Bombay Art Deco Architecture presents a treasury of Art Deco buildings comprising residential, commercial and civic architecture. These monuments were created during the mid ’30s and ’40s, a glamorous and optimistic era that predated the official end of the British Raj. The architects, a small list of first-generation Indian architects and builders, were mostly educated in English schools and trained in western architectural traditionst. Impatient with the British reluctance to shed the Gothic and Indo-Saracenic architectural styles that had dominated Imperial Bombay’s urban landscape, these visionaries were determined to imbue the city with a new modern style. That style shares its provenance with the Art Deco architecture of Miami Beach, termed ‘Tropical Deco’ by author Laura Cerwinske in her seminal 1981 book. Built in the same era, the Art Deco architecture of the two cities exhibits similar scale, geometry, tropical vocabulary, and love of romance.
Brussels is well known for its wide variety of buildings in the Art Deco style, which were built in the aftermath of the Great War in the 1920s and 1930s. In this book, the authors have created seven walking (or biking) itineraries that explore Art Deco and modernist architecture in neighborhoods throughout the city. Several key architects are profiled, and the historical context of the period is discussed, offering readers new insights into the living heritage that lines the streets of Brussels.
Also available: Brussels Art Nouveau ISBN 9782390250456.
This catalog presents masterpieces of calligraphy, painting, sculpture, ceramics, lacquers, and textiles from two of America’s greatest Japanese art collections, which are featured in a landmark exhibition at the Asia Society in New York. Impermanence is a pervasive subject in Japanese philosophy and art, and recognizing the role of ephemerality is key to appreciating much of Japan’s artistic production. The dazzling range of art and objects in this beautifully photographed exhibition catalog show the broad, yet nuanced, ways that the notion of the ephemeral manifests itself in the arts of Japan throughout history. Insightful contributions from noted scholars explore the aesthetics of impermanence in religion, literature, artifacts, the tea ceremony, and popular culture in objects dating from the late Jomon period (ca. 1000-300 B.C.E.) to the 20th century.
Contents:
The Art of the Ephemeral;
Works in the Exhibition:
I. Retrieving Lost Worlds; II. Buddhism: Perpetual Impermanence; III. Tea: Choreographed Ephemerality; IV. Transforming Impermanence into Art.
Published to accompany an exhibition at the Asia Society Museum, New York, between 11 February and 26 April 2020.
With the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, Art Deco seduced the world. From New York to Paris, the press celebrated this event which permanently imposes this universal style.
Crossing the Atlantic aboard sumptuous liners such as Île-de-France and Normandy, main French decorators such as Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Jean Dunand and Pierre Chareau exhibited in department stores, from New York to Philadelphia.
From Mexico to Canada, this enthusiasm is driven by North American architects trained at the School National Museum of Fine Arts in Paris from the beginning of the 20th century, then at the Art Training Center in Meudon and at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, two art schools founded after the First World War world which strengthened the links between the two continents.
This book reveals a reciprocal emulation which is illustrated in the architecture and ornamentation of skyscrapers as well as in cinema, fashion, press, sport…
Thirty-seven texts and 350 illustrations make it possible to discover the unique links that unite France and America, from the Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi to the Streamline which succeeds Art Deco.
Text in French.
As an emerging contemporary art discipline, installation art, with its characteristics of creation materials and forms, brings artists great creative freedom. In recent years, installation works have appeared frequently in various exhibitions and are an important part of contemporary art history that cannot be ignored.
In response to the call of the times, Contemporary Installation Art is a collection of excellent installation artworks from all over the world, with both panoramic complete form drawings and detailed displays, as well as graphic designs or hand-drawn drawings, aiming at conquering the readers with the charms of the artworks themselves and conveying the artistic concept that “real artworks originate from life and are higher than life”.
Art of the Cameroon Grasslands unveils the artistic creativity of a region of West Africa through the Weis Collection. With texts by Peter Weis and Bettina von Lintig, and a contribution by Michael Oehrl, the book is a comprehensive overview of Grasslands Art.
