Belgian interior architect and art historian Anne Derasse, renowned for her prestigious projects in Belgium and abroad, reveals the philosophy of her creations. Her companion, the photographer and artist Jörg Bräuer, captures the atmosphere emanating from these architectures through his superb images. The highly regarded wine château of Calon Ségur in the Médoc, the Delvaux flagship store in Brussels, the Ancienne Nonciature, her base, and the castle of Montmoreau, their lair in the South Charente, reveal her style combining history and contemporaneity, in a refinement and sophistication imbued with sobriety. The choice of works of art completes her artistic approach. “I seek to capture and preserve the soul of places, this intangible anchor point between human history and the passage of time. I wish to magnify the worlds of life and re-enchant everyday life to bring well-being, tranquility, and felicity to the people who entrust their projects to me.”
Text in English and French.
A short story by Strega-award author Tiziano Scarpa accompanies cutting-edge porcelain work. Once again, historical women artists fetch a premium under the auctioneer’s hammer for Simone Facchinetti. A Dolce & Gabbana show spotlights Sicilian handicrafts, as Pietro Mercogliano tells us. The untutored, intuitive Franco-Tuscan artist Élisabeth Chaplin painted glowing portraits of her home, her family, and herself, by Cristina Nuzzi. Antony Shugaar narrates the feats of the starchitect of her time, Julia Morgan, who shaped Hearst’s Castle. Sylvia Ferino-Pagden describes how the selfies of the 16th century were advertisements for the work of Sofonisba Anguissola. Luísa Sampaio narrates René Lalique’s work as a jeweler, before he turned to glass. Rafael Barajas Durán lays out the political theory underlining Surrealism in the work of Remedios Varo. And Giorgio Antei tells the tale of the statesmanship and horseflesh haggling behind the two wives – a Savoy and a Farnese – of Spain’s Philip V.
Edinburgh is rightly celebrated for its famous historical and cultural attractions. But for the discerning visitor it has much more to offer away from the well-worn tourist trail. This book takes you to hidden corners and secret sights in this city of contrasts, exploring fascinating locations unknown even to most residents, and revealing unexpected aspects of some familiar local landmarks. Marvel at a unique underground temple hewn out of the living rock; learn how a world-famous illusionist came to be buried here – with his dog; find out why the city council once commissioned an enormous electric blanket; look out for the ordinary Edinburgh post box with an explosive history. Discover the human stories behind a wide range of places, both exceptional and commonplace, bringing to life the greatly varied cityscape where people have been leaving their mark for at least 5,000 years.
In this increasingly globalized, modernized, interconnected world, what can we learn from the first temples and burial sites built by our ancestors? This handbook brings some of the muddier, forgotten aspects of our shared history to life, offering a compelling insight into the origins of British cultural identity and a reminder of our deep-rooted connection to the earth.
“Terry was everywhere in the 60s – he knew everything and everyone that was happening” Keith Richards
“Terry O’Neill rates rightly as one of the best photographers in the world. He captures something special” Sir Michael Caine
“When it comes to photographic legends there can be few more prolific or revered than Terry O’Neill, the man who shot the greats.” VOGUE
“This sumptuous collection of portraits, taken over six decades, represents the best of his memorable career and should grace every coffee table in the land” The Daily Mail
“I’ve been repeatedly asked to write my autobiography – I have seen an awful lot of famous people at their best and worst – but I’m not interested in making money trading their secrets or mine. I want my pictures to tell a story not sell a story.” Terry O’Neill
Terry O’Neill is one of the world’s most celebrated and collected photographers. No one has captured the frontline of fame so broadly – and for so long. For more than 50 years, he has photographed rock stars and presidents, royals and movie stars, at work, at play, in private. He pioneered backstage reportage photography with the likes of Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, Sir Elton John and Chuck Berry and his work comprises a vital chronicle of rock and roll history.
