The first to describe in detail a community of potters working for the Jagannatha Temple in Puri, eastern India, Temple Potters of Puri explores the role of the temple servant and how it affects the potters’ understanding of their work and of themselves. As a pilgrimage center of national importance, supported by the patronage of successive regional dynasties and by fervent popular belief, the Jagannatha Temple requires earthenware in great quantities for the creation and distribution of the sacred food that is an integral feature of daily ritual and pilgrimage. Several hundred potters participate as temple servants in maintaining the temple’s ritual cycle by performing their divinely assigned task. This study observes the potters’ technical prowess, sustained by devotion, but also examines the tensions within their relationships to more powerful temple servants and authorities. The role of the potter as temple servant is at once glorious, as demonstrated by texts and personal interpretations of the potters’ divinely-appointed service, and pathetic, as shown in the brutality of caste-based hierarchy and cash-based exchange penetrating the modern temple’s daily operations. The accompanying DVD shows the potters at work and records their skills and products as well as the annual festival that celebrates their role as temple servants.

Empirical evidence is scant and scattered. Between these fragments, historians have filled the voids with legends. Though legends are not evidence per se, they do carry a seed of truth – and hopefully, their incorporation in this volume will inspire new interest in the mystery of the world’s greatest temples. The engineering techniques that allowed ancient civilizations to construct such marvellous edifices have been lost to us for generations. Unfortunately, they have not received the attention they deserve, as relics of human culture and faith. This is especially true for Konark. In The Sun Temple of Konark, the author attempts to separate chaff from grain, utilizing scientific tools and methodologies. The Sun Temple has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the seven wonders of India. This seminal volume is the result of extensive research by the author into not only the history and legends related to the temple, but also the temple structure itself. An engineer and architect by profession, the author examines the temple in great detail. He questions several of the established theories regarding construction in its various stages and forwards his own theories with reasonable conviction. He takes great pains to go into as much detail as possible with regard to each and every portion, monument, and sculpture of the temple. With 415 images and 21 detailed architectural drawings, the book is a treasure trove for any admirer or student of Konark, or a researcher of its art, history, and architecture.

This volume is the first to bring together the V&A Museum’s collection of 19th-century temple hangings from South India, made in the kalamkari style of hand drawing, mordant-dyeing and painting. This is the first time they have been fully illustrated with complete translations of their inscriptions, accompanied by detailed analyses of their narratives. Published in association with the V&A Museum, London, this volume features original research and lavish illustrations.

Introduction: The Ramayana: Contructed, Killed and Brought; Ramayana Chirala; Ramayana Machilipatnam; Ramayana Srikalahasti; Ramayana Srikalahasti (English captions); Ramayana Sri Lanka; Ramayana: Selected Scenes; Balakanda Madurai; Yuddhakanda Madurai; Krishnacharita Coastal Andhra. Two Episodes from the Mahabharata; The Killing of Shishupala Madurai; The Duel between Karna and Arjuna Madurai. Two Ganga Hangings; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Ganga Dupatti Machilipatnam; Mahalakshmi Pithakam Machilipatnam. Introduction to Holy Sites; Sri Subrahmanya Temple, Tiruchendur; Sri Subrahmanyaswami Temple, Tirupparankunram; Sri Ranganathaswami Temple, Srirangam; Alagar Koyil Chittirai Festival; The Life of Christ Srikalahasti; Bibliography; Glossary; Acknowledgements.

This beautifully illustrated book showcases the Hindu and Jain temples of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka built prior to the invasion of peninsular India by the Delhi sultans at the end of the 13th century. Unlike temples in many other parts of India, those of the Deccan are well preserved, with their wealth of figural and decorative carvings miraculously intact. They demonstrate the development of Indian sacred architecture and art over a span of more than 600 years.

Focusing on some 50 historical sites, the Temples of Deccan India begins with artificially excavated “cave” shrines dedicated to various Hindu deities, before proceeding on to examine free-standing Hindu and Jain monuments sponsored by successive rulers of the Deccan. Attention is paid to the beautiful sculptures found on temple basements, walls, brackets and ceilings. Carved in crisp relief, and sometimes even in three dimensions, these carvings are among the greatest glories of Indian stone art. 

