Maria Lai always had a special relationship with fairy tales. She considered them a metaphor for art and a way of communicating with the public in a simple, straightforward way. Starting in the 1980s, fairy tales became central to her art. Tenendo per mano il sole, Tenendo per mano l’ombra, Curiosape and Maria Pietra, are her most famous “sewn fairy tales” – books created by the artist using castoff textiles.
Maria Lai’s fairy tales are not merely children’s stories, but profound reflections on life and what it means to be a human being. They are often inspired by Sardinian myths and legends, to which the artist gives a personal twist, adding autobiographical details and philosophical reflections.
This edition of Tenendo per mano l’ombra is a printed version of Maria Lai’s 1987 tale. The original consists of fabric pages sewn together and collages of dyed textiles, on which the artist has embroidered geometric figures, yarn and other materials. The fairy tale tells the story of a human being (and his double) who must learn to accept shadows, the dark part of the world and of himself. The figure’s shadow, in Maria Lai’s fairy tale, is not a negative element to be rejected, but an integral part of his personality. To live an untroubled and complete life, one must learn to accept and live with it.
Elena Pontiggia’s concluding essay accompanies the reader in a fascinating page by page interpretation of the fable, and discusses Lai’s artistic and stylistic approach in the context of an extensive network of philosophical, literary and artistic references: from Kant and Manzoni to Klee and Malevič.
Text in English and Italian.
In a series of color-saturated, dream-like, hallucinatory images taken at night, this second book in a trilogy by Kolkata-based photographer Arko Datto explores the shifting world of nature, society, and politics in Malaysia and Indonesia. Over the course of 4 years, he has captured both people and animals in confrontation with the changing urban environments they live in, with the subtext of the politics that made this change possible. In a place that used to be considered a tropical paradise, over- development and property speculation have forced residents out and have created deserts of empty real estate where neither locals nor animal life can thrive. SNAKEFIRE is dedicated to this paradise that has been lost to unmediated human greed and ponders the costs of untrammeled consumption.
From the 2nd century CE to the 19th century, the people of the fertile estuary of the great Mekong River created treasures of sacred art, architecture and accomplished feats of water engineering that are coming to light in Vietnam’s vigorous new archaeological research programmes. The large stilted wooden houses of Oc Eo, the early Venice of the maritime routes of the East in the earliest centuries of the first millennium, drew in ships with precious cargoes from Rome, India and China to trade while waiting for the change of the monsoon wind to continue their voyages.
Chinese annals record that the early polity they called ‘Funan’ ruled 1,000 km of coastline along the shipping route. Among the earliest Mekong Delta Buddhist icons are a breathtakingly elegant 2.7m tall Buddha carved in hardwood that has survived more than 1000 years in the delta mud and a 29cm bronze Buddha that arrived on a trading ship from the 6th century Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. Very early Vishnu statues wear high, floral mitres and clasp war conch-trumpets on their left hip, and Shiva’s face stares out from stone lingas.
The Ho Chi Minh Museum collection conserves diverse masterpieces of the art from Vietnam, from the prehistoric Dong Son drums of the Red River Delta in the north to the vibrant Hindu and Buddhist statuary of the former kingdoms of Champa in Central Vietnam. In addition, there is an immense array of art and imperial furnishings of the last Vietnamese dynasty, the Nguyen, which was founded in the Mekong Delta at the beginning of the 19th century. There are refined inlaid wooden cabinets, sets of the finest blue and white ceramics and embroidered silken court costumes worn by the royal family, as well as huge wooden and ceramic Buddha statues which played crucial social and political roles in establishing the dynasty and quelling its foes.
This book accompanies a major exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum on the early work of internationally acclaimed German artist Anselm Kiefer. It focuses on his paintings, drawings, photographs and artist books created between 1969 and 1982, in the private collections of the Hall Art Foundation. Anselm Kiefer: Early Works is the first institutional show and publication in the UK dedicated to Kiefer’s early practice. The book introduces themes, subjects and styles that have become signature to Kiefer’s work, while providing a more intimate and complementary context for his large-scale installations that he is best known for today. The early works are accompanied by three recent paintings from the artist’s own collections and White Cube, chosen by the artist himself.
Art historians, artists, curators and experts of Kiefer’s art from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Britain and the US have contributed 46 original texts on individual works, organized in a chronological structure. An illustrated chronology at the end of the book compiled by Stephanie Biron from the Hall Art Foundation provides an overview of the artist’s early practice and life, to contextualize the works.
