NEW from ACC Art Books – Limited Edition: Sukita: EternityClick here to order

Between 1960 and 1965 Gio Ponti worked on the headquarters of the religious congregation Notre Dame de Sion, located on the Janiculum Hill in Rome. His contribution to the project has been unidentified until recently. In 2014, the building was converted to house the Catholic University of America and the Australian Catholic University. This occasion gave architects of AeV Architetti the opportunity to carry out historical and archival research on the original project, the results of which are presented here. The book is enriched with the addition of detailed original drawings of the furnishings that still exist 50 years after the building was designed.

Text in English and Italian.

This is the catalogue of the 2018 Leeds, UK, exhibition celebrating the tercentenary of Thomas Chippendale’s birth. It covers all 95 exhibits including furniture, drawings, engravings, textiles and wallpaper, together with other contemporary and later material. Each entry is illustrated in color, with supporting images in both color and black and white. Also included are introductory essays to each section of the exhibition, covering Chippendale’s life and career, his furniture styles, his relationships with customers, and his legacy from the 18th century to the present day.

Punjab, and especially Sikh art, has taken multiple forms ranging from scriptural manuscripts, floral adornments to illustrations and illuminations. This family collection showcases varied forms of jewelry, textiles, arms, coinage, along with construction of religious places and monuments. Murals and frescoes, paintings from Mughal, Punjabi and Pahari styles as well as calligraphy; all enhance the culture and add to its beauty. In addition, foreign artists such as Emily Eden, Shoefft, Soltikoff and other Europeans have left their imprint. The Khanuja Family believes encouragement of art is an essential element in enriching cultural heritage, upliftment of the human spirit, which eventually results in understanding, tolerance and interconnecting us all. This collection is a labor of love which started with an interest in listening to the history of Punjab from elders and subsequently reading about it. Over time with the help of Dr P Khanuja’s daughter, Jasleen it evolved into this expensive passion of collecting artifacts and paintings over the last 14 years.

Austin is most definitely weird If by “weird”, you mean quirky, offbeat, intriguing, and utterly lovable. The city shares that uniquely Texan pride of place, and yet it has an independent spirit and character all its own. Locals and visitors alike should look no further than these pages to explore some of the weirdest corners of Austin. Try out the latest innovations in a technology petting zoo. Get your car washed among giant dinosaurs. If you dare, spend some time in a garden inspired by Alice Cooper. Soak up the sun on the only official nude beach in Texas. And, of course, in the city of music and food, catch a live show at the spot where Janis Joplin got her start, or enjoy soul food and soul music in someone’s big backyard. Savor some of the best tacos and tamales in a city known for amazing Mexican food.

In this guidebook, you’ll find out where all the secrets are hidden and learn the unknown stories behind them too. Whether you’ve lived here all your life, you’re just passing through, or something in between, you’ll become even more enamored with the capital of Texas in all its inventive, unabashed – and weird – glory.

Art for Tribal Rituals is the outcome of extensive fieldwork carried out by Eberhard Fischer and Haku Shah in South Gujarat in 1969. After an initial survey tour to locate village shrines and sacred pilgrimage sites, as well as specialists in rituals and crafts, the two art-anthropologists stayed in the field to observe as silent participants oracle and spirit-healing sessions, a death cere­mony and the worship of local deities by the village communities. Fischer and Shah documented their experiences in unprecedentedly detailed photographic sequences, and as well, took precise notation of what they observed. In addition, they spoke to the specialists and carefully noted their comments, which are reproduced in this book as individual “ indigenous voices ”.

This book of 528 pages and 823 photographs thus presents painted stones, large wooden stone-slabs and figures – representations of bodies for otherwise unsettled souls of the dead – but also monumental wooden crocodiles, revered with piles of terracotta votive offerings. They also documented the production, installation and worship of these icons and ritual objects. An astonishing variety of expressive forms are displayed by these spectacular field photographs, taken half a century ago.

This publication is a tribute to the artistic and ritualistic accomplishments of Adivasi ritual leaders, healers, and craftspeople of the past in a once remote area of Western India.

“Wow! Just wow! … It’s a really stunning thing. A love letter that is itself a work of art about a work of art that is Grayson. Both playful and deadly serious … these photos are not simply about ‘serving looks’ but about restlessness and identity and transience…. Ansett’s work is mind-blowing … not cosy at all. Just brilliant photography.” – Suzanne Moore

“Great to see Grayson in his various guises. He must have more women’s clothes than the average woman!” Martin Parr

“Some are artists, some are muses — Sir Grayson Perry is both, according to a new coffee table book.” The Standard
“Muse documents Perry’s Bowie-like range of personae, from his alter-ego Claire, to Madonna and child, to a Dolly Parton-style American country girl.” — Yahoo News UK

