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

Gilbert & George created Dark Shadow in 1974 as a ‘living sculpture book,’ the ‘result of our past three years of earnest daily thoughts, shadows, deeds, cares, and pleasures.’ Hurtwood’s limited re-edition of 2,000 marks its fiftieth anniversary.

Featuring original text and artwork by Gilbert & George, the publication offers an unparalleled perspective on the early career of one of the twentieth century’s most significant artistic duos. Like their art, Gilbert & George’s writing is irreverent, rebellious, often funny, and deeply poetic. The book includes a letter to their readers and photographs by the artists of themselves, their home in East London, and their pictures.

Dark Shadow is structured into eight chapters, which elaborate on the inspirations behind Gilbert & George’s work, such as London life and British culture, including, of course, Gordon’s Gin. As is emblazoned on the cover, Dark Shadow is a continuation of their lifelong agenda ‘Art for All’, and each book is a piece of art in itself, uniquely bound in the UK with hand-marbled cloth.

Maple, birch, walnut, lemonwood and palisander are just a few of the woods from which Liv Blåvarp (b. 1956) creates exceptional one-off jewelry pieces. The rigidity or softness of the wood plays just as much of an important role in the selection process as its structure or texture. The works are comprised of numerous single elements, which fuse together to become sculptural volumes tactile creations that come alive when touched. Yet at the same time Blåvarp’s expressive and colorful pieces remain flexible and wearable. Their forms are not clearly defined; associations to organic growth, animals and plants, light and shade, water and waves all come to mind. With around 55 works from 2002 to 2017 Liv Blåvarp presents the first comprehensive review of her creative output. Text in English and German.

Mari Ishikawa sees a parallel world off the beaten track of everyday living that she wants to make visible with her art. Such counter-worlds are discovered in photographs with long exposures, which are taken up in art jewelry. Together these pairings result in an overall picture that is almost mystical. Silver casts taken from nature are reborn as jewelry in combination with diamonds, pieces of charcoal, or paper. Thus Mari Ishikawa interrupts for a brief moment the flow of transience; a precious object is created that has been wrenched from the cycle of life and death to stand for itself and for the moment.

“Prepare to be inspired at National Galleries Scotland: Modern One, as Everlyn Nicodemus opens her first retrospective this Saturday” — The NEN
“Experience Everlyn’s joyful, defiant and searingly honest artworks, with over 80 drawings, collages, paintings and textiles from over 40 years of her career, from 1980 through to the present day.” — Art Daily

This is the first major publication on the artist Everlyn Nicodemus and accompanies the first ever retrospective of her 40-year career. It offers a fascinating introduction to her life, career and art.

This book introduces readers to Nicodemus’s practice – from the very first work she painted to newly commissioned oil paintings. Many of Nicodemus’s drawings, collages, paintings and textiles are published here for the first time.

Nicodemus engages with complex subject matters, unflinchingly addressing human suffering and societal responsibility. While her works convey and process traumatic experiences, they are ultimately hopeful, focusing on healing and the power of creativity. This publication will reveal the scope and ambition of this astonishing artist’s practice.

Expert contributors offer new insights into Nicodemus’s practice, including a new interview with the artist. Exhibition curator Stephanie Straine explains and contextualizes the rich pages of artworks, drawing on extensive primary research with the artist and her archives.

Malak Mattar grew up in occupied territory and has been creating art since her teenage years. She left Gaza just before the war broke out on 7 October 2023. She was the first artist from Gaza to have a solo exhibition at Central Saint Martins in London, where she studied a masters of fine art, and her work has since been exhibited in over 80 countries. Mattar’s paintings bear witness to resilience, femininity and hope, and stand as a defiant stance against war, injustice and inequality. No words … (for Gaza) is Mattar’s first monograph. Experts Louisa MacMillan, Dr Winnie Wong, Dr Vijay Prashad and Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, shed light on the significance of her work, and her paintings enter into dialog with poems by the Palestinian authors of the collective We Are Not Numbers.

