paintings, watercolors, graphics, and digital artworks capture the joy, beauty, and energy of this sport and lifestyle.

Over the course of six decades, the American artist William Harper (b. 1944) has conjured a body of work unique in the realm of jewelry. Masterfully crafted in enamel and gold, his pieces explore multiple realms – from ancient mythology to personal iconography – and draw on influences such as African sculpture, medieval art, and modernist dance. Harper has nonetheless created an oeuvre that is instantly recognizable, branching into formats including paintings, ornamented casks, artist’s books, and more. Bizarre Beauty, the definitive study of Harper and his work, includes a full biography by co-editor Glenn Adamson, as well as thematic essays and primary texts. A visual feast, the book provides an intimate look at this brilliantly imaginative artist.

Shafik Gabr started his collection of Orientalist art in 1993 by acquiring a painting by Ludwig Deutsch entitled Egyptian Priest Entering a Temple. His collection is today amongst the very few in the world to count such a large number of works by the famed Austrian artist as well as some of the finest examples of the greatest masters of Orientalism such as Jean-Léon Gérôme, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Gustav Bauernfeind and many others. Important for both scholars and art lovers, the Shafik Gabr Collection impresses us with its richness and variety. It includes masterpieces by some of the major nineteenth and twentieth century Orientalists found in private hands today and demonstrates the owner’s appreciation of differences as well as similarities in European visions of the versatile and diverse Orient. The selection of paintings in this collection illustrates the owner’s evolving taste, his relationship with the world of Orientalism and his interest in its European expression. This Orientalist collection is a harmonious “kaleidoscope” of genres, presenting the Orient through a variety of forms, styles and techniques, and revealing to the European viewer the mysterious East with its bright colors, its exotic and leisurely lifestyle. Over the years, it has become one of the most complete and magnificent tributes dedicated to the world of Orientalism and as such some of the most renowned experts in this field have contributed to this book in order to mark its importance in the art world. Lavishly illustrated, Masterpieces of Orientalist Art: The Shafik Gabr Collection also includes essays by distinguished Orientalist scholars.

Continuing the publication program that aims to disseminate the Collection through albums that present specific sections in a systematic manner, this volume focuses on Egyptian Art. The section was first studied by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, when the pieces that would be included in the Museum’s permanent exhibition were selected, and first published in 1991 by the curator of the section, Maria Helena Assam. 15 years on, new texts have been written by Egyptologist Luís Manuel de Araújo, a professor at the Arts Faculty of the University of Lisbon.

Calouste Gulbenkian mostly assembled his collection of Egyptian art between 1922 and 1929. Relatively small but very diverse, it includes pieces of exceptional quality from the various periods when art in pharaonic Egypt was at its height. The catalogue not only covers the pieces on display at the Museum, but also those kept in the storeroom.

This A3-format title brings together a selection of 50 exhibition posters designed by Werner Jeker (Les Ateliers du Nord, Lausanne) presented at the Collection de l’Art Brut between 1976 and 2026. This renowned Lausanne-based German-Swiss graphic artist has worked with the museum since it opened and is also responsible for the layout of this publication. The Collection de l’Art Brut would like to take advantage of this project to show its appreciation of this fruitful collaboration spanning five decades.

Text in English and French.

“The book is a tribute to a unique, taste-forming textile art that has lost none of its appeal to this day. ” Preetorius Foundation 

“If Chintz seems rather too ‘Miss Marple-y’ or old hat, this magnificently produced book, CHINTZ: Indian cotton textiles from the Karun Thakar collection, is set to change your mind, and your decor.” Embroidery Magazine

Chintz explores the historic importance of Indian printed and painted cotton textiles, drawing on the Karun Thakar Collection. Assembled over thirty years, the collection comprises over two hundred examples, many of which have featured in significant museum exhibitions. With contributions from leading scholars and curators, including from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book examines the historical significance of Indian printed cottons and their influence on global trade from the 14th century onward, and includes examples found in Sri Lanka, Japan and throughout Europe. The book provides insights into the artistry of Indian designers and the enduring legacy of this textile tradition, making it a valuable resource for those with an interest in art history, textile design and global cultural exchange.

Madhubani art’s origin is believed to go back to the ancient era of the Ramayana, when the town was decorated by inhabitants of the region for the wedding of Lord Rama and Sita with elaborate wall paintings and murals. The philosophy of Madhubani art is essentially based on the principle of dualism. The artscape appears inundated with divine deities, the sun and moon, and flora and fauna along with features found in Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, tantric symbols and classical Hinduism. Primarily a significant socio-cultural engagement for the womenfolk of Bihar, this art was a welcome break from their daily drudgery. Immersed in the folklore of Mithila, fresh forms and figures are painted and repainted on walls and floors of their homes to mark special occasions. Well-established procedures are followed and techniques are passed on from one generation to the next, keeping the ephemeral art form and ancestral tradition and its lore alive. Madhubani artists today are seen to work more with brushes and acrylic paint rather than natural dyes and pigments. They now also work on paper, cloth, canvas and wood to create art and artifacts, besides painting on walls and floors. Contents: Foreword by H.E.M.S. Puri, Ambassador of India in Belgium; Preface by Martin Gurvich; Imaging the Divine: Artscape of Bharati Dayal by Sushma K Bahl; Krishna; Shiva; Ganesha; Devi; The Mahabharata Nature; Bharati Dayal.