Grayson Perry is an award-winning artist best known in the art world for his ceramic works. To the wider public, he is perhaps equally famous for his cross-dressing alter ego. This book reveals a unique relationship between Perry and renowned portrait photographer Richard Ansett through a previously unseen archive from photoshoots spanning over 10 years.
Ansett astutely captures the wit, style and irreverence of Perry’s many complex personas. Beyond the snazzy outfits and cheeky poses, these thematic portrait collections offer wry social commentaries on current and popular phenomena, including the EU referendum, American pop culture and the existential questions of life and death.
At once glossy, fabulous and cutting-edge, Muse: A Portrait of Grayson Perry offers a complex, fascinating and ultimately affectionate insight into our recently knighted national treasure with anecdotes and narration from Ansett himself, this is a masterpiece of rhetorical observations and quick-thinking camerawork. Perfect for art geeks, style freaks and Perry’s long-devoted following.

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.

“Wow! Just wow! … It’s a really stunning thing. A love letter that is itself a work of art about a work of art that is Grayson. Both playful and deadly serious … these photos are not simply about ‘serving looks’ but about restlessness and identity and transience. That world is full of possibilities because Grayson has given himself the freedom to be whoever he wants to be, to look how he wants. His gift is that he passes that freedom to us. Ansett’s work is mind-blowing … not cosy at all. Just brilliant photography.” – Suzanne Moore

Grayson Perry is an award-winning artist best known in the art world for his ceramic works. To the wider public, he is perhaps equally famous for his cross-dressing alter ego. This book reveals a unique relationship between Perry and renowned portrait photographer Richard Ansett through a previously unseen archive from photoshoots spanning over 10 years.
Ansett astutely captures the wit, style and irreverence of Perry’s many complex personas. Beyond the snazzy outfits and cheeky poses, these thematic portrait collections offer wry social commentaries on current and popular phenomena, including the EU referendum, American pop culture and the existential questions of life and death.
At once glossy, fabulous and cutting-edge, Muse: A Portrait of Grayson Perry offers a complex, fascinating and ultimately affectionate insight into our recently knighted national treasure with anecdotes and narration from Ansett himself, this is a masterpiece of rhetorical observations and quick-thinking camerawork. Perfect for art geeks, style freaks and Perry’s long-devoted following.

Sharing this story was not something that Christopher Capozziello ever set out to do, but, over the years, one picture has led to another and a story has emerged. Capozziello says, “The time I have spent with my brother, looking through my camera, has forced me to ask questions about suffering and faith and why anyone is born with disability. Nick has cerebral palsy. Taking pictures has been a way for me to deal with the reality of having a twin brother who struggles through life in ways that I do not.” Capozziello’s photographs take us on a journey through his worries and inquiries, ending his debut book with a different sort of question: what comes next? Part two of the book is a journey he and his brother take across the United States. The work has been shown throughout the United States and has won 33 national and international awards. “The collection, titled The Distance Between Us, is both a brother’s touching tribute and Capozziello’s attempt to come to terms with the reality his brother lives and one from which he happened to be spared”. The Mail

Food is more than just nutrition – it is culture, identity and history. The new Nordic cuisine movement has challenged our ideas about Nordic food culture and forged a new understanding of what it means to eat in harmony with nature. With its ideals of sustainability, seasonal ingredients and modern culinary innovation, the movement has had a deep impact on both the restaurant sector and the world of everyday food. This book has been compiled on the occasion of the exhibition New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place at The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, which explores the interaction between the evolution of new Nordic cuisine and trends in other forms of contemporary culture. Architecture, contemporary art, design and studio crafts are woven together to provide a broader understanding of the movement’s aesthetic characteristics. How did materials, people and landscape interact to produce a distinctly Nordic culinary identity?

Text in English and Norwegian.

Sharing this story was not something that Christopher Capozziello ever set out to do, but, over the years, one picture has led to another and a story has emerged. Capozziello says, “The time I have spent with my brother, looking through my camera, has forced me to ask questions about suffering and faith and why anyone is born with disability. Nick has cerebral palsy. Taking pictures has been a way for me to deal with the reality of having a twin brother who struggles through life in ways that I do not.” Capozziello’s photographs take us on a journey through his worries and inquiries, ending his debut book with a different sort of question: what comes next? Part two of the book is a journey he and his brother take across the United States. The work has been shown throughout the United States and has won 33 national and international awards. “The collection, titled The Distance Between Us, is both a brother’s touching tribute and Capozziello’s attempt to come to terms with the reality his brother lives and one from which he happened to be spared”. The Mail

Working from his Urbana practice in Bangladesh, Kashef Chowdhury designs architecture that is rooted in the history and nature of its location – whereby the latter also relates to a spiritual and cultural level. This explains his fascination for Kahn’s parliamentary building in Dhaka, which inspired this volume of photo essays.

