Luca Giordano (Naples, 1634–1705) was one of Italy’s most celebrated Baroque painters when he traveled to Florence, where his art was already appreciated and collected. He received many commissions, but certainly the most prestigious was that for the decoration of the vault of the new wing of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the ancient house of Lorenzo the Magnificent which was then owned by the Marquis Francesco Riccardi. The Riccardi family was strictly connected to the Medicis and the decorative program of the great hall, known as Gallery of Mirrors, was centered upon the Apotheosis of the Medicis and several mythological scenes which illustrate the progress of humanity. The exhibition and its catalogue document this masterpiece through the ten painted sketches by Giordano (exhibited under the very frescoes) and circa 30 other paintings from his Florentine period (1682–1685) by the aptly named Luca “fa presto” (fare presto = to be fast).
“Futuristic, shrill, strange? Beyond these clichés, photographer Richard Koek captures everyday life in Tokyo – his pictures tell of life in the metropolis.” — Stern Germany
A unique book by photographer Richard Koek about one of the world’s largest cities, Tokyo. The visitor of this megapolis in Japan will see a lot of neon and plastic, but also traditional kimonos and cherry blossoms. Fashion and advertising are at least as important as etiquette and tidiness. In Tokyo Tokyo Koek reveals the true face of a city where tradition and innovation go hand in hand. Surely the stereotypes are a subject of his photographs, but Koek always gives them his own twist. His colorful images are raw, realistic and extremely striking. Koek knows how to capture the magic of everyday life by putting the ordinary on a pedestal. The beauty of the image and the story behind it always go hand in hand in his works. This is how he shows a different side of the city.
From the 1950s, Beirut and Lebanon have been a veritable laboratory of architectural modernity in the Middle East, calling on the greatest national and international architects. Institutions and large Lebanese companies have turned to concrete and so-called brutalist forms, participating fully to the renewal of world architecture.
If Lebanon gave birth to a flowering of exemplary buildings of this period, this work is an invitation to discover more than thirty, often unknown and admirably captured by the gaze by Matthieu Salvaing.
By their selection, the authors invite the reader to follow in their footsteps at the heart of the various modernist experiences who crossed Lebanon as so many testimonies of an international and generous vision.
Public commissions, such as the emblematic Tripoli International Fair built by Oscar Niemeyer or the Ministry of Defense of André Wogenscky, with private villas such as those created by Henri Edde, passing by the Interdesign building of Khalil Khoury, this work is the celebration of a history happy with Lebanon, rooted in modernity and open to the world.
Text in English and French.
The first biography of Ralph Dutton, collector, connoisseur, writer, philanthropist, who created one of the National Trust’s most popular houses and gardens, Hinton Ampner.
“Ralph Dutton grows on you as John Holden engagingly unpeels the layers of this complicated traveller, connoisseur, philanthropist and friend.” – Dame Rosalind Savill, former Director of the Wallace Collection
“Ralph Dutton is someone most of us have never heard of, yet he created a place of exceptional grace and beauty in Hinton Ampner. John Holden unravels the mystery of the man for us, and gives us a compelling account of why and how it all happened. It’s an enchanting read.” – Lord Smith of Finsbury, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge and Chairman of The Art Fund
“This is a real discovery. The story of a modest gentleman who nonetheless played an important role in 20th-century English culture. He put his life into his house, and his house into his life. Both are an engaging case study in heritage history.” – Professor Robert Hewison, Cultural Historian
Unlocking Paintings is a new guide, highlighting masterpieces from the collection of Dulwich Picture Gallery while also offering universal tools to help ‘unlock’ the secrets behind any work of art.
This book provides an in-depth look into the mind of the artist and the unique context in which they created their art, finding new perspectives that show exactly why these works are still so powerful today.
Often overlooked in Chinese poetic history are a number of accomplished late-Song poets, among the most important of whom were four men from Wenzhou known as the “Four Lings” because, apparently by common consent, they all had noms-de-plume containing the character ling, meaning “numinous” or “magical.” The four were: Weng Juan (d. after 1214), Xu Zhao (d. 1211), Xu Ji (1162–1214), and Zhao Shixiu (1170–1219). As other late-Song poets, they leaned toward understated, straightforward diction that incurred the enmity of those who preferred the more flowery, allusive style of the high Tang.
