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Personal and private outdoor space is becoming ever-more elusive as urban areas become more crowded due to population growth and increasing development. Urban Oasis: Tranquil Outdoor Spaces at Home explores projects from London to New York and Sydney to San Francisco that reveal inspirational designs of rooftops, garden spaces, outdoor rooms, terraces and courtyards, and provide refuge from the modern world with private pockets of paradise. These outdoor spaces provide relaxing, sociable, and plant-filled settings for residents to savor peace and calm, and the company of family and friends.

Over the last few years, the oeuvre of Mary Bauermeister (*1934) has been extensively rediscovered and celebrated. Today, she is considered to be one of Germany’s leading female post-war artists. In the early 1960s, her studio in Cologne, located at Lintgasse 28, was the meeting place for artists, poets and composers such as Nam June Paik, Christo, Joseph Beuys, John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, her future husband. They all used experimental music, readings, exhibitions, performances and happenings to explore the limits of social norms. Soon afterwards, Bauermeister moved to New York for a time, where she gained international acclaim.

This book is the first to take a close look at those works in which Bauermeister privileges language as a means of artistic expression. She uses cyphers, symbols and textual fragments from nature, science, academia, philosophy, mathematics, music and art to create sensual, poetic drawings, collages and objects. Bauermeister first won fame with her celebrated ‘lens boxes’ in which convex glass, magnifiers and prisms merge with optically distorted images and words, forming magical cabinets of wonder.

Text in English and German.

This second book in the Aboriginal Arts and Knowledge series documents a body of work created cooperatively by 4 artists: Ted Egan Tjangala, Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa, Johnny Possum Tjapaltjarri and Albie Morris Tjampitjinpa. Wamulu, a yellow flower, has traditionally been used during ritual ceremonies in the western desert of Australia. The wamulu flower is gathered, dried, cut up, and mixed with ochre and binders before being applied to the ground. This catalog for an exhibition at the Fondation Opale showcases an exceptional project that took place near Alice Springs between 2002 and 2005, where this collective of artists used paint made from the wamulu flower, which is most often associated with impermanence, to create contemporary and permanent works of art. At the same time, they honored the traditional Aboriginal process of communal performance, participation, and song that emphasizes the link between the present and the past. Includes an interview with the noted Aboriginal art expert Arnaud Serval, who facilitated the work of the collective.

Text in English and French.

“Terry was everywhere in the ’60s – he knew everything and everyone that was happening” – Keith Richards

Terry O’Neill (1938-2019) was one of the world’s most celebrated and collected photographers. No one captured the front line of fame so broadly – and for so long. Terry O’Neill’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Album contains some of the most famous and powerful music photographs of all time. At the same time, the book includes many intimate personal photos taken ‘behind the scenes’ and at private functions.

Terry O’Neill photographed the giants of the music world – both on and off-stage. For more than fifty years he captured those on the front line of fame in public and in private. David Bowie, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Amy Winehouse, Dean Martin, The Who, Janis Joplin, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, Sammy Davis Jnr., The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry and The Beatles – to name only a few. O’Neill spent more than 30 years photographing Frank Sinatra as his personal photographer, with unprecedented access to the star. He took some of the earliest known photographs of The Beatles, and then forged a lifetime relationship with members of the band that allowed him to photograph their weddings and other private moments. It is this contrast between public and private that makes Terry O’Neill’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Album such a powerful document.

Without a doubt, Terry O’Neill’s work comprises a vital chronicle of rock ‘n’ roll history. To any fan of music or photography, this book will be a must-buy.

“Trusted by the stars to make them look good, O’Neill has captured the icons of music for over half a century… Terry O’Neill’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Album, collects a wealth of private moments and memories captured for eternity, with the likes of David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Amy Winehouse and even Elvis Presley all the subject of O’Neill’s immaculately placed lens. A life in pictures, a legacy in print. Pay heed to history!” – Simon Harper, Clash Magazine

Deceptively simple or fantastically intricate, ikat technique has been used for many centuries to create extravagant costumes and cloths of deep cultural meaning. The distinctively blurred, feathered or jagged patterns of ikat-dyed textiles are found across much of the world – from Japan in the east to Central and South America in the west, with vast areas of South-east Asia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East in between. The traditional patterns still hold cultural relevance today in significant parts of the long-established ikat-weaving areas. Textile artists and fashion designers in many and varied countries have taken ikat in new directions, respecting traditional forms and palettes while creatively diverging from them.
This is the first time all the different iterations of this textile have been comprehensively brought together in one volume, drawing from the wide-ranging collection of David Paly. It is a journey across the world through the lens of ikat. 