Kahn’s design is characterized by an innovative architectural language that combines western and eastern traditions, forms and materials. For instance, in view of the great importance of water in Bengali tradition, he placed the building complex by an artificial lake. Furthermore, although it is defined by strict geometrical forms, the parliamentary building reflects the transcendental nature of the National Assembly, defining the hopeful founding years of the independent state of Bangladesh.

Founded in 1921 and the first of its kind in the country, the National Gallery of Canada’s Department of Prints and Drawings boasts a world-class collection of historical drawings dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries. These works, rendered in a wide range of mediums – graphite, ink, pastel, watercolor – reflect the diversity of techniques used over the ages.

Incorporating the latest research and a displaying wealth of scholarship, this richly illustrated book celebrates the recent centenary of this outstanding collection. It brings together a spectacular array of drawings, including newly acquired additions and little-known but historically significant works. The wide selection of plates showcases preparatory studies for paintings, depictions of historical and mythological themes, portraits, landscapes, forays into abstraction, and poignant explorations of the human condition. Featured artists include Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Théodore Géricault, Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch and Wassily Kandinsky, among many others.

The idea of a ‘healing garden’ is well established in many developed countries as a specific form of landscape design method; it meets the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of the people using the garden, as well as their caregivers, family members and friends. Shown through detailed theory and illustrations, the first part of this book focuses on the concept, types, and design considerations. The second part of the book provides insightful design descriptions, detailed plan drawings and photos showing the final, built projects on a wide range of types of healing gardens. This book is a unique and informative text and a useful reference for all landscape architects and designers.

Tells the very personal story of the man who changed the face of modern cinema

Special-effects superstar Ray Harryhausen elevated stop-motion animation to an art during the 1950s to 1980s. With material drawn from his incredible archive, his daughter, Vanessa, selects 100 creatures and objects, in chronological order, that meant the most to her as she watched her father make world-famous films that changed the course of cinema.

Ray Harryhausen’s work included the Sinbad films of the 50s and 70s, One Million Years B.C. and Mighty Joe Young, as well as a wider portfolio including children’s fairy tales and commercials. He inspired a generation of film-makers such as Peter Jackson, Aardman Animation, Tim Burton, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, and his influence on blockbuster cinema can be felt to this day. Some of the objects featured in the book, such as Talos from Jason and the Argonauts, are world famous, while others are less well known but hold special personal significance to Vanessa. Many newly restored works that have never previously been seen are included.

This book is published in collaboration with the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation and it will receive a great deal of international publicity. It celebrates the legacy of a filmmaker who changed the face of modern cinema and it is certain to delight and fascinate those who appreciate film, art, science fiction and fantasy.

Shortlisted for Saltire Society Scotland’s National Book Awards, First Book Award 2021. Scotland’s National Book Awards recognise work across Scotland’s literary and publishing community. [The Saltire Society] is delighted to highlight Scotland’s outstanding talent, raise the profile of writers and introduce audiences to exceptional new works.

One of the leading social documentary photographers of the 1960s, Steve Schapiro’s images stand among the most important of the 20th century, covering Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin and many others. These largely unknown jazz photos – shot just before his career breakthrough – showcase his early mastery and his empathy for his subjects, making Jazz: Best of the Apollo, Village Vanguard, and Riverside Sessions an essential archive.

In the early ’60s, when Schapiro arrived on the scene, New York jazz was enjoying a golden age. A young freelance photographer who had grown up in the Bronx and somehow snagged a gig with Riverside Records, he began voraciously documenting shows, players, venues, recording sessions and gatherings both in his native New York and later in Chicago. Whether it’s Sonny Rollins lifting weights backstage, or Bobby Timmons lost in an instant of discovery at the piano, Schapiro was on their wavelength.

Written by US jazz journalist Richard Scheinin Jazz: Best of the Apollo, Village Vanguard, and Riverside Sessions features dozens of never-before-seen photos of jazz legends like Cannonball Adderley, Dorothy Ashby, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and more.

This interdisciplinary scholarly catalog examines Motherland, an important series of photo-performances by the acclaimed artist Pushpamala N. on the Indian nation personified as woman, mother, and goddess. The series shows Pushpamala taking on Mother India’s myriad personifications: nubile beauty and saintly renunciant; militant goddess wearing a garland of skulls or receiving the ultimate sacrifice of a warrior’s head; the mother-surgeon activating the birth of model citizens; and destitute widow, bent from years of abject labor. As she does so, she reveals that nations are invented, as are national embodiments. The artist’s burden is to reveal the ingredients of such inventions.

This monograph showcases the trajectory of an empire built by the sheer dint of its driving success. Archgroup has gained international recognition as a comprehensive service provider in the architectural segment, with special focus being on its prolific and vital role dominating the skyline of the UAE’s world-class destination, Dubai. The firm’s work has now become synonymous with epithets such as ‘tallest’, ‘highest’ and ‘longest’ across the Gulf region.