In contrast to many other African regions, the works of the artists of the ethnic groups that live in the Grasslands are characterized by enormous diversity, dynamism, movement, asymmetry, power, and even unbridled wildness. Other works radiate tranquillity, offering the viewer uncommon visual pleasure and delight. For centuries, kingdoms and rulers in this region competed to create new works of art or perfect inherited styles. These works served cultural, profane, and representational purposes, and they reflected the social and ruling structures of the Grasslands—aspects that the book’s essays and descriptions go into in detail.
A broad spectrum of objects and their uses are reflected in the Weis Collection. It includes everyday objects, works of folk art, ritual, and cult objects such as magic or commemorative figures, masks, posts, palace doors, representational objects, musical instruments, tobacco pipes, and drinking horns.
The introduction presents important aspects of the cultural and artistic development of each object’s region of origin, also in the context of European colonization. All are illustrated with numerous field photographs. This is followed by an essay on beaded artworks from the Grasslands, a subject that has been little researched to date. As the Grasslands are embedded in a larger cultural area, objects in the collection from neighboring ethnic groups are also presented, in many cases shedding light on centuries-old connections and artistic exchanges.
This volume accompanies the Art Brut CUBA exhibition organized by Collection de l’Art Brut in Lausanne and features essays by Cuban authors and other experts, reproductions of works and previously unpublished letters from the collection’s archives.
The exhibition represents a voyage of discovery that explores the world of outsider art in Cuba more than 40 years after the first exhibition, which came about as a result of Jean Dubuffet’s desire to gather together in Collection de l’Art Brut works by self-taught Cuban artists assembled by his friend Samuel Feijóo, the curator of the 1983 exhibition.
Being an island with a distinctive history that has long been isolated for political and economic reasons, Cuba is a fertile breeding ground for artistic creations unaffected by the traditional artistic influences of the world outside.
The exhibition is divided into two sections: the first presents historical works by the Signos Group, founded by Samuel Feijóo in the late 1960s to promote popular Cuban culture through the graphic arts; the second presents works by contemporary outsider artists from the Riera Studio. Most of the works on display are made from recycled materials – cardboard packaging, newspaper, scrap metal, recycled waste – or natural materials, such as wood and jute fiber.
The works reflect the artists’ personal experiences, the economic, social and political circumstances of their country, and their inner worlds and obsessions. They offer an alternative and authentic view of Cuba, far from the stereotyped imagery associated with this nation.
Text in English and French.
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.
Roger Fry (1866–1934) and his role as critic, curator and member of the Bloomsbury Group are explored in this rich and vibrant biography. From his curation of one of the most important collections in New York and groundbreaking exhibitions in London to his launch of the Omega Workshops with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Fry introduced Post-Impressionism, radicalized interiors and changed the landscape of twentieth-century art. His introduction of Cézanne, Van Gogh and Matisse to a British audience played a significant role in a legacy that still inspires today.
Often overlooked, Fry was one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century art in Britain, giving a generation of modern artists their first exhibitions, while also creating art himself. Roger Fry: Bloomsbury and the Invention of Modern Art offers a compelling portrait of his extraordinary career and his pivotal role in redefining British art.
This book is put together like a jewel and contains a carefully chosen selection of around 100 West African combs from one of the world’s largest and finest private collections of sub-Saharan African art. Featuring a hitherto unseen assortment of pieces assembled over a period of more than 60 years, the book also includes an authoritative analysis by Alain-Michel Boyer, who approached this rarely addressed theme in what was his final work, begun almost ten years ago.
As well as offering us valuable insights into the cultures that produced these miniature sculptures (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria), he explores the way the form itself is approached. These creations transform what is in principle a plain accessory and in the effort to attain pure beauty, they display an aesthetic awareness that raises the adornment of the body to the level of fine art.
Simon Schama explores our enduring fascination with birds in a visually stunning art book
‘No other creatures have fixed themselves so obsessively and ubiquitously in our restless, earth-stuck imagination as birds… the fixation painted, imprinted, sculpted, filmed in our art.’ – Simon Schama
From Icarus to Peter Pan, who hasn’t dreamt of flying? Birds are the embodiment of our desires, fears and fantasies. In this publication internationally renowned (art) historian Simon Schama and Mauritshuis director Martine Gosselink explore the fascinating relationship between humans and birds through art, literature and cultural history.
