NEW from ACC Art Books – Limited Edition: Sukita: EternityClick here to order

“An ever-rising star in the world of photography, Pieter Henket is noted for his accomplished portrait pieces and for his work with celebrities from Anjelica Huston to Sir Ben Kingsley. Having gained worldwide renown for shooting the artwork for Lady Gaga s debut album The Fame, he has continued to break ground with a varied oeuvre that includes landscapes, fashion photography and narrative work documenting Carnaval de Rio. . .In his first book, Stars to the Sun, we chart his diverse disciplines over 172 pages of visionary imagery. As the party comes to town in San Luis, Argentina, Henket takes us on a pictorial journey of the carnival, from the mountainous landscapes of the region to the characters that flood this traditional locale wrapped in feathers and glitter. Both documentary-in his unique cinematic style and artistic endeavour, it evidences Henkets ability to find inspiration in everything from the curve of the rock to the sways of a dancer.” MOJEH Magazine
Every year, there is a huge party in San Luis, Argentina. Thousands of Brazilians are invited to the city to organize a show for the ‘Carnaval de Rio’. To photograph it, Pieter Henket was contacted, one of the ‘hottest’ photographers of the moment. The beautiful photography from Pieter Henket allows the reader to join the party and shows the people behind the show. Combined with the impressive Argentinean landscapes, this book will be a unique document. Text in English, Spanish and Dutch.

A rich and deeply personal journey into the labyrinth of the Thai past, following spectres and vanished landmarks across present day Bangkok. Chariot of the Sun relates the history of Siam to that of the author’s family story; the Bunnags came from Persia in the early 17th century and through daring, cunning and good fortune were to hold commanding positions of power during the 19th century.

Shane Bunnag’s family saga weaves an ancient prophecy with Siamese history to give us a rich and deeply personal account of both his own family and Thai history.

“Shane Bunnag’s artful merging of text and photographs creates an alternative history of Thailand laced with nostalgia and laden with stories – an evocative, dream-like foray into the past that is both enchanting and enlightening.” – Emma Larkin, author of Finding George Orwell in Burma

Italian artist Ugo Rondinone was invited by the Musee d’Art et d’Histoire (MAH) in Geneva to curate a show that invites a dialog between his work and the works in the permanent collection. The show he created centers around two emblematic figures of 19th and 20th century Swiss art – Felix Vallotton and Ferdinand Hodler – and considers the importance of love and desire in our relationship with art and creation. This book documents the museum’s halls and the exhibition, which includes works by Rondinone and art from the MAH Collection.

Text in English and French.

Tuscany, with its rolling hills and gorgeous villas, its ancient towns and villages, is nirvana for wine lovers. The Smart Traveller’s Wine Guide tells you all you need to know to get the most out of your stay, from the centuries-long history to the best wineries to visit, the trattorias of Montalcino and the lesser-known delights of Bolgheri. We explain what makes a SuperTuscan, decipher Tuscany’s wine classification system, and send you on journeys of discovery down the sun-dappled byways of Italy’s most seductive wine region.

Supported by a wealth of photographs of archaeological objects, this book delves into a fascinating world of ancestral spirits, revealed by the surprising richness and variety of these pre-Columbian pieces fashioned out of various materials. These works, on exhibition in the Museo Casa del Alabado, in Quito (Ecuador), outline the pre-Columbian view of the world centred on a flow of energy aimed at preserving life. These pieces evoke this primordial energy emerging from mother earth, the source of the good deeds performed by spirits and the ancestral guardian of the permanent renewal of the world of daily life, where spirits constantly draw on the balance of the forces ensuring their survival. Pre-Columbian art has the extraordinary capacity to express the power of reciprocal opposites which together provide a meaning to the existence of animate and inanimate beings.

Hard materials, such as stones and shells, served to embody powerful spirits, such as carts, macaws, or primordial ancestors. Ceramics were suitable for the depiction of ordinary plants and animals. The extraordinary growth of metalworking skills led to the creation of ornamental pieces designed for the elite (chest decorations, nose jewellery, earrings, and crowns) whose purpose was to reflect the power of the sun.

Each picture in the book is accompanied by notes explaining the function the article would have served, while acknowledging that these pieces have lost none of their expressiveness in the modern world.

Text in English and Spanish.

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.