“This beautifully produced book will be inspiring to botanical artists and all those who are captivated by the orchid.” — Leisure Painter

“Through these paintings, stories of high stakes orchid breeding and exhibiting are explored, with a cast of characters who helped shape the horticultural world we know today, alongside the dedicated artists who still support their endeavours.” — Lovely Books

Orchids have long held a place of esteem and fascination in the horticultural world. In the 19th century, orchid collecting reached new fanatical heights, with explorers dispatched to every corner of the globe in search of new varieties that could be auctioned at extravagant prices, and orchids are still one of the most popular flowers to breed and buy to this day. These beautiful, diverse flowers are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with over 30,000 species and over 181,500 hybrids and cultivars.

The RHS Orchid Committee have commissioned watercolors of over 7,000 award-winning hybrids that demonstrate particular value in their fabulous array of colors, patterns, sizes and shapes. Through these paintings, stories of high stakes orchid breeding and exhibiting are explored, with a cast of characters who helped shape the horticultural world we know today, alongside the dedicated artists who still support their endeavors.

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.

For the past five years, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire has been organizing Quand fleurir est un art (The Art of Flower Arranging), a captivating event where renowned flower artists and designers from around the world unleash their creativity in the majestic rooms of the castle, creating stunning arrangements ranging from the most daring to the most classic. The Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire’s previous (and last private) owners, the Prince and Princess de Broglie, were avid plant enthusiasts. They took pride in their impressive collections of orchids and exotic green plants, which earned them numerous awards in horticultural competitions during the Belle Époque. Today, the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is committed to carrying on this rich legacy, inviting talented floral artists to showcase their artistry and expertize, creating a harmonious fusion of art and nature in the pursuit of beauty. This book offers a nice overview of some of the best creations that were on view during the event. Discover some of the amazing designs made by renowned floral designers such as Makoto Azuma (J), Clarisse Béraud (F), Timo Bolte (D), Rudy Casati (I), Tomas De Bruyne (B), Sébastien Dossin (B), Frédéric Dupré (F), Max Hurtaud (B), Pascal Mutel (F), Julian Paris (F), Gilles Pothier, Charline Pritscaloff (F) and the École nationale des Fleuristes de Paris (F).

Text in English and French.

Discover Britain’s most intriguing art. From the prismatic beauty of Charleston House in West Firle to the meditative natural forms at the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden in St Ives, these are the must-see places for anyone seeking creative inspiration. Whether you’re marveling at masterpieces in the Ashmolean Museum, the serene artist studios of Henry Moore, or exploring Jupiter Artland’s open-air artworks, each destination offers and entirely unique experience and a new way to explore Britain’s rich artistic heritage.

The Barbier-Mueller Collection of Pre-Columbian art, recently auctioned at Sotheby’s, is the most comprehensive collection of its kind. Comprising some 300 works from Mexico, Central, and South America – wood and stone sculptures, ceramics, textiles, and ritual objects – it spans 1200 BC to AD 1500. The Barbier-Mueller Collection, one of the most important and wide-ranging art collections in the world, was begun by Josef Mueller in Paris in 1908 with the purchase of works by Hodler and Cézanne; the Swiss Mueller then looked beyond Western art and bought his first pre-Columbian piece, an Aztec stone water goddess, in 1920. Today, Mueller’s daughter and son-in-law, Monique and Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, continue to collect Western, African, Oceanic, and Cycladic art, which is frequently on loan to museums around the world. Text in English and French.

D*Face, born Dean Stockton, is a British artist known for his distinctive blend of pop art and punk culture in street art. Drawing inspiration from American comics, he creates street art and exhibits globally, contributing to the rise of contemporary street art alongside artists like OBEY and BANKSY.

The purpose of this book is to give a wider insight into the practice of working within the streets and the public domain. What people most often see of street art is actually the middle point of an artwork’s lifespan, the clean image of a recently finished mural or a freshly peeled sticker but that’s not the whole picture. Not only is there a whole process leading up to the creation of a mural but there also exists a journey of change after work has been left to the streets. Paint fades, tags appear, stickers peel and crack – all these are part and parcel of what it means to work within the street. This book aims to tell that story.

