Founded probably in the 5th or 6th century, the Cathedral of Genoa was later rebuilt in Romanesque style and devoted to St. Lawrence the martyr. Money came from the successful enterprises of the Genoese fleets in the Crusades. After a fire in 1296, the building was partly restored, the inner colonnades rebuilt and matronei and frescoes added. In 1550 the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi was commissioned by the city magistrates to plan the reconstruction of the entire building, but the construction of the cathedral didn’t finish until the 17th century.

Among the artworks inside the church are ceiling frescoes, paintings and altarpieces by Luca Cambiaso, Federico Barocci, Lazzaro Tavarone and Gaetano Previati, while sculpture include works by Domenico Gagini, Andrea Sansovino, Giacomo and Guglielmo Della Porta. Impressive are also the works of art and silverware kept in the Museum of the Treasury which lies under the cathedral. One of the most important pieces is the Sacred bowl brought by Guglielmo Embriaco after the conquest of Cesarea and supposed to be the chalice used by Christ during the Last Supper.

Contributors include: Gianluca Ameri, Beatrice Astrua, Michele Bacci, Piero Boccardo, Antonella Capitanio, Marco Ciatti, Marco Collareta, Anna De Floriani, Clario Di Fabio, Grazia Di Natale, Gabriele Donati, Lucia Faedo, Marco Folin, Maria Flora Giubilei, Henrike Haug, Karin Kranhold, Anna Rosa Calderoni Masetti, Roberto Paolo Novello, Linda Pisani, Stefano Riccioni, Giorgio Rossini, Philippe Sénéchal, Carlo Tosco, Gerhard Wolf, Photographs by Ghigo Roli.

Text in English and Italian.

This book presents a personal collection of ancestor sculpture and protective deities, following the ancient migratory and trade routes of the Austronesian, Southeast Asian Bronze Age, and Hindu-Buddhist peoples. The author, Thomas Murray, has spent a lifetime studying this art through his endeavors as a peripatetic dealer, collector, and field researcher. The objects illustrated come from a swath of widely varied cultures from Nepal eastward to Hawaii, with the overwhelming majority from Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Murray’s eye is highly informed and based on an unusually large sampling of objects to which his experience and research have exposed him. The artworks documented represent some of the top examples he has acquired and retained over the course of a long career. They are characterized by sculptural balance and a harmony of line, as well as a rare quality of expressiveness. Each ranks high in terms of aesthetics and desirability within its own particular style as perceived by the art market and by other western aficionados.

A remarkable private collection formed over the last thirty years is the focus of this richly illustrated book that introduces the reader to English silver spanning a century and a half from a little before the Tudor age (1485-1603) to the threshold of the Civil War (1642-51). This was a period when England changed out of all recognition. At the beginning it was still essentially a medieval country dominated by an autocratic king and a rich and powerful Church; by the end of the period the Church had lost virtually all of its power and, with the execution of Charles I in 1649, the monarchy itself was abolished. To a degree, this changing world is mirrored in the styles represented by the silver featuring in the collection. Besides setting the silver against its social and historical background the book examines the wide range of techniques used by silversmiths at the time to shape and adorn silver objects.

In an ever-changing digital world, marketeers might feel like they are constantly chasing an evolution they can’t keep up with. And rightly so. Tesla cars can warn us of accidents before they have happened. Amazon has drone delivery up and running. Consumers are getting ready to embrace virtual reality, augmented reality and chatbots. Where do we go from here? To bridge the gap between the technology-addicted consumer and marketeers that are constantly chasing the facts, those marketeers can no longer rely on yesterday’s solutions. This book offers an aid to finding new ways out of the slump and in centralizing innovation in every marketing plan. Reviewing success stories and best practices forms an added dimension to this approach: by figuring out which methods worked in the past, why and how they worked, we can set out for even greater results – even in the ever-changing digital age.

The career of Y.G. Srimati – classical singer, musician, dancer and painter – represents a continuum in which each of these skills and experiences merged, influencing and pollinating each other.

Born in Mysore in 1926, Srimati was part of the generation much influenced by the rediscovery of a classical Sanskrit legacy devoted to the visual arts. Soon swept up in the nationalist movement for an independent India, she was deeply moved by the time she spent with Mahatma Gandhi. For the young Srimati, the explicit referencing of the past and of religious subjects came together in an unparalleled way, driven by the conscious striving for an indigenous agenda. This experience gave form and meaning to her art, and largely defined her style.