The book begins with Kiefer’s iconic Occupations and Heroische Sinnbilder series, created in 1969 and 1970, which Kiefer views as his first serious works. Kiefer was among the first generation of German post-war artists to directly confront the country’s troubled past and identity. Full of complex references to German socio-political history but also to culture, literature and his personal life, Kiefer’s early works carry a unique iconography, linking classic ideas of great art with a distinctive understanding of concrete artistic materiality. The landscapes in his watercolors are historically charged; hand-written words on paintings are closely linked with poetry well known to most German viewers; motifs and symbols point at Nazi ideologies and a collective feeling of guilt.
This is the exceptionally rich story of Rembrandt’s fame and influence in Britain. No other nation has witnessed such a passionate – and sometimes eccentric – enthusiam for Rembrandt’s works. His imagery has become ubiquitous, making him one of the most recognised artists in history. In this book, some of the world’s leading experts reveal how the taste for Rembrandt’s paintings, drawings and prints evolved, growing into a mania that gripped collectors and art lovers across the country. This reached a fever pitch in the late 1700s, before the dawn of a new century ushered in a re-evaluation of Rembrandt’s reputation and opportunities for the wider public to see his masterpieces for themselves.
The story of Rembrandt’s profound and inspirational impact on the British imagination is illustrated by over 130 sumptuous works by the master himself, as well as by some of Britain’s best-loved artists, including William Hogarth, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Eduardo Paolozzi and John Bellany.
Foreword; Introduction; 1 Rembrandt’s Fame in Britain, 1630 1900: An Overview- Christian Tico Seifert; 2 Rembrandt and Britain: The Modern Era – Patrick Elliott; 3 ‘The Finest Possible State’: Cataloguing and Collecting Rembrandt’s Prints, c.1700 1840 – Stephanie S. Dickey; 4 From Studio to Academy: Copying Rembrandt in Eighteenth-century Britain – Jonathan Yarker; 5 Regarding Rembrandt: Reynolds and Rembrandt – Donato Esposito; 6 Rembrandt: Paragon of the Etching Revival – Peter Black; 7 Rembrandt and Britain: A ‘Picture Flight’ in Three Stages, 1850 1930 – M.J. Ripps; Catalogue; Bibliography.
Goldscheider, a Viennese factory (est. 1885), soon sped to the top of European ceramics makers. Figures and vessels of faience and terracotta as well as bronze and alabaster, all of top quality in respect of form and workmanship, were created in the Historicist, Jugendstil and Art Deco period styles. A crucial factor to their success was the collaboration with distinguished sculptors and ceramicists of the day, which included Demetre Chiparus, Walter Bosse and Josef Lorenzl, all of whom were responsible for a great many of the Goldscheider designs. This success story was quashed by the National Socialist aryanization in 1938: the Goldscheider family was forced to emigrate, the firm was sold and the new proprietor was unable to sustain the high aesthetic quality standard. The Goldscheider brothers did manage to open new ceramics businesses while in exile in the US and England, and Walter Goldscheider even returned to Vienna after the Second World War to resume his post as managing director of his old firm; however, in the 1950s the great ceramics tradition of this venerable Viennese business ended when it was sold to the German Carstens company. Over 600 color photographs show Goldscheider examples, demonstrating why this firm earned such a highly regarded reputation in the world of ceramics.
Text in English and German.
This publication is a first, documenting the development of modern design in mass-produced jewelry from the post-war years to the present. An autonomous trend in jewelry – albeit related to modern art, architecture and design – it has become established mainly in the German-speaking countries. Nowadays jewelry designed in Germany in medium-sized factories and studios represents a major countertrend to conventional luxury jewelry. Since the 1990s, interest in this kind of jewelry has been growing outside Germany as well, in the US, in Europe and Asia. The author begins with a brief retrospective of the origins of modern jewelry: Art Nouveau, Art Déco, Bauhaus and New Objectivity. The revival of goldsmithing from the mid-1960s provided the formal and intellectual foundation for what is now happening in modern mass-produced jewelry design. A large illustrated section gives an historical overview of those developments as shown by the most important classic modern jewelry design and leading current exponents with their exceptional designer pieces.