As they navigated the uncertain career paths of would-be minor officials, the Four Lings wrote movingly about their joys and disappointments, the hardships of poverty and old age, and the solace to be found in nature and friendship. Seeming to share a single poetic sensibility, they wrote in a naturalistic and accessible style that won widespread admiration; it is fitting that they now be presented together, as friends and fellow poets of consequence.
The book begins by the North Sea. It is a late summer’s afternoon, and a bright sun has dispersed the greyness of the day. Two Englishmen are enjoying a swim off the Essex coast when all at once both have the feeling that they are back at the French seaside. They find themselves starting to tell each other of their youthful experiences of living in France. The adventures they narrate follow one after another like waves rolling onto the shore.
Clive, coming from London, had found himself spending a year deep in the French countryside within sight of the western Pyrenees; John, hailing from Devon, had ended up living for a while in the City of Light within sight of the Folies Bergère. Outsiders though they were, they momentarily became part of French society, their adventures fuelled by the culinary delights of their adopted land.
They tell their tales with humor and relish as they recall their initiation into the French way of life of decades ago – and how it shaped their own.
This book highlights and explores some of the world’s most extraordinary and luxurious spa destinations. It offers readers a curated list of 150 exceptional spas across various countries and regions, each renowned for its unique treatments, breathtaking locations, and exceptional wellness experiences. Includes detailed insights into each featured spa, its amenities, signature treatments, wellness philosophies, and the overall ambiance. Readers can expect to find a combination of destination spas, resort spas, urban retreats, and wellness centers that offer a diverse range of holistic therapies, relaxation techniques, and rejuvenating experiences. It could serve as both a practical travel guide for spa enthusiasts and a source of inspiration for those seeking ultimate relaxation and self-care experiences. A bucket-list reference for spa enthusiasts, travelers, and wellness seekers, providing a curated selection of some of the world’s most indulgent and transformative spa experiences.
Taking those steps that will lead to your ultimate victory and achieving top performances, everyone dreams of it. In The Ultimate Victory, top sports psychologist Ellen Schouppe teaches you how developing attitudes such as leadership, energy management and mental resilience can leverage your talents. Take your personal development into your own hands, be inspired by top performers and achieve your own goals as a professional in your field, as an athlete, as an entrepreneur, but above all, as a person.
In an era of over-communication, brands have to face radical new realities and shape their identities in multi-polar manners. Spontaneously forming and iterative narrations can take on this task. This is the idea behind Neo-narratives. On a search for virtuoso forms of articulation of brands, the basic idea of the narrative is recast and a journey into new radical narrative structures is undertaken in essay form.
Text in English and German.
It is 1994, the year of the OJ Simpson saga, Tony Blair’s rise to the leadership of the Labour Party, and South Africa’s first fully multi-racial elections. Nola Marks is a London nightclub hostess with an art history degree and itchy feet. Suddenly her world changes. She begins a new career with a fledgling publishing company, meets Lucian Freud, and finds herself adopted as his latest muse. Over the course of the following seven months, her professional and emotional worlds are turned upside down, as external forces impact in unexpected ways. Set ten years on from Tableaux, the author’s debut novel, the narrative cuts between divergent national cultures and different social tribes. With photographs by Jamie Noise, Nightingales combines art and storytelling in a compelling hybrid form.
Now more than ever, the kitchen continues to be the epicentre of the home. To serve its multiple purposes, the design must be functional, comfortable, and chic. Enter Kitchen Conversations: the friend you want in your corner. Whether you are working on a budget, sparing no expense, or trying to find a nice balance, this book will guide you to make crucial decisions on details large and small, and be your companion on the journey of imagining, planning, designing and then building the kitchen of your dreams. While feasting on full-color photography and real kitchen plans, you can also savor the input from kitchen designers and other industry professionals; personal stories of kitchen builds, remodels and cosmetic changes from many homeowners; useful checklists from homeowners and industry sources, and valuable tips for managing contractors throughout the entire process. There may be challenges along the way but being aware of what lies ahead will allow you to manage them well.
Jewelry’s Shining Stars: The Next Generation brings together 45 new women designers who have liberated the way we view and buy jewelry. This compilation of talented women, who hail from around the globe, use techniques such as enameling, engraving, and creating nuanced textural details in wax models, to bend the rules and break with tradition. While some work with their own hands, whether schooled or self-taught, challenging themselves at the bench, others work alongside artisans to reinvigorate the old school into relevant yet enduring pieces.
