This grand opus assembles the people and the pieces at the heart of the Art Deco movement at each stage of its enduring appeal. The Art Deco Style is richly illustrated with the work of legendary designers and decorators Eileen Gray, Paul Iribe, Antoine Bourdelle, Armand-Albert Rateau and Jean Dunand, among others.   

Ever since its early 20th-century origins, Art Deco has fascinated and amused socialites, collectors and designers. Referred to at the time as moderne, the style largely took shape around a clientele of French fashion industry luminaries and wealthy international collectors. Art historians christened it during a second wave in the ’60s, while a third generation of afficionados entered the auction houses of the ’80s and ’90s, ready to invest in the most exquisite examples. Curated by art consultant and author Alastair Duncan, this detailed historical account is the gold-standard visual guide to the decorative arts.   

Brussels is well known for its wide variety of buildings in the Art Deco style, which were built in the aftermath of the Great War in the 1920s and 1930s. In this book, the authors have created seven walking (or biking) itineraries that explore Art Deco and modernist architecture in neighborhoods throughout the city. Several key architects are profiled, and the historical context of the period is discussed, offering readers new insights into the living heritage that lines the streets of Brussels.

Also available: Brussels Art Nouveau ISBN 9782390250456.

With the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, Art Deco seduced the world. From New York to Paris, the press celebrated this event which permanently imposes this universal style.

Crossing the Atlantic aboard sumptuous liners such as Île-de-France and Normandy, main French decorators such as Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann, Jean Dunand and Pierre Chareau exhibited in department stores, from New York to Philadelphia.

From Mexico to Canada, this enthusiasm is driven by North American architects trained at the School National Museum of Fine Arts in Paris from the beginning of the 20th century, then at the Art Training Center in Meudon and at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, two art schools founded after the First World War world which strengthened the links between the two continents. 

This book reveals a reciprocal emulation which is illustrated in the architecture and ornamentation of skyscrapers as well as in cinema, fashion, press, sport… 

Thirty-seven texts and 350 illustrations make it possible to discover the unique links that unite France and America, from the Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi to the Streamline which succeeds Art Deco. 

Text in French.

Published on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta stone, this book responds to the ever-growing enthusiasm and curiosity for Egyptomania.

This concept refers to a collective imagination which was nurtured throughout the 19th and 20th centuries by archeological digs and exploratory trips. These key discoveries were crucial for creation and particularly for the Art Deco artists who found their inspiration in Egyptian lines and patterns.

Art Déco & Egyptomanie explores the origins and functioning of this cultural and artistic movement shaped by many fields: architecture, cinema, sculpture, popular art, theater and fashion.

Art Déco & Egyptomanie comes with an explicit and previously unseen iconography.

Text in French.

D*Face, born Dean Stockton, is a British artist known for his distinctive blend of pop art and punk culture in street art. Drawing inspiration from American comics, he creates street art and exhibits globally, contributing to the rise of contemporary street art alongside artists like OBEY and BANKSY.

The purpose of this book is to give a wider insight into the practice of working within the streets and the public domain. What people most often see of street art is actually the middle point of an artwork’s lifespan, the clean image of a recently finished mural or a freshly peeled sticker but that’s not the whole picture. Not only is there a whole process leading up to the creation of a mural but there also exists a journey of change after work has been left to the streets. Paint fades, tags appear, stickers peel and crack – all these are part and parcel of what it means to work within the street. This book aims to tell that story.

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.

A Sino-Chinese family find their destiny is inseparably entangled with that of the country they have adopted as a home. Not long before the Communist revolution, Tong, sent by his peasant-parents in impoverished rural China to work with a relative in Siam, has risen to become a rice-trading tycoon in Bangkok’s Chinatown, married a former palace cook and built a large family in the town of Pad Riew. Haunted by the dream of returning to his true home in China, Tong, along with his wife and their five children, are swept along by the torrents of history as World War II breakout and China turns red, while the military strongman in Thailand act out the interminable cycle of power struggle, rebellion and coup d’état.

Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat, the award-winning second novel by Veerapon Nitiprapha, is a generations-spanning family saga that explores the roots of the Chinese diaspora in Siam and how the tragedy of ruined love, maternal betrayal and futile ambition shape the lives of Tong’s clan members, each of them hounded by their own ghosts and burdened by their own sins. All of this is played out against the backdrop of Siam’s mid-century social and political history, the most chaotic period the formation of the nation.

The jewelry department at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris comprises some 3,500 pieces and is the only national collection of its kind in France. This book presents bijouterie and joaillerie masterpieces from this high-profile collection which ranges from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period and shines a particular spotlight on the 18th century and the age of Art Nouveau.

