Roger Fry (1866–1934) and his role as critic, curator and member of the Bloomsbury Group are explored in this rich and vibrant biography. From his curation of one of the most important collections in New York and groundbreaking exhibitions in London, to his launch of the Omega Workshops with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, Fry introduced post-impressionism, radicalized interiors and changed the landscape of 20th-century art. His introduction of Cézanne, Van Gogh and Matisse to the British audience played a significant role in a legacy that still inspires today.
Often overlooked, Fry was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century art in Britain, giving a generation of modern British artists their first exhibitions, while also creating art himself. Roger Fry: Bloomsbury and the Invention of Modern Art offers a compelling portrait of his extraordinary career and his pivotal role in redefining British art.
The textiles here have been organized by several broad categories, beginning with type, and then by area of origin, dating and style. First are ikats and prints from India: the ikats woven in silk as “double ikats” and known as patola, and two prints that are cotton chintz. Though made in India, these textiles were all found in Sumatra, with the patola being highly-prized heirlooms used ceremonially, and the prints being used widely in trade across Indonesia from Sumatra to the Eastern Islands.
Next are ikats and other woven textiles organized by origin, moving West to East, from Sumatra to Borneo, Sulawesi, Bali, and Timor. For all of these pieces, the material was hand spun or commercial cotton, silk, or sometimes a mixture of the two.
Lastly are batiks, mostly from Java. The first three are the oldest batiks in this collection, each of which has been analyzed by radiocarbon dating and found to originate in the 17th and 18th centuries, respectively. These batiks are made on hand spun cotton.
The batiks here are from Sumatra and Java (the great mother-temple of batik artistry), ranging in age, after the proto-batiks described above, from the early 19th century to mid-20th century. They vary in style from the most traditional, including those distinctive in color and pattern from the kratons (palaces) of the sultans, Indian influences from chintz and other Indian imports, to Chinese-inspired depictions of animals, insects, plants and flowers, to French-inspired Art Nouveau mostly via Batik Belanda.
This collection of Indonesian textiles and some related Indian textiles that were popular and influential in Indonesian usage and design came together in a series of collecting periods spanning nearly 40 years.
This book is an attempt to answer the questions: What makes historic architecture awe-inspiring? How have the Indian architectural masterpieces retained their vitality even after so many centuries? What spatial qualities and organizational principles have rendered them timeless?
At the outset the author sets forth fundamental Indian philosophical and ideological tenets—the Indian notion of time, the duality of existence, the concept of a world within a world, the idea of opposites as counterpoints, the role of semiotics in providing visual clues in architecture, and the changing perception of space while in movement. The study unravels the inherent virtues of traditional Indian architecture, inferred and exemplified in a range of traditional Indian architectural examples.
Discussion of each site is illustrated with a wealth of visual materials—photographs, architectural plans with analytic overlays and volumetric constructs. Miniature-style reproductions drawn for each example reconstruct their spatial, environmental and experiential qualities and are used to demonstrate the universality of communication in Indian architecture.
Wine production in south-west France goes back a long way. The region includes some of the first districts in France (notably Gaillac) to be planted with vines, by the Romans more than two thousand years ago. It is also the earliest-known location of scores of grape varieties, some of them precursors of international varieties such as Malbec and Cabernet Franc.
Although today south-west France is the fourth region of France in terms of wine production very few wine consumers are familiar with more than two or three of its appellations. Cahors and Madiran are well-known appellations but we don’t hear (or read) much about less fashionable appellations such as Rosette and Béarn. As a result the wines generally command relatively low prices.
This book covers all the important aspects of south-west France in an accessible way. Although it includes the mass-produced wines of the region it focuses on quality wines made in more limited volumes. Although a number of the appellations of south-west France share similar climatic conditions (such as the influence of the Atlantic), the many small AOPs vary significantly in soils and topography, grape varieties, and the styles of wines they produce. They range from the botrytized sweet whites of Monbazillac to the teeth-staining reds of Cahors, from the distinctive dry whites of Jurançon to the tannic reds of Madiran.
Phillips begins with a brief history of the region and provides an overview of the region today before considering the wines of the various sub-regions in turn, including land and climate, grape varieties, wine styles, and wine law, together with entries on their most notable producers. All colors of wine are made in south-west France, as are dry and sweet wines and sparkling and still wines. The rich diversity of the world of wine is represented in south-west France, and it is this very diversity of grape varieties and wine styles that makes the region so compelling.
