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Phaidon Press
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«Art & Today» is an innovative and extensive survey of international contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Over four hundred of the most significant contemporary artists from around the world are represented in this comprehensive overview — some emerging, some mid-career, and others long established. Each of the book's sixteen chapters address recurring and relevant themes as diverse as «Art & Popular Culture,» «Art & Its Institutions,» and «Art & Globalism,» rather than follow a strict chronological, geographical, or stylistic structure. Lively and up-to-date, «Art & Today» explores an era in which art defies simple categorization. The result is a surprising and original yet clear and reasoned perspective on contemporary art that breaks from prescribed classifications to offer a survey as expansive as the art it describes.For instance, in the chapter «Art & the Body,» one might find performance discussed alongside figurative painting, sculpture and photography alongside video, and North American artists alongside Asian artists. The chapter «Art and Globalism» discusses artists whose nationality, generation, and medium are as diverse as those of Alan Sekula, Michal Rovner, Cildo Meireles, Manuel Ocampo, Chen Zhen, and Andreas Gursky. Internationally renowned art critic and scholar, Eleanor Heartney is respected for her clear language and pragmatic approach to contemporary art. Her straightforward, engaging descriptions and explanations will appeal to both experts and newcomers alike, and will serve as an invaluable resource for years to come.» |
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This series acts as an introduction to key artists and movements in art history. Each title contains 48 full-page colour plates, accompanied by extensive notes, and numerous comparative illustrations in colour or black and white, a concise introduction, select bibliography and detailed source information for the images. Monographs on individual artists also feature a brief chronology. |
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«Gothic & Lolita» charts the current trend of Gothic street fashion that has swept Japan over the last decade. Influenced by Western fashion trends from the mid 1980’s, young teenagers, predominately adolescent girls, congregate in the urban centres of Harajuku, Akihabara and a number of underground clubs in and around Tokyo, dressed head-to-toe in gothic costumes and late-Victorian dress. The psychological characteristics of the average Japanese Goth is one of introversion and exclusivity. The majority of girls in the scene are teenagers and most usually stop by the age of eighteen. The origin of the movement was in Osaka in the mid 1990’s when young teenagers adopted Gothic fashion in response to the clothes worn and promoted by Japanese Gothic rock bands. In the ten years since the trend began it has expanded to a number of cities including Tokyo and now boasts many thousands of devotees who dedicate their lives to creating ever more flamboyant and bizarre variations on the Gothic theme. From handmade black lace dresses based on designs from the 1860's to 'Lolita' outfits, lacy Gothic designs that have a pre-pubescent 'rococo' edge to them, to dresses with an occult flavour, the Gothic and Lolita scene is one of the more bizarre hybrids within Japanese street fashion. «Gothic & Lolita» is specially commissioned by Phaidon Press. Based on the creative design of the best selling «Fruits and Fresh Fruits», it will feature portraits and group portraits of Japanese Goths and Lolitas both at home and in the urban centres of Tokyo and Osaka. In addition to the visual content of the book each subject will also be asked a number of questions about their handmade designs and why the fashion is so important to them. This text will run in a similar 'question and answer' format as in the original Fruits publications. The coupling of portraits and insightful first-person commentary will together make «Gothic & Lolita» the definitive book on the scene in both the West and in Japan, presenting an ideal opportunity to view one of the more surreal aspects of Japanese popular youth culture in an informative yet entertaining manner.» |
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This series acts as an introduction to key artists and movements in art history. Each title contains 48 full-page colour plates, accompanied by extensive notes, and numerous comparative illustrations in colour or black and white, a concise introduction, select bibliography and detailed source information for the images. Monographs on individual artists also feature a brief chronology. |
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When The Photography Book was first published in 1997 it was widely acclaimed as the most important reference book ever on its subject. This new mini edition has all the visual energy and compelling insights of the original, but in a light and truly portable format, making it ideal both for dipping into and for using as a serious sourcebook. Its 500 superb images represent the world's best photographers and encompass every sort of photography, from pictures of famous events, such as the Royal Wedding and the first landing on the moon, to familiar shots by masters of photography such as Bill Brandt and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Fashion, sport, natural history, reportage and society portraiture are all represented, as well as social documentary and art, and the host of talented names, ranging from William Henry Fox Talbot to David Bailey and Diane Arbus, spans the whole history of photography. Arranged alphabetically by photographer, each full-page image is accompanied by an illuminating text which gives a useful insight into the work and its creator, as well as extensive cross-references to others working in the same field or the same style. Glossaries of technical terms and movements and a directory of museums and galleries are included in the back of the book to provide a fully comprehensive and self-contained volume. |
