Vincent van Gogh 's story is one of the most ironic in art history. Today, he is celebrated the world over as one of the most important painters of all time, recognized with sell-out shows, feted museums, and record prices of tens of millions of dollars at auction. Yet as he was painting the canvases that would subsequently become these sell-out modern masterpieces, van Gogh was battling not only the disinterest of his contemporary audiences but also devastating bouts of mental illness, with episodes of depression and paralyzing anxiety which would eventually claim his life in 1890, when he committed suicide shortly ... |
|
|
Hailed the "Prince of the Impressionists", Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) transformed expectations for the purpose of paint on canvas. Defying the precedent of centuries, Monet did not seek to render only reality, but the act of perception itself. Working "en plein air" with rapid, impetuous brush strokes, he interrogated the play of light on the hues, patterns, and contours and the way in which these visual impressions fall upon the eye. Monet's interest in this space "between the motif and the artist" encompassed too the ephemeral nature of each image we see. In his beloved water lily ... |
|
|
40th Anniversary Edition. ... Antoni Gaudi merged Orientalism, natural forms, and new materials into a Modernista aesthetic that made Barcelona a mecca for architecture fans. With new photography, plans, Gaudi's drawings, and a complete appendix of his works including unfinished projects, this book takes us into the proud Catalonian's unique worldview. Freedom of form with the Dante of architecture. The life of Antoni Gaudi (1852 - 1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted ... |
|
|
Multilingual Edition: English, French, German. ... Time-travel through the Automobile Age with a collection that puts you in the driver’s seat. 20th Century Classic Cars offers a lush visual history of the automobile, decade by decade, via 400-plus print advertisements from the Jim Heimann Collection. Using imagery culled from a century of auto advertising, this book traces the evolution of the auto from horseless carriage to rocket on wheels and beyond. With an introduction and chapter text by New York Times automotive writer Phil Patton, as well as an illustrated timeline, this volume highlights the technological ... |
|
|
In endless odes to the female form, Amedeo Modigliani (1884 - 1920) traced elongated bodies, almond eyes, and his own name into art history. His languid female subjects are as instantly recognizable as they are startling, sensual, and swan-necked. Modigliani's unique figuration corresponded to his own personal idea of beauty, but drew upon a rich variety of visual influences, including contemporary Cubism, African carvings, Cambodian sculptures, and 13th-century painting from his native Italy. Although most renowned for his nude females, he applied similar stylistic techniques to portraits of male artistic ... |
|
|
Master of the sublime: The essential Impressionist. ... No other artist, apart from J.M.W. Turner, tried as hard as Claude Monet (1840 - 1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cezanne called "only an eye, but my God what an eye!" who stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object. It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of color. Whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time as a conscript in the dazzling light of Algeria, or his personal acquaintance with the ... |
|
|
Magic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics and sorcerers, magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibility-whether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games, and the Internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible. This book celebrates more ... |
|
|
A century after his death, Viennese artist Gustav Klimt (1862 - 1918) still startles with his unabashed eroticism, dazzling surfaces, and artistic experimentation. This monograph gathers all of Klimt's major works alongside authoritative art historical commentary and privileged access to the artist's archive. With top quality illustration, including new photography of the celebrated Stoclet Frieze, the book follows Klimt through his prominent role in the Secessionist movement of 1897, his candid rendering of the female body, and his lustrous golden phase when gold leaf brought a shimmering tone and texture to such ... |
|
|
The book is a multilingual edition. ... A lifelong devotee of ancient Egyptian and Oriental culture, the French author, artist, and scholar Achille-Constant-Théodore-Émile Prisse d'Avennes (1807 - 1879) is famed as one of the most influential Egyptologists, long before the discipline was even properly established. Prisse first embarked on his explorations in 1836, documenting sites throughout the Nile Valley, often under his Egyptian pseudonym, Edris Effendi. Prisse's first publication of notes, drawings, and squeezes (a kind of frottage) came in the form of Les Monuments égyptiens, a modest ... |
|
|
From the eccentric museum La Specola in Florence comes this amazing collection of waxworks depicting human anatomy in all its dazzling complexity. A selection of wax bodies and body part and organ studies from the museum's collection is presented here; from skeletons to vein structures, organs to nerves, and arteries to the delicate pores of the skin, the human body is mapped out in meticulous and exacting detail. Texts explaining the human anatomy in layperson's terms and exploring the historical and cultural significance of the wax figures complete this total body experience. This book is from the Bibliotheca ... |
|
|
Swiss artist HR Giger (1940 - 2014) is most famous for his creation of the space monster in Ridley Scott's 1979 horror sci-fi film Alien, which earned him an Oscar. In retrospect, this was just one of the most popular expressions of Giger's biomechanical arsenal of creatures, which consistently merged hybrids of human and machine into images of haunting power and dark psychedelia. The visions drew on demons of the past, harking back as far as Giger's earliest childhood fears as well as evoking mythologies for the future. Above all, they gave expression to the collective fears and fantasies of his age: fear of ... |
|
|
Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891 - 1979) is difficult to pin down. With an extraordinarily prolific output and eclectic style, his oeuvre remains one of the most diverse and groundbreaking in design history. Trained initially in architecture, Ponti soon moved into industrial and interior design, experimenting with ceramics, silverware, and glass. Ponti's key works are spread throughout this extensive overview, including structures of all kinds, from small residential dwellings to high-rise buildings, schools, and office blocks. The home was one of Ponti's recurring interests and central areas of ... |
