Sculptures of Stones by Ronny Delrue depict female statues that are either made of bricks or covered with masonry-like patterns. They form a critical riposte to the heroic male statues of former leaders that are scattered around our cities. Furthermore, the forms also broaden our prior knowledge of the depiction of figures in the public sphere. Sculptures of Stones shows drawing to be a form of spontaneous expression. It offers an alternative to the all-pervasive means of instant communication that govern the world today, namely digital tools and social media systems. Delrue’s drawings are both action and representation. Unlike the electronic devices, a drawing redeems the option of an unmediated, direct action and reflection in and on the world. It re-positions the function of the artist as a free, sovereign subject, who touches the world and is ready to participate and influence history.

English, Dutch and French.

Graphic Design of Scheld’Apen is a colorful and punchy poster archive book; a shining star for anyone who loves typography, graphic design, drawing and creative archive material. 

Two artists / musicians from Antwerp worked together for two years, coordinating the poster archive of a former music and art venue in Antwerp called Scheld’Apen, an underground, rough and raw artist center where many creatives came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For each event, a fantastically cool and experimental poster was made and thanks to Benny and Bent, we have a publication that brings this energetic and legendary archive together.

Curator Marc Donnadieu turns his critical gaze on Tornabuoni Art gallery’s post-war masterpieces and proposes a project based around the notion of creative destruction; a way of making that led to a total renewal of art in the aftermath of the Second World War. The exhibition is articulated around a simple alphabet, where 25 works by 22 Italian and international artists are assembled in a trilingual alphabet, with each letter introducing an artist and a disruptive action to which he or she has subjected the artwork: Enrico Baj “attacks” and Alberto Burri “burns”, while Arman “vandalizes” and Tancredi “zigzags”. This list, which is by no means exhaustive, is merely the starting point for an infinite repertoire of iconoclastic artists and verbs.

The curator also pays homage to one of Tornabuoni Art’s most beloved artists: Alighiero Boetti, whose apparently playful works allow us to confront deep philosophical issues. Opening 30 years to the day since the artist’s death, An alphabet of order and disorder looks outwards to the world and to a new generation confronted with its uncertainties.

Text in English and French.

These pages tell the story without words of a journey through Spain in which the author, the photographer Fernando Manso, visited unknown and hidden corners and captured them on the plates of his large-format camera. From the remotest parts of Galicia to those of Almería, he passed through coasts, deserts and mountains, stopping at old churches, ghostly castles or majestic cathedrals, in forests and gorges, at natural pools and salt mines, and at cemeteries, Arab baths and hermitages carved out of the rock.

Fernando has made the light of these places into the leading figure of his journey. His is a different light, as he has relinquished blue skies and brilliant sunshine, often the stuff of clichés, to make way for visions of places that appear to us with such intimate truth that even if we know them, we can barely recognize them. This is thanks to his technique, his art and the patience with which he waits for the light.

Fernando’s luxury is being able to use all the time in the world to draw us into an artistic heritage that is sometimes secret and hard to reach, and which the viewer has to know how to see. He reveals these places, often in danger of disappearing, after detailed investigation. Both architecture and landscape – for he knows that natural scenery is also a major patrimony that has to be affectionately preserved and protected from speculation – belong to all of us, and we are responsible for their care. We must be aware of this.

The result of that trip is this publication, with beautiful images in reproductions of exceptional quality that present us with a vision of Spain in a different light.