The story of Ladurée started in 1862 when Louis Ernest Ladurée opened a bakery in the heart of Paris at 16, rue Royale. In 1872, following a fire, the little bakery became a pastry shop and the decoration was then done by Jules Cheret, a famous painter and poster-designer of the time. Jeanne Souchard, Ernest Ladurée’s wife, then had the idea of combining the Parisian café with a pastry-shop. She therefore created one of Paris’ first tea-rooms. In 1993 Ladurée was bought by Francis and David Holder and became one of the best-known gourmet addresses in Paris, a veritable institution with its famous “macaron” as its emblem. In 1997 Ladurée opened a tea-room/restaurant on the prestigious Champs-Elysées, followed by another in the Printemps department store and on the Left Bank as well as the beginning of their international adventure with branches in London, Geneva, Monaco and Tokyo.
In this book Michel Lerouet, the Chef at Ladurée, reveals 100 of the most famous Ladurée recipes, adapted for the general public. From duck foie gras with rose macaroon to vegetable tagliatelles with Ladurée tea and cardamom, as well as the taramasalata éclair with rose petals, the Chef presents us with an entire artist’s pallet of appetizers, main courses, fish, meat, salads, omelettes… All with the Ladurée quality and creativity.
Pierre-Émile Legrain (1888-1929) was a French bookbinder, framer, landscape designer, furniture designer, and interior architect. This is the first full-length monograph about him, exploring his life and his creations in every genre, and highlighting the formal links between his work as an ensemblier, bookbinder, and draftsman. Pierre Legrain is credited with revolutionizing bookbinding in the early 20th century. In 1916 he was commissioned by the French bibliophile, couturier, and collector Jacques Doucet to design bindings for his extensive library. He created nearly 400 unique bindings for him, and numerous frames for Doucet’s exceptional modern art collection – including a steel frame for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – as well as a series of African-inspired furniture. He was a member of the UAM, whose logo he designed, and he associated with André Breton, Paul Éluard, Jean Cocteau, the sculptors Gustave Miklos and Henri Laurens, the painter Francis Picabia, and the milliner Jeanne Tachard for whom he designed a garden. His rare body of work – a hundred or so pieces of furniture and a few interiors – is dispersed today in museums and private collections throughout the world.
Text in French.
Following on from the success of An Opinionated Guide to East London, Hoxton Mini Press are developing a series of ‘opinionated guides’ to aspects of London, each offering concise, highly-curated, insider selections alongside stunning, original photography. Two expert writers, Sujata Burman and Rosa Bertoli of Wallpaper Magazine, have joined forces with architectural photographer Taran Wilkhu to create an unashamedly confident guide to the must-see buildings in London, spanning all the architectural styles: from Art Deco to postmodern, brutalist to futuristic. Over 50 buildings are included alongside four maps with guided city walks. Why buy a guidebook when all information is online? Because people want opinion to cut through the clutter. Contents: Foreword; Introduction; Maps / Walks; Features.
Instagram is more popular than ever before. Over 80 million new photos are posted daily on this social networking site. How to pick the very best of them? We have done so for you! The funniest pictures of cats, the most surprising places and arty portraits: you will discover them in a beautifully designed, thematic book that also contains inspirational quotes. Also available: Insta Grammar: Cats ISBN 9789401436953 Insta Grammar: Nordic ISBN 9789401436946
Instagram is a simple, fun and creative way to capture and share photos, videos & messages with friends & family with over 80 million new photos posted daily. The Insta Grammar series steers clear of all clichés and shows you the most interesting corners of the best photography inspired by graphic design. Each photo is a hand-picked thematic selection of the best and most inspiring photos Instagram has to offer accompanied by inspirational quotes. Now you can bring the best of Instagram your coffee table, office or share a creative gift with a friend in this beautiful gift book series Bound in a unique ‘lay flat’ format for optimal viewing pleasure. Insta Grammar: Green celebrates all of the ways green colors our lives, from moody forests and desert cacti to still life paintings and abstract photography in this collection of nature favorites from Instagram. Over 100 images are paired with wisdom from Khalil Gibran, Lao Tzu, and Henry David Thoreau. An ideal gift book for the green-thumbed, the nature-lover, outdoor enthusiast or just about anyone for whom green equals life!
