Goldscheider, a Viennese factory (est. 1885), soon sped to the top of European ceramics makers. Figures and vessels of faience and terracotta as well as bronze and alabaster, all of top quality in respect of form and workmanship, were created in the Historicist, Jugendstil and Art Deco period styles. A crucial factor to their success was the collaboration with distinguished sculptors and ceramicists of the day, which included Demetre Chiparus, Walter Bosse and Josef Lorenzl, all of whom were responsible for a great many of the Goldscheider designs. This success story was quashed by the National Socialist aryanization in 1938: the Goldscheider family was forced to emigrate, the firm was sold and the new proprietor was unable to sustain the high aesthetic quality standard. The Goldscheider brothers did manage to open new ceramics businesses while in exile in the US and England, and Walter Goldscheider even returned to Vienna after the Second World War to resume his post as managing director of his old firm; however, in the 1950s the great ceramics tradition of this venerable Viennese business ended when it was sold to the German Carstens company. Over 600 color photographs show Goldscheider examples, demonstrating why this firm earned such a highly regarded reputation in the world of ceramics.

Text in English and German.

Hugely popular in his own day and an enormous influence on Monet, van Gogh and other leading European artists, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 1858) has never lost his appeal. A prolific artist, he produced between 4,000 and 5,000 woodblock print designs. He is particularly renowned for his landscape prints, which are among the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese art in both Japan and the West. Hiroshige’s unusual compositions, humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities and masterly expression of weather, light and season, are explored in this publication with its especially fine printing and experts’ notations. It is part of a series featuring the depth of the Japanese art holdings at the Ashmolean Museum of the University of Oxford, the world’s first university art museum. The gems of information are numerous, including a page on “how to read a print” — with such as a note on “the censor’s mark,” a detail that only the cognoscenti might recognize. The book adds greatly to the art lover’s knowledge and pleasure.

Contents:
How to ‘read’ a Japanese Print, Preface, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) Woodblock Print Designer, Making a Japanese Woodblock Print, I Views along the Tokaido, II Views of the Provinces, III Views of Edo, IV Views of Mount Fuji, Further Reading.

After his last book Escapes, Stefan Bogner returns to the Alps again with this illustrated book. This time not only did he photograph particular routes, but he looked for the ideal tour through the Alps: 3 countries, 14 passes – the perfect little escape for 4 days.

Different from Bogner s photographs in Escapes or Curves, where Bogner just presents dreamlike empty streets, Porsche Drive focuses on the journey in Porsche models such as Porsche 906, Porsche 911, Porsche 918 and more. Stefan Bogner drives his own Porsche 911 1970 ST.

Apart from Bogner’s photographs, Porsche Drive offers information on each route and height profile. Thus you can follow Bogner’s itinerary on a long weekend.

Text in English and German.

Beautifully produced, Desmond Freeman Venice presents more than 50 captioned, black and white and full-color sketches of the architecture of Venice accompanied by quotations from well-known authors, poets and artists. The preface describes the story of how the book came into being, and was developed in addition to information about the artwork methodology. A set of thumbnail illustrations of each of the 50 or so full artworks has been included at the back of the book in the form of an index.

These rare and extraordinarily beautiful stones with mineral formations resembling chrysanthemum flowers are for the first time presented in a comprehensive and fully illustrated book. Found primarily in China and Japan, but more recently known from Korea and the western United States, they are regularly exhibited in national shows in Asia, where they are accorded the highest value among natural artistic stones. This scholarly work sets a new standard for books relating to the art of stone appreciation. The authors traveled extensively in China and Japan to bring together historical information with current data; the text is generously illustrated with over 120 full-color photographs of the widest variety of chrysanthemum stone types from all sources, and the most complete set of published references to chrysanthemum stones ever assembled is included.