Now, for the first time, an exhaustive cataloging of his archive conducted over the last three years has revisited more than 2 million negatives and has unearthed unseen images that escaped the eye over a career spanning 53 years. Similarly, his use of 35mm cameras on film sets and the early pop music shows of the 60s opened up a new visual art form using photojournalism, to revolutionise formal portraiture. His work captured the iconic, candid, and unguarded moments of the famous and the notorious – from Ava Gardner to Amy Winehouse, from Churchill to Nelson Mandela, from the earliest photographs of young emerging bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace. O’ Neill spent more than 30 years photographing Frank Sinatra, amassing a unique archive of more than 3,000 Sinatra negatives.
Add to that the magazine covers, album sleeves, film poster and fashion shoots of 1,000 stars, and Terry O’Neill – comprises the most compelling and epic catalog of the age of celebrity. Terry O’Neill has worked for the most prestigious magazines in the world including Time, Newsweek, Stern, Bunte, Figaro, The Sunday Times, Vanity Fair, People, Parade, Vogue and many others. And his award launched to showcase the work of young emerging photographers is now one of the most highly prized global competitions in art. The Royal Society of Arts has honored him with the rare Centenary Medal for his lifetime achievement. Only a dozen have ever been awarded in recognition of ‘outstanding contributions to the art and science of photography.’
Iain R Webb’s Postcards from the Edge of the Catwalk is a personal photographic portfolio spanning three decades that documents the glittering brouhaha surrounding the ready-to-wear and haute couture fashion collections in New York, London, Milan and Paris. The photographs, snapped by the award-winning fashion journalist from the insider vantage point of his front row seat and invite-only parties, capture a world of show-stopping creativity and inspirational individual style.
Weimin He’s 324 ink drawings, pen sketches and woodblock prints comprise an intimate record of the progress of construction in the newly designed Ashmolean Museum that opened late last year. An unusual approach to documentation in the age of digital photography, the catalogue provides a delightful experience for readers who will never set foot in the Ashmolean.
Weimin has drawn workers lifting roof beams, welding metal rods and pouring cement into the mixer. He gives us behind-the-scenes portraits of museum personnel, making each individual come alive, for example, an objects conservator at her work and a researcher in the prints room at his. An artist-in-residence at the museum and an art scholar, Weimin employed Chinese drawing and woodblock printmaking methods. His portraits were drawn on pi, xuan papers or album leaves, with Chinese brushes and inks that have been used for over a millennium. Seven of the prints and the catalogue were presented to Queen Elizabeth for the museum’s opening.
From the Belle Époque to the 1960s, jewelry from the Parisian firm Lacloche Frères adorned over four generations of crowned heads, including Queen Victoria of Spain, the Duchess of Westminster, the kings of Greece and Siam, and Grace Kelly. Founded in Paris in 1901 by three brothers, Lacloche Frères sold jewelry created by the best Parisian workshops, including Strauss Allard Meyer, Verger, Helluin-Matlinger, and Langlois, and was renowned for its elegant designs and exquisite workmanship. Their tiaras, bracelets, pins, clocks, and ladies’ accessories (vanities, cigarette cases) embodied the spirit of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, and are some of their best-known pieces. This is the first monograph to trace the dazzling history of the Lacloche family business, and includes an extraordinary album of gouaches that recreates the 21 clocks and 63 pieces of jewelry from their award-winning booth at the 1925 Paris Exhibition des Arts Décoratifs.
Text in English and French.
The Darnley jewel, a masterpiece of the goldsmith’s art on display at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace, has been deemed a love token, but has also been labelled an emblem of political ambition. Taking the shape of a heart, the jewel was produced at a moment (1565-75) when such objects worn by courtiers were a primary means of asserting status and proclaiming allegiances. With a deep medieval history – originally the fleshly power center of the human body, the seat of the soul, and place of memory and emotion – the heart has many aspects to offer. This book shows how the understanding of the heart changed during the Middle Ages, from spiritual locus of the body, to source of devotion to country, and finally, to the font of love and sentimentality.
