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Thames and Hudson
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Sparkling, glittering, and gleaming, emeralds are gemstones twenty times rarer than diamonds. In the first section of Emerald, we see pieces worn by celebrities ranging from Elizabeth Taylor and Angelina Jolie to royals such as Princess Diana, all alongside classic images of emeralds from art, advertising, and fashion. The second part of this major volume showcases more than thirty of the world's most significant and famous pieces of emerald jewelry, including many previously unseen designs from private and royal collections. Historic creations that are almost 5,500 years old are represented alongside modern jewelry houses, including Cartier, Boucheron, Bulgari, Harry Winston, and more. The third and final part tells the story of the emerald trade from mine to market, illustrated with specially commissioned photography from across four continents. |
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Every year since 1958 an international jury has convened in Holland under the auspices of the World Press Photo Foundation to choose the finest press photographs of the year. Universally recognized as the definitive competition for photographic reporting, it draws submissions from photojournalists, newspapers, and magazines throughout the world. Publishing the results of the most recent competition, this book contains the most haunting and inspiring photographs from 2014 some 150 pictures selected from more than 100,000 images submitted. These prize-winning works are extraordinary not only for their technique but also because they capture the most powerful, moving, and sometimes disturbing moments of the year. |
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Mark is good natured. He finds the best in most things. To explain more would be too much. These are just pictures that Mark can do. David Bailey may be a master of the medium, but he also readily accepts that photography is technologically driven. The snapshot is a part of our visual culture and many photographs have been taken millions and millions of times, with just slight variations, such as the identity of the people in a family portrait. Bailey also takes such snaps, images that are imbued with a sense of ease and freedom and yet, which, in his hands usually carry much greater weight and significance. In compiling this work, he considered that the photographs appear so easy that even Mark, his assistant, could make them and the quip became the title of this, his latest book. |
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Beckett is the result of a little-known encounter that took place over 30 years ago in Tangiers, between the then-burgeoning photographer Francois-Marie Banier and the great Irish-born writer Samuel Beckett. Banier kept spotting Beckett's iconically gaunt and tapering frame — a marsh-bird vanished in the middle of the crowd of Moroccans in djellabahs and indifferent tourists — and was so entranced by his curious movements and features that he determined to photograph him. Of course when they finally met Banier forgot all about his camera, preferring instead to listen to Beckett's tales of the 27 books he couldn't find a publisher for, of his wife Suzanne, of his friendship with Joyce, of his family in Ireland. Eventually recovering his photographer's eye, Banier stepped back behind the camera to take this fantastic sequence of photographs, published here for the first time, and unmatched as a portrait of the great writer. |
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Join Michael Freeman for a complete course on how to take exceptional photos and develop a deeper understanding of what makes a great photo work. Start by taking creative control of your images, learning the science behind exposure, getting comfortable with the full range of camera controls, and leaving Auto mode in the dust. Next, learn to see through your subject to read the light itself and capture consistently high-quality images in even the most difficult lighting conditions. Then take a step back and develop your photographic eye to recognise potential design and compositional choice, to make the most of stunning scenes as they occur. Once you get back to your computer, wrap it up with a complete overview of the most important digital-editing techniques, cutting through the clutter and honing in on the particular tools and workflows that are relevant to your own photographic style. By the end of the course, you’ll be fully competent in the fundamental aspects of photography, able to consistently capture excellent images in any situation. |
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Introducing techniques for making pop-ups from one sheet of card, the third title in this series on paper engineering takes folding techniques into the third dimension. Each chapter introduces a new technical idea and show how that technique can be adapted in many different ways, or combined with techniques from earlier chapters. These 3-D techniques can be incorporated into any design where typography and/or illustration are used, including mail-shots, personal publicity, invitations, business cards and greetings cards. With their emphasis on surface design over complex cutting, the pop-ups have an instant appeal for designers. Following the elegant, easy-to-follow style of Paul Jacksons other titles for Laurence King, Cut and Fold Techniques for 3D Pop-Ups is an essential resource for marketing professionals and design students. |