A remarkable combination of superb artistry, sophisticated design, and a lengthy history of continuous usage sets the masks of the Noh theater of Japan apart from all others. That so little is known outside of Japan about their great beauty and brilliant craftsmanship prompted the author to undertake the two decades of study, research, and writing that has culminated in this work. The result is nearly 800 pages of text and images published in a two-volume boxed edition limited to 1200 copies. Volume 1 consists of an extended treatise on the history of Noh and the evolution of its masks, including mask forms and functions, types and roles, nomenclature and taxonomy, mask carvers and their lineages, signatures, and other markings. It includes plot and character synopses of the plays most often staged as well as others rarely performed, with particulars about the masks used by various troupes for the principal roles. Volume 2 is an album showcasing in full color over 140 of the finest masks of Noh, both ancient and more recent, with detailed information on their creation, character, and significance, as well as photos of their backs showing inscriptions and artists’ signatures. An extensive bibliography, glossary, and index round out this presentation of an exquisite, centuries-old art form. No existing publication on the subject, in either English or in Japanese, remotely compares in scope and depth to the present work.

In this follow-up to Visiting China’s Past, Professor Robert Thorp offers a guided tour of historic Beijing. Beginning with early cities that preceded the modern capital, the author introduces Dadu, established by Khubilai Khan in 1267 and known to Marco Polo as Cambaluc. This guide’s focus, however, is the great architectural monuments of the Ming and Qing dynasties (ca. 1421-1912). Altogether, thirty-two sites are explored in detail: the city’s walls and gates; the imperial city and palaces (the Forbidden City); state altars and imperial tombs; Buddhist and Daoist temples as well as mosques; and residences (both princely mansions and courtyard houses) and gardens. A final chapter summarizes developments of the early twentieth century. Each chapter discusses the history and cultural context of these sites, while entries describe the main structures complemented by numerous plans, photographs, and diagrams. Although both chapters and entries “stand alone,” extensive cross-referencing encourages readers to find related information, and each chapter concludes with suggested titles for further reading. A list of suggested walking tours and an extensive bibliography (both English and Chinese) complete the text. Visiting Historic Beijing is an excellent guide for anyone planning to visit Beijing, and a fascinating introduction to Chinese culture through the architecture and urban planning of one of the world’s most magnificent capitals.

Following on from the success of An Opinionated Guide to East London, Hoxton Mini Press are developing a series of ‘opinionated guides’ to aspects of London, each offering concise, highly-curated, insider selections alongside stunning, original photography. Two expert writers, Sujata Burman and Rosa Bertoli of Wallpaper Magazine, have joined forces with architectural photographer Taran Wilkhu to create an unashamedly confident guide to the must-see buildings in London, spanning all the architectural styles: from Art Deco to postmodern, brutalist to futuristic. Over 50 buildings are included alongside four maps with guided city walks. Why buy a guidebook when all information is online? Because people want opinion to cut through the clutter. Contents: Foreword; Introduction; Maps / Walks; Features.

This history marks the tercentenary of Jacques de Gastigny’s founding bequest for La Providence, the French hospital for the Huguenot community in England. Its survival and continuing existence today bears witness to the tenacity of the community of Huguenot refugees and their descendants. Chapters on the successive phases of its history are illustrated with portraits of the Directors and Officers, and the silver, furniture, engravings, heraldry and other memorabilia associated with them. The book traces the history of this institution from the building of the original hospital in the parish of St. Luke’s, Finsbury, and the granting of the Royal Charter by George I in 1718, to the construction of a new building in Victoria Park, Hackney, in the 1860s designed by Robert Roumieu, an architect of Huguenot descent. In its present location in Rochester, Kent, La Providence provides sheltered housing for elderly people of proven Huguenot descent. For more information please visit: http://www.johnadamsonbooks.com/frenchhospital.html

“Neural networks do not understand what optical illusions are.” – Technologyreview.com

“Some pictures tell a thousand lies.” – hplyrikz.com

An optical illusion confuses the eye by pretending to be something it isn’t. It both misleads and deceives the brain, which is trying to make sense of the information the eye is sending. This book presents a selection of brain-bending optical illusions featuring graphic art and photography by 60 artists, and includes an overview of the history of optical illusions in art.

