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Yale University Press
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Aims to provide a comprehensive guide to all forms of pictorial art — from wall and panel paintings to stained glass windows, mosaics and embroidery — and sets them against the historical and theological influences of the age. This study covers the period from 800 to 1200. |
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Painting in Latin America, 1550-1820: From Conquest to Independence surveys the diverse styles, subjects, and iconography of painting in Latin America between the 16th and 19th centuries. While European art forms were widely disseminated, copied, and adapted throughout Latin America, colonial painting is not a derivative extension of Europe. The ongoing debate over what to call it — mestizo, hybrid, creole, indo-hispanic, tequitqui — testifies to a fundamental yet unresolved question of identity. Comparing and contrasting the Viceroyalties of New Spain, with its center in modern-day Mexico, and Peru, the authors explore the very different ways the two regions responded to the influence of the Europeans and their art. A wide range of art and artists are considered, some for the first time. Rich with new photography and primary research, this book delivers a wealth of new insight into the history of images and the history of art. |
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Charles James, often considered to be America's first couturier, was renowned in the 1940s and 1950s as a master at sculpting fabric for the female form and creating fashions that defined mid-century glamour. Although James had no formal training as a dressmaker, he created strikingly original and complex designs, including intricate ball gowns worn by members of high society in New York and Europe. This lavishly illustrated book offers a comprehensive study of James' life and work, highlighting his virtuosity and inventiveness as well as his influence on subsequent fashion designers. Featuring exciting new photography of the spectacular evening dresses James produced between 1947 and 1955, this publication includes enlightening details of these intricate creations alongside vintage photographs and rarely seen archival items, such as patterns, muslins, dress forms, and sketches. A detailed and illustrated chronology of James' life describes his magnetic personality, his unorthodox design processes, his colorful supporters — such as Salvador Dali, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Cristobal Balenciaga — and profiles of a number of his famous clients, such as Gypsy Rose Lee. With flair and style echoing that of its subject, Charles James brings to life one of the most fascinating and creative figures in American fashion. |
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For the artist Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), a founder of the Metaphysical art movement, the year 1914 marked a momentous and pivotal time in his aesthetic production. He completed most of his well-known paintings of metaphysical cityscapes that year, just before the advent of World War I, while living in Paris. These paintings emerged within the context of the city's avant-garde circles, and they ultimately redirected the course of modernist painting. Ara H. Merjian's fascinating text considers the artist's representation of architectural space in relation to his sustained engagement with the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and addresses why the painter's Nietzschean method takes architecture as its means and metaphor, a physical premise for metaphysical revelation. This remarkable book is the first significant academic study of Metaphysical painting to be published in English. It not only sheds light on a key figure in the history of 20th-century aesthetics but also contributes to an understanding of Nietzsche's impact on modernism. |
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Carpets made in the Rug Belt — an area that includes Morocco, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and northern India — have been a source of fascination and collecting since the 13th century. This engaging and accessible book explores the history, design techniques, materials, craftsmanship, and socioeconomic contexts of these works, promoting a better understanding and appreciation of these frequently misunderstood pieces. Fifty-five examples of Islamic carpets are illustrated with new photographs and revealing details. The lively texts guide readers, teaching them how to read clues present in the carpets. Walter B. Denny situates these carpets within the cultural and social realm of their production, be it a nomadic encampment, a rural village, or an urban workshop. This is an essential guide for students, collectors, and professionals who want to understand the art of the Islamic carpet. |
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In 1832, the Norwegian painter Peder Balke (1804 — 1887) travelled to the far north of Norway to the dramatic coastline of the North Cape. The experience was so profound that he built his career painting isolated Arctic Circle seascapes. His pictures were originally rooted in the nineteenth-century romanticism of artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and his compatriot, Johan Christian Dahl; later in his career Balke created improvised seascapes with roughly applied brushwork — sometimes using his hands, a technique that was prescient of early modern expressionism. His profile as an artist had fallen into obscurity outside of Norway, but now this book brings together a first-rate selection of Balke's pictures from collections in Europe and the United States, and introduces readers to a unique artist and personality. |
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Each year, millions of visitors travel to Florence to admire the architectural marvels of this famous Renaissance city. In this compact yet comprehensive volume, architect and architectural historian Richard J. Goy offers a convenient, accessible guide to the city's piazzas, palazzos, basilicas, and other architectural points of interest, as well as pertinent historical details regarding Florence's unique urban environment. Clearly laid out and fully illustrated, this handbook is designed around a series of expertly planned walking tours that encompass not only the city's most admired architectural sites, but also its lesser-known gems. Maps are tailored to each walking tour and provide additional references and insights, along with introductory chapters on the city's architectural history, urban design, and building materials and techniques. Featuring a complete bibliography, glossary of key terms, and other useful reference materials, Goy's guide will appeal both to travelers who desire a greater architectural context and analysis than that offered by a traditional guide and to return visitors looking to rediscover Florence's most enchanting sites. |