Pioneering Edinburgh photographers David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848) together formed one of the most famous partnerships in the history of photography.
Producing highly skilled photographs just four years after the new medium was announced to the world in 1839, their images of people, buildings and scenes in and around Edinburgh offer a fascinating glimpse into 1840s Scotland. Their much-loved prints of the Newhaven fisherfolk are among the first images of social documentary photography.
In the space of four and a half years Hill and Adamson produced several thousand prints encompassing landscapes, architectural views, tableaux vivants from Scottish literature and an impressive suite of portraits featuring key members of Edinburgh society.
Anne M. Lyden, International Photography Curator at the National Galleries of Scotland, discusses the dynamic dispute that brought these two men together and reveals their perfect chemistry as the first professional partnership in Scottish photography.
Illustrated with around 100 masterpieces from the Galleries’ unique, vast collection of the duo’s ground-breaking work.
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, part of the National Galleries of Scotland, provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through portraits of the figures who shaped it: royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains. The Gallery is home to Scotland’s collection of portrait miniatures which date from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day.
This book illustrates a selection of works by key miniaturists and features portraits of many important Scottish historical figures such as James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, James VI and I and Robert Burns who was depicted in the last year of his life. A complete list of all the works in the collection is also included.
Giovanni Morelli changed the way we look at art. Before Morelli (1816-1891), the attribution of a painting to a particular artist or school was often based on overall impression, hearsay, even gut feeling. But Morelli, having trained as a medical doctor to look closely at anatomical detail, applied scientific rigor to understanding the works of masters such as Titian, Leonardo, and Raphael, and of other Renaissance and Baroque painters. By closely scrutinising, analysing and comparing details overlooked by most other collectors, critics, and curators, his radical ‘Morellian method’ became the basis of modern art connoisseurship. A proud Italian of Swiss Protestant heritage, Morelli was also a staunch patriot. He risked his life in the Italian Wars of Independence, and was elected four times to the parliament of the newly unified nation. In 1873 he was nominated senator for life. As a statesman he fought for his homeland’s cultural patrimony: at a time when many of Italy’s great art collections were being snapped up by foreign collectors and museums, he introduced some of the world’s first legislation to prevent their loss to the nation. The Life of Giovanni Morelli in Risorgimento Italy is the first full biography of this important figure, including his romantic friendships with remarkable women such as Clementina Frizzoni, Laura Acton Minghetti (wife of the Italian prime minister), and Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria and subsequently empress of Germany). At his death he bequeathed his art collection to the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, the birthplace of his mother, a city he loved.
Norman Hartnell (1901-1979) was a uniquely British genius. For nearly sixty years he was a major personality in the world of fashion. By the mid 1930s, Hartnell’s meteoric rise to fame resulted in London becoming a centre of style that closely rivalled Paris. Known for glamorous evening clothes, Hartnell augmented his early design successes by creating a series of stunning wedding dresses for his younger society clientele. His bridal extravaganzas culminated in the romantic 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. While Hartnell clients included members of the English upper class as well as the best-known stage and film actresses of the time, it was his royal patronage that assured him a place in history. The famous “White Wardrobe” created for Queen Elizabeth (and photographed by Cecil Beaton) in the late 1930s changed her image forever; the extraordinary coronation robes designed for Elizabeth II in 1953; and the sublimely simple wedding dress he made for Princess Margaret when she was married to Lord Snowdon in 1960 remain iconic to this day. Decades of achievement were rewarded with a Knighthood in 1977. Sir Norman Hartnell became the first of two fashion designers to be so honoured. Hartnell continued to create both daywear and evening clothes for a well-heeled sophisticated clientele until his death in 1979. In Be Dazzled!: Norman Hartnell, Sixty Years of Glamour and Fashion, royal enthusiasts and fashion connoisseurs will be able to examine in greater detail his drawings, vintage photographs, fabric samples and personal scrapbooks that have never been published before.
