Looted Art & Restitution relates the history of the trade, looting and restitution of works of art from the Netherlands before, during and after World War II. Countless artworks ended up in German hands during the occupation. The allies recovered a large number of works of art to the Netherlands after the war. It was the Dutch government’s task to return looted or forcibly sold works to their original owners. The mostly Jewish claimants, however, often encountered bureaucratic and unwilling authorities. Meanwhile, most of the artworks were distributed over museums and depots or auctioned off.
It was not until the late 1990s that, in accordance with international developments, the restitution policy became much more humane and a search for the rightful owners was implemented.
The Art of Endurance is a coffee table book about the 2024 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), which is one of the most exciting competitions in motorsport. This book is based on the very rich production of images that will be developed and embellished over the eight races that are held around the globe on internationally renowned circuits, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. The main goal is to capture the “spirit” that characterizes these endurance races. This beautiful publication will be a perfect promotional tool for the championship, whose considerable drawing power is due to the number of competitors and manufacturers who are taking part.
This book addresses a phenomenon that pervades the field of art history: the fact that English has become a widely adopted language. Art history employs language in a very particular way, one of its most basic aims being the verbal reconstruction of the visual past. The book seeks to shed light on the particular issues that English’s rise to prominence poses for art history by investigating the history of the discipline itself: specifically, the extent to which the European tradition of art historical writing has always been shaped by the presence of dominant languages on the continent.
What artistic, intellectual, and historical dynamics drove the pattern of linguistic ascendance and diffusion in the art historical writing of past centuries? How have the immediate, practical ends of writing in a common language had unintended, long-term consequences for the discipline? Were art historical concepts transformed or left behind with the onset of a new lingua franca, or did they often remain intact beneath a shifting veneer of new words?
Includes 10 essays in English, four in Italian, and one in German.
Text in English, German and Italian.
Tracing the erotic from its earliest origins to the present day, this provocative and opinionated guide reveals the many shades of erotic art. Covering phallic Babylonian carvings from 1800 BCE, forbidden Victorian watercolors, 18th-century Shunga woodcuts and the extraordinary queer art of Ron Athey, Valie Export and Tom of Finland, this witty guide celebrates the beauty, chaos and absurdity of erotic art – and questions how desire shapes the way we see the world. With simple design, beautiful reproductions and concise, colorful opinion, this is part of the series of Opinionated Guides on art movements, mediums and ideas.
Experience Formula 1 as never before. Formula 1 – The Art Dimension transforms the world’s most thrilling motorsport into pure photo art. Each page captures the drama, elegance, and raw power of F1 through breathtaking, gallery-worthy photography. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or a devotee of fine photography, Formula 1 – The Art Dimension is more than a book—it’s a piece of art in itself. Discover the artistry of Formula 1.
Yaozhou ware is one of the finest Chinese celadons, made in north China over a period of 700 years, from the 7th to the 14th centuries. Their style developed and changed over time. In the Tang dynasty (618-906) black, brown, lead glazed and black-on-white painted ceramics were made. During the Five Dynasties period (907-960) a technical peak was achieved, and white-bodied wares with beautiful blue-green glazes appeared. During the Northern Song and Jin dynasties (906-1279) more olive-toned celadon glazes became the norm, their intricate decoration and lustrous surfaces supplying a unique aesthetic. At the end of the Jin dynasty the kilns declined and started to manufacture folk ware.
Yaozhou Wares from Museums and Art Institutes Around the World gathers illustrations and descriptions of some of the finest Yaozhou wares in private and public collections around the globe. The account considers ceramics in sections, according to their form and decoration, and includes the finest-quality ‘official wares’ requisitioned for imperial use. Copious illustrations are augmented by a scholarly essay. Highlighting over 400 pieces of Yaozhou ware, the book contains 711 color and 3 black-and-white illustrations from 56 major museums and art institutes, and will inspire collectors, students and anyone with a love for Chinese ceramics.
The Bradley Collection comprises the core of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s holdings of modern art. With nearly 400 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, it features works by groundbreaking artists across the 20th century, including Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Helen Frankenthaler, Barbara Hepworth, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Gabriele Münter, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, and Mark Rothko.
This book tells the story of how Peg Bradley built the collection—and then how she gave it away, transforming her hometown museum and community. The first comprehensive catalog of the collection, it brings together new research and insights by international scholars to shed light on works that have been long admired but little studied. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with highlighted works and an illustrated checklist, allowing readers to visualize every work in the collection. In addition to focusing on this extraordinary gift, the essays will appeal to anyone interested in the larger arc of modern art.
Visions in Silk presents the first comprehensive exploration of exquisite Japanese fine art textiles from the Meiji era (1868-1912), showcasing the unparalleled treasures from the Khalili Collection of Japanese Art.