Daytime or evening jewelry and art jewelry pieces in the form of tiaras, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants, hair or tie pins, rings and stomacher brooches illustrate the boundless creativity of designers.

The greatest artists are represented: Sandoz, Vever, Falize, Boucheron, Lalique, Fouquet and Gaillard for Art Nouveau, Raymond Templier and Jean Després for Art Deco, Georges Braque, Jean Lurçat, Line Vautrin, Jean Schlumberger, Torun, Dinh Van, Jonemann and Claude Lalanne for the post-war period, and a number of contemporary designers. The collection also features pieces by the great jewellery houses: Cartier, Boucheron, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels and, more recently, JAR.

This richly illustrated book accompanies the display in the Galerie des Bijoux at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which features the collection’s highlights.

John Ruskin wrote this fable for a teenage family friend, Effie, and later he married her. The marriage was famously disastrous, but before it fell apart the Ruskins allowed The King of the Golden River to be published. It became one of the most popular works for children of its time. Richard Doyle contributed over 25 full-page illustrations and vignettes.

The King of the Golden River is the first literary fairy tale in English (as opposed to collected folk tales). Ruskin himself said it was ‘a fairly good imitation of Grimm and Dickens, mixed with some true Alpine feeling of my own’. Later he spoke of the capacity of the traditional tales ‘to fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science’.

It remains a powerful fable about humanity’s dual capacity for destructiveness and redeeming love, with as strange fairy-tale creatures as one could hope to meet.

An essay by Simon Cooke explains the book’s importance.

The Meaning of the Earth offers a retrospective on the lives and work of the relentlessly controversial artists, placing them within the context of twentieth century British culture. Wolf Jahn tells the story of how Gilbert & George found their identity in opposition to pervasive ideas around social conformity and religion after meeting in 1967.
The artists staged an internal revolution, mining their psyches to create visionary and unwaveringly modern art. The ‘two people but one artist’ ask the questions that gnaw at us all: ‘Where do we come from?’, ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Where are we going?’ The book meditates on the artists’ role in this century, connecting their beginnings as Living Sculptures to their pictorial work of today.
The Meaning of the Earth is a continuation of Jahn’s 1989 work, The Art of Gilbert & George. The author writes a playful philosophical interrogation of Gilbert & George’s work that truly grasps its cosmic scale.

The Art of the Architect celebrates the role that drawing and watercolor painting play in architecture. Architectural drawing as we know it dates from the Renaissance, but with the arrival of computer design programs this ancient art—formed of pen, pencil, and brushstrokes on paper—is sometimes regarded as obsolete. The work of Michael G. Imber, whose watercolors and sketches are published for the first time in paperback, shows what a vital contribution they can still make at every stage of an architectural project. His personal example is followed by his colleagues in a visual culture that permeates his practice, Michael G. Imber Architects.

Whatever the place occupied by photographs, simulations, and visual graphics in the design process of today, hand drawing still facilitates a moment of deeper connection between an architect and his environment. Unlike a snap taken on a smart phone, a hand drawing is an active response to its subject: what is understood about a place in sensory terms cannot help but inform the finished design, creating buildings which maintain the balance between the way we live and the natural world around us.

Not only do Michael’s sketches allow him to visualize his environment more clearly, but they provide an immediate visual language with which he can communicate with his team, his craftsmen, and his clients. Pen and wash is a suggestive, selective, and emotive technique. Rich in examples of the art and philosophy that have inspired him over the years, this book is both an ode to a precious art form, and a visual delight to anyone who may turn its pages. Michael’s attention to light, color, line, shape, and space in these “working paintings” reveals a love for the medium that extends from his architectural practice into the time he spends both traveling, and at his summer home on an island in Maine. The beauty of the result will be inspiring to anyone who loves architecture and the attendant arts.

Using the formalist conventions of an ironic heritage, William Ludwig Lutgens attains the expression of something sincere. Like the philosophical idiot who did his utmost best to unlearn all the fallacies he was acquitted with since birth and now only knows he knows nothing, the artist made the world into his own theater wherein he can stomp around like a bull in a china shop with the grace of a prima ballerina. Forcing a pathway to possible exits by presenting us with the alloy of his observations, imagination and scattershot references. Not merely asking questions, which seems to be the hype in contemporary art nowadays, he is unraveling the framework wherein these questions originate. The image deconstructed by the story of its creation, alternating between the power and impotence of the theatrical madness at the end of the world as we know it. William Ludwig Lutgens presents with his Comedy of Humours the dysfunctional family of man.