An artist travels to Communist China to learn the secrets of Chinese ink painting
Was it really reasonable to drop everything overnight and go off alone into the depths of Communist China in search of the forgotten secrets of ancient Chinese art? Fabienne Verdier never stopped to ask herself: in the early 1980s, the brilliant young Beaux-Arts student thought of nothing else but her desire to learn the art of painting and calligraphy – something that had been devastated by the Cultural Revolution.
And when, a foreigner in the province of Sichuan, she found herself in an art school run by the Party, she was determined to adjust to the situation: the language and the mistrust of the Chinese, the unbearable lack of privacy, the poverty and disease and an inquisitorial administrative system. Blocking the West from her mind, Fabienne Verdier became the pupil of great artists working at the margins of society, who introduced her to the secrets and techniques of an age-old art form.
This unique experience amounted to a true adventure story, leading eventually to Verdier’s fascinating artistic practice that combines east Asian inspiration with contemporary painting. Passenger of Silence, an autobiographical travel journal by turns gripping and wholly moving, is an expanded English edition of the original French language text published by Albin Michel in 2005. New color photographs supplement the already richly illustrated volume, with over 100 images alongside a newly written glossary of aesthetic terms.

This delightful manuscript, published in facsimile, was composed around 1585 by a clergyman in a bid for the patronage of an Elizabethan magnate, Sir John Petre. Modeled on printed writing books, German and French, it presents a profusion of scripts, accompanying decorated capital letters from A to Z. Its texts are eloquent on the value of learning. All is transcribed in print and, when needed, translated, including poems in English and Latin in which Amos Lewis, the creator, presses his case, reinforced by colorful Petre heraldry. The commentary unravels the Alphabet Book’s precursors and analyzes its ingredients, including a lively range of ornament. The first writing book published in London, in 1570, was by a Frenchman, Jean de Beau Chesne. Lewis’s manuscript is the first attempt at an original writing book by an Englishman. This signal rarity, virtually unknown hitherto, is a window into handwriting and education in the age of Shakespeare.

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.

Visions of Paradise: American Wilderness is a singular, timeless publication — a photographic tour de force celebrating the extraordinary majesty and rich legacy of America’s wild places, as seen through the eyes of one of the country’s foremost wilderness photographers, Jon Ortner, and conveyed through the transcendent medium of black-and-white film. Ortner has always been fascinated with the natural world, particularly as an avid hiker in the American wilderness. This luxurious book collects in a large format his inspiring landscape images, forming a passionate tribute to the American wilderness. In this sensational portfolio of 200 black-and-white images, Ortner has rediscovered and reinterpreted the compelling beauty of many of his most cherished wilderness locations with remarkable portrayals of their sublime, dramatic, tranquil, and transcendent aspects. Join Ortner as he guides us through his visions of paradise.

Signed, numbered special edition, slip cased, with signed landscape print (measuring 28 x 23 mm), and limited to 200 copies.

Photographing Civil Disobedience: Bombay 1930–31 brings together an interdisciplinary conversation around a rare collection of documentary photographs compiled in a historical album held in the Alkazi Collection of Photography, New Delhi. The album features 245 black-and-white images that capture the extraordinary history of the Civil Disobedience Movement in Bombay (now Mumbai), when the city’s cosmopolitan streets came alive with anti-colonial protests, processions, and propaganda—from the leading role played by the desh sevikas (members of a nationalist women’s organization) to the violent crackdown of police lathis (bamboo or wooden sticks) on non-violent demonstrators.

Focusing on the sea of ordinary people participating in public events, the essays in the volume engage with this remarkable visual archive that captures on camera the streets of Bombay turning into sites of anti-colonial and nationalist assertion. This book will be of interest to scholars of gender and women’s studies, urban studies, screen and visual studies, consumer history, as well as the material history of colonial India. 

Maps that Made History is like a 1000-year-long journey around the world; every one of the carefully selected maps featured here has influenced the course of history in some way. This beautifully illustrated book gathers 100 marvelous old maps, each with a fascinating story to tell, from a 12th century Persian world atlas to a Soviet spy map. These maps were used to resolve conflicts, situate battles, construct a road or a canal, establish important shipping routes, even as propaganda tools. All the maps are reproduced in an oversized format, while accompanying text from an experienced team of historians explains the importance of each one.