“The Cynic’s Guide to Wine, by Sunny Hodge… is one of the best wine books I have read in a long while.”Yorkshire Post

“All in all it’s a very useful and enjoyable read…”Life

Much of what is written about wine, whether in wine books, on bottle labels or in the Sunday supplements uses language that gives wine an air of mystery. While compelling and enticing for the consumer this can also lead to confusion regarding the science of wine as well as fear on the part of the inexperienced wine drinker of ‘getting wine wrong’. In The Cynic’s Guide to Wine Sunny Hodge strips wine back to its basic science and unravels the facts behind wine flavors, showing readers a clear path through the verbiage. The text takes in elements of horticulture, soil science, botany and sensory science as well as oenology and is provided in bite-sized chunks aimed at the curious non-scientist. This is a straightforward and eye-opening book for anybody who has ever wanted to question the stories told around wine but was afraid to ask. 

“I have an old camera with which I have taken countless photographs of myself. It often produces astonishing effects”, Edvard Munch states in a 1930 interview. “Someday when I am old and have nothing better to do than work on an autobiography, all my photographic self-portraits will see the light of day again.” The autobiography was never realized, but the self-portraits have found their way to the pages of The Experimental Self. The Photography of Edvard Munch, which demonstrates the fundamentally experimental nature of the artist’s photographic practice. As a photographer, Munch embraced the freedom provided by the amateur position, and the unpredictable aspects of analogue photographic technology. By playfully approaching his own image in picture after picture, Munch extends his explorations of selfhood in other media through photography. The resulting photographs provide unique access to Munch’s radical artistic vision, which this book studies through eminent essays by Patricia G. Berman, Tom Gunning and MaryClaire Pappas.

Sharing this story was not something that Christopher Capozziello ever set out to do, but, over the years, one picture has led to another and a story has emerged. Capozziello says, “The time I have spent with my brother, looking through my camera, has forced me to ask questions about suffering and faith and why anyone is born with disability. Nick has cerebral palsy. Taking pictures has been a way for me to deal with the reality of having a twin brother who struggles through life in ways that I do not.” Capozziello’s photographs take us on a journey through his worries and inquiries, ending his debut book with a different sort of question: what comes next? Part two of the book is a journey he and his brother take across the United States. The work has been shown throughout the United States and has won 33 national and international awards. “The collection, titled The Distance Between Us, is both a brother’s touching tribute and Capozziello’s attempt to come to terms with the reality his brother lives and one from which he happened to be spared”. The Mail

London is a city of innovation. In its suburbs, green roofs grow on flats, homes are insulated with cork and light timber structures have been designed to be as beautiful as they are energy efficient; in the center, striking new offices are retro-fitted over preserved buildings, while communal hubs are creatively built from reclaimed materials. The original photographs and detailed design interrogations in this book look at the way the capital is responding to the ever-pressing need to build with the environment foremost in mind – talking to the London architects, designers and residents who are creating a city that lives, works, plays and produces sustainably.

“…the panorama of a self-forgotten milieu.”  — Monopol
“Toffs behaving badly: 1980s high society in photos.” — The Times

“The pictorial equivalents of Evelyn Waugh’s sentences.” — The New Yorker
“Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening.” — Country & Townhouse podcast

“Wonderfully ironic, every point in the picture ignites and knows how to entertain very well.” — Lovely Books

“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” — The Hollywood Reporter

“I wondered if the party guests I’d photographed were just re-enacting a nostalgic fantasy, an imaginary version of England that already no longer existed.” – Dafydd Jones

Throughout the 1980s, award-winning photographer Dafydd Jones was granted access to some of England’s most exclusive upper-class events. Now, the author of Oxford: The Last Hurrah presents this irreverent and intimate portrait of birthday parties and charity balls, Eton picnics and private school celebrations.

With the crack of a hunting rifle and a spray of champagne, these photos give an almost cinematic account of high-society England at its most riotous and its most vulnerable. Against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, globalization, the Falklands War, rising stocks and dwindling inherited fortunes, Jones reveals the inner lives of the established elite as they party long into the night-time of their fading world.

Praise for Oxford: The Last Hurrah

‘Sublime vintage photographs…’ – Hermione Eyre, The Telegraph

‘In The Last Hurrah…we see familiar faces from British high society poised on the brink of adulthood.’ – Eve Watling, Independent

The Lake District delights its visitors with a series of superlatives: England’s largest national park, highest mountain, deepest lakes and now a new World Heritage status. One of Britain’s best-loved and most visited locations unveils its secrets. This unusual guidebook explores 111 of the area’s most interesting places, it leaves the well-trodden paths to find the unknown: marvel at a stained glass window which inspired the American flag, let others flock to Hill Top while you explore Beatrix Potter’s holiday home, walk through ancient forest to talk to fairies and swim with immortal fish. Pause to wonder at a stunning lake where a President proposed, view a constellation of stars like nowhere else, find out why exotic spices are used in local cuisine.