This beautifully illustrated volume reveals how Japanese artists and craftsmen ingeniously adapted centuries-old textile traditions to create innovative art textiles that captivated international audiences, won exhibition awards, and served as prestigious diplomatic gifts.
Featuring over 300 spectacular examples, the book examines dazzling works of embroidery, yuzen resist-dyed silk and cut velvet, tapestry, and oshi-e raised silk, ranging from elegant panels, hangings and screens to grand exhibition showpieces. Each represents the pinnacle of artistic collaboration and hitherto unsurpassed technical mastery.
Written by leading international experts, this landmark publication provides unprecedented insight into these remarkable yet understudied treasures. Visions in Silk will enchant anyone interested in Japanese art, textile design, Japonisme, and the cultural transformations that occurred during the Meiji era, when Japan opened to the outside world.
According to medieval theologians, faith is a deadly serious business. Humor and virtue are irreconcilable, because laughter is uncontrollable and escapes the control of reason. A modest smile is permitted. But laughing loudly, grinning and grimacing: these are the playing field of the devil – just as pernicious as other uncontrollable urges, such as physical love or the addiction of the gambler. That is the domain of the peasant or fool.
In the late Middle Ages, every right-thinking town-dweller knew the difference between the peasant and the fool. Peasants are innocently gullible, primitive, throwing themselves into feasting, gorging, drinking and sex. The peasant is the antithesis of the cultivated urbanite, who fastidiously controls his urges – and who therefore above all must not laugh too loudly. Only during Innocents Day parties or Shrove Tuesday celebrations is it permitted for urban partygoers to play the fool and to show their ‘underbelly’.
In contrast to the peasant, the fool escapes the existing order. He holds up a mirror to the self-declared wise citizens, because ‘the fool reveals the truth through laughter’, even though it may be hidden between piss and shit, sex and snot. It is for precisely this reason that Erasmus, in his In Praise of Folly writes not as himself but through the persona of Folly, a broad back behind which the wise person can hide when he denounces social problems. Laughter thus alters the world.
In this context, the fool and irony became important motifs in medieval art, especially in the Low Countries. This original art book is illustrated with dozens of top-quality works by Flemish masters from worldwide collections.
Art pushes boundaries and so does skateboarding. This book explores this philosophy by showcasing skateboard-inspired artists and their work from around the world. From artists working in the skateboard community to freelancers being influenced by it. From traditional pencil to digital drawing. They all have one thing in common: skateboarding. Skate & Art, following bestseller Surf & Art by Veerle Helsen, is curated and written by Michele Addelio, editor of Backside skate magazine who explores the skate scene outside the mainstream. In his online publication he has interviewed over 50 skateboard-inspired artists. This experience laid the foundation to continuously discover the diversity and beauty of the two art forms colliding.
‘That this is a legitimate question, even a necessary one, is argued by Vergara in a pleasurable manner, with the pace and attitude of a peripatetic thinker. There is something here that reminds one of Montaigne or Stendhal.’ – El País
Throughout history, human beings have excelled at creating art of the highest quality. Aristotle wrote that Homer “surpassed all others” and Pliny the Elder referred to “masterpieces that we never tire of admiring”. Velázquez distinguished between portraits “made with art” and those that were not. What did they all mean exactly? What do we mean when we say that a work of art is good, of high quality? This book is an attempt to explain this central question, which remains surprisingly unexplored.
Alejandro Vergara-Sharp argues that “a deep knowledge of the history of art provides us with the tools to approach this issue objectively”. He then invites the reader to share with him a Socratic voyage of discovery, gradually unveiling arguments that can assist us in understanding this elusive and crucial concept.
The career of Y.G. Srimati – classical singer, musician, dancer and painter – represents a continuum in which each of these skills and experiences merged, influencing and pollinating each other.
Born in Mysore in 1926, Srimati was part of the generation much influenced by the rediscovery of a classical Sanskrit legacy devoted to the visual arts. Soon swept up in the nationalist movement for an independent India, she was deeply moved by the time she spent with Mahatma Gandhi. For the young Srimati, the explicit referencing of the past and of religious subjects came together in an unparalleled way, driven by the conscious striving for an indigenous agenda. This experience gave form and meaning to her art, and largely defined her style.
As John Guy demonstrates in this sumptuous volume, as a painter of the mid and late twentieth century, Y.G. Srimati embodied a traditionalist position, steadfast in her vision of an Indian style, one which resonated with those who knew India best.