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American Art Book is a vibrant guide to the most influential and best-loved American artists from Colonial times to the present. Covering three centuries, the art ranges from Puritan portraits to the luminous paintings of the Hudson River School and the American Impressionists, to the videos and neon and digital works of today's most intriguing Conceptual artists. Like the enormously popular Art Book, it presents 500 artists in an A to Z format that departs from the usual emphasis on genres and time periods: Grandma Moses sits next to Robert Motherwell, and Winslow Homer faces Jenny Holzer, encouraging readers to contemplate the connections between art, American history, and popular culture. Each artist is represented by a full-page color plate of a significant work, accompanied by an informative and engaging text that places the artist in the context of contemporary movements and preceding traditions. The book includes an easy-to-use glossary of artistic terms and movements, and a directory of museums and public collections across the United States and abroad with important holdings in American art, making it a valuable reference work as well as a stimulating way to approach this multifaceted subject. |
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The definitive photographic history of the first decade of the 21'st century. • Charts 500 political, cultural, scientific and sporting moments that shaped the period. • Every event clearly explained. • Sequel to Phaidon's New York Times best-selling Century. |
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David Bailey revolutionized fashion and portrait photography in the 1960's with his spare, graphic aesthetic and irreverent approach to models and editors alike. Best known for his iconic portraits of artists, musicians and actors of the 1960's and 1970's, including Andy Warhol, the Rolling Stones and Catherine Deneuve, Bailey has gone on to publish work ranging from gritty London streetscapes to intimate photographs of his wife and family. This monograph, the first to cover Bailey's entire career, delves into the photographer's archive to present his most famous portraiture alongside less familiar and previously unpublished work. |
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Max does conjuring tricks, Geoffrey invents a secret code, and Nicholas learns that walking on your hands is much harder than turning somersaults. The Nicholas books have been constant bestsellers in France and across Europe for over fifty years, and are fast becoming as popular in the English-speaking world. Nicholas's adventures and exploits are brought to life by Rene Goscinny, the author of Asterix, and world-renowned illustrator, Jean-Jacques Sempe. Classic children's fiction to be read, re-read, and loved forever. |
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«Wallpaper City Guides» not only suggest where to stay, eat, and drink, but what the tourist passionate about design might want to see, whether he/she has a week or 24 hours in the city. Featured are up and coming areas, landmark buildings in an 'Architour', design centres, and the best shops to buy items unique to that city. «Wallpaper City Guides» present travellers with a fast-track ticket to the chosen location. The edited guides offer the best, most exciting, and the most beautiful of that particular city. As well as looking beautiful, the guides are expertly designed with function as a priority, and have tabbed sections so that the tourist can easily find what they are looking for. There are maps, rate and currency cards, colour-coded parts of the city, and an easy navigational tool. They are the ultimate combination of form and function.» |
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«Contemporary sculpture is a wide-ranging and fascinating subject, surprisingly unrepresented in the current marketplace. This beautifully illustrated book is a comprehensive overview of developments in the world of sculpture during the past fifty years, and follows the successful, highly illustrated formula of Phaidon's best-selling volumes «Art Today» and «Architecture Today». In the great sea-change marking the end of Modernism — a general set of views and assumptions about art which reigned during the first half of the twentieth century — critical opinion began to shift from painting to sculpture. Sculpture was felt to be more socially engaging because it occupied actual space rather than creating an illusionistic realm using perspective and other techniques. In recent years sculpture has become a capacious and enormously inventive category that includes an astonishing range of phenomena. These encompass installations, environments, staged video displays and even choreographed humans. This sheer array of materials, forms and techniques that has been — and continues to be — presented under the term of 'sculpture' in the twenty-first century indicates that the discipline is not an immutable art form with fixed boundaries and commandments, but rather that it can expand its terms of reference with unflagging energy, and is apparently inexhaustible. Judith Collins' authoritative yet accessible text explores the various subjects, materials, techniques and styles utilized by contemporary sculptors and celebrates both the vitality and sheer diversity of this wide-ranging art form.» |