The Lake District delights its visitors with a series of superlatives: England’s largest national park, highest mountain, deepest lakes and now a new World Heritage status. One of Britain’s best-loved and most visited locations unveils its secrets. This unusual guidebook explores 111 of the area’s most interesting places, it leaves the well-trodden paths to find the unknown: marvel at a stained glass window which inspired the American flag, let others flock to Hill Top while you explore Beatrix Potter’s holiday home, walk through ancient forest to talk to fairies and swim with immortal fish. Pause to wonder at a stunning lake where a President proposed, view a constellation of stars like nowhere else, find out why exotic spices are used in local cuisine.

“Who better to supply us with our first comprehensive historical survey than the wine writer with the magic pen, Hugh Johnson?” – Jancis Robinson MW

Hugh Johnson has led the literature of wine in many new directions over a 60-year career. His classic The Story of Wine is his most enthralling and enduring work, winner of every wine award in the UK and USA. It tells with wit, scholarship and humor how wine became the global phenomenon it is today, varying from mass-produced plonk to rare bottles fetching many thousands. It ranges from Noah to Napa, Pompeii to Prohibition to Pomerol, gripping, anecdotal, personal, controversial and fun. This new edition includes Hugh’s view on the changes wine has seen in the past 30 years.

In his Foreword the celebrated historian Andrew Roberts writes: “The genius of The Story of Wine derives from the fact that it is emphatically not a dry-as-dust academic history – there are dozens of those – but an adventure story, full of mysteries, art and culture.”

“I had access to what felt like a secret world. It was a subject that had been written about and dramatized but I don’t think any photographers had ever tackled before. There was a change going on. Someone described it as a ‘last hurrah’ of the upper classes.” – Dafydd Jones

Oxford University at the start of the eighties, rife with black ties and ballgowns. A change was on its way – best described by a newspaper as ‘the Return of the Bright Young Things’.

At this time, Oxford University was synonymous with the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged. Many of the young people in these pictures moved on to have careers in the establishment including Boris Johnson and David Cameron. In these photographs, however, their youth is undeniable: teenagers in full suits celebrate the rise of Thatcher in England and Reagan in America, in between punting on the river, chasing romance and partying through the night.

“It was Thatcher’s Britain, a period of celebration for those that had money” – Dafydd Jones

Oxford: The Last Hurrah
shows a world that has been written about and dramatized, yet never photographed. Affectionate and critical, it pokes affectionate fun at its subjects while celebrating English eccentricity. From the architectural marvels of the colleges to misty mornings along the river at dawn, this is Oxford at its most beautiful – and the students of the 1980s at their most raw and honest.

“Veteran wine books are by modern standards short on facts.” — Decanter Magazine

“This is an inspirational book well worth your time.” — Eric Asimov on Instagram

“If you want to learn about wine, switch off your phone, buy these two books and enjoy them with a nice glass of something.” — The Critic

“This is a don’t-miss book for people who plan their travels around vineyards.”—Washington Post

“This is one of the best books on wine ever written.”— Sommelier India

In this unique approach to understanding wine, Hugh Johnson, the world’s best-loved wine author, weaves the story of his own epic wine journey with an embracing view of everything he has discovered along the way. Almost without realizing it, the reader is drawn into a fascinating world; with each page turned, knowledge is gained and wine wisdom absorbed. Hugh takes us from the teetering ledges of the Mosel and majestic châteaux of the Médoc to the sylvan slopes of Windsor Great Park with a spring in his step and a tasting glass at the ready.

No one writes so infectiously on every aspect of wine, whether human or cultural, technical or historical. This book is peppered with anecdotes and personal recollections, infused with the sheer delight Hugh finds in his subject. It is a book with a story to tell and a mastery of wine to impart.

Previously published as Wine, A Life Uncorked 2005, now updated with new chapters.

Sharing this story was not something that Christopher Capozziello ever set out to do, but, over the years, one picture has led to another and a story has emerged. Capozziello says, “The time I have spent with my brother, looking through my camera, has forced me to ask questions about suffering and faith and why anyone is born with disability. Nick has cerebral palsy. Taking pictures has been a way for me to deal with the reality of having a twin brother who struggles through life in ways that I do not.” Capozziello’s photographs take us on a journey through his worries and inquiries, ending his debut book with a different sort of question: what comes next? Part two of the book is a journey he and his brother take across the United States. The work has been shown throughout the United States and has won 33 national and international awards. “The collection, titled The Distance Between Us, is both a brother’s touching tribute and Capozziello’s attempt to come to terms with the reality his brother lives and one from which he happened to be spared”. The Mail