Inside, the richly illustrated pages chronicle close to 100 projects by Archgroup, both built and in progress. Each work provides insight into the values, design-thinking and process-orientated approach that is the firm’s signature, making this volume a valuable resource that goes beyond the study of the built form to talk about the firm’s inimitable ethos that guides its design candor.

For decades municipalities in Lower Austria have cooperated with the provincial government to provide families with – mostly free – kindergarten places near their homes. In December 2007 regulations came into force that allow children from the age of two-and-a-half to enter kindergarten, as opposed to the age of three previously. This led to the creation of additional kindergarten places.
From 2008 and almost concurrently, more than three hundred municipalities set out to implement this expansion programme. Within three years 667 additional classes were created and some 65% of the infrastructure of Lower Austrian public kindergartens renovated. This enormous number of architectural impulses has literally reformed the kindergarten scene in Lower Austria like nothing that went before. A unique architectural, logistic and economic achievement and an infrastructure project without parallel anywhere in the world.

Pure Luxury: World’s Best Houses is a celebration of residential living at its finest, and best. Satisfying our natural and abiding curiosity about how other people live, and our endless quest to add a special something to our own homes, this latest volume in IMAGES’ 100 Houses series showcases contemporary architectural trends. The beauty of residential architecture lies in its infinite scope for innovation and the comfort of its inhabitants, be they at rest, at play, or hosting guests. Among the awe-inspiring projects in this book are an opulent villa set in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool projecting over LA, an idyllic rural retreat set in luxurious valleys and stunning beach houses around the coast. The diversity of the locations extend from Mexico and Brazil to Thailand and Italy. Featured architects include: Damien Murtagh, Lockyer Architects, ISJ Architects, Saucier + Perrotte, SAOTA, Okada Architects, Original Vision, Koutsoftides Architects, Drozdov Partners and Carlos Bratke Architect.

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.

This catalog presents masterpieces of calligraphy, painting, sculpture, ceramics, lacquers, and textiles from two of America’s greatest Japanese art collections, which are featured in a landmark exhibition at the Asia Society in New York. Impermanence is a pervasive subject in Japanese philosophy and art, and recognizing the role of ephemerality is key to appreciating much of Japan’s artistic production. The dazzling range of art and objects in this beautifully photographed exhibition catalog show the broad, yet nuanced, ways that the notion of the ephemeral manifests itself in the arts of Japan throughout history. Insightful contributions from noted scholars explore the aesthetics of impermanence in religion, literature, artifacts, the tea ceremony, and popular culture in objects dating from the late Jomon period (ca. 1000-300 B.C.E.) to the 20th century.

Contents:
The Art of the Ephemeral;
Works in the Exhibition:
I. Retrieving Lost Worlds; II. Buddhism: Perpetual Impermanence; III. Tea: Choreographed Ephemerality; IV. Transforming Impermanence into Art.

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Asia Society Museum, New York, between 11 February and 26 April 2020.

The Academy celebrates the architect John Simpson’s newly finished building for the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana: the Walsh Family Hall. The language of John Simpson’s architecture, which derives from the fifth century BC, has been daringly applied to new uses and an instant landmark of exceptional interest has been created. Through a judicious combination of Classical richness and warehouse-like workspace the Walsh Family Hall provides a humane and joyous series of spaces, which elevates the spirits of those entering and passing through it. This book describes not only the architecture of the Walsh Family Hall but the process whereby it came into existence, with written contributions from the generous donors, Matt and Joyce Walsh; Dean Michael Lykoudis, who commissioned the building; and some of the students who work in these uplifting surroundings. Further educational works by John Simpson such as his new ‘yard’ for Eton College and major new additions and improvements to the Royal College of Music in London are described, with an essay by Simpson explaining his approach. All these works are presented and explored with full color commissioned photography, drawn plans and original sketches throughout. John Simpson Architects believes that Classicism can enhance life in the 21st century by creating inspirational spaces that relate to the proportions of the human body – a view of architecture that is triumphantly demonstrated in the Academy that is the Walsh Family Hall.

The Academy of Independent Creators in Watchmaking (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants, AHCI) is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2020: that’s over one-third of a century of total independence, creativity, exhibitions, and sharing watchmaking craftsmanship. Here, AHCI, the oldest organisation in the world devoted to protecting independent, artisanal watchmaking, presents an inside portrait of its members and candidates. They share their most iconic creations and their knowhow, give guided tours of their workshops, and offer a glimpse into their own private world. This dive into the beating heart of independent watchmaking is for all lovers of creativity and authenticity, be they connoisseurs of fine craftsmanship or experienced collectors willing to take the road less traveled.