Among the featured highlights are the cave temple on the island of Elephanta, with its stupendous representation of three-headed Sadashiva; the colossal, monolithic Kailasa temple at Ellora, a technical feat unsurpassed in the entire history of Indian architecture; the magnificent columned pavilion at Hanamkonda, now currently being reconstructed; and the temple at Belur, with its exquisitely carved female figural brackets. Specially commissioned plans of temple layouts accompany 300+ photographs. and clarify the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan during the centuries covered here. Maps locate the temple sites, while passages of text illuminate the succession of dynasties that governed the Deccan from the 7th to 13th centuries. Educational, accessible and beautifully illustrated, this book will be of interest to anyone fascinated by Indian architecture.

The temples of the Early Chalukyas, dating from the 6th to 8th centuries, are unrivalled in all of India for their comparatively early date and unusually complete condition, the remarkable juxtaposition of their different constructional techniques and building styles, and for the sheer beauty of their figural and decorative carvings. In spite of their appeal and outstanding historical significance, these monuments have until now lacked an adequate publication.

This volume is the first to fully describe and illustrate the architecture and art of the Early Chalukya temples in Badami, and nearby Mahakuta, Aihole and Pattadakal, all situated on or near to the Malprabha River in central Karnataka. Michell’s definitive text is complemented by forty of his measured drawings, which constitute the most thorough graphic documentation ever undertaken. These are accompanied by more than 150 splendid, newly commissioned photographs by Surendra Kumar.

Contents:
Preface; Historical Background; Architecture; Sculpture; Badami; Mahakuta; Aihole; Pattadakal; Maps; Building Chronology; Glossary of Architectural Terms; Glossary of Indian Names; Select Bibliography; Photo Credits; Index.

One hundred masterpieces of European art and arts and crafts of the eighteenth century form a panorama of innovation, design and expert realisation. In their sumptuous design, the porcelain, furniture, bronzes and silver objects are all miracles of the luxury craftsmanship found in court art. Such sophisticated design was the driving force behind the quickly successive styles of classicism, naturalism and the exotic design of the Rococo period.

André-Charles Boulle, Jakob Philipp Hackert, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Alexandre-Jean Oppenordt and Jean-Baptiste François Pater are just some of the renowned artists featured in this catalogue. The artworks are opulently presented, interpreted in detail and arranged according to context. Thus the colourful image of a great era in art emerges, one that relied on creative energy and the power of the imagination.

The founder and patron Reinhard Ernst planned a home for his unique collection; the city of Wiesbaden provided a site in the heart of the city and the Japanese star architect Fumihiko Maki delivered the plans. The result is the Museum Reinhard Ernst for abstract art, an architectural gem, but also a building open to the public and a magnet for the international art public alike. 

HOPSCA, composed of a great number of different functional spaces – hotels, offices, parks, shopping, convention centers and apartments – is a complex which is the periodic product of urban morphology evolution during the rapid process of modernization and urbanization, and has become the inevitable requirement of economic development. A term used to describe integrated developments in urban communities – where people live, work, play and shop in proximity – HOPSCA is emerging as an important piece in China’s urbanization puzzle. It combines urban activities such as office, residence, business, catering, conference, entertainment and so on in an organic way, and forms a complex of multifunction and high efficiency.

This book brings together the excellent design concepts of many well-known design companies in recent years about the HOPSCA all around the world, many projects of which are underway. They will bring new breath and new vitality to urban developments.

Here, for the first time, American architect Roger Vogler examines this great Hindu temple carved downward from the top of a hillside in Maharashtra from the perspective of his fellow architect: the unknown sthapati who actually designed it thirteen centuries ago.

The Kailas’s magnificent sculptures and carved architectural details have all been extensively documented by many eminent scholars. The great volume of space that envelops them (which as every architect knows is designed with fully as much care and purpose as its solid stone) is, however, almost totally absent from their writings, as are the moral and religious messages that lie beneath these stones, hidden in metaphor. Not the least of these are the towering raw cliffs enclosing the temple’s precincts: themselves metaphors for the presence of God.

These absences have led to dozens of misunderstandings and erroneous conclusions regarding the monument itself and the intentions of its designer. Focusing not merely on its stones but on the meanings that lie beneath them as well, this book corrects these misunderstandings and rebuts these errors in the course of an entertaining and revelatory walking tour of the entire temple.

Published in association with Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

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, radicalised 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.

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:

This book highlights 55 outstanding masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland, which were founded in 1850. The works range in date from the Renaissance to the twentieth century and include many of the most famous names in the history of Western art. Artists represented include Botticelli, El Greco, Velàzquez, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Watteau, Monet, Degas, Sargent, Picasso and Braque. In addition, the major figures of the national school, Ramsay, Raeburn and Wilkie, lend a distinctly Scottish flavor to this exceptional selection. All of the paintings are fully illustrated and described in this catalogue authored by the curatorial staff of the Galleries. Michael Clarke, director of the Scottish National Gallery, gives a unique insight into the history of the National Galleries of Scotland as he discusses the development of the Scottish national collection over the last 150 years.

