In Florence, cassettai refers to the special group of street vendors who take their name from the drawer-like containers in which they display their wares. They have belonged to the association of the same name since 1909; today they are recognized as an important part of Florence’s historical and cultural heritage. They are both promoters and protagonists of a volume on the history of the illustrated postcard, in whose diffusion they have traditionally played an important role.

The history of the postcard intersects closely with that of the art of the last two centuries, beginning with the emergence of photography. Over time, the postcard became an art form in its own right; it also had a hand in transforming communication, providing travelers with the opportunity of recording spontaneous impressions while forever capturing a picture of the visited site.

Sponsored by the association of the cassettai, the volume offers a rich and varied overview of the illustrated postcard, which was once an extremely popular means of conveying messages through words and images. Still today, the postcard holds its own in a world dominated by more modern and rapid means of communication, while retaining its connection with a fascinating history, one imbued with culture, identity, beauty and romanticism.

Text in English and Italian.

Sytin House was built in Moscow in 1803 by Brigadier Andrei Sytin to be his city residence. Built from wood but disguised to look like stone, a peculiarity of the Russian building tradition, it was a typical house for a member of the gentry class, built according to standardized designs and decorated with classical motifs. The otherwise modest house has a portico with four columns and a pediment, all from wood. The Sytin family moved in just a few years before the fire of Moscow in 1812 that devastated most of the city, but, amazingly, not this house, that is to this day an extraordinary survivor, one of only a handful of such houses left in Moscow. The house survived the early 20th century building boom, as well as the upheaval of the 1917 revolution when numerous wooden houses were dismantled for firewood. Divided into communal apartments during the Soviet period, it avoided demolition under Stalin, was listed in the 1960s, and finally restored in 1980. It was once again left empty in the 2010s however, and began to decline. Nestled between two of Moscow’s main streets, it has been recently triumphantly restored, and is today a witness of over 200 years of the city’s architectural history. 

Text in English and Russian.

Through various thematic perspectives and a range of media, this book will shed new light on the history of Surrealism. With the idea of the unconscious as a turning point, The Savage Eye traces the roots of Surrealism in Symbolism and shows how the two art movements both reflect each other and overlap. Some of the most significant artists in modern art meet here in the murky depths of the human mind, where logic and morality give way to dreams, disturbing impulses, and unbridled desire. In this illuminating book you will become familiar with two radical art movements that both explored the psyche with the aim of establishing a new concept of humanity. Through artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Paul Gauguin, Dora Maar, René Magritte, Lee Miller, Joan Miró, Odilon Redon, and Auguste Rodin we will take you on a journey through the limitless world of the unconscious.

India is a nation of conflicting realities, where the old and the new, the traditional and modern regularly coexist. Here, the artists are concerned not solely with telling their own tales but also with exploring what it means to live in a nation steeped in tradition.

Within the context of modern and contemporary India, works on paper offered artists a way of cultivating transnational modernist expression while continuing to explore the potential of a medium that had deeper roots in older artistic traditions native to the subcontinent. This volume features over 100 watercolors, drawings, etchings, sketches and lithographs by senior Indian modernists, born primarily before the 1950s and who came of age in the decades directly following Independence in 1947. These artists span the transition from colonial to post-colonial India, embracing both realism and abstraction, exploring complex metaphors, and making political statements that directly engage India’s past, present, and future.

With contributions by Tamara Sears, Michael Mackenzie, Paula Sengupta, Emma Oslé, Darielle Mason, Rebecca M. Brown, Jeffrey Wechsler, Kishore Singh and Swathi Gorle. 

