Alan Powers – författare

Tells the fascinating story of the journey taken by the Bauhaus – both the concept behind the school and some of the individuals who represented it – from Germany to Britain and the USA. Bauhaus Goes West is a story of cultural exchange, not only between the Bauhaus émigrés and the countries to which they moved, but also in the other direction, focusing in particular on Britain. Most significantly, perhaps, it considers in detail the presence in the UK during the 1930s of three of the school’s most important figures – Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy – using meticulous research to tell for the first time the stories of their British experiences in parallel. After considering some of the lesser-known Bauhäusler who stayed in Britain for life, the book concludes by returning to the lives of the main protagonists and their continuation of the Bauhaus ideals in America. Taking as its starting point the cultural connection between Britain and Germany in the early part of the 20th century, Bauhaus Goes West offers a timely re-evaluation of the school’s influence on and relationship with modern art and design, offering fresh insights and challenging assumptions along the way.

Talking Shakespeare is a collection of essays on Shakespeare’s plays and politics and their impact in the world today. Originally given as provocative talks on Shakespeare at some of the most prestigious universities, conferences, and theatres around the world, they reflect on the author’s more than thirty-year career as a producer, director and educator. The essays provide a unique and personal look into multiple aspects of Shakespeare’s world—and ours.

For decades Alan Powers has studied bird vocalizations, developing the remarkable ability to imitate birds’ songs and get them to respond and even change tunes. Through his years of study, he has discovered that birds can teach us important lessons about the world and about ourselves. As Powers explains, by communing cross-species we reach out to the timeless interconnected web of all life past and present--what Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno called in Latin the Uni-versus, the “Whole turned into One.”Sharing his journey to learn birdtalk and his profound observations about the poetic, spiritual, and healing influences of birdsong, Powers explores the ancient language of birds and the depth of meaning birds convey. He explains how bird speech sounds like song to us, but birdtalk is urgent and nuanced, whether about predators or the weather. He details how he began learning birdtalk, listening to one bird each summer, learning their many vocalizations and variations. Discussing specific techniques, he shares insights into the birdtalk of many species, including the complex and intelligent speech of Crows, the emotional depths of Loons, the mimicry of Blue Jays, and the beautiful song of the Wood Thrush.Exploring the intertwined metaphysics of bird and human languages, Powers looks at the long-standing tradition of “avitherapy” throughout history, literature, and the arts. He shares insights into birds from Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson, reveals how birds appear in love songs throughout the world, and examines how famous writers such as Keats, Catullus, St. Francis of Assisi, and the French historian Jules Michelet found that talking to birds improves their state of mind. He also explores how song-talk with birds restores peace, calms anxiety, and enhances health.

A collection of illustrations showcasing many previously unpublished paintings of the artist Eric Ravilious.Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) is now firmly one of the most popular artists of his period. He was a painter of watercolours and murals, a book illustrator in wood engraving and lithography, and a designer of transfer-ware pottery. He applied a dry and precise style of working to imaginative and romantic subject matter from the world around him and from his imaginative transformations of the art and imagery of the past. From 1940, he was an Official War Artist, painting memorable pictures of ships, aircraft and coastal defences before his tragic death in a flying accident off Iceland. This book includes illustrations of many previously unpublished paintings, including a number from private collections, as well as surveying his other artistic activities. The text also draws on many letters and other documents, again previously unpublished, and is the most comprehensive account of Ravilious' career ever published. It positions the artist in relation to the English art of his time, and more recent critical and cultural issues.The book accompanied a centenary exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London.

Ernö Goldfinger (1902-1987) is noted for his pre-war Hampstead house, preserved with all its contents by the National Trust, and for his high-rise housing of the late 1960s. These buildings bookend a long and varied career as a modernist who thought deeply about domestic space, cities and the constructional discipline of architecture. Inspired by his teacher Auguste Perret, he carried the spirit of 1920s Paris to enliven the English architectural scene.Goldfinger offered imaginative alternatives to standard solutions for post-war schools, housing and offices, and excelled at the composition of clusters of free-standing buildings as well as fitting neatly into existing streets. An unexpected aspect of his work was the collaboration with Paul and Marjorie Abbatt, founders of Britain’s first modernist toy business.Based on thorough research in Goldfinger’s extensive archive and close knowledge of the full range of his projects, this book provides an accessible and generously illustrated account of a fascinating figure.Having worked together over two decades on pioneering studies of twentieth century British architecture that contributed to long-term conservation, Alan Powers and Elain Harwood added Goldfinger to their list, but sadly, it is the last in the line, as Elain died in 2023, having delivered the completed text and images for publication.

