Sainsbury Centre – förlag

From antiquity, when the Great Pyramid was revered as a wonder of the ancient world, to the Cleopatra of Shakespeare’s stage, and from the medieval Arab scholars who sought hieroglyphs’ mystical wisdom, to the biblical stories still told today, Visions of Ancient Egypt explores how ongoing engagement with ancient Egypt has shaped centuries of art and design. Accompanying a ground-breaking exhibition, it unpicks the constructed fantasies of this ancient civilisation and charts how ancient Egypt’s iconic motifs and visual style have been re-imagined over time – revealing not just an enduring artistic fascination with Egypt, but a story of how Egypt’s own heritage has been reinvented and appropriated by different cultures over time, and a history closely entwined with imperial conquest and colonial politics. Beautifully illustrated throughout and with contributions by leading scholars, this book explores the imagined construction of ancient Egypt promoted through painting, sculpture, photography, architecture and film, as well as design, fashion and jewellery. It traces the journey across time, beginning with the ancient Romans who looted Egyptian monuments and adopted Egyptian gods into their Pantheon; to Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt, and the elite taste for all things Egyptian it prompted; as well as the Victorian creation of an Orientalist fantasy popularised at World Fairs. Presented in a nuanced way, the story is not Eurocentric. For the first time, it also places Egypt’s own story firmly into the narrative, exploring for example Egyptian artists’ responses to nationalist calls for independence spurred by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, while also addressing the popular impact of the ‘Tutmania’ craze in the West and its influence on Art Deco. The book also examines the enduring appeal of ancient Egypt in global contemporary art, across media from painting and sculpture, to film and multimedia installations. Artists both within and beyond Egypt continue to look to its ancient imagery to make statements about heritage, identity and race. The book invites readers to debate and to discuss this complex history of the construction of ancient Egypt in art and design, and to ask who these visions serve – both then and now.

Rhythm and Geometry: Constructivist art in Britain since 1951 celebrates the dynamic abstract and constructed art made and exhibited in Britain over a seventy-year period. Including constructed reliefs and sculpture, kinetic and participatory art, painting and printmaking, the publication explains the dialogue and collaboration between artists working in radical ways across the generations to continually reinvent Constructivist art.  Rhythm and Geometry is drawn from the collection at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia. Featured artists include Robert Adams, Rana Begum, Charles Biederman, Lygia Clark, Natalie Dower, Stephen Gilbert, Adrian Heath, Anthony Hill, Kenneth Martin, Mary Martin, Victor Pasmore, Jean Spencer, Takis, Victor Vasarely, Mary Webb, Stephen Willats, Gillian Wise and Li Yuan-Chia.

Art Deco by the Sea is a major new book and exhibition examining British coastal culture between the First and Second World Wars. Beautifully illustrated, the book will trace how the British seaside changed during a new age of mass tourism. It will examine how coastal resorts developed and how the networks of transport that serviced them - by road, rail and sea - were modernised. The book will celebrate iconic examples of Art Deco architecture, from hotels and apartment blocks to piers, cinemas and sea fronts and will show how Art Deco became the key style for pleasure and entertainment. It will also feature seaside companies including Poole Pottery, E.K. Cole Ltd and Crysede known for their striking modern designs. The book will also explore how the seaside changed during the 1920s and 30s with the advent of the heathy body culture, when sunbathing, swimming and a host of other outdoor activities became fashionable. The development of amenities such as lidos and golf courses changed the look of seaside resorts while holiday camps such as Butlin's provided new types of holiday experience. The book will feature Deco fashions and the more ephemeral and popular culture of the seaside from theatre performances, circuses, fairgrounds, casinos and fun fairs.

Published to accompany a major new exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre, this book examines the spectacular and controversial vision of art practice that raged across the Western world from the end of the 19th century: Art Nouveau.The role of nature is a key focus of the exhibition. The common theme of translating plants into patterns will be explored as a defining feature of the modern style. Art and objects will represent Art Nouveau from different countries, where it appeared characterised as flowing, tensile line, and dramatic movement, or by organic imagery combined with an informal geometry. Artists and designers include René Lalique, Edgar Degas, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris; Alphonse Mucha and Gabriel Dante Rossetti.