As John Guy demonstrates in this sumptuous volume, as a painter of the mid and late twentieth century, Y.G. Srimati embodied a traditionalist position, steadfast in her vision of an Indian style, one which resonated with those who knew India best.

The age of exploration was one in which a confident and wealthy Europe was ready to look at the world in different ways. By this time, the emerging European imagination could see the world as an imagined or designative concept. Textiles brought the colours of the other lands, and its mass printing and production brought a sense of fantasy and playfulness into European homes. Continuing Traditions follows the reflections on inter-relationships between textiles, trade and non-performing visual arts in India. The volume has been brought out in conjunction with a travelling exhibition in India called Safar-nama: Journeys through a Kalamkari Hanging , an exhibition of digital prints of an ancient painted fabric piece in the kalamkari tradition, which prevailed in the Coromandel Coast, and is now housed at the Museum of Printed Textiles of Mulhouse in France, along with ‘Continuing Traditions’, a show of contemporary artists and designers whose works can relate to it. After a long modernist interregnum in which the sole objective was to create a thing-in-itself, these works emerge as a postmodernist re-assertion of interrelationship between worldly phenomenon. Published in association with Akar Prakar.

“The most important portraits to me are the ones of people who have enriched my own thinking or awareness. Areas of philosophy, religion, psychological perspectives, poetry, music, art history, women’s roles and the inner life are important issues for me – and all have been nurtured by these people whom I have met through portraiture.” – Victoria Crowe. Victoria Crowe is one of Britain’s most vital and original figurative painters. Here, Duncan Macmillan explores the exceptional skill of this remarkable artist’s portraits and Victoria Crowe, herself, contributes many insightful accounts of her own thoughts and perceptions as each work developed. This book also tells Crowe’s own story – both professional and personal – through her art. She has developed an approach to portraiture that seeks to do more than record the outward appearance of a person: she aims to represent something of the inner life. With 80 illustrations, the portraits include the artist’s family, composer Ronald Stevenson, pioneer medical scientist Dame Janet Vaughan, poet Kathleen Raine, actor Graham Crowden, psychiatrist Professor Sir Peter Higgs and many others.

This lavishly illustrated volume opens a window into the world of one of the most extravagant and wide-ranging stylemakers of the last century, a pioneer of the cosmetics industry who was also celebrated for the daring and prescience of her art collecting, her decorating, and her personal couture. Four hundred vintage images and a meticulously researched text, including 16 essays by renowned experts in the fields of art and interior design, illuminate and trace the public and private lives of Helena Rubinstein. Rubinstein’s bold and influential flair for decor – sleekly modern at times, and at other times a wildly eclectic sampling from different eras – was showcased globally in her beauty salons and in her glamorous residences in New York, Paris, and the South of France. An astute patron, she invested in artworks by the luminaries of Parisian bohemia just as they began their ascent. Her vast collection included tapestries by Picasso and Rouault, paintings by Dégas, Dufy, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, and Monet, as well as murals by Dalí. Her striking instinct for fashion (she wore Worth and Poiret at first, and Balenciaga and St. Laurent 60 years later) and her famous overscaled jewellery kept her in the public eye, decade after decade. Rubinstein’s vibrant character, reflected in her personal style and in the interiors of her homes and salons, is captured here in works by photographers such as Cecil Beaton, Brassaï, André Kertész, Dora Maar, and Man Ray – many of which have never before been published. When the flamboyant and decisive Helena Rubinstein died in 1965, at the age of 94, her huge collections were dispersed. But in these pages her world comes alive again: Over the Top is a unique record of the passionate life and style of this self-made mogul and the century she helped define.

U Thong, 100 or so km north of Bangkok, has been an important site for over 2,000 years, as witnessed by the discovery of a 3rd century Roman coin. The moated city was connected to the Chin river, thereby gaining access to international trade routes.

The inhabitants of the early centers of Classic Southeast Asian civilization were already wealthy enough to own large quantities of ornate jewelry such as imported beads from India and carved stone from Taiwan. They had so much gold that central and western mainland Southeast Asia including the U Thong area was known in Sanskrit as Suvarnabhumi, the Golden Land.

This publication brings a new perspective to the study of ancient gold from U Thong. The author is a trained research metallurgy scientist, and these skills have been brought to bear on the highly significant corpus of early gold artifacts found in and around the moated city, the largest accumulation of such artifacts from any of the ancient muang of Thailand.

The goldsmiths were as highly skilled as those anywhere else in the world, but almost all previous studies have been written by people who can only study the outer appearance to draw conclusions regarding its age and place of origin.