LOVING: A Photographic History of Men in Love, 1850s – 1950s (ISBN 9788874399284), was published in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Despite that, the book was available in five languages, the first US printing sold out in six weeks; the response to the book was overwhelming and emotional; and five years and multiple printings later, LOVING remains a best-seller. For LOVING, the collectors drew from 2000 photographs; now, in 2025, more than 25 years after they purchased their first picture, the collection has 4000 images. It seems logical then – even necessary – to publish a new volume with all new photographs from those acquired since 2019. LOVING II continues with more stunning vintage vernacular photographs of romantic male couples, with all the emotional power of the first book in intact. This new selection continues the story of the unadulterated joy – longed for by all of us and recognizable to anyone – of being in love. 
As with the first LOVING, these photographs and what they convey, whether directly in an embrace or more subtly in a furtive touch, move – in fact change – those who encounter them. Indeed, anyone who has ever loved will identify with the elation – and peace – that these couples share. The collecting criteria have not changed: starting from the earliest years of photography and continuing through the 1950s, the Nini-Treadwell archive includes daguerreotypes, silver gelatins, tintypes, ambrotypes, snap shots, and many more – a historical capsule of a century of photographic technique. The subjects come from all walks of life: soldiers, farmers, students, the young and old, poor and affluent. Their creation happened between loving couples from all around the world. Each photo is the story of two told in an instant.  

Image credit: © Nini-Treadwell Inc.

Superstar Pharaohs was the exhibition presented by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, in partnership with MUCEM (Marseille), in 2022, the year that marks the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and the bicentenary of the deciphering of hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion.

The exhibition catalogue includes an introductory text written by the co-curator Frédéric Mougenot, in which he reveals the reflections that led him to create the exhibition.

The introduction is followed by six essays on different themes, ranging from antiquity to the present day: Fayza Haikal writes about the link between modern day Egyptians and the civilization of the Pharaohs; Bernard Mathieu focuses on the Egyptians’ knowledge of their history; Michael Chaveau looks at the presence of the Pharaohs in Greco-Roman literature; Simon Connor explores the impact of images and their destruction in constructing the history of the Egyptian monarchy; Jean-Marcel Humbert discusses the phenomenon of Egyptomania; and João Carvalho Dias, co-curator of the exhibition and deputy director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, reveals the relationship that Calouste Gulbenkian developed with Howard Carter, which was fundamental in establishing the Egyptian art section of the Gulbenkian collection.

The rest of the publication is, like the exhibition, divided into three sections: the first, ‘Three Thousand Years of History and a Few Memorable Reigns’, seeks to outline the profile of the Pharaohs who were regarded, in their time, as worthy of being remembered for posterity. The second section, ‘What Remains of the Pharaohs? History and Legends’, looks at the way the memory of some of these figures was recovered, and at the same time transformed, by the literature of Greco-Roman antiquity, giving rise to myths that survived for centuries. The final section, ‘Return of the Pharaohs’, reveals how the birth of the discipline of Egyptology led to new scientific knowledge of Ancient Egypt, which also paved the way for the rediscovery of some Pharaohs, who were thus propelled into stardom.

As well as featuring abundant illustrations of the works on display throughout the texts, the publication also includes a section of chronological references related to Ancient Egypt and a list of all the Pharaohs in history.

Image credits: Panorama

This book is centered on Carel Fabritius’s haunting The Goldfinch. Far more than a catalogue, this richly illustrated volume – curated with Simon Schama – explores the enduring human obsession with birds.

Through five evocative themes, the book reveals how birds mirror our desires, fears, and fantasies. From the dazzling creativity of Art by Birds – murmurations, intricate nests, courtship dances – to Stilled Flight, where birds are caged, chained, or hunted. Love Birds delves into flirtation, myth, and the erotic symbolism of birds in art. Poultry and Butchery considers how birds become food, while Obsessive Flight examines artistic longing through figures like Brancusi.

With historical depth and visual beauty, this book invites readers to rediscover birds not just as creatures of the sky, but as powerful symbols of the human condition.

This book accompanies the exhibition at the Mauritshuis, The Hague, from February 2026 onward. With text contributions by Simon Schama, Laura Cumming and Philip Hoare, amongst others.

Francisco de Goya and Edvard Munch revolutionized art through their groundbreaking pairing of raw realism and unique imaginative power. Exploring inner worlds and existential questions, they had a formative impact on art history and our understanding of our times.

