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Over the last three decades, Jacqueline Humphries (b.1960) has, through an innovative painterly process, challenged the limits of abstraction. She has produced a body of work that reaches beyond modernism, Abstract Expressionism, and abstraction as we know it. Multi-layered in application, Humphries challenges the viewer to interact with her painting in diverse ways, inviting new approaches to looking and being with a work. Expertly analysing the ways in which Humphries has challenged convention and placed abstract painting at the centre of our twenty-first century visual environment, Frances Guerin's illuminating text reveals an artist at the peak of her powers.
Curating Art Now is a timely reflection on the practice of curating and the role of the art curator during a period of rapid change. Curating has a pivotal position in the art world: it is embedded in the identity and expertise of the museum and plays an ever-increasing role in the commercial art sector too. Current curatorial practice encompasses a wide range of activities, from the care of collections in museums to the presentation of large-scale contemporary biennials, and from collaboration with artists to presentations of work on digital platforms. Curating has grown substantially in the last decades, and in the early 2020s is undergoing a significant period of transition as it grapples with some fundamental questions. How diverse and inclusive is curating as a profession, and how does that inform the art and artists who come to prominence? How possible is it to conduct exploratory and inclusive curatorial work in the challenging economic climate of the early 2020s? What is the extent of a curator's autonomy within the various institutions and structures in which they work, and what power dynamics are at work between artists and curators? Finally, how might digital art and exhibition-making give way to hybrid forms of practice, and even challenge the face of traditional curating? Lilian Cameron's lively review addresses all of these issues, and considers the future landscape of curating in an uncertain world.
This book explores the wealth of wooden architecture that is to be found in Northern Europe, in particular, the Fennoscandian Peninsula. This distinct region, which includes Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Russian Republic of Karelia, was dominated by coniferous forest and remained until well into the 20th century a largely rural society. Wood was seen as a living material - one that was permeated with myth and folklore - while the forest itself formed the background to everyday life. Indeed, no single source of material wealth has contributed more to the economy, art and culture of Fennoscandia than the forests. Nowhere is this contribution clearer than in the region's historic buildings, the vast majority of which were constructed in wood up until the late 19th century. This is the first book to examine and record the distinctive wooden architecture of this region from the early medieval period to the early 20th century. Structured according to different wood types, it concentrates on domestic and religious buildings, as these formed the great bulk of historic architecture in the peninsula over many centuries. It begins by setting out the geographical, social and historic background, before discussing the way in which two different timber-building traditions emerged in the region. It then provides a detailed examination of different types of dwellings (rural and urban) and storage lofts, followed by a section on Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, along with their free-standing bell-towers. The book concludes with a chapter outlining the development of wooden domestic and religious buildings during the closing decades of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century.
As advancements in transportation and technology continue to close the gap between architect, client, builder and site, critique and place, this book considers how architects, designers, theorists, and critics design, describe and critique future and past constructions in absentia. This book engages with remote practice, providing students, academics and professionals with the understanding and tools they need to rethink the role of the distant and disconnected in making, thinking and writing architecture â¿ a skill which is becoming increasingly important in contemporary education andpractice. Bringing together a collection of 16 essays and creative works from a diverse and respected group of scholars and designers, this book reflects upon the challenges and opportunities which remote practices occasion in architecture. Part One: Practice and Pedagogy investigates how a range of technological and economic advancements continue to redefine notions of connectedness in the practice of architecture at a distance and explores what it means to teach and study architecture at a distance from peer and place. Part Two: Critique and Performativity consists of a wide range of questions that unpack notions about situatedness, subjectivity, the body in space, and what occurs when disparate things are suddenly made proximate. The essays and creative works enable thematic as well as historically and culturally contextual understanding of the topic, highlighting important connections and changes across time.