Life in the royal courts of India revolved around entertaining. The palace kitchens were allotted massive budgets to ensure the highest quality of cuisine. Each state had its unique style of entertaining and food traditions – carrying forward these culinary practices are the modern day Indian royals. While the scale of the banquets may have shrunk the passion for food and the age-old family recipes remain. Dining with the Maharajas: Thousand Years of Culinary Tradition brings the invaluable legacy of Indian royals as ten families open up their palaces and homes to allow you a glimpse into their charmed lives that straddle tradition and modernity.

Jangarh Singh Shyam was born in the early 1960s to an impoverished Gond family in rural central India. Discovered and nurtured by the renowned artist J. Swaminathan at Bharat Bhavan, the multi-arts center in Bhopal, Jangarh rose to global prominence after participating in a seminal art exhibition in Paris. After a brief career spanning only 20 years – and by then recognized as one of India’s greatest tribal artists – Jangarh committed suicide in 2001 at the age of 39. His work, informed by the Gond deities of his childhood, defied established categories and inspired a contemporary school of indigenous painting, which continues to attract admirers in India and abroad. Exploring his aesthetics, themes, and art historical relevance, this book also looks at the relationship between the artist and his early patrons, the collectors Niloufar and Mitchell S. Crites. Dr. Aurogeeta Das closely examines the huge body of work Jangarh left behind in The Crites Collection, enriching her study with references to works in other private and institutional collections. As such, she also captures early practices of collecting contemporary folk and tribal art in India. Contents: Preface by Mitchell S. Crites Patangarh to Paris, New Delhi to Niigata; Images I Samvega, Aesthetic Shock: Jangarh’s Artistic Evolution; Images II The Enchanted Forest: Jangarh’s Thematic Range; Images III Cataloague Raisonné: Paintings and Drawings from the Crites Collection.

This is the story of the magnificent Jodhpur Lancers – one of India’s most charismatic cavalry regiments – even as centenary celebrations begin of their finest hour, their extraordinary victory at the Battle of Haifa (now in Israel) in 1918. Indeed, the charge, mounted on horses against machine gun fire, at the fortified city then held by German and Turkish forces, is described by many as ‘perhaps the greatest cavalry charge ever on a regimental scale’, ranking alongside Cromwell’s Ironsides at Marston Moor, the Polish Lancers at Somosierra and the German cavalry at Mars-la-Tour. No wonder the Jodhpur Lancers were referred to as the Jo Hokums (‘As You Command’) by the end of the Great War – no challenge was insurmountable, no order ever refused. Laced with anecdotes and ‘inside stories’, Michael Creese traces the roots of the regiment from its raising by the legendary Sir Pratap Singh to its early actions in China. From the muddy trenches of France, to Haifa, Aleppo and Damascus; to its eventual mechanisation in the Second World War. Finally, and sadly, to its bureaucratic amalgamation with the Indian Army in the 1950s, where, against many odds, it has been able to retain a slice of its identity and history; the battle cry always ‘Ran Banka Rathore’ (‘The Rathore – Invincible in Battle’).

In Hindi ‘pukka’ means genuine, authentic, complete. Design in India is not only determined by the aesthetic appeal of the object, but also by the significance of the object in the everyday life of its users. In some instances, the age-old practices established by ancient Indian wisdom determine the design of an object, such as the datun (neem tree twig) recommended for oral care or agarbatti (incense) used to heal and protect. On the other hand, the lota (a kind of metal pot) has been a part of everyday Indian life for centuries and its design remains unchanged even today. Pukka Indian, or Purely Indian, brings together 100 objects that are the most coveted symbols representing Indian culture and design. This illustrated book celebrates the diversity, versatility, vibrancy, and colours of design icons – ranging from kulhad to the kolhapuri chappal, Nano to the Nehru jacket, and auto rickshaw meter to the Ambassador – that set them apart in a country as multifarious as India. Each of these 100 profiles reveals the intrinsic Indian nature of every object, and how each has influenced design, culture and, in turn, every Indian.