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Based largely on formerly top-secret Soviet archival documents (including 66 reproduced documents and 70 illustrations), this book portrays the inner workings of the communist party and secret police during Germany's horrific 1941-44 siege of Leningrad, during which close to one million citizens perished. It shows how the city's inhabitants responded to the extraordinary demands placed upon them, encompassing both the activities of the political, security and military elite as well as the actions and attitudes of ordinary Leningraders. |
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From Kaliningrad on the Baltic to the Russian Far East, journalist Ben Judah has travelled throughout Russia and the former Soviet republics, conducting extensive interviews with President Vladimir Putin's friends, foes and colleagues, government officials, business tycoons, mobsters, and ordinary Russian citizens. Fragile Empire is the fruit of Judah's thorough research: a probing assessment of Putin's rise to power and what it has meant for Russia and her people. Despite a propaganda programme intent on maintaining the cliche of stability, Putin's regime was suddenly confronted in December 2011 by a highly public protest movement that told a different side of the story. Judah argues that Putinism has brought economic growth to Russia but also weaker institutions, and this contradiction leads to instability. The author explores both Putin's successes and failed promises, taking into account the impact of a new middle class and a new generation, the Internet, social activism and globalization, on the president's impending leadership crisis. Can Russia avoid the crisis of Putinism? Judah offers original and up-to-the-minute answers. |
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The advent of the crossbow more than 2,500 years ago effected dramatic changes for hunters and warriors. For centuries, it was among the most powerful and widely used handheld weapons, and its popularity endures to this day. The Devil's Invention presents a lively, accessible survey of the crossbow's golden age, along with detailed descriptions of twenty-four remarkable examples. Beginning in the middle ages, the European aristocracy's enthusiasm for the crossbow heralded shooting competitions and pageants that featured elaborately decorated weapons bearing elegant embellishments of rare materials and prized artistry. In addition to being highly functional, these weapons were magnificent works of art. The Devil's Invention includes fascinating descriptions of crossbows used by Margaret of Savoy and Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I and Charles V, among others. |
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The great Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) exhibited a lifelong fascination — some might say 'obsession' — with the work and personality of French artist Edgar Degas (1834-1917). In this groundbreaking study, noted Degas scholar Richard Kendall and Picasso expert Elizabeth Cowling present well-documented instances of Picasso's direct responses to Degas' work, as well as more conceptual and challenging affinities between their oeuvres. Richly illustrated essays explore the artists' parallel interests in modern urban life, ballet dancers, activities such as bathing and combing the hair, photography, and the challenges of sculpture. The book also provides the first extended analysis of Picasso's engagement with Degas' art in his final years, when he acquired several of the French artist's brothel monotypes and reworked some of them in his own prints. Offering many fresh ideas and a significant amount of new material about two of the most popular and influential artists of the modern era, this handsome book promises to make a lasting contribution to the literature on both artists. |
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Despite his untimely death in 1667 at the age of thirty-seven, Gabriel Metsu left a substantial oeuvre of history paintings, portraits, still lifes, and a large number of exquisite genre scenes. These charming depictions of kitchen maids, elegant young ladies, hunters, drinkers, and amorous couples have gained Metsu a place among the most celebrated painters of seventeenth-century Holland. But his personal life has remained enigmatic. This absorbing book presents the information for Metsu's life and his network of connections, and details the complete range of his work. It will become the standard work on the artist. |
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In December 1921, the poet Manuel Maples Arce (1898 — 1981) papered the walls of Mexico City with his manifesto Actual No. 1, sparking the movement Estridentismo (Stridentism). It is inspired by Mexico's rapid modernization following the Mexican Revolution, the Estridentistas attempted to overturn the status quo in Mexican culture, taking inspiration from contemporary European movements and methods of expression. Mexico's Revolutionary Avant-Gardes provides a nuanced account of the early-twentieth-century moment that came to be known as the Mexican Renaissance, featuring an impressive range of artists and writers. Relying on extensive documentary research and previously unpublished archival materials, author Tatiana Flores expands the conventional history of Estridentismo by including its offshoot movement 30-30! and underscoring Mexico's role in the broader development of modernism worldwide. Focusing on the interrelationship between art and literature, she illuminates the complexities of post-revolutionary Mexican art at a time when it was torn between formal innovation and social relevance. |
