Books published by Skira

Celebrities "au naturel", without makeup and hairstyling, in the photographer's portraits.Private Sitting is a project Gianluca Fontana undertook in order to break beyond a limit, to try to cross the line between the person and the persona and to investigate that boundary through the lens of the emotions - the little gaps, moments of uncertainty, introspection or liberating joy.Each shot is the sum of deliberate sacrifices: no make-up artist or hair stylist, no costumes, a minimum of light, neutral backgrounds and no other person on the set.Gianluca Fontana has been able to create an intimate space and repay the sense of challenge inherent in this project, while his subjects have been able to seize the opportunity to join a gallery of portraits that absorbs and recapitulates the most significant artistic expressions of contemporary photography.Begun five years ago, the project has involved fifteen women (Alessandra Mastronardi, Ambra Angiolini, Anita Caprioli, Carolina Crescentini, Cristiana Capotondi, Giulia Elettra Gorietti, Isabella Ferrari, Kasia Smutniak, Margareth Madè, Marta Gastini, Matilde Gioli, Miriam Dalmazio, Tea Falco, Valeria Bilello and Vittoria Puccini), who certainly know the "aesthetic tricks" of an increasingly sophisticated form of photography. In this case, however, they have allowed themselves to be photographed with no "special effects".

A photographic book of herpetofauna to discover the astonishing world of reptiles and amphibians.Cold Instinct is the first book released by the world renowned amphibian and reptile photographer, Matthijs Kuijpers. This publication is a photographic book of unparalleled quality featuring a vast range of cold blooded species from the depths of the world¿s most intrepid jungles to the driest of deserts. Some of the species featured are exceedingly rare or have not yet been discovered and catalogued. Through Matthijs¿ enigmatic photographs, you will witness the savage and breathtaking beauty of these creatures.This book is an unparalleled collection of some of the most peculiar species that has ever crawled or slithered on Earth; some of which are carefully dwelling in the most hidden crevices of the Planet! Fierce but fragile, this book allows you to see these animals in their true form: explore the shocking diversity of our collection of geckoes, snakes, iguanas and lizards, through more than 70 captivating portraits.

An intimate narrative photography book about Ballet Étoile Diana Vishneva's extraordinary dedication to the art of Ballet, made during her recent nostalgic homecoming to beloved Russia."I met Diana Vishneva for the first time at a coffee shop in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's trendy district. At first, she appeared to me timid and frail. Like a delicate flower, she was hiding behind her husband-manager Konstantin, listening to our conversation at a distance. In our first studio photo session, however, I witnessed an extraordinary transformation of personality and physique. I truly stood in awe for Diana." - Yasushi Handa Diana Vishneva is a world class athlete and testament of total dedication to the Art of Ballet. An art that can be achieved only by way of stoic discipline, painful training and personal sacrifice. Only a year after winning the Gold Medal at Prix de Lausanne in 1994, Diana became the principle dancer at The Mariinsky Theater. From there, her exceptional skills allowed her to begin a truly international career with performances at the Opera in Paris, at La Scala in Milan, at the Bayerisches Staatsballett, to name just a few. From the year 2005 until 2017, Diana has been a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theater in New York.Yasushi Handa has decided to make a photographic account of her recent past and telling the story of her present. He and Diana Vishneva have touched subjects that had relevance in her life such as her encounter with most revered Star of Soviet Era Ballet, Maya Plisetskaya, as well as her devotion to religious beliefs and her desire to nurture promising talents. Glimpses of Russian society are photographed as a symbolic backdrop for the story of this book

The most complete monograph realized about the noted Austrian painter, photographer, filmmaker, performer and set designer, born in Vienna in 1948. The works of Helnwein show the bare truth where society instead hides and removes. What emerges by leafing through the pages of this monograph is the obsession that accompanies the artistic career of this notable Austrian artist, marked by the wish to breakdown the rhetoric of war, the constructions of self-absolution, the mystifications of religious institutions in whose pitfalls men periodically fall as if they had not committed the same mistake over and over again. Edited by Demetrio Paparoni and divided into sections that make this volume a valid tool for exposing the different aspects of Helnwein¿s work, the monograph includes, aside from the editor¿s text, a preface by Sean Penn and essays by Klaus Schröder (director of the Albertina in Vienna) and Martin Muller (director of Modernism Gallery in San Francisco) and a conversation between the artist and Jonathon Keats (American conceptual artist and experimental philosopher).

The origins of the work by one of the most celebrated living artists in Latin America. Fernando Botero is the best known Colombian artist of all times. His work is found in many international collections and is also known to be very well represented in several important donations he himself has made to his nation. There is no part of the world where people are not familiar with his name and recognize his distinctive artistic language, characterized by the devotion to form and volume found in figurative works which have placed themes drawn from Latin America, Colombia and his native Department (State) of Antioquia in the visual repertory of the history of world art. Despite his worldwide recognition, the truth is that, in many senses, Botero is an unknown artist. There is a great analytical void about his career which has yet to be filled and above all, would vindicate his merits in historical terms as a painter in search of an identity of his own. It seems strange that even after six decades during which one of the most profilic and original artists of Latin America has produced a staggering abundance of works, there are few who have inquired into the origin of his distinctive approach to volume and color.

Anri Sala (Tirana, 1974) uses film, music, sculpture, photographs and drawings to create installations that explore the cracks, gaps, overlaps, and echoes through which reality unfolds in time and events acquire meaning. Through architectural space he modulates visual, sonic and tactile elements and thereby generates new interpretations of reality and unprecedented perceptual possibilities. Music constitutes an integral part of his art and is one of the features shared by his most recent works.This catalogue develops an in-depth examination of AS YOU GO, the project devised by Sala specifically for Castello di Rivoli Museo d¿Arte Contemporanea in the form of an exhibition that also constitutes a single new work, extended over time and in the exhibition space, and capable of involving the viewer in an unprecedented perceptual experience.