Sikh Heritage, with a foreword by Hardeep Sigh Puri, is a succinct and delightfully photographed glimpse into the community’s religion, its ten gurus, its temples, traditional systems of governance, history, architecture, and the famous Golden Temple. This book traces the history of the valor and devotion of the Sikh community, which forms less than 1 per cent of India’s one billion population, yet produces over 50 per cent of the country’s food reserves. Despite the brutal assaults of history faced by the Sikh community – such as the partition of Punjab – they still maintain the merit of their heritage. Looks at how the thriving Sikh diaspora has spread across the globe; and how they always took the words of the gurus with them wherever they went. This work has captured the relics that have borne witness to the establishment of the Sikh community and identity. Most of these heritage objects associated with the gurus are in private collections or in gurdwaras. A photographic documentation of the Sikh historicity through objects both in time and space, such as the beautifully captured images of Takhats or temporal seats of the Sikhs, portray a unique relationship between the edifice and the Sikhs – thus, each photograph is a story in itself. This new approach aims at the conception of Sikh heritage not only as the sacred masterpieces of the past to be valued and conserved, but also as emblematic and living spaces to be appropriated by the local communities who are the bearers of a rich and active collective memory.

David Hockney’s interpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are like no other version you will have read before. Although inspired by earlier illustrators of the tales, from Arthur Rackham to Edmund Dulac, Hockney’s extraordinary etchings re-imagine these strange and supernatural stories for a modern audience, capturing their distinctive atmosphere in a style that is recognizably the artist’s own. Reprinted for the first time since its original publication in 1969, Hockney’s book brings together some well-known tales – Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin – with others that are less familiar. Informed by great art of the past, attuned to idiosyncrasies of character and incident, and fresh in execution and content, his illustrations invite us to read each one as if for the first time.

Hewlett Johnson, the Red Dean of Canterbury Cathedral from 1931 to 1963, was one of the most complex and intriguing public figures in 20th-century Britain. Converted to communism in the 1890s, he spent more than half a century as a priest in the Church of England. At the heart of Johnson’s Christian faith was his unshakeable conviction that the principles of communism were all but indistinguishable from Jesus’s teaching about the Kingdom of God on earth. For those who heard his sermons on Christianity and politics, Hewlett Johnson was either adored as a Christian visionary or hated as a mouthpiece of Soviet propaganda. There was little middle ground. Despised by the senior ranks of the Church of England, Hewlett Johnson was welcomed in high political places throughout the world. He had audiences with Stalin, Khrushchev, Molotov and Malenkov, Mao Tse-Tung and Chou En-Lai, Castro and Che Guevara. He also talked with Truman in the White House. He was tracked by MI5 for 35 years, was awarded the Soviet equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, twice spoke to huge audiences in Madison Square Garden, and was condemned by an Archbishop of Canterbury as blind, unreasonable and stupid. He was a prolific writer and a gifted orator, had two long marriages each of nearly 30 years, and became a father for the first time at the age of 66. This biography, which draws on his unpublished personal letters and papers, neither lauds nor condemns him, but re-examines his extraordinary life and career on the 80th anniversary of his appointment as Dean of Canterbury.

The Vatican Museums is one of the most important museum complexes in the world, housing incredible masterpieces from the Egyptian Age to the late Renaissance.

The Vatican Museums hold a treasure trove of art and history, as well as an inestimable patrimony of our culture and our civilisation. This volume focuses on the paintings to be found in the collection – including The Sistine Chapel.

Text in English and Italian.

With an impressive career of over 40 years that has resulted in the installation of large-scale art projects in numerous public spaces, artist/sculptor Luk Van Soom needs no further introduction in Belgium and the Netherlands. This beautifully designed art book is a first retrospective on his life and career. In a series of discussions and interviews with the artist, author Johan Pas sheds some light on the influences, philosophy, thinking and themes that have been vital for Van Soom’s artistic development: the relation between life and passion, travel and art, etc. Together, these texts present a kaleidoscopic image of Luk Van Soom’s life and work that is just as multifaceted and compelling as his art. At the age of seventeen Van Soom took his first tentative steps as an artist. Now 40 years later, he has an impressive curriculum including many exhibitions, commissions and projects both in his home country and abroad. Moreover, he created more than 50 monumental works for the public space in Belgium and the Netherlands, among which some very well know sights, such as Walhalla (1993, Antwerp), The Man from Atlantis (2003, Brussels), The Wharfinger (2005, Zwolle) and Walking to Magdalena (2012, Ostend). Text in English and Dutch.

The baking industry has seen a developing momentum in recent years. The competition is stiff; it’s not just the quality of the food that attracts customers, so it’s often necessary to ensure the design of the bakery itself is both creative and eye catching, while still being functional. A well-designed store can not only increase sales, but also help develop a brand identity. This book includes fifty bakery designs from all over the world, including Spain, Greece, Canada, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Israel, the USA, Germany, Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, China, Japan, Brazil, Romania, Thailand, Austria, Lebanon, and France. The designers responsible exhaustively examine their projects in order to illustrate the design process.