The book’s stunning photographs offer a glimpse into each designer’s different aesthetic and are accompanied by the jeweler’s own words, revealing what drives their approach and giving us an insight behind these innovators. With reverence for quality, style, and technique, these 45 talented jewelers are creating today’s collectibles and shaping jewelry’s future.
“The London Youth Portraits (ACC Art Books), a sumptuous collection of never-before-seen photographs of punks, skinheads, New Romantics, goths, ravers, and fetishists.” — Huck Magazine
“A new edit of a beloved classic.” — Marc Jacobs Instagram
“Across 176 pages, the oversized volume documents Ridgers’ vision of England’s seminal youth culture from the height of punk to the birth of acid house, each image a tribute to the trials and triumphs of youth.” — 10 Magazine
‘As time passes, this kind of observational photography attains a new importance’ – Sean O’Hagan, The Observer
‘Ridgers’ portraits of young boys and girls are weighted with a raw poetry and beauty’ – Cory Reynolds, artbook.com
Between 1978 and 1987, renowned British photographer Derek Ridgers captured London youth culture in all its glory. With skinheads, punks and new romantics, in clubs and on the street, his images have come to define a seminal decade of British subculture.
Broadly based on the now out of print book 78/87 London Youth, this showcases a completely fresh selection of images from the depths of Ridgers’ exceptional archive – including many previously unseen – beautifully printed and bound in an oversized volume.
Each picture is a tribute to the trials and triumphs of youth, and a precious document of style and culture in 1980s England, from the height of punk to the birth of acid house. Several have been exhibited internationally in cities as far-ranging as Moscow, Adelaide and Beverly Hills, in the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain and Somerset House. Ridgers has also collaborated with a number of major fashion houses, including Saint Laurent and Gucci, and his images continue to inspire photographers, artists and fashion designers around the world.
The moving life of Jan Bontjes van Beek (1899–1969) is closely associated with 20th-century German history. A “strikingly blond sailor who could dance and play the violin,” he joined the Worpswede artist’s colony in 1919 and later found a home with the Breling family in Fischerhude, who introduced him to ceramics. With the support of his second wife, the architect Rahel Weißbach, he moved to Berlin in 1933, where his studio became a well-known meeting place for artists. Despite having been arrested by the National Socialists and his daughter Cato executed, he could not endure the GDR’s Socialist Unity Party regime either and stepped down from a teaching post at the East Berlin Weißensee art school in 1950. He broke into teaching in West Berlin and, finally, in Hamburg continued his ceramic work, which provided the free thinker with a firm footing. Like no other, he emphasized materiality in form and dynamism in color. During tumultuous times, he sought out the perfect balance for his vessels, and ultimately for himself.
Text in English and German.
The works of contemporary and established architecture, collected in five different itineraries within the volume, highlight the presence of a multitude of fragments and elements that make up the stratigraphy of the city. Venice turns out to be a laboratory for reflection on modernity to which it is necessary to turn our gaze in order to understand the complex uniqueness of a lagoon city that develops on an island. This presents itself as the city of the mind and people in that it consists entirely of pedestrian and public spaces but at the same time is traversed by water in which motor vehicles navigate. The unrepeatability of Venice makes its infinite architecture even more unprecedented and unique, giving those who visit it an unprecedented experience.
The war in Ukraine is the largest war Europe has seen since 1945. War photographer Jan Grarup and journalist/historian Adam Holm have documented the bloody struggle of the Ukrainians, in both the hinterland and on the front lines of eastern Ukraine (Zaporizjza, Donbas and Kharkiv). Through photography and reportage, they paint a picture of a country where death reaps its harvest daily. A country in which the fear of impending nuclear war is real and where an entire generation of children and adolescents carry iodine tablets and receive schooling inside basements and bunkers.
The book begins by the North Sea. It is a late summer’s afternoon, and a bright sun has dispersed the greyness of the day. Two Englishmen are enjoying a swim off the Essex coast when all at once both have the feeling that they are back at the French seaside. They find themselves starting to tell each other of their youthful experiences of living in France. The adventures they narrate follow one after another like waves rolling onto the shore.
Clive, coming from London, had found himself spending a year deep in the French countryside within sight of the western Pyrenees; John, hailing from Devon, had ended up living for a while in the City of Light within sight of the Folies Bergère. Outsiders though they were, they momentarily became part of French society, their adventures fuelled by the culinary delights of their adopted land.
