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.
Male nudes have always been an expression of strength, beauty, and desire. Today, the naked male body is often viewed as a symbol of homosexual desire and is subject to a similar objectification within the community as the heterosexual female body — despite the social narrative of diversity and body positivity.
This raises important questions: which bodies are worthy of representation, which poses stimulate desire — and whose desire is being aroused? We are exposed to a non-stop, endlessly repetitive production of images in everyday life. This has long since led to a standardization of the masculine body image, but only few people can identify with the ideal of a slim, muscular, and angular figure.
In his work the beauty & the boys, Martin de Crignis displays his own photographs of the bare male body in the context of historical nude depictions. He sets his own visual language against these archive photos: while it imitates the aesthetics of a reality format in which the portrayed persons seem to openly present themselves in a domestic setting, the staged poses contradict both the genre and the masculine body ideal.
With this special juxtaposition of images and their conflicting aesthetics, de Crignis subtly touches on issues of body cult, naturalness, and masculinity in his exceptional artist’s book.
During the German occupation, a Jewish Dutch couple had to sell a painting to go into hiding. Their daughters were placed in a children’s home, but were rounded up in early 1944 and deported to Auschwitz, where they died. The parents survived the war and did not discover their children’s fate until 1946. The search for the painting also remained fruitless for a long time, until Origins Unknown Agency discovered that it had ended up in a German museum. The museum had previously tried unsuccessfully to trace its provenance. Thanks to the Origins Unknown Agency, the heirs of the original owner were found. The German museum and the heirs agreed that the painting, an 1882 work by Camille Pissarro, would remain at the museum. As part of the compensation, the painting will be kept on display from November 2024 to February 2025 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
“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.
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.
The collection of 18th- and early-19th-century French silverware brought together by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian is the most important of its time and one of the most significant sections of the Gulbenkian Museum’s collection. Amassed between 1900 and 1950, these pieces constitute a unique group due to their diversity and quality. The collection comprises over 150 works, including several world-class masterpieces that represent the collector’s taste.
The catalogue is dedicated to a selection of silver works of different typologies, such as centerpieces, tureens, salt cellars, candelabras and candlesticks, made by renowned silversmiths such as François-Thomas Germain, Antoine-Sébastien Durant, Robert-Joseph Auguste and Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Despite this diversity, these works all share the characteristics that make this collection unique: quality and authenticity combined with original designs, technical expertise and distinguished provenances, with former owners including members of European aristocracy and the Russian imperial family. These works were mostly purchased in Paris, but there is also an important group of works from the Hermitage collection, acquired through negotiations made between Calouste Gulbenkian and the Soviet government between 1928 and 1930.
After an initial text about Calouste Gulbenkian’s passion for 18th-century French silverware, the most prominent pieces of the collection are presented in chronological order of acquisition and are accompanied by comprehensive descriptions and analyses, as well as detailed information on hallmarks, inscriptions, provenances and historical and bibliographical sources. An excellent photographic survey, carried out specifically for the purpose, illustrates the 43 catalogue entries.
At the end of the publication, the reader can find a list of secondary silverware, an index of names and the group of archive documents and bibliography consulted.
Images Credits: Panorama
The world as we know it is on its last legs; the old order is faltering. In these uncertain times, it’s tempting to lose faith in the future. But what if this is precisely the beginning of something new? F*ck the System, and Other Bad Ideas for the Future unravels the chaotic forces behind the geopolitical scenes and asks a fundamental question: can Europe emerge as a strong player in the emerging world order? What do we need to build a Europe that is sovereign, resilient, and radically innovative? This is a manifesto to understand the present and imagine the future—provocative, sharp, and unorthodox. It breaks with old logic and prejudices, finding in today’s disorder the seeds of something better. For thinkers and doers, for citizens, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who believe Europe can be more than an old continent in crisis.