The popular Insta Grammar series comprises the most beautiful – and interesting – thematic photos on Instagram, presented in a fresh, pleasing package at an affordable price. After Cats, City, Nordic and Green comes Graphic and Insta Grammar Dogs. The motto is: graphic design is the new art, and dogs are the new cats. Graphic includes the work of up and coming designers; Dogs includes, well, dogs. Off-beat and appealing, the books in this growing series take the doubt out of choosing the perfect gift for millennials. Quotes, sometimes quirky but always apt, are sprinkled throughout. Insta Grammar Cats ISBN 9789401436953 Insta Grammar: Nordic ISBN 9789401436946 Insta Grammar: City ISBN 9789401436915 Insta Grammar: Green ISBN 9789401440554 Insta Grammar: Graphic ISBN 9789401441599
“Offers readers a chance to look again at modern British architecture through the eyes of all sorts of experts.” – Architectural Digest
“Very sophisticated and thoroughly researched.” – Bevis Hillier
“An eclectic selection with an unsurprising bias towards Modernism.” – Design Insider
This is a compact guide to Britain’s best buildings of the last 100 years, with an intriguing twist: the choices come from a wide range of experts with strong and sometimes unexpected opinions. The contributors include architects Norman Foster, Piers Gough, Charles Holland and Richard Rogers; critics and historians such as Elain Harwood, Bevis Hillier, Jonathan Meades, Alan Powers, Alice Rawsthorn and Peter York. Everyone involved contributed their ten choices, and all these lists are reproduced at the end of the book. In the main section featuring 75 key buildings, everything selected more than once is illustrated and examined in more detail.
The result is a fascinating cocktail of undisputed greats and genuinely surprising entries. Alongside the work of Wells Coates, Denys Lasdun, James Stirling and John Outram, you’ll find post-War prefabs, Preston Bus Station and the ruins of St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross. Whether you’re after a slightly unorthodox selection of Britain’s finest modern buildings, or just curious about what major architects and critics consider as their favorites, this book is your ideal guide.
All the following contributed a list of their favorite buildings: John Allan, Stephen Bates, Keith Bradley, Peter Clegg, Nigel Coates, Richard Hywel Evans, Kathryn Ferry, Jenny Fleming, Norman Foster, Piers Gough, John Grindrod, Ivan Harbour, Claire Harper, Elain Harwood, Birkin Haward, Simon Henley, Bevis Hillier, Charles Holland, Owen Hopkins, David Jenkins, Owen Luder, Jonathan Meades, David Nixon, Stefi Orazi, James Perry, Alan Powers, Alice Rawsthorn, Richard Rogers, Jonathan Sergison, Anne Ward, Peter York, Paul Zara.
Revealing an alternative story of modern Scottish art, A New Era examines the most experimental work of Scottish artists during the first half of the 20th century. It challenges the accepted view of the dominance of the Scottish Colourists and uncovers the hitherto little-known progressive Scottish art world. Through these works, we can see the commitment of Scottish artists to the progress of art through their engagement and interpretation of the great movements of European modern art, from Fauvism and Expressionism, to Cubism, Art Deco, abstraction and Surrealism, among others. Looking at the most advanced work of high-profile artists such as William Gillies and Stanley Cursiter, and lesser-known talents, like Tom Pow and Edwin G. Lucas, A New Era takes its name from the group established in Edinburgh in 1939 to show surreal and abstract work by its members.
Journey: The Life and Times of an American Architect is the first-ever monograph to chronicle the trajectory, work, inspirations, and motivations of esteemed New York architect and interior designer Alan Wanzenberg. For Wanzenberg, designing is nothing short of an intellectal process. With a sensitivity to place and a deep understanding of design history, Journey showcases his original take on archetypical styles, including American Arts & Crafts, Shaker, French Art Deco, and American Farmhouse. The result is always a seamlessly developed, beautifully understated home that is a perfect amalgamation of the client’s tastes and the project’s context. Become inspired by the integral influences and experiences that comprise Wanzenberg’s journey, all of which have led him to become the distinctive, high-profile, and accomplished designer that he is today. Contents: On the Road Together 1. Starting Out 2. Destinations: Ten Projects 3. Coming Home
Spijkers and Spijkers is part 6 in a series showcasing important Dutch and internationally influential Fashion Designers. Dutch twin sisters Spijkers and Spijkers create flattering womenswear that rebels against society’s stereotypical image of femininity. Known for their Art Deco-inspired striking graphic prints and fluid tailoring, they have been championed for creating both couture and ready-to-wear collections that are accessible to all. This book presents their career history, which so far has spanned 11 years.