Zaha Hadid’s gift to the world was a creative genius that captured the collective imagination and influenced designers to challenge the perceived limits that were once imposed by both aesthetics and engineering. Her sudden death in 2016 shocked the global architecture community and the public alike, inspiring a commitment to maintain her passion to create built spaces and works that are as unique as they are endearing to a fascinated global following. Zaha Hadid Architects maintains its commitment to her ideals of fluidity, innovation, originality and organic progression. This practice is driven by the development of rigorous interfaces between natural topographies, human-made systems and innovative technologies that have resulted in almost 1000 landmark projects across the globe. With signature sophistication in the design, and superbly creative structures, Zaha Hadid led her firm to create transformative, cultural, corporate and residential spaces that entered into complete synchronicity with their surrounding environment. Inspired by the shared ideas and prominent for its breadth of practice, and beautifully packaged with detailed drawings, rich photography and insightful commentary, this exquisite book showcases and celebrates the intelligent design approach of the firm under the direction of one of the world’s most extraordinary and iconic leaders in the fields of architecture, design and urbanism.

“When the pre-eminent portrait photographer of the day met the Cockney kid dominating the London film scene, magic was made.” — Australian Women’s Weekly Icons

“Caine, the timeless gentleman.”  — Diego Armes, GQ Portugal

“The engaging images are either black and white or in color and therefore perfectly show all facets of the actor. A wonderful book about a very special and remarkable actor! 5 Stars!” — Lovely Books

“I had to be an actor,” Michael Caine once said. “[…] And of course, you have to remember with me, the alternative was a factory.”

A working-class actor who broke through to stardom, Caine’s screen-time involves standout performances across multiple genres. To this day, he is synonymous with a certain kind of urbane cool. No camera has captured this quality over the decades better than that of his collaborator and long-time friend, Terry O’Neill.

Michael Caine: Photographed by Terry O’Neill offers an immersive visual journey through Michael Caine’s career, immortalizing Caine’s charm both in and out of character. Caine occupies a landmark position in cinema and O’Neill was there from the early days of his stellar career. From the comedy of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to the European drama of Seven Times A Woman; from the miasma of The Magus to the British cult classic Get Carter, this book combines black and white and color images and includes never-before-seen contact sheets.

Featuring the following films: Mona Lisa, Midnight in Saint Petersburg / Bullet to Beijing, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Blue Ice, Without a Clue, Get Carter, Deadfall, Magus, Woman Times Seven, Funeral in Berlin.

“Now you can learn about and enjoy the big redo at ground level… “ — The Seattle Times

“This technical book pairs vintage tokens of remembrance—like midcentury blueprints and construction photos—with modern renderings of the tower, giving context to Olson Kundig’s plan for the since-completed upper deck.” — Architectural Digest
Originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the Space Needle quickly became an international icon of the Pacific Northwest and a symbol of Seattle. At the time of its construction, the tower pointed the way toward the future with a sense of optimism, possibility, and invention. In its 55th year, the Space Needle is again representing an enhanced future with the Century Project, a holistic renovation of the upper levels led by Olson Kundig that repositions the iconic tower for its next fifty years. New Heights: Transforming Seattle’s Iconic Space Needle documents this latest chapter of the Space Needle’s story with an in-depth look at the innovations, challenges, and triumphs realized by the client and project team, as seen through the eyes of the architects.

This beautifully illustrated book of avant-garde art furniture design highlights a generation of creators whose energy and vision made a break with the past. Profiled here are Mark Brazier-Jones, Franck Evennou, Elizabeth Garouste, Marco de Gueltzl, Hubert Le Gall, Thierry Peltrault, Laurence Picot, Andrea Salvetti, and Claude de Wulf. All have been represented since the 1980s by Elisabeth Delacarte, whose Galerie Avant-Scène in Paris continues its mission of promoting these and other extraordinary furniture and jewelry designers to this day.

Text in English and French.