The close relationship between Edvard Munch and the National Gallery of Oslo, today part of the National Museum, is a subject well worthy of a detailed publication.

The first Munch painting acquired by the museum was Night in Nice, purchased in 1891. Today the collection encompasses 57 paintings and 186 works on paper. The paintings include masterpieces such as The Sick Child, The Scream, Madonna, The Girls on the Bridge, and Man in the Cabbage Field. How did the museum come by all these works? And what is the story behind the famous ‘Munch Room’? Answers to these and many other questions can be found in this book, which contains reproductions of all the works in the collection.

The book contains texts by Karin Hindsbo, Nils Messel, Sidsel Helliesen, Gerd Woll, Thierry Ford, Mai Britt Guleng, Øystein Ustvedt, Wenche Volle and Vibeke Waallann Hansen.

Text in English and Norwegian.

Over the past decade, climate litigation has transformed from a niche legal strategy into one of the most powerful forces shaping global climate action. Turning the Tide charts this extraordinary evolution, telling the story of this David and Goliath struggle through 40 landmark cases that have transformed the landscape of climate justice, redefining accountability, justice, and the role of law in confronting the climate crisis.

Edited by leading climate litigator Sophie Marjanac, this book brings together the most significant legal challenges of the last ten years – from the groundbreaking Urgenda decision in the Netherlands, to Indigenous land rights victories, corporate accountability suits, and youth-led actions that have captured the world’s attention.

Each case reveals how courts are compelling governments and corporations to act – and how communities are using the law to demand a livable future.

With striking imagery and expert commentary, Turning the Tide is both a record of how far the climate justice movement has come and a call to action for what lies ahead. A vital resource for lawyers, policymakers, activists, and anyone who believes that the law can be a tool for change.

Pushtimarg, a Vaishnava sect founded by Vallabhacharya in the 15th century, lays great stress on worship of the deity Shrinathji through the joys of life and living and devotion through kirtan (devotional poem-songs), bhog (offerings of sumptuous food and beverages), shringara (offerings of adornment, through dressing and ornamentation), and decoration and painting. The paintings constitute the Nathdwara school, so named because the image of Shrinathji is enshrined in a temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan.

Shringara of Shrinathji catalogs a set of previously unpublished miniature paintings of the Pushtimarg tradition from the collection of late Shri Gokal Lal Mehta. These 60 splendid artworks were executed by Sukhdev Gaur, the mukhia (chief artist) of the temple, during the dynamic stewardship of Tilkayat Govardhanlalji (1862–1934 AD). Documenting the high degree of skill in draughtsmanship, portraiture and in composition, expositions by artist Amit Ambalal accompany the exceptional, high-quality photographic reproductions of these beautiful paintings in this captivating volume.

Nathdwara, located in the Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan, is home to Shrinathji, a 15th-century manifestation of the child-god Krishna holding up Mount Govardhan. Since the establishment of the haveli (temple mansion) in 1671, artists have flocked to the sacred town to adorn the walls where Shrinathji dwells with painted cloth hangings as well as to provide painted icons for the pilgrimage trade. At one time there were hundreds of artists in the service of Shrinathji.

This catalog explores Anil Relia’s comprehensive collection of Nathdwara paintings and sketches, celebrating the wide-ranging talents of various artists. The painters are creators of icons and storytellers of Krishna’s exploits. Krishna lives in their everyday lives permeating their thoughts and guiding their brushes. At the same time, they record important events in temple history and portraits of the people who participated in these affairs.

The paintings that document festivals adhere to a traditional hieratic style, but the artist displays a freer hand in telling the exploits of Krishna. A prominent artist showcased in this collection is Ghasiram Hardev Sharma, a master draughtsman with a penchant for naturalism. He influenced a whole generation of 20th-century artists and is still held in high esteem.

The National Galleries of Scotland comprises three galleries: the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art and the Scottish National Gallery. Together these galleries house one of the finest collections of art to be found anywhere in the world, ranging from the thirteenth century to the present day. Many of the greatest names in Western art are represented by major works, from Titian, Rembrandt and Vermeer through to Picasso, Hockney and Warhol. This lavishly illustrated book contains one hundred of the National Galleries of Scotland s greatest and best-loved treasures. The selection made by the Director-General Sir John Leighton is intended to evoke the special character of the collection at the National Galleries with its distinctive interplay between Scottish and international art as well as the many conversations that it establishes between the art of the past and the present.