The book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Goya and Munch: Modern Prophecies, the first comprehensive presentation of these two artists in tandem. It is lavishly illustrated with reproductions of all the exhibited works and features texts by Trine Otte Bak Nielsen, Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Janis Tomlinson, Ute Kuhlemann Falck and Ask Salomon Selnes.

What is the relationship between the Holy Trinity and social media? How do hashtags influence us? Why are we so inclined to use filters? Why do we treat digital images differently than analogue ones? Art history offers a beginning of answers.

Instagrammable explores the paradox of looking without seeing and seeing without looking. Koenraad Jonckheere examines trust in and distrust of images, drawing on 2,500 years of thinking about visual art. In eleven chapters, he examines the world of digital images through numerous intriguing examples from art history.

Even though they belong to the mineral kingdom, the stones in the collection of the French writer Roger Caillois appear miraculously similar to works of art. Beginning from this mysterious but captivating link between two such apparently distant universes, the book collects a carefully curated selection of the finest stones in the collection and recounts the life of Caillois (sociologist, member of the surrealist movement…), reviewing and presenting his essays on stones. The persona and the personality of this atypical 20th-century intellectual emerge from the essay by Stefano Salis, who introduces us to Caillois’ world and that of Marguerite Yourcenar, who took his place in the Académie de France after his death with a speech reviewing his life and work. The literary critic Carlo Ossola traces the outlines of the cultural climate in which Caillois lived and operated, while François Farges, now in charge of the collection, illustrates it in the final essay.

Flowers and plants are a staple of British life. Nearly 40% of our population considers themselves to be gardeners, making this and associated activities a national pursuit. And yet, while we hold endless discussions over how to seed, grow, and disseminate our cherished plants, we still known relatively little about how they were collected, exchanged, circulated, identified, and modified, and how much art has shaped our understanding and appreciation of them. This publication, designed to accompany the homonymous exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, explores some of these plant stories through highlights from Oxford’s collections. Bringing together historical and scientific expertise, art and material culture, traditional and contemporary artworks, this book ultimately reflects on the long-lasting impact of flora on our society – and of us on it.  

This book reveals the collection presented at Ajuda Royal Palace in Lisbon (Royal Treasure Museum), that has been recently renovated, and where is displayed this unique collection with particular significance for a country with a nine-century history. Over the time, from the 17th century until the 20th century, the Braganza Royal Family has collected precious jewels and works of art intensively, often through relations with other important European families, but also through royal gifts. Finally displayed in a monumental permanent exhibition, each object in this collection witnesses the history of a leading country, as well as the story of the people who have worn or conserved these highlights of decorative art.

In July 1880, 30-year-old Robert Louis Stevenson, yielding to the insistence of Lloyd Osbourne, his 13-year-old adopted son, and starting from a map he had drawn for Lloyd, began to tell an adventure of pirates and buried treasure. The tale flowed so naturally that Stevenson decided to put it on paper. When the last chapter was also published in Young Folks magazine, Stevenson decided to change the title to the book and call it Treasure Island. In his hands, the children’s adventure had incredibly transformed into an epic exploration of the ambiguity of moral values and the dual essence of human nature. Because of its value and fascination, Tresure Island was chosen to start the “Dédale” series, in which it is illustrated by the unpublished drawings of French illustrator David B. and enriched by a preface signed by the well-known writer Alberto Manguel, followed by an introduction by Léonard Puoy, focusing on the significance of treasures in our culture.

Palermo has been given a host of toponyms over time, as if each name reflected the city’s multifaceted, ever-changing nature, shaped by its centuries-long history. From the traces of a great Greek and Roman presence, to its Arab-Norman buildings and gleaming mosaics, from the inlays and dazzling whites of the flourishing Baroque period, right up to the 20th century with its elegant Art Nouveau – all of these layers unfold in the pages of this volume. The curator Giorgio Villani’s texts outline an itinerary for discovering Palermo, introducing readers to key moments and places, and ending with a gallery of characters who, though unique and at times peculiar, are deeply relevant to the city’s composite identity. 