Nineteenth-Century European Painting: From Barbizon to Belle Époque represents a comprehensive guide to the range of stylistically diverse genres of nineteenth-century European painting. Accessible and insightful, this exquisitely illustrated volume presents the historical context behind the century’s essential artistic movements including Romantic Painting, The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Realist Painting, Academic Painting, and Impressionist Painting. Influenced by an overwhelming wave of political, military and social change, nineteenth-century Europe represented an era more diverse in painterly subjects and styles than any before it. Indeed, it was a period that saw many European painters moving away from the strictures of the academy system, choosing instead to use their training to develop new techniques and traditions. A collection of independent stories, this book also outlines the unique progression between the different movements, exciting and enlightening the reader about the most magnificent period of art the world has ever known. Contents: Foreword; Dr. Vern G. Swanson; Introduction; Author’s Note; STYLES: The Barbizon School; Romantic Painting; Orientalist Painting; The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Realist Painting; Academic Painting; Impressionist Painting; The Newlyn School; Post-Impressionist Painting; SUBJECTS: Landscape Painting; Venetian View Painting; Maritime Painting; Sporting Painting; Animal Painting; Genre Painting; Cardinal Painting; Costume Painting; British Neoclassical Revival Painting; Belle Époque Painting; Conclusion; Endnotes; Bibliography. Featured works from museums and collections including: Louvre, Paris, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Wallace Collection, London, Fine Art Museum of San Francisco, The Tate Gallery, London, The Schaeffer Collection, New South Wales, The Royal Collection, The Royal Academy of Arts, England, The Musée D Orsay Paris, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Collection), The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, The Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, England, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Stanhope Forbes, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, PA, USA, Paisnel Gallery, London, National Gallery, London, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museo e Gallerie Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy, Museo de Arte, Ponte, Puerto Rico, Musée Marmottan, Paris, Musée D Orsay, Paris, Auguste Renoir, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among many others.
Over the course of six decades, the American artist William Harper (b. 1944) has conjured a body of work unique in the realm of jewelry. Masterfully crafted in enamel and gold, his pieces explore multiple realms – from ancient mythology to personal iconography – and draw on influences such as African sculpture, medieval art, and modernist dance. Harper has nonetheless created an oeuvre that is instantly recognizable, branching into formats including paintings, ornamented casks, artist’s books, and more. Bizarre Beauty, the definitive study of Harper and his work, includes a full biography by co-editor Glenn Adamson, as well as thematic essays and primary texts. A visual feast, the book provides an intimate look at this brilliantly imaginative artist.
“The book is a tribute to a unique, taste-forming textile art that has lost none of its appeal to this day. ” — Preetorius Foundation
“If Chintz seems rather too ‘Miss Marple-y’ or old hat, this magnificently produced book, CHINTZ: Indian cotton textiles from the Karun Thakar collection, is set to change your mind, and your decor.” — Embroidery Magazine
Chintz explores the historic importance of Indian printed and painted cotton textiles, drawing on the Karun Thakar Collection. Assembled over thirty years, the collection comprises over two hundred examples, many of which have featured in significant museum exhibitions. With contributions from leading scholars and curators, including from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this book examines the historical significance of Indian printed cottons and their influence on global trade from the 14th century onward, and includes examples found in Sri Lanka, Japan and throughout Europe. The book provides insights into the artistry of Indian designers and the enduring legacy of this textile tradition, making it a valuable resource for those with an interest in art history, textile design and global cultural exchange.
Continuing the publication program that aims to disseminate the Collection through albums that present specific sections in a systematic manner, this volume focuses on Egyptian Art. The section was first studied by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, when the pieces that would be included in the Museum’s permanent exhibition were selected, and first published in 1991 by the curator of the section, Maria Helena Assam. 15 years on, new texts have been written by Egyptologist Luís Manuel de Araújo, a professor at the Arts Faculty of the University of Lisbon.
Calouste Gulbenkian mostly assembled his collection of Egyptian art between 1922 and 1929. Relatively small but very diverse, it includes pieces of exceptional quality from the various periods when art in pharaonic Egypt was at its height. The catalogue not only covers the pieces on display at the Museum, but also those kept in the storeroom.
In the last twenty-five years contemporary art in Scotland has grown from a tiny and tightly knit community to a globally recognized center of artistic innovation and experiment. This book provides the first comprehensive and fully illustrated guide to the art of the period. Featuring the work of more than eighty contemporary artists who first made their careers in Scotland including Turner Prize winners Douglas Gordon, Simon Starling and Martin Boyce. An accessible introduction for new audiences and a handy reference guide to the art of this period.
Hotspot Leipzig and the subsequent Neue Leipziger Schule represent a highly influential movement within contemporary figurative art. Originating at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, this artistic tradition places strong emphasis on craftsmanship and realism. Artists such as Werner Tübke, Bernhard Heisig, and Wolfgang Mattheuer laid the foundation with their technically refined and socially engaged works. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Neue Leipziger Schule emerged, with artists like Neo Rauch, Rosa Loy, and Matthias Weischer blending realism with dreamlike and surreal elements.