This major work, first published in 1950, is still considered the classic book on the subject. It provides a comprehensive, critical and well-illustrated survey of the portrayal of plants across over three thousand years, at a more compact size.
Of the first edition, the poet and gardening writer, Vita Sackville-West said: “Let no one think this is a book only for the specialist. It is essential for the specialist, certainly, but it is also for all the flower-lovers and all those who enjoy the by-ways of biography and the added attraction of good writing”.

This edition contains 126 color plates (more than twice as many as the first edition), alongside 140 black-and-white illustrations. It invites the reader to appreciate the works of the greatest botanical illustrators both past and present.

Samuel John Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, George Leslie Hunter and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell – a set of radical artists who enlivened the a set of radical artists who enlivened the Scottish art scene with the fresh vibrancy of French Fauvist colors. Despite only exhibiting together on three occasions in their lifetimes, and the term ‘The Scottish Colourists’ being coined retrospectively, the four shared much common ground. They were all born in Scotland in the 1870s, and at various different times each visited France to experience the burgeoning avant-garde scene, returning to Scotland brimming with new ideas. The influence of French painting – from Manet to the Impressionists, Matisse to Cezanne – stayed with them all.

Each of the Scottish Colourists achieved recognition during their lifetimes but fell out of favor by the Second World War, before being rediscovered in the 1950s. By the 1980s, they were widely recognized for their contribution to Scottish art, breathing new life into the scene, and leading the way for the next generation of artists.

This book brings together both popular and rarely seen imagery along with new research to take a fresh look at the fascinating and international lives of the four artists.

The collection of Czech interwar modern art at the Gallery of West Bohemia in Pilsen presents a wide spectrum of artistic trends from 1918 to 1938, from early pre-WWI Modernism, Expressionism and Poetism to avant-garde experiments and Surrealism. Great attention is also paid to social art and the so-called New Objectivity.

The collection, built up mainly in the 1960s and 1970s by the Gallery’s first director, Oldřich Kuba (and expanded ever since), includes works by personalities such as Josef Šíma, Jindřich Štyrský, Toyen, František Muzika, Jan Zrzavý, Václav Špála, Emil Filla, Josef Čapek, Bohumil Kubišta, František Tichý, Otakar Coubine, Antonín Procházka and others.

The forthcoming publication offers a wealth of visual material in the form of reproductions of all the works included, together with interpretative texts introducing their authors and explaining the origin and content of the works and their significance in a broader cultural and historical context.

Born into slavery around 1853-4 on a cotton plantation in Benton, Alabama, Traylor has become one of the most important self-taught artists of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the most celebrated African-American artists, along with Thorton Dial and William Edmondson. The story of Bill Traylor’s life and work is a remarkable one. It is a story that deserves attention both nationally and internationally.
This publication, generously illustrated with full-page high-quality reproductions, provides a close examination of Traylor’s recurrent themes, composition schemes, favoured iconography, and contextual information related to the artist’s biography, creative process and tools, visual environment, and artistic mindset.
Each artwork is considered in a context beyond that of an isolated image and in response to one another, forming a series of intricate and consistent narratives, intriguingly cinematic in its development. The elements of Traylor’s biography are the anchors of an individual mythology. Instead of merely being a basic depiction, the subject becomes a visual statement structuring Traylor’s mind, bringing together hidden symbols from Kongo Vodou, Hoodoo, Southern Baptist, Freemasonry, and Blues sources, as well as layers of references: slavery, uncensored violence in the Jim Crow era, and turbulence within the black enclave known as ‘Dark Town’ in Montgomery, Alabama.
Text in English and French.

The Meaning of the Earth offers a retrospective on the lives and work of the relentlessly controversial artists, placing them within the context of twentieth century British culture. Wolf Jahn tells the story of how Gilbert & George found their identity in opposition to pervasive ideas around social conformity and religion after meeting in 1967.
The artists staged an internal revolution, mining their psyches to create visionary and unwaveringly modern art. The ‘two people but one artist’ ask the questions that gnaw at us all: ‘Where do we come from?’, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ The book meditates on the artists’ role in this century, connecting their beginnings as Living Sculptures to their pictorial work of today.
The Meaning of the Earth
is a continuation of Jahn’s 1989 work, The Art of Gilbert & George. The author writes a playful philosophical interrogation of Gilbert & George’s work that truly grasps its cosmic scale.