Curtain Up!: Thirty Years of Spectacular Showhouse Rooms is a glossy compendium of interior designer Barbara Ostrom’s extraordinary rooms that she has created in the last 30 years for the most prestigious showhouses in New York City, New Jersey, and the Hamptons. With a preface by Mario Buatta, the book highlights some of Barbara’s most wildly imaginative and over-the-top rooms. It also displays her process from start to finish where she often has to begin with a gutted, crumbling room. The results are whimsical and colorful, with details ranging from a crystal chandelier adorned with an umbrella, ten foot high canopy beds, antique birdcages, Fu dogs, a 15th century knight in armor, Grecian gas lights, a hand-woven hammock from Jamaica, to ceilings painted with monkeys, parrots, squirrels, and butterflies. Barbara Ostrom’s rooms are exuberant and uplifting – no wonder she’s been dubbed ‘Queen of the Showhouse.’
Introducing Laura Bohn, Ways of Seeing, the first monograph examining the career of this New York designer, Laura Bohn. Bohn uses her signature elements, unusual materials, and a distinctive color palette to create interiors that are both livable and softly modern. She will often set unexpected hues and shapes together to give her rooms a depth and richness, which is not easily replicated. Bohn is the founder and principal of Laura Bohn Design Associates, a New York-based international interior design firm. She is also the co-founder of The Designers Collaborative, a support group for top designers, as well as being a member of ASID and Decorators’ Club. She serves as a visiting critic at local design schools, and has taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design, and the Pratt Institute. Bohn’s ability to forecast current design trends and interpret client’s needs has made Laura Bohn a New York design authority.
David Adjaye’s second monograph with a+u displays the global expansion of his practice. a+u 18:02 features international projects such as the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, Aishti Foundation, and Moscow School of Management. Adjaye’s influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and city life. His ingenious use of materials and sculptural ability have established him as an architect with an artist s sensibility and vision. Following a competition in 2009, he was chosen to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In addition to these large scale works, private residences from around the world are also included in this issue. After teaching internationally and receiving numerous awards, Adjaye was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen for services to architecture, following the award of his OBE in 2007. Text in English and Japanese.
This book presents sixteen essays exploring the work of two of 17th-century Amsterdam’s most ambitious painters, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Museum curators, academic art historians, and conservation scientists from six different countries come together to investigate form, content, and context from a variety of perspectives. Eric Jan Slujter examines how changing patterns of patronage contributed to both artists’ stylistic evolution. Hilbert Lootsma traces the rise and fall of their critical fortunes from their own time until today. Ann Jensen Adams situates their work in the shifting market for portraiture. Jasper Hillegers explores the origins of Flinck’s career in the Leeuwarden studio of Lambert Jacobsz. Other authors present contextual and technical analyzes of individual paintings. Portrait identities are revealed, painterly tricks uncovered, and both artists are shown to be influential teachers and members of an intellectual community in which art and theater were closely linked. Many of these essays originated at an international conference held in preparation for the exhibition, Govert Flinck and Ferdinand Bol. Together, they shed new light on the methods and motivations of two artists who began as Rembrandt’s acolytes but soon became his rivals.
“The life of Andrew Grima, the Italian-Anglo jeweler beloved of the royals, is celebrated in a stunning new book.” – People
“a detailed and lavishly illustrated portrait” – Rapaport magazine
The father of modern jewelry, the golden engineer, the King of Bling… These are just some of the epithets assigned to Andrew Grima, the British genius who marched in the vanguard of a 1960s London-based movement that created a new vocabulary for jewelry design.
Jeweler to the royals and the jet set, to the rule makers and the tastemakers, Grima was a feted celebrity who appeared on talk shows, in Pathé newsreels and in advertisements for Canada Dry. He won The Queen’s Award for Export, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design and a record 11 De Beers Diamonds International Awards (the ‘Oscars’ of the jewelry world).