Text in English and Dutch.

What was the meaning of the extraordinary collection of texts, sketches and graphic prints that Edvard Munch called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Get a glimpse into the artist’s world of ideas through one of the greatest mysteries he left behind. In this book you can experience The Tree of Knowledge as it was found in Munch’s home, with both loose, bound and blank pages. An essay by art historian Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum provides new perspectives on Munch’s most enigmatic project. No one knows why he created this album. Was it a book proposal? Or was it an attempt to organise his ideas?

What we do know is that he worked on the album for several decades, and that it was probably never completed. The most astonishing part of its content is perhaps Munch’s own texts about love, jealousy, life and death, composed in large, colorful lettering.

As one of the key players of modern jewelry in the ’20s, Paul Brandt worked with the most famous jewelers of his time, like Fouquet or Sandoz.

He followed eclectic studies in Paris (jewelry, painting, sculpture, medals and stones engraving, chiselling, etc) and finally decided to specialize in jewelry design. With his first creations he joined the art nouveau movement before focusing on an art deco style. He took part in the International Exhibition of Decorative Art of 1925 both as an artist and a jury member. Paul Brandt considered his jewelry as works of art in their own right and displayed them during exhibitions where the scenography kept getting more innovative. From the ’30s, he extended his activity to interior design.

This monograph displays the talent of this major artist who left his mark in France and abroad. Recounting his whole career, it highlights the extent of Paul Brandt’s skills, not only in jewelry but also in medal making, decoration and interior design.

Text in French.

In this brand new and thoroughly revised edition of the bestselling London city guide author Tom Greig not only shares a lot of new secrets, he also included two outside-the-box city walks: an ideal way to explore a part of the city in a day. Many of the new addresses in this guide are in East-London, an area Tom has explored more intensely since the first publication of The 500 Hidden Secrets of London in 2017.

Of course the best hidden secrets in the rest of the city are still included as well, such as the bakery on Brick Lane that’s open 24-hours and that’s famous for its salt-beef bagels; the only modernist house open to the public; the historic church where you can hear avant-garde electronic music; or the art deco car park that hosts art installations and fashion shows. The book contains 500 places and details that few people know, making it the perfect guide for visitors who want to avoid the usual tourist spots and for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

Also available: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Boston, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Copenhagen, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Tokyo, and many more. Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

There are many reasons to plan a visit to The Hague. It is the international city of peace and justice, the only large Dutch city by the sea, one of the greenest cities of the Netherlands, and it boasts a long and rich history.
For this book, Tal Maes listed her 500 favorite places and tips, presenting them in original and interesting lists such as 5 historic houses of famous Dutchmen, 5 fun boat trips, the 5 best spots for Dutch “maatjes” herring, 5 museums around the Binnenhof, the 5 best lifestyle and concept stores, and much more. This guide encourages you to look further than the usual hotspots. Walk to the far end of the beach to find peace and quiet, try a beer from a hidden monastery, discover cutting-edge art in a former power plant. Of the highlights included, lesser-known aspects are revealed.

Climate change is here. We are in the middle of it and cannot turn a deaf ear to the alarm bells that are sounding ever more compellingly. The impact of unbridled greenhouse gas emissions is incontrovertibly proven and clearly measurable: the warming of the atmosphere and oceans, a change in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, a change in storm activity, a faster acidification of the oceans… There is no more time to close our eyes and think the problem away. No, if we don’t want to burden future generations with insurmountable problems, we need to take action… and right away.
Cathy Macharis, professor of Sustainable Mobility and Logistics at the VUB, puts her finger on the problem and translates meeting the climate goals – which for greenhouse gas emissions implies a reduction by a factor of 8 – into a concrete and sustainable mobility plan to which everyone can and will have to do their bit. The challenge is huge, and despite the fact that technology can help us do this, technology alone cannot solve the problem. In 8 A’s a (Awareness, Avoidance, Act and Shift, Anticipation, Acceleration, Actor involvement, Alteration and All in love!), a plan of action is comprehensively proposed, starting with a change in mentality. This discourse advocates urgent but achievable change, without finger-pointing, hysteria or the pessimism so often inherent in the climate debate. 

The last work of Burne-Jones: a series of woodcut illustrations to the first chapters of Genesis, making a perfect epitome of his art. Reprinted from the original edition of 1902.

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.