James VI & I, the only child of Mary, Queen of Scots, has often been overshadowed by the dramatic lives of his mother and son, Charles I. This book seeks to redress the balance by centering the first monarch to reign over both Scotland and England and uncovering the artistic treasures created during his extraordinary reign.

The cultural riches of James’s court are showcased, revealing his diverse roles as ruler, scholar, politician, father and patron of the arts. His court’s passion for jewelry and fine clothes is illustrated in the vivid portraits and miniatures by John de Critz and Nicholas Hilliard – just two of many artists and craftspeople who thrived in its artistic and intellectual climate.

Five richly illustrated chapters demonstrate James’s impact on early modern Britain, while reconsidering the reputation of a king traditionally presented as preferring hunting and drinking to the duties of daily governance. Packed with exquisite art works and sumptuous objects, this book brings James’s court vividly to life.

Roland Paris is one of the most recognizable artists of the Art Deco world, yet his work remains something of an enigma. His art is caricature-like, bordering grotesque, and he delivers critical perspectives on society’s downtrodden via jesters and devils. His mediums range from sculpture and painting to porcelain and wood, including woodcuts and the written word. This never before seen study focuses on the artist’s trials and tribulations while living in Nazi-ruled Germany, and the tragic end to his life, hours before the end of World War Two.
Also available by Alberto Shayo: Chiparus: Master of Art Deco ISBN 9781851498222, Statuettes of the Art Deco Period ISBN 9781851498246

The Ashmolean is fortunate in having the finest collection of Indian art in Britain outside London, one which includes many works of great beauty and expressive power. For this we are indebted above all to the generosity, knowledge and taste of our benefactors and donors from the 17th century to the present. This book offers a short account of how the collection developed and a selection of some of its more outstanding or interesting works of art. While it is written mainly for the general reader and museum visitor, it includes many fine objects or pictures, some of them unpublished, that should interest specialist scholars and students.

Since 1987, the Ashmolean has made many significant new acquisitions of Indian art and these are highlighted in this collection. As the book’s title implies, it also ventures beyond the bounds of the Indian subcontinent by including works from Afghanistan and Central Asian Silk Road sites as well as many from Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia. From the early centuries AD, Indian trading links with these diverse regions of Asia led to a widespread cultural diffusion and regional adoptions of Buddhism and Hinduism along with their related arts. Local reinterpretations of such Indic subjects, themes and styles then grew into flourishing and enduring artistic traditions which are also part of the story of this book.

The selection of works ends around 1900. By the 16th century and the early modern period in India, growing European interventions and Western artistic influences under Mughal rule saw a significant shift in sensibility and the practice of more secular and naturalistic forms of court art such as portraiture. By the late 19th century, fundamental cultural changes under British rule and the advent of new technologies brought about a gradual decline in many of India’s traditional arts.

“When you land on this book, if you do not yet have an appreciation of butterflies or Chan’s workmanship, after reading, it will leave you in awe of both.”Beth Bernstein, Forbes
“When I was a young boy, butterflies were flying colours – I knew not their name. Then butterflies became the Butterfly Lovers: a tragedy, a love story, a symbol of eternal love. As I grew older, I found them to embody the words of a great philosopher: life is but a dream; only we need to decide whether we want it to be the dream of a man, or the dream of a butterfly. I could not decide, and so I became The Butterfly Man.”
Wallace Chan

Father of The Wallace Cut – an illusionary three-dimensional gemstone carving technique – and The Wallace Chan Porcelain – a ground-breaking material five times stronger than steel – Wallace Chan is a guiding light in the world of jewelry design. Always innovating, always testing boundaries with his materials and technique, Chan’s creations are as stunning as they are intricate. Compiled by jewelry experts, this book explores the cultural and personal significance of Wallace Chan’s most famous emblem: the butterfly.

Winged Beauty: The Butterfly Jewellery Art of Wallace Chan features approximately 30 of his finest pieces. Enter a butterfly house of colorful gems, with brooches and necklaces so delicate they might have flown down and alighted on the page.

Master printmaker Liu Chunjie is renowned for his beautiful woodcut art. Born to land reclamation workers in Heilongjiang Province’s 856 Farm, Lui began life in a remote part of China that was deemed to be a place of cultural exile. But it is here that a vibrant chapter in the history of contemporary Chinese printmaking, known as Beidahuang Prints, was born.

Living and breathing woodcut art, Liu takes the reader on a personal journey through his life’s work. Written in beautiful poetic prose, Liu describes how his art and the techniques he uses have developed over time, culminating in a stunning body of work that has made him the celebrated artist he is today.

Having experimented with colored ink, installation art and mixed-media painting, it is the spirit of woodcut that remains the foundation of Liu’s art. Using ancient tools and materials, he creates works that embody modern concepts, elevating the essence of woodcut art to a new level.

