In 1751, John Holker (1719-1786), an English textile manufacturer exiled in France, undertook an industrial espionage mission to England to collect samples of English textiles on behalf of the French king, Louis XV. On his return, the samples were assembled in a manuscript volume, which is now preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Each sample in this album is accompanied by a handwritten technical description specifying the quality of the fabric, its price, its dimensions and the manufacturing processes. This album is famous for preserving the oldest identifiable samples of jean fabric.

Completely bilingual, the book includes a facsimile reproduction of the album, accompanied by a transcription of its handwritten text and a dozen essays. The essays, written by academics, curators and specialists from France, Britain and North America, explore the album from various angles: the globalization of commerce, the slave trade, industrial espionage, economic rivalry between France and England, the taste for cotton and its role in the history of fashion, etc. The book demonstrates the importance of centuries-old links between France and the United Kingdom and is an indispensable work of reference for the history of textiles.

Text in English and French.

The famed Bengal textiles which once ‘clothed the world’ have received little scholarly attention. With the systemic destruction of Bengal’s textile industry, prompted by the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the muslins and Balucharis of Bengal were lost in obscurity. The partition of the Indian subcontinent and the consequent varieties of cultural and social identity in present-day India and Bangladesh have contributed to this neglect. This pioneering publication explores in depth the lost textile traditions of Bengal from the 16th to the 20th century and traces its impact on the historical and cultural aspects of the region.

Supported by superb illustrations of textiles, maps and trade documents from the past, most of which have never been published before, the book serves as a public history, with engaging chapters presenting a unique perspective on the textiles of wider Bengal. This volume will inspire the reader, reorient scholarly attention and provoke a rethinking of the nature and history of Bengal textiles. 

From the mythical De Dion Bouton Type K1 to the Delahaye, from the Jeep Willys to the combi Volkswagen, from the Mercedes Benz to the Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500, from the Aston Martin DB7 to the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, and from the Austin Mini to the Range Rover.

A hundred years of innovation, inventiveness and triumphs are condensed in this book, which reads as easily as a novel, and is illustrated with a rich and rare iconography.

“The photos here are undeniably spectacular — but the exploration of the costume ball’s history is worth sticking around for, too.”  —Natural Diamonds

Tiaras have always inspired a great fascination and the most beautiful and influential women have been painted, photographed and admired whilst wearing them. Even in the 21st century they are still worn and continue to inspire special poise, elegance and sophistication. 
This lavishly illustrated book includes exclusive photographs, many repro­duced for the first time, of a variety of Royal tiaras together with those of French and Russian Imperial provenance, including four stunning tiaras designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. Geoffrey Munn has also been granted privileged access to the archives of many famous jewelers, including Boucheron, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels and Fabergé, for his research. 
The regal images of some of the most prestigious jewels in the world will captivate the reader and ensure turning the page to the next enticing image becomes irresistible. Many of these mes­merizing tiaras also have great historical signifi­cance and their provenance is fully explained here. Among the con­temporary pieces referred to are tiaras belonging to Jamie Lee Curtis, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John and Madonna, that were made by Galliano, Slim Barratt and Versace.
The scholarly text, which incorporates more than 400 illustrations, includes chapters on tiaras as crown jewels, Russian style tiaras, tiaras as works of art and the relationship between the tiara and the costume ball. Tiaras – A History of Splendour is a magnificent work that will enthral all those interested in fashion and style, jewelry, European history and Royalty.
“… beautifully written and magnificently produced… for anyone interested in social history, it’s as good a read as you are likely to have this year.” Daily Telegraph
“A truly majestic book” Antiques Info
“… elegantly melds social history, fashion criticism and an appreciation of the jeweler’s art.” Town & Country

Nudity, lasciviousness, sensuality, provocation, shamelessness, or obscenity. During the 19th century, eroticism takes on a new place in Western visual culture, in particular thanks to the development of reproduction such as photography, press or lithography.

Result of long and meticulous research, this book reviews the major reflections carried out on the theme of nudity in the field of art history and the history of sensibilities. It studies the reception of nudity in France, based on documentary and iconographic sources renewed (little-known works, drawings and photographs, newspapers, archives, texts of laws) and allows us to better understand this history of erotic art of the nineteenth century, long perpetuated by the sole taste of description.

By placing the works in their context, by comparing expressions and aesthetics, and studying visual culture of time, Claire Maingon opens up new fields of reflection, while allowing to discover unknown or forgotten artists such as Broc, Gavarni, Dubufe, Galimard, Ranft, Eakins, alongside the big names in the history of 19th century, David, Ingres, Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Rodin.