They tell their tales with humor and relish as they recall their initiation into the French way of life of decades ago – and how it shaped their own.
Birdsong brings together three video works by David Claerbout – The Woodcarver and the Forest, Birdcage and Backwards Growing Tree – each a meditation on time, perception and the poetics of the natural world. In an era dominated by speed and distraction, Claerbout reclaims the longue durée, offering a contemplative, detoxed form of filmmaking.
Accompanied by a poem by Stefan Hertmans, this volume explores the myths of digitization, the rhythms of nature, growth and degrowth. Birdsong is a visual journey through the imaging ideas that the artist has developed over the past decade.
This publication coincides with Claerbout’s exhibition At the window at Gaasbeek Castle.
Text in English, French and Dutch.
The German Football Museum in Dortmund offers a unique exhibition experience of over 140 years of German football history and a special brand of national memorial culture. With its ultra-modern forms of presentation, it forms a new medium that builds a bridge between people, football, society and contemporary history.
Text in English and German.
Gosse Bouma, who is making a name for himself in the world of art photography as a master of light, shares his unique vision of Amsterdam in his first book. In his work, Gosse works under natural conditions, shedding a new light on the city he loves so much. In A New Light on Amsterdam, Gosse takes you through the city in different atmospheres – from the misty old city center to the morning light in Amsterdam’s beautiful parks. Iconic buildings, raucous metro stations and picturesque cityscapes: this large-format book surprises with every photo, showing a serene, sometimes melancholic Amsterdam.
TV personality and Antiques Roadshow expert John Benjamin brings his best-selling guide to becoming a collector completely up to date. Collecting Jewellery is a guide to jewelry through the ages and includes new chapters on the ‘Modern Style’ of the 1940s and ’50s, the ‘Designer Jewel’ of the 1960s and ’70s, right up to and beyond the Millennium. Through his expertise as lecturer, valuer and jewelry historian, Benjamin provides fundamental information to enable the collector, student and enthusiast to recognize and identify jewels and designs through the centuries. From natural to cultured diamonds, unique ‘one off’ pieces to popular prevailing fashions, Collecting Jewellery is an accessible companion that will teach the reader about availability, value and fashion, while gaining the knowledge needed to create their own fabulous (and affordable) jewelry collection.
a+u’s April issue, guided by guest editors Ko Nakamura, Keigo Kobayashi, and Mamiko Miyahara, investigates the interconnection of architecture and food. Food insecurity is a major challenge that cities face in the Anthropocene that architects and urbanists must rise to meet. Presenting more than 20 projects of varying scales, this issue highlights alternative strategies that architecture and urban design may adopt in the urgent effort to address this shared global burden. Five key themes – New Ways of Production, Globalism and National Strategies, In Community, Meeting the City, and Exploring Food Space – organize the projects. Real-time examples, such as Vertical Urban Farm, reveal possible directions that could be followed, while other projects interrogate existing notions, like Floating Farm Dairy, which aims to reintegrate isolated industrial harbor spaces with the rest of the city by introducing space for animal husbandry. Food is an integral part of not only basic survival but also of fostering community and the conviviality of the built realm. Thus, architecture acts as the crucible where agricultural innovation, forms, community action, and environmental sustainability meet.
Text in English and Japanese.
This book focuses on the floor covering traditions of Kashmir, one of the two distinct regions that constitute the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir has been historically famous as a producer of the world-renowned and esteemed pashmina shawl. However, the region also produces a variety of floor coverings that are an essential part of its households and its handicraft industry. The variety of floor coverings produced differs in design, their mode of production, the raw material used and the region of production.
Kaleen-weaving is a long-standing tradition, dating back to over 600 years, while floor coverings such as the wagoo mats trace their antiquity to the Indus Valley Civilization. This book intends to serve as a lasting narrative of the rich material culture of the Kashmir region. It identifies significant cultural units in design to showcase the age-old craft traditions in production that are integral to regional tangible and intangible cultural practices. It enables an understanding of the cultural context of Kashmir that has a strong influence on the production of floor coverings, lending a unique identity to its kaleen, which is otherwise often associated with Persian carpets. The author has used descriptive, thematic and ethnographic modes of analysis to highlight instances of carpet-weaving traditions that resonate distinctly with Kashmir.
Well-researched and richly illustrated, the book will appeal to those interested in textiles, carpets and indigenous tangible and intangible cultures and craft traditions.