George Byrne’s photography depicts the gritty urbanism of Los Angeles in sublime otherworldliness. Arriving a decade ago, the Australian artist was immediately enthralled by the sprawling cityscape of L.A., mesmerized by the way the sunlight transformed it, into two-dimensional, almost painterly abstractions. In his Post Truth series (2015–22), Byrne reassembles his photos of the urban landscape into striking, ascetic collages of color and geometric fragments, creating a postmodernist oasis in the metropolis. By masterfully harnessing the malleability of the photographic medium, the photographer situates his work in the space between real and imagined. Byrne’s compositions evoke associations with Miami Beach’s Art Deco, the Memphis Group’s designs, as well as the painting of David Hockney or Ed Ruscha, and at the same time tap into the aesthetics of today’s visual culture played out on Instagram.

“Read And Destroy the book that is. After years of archiving photos, scanning slides and looking for funding, a hardcover publication about the seminal UK skate magazine from the late ‘80s to mid- ‘90s can be in your hands very soon.” — Free Skateboard Magazine

“… an important piece of British skateboarding history that demands a space on your bookshelf.” — Slam City Skates London

For British skateboarders in the mid-’80s, RAD (aka Read and Destroy) was more than just a magazine. Before the X Games, before the internet, a whole generation of this once underground subculture relied on RAD to provide a beacon, bringing them together in spirit and in person.

Under the guidance of editor and chief photographer, Tim Leighton-Boyce, RAD took on an experimental, irreverent approach with a vibrant, chaotic energy. The legacy of the magazine is an action-packed photo archive documenting a unique time, place and attitude, capturing the death and rebirth of skateboarding as it evolved into a mainstay of extreme sports and street culture the world over.

This book reveals that archive in all its glory, offering an inside view of skateboarding and youth culture from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, told primarily through the experiences of the British skate photographers at the core of the magazine’s original editorial team.

a+u’s July issue showcases post-digitality in architecture. Recent years have seen significant changes in architectural practice, driven by the evolving zeitgeist of the 2010s and beyond, where digital technology is widespread and commonplace – a condition referred to as “post-digital.” Technological and ecological disruptions are forcing architects to adapt and restrategize. This issue presents architectural research and education institutions where such explorations are being actively pursued: Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich. These institutions are at the forefront of incorporating cutting-edge technology into their curricula and research projects, creating environments that foster new ideas to apply in the real world. This issue examines the advanced research and educational programs offered by these institutions, introducing pioneering projects by architects and spin-off companies that push the boundaries in their respective fields. Through this lens, we explore the urgent challenges posed by technology and ecology, and feature the evolving practice and profession of architecture being redefined by the post-digital context.

Text in English and Japanese.

In 1967, a 20-year-old David Jones decided to change his name to avoid confusion with the lead singer of the Monkees. He decided on ‘Bowie’. By this time, Jones had been playing music for five years, appearing in and out of various bands, singing rock and roll at local youth gatherings, any pub that would have him and even a few weddings. Jones joined the band the Konrads, but then soon left them for the King Bees. After a few more stop and starts, Jones became Bowie and met Derek ‘Dek’ Fearnley. David Bowie enlisted Fearnley to help record an album. Reportedly learning by studying the Observer Book of Music, the two young musicians practiced, wrote and hung-out at the home of Fearnley’s brother, Gerald. “My brother always loved music” remembers Gerald Fearnley. ” He’d always have people back to the house to practice or write songs. I remember waking-up in the mornings, never knowing who’d be sleeping in the front room. David was often sacked out on the couch. But he was always very polite.” Gerald Fearnley was a working photographer in 1967. “I was a still life photographer, working on my own, in a studio right off of Oxford Street. I don’t remember how it happened, but I was enlisted to take photographs of David for the cover. I was probably the only person he knew with a studio and a camera.”
When David Bowie by David Bowie was released on June 1, 1967 – the same day as The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – little if anything happened. Nothing charted and the band parted ways. Now – fifty years since the original photo session and release of David Bowie’s debut album – the unseen photos of Gerald Fearnley are presented here for the first time. These whimsical, youthful images capture the artist as a young man only a few years before he’d transform himself into Ziggy Stardust and launch a career that would become one of the most successful and influential in the history of modern music. But at that time, he was just starting out – creating his first persona; David Bowie.
A new title in ACC Art Books’ celebrated Design series, presenting and reviving the work of illustrator Wyndham Payne (1884-1974). Wyndham Payne’s career as an illustrator began in the early 1920s, gathering momentum with a series of book illustrations for renowned Charing Cross publisher Cyril Beaumont. Working in the tradition of Claud Lovat Fraser – and others – Payne nurtured a reputation for freedom of line, illustrating books, calendars, greetings cards and advertisements, often with toys – soldiers, model theatres, trains – as a subject. Aside from creating illustrations for the Beaumont Press, Payne was also commissioned by Oxford University Press and Hodder & Stoughton, among others. For The Bodley Head, he designed covers for Agatha Christie titles, whilst his celebrated jacket for The Wind in the Willows was produced for Methuen.
Wyndham Payne presents a detailed survey of the artist’s work: lino cuts, woodcuts, drawings in pen, watercolours, silhouette painting on glass, and later, when his health became too poor for commercial work, models – including automata – for his children and grandchildren. The book also includes a fulsome biography of the artist, covering his life and work.