This book illuminates the career of a man who participated in a golden age of British creativity. It contains a dazzling array of never-before-seen sketches, designs and photographs from the Grima archives and includes a sparkling preface from the doyen of jewelry experts, TV celebrity Geoffrey Munn. A must-buy publication for art and jewelry lovers alike.
“Since discovering the work of Andrew Grima, I have not only become a collector of his exquisite creations, I have also become one of the many to be inspired by his unique and inimitable designs. Each piece of jewellery, each watch, each object is a sculpture.” – Marc Jacobs
“His work, his style, is completely identifiable, it’s unique.” – James Taffin de Givenchy
First exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1900) Louis XIII has embodied sophistication for over a century. Each bottle is a unique work of art, from the decanter – each of which requires eleven craftsmen to blow the crystal, apply the ornamentation and wrap the 20-K gold collar around its slender neck – to the cognac itself. Composed of up to 1200 eaux-de-vie from the first cru of the Cognac region, Grande Champagne, Louis XIII balances notes of myrrh, honey, dried roses, plum, honeysuckle, cigar boxes, leather, figs and passion fruit in an unmatched, ambrosial blend.
This book is an ode to the cognac, sung by some of its earliest and most vibrant devotees. We delve into the diaries and letters of two passionate travelers aboard the America-bound cruiser Normandie, 1935; the agenda of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth on their visit to Versailles in 1938; and the first-hand account of a young millionaire who, while on a trip to Constantinople in 1928, requested that the Orient-Express stop so that the surface of his brandy might lie still.
Tracing the history of the iconic decanter from the pewter flask found after the Battle of Jarnac to the inspired glass vessels that captivated the royal courts of Europe, Louis XIII Cognac – The Thesaurus promises an elegant and entertaining glimpse into this prestigious cognac and the characters who drank it.
This book offers an enticing glimpse of the exquisite work of Dinyar Wadia. While remaining loyal to traditional classical design, Wadia’s finely detailed residences display a remarkable versatility and adaptability within the classical language of architecture. His work is characterised by a passion for excellent detailing, use of fine material and exceptional workmanship, always emphasising the integral relationship between the home and its surrounding landscape.
As revealed in the breathtaking array of homes featured in this volume, each residence is distinctive for its refined elegance and seamless incorporation into the landscape. Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales. Introduction by Paul Gunther, President of The Institute of Classical Architecture and Classical America.
This exquisite monograph (originally published in 2007 and reprinted 2020 due to high demand) is a beautiful companion book to Wadia’s second volume showcasing another selection of the firm’s magnificent work, The Fine Art of Designing a Home: Wadia Associates (ISBN 9781864708738), also available.
Portrait Miniatures from the Merchistion Collection is the fifth in a series of titles which examines the portrait miniature. This collection, which has never been on public display, was assembled on the London art market during the 1970s and 1980s. Scottish miniaturists from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are particularly well represented with fine works by Scouler, Bogle, and Skirving and Sir William Charles Ross. Of outstanding interest is Nicholas Hilliard’s matching pair of tiny lockets of Queen Elizabeth and her admirer Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Stephen Lloyd’s essay discusses the formation of the collection and the impact of the invention of photography on the art of miniature painting. It also explores the social history of the miniature. Twenty of the key works are illustrated in color, with extended captions, and a complete list of the collection is also included.
Following the success of Letters from St. Petersburg, which recounts the early years of Prince Chakrabongse’s life through his letters to his father, King Chulalongkorn, the diaries covering the last four years of his life are full of sadness and tumult. The Prince records all the facets of his daily life: his work as Commander-in-Chief of the army and his push to bring Siam into World War I, the conflicts within the royal family, the breakup of his marriage and the death of his beloved mother, Queen Saowabha. These diaries provide an invaluable first-hand insight into Siamese politics and governance at a turbulent time, as well as poignant glimpses of his personal life and divorce from his Russian wife, Katya.