Written by Antony Penrose, son of American feminist icon Lee Miller and British artist Roland Penrose this delightful narrative introduces the fascinating lives of Lee Miller; War Correspondent and Surrealist photographer and her husband Roland Penrose; Surrealist artist and co-founder of the ICA, whilst taking a tour of their extraordinary home in the Sussex countryside. Farleys’s exterior has no hint of visual excitements to be discovered. Bright walls & corridors filled with remarkable & eclectic art. The book gives a glimpse into amazing lives of Lee Miller & Roland Penrose. This special anniversary edition, 75 years at Farleys, has new photography and never seen before insights to the house.

“My approach is simple. It is nothing other than what I am thinking at the time I make each piece of clothing…The result is something that other people decide.” – Rei Kawakibo, Interview Magazine, 2008

“Kawakubo’s will matches that of Coco Chanel and her influence goes perhaps even further; she is a designer who sees a bigger picture and has impacted the very shape of fashion, moving its foundations.” – Terry Newman

The Genius of Rei Kawakubo: The woman who founded Comme des Garçons celebrates a designer that is revered as the most avant-garde and experimental in the world. Having created a fashion label that is a global inspiration and one of the few independent brands still run by its founder, Kawakubo infuses her designs with the philosophies of Mu-Ma and Wabi-Sabi to create clothes that are truly special.

Beginning with Kawakubo’s early days when she began developing her brand in Japan, The Genius of Rei Kawakubo: The woman who founded Comme des Garçons goes on to look at her principles of anti-fashion and the art of imperfection, including seminal design details from some of her key collections. With chapters on Kawakubo’s collaborations with other designers, her shops, perfumes, and lots more, this book presents the brand and its founder in all its glorious detail.

Written by Terry Newman – the bestselling author of Marilyn Monroe Style – we learn just how canny a businesswoman and creative an artist Kawakubo is and how, through various avenues and alliances, she has created a vast Comme des Garçons empire.

“A beautiful coffee table book you will actually read from cover to cover, over and over again.” — Homes & Gardens

“Blue Carreon’s latest book, The Gardens of the Hamptons, takes us behind the hedges into some of the East End’s most spectacular properties.” — Hamptons Cottages & Gardens

” …With richly hued photography and evocative storytelling, Carreon artfully reveals the soul of each garden, unearthing the personal philosophies of the owners behind the blooms.” — Modern Luxury

The Gardens of the Hamptons is an awe-inspiring collection of vibrant, luxurious, full-color photography amid personal profiles of individuals who have shared the story behind their private garden with lifestyle writer and photographer Blue Carreon, who is also the author of bestseller Equestrian Life in the Hamptons.

The Hamptons is a well-known destination for sunshine, luxury, and fun, especially during the summer. This book embraces the well-established, beloved, and aesthetic qualities of the glorious Hamptons communities by showcasing over 50 wonderful examples of lush gardens, ranging from bespoke private oases to public offerings and also larger garden estates, inspired by renowned gardens overseas.

Each individual speaks of their personal interest and purpose when envisioning and designing the garden of their dreams. Blue effortlessly conveys each gardener’s sense of pride and the reasons behind the choices of landscape design and architecture, as well as color scheme and flora selection—whether the garden be the source of an intimate escape or a space to activate family laughter and glee.

Blue captures the heart of the Hamptons by showcasing the friendly people and elegant portraits of nature at its best.

Chablis has a distinct identity amongst the wines of Burgundy. The gently sloping vineyards of this small, scenic region produce a remarkably diverse range of wines, even though all are made from just one variety – Chardonnay.

As in other parts of France, it was the Romans who introduced vines and the medieval Church which expanded the vineyard. By the twelfth century the wines of Chablis, were already being celebrated in poetry. However, over the centuries a considerable amount of everyday wine also found its way via the river Yonne to the cafés of Paris. In its heyday of production towards the end of the nineteenth century the region encompassed 40,000 hectares of vines. But that was before phylloxera and oidium ravaged the vineyards and the railways brought competition from further south to the capital’s wine drinkers.

From a low point of 500 hectares just after the Second World War, the vineyard has now expanded more than tenfold, and quality has increased too. Wines in the appellation’s four categories – grand cru, premier cru, Chablis and Petit Chablis – are created by vignerons keen to work with the terroir to produce the elegant, mineral, long-lived wines for which the region earned its reputation. To this end, ever greater care is being taken in the vineyards and the routine use of chemicals is becoming increasingly uncommon.

The region’s history, unique soil, geography and climate are all covered in detail, but it is Rosemary George’s lively and insightful profiles of those who make the region’s wines that form the body of The wines of Chablis and the Grand Auxerrois. Through the lives of these vignerons – from the lows of disastrous weather to their love of the land – she paints a unique picture of a much-admired region.