As part of the on-trend Insta Grammar series, this perpetual calendar compiles the best Instagram images for 365 days of the year. A block calendar with its own box, it is full of surprising and striking images with a color palette that resonates with the seasons (dark, cold winter to light, hot summer). Each day has a witty, thought-provoking quote. A beautiful gift, for others and for yourself.
“Taking the best of Instagram and printing it, the Insta Grammar series of coffee table books prove there’s a (physical) place for your favourite online images.” – Vogue
Greenwich is the one London district whose name resonates around the world. As ‘the place where time began‘, everyone has heard of it, so naturally everyone wants to come here when they visit the capital.
With a memorable and picturesque Thames-side location, its maritime history means that there‘s more to see here per square foot than any other outer London neighborhood, and this new guide tells you how to do it.
111 Places not only tracks down the most interesting nuggets among Greenwich’s mainstream sights, from the Cutty Sark to the Meridian Line, it also lifts the lid on the area’s lesser-known attractions – from haunted Jacobean houses and mudlarking in Deptford Creek to classic pie and mash shops and famous riverside pubs. It explores beyond the confines of Greenwich town centre, turning up treasures like Henry VIII’s favorite residence, Eltham Palace – now an Art Deco gem – and nearby engineering feats like the Thames Barrier.
You could come to London and spend half your time in Greenwich, and we wouldn’t blame you if you did. This book tells you how to make the most of London‘s maritime borough.
The design of French embassies presented in this book retrace a century of diplomacy and the influence of the French style abroad. They showcase the diplomatic role played by the decorative arts and, as a counterpoint, the enrichment of these through contact with other cultures. From the first Art nouveau and Art deco ensembles to design at the end of the century, the most prestigious designers of their time meet on this world tour: Süe and Mare in Warsaw, Francis Jourdain in Kabul, Jean-Michel Frank in Dublin, Jacques Émile Ruhlmann in Tokyo, Jean Dunand in Ankara, Jean Royère in Alexandria and Helsinki or, more recently, Michel Boyer in Brasilia and Jean-Michel Wilmotte in Washington. Throughout the pages, the little-known heritage of France abroad is revealed, thanks to documents, photographs and often unpublished drawings which reconstruct its memory.
Text in French.
When does a carpet transcend the category of interior accessory to become art? This well-illustrated book features 200 carpets found in behind-the scenes tours of amazing homes around the world. In thematic chapters, it covers the main international trends, from Ethnic to Art Deco and from Contemporary to Artsy. These dressed-up living spaces provide inspiration for anyone fascinated by stylish living, creative interior design and the myriad possibilities for home decor. In addition, the author provides helpful information on the provenance of materials, quality of design, composition and workmanship possibilities for home decor. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the homes of people with a good taste. Carpets & Rugs is comprehensive and more relevant than ever.
Nicolas Eekman (1889-1973) is the heir of the great creators of his native Flanders, from Jérôme Bosh to James Ensor, as well as one of the representatives of the School of Paris.
Born in Brussels where he studied architecture, he turned to painting and exhibited for a few years in Holland before settling in Paris in 1921. Close to his compatriot Mondrian with whom he exhibited at the Jeanne Bucher gallery (1928), he is also closely linked to the artists Jean Lurçat, Marcoussis, Max Jacob, Lipchitz, and later with Moïse Kisling and Frans Masereel.
Influenced by Cubism to which he devoted a few outstanding years, he gradually returned, in the 1930s, to realism and then from the 1950s turned to the fantastic, reviving the Flemish painting of the fifteenth and sixteenth century.
Author of an abundant painted work, he is also a renowned draftsman, illustrator and engraver whose works have been collected by numerous print studios (Brussels, Hanover, Berlin, Hamburg, Basel, Budapest).
Text in English and French.
With this new guide in your bag, you’re set to go out and discover the best and most fun places in hotspot Miami: 500 addresses that many tourists don’t know, a bit off the beaten track, but always loved by the locals and worth a visit. The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami will take you to all the places that make Miami the lively and unique city it is, also known as the ‘Gateway to the Caribbean’, such as: the 5 nicest water views, 5 stunning Mediterranean revival buildings, 5 renowned Miami-based fashion designers, the 5 coolest hotel pools, and 5 wonderful parks, playgrounds, and museums to visit with your kids. It even includes some unusual experiences, such as swimming in a freshwater Venetian pool, or day trips to the Everglades and the Keys.