Edward Ardizzone RA (1900-79) was one of relatively few British artists who defined the field of illustration for their generation. Although his work as an artist and illustrator was wide-ranging, it is for his illustrated children's books, almost continuously available since they were first published from the late 1930s onwards, that he is best known. This book provides the first fully illustrated survey of Ardizzone's work, analysing his activity as an artist and illustrator in the context of 20th-century British art, illustration, printing and publishing.Copiously illustrated with many previously unpublished images, Edward Ardizzone: Artist and Illustrator also contributes more broadly to the current reassessment and investigation of mid-20th-century British art and illustration. Alan Powers (author of the bestselling Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer) has written a critically considered text which draws for the first time on the family's archives, those of Ardizzone's publishers, and conversations with those who knew the artist. This beautiful and enlightening book, which reflects in its design and production values the aesthetic of an artist who was closely involved in the production of his own illustrated books, will be a fascinating read both for specialists as well as for readers who have grown up with the unforgettable characters of Ardizzone's classic children's stories.

More popular than ever, the work of Eric Ravilious (1903-42) is rooted in the landscape of pre-war and early wartime England. This best-selling book by Alan Powers, the established authority on Ravilious, provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the artist's work in all media - watercolour, illustration, printmaking, graphic design, textiles and ceramics - and firmly positions Ravilious as a major figure in the history of early 20th-century British art.Now available in paperback, the accessible and engaging text, copiously illustrated with reproductions of work drawn from a range of sources, discusses the part Ravilious' work played in creating an English style, positioned between tradition and modernism, and borrowing from naive and popular art of the past. The book analyses Ravilious' different spheres of activity in turn, covering his education and formative influences, his mural painting, his printmaking and illustration, his work as leader in forming a new style of watercolour painting between the wars and his final period as an official War Artist. In a career curtailed by an early death, Ravilious also played a significant role as a designer; Powers argues that Ravilious showed how decoration and historical reference could find a place in the reform of the applied arts whilst simultaneously renewing a sense of national identity.Eric Ravilious will be welcomed by all those with an interest in an artist whose imagination was backed by great skill and a sharp eye for the unusual.

Una exploración de la comunicación con los pájaros y las lecciones que pueden enseñarnos• Discute técnicas específicas del habla de los pájaros y ofrece revelaciones sobre muchas especies• Revisa la larga tradición de la “aviterapia” a través de la historia y en la literatura y las artes• Explica cómo hablar con los pájaros a través de sus cantos restablece la paz, calma la ansiedad y mejora la saludDurante décadas, Alan Powers ha estudiado las vocalizaciones de los pájaros, desarrollando la notable habilidad de imitar sus cantos y lograr que respondan y hasta cambien de tono. A lo largo de sus años de estudio, ha descubierto que las aves pueden enseñarnos importantes lecciones sobre el mundo y sobre nosotros mismos. Como explica Powers, al crear una comunidad entre especies nos acercamos a una red atemporal de interconexión con toda la vida pasada y presente, lo que Giordano Bruno, filósofo del Renacimiento, llamó en latín Uni-versus, el “Todo convertido en Uno”.Al compartir su experiencia en el aprendizaje del habla de los pájaros y sus amplias observaciones sobre las influencias poéticas, espirituales y sanadoras de sus cantos, Powers explora su antiguo lenguaje y la profundidad de su significado. Explica que, para nosotros, hablar con las aves es como entonar una canción, aunque sus trinos están llenos de urgencias y matices, ya sea que se expresen sobre predadores o sobre el clima. Detalla cómo empezó a descubrir el habla de los pájaros, escuchando uno solo cada verano, para aprender sus muchas vocalizaciones y variaciones. Al discutir técnicas específicas, comparte revelaciones sobre la comunicación de muchas especies, incluyendo el discurso complejo e inteligente de los cuervos, la profundidad emocional de las gavias, la mímica de los arrendajos azules y el bello canto del tordo de madera.Powers explora la metafísica involucrada en el lenguaje de los pájaros y los humanos, y revisa la larga tradición de la aviterapia a través de la historia, la literatura y las artes. Además, comparte la presencia de pájaros en los poemas de Shakespeare y Emily Dickinson y en canciones de amor de todo el mundo, y examina cómo escritores famosos—de la altura de Keats, Catulo, san Francisco de Asís y el historiador francés Jules Michelet—encontraron que hablar con aves mejoraba sus estados mentales. Asimismo, explica que hablar con el lenguaje canoro de los pájaros puede restablecer la paz, calmar la ansiedad y mejorar la salud.