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Thames and Hudson
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'The Medieval World Complete' re-creates one of the great ages of European civilization through a sequence of spectacular images accompanied by a lively, informed commentary. Ingeniously organized by topic and thoroughly cross-referenced, this all-embracing book enables the reader to explore and understand every facet of the Middle Ages, an era of breathtaking artistic achievement and of religious faith in a world where life was often coarse and cruel, cut short by war, famine and disease. Framed by chapters that outline the way the Middle Ages began and ended, the book consists of six sections encompassing religion and the Church, nations and law, daily life, art and architecture, scholarship and philosophy, and the world beyond Christendom. The book is completed by biographies of key personalities, from Charlemagne to Wycliffe, and timelines, maps, a glossary, gazetteer and bibliography. |
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This ambitious and fascinating book traces the history of fashion in every part of the world, from Greco-Roman woven-cloth clothing and the silk court dress of the Chinese Tang dynasty to contemporary sportswear designers and Japanese street culture. Organized chronologically, the book traces the evolution of fashion period by period and trend by trend, while detailed timelines provide historical and cultural context. Fashion: The Whole Story is indispensable for everyone who loves the line of a superb suit or knows the joy of wearing a great pair of shoes. |
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This beautifully produced boxed set of 53 postcards contains stunning images from the best-selling Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia series of books. These hugely popular and influential books document the Russian criminal tattoo, revealing their hidden meanings. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes; their tattoos were a secret tribal language, a method of showing status within the prison system. By turn they are extraordinary, artful, explicit or just strange, reflecting the lives and traditions of this previously hidden world. The box features 25 original sheet drawings by Danzig Baldaev and 25 photographs by Sergei Vasiliev. Each has a detailed description of the meaning of each tattoo on the reverse. Also included is a postcard of each of the three book covers. The drawings printed on the postcards are facsimiles of Baldaev's original sheets, reproduced directly from the Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive. |
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Calligraphy can be a very personal pathway to expore a multiplicity of design concepts. In this striking and original book, now available in paperback, images of the natural world are turned into a rich source of inspiration for a variety of calligraphy projects. Renowned calligrapher Denise Lach invites us to look closely at details and textures, expanding our powers of observation and finding creative ideas in the world around us. Using a range of writing tools and techniques, she takes a playful approach to written script, encouraging readers to look beyond legibility and use letterforms as building blocks, freely interpreting natural motifs to create beautiful calligraphic images. This is an invaluable sourcebook for both enthusiastic beginners and experienced calligraphers. |
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The horse has a long and rich history as a subject in the visual arts. In sculpture and painting, in the decorative arts, and most recently in photography, the horse has been celebrated for its cultural and social importance. Horse Power is a compelling photographic portrait of the horse today. From 12 to 17 September 2009, Bolofo documented life on the grounds of esteemed racehorse trainer Christiane Head-Maarek at Chantilly, Frances famous racehorse town. Rising early each morning to make the most of the rare access he had gained, Bolofo photographed charming every-day occurrences a blacksmith forging a horse shoe; filing a horses hoof; grooming, walking and riding the animals as well as making candid portraits of ambitious teenage jockeys-to-be. Bolofo explores every aspect of horse power the physical strength of these million-dollar animals, their cultural and sporting status, and not least their noble beauty. Koto Bolofo was born in South Africa in 1959 and raised in Great Britain. Bolofo has photographed and made short films for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and GQ. He has created advertising campaigns for companies including Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Dom Pérignon. Bolofo lives in the Vendée, France, and his books with Steidl include Venus, I Spy with My Little Eye, Something beginning with S, Vroom! Vroom!, La Maison and Grande Complications. |
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Why take a self-portrait but obscure your face with a lightbulb (Lee Friedlander, Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts (1968)? Or deliberately underexpose an image (Vera Lutter, Battersea Power Station, XI: July 13 , 2004)? And why photograph a ceiling (William Eggleston, Red Ceiling , 1973)? In Why It Does Not Have To Be In Focus , Jackie Higgins offers a lively, informed defence of modern photography. Choosing 100 key photographs with particular emphasis on the last twenty years she examines what inspired each photographer in the first place, and traces how the piece was executed. In doing so, she brings to light the layers of meaning and artifice behind these singular works, some of which were initially dismissed out of hand for being blurred, overexposed or badly composed. The often controversial works discussed in this book play with our expectations of a photograph, our ingrained tendency to believe that it is telling us the unadorned truth. Jackie Higginss book proves once and for all that theres much more to the art of photography than just pointing and clicking. |
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A selection of images that pay homage to the extraordinary visual heritage of the maison from the origins to our own day In 2009, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Bulgari, the prestigious Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome dedicated to the great jeweller its most important retrospective ever. Next came the splendid 2010 exhibition in Paris, beneath the majestic vaults of the Grand Palais. The show was then hosted in 2011 by the National Museum in Beijing, and subsequently by the Aurora Museum in Shanghai. Nearly six hundred masterpieces of the jewellers art were thus exhibited for the first time to the general public. Displayed along with special features like the magnificent collection that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor were archival documents such as photographs, preparatory drawings and film stills, eloquently illustrating the epoch to which each piece belonged. Since past catalogues have already exhaustively documented the jewels on display, the present volume takes a different approach, crowning this quartet of exhibitions with a selection of images that render homage to the extraordinary visual heritage of the maison. |