Formed in 2008, Mercurio Design Lab (MDL) masterfully manages to express its design potential. Lead by Massimo, a rare architectural polymath who is motivated by a strong spirit of innovation, philosophy and experimentation, MDL seeks to elevate and balance the synergies of the Asian architectural context with indomitable Italian style and tradition. MDL considers its projects as artistic masterpieces and makes a special contribution to the architectural scene of the city through the creation of dramatic and futuristic buildings, always respecting three fundamental criteria: the functional, the aesthetic and the social. This richly illustrated monograph is a comprehensive review of MDL’s exceptional artistry and diversity and it’s another icon for IMAGES’ Master Architect series, an absolute must for all collectors of beautiful books on sophisticated global architectural culture.

In 2008, a discovery was made that brought the works of Marie Goslich to light. Part of her estate, long thought to have been lost, was rediscovered in a guesthouse in Geltow at the Schwielowsee lake. Some 400 glass plate negatives exist today, survivors of the chaos of both world wars. This book makes Goslich’s photos available to the public 100 years after their capture, celebrating her as a bold pioneer and a grande dame of German photojournalism and social critique. Born in Frankfurt (Oder) in 1859, Marie Goslich tried her hand at various things before beginning to work as a journalist and editor. Cited in Berlin’s residents register, these professional titles alone were remarkable for a woman of her time. To cap it all, she began training as a photographer at the age of 44 in order to be able to provide her articles with pictures. As a result, she is one of the first professional female photographers in the world. With social injustice being her main concern, Goslich wrote and illustrated many articles, some of which were quite radical, to address the causes of suffering and misery. Again and again, her works denounce the gap between rich and poor. They portray traveling people, street vendors, beggars, ragmen and tinkers. All of her pictures betray her empathy towards her subjects, giving her photos a very intimate and rousing effect. Text in English and German.

Upon the discovery of Tanzanite in Tanzania a specimen was entrusted to the stonecutter Manuel de Souza, who shared some samples with distinguished gemologists. While the prospector thought that he had found some sapphires, he was astonished to learn that he had unearthed something altogether extraordinary. The new gem immediately caught the eye of Tiffany & Co. Since 1968, the New York-based jeweler has pushed the stone into the spotlight. It launched a campaign that was successful enough to earn tanzanite the noble title of ‘gem of the 20th century’. Tanzanite gained further renown when in 2002 the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) named tanzanite, together with turquoise, the birthstones for December. Tanzanite’s transformations have ultimately placed it alongside the most precious of precious gems. In short, tanzanite’s age of glory has finally dawned. Needless to say, tanzanite’s allure has attracted the attention of a list of famous designers: Lorenz Bäumer (France), Ruth Grieco (Brazil), Catherine Sauvage (Germany), MVee (Hong Kong) and TTF (China). In Asia and elsewhere, tanzanite is seen as the source of happiness for the happy few. Tanzanite: Born from Lightning showcases hundreds of beautiful pieces of tanzanite jewelry, including superb creations made by Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Chanel, Chaumet, Chopard, Dior, Boucheron, Louis Vuitton, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, Wallace Chan and more.

Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850-1950 portrays the history of romantic love between men in hundreds of moving and tender vernacular photographs taken between the years 1850 and 1950. This visual narrative of astonishing sensitivity brings to light an until-now-unpublished collection of hundreds of snapshots, portraits, and group photos taken in the most varied of contexts, both private and public.

Taken when male partnerships were often illegal, the photos here were found at flea markets, in shoe boxes, family archives, old suitcases, and later online and at auctions. The collection now includes photos from all over the world: Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Latvia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Serbia. The subjects were identified as couples by that unmistakable look in the eyes of two people in love – impossible to manufacture or hide. They were also recognized by body language – evidence as subtle as one hand barely grazing another – and by inscriptions, often coded.

Included here are ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass negatives, tin types, cabinet cards, photo postcards, photo strips, photomatics, and snapshots – over 100 years of social history and the development of photography.

Loving will be produced to the highest standards in illustrated book publishing, The photographs – many fragile from age or handling – have been digitized using a technology derived from that used on surveillance satellites and available in only five places around the world. Paper and other materials are among the best available. And Loving will be manufactured at one of the world’s elite printers. Loving, the book, will be up to the measure of its message in every way.

In these delight-filled pages, couples in love tell their own story for the first time at a time when joy and hope – indeed human connectivity – are crucial lifelines to our better selves. Universal in reach and overwhelming in impact, Loving speaks to our spirit and resilience, our capacity for bliss, and our longing for the shared truths of love.