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The Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture is a comprehensive portrayal of the finest built architecture from around the world completed since the year 2000. Divided into six world regions, the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture provides an important overview of global and local trends in architecture for a wide range of users. The geographical contexts for twenty-first century architectural production are explored in a global framework presented in accessible graphic formats. Each of the six world regions is introduced by an in-depth look at their unique urban and architectural issues. This statistical data has been researched and analyzed by a team of from the London School of Economics. More than 1000 key buildings have been chosen through a rigorous selection process involving a panel of expert advisors and specialists from every region. Each building is fully illustrated with drawings and photographs, and each is described by a short essay. Further information includes key data such as construction cost, client name, area of the building, and geographical coordinates. Cross-referencing between projects helps the user to find other buildings by the same architect included in the book. In addition, a mass of useful information is provided, including details about the architects' practices, as well as extensive indices. |
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«Mary Ellen Mark (b.1940) began working as a freelance photographer in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s, Mark worked on several bodies of work for which she gained her reputation as one of the most provocative documentary photographers, ensuring her legendary status in the history of photography. In 1976, she documented the women's maximum security ward of Oregon State Mental Hospital, and in 1978 she photographed the prostitutes in the brothels of Falkland Road in Bombay. Both became subjects for books published in 1979 and 1981 respectively. In 1977, she became a member of the photographic agency Magnum, remaining with the prestigious organisation until 1982, when she decided to work independently. In the 1980s and 1990s, she photographed and published books on homeless teenagers in Seattle, a holiday camp for children with cancer in California, Mother Teresa, circuses, and most recently, twins in America. Mark has received an impressive number of grants and awards, including three National Endowment for Art grants, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Picture of the Year Award, and five honorary doctorates, including one from the University of Pennsylvania. Under contract with «The New Yorker» since 2003, she lives in New York City.» |
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This work contains illustrations of all of Michelangelo's work, his paintings, sculpture and architecture, excluding his drawings. The text surveys the opinions of leading Michelangelo scholars and provides a commentary with bibliographical notes. The exhaustive selection of plates devoted to the paintings of the Sistine Chapel provides a record of their condition before the recent controversial cleaning. Ten of the plates show some of the paintings in their restored state. |
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«From Egypt and Classical Greece and Rome through the building booms of the Gothic era and the Renaissance, and from the Industrial Revolution to the present era of digital modeling, «Building: 3,000 Years of Design, Engineering, and Construction» charts centuries of innovations in engineering and building construction. This comprehensive and heavily illustrated volume, aimed at students and young professionals as well as general readers, explores the materials, classic texts, instruments, and theories that have propelled modern engineering, and the famous and not-so-famous buildings designed through the ages, from the Parthenon to Chartes Cathedral and the dome of St. Peter's, from eighteenth-century silk mills in England to the Crystal Palace, and on to the first Chicago high-rises, the Sydney Opera House, and the latest «green» skyscrapers. The book concentrates on developments since the industrial and scientific revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Incorporated within the continuous narrative are sidebars with short biographies of eminent engineers, excerpts from classic texts, stories of individual projects of major importance, and brief histories of key concepts such as calculus. Also included are extensive reference materials: appendices, a glossary, bibliography, and index.» |
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«Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697-1768), known as Canaletto, is one of the most popular of all old master painters. His views of Venice and London are much celebrated and admired. First published in 1982, and revised in 1994, this book is here reissued in paperback, tracing Canaletto's career from his beginnings as a scene-painter with his father to the work of his later years. Canaletto was interested in depicting the world around him, but unlike most of his fellow artists, he was more than a mere recorder of the amazing scenery of Venice or of Georgian England. He had the power, in the words of one of his contemporaries, to paint so that «the eye is deceived and truly believes it is the real thing it sees», and his insight and technical skills were so dazzling that it was thought he must rely on some sort of optical apparatus. His first views of Venice were painted around 1725 for Stefano Conti of Lucca. Soon after he came into contact with Joseph Smith, British Consul in Venice, who was to become his most important patron. Through Smith's influence, he came to England between about 1746 and 1756 during which time he painted many London scenes including views of Westminster Bridge, Whitehall, the Old Horse Guards, St James's Park and Somerset House as well as views of Warwick Castle and Eton College. These and many others of Canaletto's best paintings and watercolours are reproduced in the book's much expanded range of colour illustrations.» |