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Published on the occasion of Relics, Hirsts first retrospective exhibition in Doha, Qatar, this richly illustrated book offers a different perspective on the work of one of the best-known artists working today. Tracing Hirsts career from his emergence on the art scene in the Young British Artists movement to his present status as one of the most controversial and highly regarded artists of his generation, the volume offers a complete overview on his wideranging practice, which includes installation, painting, sculpture and drawing, and challenges the boundaries between art, science and popular culture. The catalog gathers over one hundred works, combining historic oeuvres with more recent projects: from The Kingdom to The history of pain, from Pharmacy to For the Love of God, to the spot, spin and butterfly paintings. With an essay by Francesco Bonami, and an interview to the artist by Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate, the volume offers an original point of view on Hirsts oeuvre, thanks to the essays by the Qatari writer Sophia Al Maria and the Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid. A unique contribution to our understanding and appreciation of Damien Hirst, whose works have become collective icons of our civilization. |
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From space, Earth is a magnificent sight, splashed with vivid colours, patterns, textures and abstract forms. Views from above can also provide telling information about the health of our planet. To help us understand the more than 150 breathtaking satellite photographs in The Earth from Space, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the aerial photographer and devoted environmental activist, discusses the impact of deforestation, urban sprawl, intensive farming, ocean pollution and more. Using high-resolution imagery, we can monitor the evolution of vegetation around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, snow loss on Mount Kilimanjaro and the health of migratory bird populations. The Earth from Space's compelling selection of satellite images raises important questions about our future, while also showcasing the planet's beauty leaving no doubt of the urgent need to protect it. |
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Eleonora Abbagnato is the prima ballerina at the Opera de Paris. This original volume reveals her artistic versatility through the photographs of four celebrated ballets. The book opens with an original interview by Valeria Crippa, journalist and ballet critic. Comprehensible to all, the ballerinas answers outline the technical aspects of choreography, the difficulty of interpreting the score and the way in which she studies her role in each case and prepares to offer a unique and unrepeatable performance. This is the ideal gift for aspiring dancers and those who always dreamed of taking up this career. |
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Josef Koudelkas Wall comprises panoramic landscape photographs he made from 2008 to 2012 in East Jerusalem, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and in various Israeli settlements along the route of the barrier separating Israel and Palestine. Whereas Israel calls it the security fence, Palestinians call it the apartheid wall, and groups like Human Rights Watch use the term separation barrier, the wall in Koudelkas project is metaphorical in naturefocused on it as a human fissure in the natural landscape. Sometimes blocks of concrete define the panoramas; at other times displaced olive treesa lifeline for one man, collateral damage in anothers claim for territorysubtly emerge. As in his Black Triangle project, made in the Bohemian foothills of the Ore Mountains in the early 1990s, Wall conveys the fraught relationships between humankind and nature and between closely related cultures. A chronology, lexicon, and captions provide context for the photographs. The book is designed by Xavier Barral, working closely with Koudelka, and is a coproduction by Aperture and Editions Xavier Barral. Wall, with texts by Ray Dolphin written in collaboration with Koudelka and project advisor Gilad Baram, is part of a larger project, This Place, initiated by photographer Frederic Brenner. This Place explores Israel as place and metaphor through the eyes of twelve internationally acclaimed photographers, who were invited to look beyond dominant political narratives and to explore the complexity of the place and its resonance for people around the world not to judge, but to question and to reveal. |
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Lee Miller was a Vogue cover girl, Man Ray's lover, the first photojournalist at the liberation of Dachau and Buchenwald, and one of the most important female photographers of the 20th century. Combining fine art and urban wit, her photographic technique was learned from the great photographers of her day, among them are Edward Steichen, Man Ray and George Hoyningen-Huene. Becky E. Conekin's Lee Miller in Fashion gives us a wide lens view on Miller's fashion photography. Set against the fast-changing landscapes of New York, Paris, and London, it reveals a neglected chapter in Miller's life: how this incredible woman challenged conventions and broke boundaries in her fashion photography for the leading magazines of the day. Using never-before-seen photographs and archival research, Conekin shows how Miller's fashion photographs were a brilliant combination of sharp wit, high art and modernist edge. |
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«Mesmerizing, exhilarating and awe-inspiring, London has provided a rich subject for the many artists, satirists, map-makers and engravers who have tried to make a lasting record of their impressions of the city. Representations of London are fascinatingly diverse, presenting a lively and thought-provoking body of work that lets us see London as it has been experienced by its inhabitants through the ages. «London: A View from the Streets» brings together and interprets vivid images of the changing faces of London, featuring never-before-seen works from the rich collection of the British Museum. A broad range of pieces from artists including Canaletto, Hogarth, Cruikshank, Whistler and George Scharfe are all engagingly explored by Anna Maude, herself an expert on prints and drawings of London.» |