William Turnbull (1922-2012) stands as one of Britain's foremost artists in the second half of the twentieth century. Both a sculptor and a painter, he explored the changing contemporary world and its ancient past, actively engaging with the shifting concerns of British, European and American artists. Presenting interpretations of Turnbull's work from an impressive roll-call of over sixty art historians, curators, critics and artists, a picture emerges of an innovative artist who determinedly followed his own path, drawing on influences as diverse as ancient cultures and contemporary music. Expansive in its breadth, William Turnbull: International Modern Artist will stand as the authoritative book on this fascinating artist. With contributions by Oliva Bax, Paul Becker, Andrew Bick, Antonia Bostroem, Mel Brimfield, Bianca Chu, Matthew Collings, Ann Compton, Sam Cornish, Keith Coventry, Elena Crippa, Amanda A. Davidson, Michael Dean, John Dee, Richard Demarco, Edith Devaney, Norman Dilworth, Patrick Elliott, Ann Elliott, Garth Evans, Pat Fisher, Neil Gall, Margaret Garlake, Antony Gormley, Kirstie Gregory, Kelly Grovier, Nigel Hall, Bill Hare, Daniel F. Herrmann, Peter Hide, Ben Highmore, Nick Hornby, Tess Jaray, Julia Kelly, Phillip King, Liliane Lijn, Clare Lilley, Jeff Lowe, Tim Martin, Ian McKeever, Henry Meyric Hughes, Catherine Moriarty, Richard Morphet, Jed Morse, Peter Murray, Matt Price, Peter Randall-Page, Guggi Rowen, Natalie Rudd, Michael Sandle, Dawna Schuld, Sean Scully, Jyrki Siukonen, Chris Stephens, Peter Suchin, Marin R. Sullivan, Mike Tooby, William Tucker, Johnny Turnbull, Alex Turnbull, Michael Uva, Brian Wall, Nigel Walsh, Calvin Winner, Jon Wood, Bill Woodrow, Greville Worthington, Emily Young
Hugely admired by artists and writers from Henri Cartier Bresson to the Booker prize winner Howard Jacobson, the extraordinary life and work of painter Dennis Creffield (1931-2018) are explored in this, the first major monograph on the artist. The narrative traces the artist's 'Dickensian' upbringing, his formative experiences as a teenager under the tutelage of David Bomberg, his conversion to Catholicism and his award-winning years at the Slade. Focus is given to Creffield's passions for the stories of England, not only in the Cathedral drawings, but in his expressive work on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, on Blake and in his paintings and drawings of London, the great Petworth House, Cornish tin mines and the eerie military buildings on Orford Ness. Complementing his work on England's sacred and profane identity is an equally audacious body of work on the human body, from tender paintings of mother and child to erotic paintings of women to his late paintings of men near death - Turner, Nelson and Rimbaud. To quote his fellow artist R.B. Kitaj, Creffield's cover has been 'well and truly blown.'
Woodland Imagery in Northern Art reconnects us with the woodland scenery that abounds in Western painting, from Albrecht Durer's intense studies of verdant trees, to the works of many other Northern European artists who captured 'the truth of vegetation' in their work. These incidents of remarkable scenery in the visual arts have received little attention in the history of art, until now. Prosperetti brings together a set of essays which are devoted to the poetics of the woodlands in the work of the great masters, including Claude Lorrain, Jan van Eyck, Jacob van Ruisdael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci, amongst others. Through an examination of aesthetics and eco-poetics, this book draws attention to the idea of lyrical naturalism as a conceptual bridge that unites the power of poetry with the allurement of the natural world. Engagingly written and beautifully illustrated throughout, Woodland Imagery in Northern Art strives to stimulate the return of the woodlands to the places where they belong - in people's minds and close to home.
Rudolph Ihlee (1883-1968) was a prize-winning student at the Slade where his contemporaries included Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, Maxwell Gordon Lightfoot, C.R.W. Nevinson and Edward Wadsworth. Turning his back on a flourishing career in London, he relocated to the southern French town of Collioure, where the Mediterranean light had mesmerised artists such as Derain and Matisse before him. Exploring for the first time Ihlee's impressive oeuvre in the context of a fascinating biography, this book provides a lively account of the career of an accomplished but under-appreciated artist, who found creative freedom and personal contentment on the inspirational Catalan coast.
Vermeer and the Art of Love is about the emotions evoked in those elegant interiors in which a young woman may be writing a letter to her absent beloved or playing a virginal in the presence of an admirer. But it is also about the love we sense in the painter's attentiveness to every detail within those rooms, which lends even the most mundane of objects the quality of something extraordinary. In this engaging and beautifully illustrated book, Georgievska-Shine uncovers the ways in which Vermeer challenges the dichotomies between 'good' and 'bad' love, the sensual and the spiritual, placing him within the context of his contemporaries to give the reader a fascinating insight into his unique understanding and interpretation of the subject.
In just half a century of growth, the art fair industry has transformed the art market. Now, for the first time, art market journalist Melanie Gerlis tells the story of art fairs' rapid ascent and reflects on their uncertain future. From the first post-war European art fairs built on the imperial 19th-century model of the International Exhibitions, to the global art fairs of the 21st century and their new online manifestations, it's a tale of many twists and turns. The book brings to life the people, places and philosophies that enabled art fairs to take root, examines the pivotal market periods when they flourished, and maps where they might go in a much-changed world.Â
Exploring the ways in which painting, applied design and illustration intertwined over the course of the accomplished career of Paul Nash (1889-1946), this book provides a new perspective on one of the most gifted and celebrated English artists of the twentieth century.