Text in French.

The book offers an unprecedented look at cigarette holders through a selection of approximately 125 pieces from the collection of Carolyn Hsu-Balcer. Its introductory essay is both a social history of that world-changing leaf, tobacco, and a design history of its accoutrements. It examines the history of smoking from its pre-Columbian roots in the Americas through to the present-day worldwide e-cigarette craze, taking the reader on a journey from tobacco smoking as a sacred ritual, through the controversies of its worldwide spread, and the machine-rolled cigarette’s role in the world wars and as a tool for European and American women’s equality.

Following the illustrated essay is a luxurious catalogue of newly commissioned photography that makes these diminutive objects pop off the pages with brilliant color and form. The collection includes cigarette holders in their simplest incarnations – the disposable promotional holders given away at trendy New York nightclubs – to their most exquisite – the work of Fabergé, Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels and other renowned jewelers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Contents:
Foreword by Carolyn Hsu-Balcer; Introduction; Chapter 1: Tobacco’s Journey from the New World to the Old: Medicine and Pleasure; Chapter 2: The Rise of Cigarette Culture: The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries; Chapter 3: Smoking, Sociability, and a New Modern Era: From the First World War to the Second; Chapter 4: The Cigarette Holder’s Peak and Fall: A New Culture of Smoking; Catalog; Appendix: Materials Used in Cigarette Holders; Acknowledgments; Photo Credits.

More than four centuries ago, the small Republic of the United Netherlands embarked on an economic boom. Contacts were established with the four corners of the world. Many of these centuries-old relationships have left traces in museums and archives, in the open fields or in the city, in stories and in pictures. Footsteps and Fingerprints, the Legacy of a Shared History presents an image of the legacy the contacts between Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Russia, Sri Lanka, Surinam and South Africa have produced over the last 400 years. Various ‘top pieces’ and other remarkable items designated Mutual Cultural Heritage are described: from Vingboons’ View of Table Bay, Henkes Schnapps in Ghana to the Dutch Church in St Pertersburg.

“Quickly being recognised as the most comprehensive guide to Irish whiskey.” – Gary Quinn, The Irish Times

“A must read book for any fan of Irish whiskey. At a time when the category is making the mightiest of comebacks Fionnán O’Connor has written a gem of a book, digging deep in to the heart of his country’s whiskey history and telling its story with style and authority. Excellent.” – Dominic Roskrow, Founding Director, The Craft Distillers Alliance

Irish single pot still whiskey has a romantic mystique for many whiskey critics because of its tragic history as the lost sister of single malt scotch. Ireland’s history and politics resulted in the near-annihilation of the national drink and there’s an almost eerie beauty to the silent distilleries that still dot the Irish countryside. These distilleries inform the aesthetic of the title and, indeed, there is visual poetry in the barrels, pot stills and photogenic amber spirits that convey the Irish whiskey world. Although Irish whiskey is currently the fastest-growing global spirits category and Irish pure pot still has long been a favorite drink among whiskey critics and connoisseurs, the existing literature is still surprisingly sparse. This book illustrates the production, history, and appreciation of Irish pot still whiskey and will introduce casual drinkers to the richness of these whiskeys as well as being a collector’s item for established whiskey connoisseurs.

A rich and deeply personal journey into the labyrinth of the Thai past, following spectres and vanished landmarks across present day Bangkok. Chariot of the Sun relates the history of Siam to that of the author’s family story; the Bunnags came from Persia in the early 17th century and through daring, cunning and good fortune were to hold commanding positions of power during the 19th century.

Shane Bunnag’s family saga weaves an ancient prophecy with Siamese history to give us a rich and deeply personal account of both his own family and Thai history.

“Shane Bunnag’s artful merging of text and photographs creates an alternative history of Thailand laced with nostalgia and laden with stories – an evocative, dream-like foray into the past that is both enchanting and enlightening.” – Emma Larkin, author of Finding George Orwell in Burma

Jan Steen, one of the most popular painters of the Dutch Golden Age, is known for his humorous depictions of dissolute households, tavern interiors, quacksalvers and love-sick young women. He was unrivalled in poking fun at every conceivable human weakness and vice. A lesser known fact is that he also painted historical scenes: pieces based on episodes from the Bible, apocryphal writings and mythology – stories full of excitement, drama and passion. As with his genre pieces, Steen devoted a great deal of attention in his history paintings to the interaction between the figures, and was keenly aware of the satirical possibilities in every story. In contrast with his later image, Jan Steen was a versatile and ambitious artist with a profound knowledge of art history and literature: knowledge that comes to the fore in his history pieces. This richly illustrated publication, written by experts on Jan Steen, focuses on a little-known part of the artist’s oeuvre.

