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Abbeville Press
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«Sun-dappled carp, radiant blossoms, and tumultuous waters are among the wonders and mysteries of nature captured in Joseph Raffaels brilliant close-up paintings. At a time when beauty is much out of favor in the art world, Joseph Raffael has taken what some would consider the highly radical step of daring to paint beautiful pictures. Long one of contemporary arts most highly regarded painters, Raffael transforms intense observations of nature into color-drenched, deeply felt works of art. He often works on a very large scale, using either watercolor, oil, or acrylic to achieve the painstaking detail of his dazzling images. Amei Wallachs warmly perceptive introduction, inspired by a visit to the artists home and studio in the south of France, explores Raffaels life history, his sources, and his ideas about art. Her individual chapter openers address the predominant subjects within the artists work, including water and shore scenes, flowers, animals, fish and lilies, sacred symbols, and Raffaels wife, Lannis. A thought-provoking essay by Donald Kuspit places Raffaels painting within the larger context of twentieth-century art, psychology, and philosophy. Complementing these texts are the paintings themselves-sun-dappled carp, luminous iris, tumultuous rivers, and other wonders of nature captured in radiant visual meditations. The artist has also contributed two engaging written pieces, both of which illuminate the pleasures and occasional terrors of the creative process. His «Diary of a Painting» traces the evolution of one major work over several months, from the original slide to the finished wall-size watercolor, providing insight into the emotional and technical demands of creating a work of art. His informative and revealing «Autobiographical Chronology» provides a personal look back, from his Brooklyn childhood to his art-making career in New York, California, and the south of France, where Joseph Raffael lives and works today.» |
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«With its lively narrative and profuse illustrations, this volume captures the visual riches of a remarkable era. Born in controversy, christened in scorn by a sarcastic critic, and developed amid a continuing struggle for recognition and solvency, French Impressionism finally emerged as a powerful and immensely popular artistic movement whose appeal remains undiminished today. «The Great Book of French Impressionism» celebrates the richness and exuberance of the Impressionists world — a world of light and color, of sunlit fields and shimmering waterscapes, of bustling city views and intimate domestic scenes. This handsomely designed Tiny Folio packs over 200 full-color illustrations, faithfully capturing the subtle nuances of light and keen perception that make French Impressionist painting unique. The text traces the development of Impressionism from its roots in landscape and Realist painting through its focus on modern urban life to its ultimate goal: to fix on canvas the fleeting moods and effects of nature in a world that stands still for no one. The works of the major Impressionists and Post Impressionists, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat, and Cézanne, are featured and show how they influenced others in the movement, ultimately giving rise to the new art of the twentieth century.» |
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Founded in 1824, the National Gallery houses a rich and comprehensive range of European painting from the Middle Ages to the 1920s. Among the works represented in this colorful and compact survey of the Gallerys collection are masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, and Paul Cézanne, as well as some lesser-known delights. Located on Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London, the original Wilkins Building has recently been extended by the handsome new Sainsbury Wing, which contains some of the worlds greatest paintings. |
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With masters such as William Blake, William Hogarth, George Stubbs, Thomas Gainsborough, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Henry Moore, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and David Hockney, the Tate Gallery offers work to please every taste. The gallery, which was opened in London in the summer of 1897 by the Prince of Wales, is best known for its modern art collections, but-as this little compendium makes wonderfully clear-it encompasses the full sweep of British art, from ornate aristocratic portraits and vivacious hunting scenes to the Pre-Raphaelites languid femmes fatales. |
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This sparkling edition of Audubons Birds of America displays all 435 of Audubons hand-colored engravings, graced with an illuminating introduction by Roger Tory Peterson that places Audubon in his ornithological and art historical context. Issued with the full endorsement and cooperation of the Audubon Society, the stunning Baby Elephant Folio — here reproduced in a miniature, gem-like version-was the first work ever to arrange Audubons plates in scientific order. |
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