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Germany Divided explores a selection of unpublished and unseen works from some of the leading names in contemporary art. Showcased are key works from six artists who re-defined art in Germany in the second half of the twentieth century: Georg Baselitz; Marcus Lupertz; Blinky Palermo; A.R. Penck; Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. In-depth biographical essays on each artist show how the division of Germany into separate states affected their work; and the importance of the experience of migration from East to West. The new consumer culture in the West contrasted starkly with the planned economy of the East. Artists on both side of the Wall were faced with the difficult emotional task of negotiating with the past; not only the recent history of the Third Reich, but the lost traditions of German painting, particularly Expressionism, from which they had been cut adrift. Germany Divided explores the work of these artists in the broader historical context of Germany and Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, and shows how these debates placed crucial emphasis on the creation and display of art. Graphic traditions, reaching back through Expressionism to older traditions of print-making in Germany, were an essential part of the reconstruction of artistic life, and a basis for the phenomenal international success of German art on an international stage in the decades to follow. |
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The works of Caravaggio and his followers and contemporaries in early 17th-century Rome. Caravaggio eclipsed all other artists of his time. But just who were these fellow travellers? Bringing together 200 paintings from world collections, Rome in Caravaggio's Day is the first work to reconstruct the connective tissue of the Eternal City where the great genius lived and worked. In the period between 1595 and 1635, Rome was a crucible in which artists of different backgrounds, cultures, and tongues worked side by side exchanging techniques, experiences, styles, and iconographies. In the space of a few years, they swept away the late mannerist stereotypes and ushered in the most extraordinary artistic renewal ever witnessed in Rome. The results would be felt all over Europe throughout the seventeenth century. The catalog relates this poorly known story to a broad audience, rendering justice and visibility to talented artists who had the misfortune of living in Rome in the early decades of the 1600s and have languished into modern times in the shadow of the incredibly popular Caravaggio. |
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Never Built Los Angeles explores the what if Los Angeles, investigating the values and untapped potential of a city still in search of itself. A treasure trove of buildings, master plans, parks, follies and mass-transit proposals that only saw the drawing board, the book asks: why is Los Angeles a mecca for great architects, yet so lacking in urban innovation? Featured are more than 100 visionary works that could have transformed both the physical reality and the collective perception of the metropolis, from Olmsted Brothers and Bartholomew's groundbreaking 1930 Plan for the Los Angeles Region, which would have increased the amount of green space in the notoriously park-poor city fivefold; to John Lautner's Alto Capistrano, a series of spaceship-like apartments hovering above a mixed-use development; to Jean Nouvel's 2008 Green Blade, a condominium tower clad entirely in cascading plants. Through text and more than 400 color and black-and-white illustrations drawn from archives around the U.S., authors Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin explore the visceral (and sometimes misleading) power of architectural ideas conveyed through sketches, renderings, blueprints, models and the now waning art of hand drawing. Many of these schemes — promoting a denser, more vibrant city — are still relevant today and could inspire future designs. Never Built Los Angeles will set the stage for a renewed interest in visionary projects in this, one of the world's great cities. |
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Japanese houses today have to contend with unique factors that condition their design, from tiny plots in crowded urban contexts to ever-present seismic threats. These challenges encourage their architects to explore alternating ideas of stability and ephemerality in various ways, resulting in spaces that are as fascinating as they are idiosyncratic. Their formal innovation and attention to materials, technology and measures to coax in light and air while maintaining domestic privacy make them cutting-edge residences that suggest new ways of being at home. Contemporary Japanese architecture has emerged as a substantial force on the international scene ever since Kenzo Tange won the Pritzker Prize in 1987. This overview of 50 recent houses powerfully demonstrates Japans enduring commitment to design innovation. |
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Piero Fornasetti was a master of the decorative imagination. His motifs conjure up the illusionism of Arcimboldo, the grand architectural fantasies of Piranesi and Palladio, and something of the wit of Pirandello or even Picasso. Fornasettis decorations transform furniture, created in collaboration with Gio Ponti, into art objects touched by trompe loeil humour. His designs endure in an astonishing variety of forms: chairs, desks, screens, pianos, plates, masks and other objects all present the artists timeless vocabulary. Fornasettis endless invention is celebrated here in a book published to coincide with a major retrospective exhibition in Paris. His visual puns and decorative devices are set out in the context of his paintings, little considered until now. Bibliophilia occupies centre stage, with graphic schemes, designs for imaginary libraries and bookcases set in ironic interiors. The book gathers a plentiful array of his famous Themes and Variations, a series of plate designs drawing on over 500 variations on the face of a famous operatic beauty. A full chronology of Fornasettis life and work accompanies the text. |