In the iF ranking, Loewe is among the top 10 German companies awarded for exceptional design performances. This is a good reason to take a close look at the design history of the company on the occasion of its 100-year anniversary. The design historian Kilian Steiner distinguishes three historical phases: The first phase (1923 to 1945) marks the build-up and destruction of the Loewe brand. In the second phase (1945 to 1985), the focus was on the rebuilding of Loewe and overcoming numerous changes. The third period from 1985 onwards saw the rise of Loewe to an internationally renowned design brand. For the first time, the creative minds in product and communication design who contributed to the development of the brand are named and previously unknown details of the Loewe corporate history are revealed. From its foundation in 1923 to the invention of the electronic television in 1931, Loewe has evolved into a globally operating design brand. A unique combination of German engineering, excellence, exclusive design and sustainability have shaped the brand culture.
Text in English and German.
Leaving behind a comprehensive archive, Alfred Buckham wrote in detail about his exploits, including his nine crashes and how, to get the best images, he would stand up while flying in an open biplane, tying his right leg to the seat with a scarf, in order to loop the loop in ‘perfect safety’.
But dive a little deeper and there is an even more interesting story – how he created these unbelievable photographs. Using a combination of different negatives, Buckham used his skills in the darkroom to craft stunning images that capture the experience of flight but with a little extra drama.
Published to accompany the first major exhibition of Alfred Buckham’s work, this book draws on the photographer’s archive, held by his grandsons, and exciting new acquisitions made by the National Galleries of Scotland including the camera he took to the skies and a selection of the negatives used to craft his most celebrated images.
The robin was hardly understood when David Lack – Britain’s most influential ornithologist – started his scientific observations. This book is a landmark in natural history, not just for its discoveries, but because of the approachable style, sharpened with an acute wit. It reads as fascinatingly today as when it was written.
This rare text is the first ever biography of Shakespeare, written by one of the liveliest dramatists and poets of the early 18th century.
This landmark in our understanding of the man and his work is introduced by one of the most original biographers of our own time and richly illustrated with contemporary images.
Nicholas Rowe’s Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear was published in 1709 as the preface to his pioneering edition of the plays. Rowe, together with Thomas Betterton, the greatest actor of the period, carried out archival research and interviewed widely to collect as much information about Shakespeare as possible. This is as close as we will ever get to the people who knew and worked with Shakespeare.
Rowe’s edition of the plays was also the first to be illustrated. This edition has 25 pages of these fascinating early images, mostly based on contemporary performance: a unique and charming picture of Shakespeare in performance.
It is extraordinary enough that one small area in north-eastern France, on the northern edge of Europe’s wine-growing regions, should be capable of producing the finest sparkling wine in the world, one of the few worth discussing as a wine and not merely as a sparkling beverage. Yet Champagne fascinates not only wine lovers, but also historians – social, economic, political – linguists, physiologists, physicists and chemists. The long-awaited new edition of Nicholas Faith’s landmark The Story of Champagne tells the tale of Champagne from the winemakers’ point of view. This classic study of the world’s greatest wine is a masterpiece of storytelling and analysis that has for decades sent readers away with renewed excitement about the different types of Champagne and the landscape, geology and climate that inspire them. The story of champagne explores the history of Champagne from its origins in the seventeenth century to the high-tech industry of the twenty-first before examining the wine itself, how it is made, the crus, the vines and the harvest. Faith provides completely up-to-date statistics on wine production and consumption and finishes the book with an all-important evaluation of today’s most important producers. The Story of Champagne is essential reading for anyone interested in the world’s most celebrated wine.
This book, edited by the designer of Shanghai Astronomy Museum, Ennead Architects LLP, is an all-round record of the design and construction process of Shanghai Astronomy Museum, with a foreword written by Ye Shuhua—an astronomer and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a preface by Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. The main part of the book unfolds from four perspectives: site, concept, realization, and engineering and construction, which describes the process of generating the core form of the Shanghai Astronomy Museum, as well as the design ingenuity of the main functional areas inside. The book presents many beautiful images of the museum, and includes texts by the chief designer, Thomas J. Wong. The designers’ love for the universe and their great enthusiasm for the project contribute to the essence of this book.
Text in English and Chinese.
Published in conjunction with the exhibition Histories of a Collection. Modern and Contemporary Art from the CAM, this catalog follows various stories relating to the creation of the CAM Collection CAM Collection (Centro de Arta Moderna Gulbenkian), from the first acquisitions by the Foundation in the 1950s to the present day, as well as offering an in-depth account of the opening of the CAM building in 1983.