Since 2009, the Drents Museum has devoted considerable attention to these movements. Exhibitions such as Realism from Leipzig and solo presentations by Rosa Loy, Kristina Schuldt, Mirjam Völker and Tilo Baumgärtel reflect the museum’s long-standing commitment to these artists. The museum has also built an extensive collection of works from both the original and the new Leipzig schools, including recent acquisitions like Baboom by Tilo Baumgärtel. The book includes essays by leading authors and a comprehensive selection of works.
Text in English and Dutch.
This issue of Metaphysical Art – The de Chirico Journals no. 21/22 (2022), centers around Giorgio de Chirico’s correspondence with his friend Fritz Gartz (1909–1911), which has been transcribed and translated into English. A related essay by Simonetta Antellini discusses de Chirico’s writing style and use of the German language. Other essays include Fabio Benzi’s examination of Florence’s cultural milieu in the years 1910–1911, which analyzes the musical, artistic, literary, and philosophical context in which Metaphysics was born. Elena Pontiggia presents a large and previously unpublished collection of letters written by de Chirico to his mother Gemma Cervetto, which has recently been acquired by the Foundation. Riccardo Dottori’s article offers a new interpretation of the painting Serenata (1910), based on a fresh literary source: On the Cave of the Nymphs by the ancient Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry. Completing this volume is a narrative essay by Italo Calvino entitled Cities of Thought (1983), translated into English and introduced by Anne Greeley, which was published alongside a major Paris retrospective of de Chirico’s metaphysical works.
Italian and American Art focuses on the period between 1930 and 1980 in particular. By comparing artworks and examining exhibition and gallery policies, political meddling, and figures linking Italy to the United States, a common thread emerges which held two worlds that were literally an ocean apart but in constant touch as they explored each other’s movements contributing to art, from Futurism, Concrete art, and Abstract Expressionism, to Nuclear art, Pop art and Spatialism.
After the first Thai comic strip was published in 1907, comics flourished in Siam and developed in uniquely Thai ways. With diverse and leading artists working in each generation there is a wealth of material to consider. Gory horror tales, anti-communist propaganda and socially-engaged graphic novels bear witness to the country’s darker years. From 1990, Thai comics struggled to compete with the sudden influx of unlicensed Japanese manga and went through a hiatus, making a comeback in the late ’90s with a new and alternative scene that deserves wider recognition. Each page of The Art of Thai Comics opens a unique window onto Thai society – a distilled vision of its hopes, fears, delights and horrors. From 20th century interpretations of Jataka tales, which replay the Buddha’s various reincarnations, to tales of modern-day millennial angst. Thai comics past and present offer an entertaining and enlightening viewpoint onto the country’s history, culture and enduring creativity.
The best art isn’t just created in art schools. Scratched into cave walls, molded in clay, embroidered onto clothing, sketched in the margins, painted on scrap cardboard in time snatched after work, perhaps in secret. Art is not only made inside academies and institutions by people with money and training, though sometimes the canon suggests otherwise. From Ukrainian pansky eggs to politically charged quilts, these 65 artworks challenge our preconceptions about what constitutes art, how it should be made and who should make it.
Shafik Gabr started his collection of Orientalist art in 1993 by acquiring a painting by Ludwig Deutsch entitled Egyptian Priest Entering a Temple. His collection is today amongst the very few in the world to count such a large number of works by the famed Austrian artist as well as some of the finest examples of the greatest masters of Orientalism such as Jean-Léon Gérôme, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Gustav Bauernfeind and many others. Important for both scholars and art lovers, the Shafik Gabr Collection impresses us with its richness and variety. It includes masterpieces by some of the major nineteenth and twentieth century Orientalists found in private hands today and demonstrates the owner’s appreciation of differences as well as similarities in European visions of the versatile and diverse Orient. The selection of paintings in this collection illustrates the owner’s evolving taste, his relationship with the world of Orientalism and his interest in its European expression. This Orientalist collection is a harmonious “kaleidoscope” of genres, presenting the Orient through a variety of forms, styles and techniques, and revealing to the European viewer the mysterious East with its bright colors, its exotic and leisurely lifestyle. Over the years, it has become one of the most complete and magnificent tributes dedicated to the world of Orientalism and as such some of the most renowned experts in this field have contributed to this book in order to mark its importance in the art world. Lavishly illustrated, Masterpieces of Orientalist Art: The Shafik Gabr Collection also includes essays by distinguished Orientalist scholars.