Contents: Introduction, followed by three essays on Jan Steen’s history pieces, and a selected catalog of the most important paintings featuring biblical and mythological subjects.

The book will be published to accompany the eponymous exhibition at the Mauritshuis, The Hague, the Netherlands.

A vivid portrait of much-loved artist, Joan Eardley, and her relationship with the Scottish coastal fishing village, Catterline. 

Joan Eardley, one of Scotland’s most loved artists, first visited the coastal fishing village of Catterline in north-east Scotland in 1951. It sparked a fascination that would last the rest of her life. 

She made the village her home and found inspiration in the dramatic light and rapidly changing weather. The gentle landscapes and wild rolling seascapes she painted there in wind, snow, rain and sunshine are among her best-loved works. 

Focussing on Eardley’s relationship with Catterline, this book includes previously unpublished archival material as well as specially conducted interviews with many of those in the village who knew her, shedding new light on Eardley’s life and artistic practice. A vivid portrait is painted both of Eardley and of the village, showing the vital part Catterline played in her development as an artist. 

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

During the cherry blossom season of April 1924, 100 years ago, on his only trip to the Land of the Rising Sun, Alfred Baur, an extraordinary entrepreneur and founder of the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva, was charmed to discover the sparkling poetry of the “images of the floating world” (ukiyo-e), combined with the landscapes of the great masters of the print and the delightful motifs found throughout the objects in his superb collection of Japanese art.

Echoing his taste and pioneering spirit, and as part of the celebrations marking the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Japan, this book, thanks to contributions from leading specialists in the fields of handicrafts and textiles, takes an in-depth historical, technical and comparative look at the desire for lightness that underpins the aims, aesthetics and meaning of the work of Michiko Uehara, a virtuoso weaver.

In her studio bathed in the subtropical sunshine of Okinawa, in the archipelago in the far south of Japan where she was born and which is renowned for its textiles, she succeeds in pushing the material to the very edge of nothingness, weaving and dyeing sublime fabrics in three-denier threads*, as fine and transparent as “a dragonfly’s wing” (akezuba in the local language).

This bonding relationship – combining the physical and the spiritual – which links Uehara to silk fibers and more generally to nature itself, gives rise to “woven air”, as she puts it: an aerial, rhythmic journey, free of borders and attuned to living things.

As this book suggests, this quest is not unrelated to some of the research carried out by Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard, whose solar aircraft, a giant, silent dragonfly whose carbon-fiber ribs combine extreme strength and lightness, intelligently weaves a harmonious path between humanity, earth and sky…

* The Denier (Den) is a measure of continuous thread, i.e. its weight in grams per 9000 metres of thread; i.e. 1 Den = 1 gr./9000m of thread

Text in English and French.

“Photography should not reproduce the visible; it should make the invisible visible.” – Franco Fontana

Italian photographer Franco Fontana (b.1933), a pioneer of color photography, is best known for his boldly colored abstract landscapes, seascapes, and cityscapes.

This book features previously unpublished and experimental images from his archive alongside some of his best-known works. Over the 60 years of his career, Franco Fontana photographed that which cannot be seen, and was able to capture images abstracted from reality, independent of the subject portrayed. This meticulously compiled volume is dedicated to those who are approaching this artist’s practice for the first time, as well as to those who wish to go deeper into his work by exploring these previously invisible spaces which the sensitive eye of the photographer has glimpsed and translated into a unique and unprecedented image.

Text in French.

Covering four decades of photography the book serves as a stunning snapshot of Beckman’s significance in the world of art, photojournalism, music, fashion, and popular culture – but most prevalently, it’s a testament of her unique ability to extract beauty from the outliers of society. With written contributions from Beckman’s peers including academia’s Jason King, Chair of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music & Vivien Goldman author & professor at NYU; journalists Vikki Tobak, and co-founder of PAPER, Kim Hastreiter; visual artist Cey Adams; music legends Sting, Run DMC, Paul Weller, Salt-n-Pepa, Belinda Carlisle, and Slick Rick; and fashion’s Dapper Dan, Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, Levi’s Chad Hinson – From Punk to Dior showcases Janette Beckman’s influence in her realm. In addition to publishing five books, Janette Beckman’s work has been exhibited in galleries worldwide and is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Museum of the City of New York, and the British National Portrait Gallery. She is represented by the Fahey Klein Gallery.