Carel Fabritius’s world-famous Goldfinch, Picasso’s Dove, Brancusi’s Bird in Space, an Egyptian falcon mummy, a feather dress by Iris van Herpen: this book is a visual and literary journey through centuries of bird imagery. The icing on the cake is a wonderful anthology of bird stories from, among other works, The Epic of Gilgameshand One Thousand and One Nights, as well as bird poems by such writers as Rabindranath Tagore, Ted Hughes, Bob Marley and Rūmī.
With contributions by Simon Schama, Martine Gosselink, Laura Cumming, Stefan Hertmans, Philip Hoare, Eva Meijer and Adrienne Quarles van Ufford.
This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition BIRDS – Curated by The Goldfinch & Simon Schamain Mauritshuis, The Hague from 12 February to 7 June 2026.
At the heart of pictorial modernity, Paul Cézanne occupies a decisive place, both discreet and foundational. Through landscapes, still lifes, and figures, the book traces a body of work constructed over time, marked by an exceptional rigor of practice. Canvas after canvas, Cézanne revisits, adjusts, and reconstructs, until he makes color and volume the very foundation of painting itself, a process that Pablo Picasso recognized as foundational and decisive for the birth of Cubism and of 20th-century art. The book is written by Jean-Luc Chalumeau (author, in the same collection, of the monograph dedicated to Van Gogh), an art critic and historian, professor, and essayist whose work has greatly contributed to reflection on modern and contemporary art. In particular, he offers an in-depth reading of the artist’s work, attentive to aesthetic issues, artistic lineages, and the transformations of painting between the 19th century and modernity.
An artist among the most popular and instantly recognisable of the 20th century, Niki de Saint Phalle left a lasting mark on visual culture with a body of work that is free, colourful, and engaged. From her Nanas to monumental sculptures occupying public space, her work has reached a wide range of audiences by blending art, femininity, poetry, and provocation. Written by Annabelle Gugnon, an art historian and exhibition curator, this monograph captures the full singularity of an artistic journey whose powerful legacy continues to resonate across generations.
An artist among the most popular and instantly recognizable of the 20th century, Niki de Saint Phalle left a lasting mark on visual culture with a body of work that is free, colorful, and engaged. From her Nanas to monumental sculptures occupying public space, her work has reached a wide range of audiences by blending art, femininity, poetry, and provocation. Written by Annabelle Gugnon, an art historian and exhibition curator, this monograph captures the full singularity of an artistic journey whose powerful legacy continues to resonate across generations.
A new title in the Design series and an excellent introduction to the life and work of this versatile Russian artist. Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1953) was a central figure in the Russian Constructivist art movement; a radical activist, a pioneer of photomontage, a theorist, and a teacher. He was an active force in the organization of the first museums of modern art that arose in Russia in the first years after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Attending art school in 1914 in Kazan was to be a defining influence: that year Russian Futurists performed in the town, and Rodchenko saw their leading figures in action. It transformed his vision and he was still working with Futurist artists and their ideas twenty-five years later. And it was at art school where Rodchenko first met the artist Varvara Stepanova, with whom he collaborated extensively, and who would become his life-long partner. Central in the re-examination of art and its place in society after the Revolution, and in the search for a new culture without the class implications of the past, Rodchenko’s radical approach proposed a new understanding of a constructed, rather than a tastefully composed, culture. This concise, comprehensive and informative work focuses largely on Rodchenko’s graphic work in the form of book jackets, posters and advertising. Also avaliable: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 Peter Blake ISBN: 9781851496181 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 David Mellor ISBN: 9781851496037 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778
“I was impressed by The Stones. They were dressed casually, had mischief in them and were different to other bands.” Terry O Neill
In July 1962, a group of young men played a gig at The Marquee Club on Oxford Street, London. They called themselves ‘The Rollin’ Stones’ and little did they know they would soon be making music history.