“A jewel of Baroque architecture, the Castelluccio Palace is the spotlight of a beautiful book retracing its history, its long restoration and its precious ornaments. These photographs reflect the Sicilian Golden Age.” —Fanny Guenon des Mesnards, AD France

“This monograph is an invitation to visit the Palazzo Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio.”Italian Vogue

“A Palace in Sicily: A Masterpiece Restored doesn’t just pull back the curtain on the finished palace, it details the four-year-long process through an elaborate array of photos…” —Architectural Digest, and Yahoo

With its sun-drenched sands and Mediterranean waters, Sicily has been a favored destination of travelers for centuries. History is alive on this island, from ancient accounts of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans; to the journals of wealthy young European men embarking on the Grand Tour. This book captures the sun-steeped aesthetic of the island, while detailing the restoration of one of its finest attractions: the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palace.

Marquis de Castelluccio was one of the last “servals” or “leopards” of Sicily – wealthy aristocrats who flooded the island with luxury. Following his death, his home fell to ruin. A half-century later, Jean-Louis Remilleux fell in love with this dilapidated 18th-century palace and made it his mission to restore it. Unveiled for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book, the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palazzo is one of the finest testaments to Sicilian architecture and art.

Today, lush green palm trees welcome you to the palace’s imposing front façade. Frescoes, arabesques, masks, imitation marble, ceilings and wainscoting have all restored to their former glory, over decades of elaborate work. This book charts the restoration process and celebrates the astonishing end results. It contains an album’s worth of photographs that capture the beauty of this palace beneath the Mediterranean sun.

“A jewel of Baroque architecture, the Castelluccio Palace is the spotlight of a beautiful book retracing its history, its long restoration and its precious ornaments. These photographs reflect the Sicilian Golden Age.” —Fanny Guenon des Mesnards, AD France

“This monograph is an invitation to visit the Palazzo Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio.”Italian Vogue

“A Palace in Sicily: A Masterpiece Restored doesn’t just pull back the curtain on the finished palace, it details the four-year-long process through an elaborate array of photos…” —Architectural Digest, and Yahoo

With its sun-drenched sands and Mediterranean waters, Sicily has been a favored destination of travelers for centuries. History is alive on this island, from ancient accounts of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Normans; to the journals of wealthy young European men embarking on the Grand Tour. This book captures the sun-steeped aesthetic of the island, while detailing the restoration of one of its finest attractions: the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palace.

Marquis de Castelluccio was one of the last “servals” or “leopards” of Sicily – wealthy aristocrats who flooded the island with luxury. Following his death, his home fell to ruin. A half-century later, Jean-Louis Remilleux fell in love with this dilapidated 18th-century palace and made it his mission to restore it. Unveiled for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book, the Di Lorenzo del Castelluccio palazzo is one of the finest testaments to Sicilian architecture and art.

Today, lush green palm trees welcome you to the palace’s imposing front façade. Frescoes, arabesques, masks, imitation marble, ceilings and wainscoting have all restored to their former glory, over decades of elaborate work. This book charts the restoration process and celebrates the astonishing end results. It contains an album’s worth of photographs that capture the beauty of this palace beneath the Mediterranean sun.

Austin is most definitely weird If by “weird”, you mean quirky, offbeat, intriguing, and utterly lovable. The city shares that uniquely Texan pride of place, and yet it has an independent spirit and character all its own. Locals and visitors alike should look no further than these pages to explore some of the weirdest corners of Austin. Try out the latest innovations in a technology petting zoo. Get your car washed among giant dinosaurs. If you dare, spend some time in a garden inspired by Alice Cooper. Soak up the sun on the only official nude beach in Texas. And, of course, in the city of music and food, catch a live show at the spot where Janis Joplin got her start, or enjoy soul food and soul music in someone’s big backyard. Savor some of the best tacos and tamales in a city known for amazing Mexican food.

In this guidebook, you’ll find out where all the secrets are hidden and learn the unknown stories behind them too. Whether you’ve lived here all your life, you’re just passing through, or something in between, you’ll become even more enamored with the capital of Texas in all its inventive, unabashed – and weird – glory.