The extraordinary life of Barbara Cartlidge (b. 1922 in Berlin) – influential gallerist, curator, jewelry artist and author – together with the history of her legendary Electrum Gallery, which she founded in 1971 with Ralph Turner in London, are documented for the first time in a single publication. Pioneers and colleagues as well as around seventy internationally renowned artists of the gallery all have their say and, in anecdotes and recollections, countless illustrations and hitherto unpublished images, tell of a strong and resolute woman and the significance of her gallery as a promoter and platform for the understanding of contemporary art jewelry. Particular attention is paid to the life of Barbara Cartlidge, who fled from Germany in 1938. For over fifty years she was a driving force in what she described as the ‘the brotherhood of jewelers who make modern and thought-provoking jewelry all over the world’.

Chosen for the 59th Venice Biennale, to represent contemporary creation at the Lebanese pavilion Ayman Baalbaki is a Lebanese artist born in Beirut in 1975. He first trained at the Institute of Fine Arts of the university Lebanese school in Beirut, then at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris. Five years after his arrival in France, he received the silver medal in painting at the Francophone Games and then participated in several exhibitions worldwide. Lebanon, France, Great Britain, Argentina, Egypt and Niger are all countries that welcome the works of the artist.

His productions of the last 10 years have been compiled through this unpublished work, published in French, English and Arabic. The authors endeavor to decipher his paintings and installations, crossed by societal issues specific to Lebanon: war, abortive revolt, political and financial bankruptcy, the tragedy of the port of Beirut or even pandemic. The artist paints anonymous portraits of his contemporaries, which have today become symbols of the Middle East. It represents the city, its buildings, erected, but also in ruins. His art is vibrant, dynamic and textured.

Text in English, French and Arabic.

There are many ways to perceive and interpret contemporary craft objects – for instance, as works of representational art in materials like ceramics, glass, textile, metal or wood, or as functional, handmade everyday objects. In this publication, the editors have invited different voices in craft theory to investigate the perception of contemporary craft as a particular discourse and aesthetic vocabulary. According to the editors, contemporary crafts can benefit from being discussed as representations of reality that do not rely on the concept of autonomy. As such, neither do they rely on the conventional dualism between aesthetic objects and everyday things. The authors investigate the possibility to perceive craft objects from perspectives that relate to the aesthetic tradition of materialism.

This beautifully illustrated monograph chronicles the architecture of David C. Hovey, FAIA, and his influence on the discipline, as well as the story of his life and career. David Hovey founded Optima in 1978, with the goal of reinventing multifamily housing by combining development and design in a single company. Over the forty-plus years the company has existed, Hovey has built nearly 6,000 residential units. In the process, he has elevated the design of a building type that has, with a few exceptions, been left to developers to produce indifferent work. He challenges the market with something better, something worthy of enfolding families and individuals. Hovey is a modernist, steadfast in his belief in the future, in technology, in material honesty, in structural expression, and in architecture’s ability to improve the lives of people. His work has captured attention, winning critical acclaim as well as many national and regional awards for architecture. The dozen representative projects in this book range from single-family homes to towers and from the company’s early years to the present. Also showcased is Hovey’s work as an abstract sculptor, whose monumental work is installed at some of the multifamily projects examined here. A serious art collector of mostly twentieth-century art, Hovey’s acquisitions are detailed in an illustrated catalog at the end of the book.

The Alice and Louis Koch Collection of finger rings was originally collated by a jeweler from Frankfurt am Main, once described as the German ‘Cartier and Fabergé’. By 1909 the collection comprised 1,722 rings from Antiquity to 1900. Rene Lalique, a contemporary of the time, was included, undoubtedly as a modernizer of the ring form. In the past twenty-five years the fourth generation of the family continued where Louis Koch and his wife Alice left off and expanded the collection to include rings from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This publication will present the complete collection of contemporary rings, now kept in the Swiss National Museum, Zurich. Nearly 600 rings by artist jewelers from around the world document how these miniature works of art have become modern sculptures showcasing new materials and techniques, daring designs and current themes.

Text in English and German.

Sverre Bjertnæs is considered one of the leading contemporary Norwegian artists today. He himself often refers to his body of works as a fragmented ‘stream of images’ collected from art history, vernacular culture and his own life.

This authoritative monograph on the artist features his oeuvre from the 1990s to the present day, with more than 200 illustrations. The book presents the full range of Bjertnæs’s works, covering painting and drawing as well as sculpture and the tableaux installations he has developed in later years. Bjertnas embraces the conceptual approaches of photorealism as well as merging figurative and abstract painting, and experimenting with the use of new media.

Exhibition at the Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum, Tønsberg (NO), 29 April – 8 September 2019.

Text in Norwegian.