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The act of drawing has long been considered the foundation of an artistic education, and the life class essential to the formation of an artists style and technique. Yet in the contemporary art world drawing is increasingly regarded as a medium in its own right, and the figure as a subject for ongoing exploration well beyond the sketchbook. Drawing People is a thoughtful and beautifully illustrated survey of the most compelling and inventive drawings of the human form being produced today. An introduction places the medium of drawing in its historical context, discussing its intersection with photography, painting, collage and illustration. Five chapters Body, Self, Personal Lives, Social Reality and Fictions include short introductions outlining each theme, followed by commentaries on individual artists exploring their style, ideas and techniques, accompanied by finely reproduced images of their recent work. |
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Coe and Houston update this classic account of the New Worlds greatest ancient civilization, incorporating the most recent research in a fast-changing field. New discoveries of spectacular stucco sculptures at El Zotz and Holmul reveal surprising aspects of Maya royalty; the Classic Maya themselves can be understood as occupants of royal courts, full of Machiavellian intrigue yet operating in close communion with gods and cosmos. Just-discovered texts at Xultun show a strong concern with astronomy and numerology, as well as evidence of lost books. Other finds include the discovery in an underwater cavern of the earliest known occupant of the region, the Hoyo Negro girl, and new evidence for the first architecture at Ceibal. The Maya highlights the vitality of current scholarship into this brilliant civilization. |
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This third, updated and expanded edition of Christiane Pauls acclaimed book investigates key areas of digital art practice that have gained in prominence in recent years, including the emergence and impact of location-based media, interactive public installation, augmentive and mixed reality, social networking and file-sharing and tablet technologies. It explores themes raised by digital artworks, such as viewer interaction, artificial life and intelligence, political and social activism, networks and telepresence, and issues surrounding the collection, presentation and preservation of digital art. It also looks at the impact of digital techniques and media on traditional forms of art such as printing, painting, photography and sculpture, as well as exploring the ways in which entirely new forms such as internet and software art, digital installation and virtual reality have emerged as recognized artistic practices. |
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The Viennese artists' association Hagenbund had a decisive influence on the art scene between 1900 and 1938, not only at home but also in Central Europe. It united different art movements under its umbrella and introduced a new creative dynamic at a time when the Vienna Secession was slowly losing its impact after 1918. The liberal attitude of the Hagenbund artists was revolutionary. The Hagenbund represented an early network of European art with a regional focus on Vienna. In 1907 a first joint exhibition featured Hungarian, Polish, Czech and German artists. This volume analyses for the first time in an art-historical context, the network of relationships between artists in Vienna, Prague, Munich, Budapest, Lviv, Krakow and Trieste. The members of the Hagenbund included Oskar Laske, Carry Hauser and Otto Rudolf Schatz. They welcomed illustrious guests such as Anton Faistauer, Oskar Kokoschka and Anton Kolig. The early network established an extremely open approach to exhibitions and a lively intercommunication between European artists. |
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Ur, one of the world's first cities, was highly important politically and economically around 2600 2500 BC when the Sumerian rulers of the city were buried in tombs filled with ornate, valuable objects and with evidence of elaborate rituals and human sacrifice. Without the artefacts from the tombs of Ur it would be very difficult for us today to visualise Sumerian history and know anything about Sumerian art. Of all the objects found in the royal tombs of Ur, the Standard is the most informative yet also the most enigmatic. The Standard was given its name because it lay in a tomb near the shoulder of a man as if it had been carried like a battle standard. However, its real function and purpose within the tomb is still unknown. It was originally hollow, like a box, and is decorated on four sides with mosaic images created with inlays of shell, lapis lazuli and red limestone that were set into bitumen on a wooden frame. The two main, rectangular sides sometimes referred to as war and peace, show scenes of a battle and of a banquet. Both of these themes, commonly depicted in Mesopotamian art, are shown on the Standard using a narrative technique that was to be used in Mesopotamia for almost two thousand years and can still be appreciated today. Viewed as a remarkable work of ancient art the Standard testifies to sophisticated Sumerian craftsmanship and the wide trade networks and wealth of the city of Ur. More importantly for us today, it is also a realistic and lively representation of aspects of the life and concerns of people who lived in one of the world's great ancient civilisations during the third millennium BC. This beautifully illustrated short introduction tells the story of discovery and significance of this splendid object. |