There is almost nothing new left to say about the urgent need to reduce our devastating impact on the biosphere that supports us. In architectural terms, we have been told since the 1960s that mainstream architecture is not engaged enough with the environmental consequences of what it produces and how it produces it. The usual approach is to propose new ways of designing and building to persuade the reader of the centrality of environmental concerns. But too many readers have remained resolutely unpersuaded over decades. In four sharp, interlocking essays, this book asks why the majority of the architectural profession and its clients still only pay lip service to the importance of the environmental. The first - Overthrowing - examines the Modern Movement's astonishing success in establishing itself, and its legacy in contemporary architectural culture; the second - Converting - explores the inability of the environmental movement to ignite and transform architecture in the same way; the third - Making - discusses the importance of shifting architecture back to a materially-based view of itself to increase its effectiveness, and finally - Educating - looks at the need for architectural education to urgently reconsider how and what it teaches in the volatile 21st century. This in no way diminishes the extraordinary contribution that a minority in architectural practice and education have made to the development of environmental design and environmental thinking over the past fifty years. In each essay, therefore, are examples of innovative and determined people pursuing other ways of practicing architecture and other ways of training architects for this critical century, who are pulling the model of a nature-centric practice out of the margins and into the centre.
Examined through the lens of cutting-edge scholarship, Artemisia Gentileschi clears a pathway for non-specialist audiences to appreciate the artist's pictorial intelligence, as well as her achievement of a remarkably lucrative and high-profile career. Bringing to light recent archival discoveries and newly attributed paintings, this book highlights Gentileschi's enterprising and original engagement with emerging feminist notions of the value and dignity of womanhood. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Artemisia Gentileschi brings to life the extraordinary story of this Italian artist, placing her within a socio-historical context. Sheila Barker weaves the story with in-depth discussions of key artworks, examining them in terms of their iconographies and technical characteristics in order to portray the developments in Gentileschi's approach to her craft and the gradual evolution of her expressive goals and techniques.
The changing realities of our time - especially the unprecedented situation in 2020 - calls for leadership that moves beyond outdated models or frameworks that are driven by the tired rhetoric of management, business or patriarchal notions of commandment. There is a need for new forms of leadership that are more empathetic and expansive, conversational and communal, and above all, creative. This informative and accessible book examines whether designers can actually be leaders and, if so, whether they can be better leaders because of their creative capability. It then examines how the tools of design, particularly in its most human-centred and collaborative form, might actually hold the key for the next generation of leadership. Creative leadership is based on three values that give everyone leadership potential: creativity, clarity and empathy. Creativity is a universal ability to develop solutions that positively impact ourselves and others; empathy is the hallmark of a 21st century leader; and clarity is the missing link in aligning vision, direction, and communication. Whilst the term 'Creative Leadership' has existed on the sidelines for decades, the articulation of it in this book is unique. The ideas grew from the author's experience in leading over 100 design projects with government, business and the third sector - from small, medium enterprises, to large multinationals. They have been tested out internationally through workshops and research conducted with individuals and organisations.
Memory Art in the Contemporary World deals with the ever-expanding field of transnational memory art, which has emerged from a political need to come to terms with traumatic historical pasts, from the Holocaust to apartheid, colonialism, state terror and civil war. The book focuses on the work of several contemporary artists from beyond the Northern Transatlantic, including William Kentridge, Vivan Sundaram, Doris Salcedo, Nalini Malani and Guillermo Kuitca, all of whom reflect on historical situations specific to their own countries but in work which has been shown to have a transnational reach. Andreas Huyssen considers their dual investment in memories of state violence and memories of modernism as central to the affective power of their work. This thought-provoking and highly relevant book reflects on the various forms and critical potential of memory art in a contemporary world which both obsesses about the past, in the building of monuments and museums and an emphasis on retro and nostalgia in popular culture, and simultaneously fosters historical amnesia in increasingly flattened notions of temporality encouraged by the internet and social media.
The Culture Factory: Architecture and the Contemporary Art Museum examines museum design using international examples from Western Europe, China, Brazil and the USA. Written accessibly, it argues that the development of the art museum since the mid-1970s has involved the deliberate blurring of boundaries between different categories of art.
Conveys the excitement, diversity and richness of London at a time when the city was arguably at the height of its power, uniqueness and attraction.