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«Es ist nicht die Frage, ob es passiert, sondern wann… Der gro?te Horror wird Realitat — ein todlicher Anschlag auf eine deutsche Gro?stadt. Unter den zahllosen Opfern ist auch Ben, der Sohn des Ex-Kommissars Lennard Pauly. Bei einem Uberwachungsauftrag sto?t der Privatdetektiv auf Informationen, die ihn an der offiziellen Aufklarung des Attentats zweifeln lassen. Wahrend das ganze Land von einem Feuer aus Hass und Gewalt verzehrt wird, sucht er nach der Wahrheit. Ist es moglich, dass die, die jetzt vom Zorn uber den Anschlag profitieren, die eigentlichen Drahtzieher sind? Nach den groen Erfolgen von «Das System» und «Der Duft» legt Karl Olsberg mit «Schwarzer Regen» sein bisheriges Meisterstuck vor. Als der Ex-Kommissar Lennard Pauly seinen Sohn bei einem unvorstellbar grausamen Terroranschlag verliert, fuhlt er sich zunachst ohnmachtig vor Zorn. Doch schon bald sto?t der Privatdetektiv im Rahmen eines Uberwachungsauftrags auf brisante Informationen. Ist es denkbar, dass die offizielle Erklarung uber die Hintergrunde des Attentats falsch ist? Wahrend das ganze Land in einem Strudel aus Hass und Gewalt zu versin-ken droht, macht Lennard Pauly sich auf die Suche nach den wahren Drahtziehern. Gemeinsam mit seiner Jugendliebe Eva verfolgt er unerbittlich ihre Spuren — und gerat selbst in Lebensgefahr. Seine unbandige Wut uber das abscheuliche Verbrechen gibt ihm die Kraft, alle Widerstande zu uberwinden. Doch als er kurz davor ist, sein Ziel zu erreichen, muss er eine schwere Entscheidung treffen …» |
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This beautiful monograph explores the life and work of one of the most important artists in the history of the West, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483-1520). Its scope covers Raphael's origins, his early influences, his important Urbino period and subsequently the extraordinary series of frescoes and portraits of his last phase in Rome. Over two hundred of Raphael's finest paintings and drawings are illustrated, accompanied by an accessible yet highly informative text by the distinguished Renaissance scholar Bette Talvacchia. The author also explores Raphael's artistic relationships with such Renaissance masters as Leonardo and Michelangelo, culminating in a brilliant account of his masterpieces done in Rome under the patronage of Popes Julius II and Leo X. |
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Tiziano Vecellio (c.1488/90-1576) — known in English simply as Titian — was a remarkably versatile painter, equally comfortable with a wide range of genres and subjects. Unlike many artists from history whose work has been appreciated only after their death, Titian enjoyed fame and success throughout his career, which spanned over seven decades. Based in Venice, Titian received commissions from many local patrons and the Venetian government, as well as many distinguished figures from further afield, such as the Pope, the German emperor and the King of Spain. Titian's contemporary biographer, Giorgio Vasari, praised his skill as a colourist; the artist's careful modelling and depth of colour, shown to especially good effect in mythological works such as 'Bacchus and Ariadne' (1520-3) and 'Tarquin and Lucretia' (1569-71), continue to impress viewers in the twenty-first century. In addition to his success in representing pagan mythological themes, his skill as a portrait painter also won him many prestigious commissions, while his renown as a painter of religious subjects resulted in the creation of high-profile altarpieces, as well as individual works for private patrons. This new monologue combines Peter Humfrey's scholarly yet accessible text with 200 beautiful reproductions of Titian's works, from oil paintings and frescos to preparatory drawings. Careful attention has been paid to the scale and quality of the images, allowing the works and their vivid colours to be shown in their true intensity. The book is a perfect introduction to the work of this original and influential Renaissance artist. |
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Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (c. 1390/95-1455), known as Fra Angelico, was possibly the most celebrated religious painter of the Italian Early Renaisance. Adhering to the austere life of a Dominican monastery despite his huge success, Fra Angelico's contemporary biographer Giorgio Vasari said of him 'it is impossible to bestow too much praise on this holy father, who was so humble and modest in all that he did and said and whose pictures were painted with such facility and piety.' Originally trained as an illuminator, Fra Angelico went on to paint altarpieces that even early on in his career showed great skill in the rendering of the figures, composition and use of colour. Perhaps his most famous works however are the astonishing frescos that decorate the cells, corridors and Chapter House of San Marco Monastery in Florence, to where Fra Angelico moved in 1436 along with many of the monks from the Fiesole monastery in which they had been living.A magnificent altarpiece was also among the commissions for the newly built monastery, which showed an unprecedented realism in the intimate arrangement of the holy figures. Diane Cole Ahl's engaging text is combined with almost 200 images to create a book that is both informative and visually stunning. The works are discussed in detail, in the context of the time and places in which they were created, and Fra Angelico's influence, both directly on his pupils such as Benozzo Gozzoli, and more wide-ranging on the artists that followed in the later Renaissance, is also examined. The original viewpoints of the author and the hitherto unpublished artwork of a newly restored predella ensure that Fra Angelico will appeal to the specialised reader as well as students and those with an interest in art history. |
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