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The concept of taking the existing material as an idea is what is behind the expression Rough Interiors. The building and rooms are taken as they are and the traces of the past are preserved in the sense of remaining visible, into which the design concept is integrated. Old shells are given a new life with the aid of very different design interventions. It is the breaks, contrasts and contradictions instead of perfect harmony and smooth surfaces which characterise these works. The interiors presented range from low — budget to luxury projects. A fascinating interplay be — tween past and present emerges in the interplay of rough ceilings, un-plastered walls and visible concrete beams together with creative re-use ideas, modern materials and innovative form language. |
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By the end of the decade, styles, markets, materials, demographics, inspirations and the very definition of fashion had been transformed. The young generation wanted informal but stylish clothes, and self-expression was paramount. Fashion had given way to style. Jonathan Walford charts these revolutions, from Londons mod youthquake to the ye-yes in Paris via the flower children and Afro movement in the US, and shows how a new internationalism changed the fashion landscape, as London, New York, Florence, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Madrid and Rome challenged the dominance of Paris haute couture. |
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The essential purpose of a staircase is utilitarian: to facilitate ascent and descent. Yet the design of even the simplest stair is complex, requiring great knowledge, skill and ingenuity. This volume showcases the astonishing diversity of staircases over the centuries, from the stepped pyramids of the Maya to the exquisitely proportioned stairs of the Renaissance, to the elaborate balustraded confections of the Baroque period, to the virtuosic, computer-aided designs of today. A superb range of photographs, many specially taken for this publication, illustrates clear and accessible written surveys by specialist architectural historians. From Renaissance masterpieces, the sweeping curves of Art Nouveau, the functional beauty of the Bauhaus, to high-tech contemporary dream creations, the staircase is a powerful emblem of technological and artistic achievement. Architectural tours de force all, often charged with religious, mystical and hierarchical meaning, these staircases are inherently dynamic, as is every page of this fascinating and beautifully illustrated book. |
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The killer detail: a singular feature that catches the eye, encapsulates an attitude, or refines a style, distinguishing the wearer from the crowd. A ribbon on a hat, a belt knotted around a trench coat, the lining of a jacket, the lacing on a boot. Ephemeral, and yet timeless. Written and curated by seasoned journalists whose intimate backstage knowledge is matched only by their assiduous research, these rare, often candid portraits by celebrated photographers from Helmut Newton and Linda McCartney to Peter Lindbergh and Annie Leibovitz reveal as much about the ethos of the star as about their sartorial choices. Covering all aspects of the wardrobe from head to toe, the authors provide astute analysis of the killer detail as an element of the celebritys own iconic style, and as a lasting contribution to the history of fashion. From Marlene Dietrichs pant suit to Chloe Sevignys leather Perfecto; from Liz Taylors leopard print swimsuit to Jimi Hendrixs military jacket; and from Marvin Gayes vinyl raincoat to Frank Sinatras fedora, this book tracks the making of fashion legend through the icons that inspired it; the individuals who dared to invent new perspectives in fashion that continue to be reinterpreted on runways and in the street. |
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An ambitious publication in scope and specification, the book presents the total design output of one of the worlds most talented and sought-after graphic designers. Presented loosely chronologically and with candid commentary throughout, this large-scale publication reveals a fascinating journey from Bantjes' early work as a typesetter to her adoption of digital technologies that push conventional print production to the limit. |
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In the first fully illustrated work of his illustrious career, David Thomson re-examines a series of moments which readers will experience in beautifully reproduced imagery from seventy-two carefully selected films across a hundred-year time span. Hailed by John Banville as the greatest living writer on the movies, David Thomson takes readers on an unprecedented visual journey. His moments range from a set of Eadward Muybridges pioneering photographs to sequences in films from the classic Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard and The Red Shoes to the unexpected The Piano Teacher, Burn After Reading immersing the reader via a groundbreaking marriage of imagery and the authors accompanying narrative. David Thomsons evocative, unflinching prose and profound understanding of what makes film and art form identify him as one of the great film writers of our time, making it likely that Moments that Made the Movies will be widely viewed as an important classic on the subject of international cinema. |
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Although the public perception of graffiti has changed radically over the last fifty years, few would have predicted that it would become the subject of this major new textbook. Christoph Ganter covers the history of informal mark-making in the public realm, from the first unauthorized characters inscribed on the ancient walls of Egypt and Pompeii to nineteenth-century Vienna, where Joseph Kyselak established himself as the father of graffiti; from New York's Taki 183, the first modern graffiti writer, to more recent developments brought about by the Hip Hop revolution. The effects of the 1980s films Beat Street, Wild Style, and StyleWars are examined, as is the influence graffiti experts on today's subculture through books, magazines, and the Internet. The practical elements of graffiti are considered in later chapters, which combine tips on handling a spray can, creating a unique tag, and getting work up safely and legally with step-by-step diagrams that show how to achieve effects such as bubblestyle, blockbusters, oneliners, and wildstyle. A teacher's manual features sample plans for a single lesson as well as guidance on structuring a longer course. |
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