Always recognised as a master print from the moment of its appearance around 1649, "The Hundred Guilder Print" is one of Rembrandt's most compositionally complex and visually beautiful works. This book gives a full overview of the fascinating story surrounding this print, from its genesis and market value to attitudes towards it in the present day. Focusing on the tradition of printmaking as well as the reception of the print in Rembrandt's time, Golahny explores the ways the artist made visual references to the work of such masters as Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, while uniquely combining aspects of Christ's ministry. Placing it within its wider cultural and historical context, Rembrandt's Hundred Guilder Print offers an original and engaging approach to current Rembrandt scholarship and is essential reading for anyone interested in the work of one of the most famous artists of the Dutch Global Age.
The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum critically examines the growth of private museums in the 21st century, their impact on public institutions and what the future might look like. It is essential reading for museum professionals, art collectors, critics and cultural commentators and anyone working in the art trade.
A contemporary of Soane, Nash and Pugin, Decimus Burton (1800-1881) was one of the most prolific architects of his day and is best known for his work in London's Royal Parks, including: the Wellington Arch and the Serpentine pavilion in Hyde Park; villas and terraces in Regent's Park and the London Zoo; the Temperate house at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; and the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and St Leonards-on-Sea, and the spa town of Tunbridge Wells. Other projects include the Atheneum Club, Pall Mall, Adelaide Crescent in Brighton, and Phoenix Park in Dublin. Despite his success, little is known about Burton and this book is the first to fully examine his work, from his early years and his father's influence, through his apprenticeship with John Nash, his works in private practice and his growing reputation, to his exploits in town planning and glass houses. This is set within a fascinating social and political context, with stories of conflict and heated dispute amongst the key players which paint a vivid portrait of the architectural profession and construction industry during this period. It reappraises Burton's legacy and summarises his significant achievements and reveals how he contributed to the birth of the picturesque style that was to develop into the Arts and Crafts movement.
In this in-depth look at Ellen Gallagher's oeuvre, the complexities of her richly layered paintings are unpacked to examine themes such as identity, race, displacement and the ecological environment.
This beautifully illustrated monograph presents the first overview in English of the life and work of Luisa Roldán (1652â¿1706), a prolific and celebrated sculptor of the Spanish Golden Age. The daughter of Pedro Roldán, a well-known sculptor from Seville, she developed her talent in her fatherâ¿s workshop. Early in her career she produced large polychromed wooden sculptures for churches in Seville, Cádiz, and surrounding towns. She spent the second half of her career in Madrid, where she worked in both polychromed wood and polychromed terracotta, developing new products for a domestic, devotional market. In recognition of her talent, she was awarded the title of Sculptor to the Royal Chambers of two kings of Spain, Charles II and Philip V. This book places Roldán within a wider historical and social context, exploring what life would have been like for her as a woman sculptor in early modern Spain. It considers her work alongside that of other artists of the Baroque period, including Velázquez, Murillo, and Zurbarán. Reflecting on the opportunities available to her during this time, as well as the challenges she faced, Catherine Hall-van den Elsen weaves the narrative of Roldán's story with analysis, revealing the complexities of her oeuvre. Every year, newly discovered sculptures in wood and in terracotta enter into Roldánâ¿s oeuvre. As her artistic output begins to attract greater attention from scholars and art lovers, Luisa Roldán provides invaluable insights into her artistic achievements.
The nine building stories told in this book show how rural households and communities define themselves, and the role architecture plays in this.
The way we experience the world is largely through the design of the places, products, communications, services and systems we encounter every day. Design determines how difficult or easy it is to achieve certain things - whether taking a bath, cooking a meal, crossing the street or making a call, we all want a world that works for us all the time. However, some people are excluded from the simplest and most basic everyday experiences. Why? This is because the act of designing has given insufficient consideration to their level of physical ability or cognitive difference or cultural background or economic circumstance. Over the past 30 years, however, there has been a shift in designing to become more empathic and inclusive of different human needs. The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art first pioneered the concept of inclusive design in the early 1990s and it has gone on to build an extensive portfolio of collaborative projects over a long period, developing new methods, coaching designers at all levels in the approach and bringing a more inclusive way of thinking about design to international attention. This book shows the parameters of inclusive design through the lens of the centre's own projects in the field. It therefore maps a movement and, at the same time, marks a milestone: the 30th anniversary of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in 2021. 30 everyday artefacts and environments are explored. These vary in scale: some are simple, hand-held objects, while others form part of large and complex environments or systems. Some have reached the market, others we can file under 'ideas for the future'. All reflect an approach which could be described as designing with people as opposed to designing for people.
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