Issam Kourbaj was born and grew up in Syria before settling in Cambridge in 1990. Following the uprising in Syria in 2011, Kourbaj has been a constant creative witness to the continuing conflict in his home country, his art increasingly addressing the endemic pain and suffering that accompanies displacement and forced migration everywhere. Published to accompany two substantial solo exhibitions at Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge and The Heong Gallery, Downing College, Cambridge, Issam Kourbaj explores the life and work of an artist characterized by collaboration and endless curiosity. Kourbaj’s art is expressive and alive, suggesting even in the darkest hours the potential for change and renewal.

“How can we grasp the remarkable artistic breadth of Issam Kourbaj? Here is an art so full of invention and purpose that its images and ideas reverberate well beyond the walls of any gallery. Kourbaj’s achievement is to make us look, pause and imagine. Engaging with his acute and powerful work makes us consider our responsibility for the conditions of others on our shared planet” – Andrew Nairne, Director of Kettle’s Yard

With his Indian vision and French sens de la plastique coalescing to create a unique modernism, S. H. Raza has been a master of colors, concepts and creativity. From his early expressionist works to the mesmerizing abstraction of his later years, Raza’s artistic evolution is a testimony to his relentless pursuit of truth through color and form.

As an artist, Raza moved through many dualities, namely home and exile, color and concept, imagination and thought, modernity and memory, creativity and invention, locale and universality, passion and meditation, anxiety and silence, time and eternity. His journey is a testament to the power of artistic vision and cultural amalgamation.

Raza: The Other Modern celebrates the artist’s outstanding body of work and invites the viewer to explore the depth of his artistic genius. One of the most significant exhibitions of Raza’s work to be held in Dubai, it is a quest through the evolving phases of Raza’s life and artistic endeavors.

Molluscs are extraordinary builders; indeed, their architectural skills are almost unparalleled in the animal world. Who among us has failed to marvel at the wonderful structure of the smallest shell picked up on the beach? Some enthusiasts collect them throughout their lives – attracted by their beauty if they are aesthetes, or sought out for scientific purposes, as in the case of Jacques Senders. In this book, Paul Starosta’s spectacular photographs take the reader on a journey through this astounding collection, first started 50 years ago.

These shells, marvels of nature as they are, naturally suggest exotic or futuristic architecture, ancient or Art Nouveau vases, or even precious stones or volcanic rocks, and reaffirm the importance of nature as a source of inspiration for artists and architects. By celebrating the extraordinary variety and architectural refinement of the shells in Jacques and Rita Senders’s collection, the book reveals a world where nature far surpasses human imagination and invention.

At the end of the volume, miniature photographs are accompanied by scientific information on shells, their life, characteristics and different families.

Despite its trademark transparency, the Corum Golden Bridge is a wristwatch full of mystery. This new book describes the iconic linear timepiece’s fascinating history including the innovative mechanical invention conceived by a nonconformist autodidact and the difficult technical breakthroughs by two like-minded personalities needed to achieve the dream wristwatch. This story, chock-full of narrative substance, begins in Switzerland of the late 1970s, at a time when electronic timekeeping was threatening to overtake the magical mastery of mechanical ticks and tocks. The Golden Bridge, spanning the gap between mechanics and art, is an integral part of this era as luxury watchmaking teetered on the brink of extinction. The Golden Bridge additionally helped usher in the era of the independent watchmaker, as its very creation was rooted in shedding light on the work of the watchmaker in a way that no other timepiece before or after it ever would.

The automobile is the ultimate analog machine and mankind’s most ingenious, seductive and damaging invention. For over a century, cars have provided reference points for our notions of style, status and desire. In design terms, the Age of Combustion was as rich and varied as architecture’s Baroque – and far more popular. And now it is coming to an end, as the internal-combustion engine is superseded by the battery and cars become wheeled computers, running on AI not oil. Together with a wide-ranging introduction, this book reproduces 60 of Stephen Bayley’s popular monthly columns for Octane, the outstanding classic car magazine where, for more than 10 years, he has provided the most consistent and insightful commentary on car culture, often based on privileged access to industry insiders.