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Marc Chagall (1887-1985), one of the foremost modernists of the 20th century, created his unique style by blending richly colored folk art with Cubism, Surrealism, and imagery drawn from the Russian Christian icon tradition. This book explores a significant but neglected period in the artist's career, from the rise of fascism in the 1930s through the end of World War II, which he spent in Paris and then in exile in New York. Chagall's paintings from this time express the horror of the Holocaust as well as hope for the survival of his people and belief in the ultimate triumph of love. Works use many of Chagall's familiar figures — the Artist, the Bride, the Clown, the Wandering Jew — set in unexpected, often wrenching scenes. These contrast with lavish flower paintings that reflect the artist's adoration of his wife, Bella. Less well known are Chagall's canvases showing the Crucifixion of Jesus, often depicted as a Jew, and his rarely seen, dreamlike poems, eleven of which are published here. Susan Tumarkin Goodman and Kenneth E. Silver analyze Chagall's complex iconography and phantasmagorical style, tracing his Jewish, Christian, autobiographical, French, and Russian sources. |
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From the fifteenth century onwards, as European explorers sailed forth on grand voyages of discovery, their encounters with exotic plants and animals fanned intense scientific interest. Scholars began to examine nature with fresh eyes, and pioneering artists transformed the way nature was seen and understood. In Amazing Rare Things, renowned naturalist and documentary-maker David Attenborough joins with expert colleagues to explore how artists portrayed the natural world during this era of burgeoning scientific interest. The book focuses on an exquisite selection of natural history drawings and watercolors by Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Mark Catesby, and from the collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo — works all held in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. Attenborough and his coauthors offer lucid commentary on topics ranging from the 30,000-year history of human drawings of the natural world, to Leonardo's fascination with natural processes, to Catesby's groundbreaking studies that introduced Europeans to the plants and animals of North America. With 160 full color illustrations, this beautiful book will appeal to readers with interests that extend from art and science to history and nature. |
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When Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, burying much of the region around the Bay of Naples in lava, one of the extraordinary Roman villas thereby preserved was that of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. Its discovery in 1899 revealed breathtaking wall paintings that were dispersed in 1903, with major portions acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cleaning and reinstallation of these masterpieces has occasioned the creation of a virtual model that for the first time has allowed the authors to situate the surviving frescoes from the villa in their original relation to each other. |
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The Seagram Building rises up over New York's Park Avenue with perfect lines of bronze and glass. Considered one of the greatest icons of twentieth-century architecture, the building was commissioned by Samuel Bronfman, founder of the Canadian distillery dynasty Seagram. Bronfman's daughter, Phyllis Lambert, was twenty-seven years old when she took over the search for an architect and chose Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), a pioneering master of modern skin and bones architecture. Mies, who designed the building clad in bronze and amber-tinted glass along with Philip Johnson (1906-2005), emphasized the beauty of structure and fine materials and set the building back from the avenue, creating the building's plaza as an urban oasis. Lambert's choice established her role as a leading architectural patron and singlehandedly changed the face of American urban architecture. Building Seagram is a comprehensive personal and scholarly history of the Seagram Building and its architectural, cultural, and urban legacies. Lambert makes use of previously unpublished personal archives, company correspondence, and photographs to tell an insider's view of the debates, resolutions, and unknown dramas of the building's construction, as well as its crucial role in the history of modern art and architectural patronage. |
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This groundbreaking publication, a companion to Van Gogh at Work, shows how the artist experimented with an enormous range of materials and techniques in his paintings and drawings. The result of an extensive research project carried out by the Van Gogh Museum, Shell, and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, we learn of the artist's decisions to work with certain supports, priming layers, pigments, and inks, all of which had a profound effect on his final works. Also included are vast amounts of new information concerning van Gogh's resources, working conditions, and methods as well as potential influences on his work. Presented in detail is an overview of art that Van Gogh saw in exhibitions, handbooks he was able to acquire, and the materials and tools available at the time. The combination of art historical, scientific, and technical knowledge provides a better sense of how Van Gogh's artwork originally looked, encouraging reconsideration of future conservation efforts. |
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An illustrated and comprehensive account of the history of Chinese painting from prehistoric times to the 21st century. It should be of interest to students and general readers who wish to gain an in-depth knowledge of Chinese painting. |
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How is it possible today to gain insight into the culture that flourished in ancient Greece over 2,500 years ago? Works of art are eloquent intermediaries. This generously illustrated volume provides an introduction to the painted pottery that served specific utilitarian functions and that afforded outstanding artists a medium for depicting their gods and heroes and the details of daily existence. The key to understanding the rich language of the Greek vase is tuning into the interrelation of its function, shape, technique, and subject matter. Notable examples from the Metropolitan Museum's exceptional collection reveal the variety and vitality of the refined forms and masterfully rendered scenes that characterize these engaging works of ancient Greek art. |
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