The catalog contains seven previously unpublished essays, written by curators Ana Vasconcelos, Leonor Nazaré, Patrícia Rosas and Rita Fabiana, architect Rita Albergaria and independent curator, Antonia Gaeta, outlining some of the key moments in the Collection’s history.
These essays analyze the first acquisitions, made in the context of artist grants awarded by the Foundation and as a result of traveling exhibitions organized in Portugal and abroad, and the development of the section of British art, in close collaboration with the British Council.
The catalog also delves into the construction of the CAM building and the controversy that accompanied the entire process, as well as reflecting on the acquisitions made from the banker and collector Jorge de Brito, which contributed to greatly strengthening the collection in the months leading up to the opening.
The catalog also charts the contribution of the last three CAM directors, Jorge Molder, Isabel Carlos and Penelope Curtis, explaining their priorities in the selection of works and the acquisition policies each of them implemented.
It also reproduces almost all the works on display, organized according to the sections of the exhibition and highlighting seven key works, all acquired during the 1960s, by some of the most renowned Portuguese and British artists featured in the collection: Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, David Hockney, João Cutileiro, José de Almada Negreiros, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego and Philip King.
Wine has been made commercially in Canada since the mid-1800s but Canadian wine has only really begun to register with professionals and consumers outside the country in the last few decades, as quality has dramatically improved. Canadian wine is now being exported in meaningful volumes to the USA, Asia and Europe and since the beginning of this century the number of wineries has increased more than 250 per cent. In recent years wine regions have been demarcated (with some divided into sub-appellations), provincial wine laws have been adopted and indigenous and hybrid vines have largely been replaced by Vitis vinifera varieties in the main wine regions.
After taking readers through the history of winemaking in Canada, The Wines of Canada provides an overview of the country’s wine regions, their climate, soil and other geographic conditions, and explains noteworthy viticultural and winemaking techniques, such as the practice in some regions of burying vines to protect them from extreme winter temperatures. Phillips details key producers of the main wine-producing provinces (British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia), assessing their wines and providing relevant details for those planning winery visits. The book concludes with appendices covering vintage reports, Canadian wine festivals and provincial wine-selling laws.
As the first comprehensive guide to one of the wine world’s rising stars, The Wines of Canada is an eye-opening book for scholars, students and wine aficionados alike.
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.
History of Italian Watchmaking takes readers on a centuries-long journey that begins with the marking and measuring of time in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the apex of modern watchmaking revived by ‘Made in Italy’ stylistic trends and precision craftsmanship. Italy’s peninsula occupies only 0.5% of the world’s surface but has given birth to 70% of the world’s art. Italy’s pursuit of art, beauty, and elegance is a defining trait of Italian watchmaking. Italians have always been voyagers to far away lands, from Marco Polo on, poets, artists, and creators of iconic fashion brands and car design. It is not surprising that this genius has been applied to clocks and watches as well. Hourglasses, sundials, and church bells marked time over many centuries. Illustrious geniuses such as Dante Alighieri, Galileo Galilei, Giorgio Vasari, Filippo Brunelleschi, and Leonardo da Vinci were intensely interested in the measuring of time passing.
The National Galleries Barberini and Corsini contain paintings and sculptures of exceptional historical and artistic value. Page after page, through the masterpieces of many of the greatest Italian artists from the Middle Ages to the 18th century (Angelico, Raphael, Piero di Cosimo, Bronzino, Lotto, Tintoretto, Cortona, Caravaggio, Bernini, Reni, Guercino, Batoni, Canaletto) the reader can follow the development of art history. The collections also include artwork by Holbein, Murille and Van Dyck, besides a few antique pieces. In addition to the 100 entries, there are descriptions of particularly important elements that are part of the palaces’ architecture, such as Borromini’s spiral staircase, Bernini’s main staircase and the huge ceiling frescoed by Pietro da Cortona.
Gertrude Vernon, or Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, was an English woman who married a Scot. The American artist John Singer Sargent excelled as a painter in Europe. His portrait of Lady Agnew was painted in London but has found its definitive home in Edinburgh. All these contexts converge in a supremely beautiful painting which is one the icons of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Created in the 1890s, it proved to be a seminal work in the lives of the artist and his subject and has enjoyed a rich afterlife, inspiring artistic and written responses. This book offers a fascinating biography of this most accomplished, evocative and admired of portraits, placing it in the context of Sargent’s career and how he worked, discussing the life of the sitter and unveiling the picture’s rich critical history.