This brilliant new book captures the youth, the times and the spirit of The Stones’ formative early years. And documenting 1963-1965 were two young photographers just starting out in their careers. Terry O’Neill, aged just 25, had a few years’ experience photographing musicians and knew that this group had the same magic as another British phenomenon that just recently started to chart, The Beatles. As the band was starting to record and tour, Gered Mankowitz came along. His first shoot, the now famous Mason’s Yard session, was so fruitful, Gered was asked to tag along on tour to America. Gered was a mere 19 when he picked-up his camera and joined the band on stage in 1965. Between these two legendary photographers, they document the band’s beginnings and these indelible images are forever placed in music’s consciousness. The photography throughout this book is embellished with various memoires and interviews, celebrating the early days and giving an insight into what it must have felt like to go from a small club in Soho with no record deal to touring the world a few years later with a number one record. Terry O’Neill and Gered Mankowitz, two of the most respected, collected and exhibited photographers in the world were sitting in the front-row.
In 2016, London’s Saatchi Gallery hosted the first ever major exhibition dedicated to the band: Exhibitionism, a career-spanning, museum-style display of Stones artifacts and memorabilia. The publication of this book coincided with the opening of this ground-breaking exhibition.
Caroline Broadhead (b. 1950) is a highly versatile artist who started in jewelry in the late 1970s. Since then she has extended her practice from “wearable objects” and textile works to dance collaborations and installations in historic buildings. Broadhead’s work is concerned with the boundaries of an individual and the interface of inside and outside, public and private, including a sense of territory and personal space, presence and absence and a balance between substance and image. It has explored outer extents of the body as seen through light, shadows, reflections and movement. This comprehensive overview also comprises larger scale and collaborative works that aim to elicit a particular experience or to start a train of thought.
Published to accompany the Exhibition at CODA Museum Apeldoorn (NL), 4 February – 15 April 2018 and the Exhibition at Lethaby Gallery, Central Saint Martins, London, 11 January – 2 February 2019.
James Tower (1919-1988) is best known for his elegant forms in glazed earthenware. During a career spanning four decades, from the 1950s to the 1980s, he worked unceasingly in a wide variety of media to achieve an elusive harmony of shape and surface, form and decoration, inert material and active design. His personal understanding of the purpose and meaning of abstraction embodies a perpetual dialogue between the visible world and the unseen dynamics which shape it. This centenary volume of essays considers Tower’s entire output from a wide variety of perspectives, embracing paintings and drawings, as well as sculpture in bronze, terracotta and fibreglass. The contributions of leading critics and historians approach his work, situated at the junction of art, craft and design, in a broad historical and cultural context, illuminating key episodes in postwar British art, and Tower’s unique place within it. This book accompanies an exhibition at Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK, 21 September – 24 November 2019
Open Space – Mind Maps pursues the current development in art jewelry that is positioned far from the merely decorative in the aesthetic and artistic discourse of our era. Thirty international artists present their works in this publication, which is arranged thematically by the buzzwords inhabiting current trends, such as the nomadic aspect and the tendency towards narrative imagery to provocation that infringes on boundaries and to the poetic imagination in jewelry. All these facets as open-ended chapters illustrate the iconographic focus of each of these protagonists from across the world. Contents: Berndt Arell: Foreword; Ellen Maurer Zilioli: Open Space – Mind Maps. Positions in contemporary jewellery; Inger Wästberg: The Swedish Perspective; Philip Warkander: Art Jewellery. A reflection on terminology; Catalogue; Appendix; Artists’ biographies; Authors’ biographies
Custodians brings together for the first time, in this beautifully compiled collection, images of many of Oxford’s most prestigious buildings along with some rarely seen, but wonderful venues and their ‘Custodians’. Photographer Joanna Vestey set out to explore the extraordinary colleges and buildings of Oxford, behind the closed doors, often beyond the reach of the 9.5 million visitors a year who come here, and to meet the ‘Custodians’ playing a pivotal role in perpetuating these world renowned institutions. Rarely do we get to catch a glimpse behind the closed facades of these iconic structures and to see the spaces that lie within. All the images have been captured in the University City of Oxford, known as the “City of Dreaming Spires” and show its extraordinary breadth of architecture since the arrival of the Saxons. It includes venues such as the 17th Century Divinity School, the mid-18th century Radcliffe Camera continuing through to the most recent award winning RIBA nominated chapel at Ripon College completed last year. Venues such as the Sheldonian Theatre and Christchurch College sit alongside perhaps lesser known venues such as The Real Tennis Courts or the John Martyr Pawsons cricket pavilion portraying the breadth and diversity constituting the city. The ‘Custodians’ and their surroundings enjoy equal status in Joanna’s formal compositions; they seem to belong together, yet do not fuse into one, thereby asking us to question how we are all largely shaped and influenced by the structures around us – how defined we are by them and how much they form us. Full of unexpected venues beautifully photographed, this book will appeal to the his-torian, city visitor, people interested in architecture and interiors as well as to the extensive alumni network of the colleges themselves. It will also appeal to an audience interested in contemporary photography.