This book is an introduction to Italian Renaissance ceramics. These colourful and highly decorative wares form a distinctive and significant part of the artistic achievement of the period. The Fortnum collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is outstanding in its quality and range. In this selection the author illustrates fine and characteristic pieces by leading artists in the major centres of production, including Florence, Siena and Urbino. The techniques and processes of Renaissance Maiolica are briefly discussed and the subject matter of each painted piece is related to the wider artistic culture of the time. Maiolica serves as a scholarly presentation of the finest pieces from a major collection, while at the same time providing a valuable general introduction to this most vivid and culturally illuminating of the ‘minor arts’ of Renaissance Italy. It is an expanded and updated edition of the book first published in 1989, incorporating most recent additions to the Museum’s collections.

Khoan and Michael Sullivan began collecting modern Chinese painting in Sichuan in Western China in the 1940s and their collection developed over the course of more than half a century to include paintings by the principal artists of late twentieth century China, as well as works by a new generation.
Many of the works presented in this complete catalog of their collection were given to Khoan and Michael Sullivan by the artists themselves, so that this is at once a work of scholarship and a record of many friendships.
This edition has been revised and extended to incorporate new works collected since this book was first published in 2001, and an updated further reading section.

History Today carried a feature in 2015, describing The Origin of Museums as “a cult book [that] spawned a new discipline in the history of collecting”. Indeed, the first publication of this book in 1985 undoubtedly marked a propitious moment in the development of interest, in what has since grown to be a dynamic subject-area in its own right. That an appetite for such matters was already there is confirmed by the fact that the first impression sold out within a few months, a second impression a year or two later, and the third in 1989. There was to be no further printing by the original publishers, Oxford University Press. However in 2001 a new edition appeared with a new publisher. Demand again proved buoyant, but within a few months the company failed; having operated on a print-on-demand basis, it left behind it no unsold stock. The Origins of Museums reverted to a scarce (though much sought-after) volume. With original copies now selling for hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, the Ashmolean is proud to make this important volume readily available again.

Margaret Mercer Elphinstone (1788-1867), with her powerful mind and independent spirit, was never daunted by adversity as she sought to realize her ambitions for her family against the background of intellectual upheaval and social and political change which followed the French Revolution and the end of the ancien régime. The turning-point in her life was her controversial marriage in 1817 with the general Charles de Flahaut (1785-1870), which, contrary to all expectations, resulted in one of the most successful partnerships in the ‘auld alliance’ between France and Scotland.

Whereas the life of her husband, the dashing Napoleonic general and diplomat Charles de Flahaut, is well known, Margaret has remained in the shadows. Yet this biographical study, based on unpublished correspondence in the Archives Nationales, Paris, reveals her to have been the more interesting of the two. It shows how much he depended on her brains, political judgment and artistic taste as well as her fortune to guide him in his career. Her lively, observant but wicked pen takes us with her on visits to Talleyrand, to the marquis de Lafayette, to the duchesse de Praslin, to house parties in stately homes of England and Scotland. Acknowledged a superb hostess, her descriptions of the menus, and entertainments organized in her homes in Scotland, London and Paris, and at the Flahaut embassies in Vienna and in London capture the flavor of those cosmopolitan gatherings. A lifelong liberal in politics and an upholder of Whig principles, her politicomanie inspires sharp comments on the opponents of Reform in England and on the self-seeking ministers of Louis-Philippe in France.