The Letting Go is a long-standing, performative, and participatory practice by artist Natascha Stellmach. It explores themes of vulnerability and empowerment. Following a meditation and in response to the question, “What would you like to let go of?”, the practice involves identifying, naming, embodying, and experiencing healing and impermanence through the body. Its method includes ritual tattooing without ink (a bloodline tattoo) to address a personal obstacle and initiate an intimate enquiry.
Over a period of almost 10 years, Stellmach performed more than 120 sessions with individuals in galleries and privately, including herself. Through evocative photography, academic research, and participant-contributed selfies and reflections, the publication invites readers to embrace “the wonder in our wounds” and offers a deeply human portrait of what it means to let go.
The book includes a welcome message by acclaimed actor Sandra Hüller, as well as essays by curator and arts writer Kelly Gellatly and psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Matthew McArdle.
Text in English and German.
The America’s Cup has been the world’s most prestigious yacht race for over 170 years. This beautifully illustrated and fully updated new edition tells the story of the cup from its inception through to the most recent race, held in 2024.
Named in 1851 in honor of the first winner (New York pilot, ‘America’), the Cup was dominated by American yachts for well over a century. At last, in 1983, Australia II wrestled the trophy away from the USA, albeit briefly. At Barcelona in 2024, the Cup produced one of the best contests yet, with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron winning the race for a fifth time, and a British yacht, Britannia, competing in the finals for the first time in 60 years.
With a painting of each race since 1851, by marine artist Tim Thompson, and detailed descriptions of the boats involved, The Story of the America’s Cup 1851-2024 is an elegant, insightful celebration of a storied contest.
Focusing on Calouste Gulbenkian’s determination to preserve his cherished art collection intact after his death, this book tells the story of the creation of the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. It begins with the efforts of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, founded in 1956, to reunite an exceptional art collection then dispersed between Paris, Washington D.C. and London. The book examines the legal, diplomatic and practical measures that made this mission possible and follows the planning of a museum shaped by the most advanced museological thinking of the 1950s and 1960s, whereby the artworks themselves guided decisions across architecture, exhibition design and museography. It also highlights the key roles played by the first generation of Portuguese women curators and international consultants, from cataloguing the works to trial exhibitions and final installation. Ultimately, the volume shows how the Foundation interpreted and translated Gulbenkian’s taste and character into museum form, resulting in a unique and enduring institution.
You can’t design for the future without understanding the past. This idea underpins the new collection presentation at the Design Museum Gent. Founded in 1903, the museum has undergone a 4.5-year renovation and has now reopened, showcasing nearly 500 objects. To mark the occasion, two catalogs have been released: one extensive and in-depth, and a smaller volume highlighting 50 key pieces from the new collection presentation. Both are structured around five themes: imitation/copy, comfort, migration, folding/bending, and connections. In Models from the Past for the Future, these themes are explored through essays by experts such as British design historian and curator Cat Rossi and Vienna based art historian and curator Sebastian Hackenschmidt, alongside a range of shorter visual contributions. In 50 Highlights ISBN 9789059968189 the same themes provide the framework for a curated selection of the most significant objects in the collection presentation. Both catalogs are available separately, but also as a beautifully designed combo ISBN 9789059969308.
You can’t design for the future without understanding the past. This idea underpins the new collection presentation at the Design Museum Gent. Founded in 1903, the museum has undergone a 4.5-year renovation and has now reopened, showcasing nearly 500 objects. To mark the occasion, two catalogs have been released: one extensive and in-depth, and a smaller volume highlighting 50 key pieces from the new collection presentation. Both are structured around five themes: imitation/copy, comfort, migration, folding/bending, and connections. In Models from the Past for the Future ISBN 9789059968158, these themes are explored through essays by experts such as British design historian and curator Cat Rossi and Vienna based art historian and curator Sebastian Hackenschmidt, alongside a range of shorter visual contributions. In 50 Highlights ISBN 9789059968189 the same themes provide the framework for a curated selection of the most significant objects in the collection presentation. Both catalogs are available separately, but also in this beautifully designed combo.