(Re)discover Art Nouveau at the heart of Brussels. At the end of the 19th century, the anti-academic movement pushed Brussels’ architects towards Art Nouveau. Both Victor Horta, in an organic style, and Paul Hankar, in a more geometrical tendency, created an architecture that quickly gained an international reputation. In a little more than a decade, from 1893 on, hundreds of Art Nouveau-fashioned buildings appeared in Brussels, elaborated first by the great pioneers and later by their students and imitators who are also influenced by the Vienna Secession and other trends of European Art Nouveau. At first, this style fulfilled industrial bourgeoisie’s dreams, yearning to assert itself in the city’s structure through this new, and sometimes exuberant, architecture. This book offers nine walks to discover – in different districts – the multiple aspects of architectural Art Nouveau in Brussels. Witness the personal style of the most important architects as well as decorative methods such as sgraffito. Through interviews with owners, custodians and restorers of Art Nouveau-styled buildings, Brussels Art Nouveau describes the fundamental guardians of this remarkable heritage.

Phase 3 of digitalization has started. A phase of artificial intelligence has revolutionized the buying behavior of customers: collecting information, the buying process and customer service have changed dramatically. This book explains the impact of the ‘internet of things’, virtual assistants, bots and client data. But first of all this is a book about customers. In a world of automatization the most important question remains: how can I be customer-oriented? “Steven is a much asked for keynote speaker for our events, always a highlight. He has a unique and authentic style: with a combination of academic depth and well-built cases he spices up his presentations with a tremendous amount of humor.” – Anthony Belpaire, Google Website: stevenvanbelleghem.com Youtube: StevenVanBelleghem/videos Twitter: @StevenVBe

Belgium is well-known for its delicious chocolate. In Fine Chocolates: Gold Jean-Pierre Wybauw expresses in clear, concise language how to create and shape your own chocolates. How do you make ganache? How can you extend the shelf life of fine chocolates? He also takes a closer look at the different flavorings you can use and combine. Various mouth-watering and original praline recipes are described in detail. The interesting background information and superb photographs will invite anyone to indulge in this sweetness. This book is another must for the kitchens of professional chocolatiers, experienced amateur cooks and chocolate lovers.

For the nature and adventure enthusiast: Roaming America is a visually stunning, ultimately practical guide to visiting the US National Parks.
Combining breathtaking imagery, useful planning information for each national park, suggested itineraries, best-of recommendations, and more Roaming America will give you all the inspiration you could need to plan your next national park road trip! Featured inside:

From rockers to ravers, The Illustrated Book of Songs is the book every music lover will want. In quick-witted style, Irish writer Colm Boyd navigates us through lists of classic songs for every occasion. Prepare yourself for fascinating facts, cool illustrations and withering commentary on songs presented in lists such as:

       Songs about Getting Dumped
       Songs about Prostitution
       Songs about Environmental Matters
       Songs about Being a Complete and Utter Asshole
       Songs about Gender Identity
       Alternative Christmas Songs
 
The Illustrated Book of Songs
features 70 lists, discussing hundreds of songs from different genres and artists – from Adele to Aretha, Jagger to Jarvis, Rufus to Rosalía. Many of the songs are well-known, others are a little more off-radar. Some have amazing musicality, some have lyrics – quite literally – worthy of a Nobel Prize. Some deal with death, others deal with zebras, one song deals with prostitute-frequenting chess players in Bangkok. You get the idea.

Each of the book’s lists is accompanied by a scannable Spotify code, allowing readers to use their smartphones to directly access the songs mentioned. So, time to get reading and get listening.

Check out the book’s website for more information: colmboyd.com/the-illustrated-book-of-songs.

Early photography flourished throughout India, with particular vigour in the city of Bombay. Long before the invention of moving pictures, and long before Bollywood, Bombay was the first Indian city where the photographic needs of the public including more affluent indigenous Indians as well as British were catered to. The aim of this publication in researching under-recognized photographers of the time like Narayen Daji, Hurrichund Chintamon, Shivashanker Narayen and Shapoor N. Bhedwar is to contribute new information for a local history that is still very much in formation. Following a roughly chronological trajectory, the volume looks at some of the earliest surviving Bombay photographs, and moves through differing eras to the end of the century, covering architectural studies and landscapes, portraits and ethnographic studies, and the documentation of trade and technological advancements that produced such spectacular pictures.