This book is an ode to the mythological heritage of Bharatanatyam. The visual narrative captures the rich heritage of this temple dance and its original exponents, the Devadasis or ‘handmaidens of the deity’. Its repertoire of movements and moods bring alive the fascinating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses and their kaleidoscopic lives. In the following pages, the authors have traced the myths and legends that are cherished in our performing arts, to delight the culture-curious reader. And what is interesting is that in these stories, the reader will discover the inter-connectedness of ancient mythologies around the world. Perhaps such discoveries go a long way in validating the role that art plays in connecting civilizations. The book is designed to engage the reader without pedagogy or scholastic strictures, but with a lightness of touch, that entertains while it informs. Because the vision here is to weave information, anecdotes and trivia, together in the spirit of a popular cultural ranconteur. Replete with rare photographs curated from the Sohinimoksha World Dance and Communications archives, complemented by a lucid narrative that wraps facts in the language of romance and adventure, this book promises to be a collector’s item for those who value the legacy of India’s most celebrated dance form. For glimpses of some live performances by Sohini Roychowdhury, and her Sohinimoksha World Dance troupe, celebrating the music, dance, mythology of India and the World, go on-line to ‘Dancing With The God…. with Sohinimoksha World Dance’ at https://youtu.be/naR7p6SKiko
A jali is a perforated or latticed stone screen, with ornamental patterns that draw on the compositional rhythms of geometry and calligraphy. In the parts of India, western Asia and the Mediterranean where solar rays are strongest and brightest, ustads (or master artisans) were able to evolve an aesthetic language of light, giving it form and shape through lattices of stone and other materials. Jalis share a common aim of bringing filtered light into enclosed spaces, while providing protection and privacy.
The expansive volume covers more than two hundred jalis across India, from the temple-inspired designs of the Gujarat Sultanate to imperial symbolism and Sufi allusions in Mughal jalis, the innovations and adaptations of jalis across Rajasthan and central India and, further south, calligraphy in pierced stone in the Deccan. With contributions by Mitchell Abdul Karim Crites, George Michell, and Ebba Koch, this lavishly illustrated publication reveals the poetry etched in these stone screens.
Tibetan Buddhist art is not only rich in figural icons but also extremely diverse in its symbols and ritual objects. This first systematic review is an abundantly illustrated reference book on Tibetan ritual art that aids our understanding of its different types and forms, its sacred meanings and ceremonial functions. Eighteen chapters, several hundred different implements are documented in detail, in many cases for the first time and often in their various styles and iconographic forms: altar utensils and amulets, masks and mirrors, magic daggers and mandalas, torma sculptures and prayer objects, vajras and votive tablets, sacrificial vessels and oracle crowns, stupas and spirit traps, ritual vases, textiles, furniture, and symbolic emblems. These are accompanied by many historical and modern text sources, as well as rare recorded oral material from high-ranking Tibetan masters. This long-awaited handbook is a must-have for all those with an interest in Buddhist art and religion.
Campi Flegrei, near Naples, is a seismically active landscape that attracts, stimulates, and challenges. It seduces the soul, engages perception, and demands to be interpreted rather than merely registered.
People have chosen to live amongst these unique geological and volcanic features, weaving the fabric of human occupation and taming a land in perpetual transformation, one of the harshest yet most enchanting environments. Mankind has matched its own impermanence against the earth’s inevitable and unrestrained convulsions, in the process hewing out some of the most glorious examples of human endeavor, such as Cumae, the oldest Greek colony in the Western Mediterranean, the bustling Roman port of Puteoli, and the “dolce vita” savored in the baths and villas dotted around the Bay of Baiae.
Luigi Spina has been exploring this land since 2020, delving into the complex, stratified geography. Key landmarks include places of memory (archaeological sites, monuments, landscapes), which, like true benchmarks of perception, outline the path towards an understanding of a world that links nature, ancient ruins, and the overwhelming presence of mankind. Balanced between mimicry and contradiction, the Campi Flegrei landscape is now blanketed by a dense urban sprawl, where the ancient and the contemporary coexist in a kind of precarious equilibrium, generating a complex socio-cultural state of affairs that is challenging to govern.
Spina explores and photographs places such as the Dragonara Cave, the Piscina Mirabilis, the Theatre of Misenum, the Flavian Amphitheatre at Puteoli, the Temple of Apollo on the shores of Lake Avernus, and the Temples of Venus and Diana, as he wanders through the hills above Baiae, finally heading towards Cumae.