After the first Thai comic strip was published in 1907, comics flourished in Siam and developed in uniquely Thai ways. With diverse and leading artists working in each generation there is a wealth of material to consider. Gory horror tales, anti-communist propaganda and socially-engaged graphic novels bear witness to the country’s darker years. From 1990, Thai comics struggled to compete with the sudden influx of unlicensed Japanese manga and went through a hiatus, making a comeback in the late ’90s with a new and alternative scene that deserves wider recognition. Each page of The Art of Thai Comics opens a unique window onto Thai society – a distilled vision of its hopes, fears, delights and horrors. From 20th century interpretations of Jataka tales, which replay the Buddha’s various reincarnations, to tales of modern-day millennial angst. Thai comics past and present offer an entertaining and enlightening viewpoint onto the country’s history, culture and enduring creativity.

Master printmaker Liu Chunjie is renowned for his beautiful woodcut art. Born to land reclamation workers in Heilongjiang Province’s 856 Farm, Lui began life in a remote part of China that was deemed to be a place of cultural exile. But it is here that a vibrant chapter in the history of contemporary Chinese printmaking, known as Beidahuang Prints, was born.

Living and breathing woodcut art, Liu takes the reader on a personal journey through his life’s work. Written in beautiful poetic prose, Liu describes how his art and the techniques he uses have developed over time, culminating in a stunning body of work that has made him the celebrated artist he is today.

Having experimented with colored ink, installation art and mixed-media painting, it is the spirit of woodcut that remains the foundation of Liu’s art. Using ancient tools and materials, he creates works that embody modern concepts, elevating the essence of woodcut art to a new level.

For the very first time an overview is published featuring the works of Belgium’s finest street art and graffiti artists.
Belgian Street Art Today contains a selection of works made by 50 selected artists, such as Roa, Djoels, Dzia, Jaune, Mata One, 2 Dirty, Bué The Warrior, Joachim, Zenith…  
Some of these artists are working around the globe and have received international acclaim; a few of them are even represented by prestigious art galleries abroad.
The selection is preceded by a brief history of street art and a never-before-published comprehensive overview of street art projects and street art and graffiti walks in Belgium. Therefore this book is a must-have for art lovers looking for insider tips and unique experiences.
For more than two years, photographer Vincent Willems crisscrossed Belgium in search of the most spectacular interventions and murals, a passion culminating in this stunning book. 

Shafik Gabr started his collection of Orientalist art in 1993 by acquiring a painting by Ludwig Deutsch entitled Egyptian Priest Entering a Temple. His collection is today amongst the very few in the world to count such a large number of works by the famed Austrian artist as well as some of the finest examples of the greatest masters of Orientalism such as Jean-Léon Gérôme, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Gustav Bauernfeind and many others. Important for both scholars and art lovers, the Shafik Gabr Collection impresses us with its richness and variety. It includes masterpieces by some of the major nineteenth and twentieth century Orientalists found in private hands today and demonstrates the owner’s appreciation of differences as well as similarities in European visions of the versatile and diverse Orient.
The selection of paintings in this collection illustrates the owner’s evolving taste, his relationship with the world of Orientalism and his interest in its European expression. This Orientalist collection is a harmonious “kaleidoscope” of genres, presenting the Orient through a variety of forms, styles and techniques, and revealing to the European viewer the mysterious East with its bright colours, its exotic and leisurely lifestyle. Over the years, it has become one of the most complete and magnificent tributes dedicated to the world of Orientalism and as such some of the most renowned experts in this field have contributed to this book in order to mark its importance in the art world. Lavishly illustrated, Masterpieces of Orientalist Art: The Shafik Gabr Collection also includes essays by distinguished Orientalist scholars.

Laure Pigeon (1882-1965) is one of the leading figures in Art Brut (Outsider Art), along with Aloïse Corbaz and Adolf Wölfli. The Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne probably possesses her entire oeuvre, amounting to over 400 works, including writings, notebooks, small-scale drawings and an extensive series of large compositions in blue ink. These are all part of the corpus of works acquired by Jean Dubuffet, the historic collection around which the museum was founded. 

In 1978, the Collection de l’Art Brut held the first and only monographic exhibition dedicated to this artist. A new exhibition in 2025 has now been devoted to her exclusively. It offers a representative selection of her striking graphic work, spanning a period of 30 years.

Like Madge Gill, Jeanne Tripier, Augustin Lesage and Raphaël Lonné, Laure Pigeon too was a member of the spiritualist fraternity – men and women who feel “selected” to receive messages from the hereafter and claim the deceased are responsible for their creations. The spiritualist’s hand is therefore guided and merely executes what the spirits dictate.

The catalog, in French and English, includes essays by several authors and a large number of color illustrations.

Text in English and French.