The charming painter of Endymion’s Sleep, Atala’s Funeral and Chateaubriand’s Portrait was also a poet. Thanks to his classical education, Girodet (1767-1824) was the author of free translations of ancient Greek and Latin poets.
In 1808 he tried the to imitate and at the same time illustrate the Odes of Anacreon, whose edition was published posthumously. The Musée du Louvre holds the precious manuscript of this intense and complex work, in which the poetic research and graphic invention — compositions or vignettes — intertwine with the text. Only a facsimile could restore this organic whole in its integrity.
This book reconstructs the history of the manuscript, the various stages of the project and the posthumous versions, and analyzes the artist’s aesthetic sources.
Girodet’s handwriting is sometimes difficult to decode, but the complete transcription allows the reader to appreciate all the refinements and to rediscover the charm of Anacreontic poetry.

Text in French.

This book addresses a phenomenon that pervades the field of art history: the fact that English has become a widely adopted language. Art history employs language in a very particular way, one of its most basic aims being the verbal reconstruction of the visual past. The book seeks to shed light on the particular issues that English’s rise to prominence poses for art history by investigating the history of the discipline itself: specifically, the extent to which the European tradition of art historical writing has always been shaped by the presence of dominant languages on the continent.

What artistic, intellectual, and historical dynamics drove the pattern of linguistic ascendance and diffusion in the art historical writing of past centuries? How have the immediate, practical ends of writing in a common language had unintended, long-term consequences for the discipline? Were art historical concepts transformed or left behind with the onset of a new lingua franca, or did they often remain intact beneath a shifting veneer of new words?

Includes 10 essays in English, four in Italian, and one in German. 

Text in English, German and Italian.

“… essential reading for anyone interested in conservation, African history, and the human spirit. It is a moving portrait of a park that continues to inspire global efforts in environmental stewardship, even under the most difficult circumstances.” — Ninu Ninu

“This book is a reminder of the park’s value both in local terms and on a global scale, and why the fight to protect it must continue.” —Outdoor Photography

Virunga National Park, the green lung in the eastern DR Congo, is Africa’s oldest nature reserve. The park is breathtakingly beautiful and offers an unparalleled diversity of ecosystems—from active volcanoes to tropical rain forests, from the glaciers of the Rwenzori peaks to the savannas of Rwindi. It is home to an exceptional array of wildlife, including the world’s last mountain gorillas. Thanks to these unique features, Virunga is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This publication, written by around 40 experts, explores the complex history of this Congolese gem. It sheds light on those who have dedicated themselves to its preservation since 1925, as well as the current teams fighting to address the countless environmental and social challenges in a region plagued by conflict, poverty, and humanitarian crises. Through their efforts, the park has become a catalyst for development and stabilisation of the entire region. The book invites us on a fascinating journey where resilience and innovation serve the park and surrounding communities, continuing to shape the legend of Virunga.

Uncover the stories of 45 female painters and sculptors and their influence on Scottish modern art history. 

In 1885 Sir William Fettes Douglas, President of the Royal Scottish Academy, declared that the work of a woman artist was ‘like a man’s only weaker and poorer’. Yet between 1885, when Fra Newbery was appointed Director of Glasgow School of Art and did much in terms of gender equality amongst his staff and students, and 1965, when Anne Redpath, the doyenne of post-Second World War Scottish painting, died, an unprecedented number of Scottish women trained and worked as artists. 

This book focuses on 45 Scottish female painters and sculptors and explores the conditions that they negotiated as students and practitioners due to their gender. Many of the artists featured are not widely known and so will be a revelation to readers, while others with established reputations are evaluated afresh. 

An essay by Alice Strang and artist entries by twenty-one authors uncover and celebrate women’s contribution to this chapter of Scottish modern art history.