This is the first book to be entirely dedicated to the artwork of Jivya Soma Mashe. Through the quality of his work, Jivya Soma Mashe stands comparison with other outstanding enigmatic artists, such as Bill Traylor or Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, who broaden our understanding of the diversity of forms and cultures.

Jivya Soma Mashe (1934–2018) is a legendary figure among his people, the Warli, a tribe of around 300,000 inhabiting an area 150 km north of Mumbai (Maharashtra, India). Its members are animists and speak a language that has never developed a written form. To the best of human memory, it is Warli women who have always painted ritual and ephemeral paintings directly on the walls of their huts. The Warli have developed an extremely basic pictography based on circles, triangles, and squares to express their animist culture and represent their only deity, the mother goddess Palghatta, at the center of each painting.

After losing his mother at a young age, Jivya Soma Mashe took refuge in drawing, immersing himself in a personal style that first elicited the admiration of his peers and later that of regional, national, and international authorities. Jivya Soma Mashe received his first national award in 1976 – from Indira Gandhi herself. His works featured prominently in the Magiciens de la terre exhibition (Centre Pompidou, Paris 1989) and in the exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Cartier Foundation (Paris 2014).

Text in English and French.

Saint Benedict the Moor, or Binidittu as the Sicilians fondly rechristened him, was an Afro-Sicilian hermit friar, the son of African slaves born in Sicily in the 16th century. Canonized in 1807, he was the Catholic Church’s first Black saint and was made Patron Saint of Palermo. These photographs address the lives of African migrants in the Mediterranean today through the historical figure of Binidittu. This project retraces his improbable life, explores the historical sites of his hagiography, the worship of relics, and the religious and secular practices devoted to him in Sicily and elsewhere in the Mediterranean. This book is part of Lo Calzo’s long-term photographic project, Cham, about the living memories of colonial slavery and anti-slavery struggles.

“Binidittu emerges in this work as an allegory of our time: an encounter between the Mare Nostrum and the world, between oblivion and memory, between racism made commonplace and our shared humanity, between the Sicilian people’s aspirations and African migrants’ hopes of freedom and dignity as they drift towards Europe’s shores.” Nicola lo Calzo

Text in English and Italian.

In September 1939, thousands of German soldiers were turned loose on Poland. In 1940, they descended on Holland, Belgium and France. In 1941 they went to the Balkans, and then to the USSR. Armed with Leica and Rolleiflex cameras, some of these soldiers were officially commissioned as photographers, while others were asked by their commanders to snap records of events. Among them were trainees who knew about the Bauhaus, and other, older, men who could remember Weimar. Some excelled at formal portraiture, others were storytellers, stylists or humanists who wept at what they saw. The style and content of their work changed along with the collective mood after 1942, a change that is discernible in the photographs themselves. Celebrated author and art historian Ian Jeffrey – author of How to Read a Photograph and The Photography Book – has trawled through these albums, picking out the most compelling of these works to create an intimate record of anonymous lives experiencing the unprecedented.

Pioneers of Art in Oman: Rasheed Abdulrahman celebrates one of Oman’s most influential visual artists through a stunning bilingual presentation in English and Arabic. This definitive volume features over 60 meticulously curated paintings and sculptures that chronicle Rasheed’s remarkable artistic evolution and his pivotal role in shaping Oman’s cultural landscape.

Beyond showcasing his visionary work, this book offers intimate biographical insights into the artist who transformed raw materials into vibrant masterpieces and mentored countless emerging talents. Detailed analyses of selected artworks reveal the profound symbolism and philosophical depth that characterize his unique artistic vision.

As the inaugural edition in a prestigious series documenting Oman’s artistic heritage, this publication represents a collaboration between the National Museum of Oman and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth. For art enthusiasts, collectors, and cultural historians alike, this book provides unprecedented access to Rasheed Abdulrahman’s legacy – a testament to his enduring influence on contemporary Omani art and his ability to illuminate tradition while pioneering new artistic frontiers.