The youngest of the four children, Charles Spencer was the only one to follow his father’s footsteps. In 1914, the year of his father’s death, Charles took control of the flourishing family business. While attending Oxford in 1894, his future path seemed fairly clearly mapped out for him by family tradition. Before graduation, however, he set out on a tour of Europe, like many a well-to-do young man before him. The experience was recorded in a series of notebooks, which lay forgotten in a drawer for years, until they were collected after the author’s death by his daughter Margaret, and were privately printed. The Tuscany that Charles describes is a Tuscany of city-states and belltowers, of good red wine and of country traditions. In his description not a word is mentioned about Leonardo da Vinci, and only the briefest mention is made of Michelangelo; but Piero della Francesca and Caravaggio are lovingly dwelt upon, as are wayside votive tabernacles. Travels in Tuscany presents an everyday Tuscany as seen by a tranquil English traveller and lover of art and fine food.

Since the practical invention of photography in the 1840s, Scotland has been at the centre of the history and development of the medium. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery – which houses the Scottish National Photography Collection – and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, hold outstanding collections of photographic art spanning three centuries. Included are figures such as D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Alfred Stieglitz, Robert Capa, Bill Brandt, Annie Leibovitz and Andreas Gursky. This book offers a detailed guide to the collections as well as an accessible and informative introduction to photography. This revised edition includes recently commissioned photography and significant new acquisitions, with works by Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman and Robert Mapplethorpe.

This scholarly catalogue provides a rich survey of the outstanding English drawings and watercolors in the National Gallery of Scotland’s collection. It ranges from the art of the Stuart court to the late Victorian period – from Isaac Oliver to Lord Leighton. Highlights include important works by artists such as William Blake, John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens, John Flaxman, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Girtin, Edward Lear, John Frederick Lewis, Paul Sandby and J.M.W. Turner. Key works are illustrated in colour and the text provides an authoritative commentary on issues such as their function, history, date and technique. The catalogue will be a valuable resource for students, art historians, collectors, dealers, picture researchers and all serious enthusiasts for British art.

The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, part of the National Galleries of Scotland, provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through portraits of the figures who shaped it: royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains. The Gallery is home to Scotland’s collection of portrait miniatures which date from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day.
This book illustrates a selection of works by key miniaturists and features portraits of many important Scottish historical figures such as James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, James VI and I and Robert Burns who was depicted in the last year of his life. A complete list of all the works in the collection is also included.

The book has a selection of 186 of the most interesting arms in the Jaipur royal palace and discusses them as weapons in their social and historical context. The book breaks new ground in Indian arms scholarship and is also a very readable account that takes in Rajput, Mughal and British Indian history, anthropology and art history. The objects are stunning: swords belonging to the Mughal Emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb; wonderful court daggers with hilts of carved rock crystal, jade, ivory and gilt steel; ferocious tribal arms; some remarkable historic firearms and beautiful painted shields, some of which were decorated in Japan for the Mughal court. There is even a device for extracting arrows from wounds with toe-curling ancient medical remedies. Most of these arms are from the reserve collections and published for the first time. Contents: Foreword by Princess Diya Kumari of Jaipur; Acknowledgements; Cataloguing terms; Introduction; Daggers; Katars; Swords; Children’s Arms; Lances, Spears and Shields; Armour; Axes, Ankus, Chhadi and Maces; Bows and Arrows; Accoutrements; Guns and Pistols; Map; The Rulers of Amber – Jaipur; Endnotes; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

A fascinating account of British reporter Willem Marx’s travels in Balochistan; a forbidding, forbidden and largely forgotten province of Pakistan that is currently immersed in civil conflict. French photojournalist Marc Wattrelot has captured some spectacular images during his weeks spent in this little-known corner of the world. This book presents many aspects of Balochistan – its past and present, its people and landscape.

An amazing insight into this formidable region that is rarely seen by the outside world; a remote territory, this account gives a new perspective on a harsh and unforgiving landscape and the people who call it home.