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.

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.

Dante (the seventh centenary of whose death is being marked in 2021), the author of one of the greatest works of European literature, has also inspired a wealth of images which, themselves, continue to shape our perceptions of the poet as visionary; of romantic love and political corruption; and of hell and salvation, whether understood in the context of this world or another. At the core of the Comedy and of its related visual images is the emblematic significance of the lives of individual persons.

Dante may be considered the inventor of our modern ideas of fame and celebrity. He was the first person who, though of no particular distinction in the world – a mere poet – became a celebrity in his own lifetime. And in the Comedy, Dante made famous individuals about whom we should otherwise know nothing. For the first time, poetry turned obscurities into household names – the doomed adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca; Ciacco the glutton; the gentle personality of La Pia. The radical democracy of Dante’s perspective had no precedent. 

Dante also questioned the significance and value of worldly fame. His reflection on the human desire for notoriety is paradigmatic for our own society of spectacle, in which (as Andy Warhol predicted) ‘everyone will be world-famous for five minutes’. Dante himself was keenly aware of religious warnings about the futility of worldly vanity; yet he arrived at a personal conviction that the earthly fame of the poet could none the less be a force for good. 

This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt’s fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate – and sometimes eccentric – enthusiam for Rembrandt’s works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history. In this book, some of the world’s leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt’s paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt’s reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves.

The story of Rembrandt’s profound and inspirational impact on the British imagination is illustrated by over 130 sumptuous works by the master himself, as well as by some of Britain’s best-loved artists, including William Hogarth, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Eduardo Paolozzi and John Bellany.

Foreword; Introduction; 1 Rembrandt’s Fame in Britain, 1630 1900: An Overview- Christian Tico Seifert; 2 Rembrandt and Britain: The Modern Era – Patrick Elliott; 3 ‘The Finest Possible State’: Cataloguing and Collecting Rembrandt’s Prints, c.1700 1840 – Stephanie S. Dickey; 4 From Studio to Academy: Copying Rembrandt in Eighteenth-century Britain – Jonathan Yarker; 5 Regarding Rembrandt: Reynolds and Rembrandt – Donato Esposito; 6 Rembrandt: Paragon of the Etching Revival – Peter Black; 7 Rembrandt and Britain: A ‘Picture Flight’ in Three Stages, 1850 1930 – M.J. Ripps; Catalogue; Bibliography.

Giovanni Morelli changed the way we look at art. Before Morelli (1816-1891), the attribution of a painting to a particular artist or school was often based on overall impression, hearsay, even gut feeling. But Morelli, having trained as a medical doctor to look closely at anatomical detail, applied scientific rigor to understanding the works of masters such as Titian, Leonardo, and Raphael, and of other Renaissance and Baroque painters. By closely scrutinising, analysing and comparing details overlooked by most other collectors, critics, and curators, his radical ‘Morellian method’ became the basis of modern art connoisseurship. A proud Italian of Swiss Protestant heritage, Morelli was also a staunch patriot. He risked his life in the Italian Wars of Independence, and was elected four times to the parliament of the newly unified nation. In 1873 he was nominated senator for life. As a statesman he fought for his homeland’s cultural patrimony: at a time when many of Italy’s great art collections were being snapped up by foreign collectors and museums, he introduced some of the world’s first legislation to prevent their loss to the nation. The Life of Giovanni Morelli in Risorgimento Italy is the first full biography of this important figure, including his romantic friendships with remarkable women such as Clementina Frizzoni, Laura Acton Minghetti (wife of the Italian prime minister), and Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria and subsequently empress of Germany). At his death he bequeathed his art collection to the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the birthplace of his mother, a city he loved.

Another England is the second chapter in Phillip Toledano’s ongoing exploration of “historical surrealism.” Through a series of meticulously imagined fictions—where jellyfish light Devonshire streets, Thatcher’s face looms from the cliffs of Dover, and foxes form insurgent armies—the book reconstructs an alternate national memory. Created in collaboration with AI, the work mirrors our age of synthetic truth: a Britain both familiar and fantastical, where nostalgia and invention blur until history itself becomes performance. Toledano’s images are haunting, cinematic, and darkly humorous—each frame a plausible impossibility that probes the nation’s uneasy relationship with identity, empire, and myth. As with Another America, this new volume continues his visual archaeology of the invented past, inviting us to question not only what we remember, but who is doing the remembering.