Between the Symbolist fin de siècle and the avant-garde, Léon Spilliaert (1881–1946) remained a singular outsider. Like James Ensor, with whom he shared Ostend, irony, and a spirit of non-conformism, he viewed the world differently. Spilliaert developed a unique and spiritual visual language through pastel and gouache, purified fields of color, and elegant lines. His celebrated seascapes, deserted beaches, empty interiors, and solitary figures evoke an atmosphere of mystery and alienation.
This richly illustrated book brings his oeuvre vividly back to life. Anne Adriaens-Pannier discusses drawings and paintings while also highlighting illustrations and lithographs. Spilliaert emerges as a fascinating link between the major artistic movements of his time. The most comprehensive book on Léon Spilliaert.
This theoretical work on architecture examines the meaning and relevance of a neutral stance in the face of contemporary urban chaos. It stems from a desire to move beyond a paradigmatic reading of urbanization and to establish a calmer relationship to this condition. The neutral stance in question is not one of passivity, but of heightened receptivity. It articulates a desire for a just relationship with the present that is attentive and unassuming, and that readily accepts the polyphonic character of the contemporary city. Its central argument concerns the creative and productive potential of neutrality and the way it engages with chaos as an inexhaustible source. This research draws on a broad body of multidisciplinary work (art, literature, photography, psychoanalysis etc.) to define a position within the architectural discipline.
The publication emerges from Ido Avissar’s in-depth research at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Versailles. It is closely connected to a monograph on the work of LIST, the architecture and urban planning office founded by Avissar in 2012, and complements it with a more in-depth theoretical perspective.
Commissioned around 1470 by the commander Bartolomeo Colleoni and designed by the architect and sculptor Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, the chapel, situated in Bergamo, represents one of the finest examples of Lombard Renaissance architecture. Its façade, richly decorated with polychrome marble inlays, reflects the revival of classical antiquity that characterized late fifteenth-century Lombard art. The funerary monument of Colleoni combines biblical scenes with antique motifs and is crowned by an equestrian statue inspired by the tombs of medieval lords in Lombardy and Veneto. The chapel also preserves important artworks, including the Renaissance tomb of Medea Colleoni, sculptures by Pietro Lombardo and his workshop, and paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, and Angelika Kauffmann. The guide also illustrates the history and artistic heritage of the Luogo Pio Colleoni, the institution responsible for completing the chapel and for its future upkeep.
Formula 1 is no longer just the pinnacle of motorsport—it is the greatest show on Earth. Every Grand Prix weekend transforms cities into global stages where speed meets style, technology meets glamour, and the world’s biggest stars gather to witness history unfold. Formula 1 – The Greatest Racing Spectacle in the World takes readers beyond the grid and into the extraordinary universe surrounding the championship. From iconic street circuits and legendary venues to celebrity-filled paddocks, exclusive hospitality, spectacular concerts, luxury yachts, fashion, and unforgettable moments, this visually stunning volume captures the atmosphere that makes Formula 1 unlike any other sporting event. Richly illustrated with breathtaking photography, the book celebrates the people, places, and experiences that define the modern Formula 1 lifestyle. More than a story about racing, it is a portrait of a global phenomenon where world champions, Hollywood icons, musicians, royalty, and millions of passionate fans come together for the ultimate celebration of speed, spectacle, and luxury.
The world as we know it is on its last legs; the old order is faltering. In these uncertain times, it’s tempting to lose faith in the future. But what if this is precisely the beginning of something new? F*ck the System, and Other Bad Ideas for the Future unravels the chaotic forces behind the geopolitical scenes and asks a fundamental question: can Europe emerge as a strong player in the emerging world order? What do we need to build a Europe that is sovereign, resilient, and radically innovative? This is a manifesto to understand the present and imagine the future—provocative, sharp, and unorthodox. It breaks with old logic and prejudices, finding in today’s disorder the seeds of something better. For thinkers and doers, for citizens, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who believe Europe can be more than an old continent in crisis.