The publication explores a spectrum of contemporary Indian creativity classical inspired, tribal, folk and popular arts, reflective of the rootedness and innovation within traditions, as well as new media work in varied manifestations and genres. It features several especially commissioned works and seminal essays by experts framed within the context of the history, philosophy and ideology of the culture, the art stems from. It examines the connection between art and spiritual ideologies and living traditions as they continue to be practiced and celebrated or questioned by hundreds of artists, in a multi faith context. The artists’ biographical sketches and their photographs, the bibliography and other reference material, make it a collectors’ delight and a useful stand-alone resource book, first of its kind, on spiritual and devotional Indian art with its multilayered philosophical, mystical and cultural resonance. Contents: Volume I: Foreword – Karan Sing; Spirituality and Culture: India’s Gifts to the World Martin Gurvich; Acknowledgements – Martin Gurvich and Sushma K. Bahl. Essays: Adi Anadi Anant: Continuum Sushma K. Bahl; Abodes of Devotion George Michell; Imaging Devotional Theologies Kenneth R. Valpey; Devotion in Art, Craft and Textiles Jaya Jaitly; Popular Expressions of Devotion Devdutt Pattanaik; Collection A to M; Artists; Glossary; Bibliography; Index. Volume II: Foreword – Prof. Lokesh Chandra; Essays: Dashavatara:The Ten Incarnations of Vishnu Steven J. Rosen; Archetypal Imagery in Neo-Tantric Painting Madhu Khanna; Syncretic Culture and Islam Mushirul Hasan; Vernacular Art: Work, Leisure and Devotion in Rurban India Annapurna Garimella; Methods and Materials of Traditional Painting Desmond Lazaro; Iti-iti: Multiple Contemporaries in Sacred Indian Art Sushma K. Bahl; Collection N to Z; Artists; Cartographic Overview: Select Devotional Art and Cultural Centres in India; Credits; Index.

The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the most important protected areas in the Himalayas, one of the World’s great biological realms. The book is intended both as a history and an ecological overview of the Park and as a plea for continuing conservation of the rich legacy of Himalayan plants and animals. In addition to descriptions of the ecology, the book includes local history and culture and a review of current development in the region. The inscription of the Park into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 confirmed the Outstanding Universal Values of the area, which contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of Western Himalayan biological diversity. The pictures, taken by the authors and their collaborators, vividly illustrate the grandeur and diversity of the area. The book has universal appeal: to naturalists, scholars, resource managers, trekkers, arm-chair travelers. Success and failure along the road to creating today’s Park are discussed frankly to inform future management efforts and there are numerous examples of conservation in action that will motivate a new generation of naturalists and ecologists to continue the fight to protect the ecology of the greatest mountains on earth.

Bipasha Choudhury, writer and poet in the English language, living in London for some years, is in Czechoslovakia, as part of a writer’s group – a visit that is set to change her in more ways than one.

This is a time when Czechoslovakia is still a socialist state under Soviet dominion, poised for a major upheaval and change. In this milieu of brewing internal struggle for identity, a life-churning experience awaits Bipasha. Looking for answers outside, Bipasha is about to discover a valuable part of herself to pave a new destiny – in a foreign land, by chance.

The novel is about language and identity that came before the tide of Indian Writing in English that touched India’s shores.

The culmination of five years’ travel with Indian pilgrims, Nostalgia for Eternity takes the reader into the depths of millennia-old spiritual and mystic traditions. It is a stunning visual poem about the timeless human search for transcendence and ultimate truth. Translated literally from the Greek, ‘nostalgia’ means homesickness; spiritually, it is the universal longing for existential peace and completeness – for a final resolution of all life’s conflicts and contradictions. ‘The truth is one,’ taught India’s ancient gurus, ‘the sages call it by many names.’ With breadth and insight unmatched by any other publication, Nostalgia for Eternity illustrates the worlds of pilgrims seeking that transcendent truth and illuminates the different paths that they travel. Through evocative, complex images we enter the secretive realm of Tantric worshippers of the Mother Goddess; and we walk with Sufi pilgrims across the deserts of Rajasthan. Meditative, richly layered photographs reveal the inner world of Bengali Bauls – mystics who worship the human being; and of Sidis – descendants of African saints whose religion merges African ancestor worship with Sufism. Richly annotated text reveals to the reader the deeper symbolic and mythological significance of the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, and syncretic practices explored in the book.