Reverse glass painting is a fascinating yet comparatively unknown facet of Indian art that flourished in the mid-19th century. Painted by Chinese and Indian artists, these ‘exotic’ paintings in luminous colors were much favored by royal patrons, and also by prosperous landowners and city merchants in colonial India. The themes ranged from portraits of rulers, their families, nobles, dancers and courtesans, to landscapes and a wide variety of religious subjects drawn from the Puranas and the Epics. Many of the portraits are set in western-style settings, and offer a charming insight into tastes and lifestyle of the western-educated urban elite in mid-nineteenth and early twentieth century India.
In ancient Indian sciences, the courtyard assumes the central position as Brahmasthana, the nucleus of the living environment. Lying at the genesis of the urban dwelling form in India across geography and time, it provided for an open-to-sky outdoor space while being away from the public eye and thus suited an introverted lifestyle. In this book, the author traces the metaphysical, mythical, socio-cultural, environmental and spatial roles of the courtyard in the domestic architecture of India — from early civilization and Vedic times to Islamic and colonial influences. This volume documents traditional and vernacular courtyard dwelling types across India within diverse climatic, cultural as well as geographic zones of the country. It then discerns the spatial elements constituting the court, and the arts and crafts as well as the elements integral to the court. Illustrated with splendid photographs and representative drawings, the book attempts to understand the presence and resolution, continued use and adaptation as well as the diverse interpretations and abstractions of the courtyard.
“I recommend to every Architect, designer and those who have a passion for New York to own this magnificent book…there is no better on the extraordinary Beaux Arts of New York.” —Lemeau, Decorator’s Insider
“This great, beautiful, glossy, polychromatic slab of a book more than does justice to an epic period in architecture when some of the world’s most luscious buildings were designed for some of the most unpleasant people in American history.” — Timothy Brittain-Catlin, World of Interiors
“New York would be little more than another faceless glass-and-steel city were it not for its Gilded Age buildings and institutions… An American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City, written by Phillip James Dodd with photography by Jonathan Wallen, is a gilded embrace of this legacy.” — The Critic
The Gilded Age, also referred to as the American Renaissance, is an era associated with unparalleled growth, technological advancement, prosperity, and cultural change. Spanning from the 1870s to the 1930s, it marks the first time that the titans of American finance and industry had more wealth than their European counterparts. As the center of this dynamic economy, New York City attracted immigrant workers and millionaires alike. It was not enough for the self-appointed elite to just build their own grand châteaux and palazzos along Fifth Avenue—collectively they dreamed of creating a new metropolis to rival the great cultural capitals of London, Paris, and Rome. To flaunt their newly acquired wealth they needed an architecture dripping in embellishment and historical reference. Enter the Beaux-Arts.
This book, which has been painstakingly researched and beautifully photographed over many years, takes a close look at 20 of the finest examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City. While showing public exteriors, its focus is on the lavish interiors that are associated with the opulence of the Gilded Age—often providing a glimpse inside buildings not otherwise viewable to the public. While some of the buildings and monuments featured are world-renowned landmarks recognizable and accessible to all, others are obscure buildings that history has forgotten.
Set amid the magnificent achievements of an American Renaissance, this book recounts not only the fascinating stories of some of New York’s most famous and significant Beaux-Arts landmarks, it also recalls the lives of those who commissioned, designed, and built them. These are some of the most acclaimed architects, artists, and artisans of the day—Daniel Chester French, Cass Gilbert, Charles McKim, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Stanford White—and some of the most prominent millionaires in American history—Henry Clay Frick, Jay Gould, Otto Kahn, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and the ubiquitous Astor and Vanderbilt families. Names that—as Julian Fellowes (the acclaimed director of Downton Abbey) notes in the Foreword—“still reek of money.” Excerpt from the Introduction
Stucco decorations have traditionally been studied considering their formal and artistic qualities. Although much research and numerous publications have explored the works of stucco artists and their cultural context, little attention has been paid to their professional role in relation to the other actors involved in the decorative process (architects, painters, sculptors, patrons), the technical skills of these artists, and how their know-how contributed to the great professional success they enjoyed. From the 16th to the 18th century, many of the stucco decorations in churches and palaces throughout Europe were made by masters from the border area between what is now Canton Ticino and Lombardy. This collection of essays aims to examine how these artists worked from Spain to Poland, from Denmark to Italy, via the Netherlands, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria, adapting to the realities of the different contexts. The authors examine these issues with an interdisciplinary approach, considering art history and social history, the history of artistic techniques, and the science of materials.
Text in English and Italian.