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Cuneiform script on tablets of clay is, as far as we know, the oldest form of writing in the world. The choice of clay as writing medium in ancient Mesopotamia meant that records of all kinds could survive down to modern times, preserving fascinating documents from ancient civilization, written by a variety of people and societies. From reading these tablets we can understand not only the history and economics of the time but also the beliefs, ideas and superstitions. This new book will bring the world in which the cuneiform was written to life for the non-expert reader, revealing how ancient inscriptions can lead to a new way of thinking about the past. It will explain how this pre-alphabetic writing really worked and how it was possible to use cuneiform signs to record so many different languages so long ago. Richly illustrated with a wealth of fresh examples ranging from elementary school exercises to revealing private letters or beautifully calligraphic literature for the royal library, we will meet people that arent so very different from ourselves. We will read the work of many scribes from mundane record keepers to state fortune tellers, using tricks from puns to cryptography. For the first time cuneiform tablets and their messages are not remote and inaccessible, but wonderfully human documents that resonate today. |
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Typeface combinations dont always work together naturally. For an experienced designer, the process becomes largely intuitive after years of practice, but even seasoned professionals sometimes struggle to come up with the perfect typeface pairing. Its often obvious what not to use, but its less obvious what you should use when a range of good typefaces can differ in very subtle ways. Developed with typographers, graphic designers and font geeks in mind, Type Team is the ultimate guide for anyone wishing to get to grips with the best techniques for combining individual typefaces from all classifications and styles for any category of creative project. It explores 150 typeface combinations grouped into 25 contrasting categories, ranging from Classical and Scholarly to Edgy and Vibrant, and with a full page devoted to each entry. In addition, 50 typographic principles are paired with selected combinations and illustrated using the typefaces from the spread. Within the pages of this unique reference for font spotters, designers, and users, the perfect typeface combination for any creative project can be found. |
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London 1996: Alexander McQueen took over the Hawksmoor masterpiece Christ Church in Londons East End for what was quite possibly the greatest fashion show on Earth. A candle-lit, cruciform catwalk with a backdrop of stained-glass windows set the tone for an extraordinary collection. Lace sat against chiffon and rubbed shoulders with couture and club-culture clothing and digital print. Dante was the seminal collection that would resonate throughout Alexander McQueens career. This book features unique photographs shot behind the scenes, with raw, unseen pictures of the designer, models and clothes. The fashion creatives who worked with McQueen to make the show such a success recall this pivotal time in the designers career and reflect on what made Dante truly groundbreaking. Newly created imagery of clothes shown on the catwalk gives an insight into why this collection was so special. |
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How does visual creativity arise in the first place and how can visual methods be developed and applied in the production of ideas and variety? Various methods for doing this are presented here under the chapter headings Basis, Interpretation, Variation, Relation and Sequence with over 3000 illustrations. In the course of this work numerous methodical design approaches are presented and mediated. One of the reasons that the results presented here are so varied and frequently surprising, is the variety of the procedures described. For over two decades Armin Lindauer and Betina Muller have searched out, collected and produced work dealing with their understanding of how experimental design can be created by using methodical design processes. They show numerous parallels from completely different areas of activity including advertising, product design, poster art, the fine arts and the sciences. On the one hand historic work is discussed in the book prologue such as that of Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, Alexej Jawlensky, Pablo Picasso, Josef Albers, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and on the other the work of wellknown designers such as Daniele Buetti, Gunther Kieser or Stefan Sagmeister is considered. The book is thus simultaneously both a highly specialized technical work and an extensive and very rich atlas of ideas and inspirations. It is an impulse giver without dictating the way and demonstrates once again that creativity is frequently based firmly on methods which in turn it also promotes. |
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