Text in English and Arabic.

“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.

Moshe Safdie explains that probably more than half of his lifetime design work is unbuilt, and he considers his unbuilt work to be some of his most significant work. In this richly illustrated book, replete with detailed diagrams, sketches, models and studies, Moshe Safdie explains that for those who design in order to build, not succeeding in building is never a failure (there are many reasons why a project might not be built) because these designs are part of the evolution of an architect’s work. This volume is a fascinating journey through Safdie’s thoughts and career, and also a historical reference of the social and political forces at play at the time. Not only a treatise on Safdie’s unrealized concepts, this book is also a wonderful affirmation that there is valuable heritage in the unbuilt.

Includes a number of significant projects from around the globe, including the following:
Habitat Original Proposal, Montreal, Québec, Canada 1964; Habitat New York II, New York, New York, United States 1967; San Francisco State, College Student Union, San Francisco, California, United States 1967; Pompidou Centre, Paris, France 1971; Western Wall Precinct, Jerusalem, Israel 1972; Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel 1985; Columbus Center, New York, New York, United States 1985; Ballet Opera House, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 1987; Museum of Contemporary Art, Stuttgart, Germany 1990; Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, Waxahachie, Texas, United States 1993; Incheon Airport, Incheon, Korea 2011; Jumeirah Gateway Mosque, Dubai, UAE 2007; National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China 2012.

Today’s tea aficionado is looking to imbibe tea within a meaningful space, be it at home or in a tea shop. Customers of tea shops enjoy the idea of “tea” as being “an experience”, inclusive of art, cultural themes, and strong design aesthetics. Better still if these motifs are found within a tea-shop that aligns with the shop’s branding and is able to mix modern tea products with new interior design styles, further increasing the customer’s sense of enjoyment of the entire shopping experience. Coupled with tea consumption needs across the world gradually increasing and the tea market expanding at higher rates than previously, the tea industry’s retail environment faces fierce competition. There’s a strong trend toward marrying a better awareness of the importance of effective interior design of a tea shop while striving to express a complete brand image and providing efficient service. In this magnificently illustrated book, a lead designer and tea brand consultant analyses the new design trends and brand management styles of a carefully selected group of tea shops from around the world.

This book explores close to fifty fashionable tea shops that are successful in the experimentation of mixing brand-new products with unique space experiences and providing excellent customer-focused interior designs. An excellent volume for those looking to enrich the retail environment of this diverse and fast-evolving industry.

This richly illustrated monograph delves into the innovative output of one of the world’s most prolific international design and architecture practitioners, Tokyo-based Shigeru Ban. Canvassing an enormous compilation of works, this title is a significant contribution to IMAGES’ stable of works showcasing renowned architects from around the globe. This book features an array of innovative projects, from commercial and residential innovation strategies to humanitarian works, such as emergency shelters made from paper and modular shelters for earthquake victims. Shigeru Ban’s visionary residential design philosophies encompass timber hybrid structures, including a building constructed from cardboard tubes; the tallest hybrid timber structure in the world for a residential tower in Vancouver; as well as the new home designed for the Aspen Art Museum, which features woven wooden cladding. His innovation extends to the industrial design of an architect’s scale pen used for drawing. This book also helps to relay Shigeru Ban’s contemporary discourse on architectural culture, and how it is moving in new directions. This title is a must-have for any serious aficionado of modern architecture, innovative thinking, and design.

Washington, DC-area architect Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, designs ecologically aware modern homes using natural materials and varied construction methods. This latest volume in IMAGES’ Master Architect Series features photography and drawings of more than a dozen of Gurney’s most recent projects. Gurney is dedicated to design of modern, meticulously detailed, thoughtfully ordered residential and commercial projects sensitive to site, program and budget. Materials are employed with honesty, integrity and ecological awareness. Whether working in complex historical districts or on a vacant site, the design process involves an understanding of site-specific issues of location, landscape, history, availability of materials and construction methods.