The catalogue presents Christ Carrying the Cross, recently rediscovered by Carlo Falciani in a private collection, which was born out of the intense friendship between the painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) with Bindo Altoviti (1491-1557), important banker and refined art collector and patron. The artwork was painted in 1553, just before Vasari’s return to Florence to take service as court painter of the Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. The painting shows the extremely high quality reached by Vasari’s production in Rome – where he was working for Pope Julius III and where the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti had a palace and conducted business – and, at the same time, it shows the experimentations of his manner, characterized by the re-elaboration of modern and contemporary models, in this case works of Michelangelo, Francesco Salviati and Sebastiano del Piombo.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, Palazzo Corsini, Rome from 24 January-30 June 2019.

Text in English and Italian.

Welcome to the vibrant world of Maria Gabriela Brito, the New York-based interior designer, tastemaker, and authority on mixing contemporary art with home decoration. Venezuelan-born and Harvard-educated, Brito has demystified the art of art collecting, with the objective of creating stunning, unique, and personal spaces, through her company Lifestyling® by Maria Gabriela Brito. A fascinating look into Brito’s personal experiences, and an insider’s guide to designing interiors and developing an art collection, Out There: Design, Art, Travel, Shopping presents with insight, humor, and flair the inspirations behind Brito’s work and interests. Featuring highlights of her favorite contemporary artists, photographs of eight New York City apartments that she designed, and an extensive Address Book of Brito’s favorite galleries, shops, and hotels worldwide, Out There is a fresh and exclusive look behind the scenes of a passionate and exciting new design authority.

Explore the brilliant, bold designs and intriguing collections in the beautiful interiors of author Carey Maloney, his partner, architect Hermes Mallea, and their firm, M(Group), in this one-of-a-kind interactive omnibus, Stuff: The M(Group) Interactive Guide to Collecting, Decorating With, and Learning About, Wonderful and Unusual Things. Stuff: The M(Group) Interactive Guide invites the reader inside the homes of impassioned collectors, detailing the wide variety of art and objects that go into the creation of M(Group)’s complex, richly layered, and beautifully orchestrated interiors. A unique interactive digital recognition technology allows readers to delve deep into 40 captivating topics, expanding the scope of the book to include cyberlinks to the world’s great museum collections, the most important dealers, and the most illuminating research resources. Enter M(Group)’s world of wonderfully diverse spaces and learn about an array of esoteric and varied subjects, from anatomical models to Australian aboriginal art, pre-Columbian pottery to Coromandel screens, and taxidermy to Tiffany lamps, all accompanied by personal anecdotes as witty and insightful as the homes M(Group) designs.

The Konyaks – a once fearsome headhunting tribe in Nagaland on the border of Myanmar in northeast India – are well known for their iconic body and facial tattoos, originally earned for taking an enemy’s head. This book – over four years in the making – is the personal journey of a Konyak woman who retraces the steps of her grandfather and great-grandfather by documenting her tribe’s tattooing practices. She explores the Konyak’s concept of beautification of the body using it as a canvas for art, with inscriptions marked on the skin as a form of rite of passage and cycle of life. With elegant and powerful portraits of elders, both men and women, this book preserves the unique but vanishing practices of the culture, together with tattoo patterns, their meanings, and the oral traditions attached to them in folktales, songs, poems and sayings. It includes descriptions and information on headhunting and tattooing practices; reasons behind them; techniques used; tattoo artists; different tattoo groups; types of tattoos; and personal stories. Contents: The Konyaks; Headhunting; Traditional Tattooing Art; Tattoo Artist; Face Tattoo Group SHEN-TU; Body Tattoo Group TANGTA-TU; Nose Tattoo Group KONG-TU; The Last of the Tattooed Headhunters; Glossary.

This essential travel guide to Southern India’s varied heritage covers all the major Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and European historical monuments and sites in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There are amazing descriptions of forts and palaces, temple architecture, sculpture and painting, mosques and tombs, churches and civic buildings. Plan trips by using the travel-friendly itineraries, accompanied by useful location maps. This essential travel guide contains comprehensive coverage of the region’s cities and monuments, museums, and archaeological sites. It includes all the major sites the great port cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi; the citadels of Golconda, Vijaynagara and Gingee; the rock-cut sanctuaries at Ajanta and Ellora; the temples at Badami, Halebid and Thanjuvar; the mosques of Hyderabad and Bijapur; and the cathedrals at Goa and hundreds of less well-known places.