“… will satisfy every lover of this famous wine region.” —   Bloomberg
“The publishers have hit upon a winning formula, with Susan Keevil compiling an informative, eclectic, but always enjoyable, collection of beautifully written pieces from some 30 contributors.”
 — The Sun

“The accumulated effect is thoughtful and intriguing, inspiring readers to open up a Chianti Classico or Brunello and take a trip to Tuscany via wine glasses.” — NY Times

“…this enjoyable book compiles articles about the evolution of Tuscan vineyards, with entertaining portraits of innovative winemakers and insightful commentary about the region and the wines by a who’s-who of regional experts, including Burton Anderson, Gerald Asher, Andrew Jefford, Hugh Johnson and Ruth Rogers. “ — Toronto Globe

From the melée and muddle of Italy’s vinous past, Tuscany emerged triumphant. The world’s restaurants began to clamor for its Chianti and the Super Tuscan rebel-wines that captured the hearts, palates and pockets of any wine lover who sipped them. It found fame and fortune but had it gone too far…? On Tuscany’s authors unravel the truths of this enchanted vineyard – its tortured landscape of clashing mountains and upended seas, its mysterious Etruscan forebears, the Medici aristocrats and warring tribes who fought to control it. And the stoic peasants, whose thwarted creativity and intuitive ways with wine won through in the end. It tells the story of its king of grapes, Sangiovese, and the courtiers that grapple for its throne, and of the maverick winemakers who harness this region’s passion for wine today, steadying the roller coaster before it once again goes too far and too fast…

With contributions from Andrew Jefford, Hugh Johnson, Nicolas Belfrage MW, Jancis Robinson MW, David Gleave MW, Walter Speller, Gabriele Gorelli MW, Burton Anderson, Ruth Rogers, Neil Beckett, Victoria Moore, Gerald Asher, D H Lawrence, Fiona Morrison MW.

With this beautiful book you will literally bring the summery hippy-chic ‘Ibiza’ atmosphere into your home. With the most beautiful interiors and stunning photography – where you can imagine yourself in the azure bays – Architectural Digest journalist Gala Mora offers you a unique look into the Mediterranean-inspired homes of top designers and creative minds. The interiors breathe sun, sea and beach. Enjoy beautiful design surrounded by breathtaking nature. Open spaces that seemingly flow without boundary into a terrace, garden or beach. Two hundred and fifty-six pages full of exclusive and archetypal interiors that reflect one hundred percent what the island’s way of living stands for. Ibiza Interiors is the third volume in the successful urban interiors series for lovers of design, architecture and interior design.

Also available in the series: London Interiors ISBN 9789401485258; Barcelona Interiors ISBN 9789401485586.

“I have never read a text which goes even half as far as this one in expressing the particular poignancy which lay at the heart of the impressionist movement. I say this as an art critic. As a novelist I would simply like to pay my tribute to the mastery of language, portraiture and storytelling which Figes has now at her command.” – John Berger
“A small masterpiece” – Susan Hill
“A luminous prose poem” – Joyce Carol Oates

This shimmering novel is an extraordinary portrait of a day in the life of an artist at work and at home. In prose as luminous as the colors Monet is using to portray his garden, Eva Figes guides us from dawn (‘midnight blueblack growing grey and misty’) through midday (‘the sun was high now… shrinking what little shadow remained, fading colors, the pink rambler roses on the fence by the railway track looked almost white’) to evening (‘the tide of shadows rising as the sunset glow faded outside.’) Monet’s wife, grieving for a lost daughter; a living daughter, fretting that she will not be able to marry the man she loves; their friend the abbé, eating and drinking with them; two children playing, closest to Monet in the freshness and certainty of their vision; all experiencing in different ways the richness of the light that Monet works unceasingly to pin down in his last, great paintings.

“…jaw-dropping photos of Australia, from east to west.” — CNN

Revealing the patterns and palettes of the Australian landscape, photographer Lisa Michele Burns captures the vast continent as you’ve never seen it before.

From the moment the sun rises on the east coast of Australia, a vivid color palette is revealed, hour by hour, across the country. Ocean blues merge with white sandy shores that connect with green forests, rocky grey ridges and red desert plains. Across the vast and varied landscapes of Australia, the sightlines and the spectacles feel endless and infinite. The horizon stretches and extends; colors collide and combine; patterns compress and expand; and light constantly changes how we perceive and experience a landscape.

In Sightlines: The Patterns + Palettes of the Australian Landscape, award-winning photographer Lisa Michele Burns expertly captures the beauty, artistry and splendor of the Australian landscape. From the rainbow of sandstone hues at Gantheaume Point and ancient monolith of Uluṟu to the dazzling colors and patterns at the Great Barrier Reef and misty rainforests of Tasmania’s Western Wilds, Burns is inspired by the magnificence and fragility of nature and takes the time to observe, research, and learn about each location, its history and formation.

This collection of images, photographed over two years, captures some of the indescribable magic of Australia, its vibrant and varied palette and patterns, and the sightlines that stretch across a seemingly never-ending landscape.