Simon Morley – författare

A beautifully illustrated history of the Queen of Flowers and her enduring power in our gardens, art, religion and imagination.‘Fascinating... I’ll never look at a rose in quite the same way again.’ Adrian TinniswoodThe rose is bursting with meaning. Over the centuries it has come to represent love and sensuality, deceit, death and the mystical unknown. Today the rose enjoys unrivalled popularity across the globe, ever present at life’s seminal moments.Grown in the Middle East two thousand years ago for its pleasing scent and medicinal properties, it has become one of the most adored flowers across cultures, no longer selected by nature, but by us. The rose is well-versed at enchanting human hearts. From Shakespeare’s sonnets to Bulgaria’s Rose Valley to the thriving rose trade in Africa and the Far East, via museums, high fashion, Victorian England and Belle Epoque France, we meet an astonishing array of species and hybrids of remarkably different provenance.This is the story of a hardy, thorny flower and how, by beauty and charm, it came to seduce the world.***‘Fascinating material, surveyed with relish and acumen.’ Times Literary Supplement‘Morley’s book is, in part, the story of how humans came to raise roses so consistently and abundantly that we demand them even in freezing February. First, though, By Any Other Name recounts the love affair with a flower that drove us to want to do that in the first place.’ Wall Street Journal‘An intellectual and artistic journey… digging around the history of how roses have become entangled with human life. By Any Other Name will be a source of inspiration for us.’ Kim Wook-Kyun, President of the South Korea Rose Society

Exploring the deep-rooted links between British artists and France during the Modernist periodThe late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century was the “golden age” of British artists living and working in France. They were attracted to Paris, home to renowned art academies, galleries, modern masters, and a liberating bohemian lifestyle. But many also travelled widely in France, whether on painting holidays in Normandy and Brittany, or, drawn by the Mediterranean climate, cheap properties and the relaxed hedonistic lifestyle in Provence and the Riviera.Simon Morley explores the influence of French culture on British artists during the modern period, and from his house in central France travels in the footsteps of artists including Francis Bacon, the Bloomsbury Group, Edward Burra, Leonora Carrington, David Hockney, Gwen John, Ben Nicholson, and Walter Sickert. For these British Francophiles, France’s culture and social milieu were the most powerful expressions of the spirit of modernity and profoundly inspirational, helping to free them from what they perceived as the straitlaced parochialism of their homeland.

As artists push further and further beyond their, and our, comfort zones, this book aims to help decipher the bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by exploring twenty works of art in terms of seven ‘keys’. History, biography, aesthetics, experience, theory, criticism and the market represent conventional ‘modes of existence’ for every artwork discussed, but in a fascinating variety of ways. Simon Morley shows how twenty well-known but little-understood works of art can serve as useful springboards not only for understanding each other, but also for appreciating works by the same artists, and from the wider world of art in general. Rather than proceeding on the basis of familiar art ‘movements’ or ‘-isms’, Morley focuses on just twenty individual works of art, from Matisse’s The Red Studio to Doris Salcedo’s Untitled. Representing a variety of media, styles, subjects and intentions, being the creations of men and women of different periods and places, coming from disparate social and ethnic backgrounds, these works show a rich diversity in modern and contemporary art.

A new concise history of modern painting, offering an indispensable reference to the complexities and characteristics of this medium. While acknowledging the legacy of Herbert Read’s classic 1959 study A Concise History of Modern Painting in the World of Art series, academic and artist Simon Morley places the foundation of modern art much earlier than Read, at the emergence of Romanticism and the dawn of the industrial age. Structured loosely chronologically by period, the focus is as much on individual artists as well as movements, with works discussed within a broader context - stylistic, historical, geographical, and gender and ethnic frames - themes that recur throughout the chapters. Generously illustrated, the global and diverse range of artists featured include William Blake, Édouard Manet, Hilma af Klint, Kazimir Malevich, Willem de Kooning, Amrita Sher-Gil, Faith Ringgold, and Kehinde Wiley. This guide also includes an Appendix in the form of questions the reader might like to ask in relation to the artists and the ideas discussed - in order to reconsider the works from a contemporary perspective.

British Medical Association Book Awards 2009 - First Prize Winner, Radiology Category

Featuring a practical, clinical approach - and written in a quick-access style - this portable, economical reference helps you build a strong foundation in chest x-ray interpretation. Three radiologists with years of clinical and teaching experience present fundamental principles and key anatomical concepts.walk you through examples of classic chest x-ray features that provide subtle evidence of abnormality.and explore a variety of problems and dilemmas common to everyday clinical practice. High-quality drawings and digital chest x-rays - combined with secrets from the radiologists' toolbox, helpful differential diagnoses, handy checklists, and key references - deliver all the assistance you need to enhance your interpretation skills.

Since it was first published, Accident and Emergency Radiology: A Survival Guide has become the classic in-my-pocket-reference and an indispensable aid to all those who work in the Emergency Department. The core and substantial value lies in the step-by-step analytical approaches which help you to answer this question: "These images look normal to me, but . . . how can I be sure that I am not missing a subtle but important abnormality?"

"This book will provide essential reading and support to A&E trainees, medical students, radiology trainees, reporting radiographers and clinical nurse specialists, all of whom may be faced with trauma cases requiring accurate diagnosis and treatment." Reviewed by: RAD Magazine Feb 2015

"... Very nearly flawless...contains just the right amount of information to accommodate readers from trainees through to consultant or attending level." Reviewed by African Journal of Emergency Medicine , Jun 2015

This welcome new resource for international students in art, design, and media provides clear explanations of the terminology they must master in order to fulfill their academic potential and enrich their professional careers. Offers a much-requested new resource that fills a gap in the academic marketTailored specifically to the needs of international students in art, design, and mediaColor-coded key words and phrases for quick referenceIncludes sections on study skills, academic expectations in Western institutions, methodologies, and important theoristsAn ideal handbook for curators and gallery staff everywhere for whom English is a non-native language

This welcome new resource for international students in art, design, and media provides clear explanations of the terminology they must master in order to fulfill their academic potential and enrich their professional careers. Offers a much-requested new resource that fills a gap in the academic marketTailored specifically to the needs of international students in art, design, and mediaColor-coded key words and phrases for quick referenceIncludes sections on study skills, academic expectations in Western institutions, methodologies, and important theoristsAn ideal handbook for curators and gallery staff everywhere for whom English is a non-native language

The monochrome – a single-colour work of art – is highly ambiguous. For some it epitomizes purity, and is art reduced to its essence. For others it is just a stunt, the emperor’s new clothes. Why are monochromes so admired, yet such an easy target of scorn? In this illuminating book Simon Morley unpacks the meanings of the monochrome as it developed internationally over the twentieth century to today. In doing so he explores more general questions such as how artists have understood what they make, how critics variously interpret it and how art is encountered by viewers.