The 2000s proved a turning point for the skateboard and its relationship to art. Previously restricted to practical use, the skate deck left the pavement to appear on the walls of galleries and auction houses. Such was the advent of an entirely new contemporary art movement, laconically baptized Skate Art. From silk-screening to Posca markers, from repurposing and twisted shapes to upcycling broken boards, SkateArt is an anthology of specialized and eclectic decks made by artists from all over the world. Text in English and French.
Mr. Rossi | Papik Rossi, the renowned skateboarder, contributes to Drago’s 36 Chambers series, exhibiting the cutting-edge of contemporary Roman counterculture. His images, shrouded in monochrome with luminous yellow highlights, stunningly capture the spontaneity of the streets and the magic of Trastevere, the Roman neighborhood that Rossi calls home. This neighborhood is also home to the ‘funkhouse’, Rossi’s nest and creative factory that inspires the vibrant imagery showcased in this book. The so-called King of the Roman streets is known for his skateboarding, music, street photography and the clothing brand, Trustever. He has worked on some of Rome’s most notable exhibitions such as Mania at Termini station and 30% Acrilico at the Museum of Rome in Trastevere. He has also held the position of director at the ‘Cuattro’ gallery in Rome where he worked on a series of extraordinary initiatives such as the production of the book Just Push the Button, with clothing brands Slam Jam, Stussy and Carhartt.
Artists of Nigeria analyzes the influence of different art systems (museums, cultural institutions, art fairs, galleries, the internet) and cultures on the development of modern and contemporary Nigerian art in the past 100 years. Organized chronologically, and including biographical notes on the artists and lavish color illustrations, this unprecedented book charts the development of modern Nigerian art, and analyzes the works of significant Nigerian artists and art movements within the country and beyond. This comprehensive overview demonstrates the variety and vitality of Nigerian artists and confers on them a visibility they are often denied in global publications. Among the artists featured are Olowere, whose work is in the collections of the British Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Smithsonian Institution; Chike Aniakor, who has a PhD from Indiana University; and Uche Okeke, whose work has been shown at the Sherman Gallery at Boston University.
Lightning was created in 1975, during a very controversial period in India’s history, to be the backdrop of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency speech. Given the short time frame that M.F. Husain had to complete the work, it was titled Lightning, because it came about in a flash. The masterpiece was made up of twelve massive panels with ten wild, white horses charging through an open space. The significance of the painting is heightened not only by its sheer size or the brilliant rendering of its subject by the artist but also the time it was executed and the ideologies it stands for. The painting included depictions of family planning, farmers and their families, and a builder with an axe in hand. The work portrayed the political climate of the time in India post-separation. This book was conceived in honor of Husain, and various anecdotal stories and interviews on the painting form a part of this book. The selected authors invited to write on Lightning address the painting as well as its creator from various angles. It is an attempt to create a whole story around this masterpiece; every brush stroke and every inch of the canvas has a story, secretly tucked away in the midst of the powerfully rendered horses, that is left for the beholder to decipher. Published in association with TamarindArt, New York, and Asia Society Museum, New York. Contents: Foreword; Journey of Lightning, its Creator and the Progressive Movement; A Personal Commentary; Biography; The Advent of a Masterpiece; The Roar of Crores; East Meets East in Husain’s Horses; Like Thunder and Lightning; A Narrative of the Nation; Husain’s Journey; Troublesome Entanglements: Art and the Asian Nation; In Conversation with M.F. Husain; The Unveiling of Lightning in New York; M.F. Husain; Selected Exhibitions.