According to Count Galeazzo Arconati, who gave other Leonardo manuscripts to the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, the drawings concerning nature, anatomy, and color, have been “in the hands of the King of England before 1640.” The collection has been recorded as being in the possession of Queen Mary II, in 1690, a year after she and her husband, William III, ascended the throne as joint monarchs. The collection comprises all the known anatomical drawings by Leonardo. Three hundred images of the human body by the great artist, made between about 1485 and 1510–15, are showcased in this magnificent volume. Based on the artist’s own anatomical dissections, they show his evolving understanding of physiology. The drawings demonstrate, as well, Leonardo’s progress from technical mastery of his subject to consummate draftsmanship.
The commentary on this astonishing body of work is by Professor Martin Kemp of Oxford University, a leading international authority of Leonardo da Vinci, who explains the uniqueness of the painter’s stroke and the refined figurative transposition. One of the most renowned Italian Anatomists, Professor Mario Rende of the University of Perugia, analyses the significance of these works from a medical-scientific angle, revealing the insights, the research methodology, and the experimental and analytical approach of the Genius of da Vinci. Moving between art and anatomy, between unsurpassed illustrative display and avant-garde Renaissance scientific research, the work thus provides an in-depth and comprehensive look at an indispensable aspect of the Great Master’s story.

Text in English and Italian.

“The pleasure and insight here is that it refocuses our attention and makes the world we move through larger and more complicated, more detailed, and full of identity, which is a joy.” — Hyperallergic

Manhattan Project is a collection of photographs that capture the evolving landscape of Manhattan’s West Side over the past decade. Exploiting the revelatory power of photography, these images explore a city’s architectural transformation.

While Jan Staller’s earlier work focused on industrial decay, these new photographs explore the rise of high-rise construction. By isolating and zooming in on building materials, Staller elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary. The resulting images, reminiscent of drawings or abstract paintings, reveal the hidden beauty and formal qualities of these often-overlooked elements.

This project reimagines the city not as a monolithic entity, but as a composition of intricate details. It celebrates the interplay of light, form and texture, inviting viewers to rethink the familiar and discover the artistic potential of the urban environment.

Text in English and French.

Along with 150 full-color glossy illustrations of the terracotta, earthenware, stone, silver, and copper objects, a Pre-Columbian art lover and prestigious curator journey into a fine art collection, describing the rich cultural context and artistic merits of each work. On his part, the acclaimed author, explorer, and filmmaker Hugh Thomson gives a detailed, exciting narrative – based upon extensive research – of the role art played in the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés and of Peru by Francisco Pizarro. It is rare that a collector takes such a personal, descriptive part in publishing his treasure trove, but in this lavishly illustrated book, Stuart Handler describes why he gathered Pre-Columbian art, what attracted him to the individual pieces, and what artistic attributes make these objects outstanding works. Contents: The Collection and Patrimony by Stewart Handler; Introduction: Beginning the Journey, by Stewart Handler; Traveling with Cortés, by Hugh Thomson; Traveling with Pizarro, by Hugh Thomson; The Stuart Handler Collection; Index.

Everything is black and white. Takamatsu’s hand-painted monochrome images are created using a mixture of watercolor and opaque white pigments in gouache. “White and black metaphorically express the ambiguity of positive and negative, good and evil, race and religion,” the artist writes. After meticulously painting multiple gouache layers, Takamatsu colors each individual pixel of the object a different shade of grey, resulting in an astonishing sense of depth and surrealism. “His hologram-like, female characters look digitized,” writes Hi-Fructose, “though they’re executed entirely by hand.” This extreme attention to detail allows the viewer to experience Takamatsu’s fantastical depictions of Japanese women in an immersive presentation.

The Khalili Anīs al-Hujjāj (Pilgrims’ Companion) presents a ground-breaking new exploration of Safi ibn Vali Qazwini’s richly illustrated manuscript dating from 1676-77. This beautifully produced volume, with a scholarly introduction by Qaisra M. Khan and translation by Michael Burns, documents the author’s year-long journey to Mecca and Medina from Mughal India via the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Commissioned by Zeb un-Nisa, the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, this delightfully vivid account belongs to a long-established tradition of guides to the Holy Sanctuaries. It gives comprehensive advice to prospective pilgrims on every aspect of the maritime journey, such as which ships to select, the best foods to consume, rituals to observe, significant places to visit and the people one might encounter.

This volume extensively explores the original manuscript’s detailed illustrations and text, providing an invaluable window into 17th-century religious practices, maritime travel, and the cultural landscape of the Indian Ocean world.