A ‘vessel for living’ – such were the words Glenn Adamson used to describe this remarkable residence. Richard Meier designed the Grotta home to house Sandra and Louis Grotta’s collection of contemporary studio jewelry and significant works in wood, ceramic and fibre. The building was conceived around the collection, framing the objects within the open architecture, which comprises an equal blend of glass and concrete. Nature, visible from many vantage points, plays an essential supporting role. The Grotta Home by Richard Meier: A Marriage of Architecture and Craft is rich in photographs of the collection and provides impressive insights into this exceptionally personal project. The accompanying essays afford the reader a greater sense of how the Grottas have not simply acquired art, but have immersed themselves in it.
In keeping with an editorial strategy that aims to bring to public attention all of the various groups of works belonging to the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, a book devoted to its drawings and watercolors has been published. Featuring texts by Manuela Fidalgo, who worked as a curator at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum until her retirement, this edition is the product of several years of thorough research underpinned by technical and scientific rigor and the involvement of several international experts in the art of drawing.
This publication therefore plays an essential part in raising awareness of one of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum’s least-well known collections, which includes works produced in the main centers of European art (France, Holland, Flanders, England and Italy) between the 16th and early 20th centuries by great masters such as Dürer, Watteau, Boucher, Turner and Sargent, among others. This book also gives us a clearer picture of Calouste Gulbenkian’s artistic sensibility as a collector: despite claiming not to be attracted to drawing, the beauty and quality of the works brought together here were such that he could not resist purchasing them.
A creative exchange with artists such as the painter Guido Cadorin or the ceramicist and sculptor Hans Stoltenberg-Lerche brought the second generation Toso Brothers to the forefront of Murano glass manufactories at the beginning of the twentieth century. After the Second World War Ermanno Toso and Pollio Perelda were among the most famous designers and continued the production of lavish series in glass, complemented from the 1950s onwards with high-quality one-offs executed mainly in the celebrated millefiori technique. This decoration consists of a multitude of tiny colored discs, known as murrini, which are produced by melting, cooling and cutting bundled canes of glass to form a cross-section pattern. Together with Caterina Toso, renowned Murano expert Marc Heiremans looks back on and reviews the complex history of the famous glass manufactory. Well-informed texts, hitherto unpublished sketches and archive photos make Fratelli Toso Murano an essential reference work for all connoisseurs of glass.
“One of the world’s most complete, resonant art mediums (which) submits to spectacular skill and structural concepts” – Roberta Smith, New York Times These are exciting times for Japanese bamboo art. May 2017 saw the opening of Japan House São Paulo, whose inaugural exhibition ‘Bamboo: The Material That Built Japan’ drew over 300,000 visitors. From June 2017 to February 2018 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York mounted another bamboo show that was seen by about 400,000. From 27 November, the Musée du quai Branly in Paris will present the largest-ever exhibition on the subject. This authoritative catalog of 323 works from the Naej Collection thus appears at a moment when a new global audience has emerged. The Naej Collection is especially strong in works by leading artists from 1850 to 1950, when great craft dynasties were established and first Osaka and then Tokyo emerged as major centers of artistic basketry. The catalog breaks new ground by combining dramatic photography with precious documentary information drawn from signatures and inscriptions, making it not merely the visual record of a great collection but the essential reference work for a developing field of connoisseurship.
Text in English, Japanese and simplified Chinese.
This essential travel guide to Southern India’s varied heritage covers all the major Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and European historical monuments and sites in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There are amazing descriptions of forts and palaces, temple architecture, sculpture and painting, mosques and tombs, churches and civic buildings. Plan trips by using the travel-friendly itineraries, accompanied by useful location maps. This essential travel guide contains comprehensive coverage of the region’s cities and monuments, museums, and archaeological sites. It includes all the major sites the great port cities of Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi; the citadels of Golconda, Vijaynagara and Gingee; the rock-cut sanctuaries at Ajanta and Ellora; the temples at Badami, Halebid and Thanjuvar; the mosques of Hyderabad and Bijapur; and the cathedrals at Goa and hundreds of less well-known places.