Featuring over 30 color photographs of his work and studio, celebrated Chinese artist Wang Jianwei takes us on a journey that goes behind the scenes of our materialistic world bound by rigid, socially acceptable ‘norms’, and introduces us to the beauty and usefulness of the seemingly banal.

As the reader accompanies Wang through his contemplation of speculative realism and object-oriented ontology, we learn how he integrates his thinking into his creative practice. His philosophical musings turn our worldview of human–object and object–object relations on their head, as he positions humans and objects on an equal footing. By revealing the intrinsic value of an object and refusing to define it by a single meaning, Wang fills the materials and objects that surround him with infinite potential.

A fascinating and thought-provoking book that opens up the realms of the ordinary.

Punjab, and especially Sikh art, has taken multiple forms ranging from scriptural manuscripts, floral adornments to illustrations and illuminations. This family collection showcases varied forms of jewelry, textiles, arms, coinage, along with construction of religious places and monuments. Murals and frescoes, paintings from Mughal, Punjabi and Pahari styles as well as calligraphy; all enhance the culture and add to its beauty. In addition, foreign artists such as Emily Eden, Shoefft, Soltikoff and other Europeans have left their imprint. The Khanuja Family believes encouragement of art is an essential element in enriching cultural heritage, upliftment of the human spirit, which eventually results in understanding, tolerance and interconnecting us all. This collection is a labor of love which started with an interest in listening to the history of Punjab from elders and subsequently reading about it. Over time with the help of Dr P Khanuja’s daughter, Jasleen it evolved into this expensive passion of collecting artifacts and paintings over the last 14 years.

This beautiful coloring and drawing book contains intricate illustrations, decorative details and a fabulous fold-out map. This is the perfect starting point for your art adventure around the National Galleries of Scotland. Color in the buildings, draw your favorite artworks and add your friends and family into your pictures.

1000 piece puzzle featuring the artwork of acclaimed New York City based outsider artist Nicole Appel.

Nicole Appel’s Patchwork Portraits represent people non-traditionally, as a collection of the things that they like or care about. Pakistani Truck Art was done as a gift for Jerry Saltz, the Pulitzer Prize winning art critic who has long championed her work. With images of Dante’s Inferno, elaborately decorated Pakistani trucks, and even the Drive-By Truckers, this “portrait” of Saltz references his purgatorial years as a long haul truck driver after he had abandoned his career as an artist. Conventional portraits have traditionally represented people using their faces. Nicole Appel’s Patchwork Portraits represent people non-traditionally as a collection or ‘patchwork’ of the things that they like or care about. Her “Patchwork Portraits” have been exhibited at the Outsider Art Fair, in New York City, and sold out for the past 13 consecutive years. Her works are included in important collections, nationally and internationally, including representation in the collections of The Museum of Everything and Brian Donnelly, a.k.a KAWS. In 2025, KAWS included 10 of Appel’s Patchwork Portraits, from his personal collection, in the critically acclaimed, blockbuster show, The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection, at the Drawing Center, in N.Y.C.

“Adimoolam’s work, in addition to being inherently attractive, is also intriguing for its unusual deviations off regular artways. Mapin Publishing’s The Art of Adimoolam is a show-and-tell of this journey and largely succeeds in giving readers/viewers an idea of the geography of Adimoolam’s routing in art and art’s forms and locations. Sinha’s writing maintains a sensitive balance of technical and human-interest angles….” -The Hindu K. M. Adimoolam’s art resists easy categorization. He brings to his work a genuine spirit of inquiry, and a continually rejuvenating wonder at the generative cosmic possibilities of art. He makes profoundly aesthetic choices, bringing to his abstract painting and apparently realistic drawing sheer, unambiguous artistic skills. Adimoolam is primarily optimistic; his paintings resonate with a pleasure in the sensuality of the medium of oil, its dexterity and movement, and its ability to translate emotion into color. What all the works have in common is his preoccupation with presences and fields outside his immediate perception, and a graded move towards the ideal space of pure abstraction. This for Adimoolam is the vivid, magnetic Other, the field of consciousness-energy or citsakti-one that is not personalized in any way, but which hints at the possibility of the deepest realization.