Ashmolean Museum – serie

This major retrospective catalogue accompanies the first institutional exhibition focusing on the visual works of art by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke. The majority of the paintings, drawings and digital works were specifically made for Yorke’s internationally celebrated band Radiohead, formed in Oxford in 1985. The book is beautifully designed in the same size as a record cover and features iconic artworks from the 1980s until today, relating to Radiohead albums, their covers and promotional band images, as well as sketchbooks and rare materials from their archives that have never before been published. It offers fresh views on the art of album covers, exploring the complex relationship between visual art and music.Radiohead was formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The collaboration with the artist Stanley Donwood began in 1994 when the band was developing their second album, The Bends, which was released on 13th March, 1995. 2025 is therefore the 40-year anniversary of the band and the 30-year anniversary of the release of The Bends. The catalogue's focus is upon the art produced by both Stanley Donwood and the band’s lead vocalist, Thom Yorke presented chronologically. Radiohead’s popularity has never waned and they have a strong core following and new fans (many of who are the children of ‘original’ fans).The high-quality reproductions are complemented by exclusive interviews with the artists, and essays by Alex Farquharson, Nico Kos Earle, Benjamin Myers, James Putnam and Jennifer Ramkalawon.A major retrospective is held at the Ashmolean Museum from August 2025 to January 2026.

The collections of twentieth-century paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, have developed largely through the generosity of individuals. Notable among these in the early decades of the century were Frank Hindley Smith and Mrs W F R Weldon, while since the Second World War the Museum's collections have been enriched through gifts and requests from Thomas Balston, R A P Bevan, Molly Freeman, Christopher Hewett and others. This book gives the reader a taste of the wide range of the collection, with its representative group of Camden Town and Euston Road School pictures, and important early works by Bonnard, Picasso and Matisse.

This volume contains nearly 1600 coins of the 9th-16th centuries from North Africa to Great Syria. The collections included in the catalogue are those of the Heberden Coin Room and the Shamma Collection. Unlike previous SICA volumes, the coins are arranged by dynasty and ruler because of the large number of distinctive types belonging to each dynasty's coinage.

Khoan and Michael Sullivan began collecting modern Chinese painting in Sichuan in western China in the 1940s, and their collection has developed over the course of over half a century to include paintings by the principle artists of late twentieth-century China, as well as works by a new generation. Many of the works presented in this complete catalogue were given to the Sullivans by the artists themselves, so that this is at once a work of scholarship and a record of many friendships. This edition has been revised and extended to incorporate new works collected since this book was first published in 2001, and an updated further reading section.

Weimin He's 324 ink drawings, pen sketches and woodblock prints comprise an intimate record of the progress of construction in the newly designed Ashmolean Museum that opened late last year. An unusual approach to documentation in the age of digital photography, the catalogue provides a delightful art experience for readers who will never set foot in the Ashmolean, which is the museum for the University of Oxford. Weimin has drawn workers lifting roof beams, welding metal rods and pouring cement into the mixer. He gives us behind-the-scenes portraits of museum personnel, making each individual come alive, for example, an objects conservator at her work and a researcher in the prints room at his. An artist-in-residence at the museum and an art scholar, Weimin employed Chinese drawing and woodblock printmaking methods. His portraits were drawn on pi, xuan papers or album leaves, with Chinese brushes and inks that have been used for over a millennium. Seven of the prints and the catalogue were presented to Queen Elizabeth for the museum's opening.

This book uses the busts on the Chantrey Wall in the Ashmolean Museum to give an introduction to the remarkable career of Francis Chantrey (1781-1841), and the collection in the Ashmolean. The book charts the progress of the busts from Chantrey's workshop to a Victorian national treasure: the first monographic collection of British sculpture to become a part of a permanent museum collection. It follows the return of the busts from basement storage to their conservation and triumphant redisplay in the new building. The book begins and ends with the Chantrey Wall, one of the most photographed displays of recent years providing non-specialist readers an introduction to one of the giants of British sculpture, and one of the most important sculpture collections in the country.

The collection of drawings in the Ashmolean is one of the greatest treasures of the University of Oxford. It began spectacularly in 1843 when a group of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo that had previously belonged to the portrait painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence, was bought by subscription. Lawrence's collection was one of the greatest collections of Old Master drawings ever assembled and its dispersal was much regretted. The Raphaels and Michelangelos, however, were the jewels in its crown. Following their arrival in Oxford, their fame attracted a number of gifts and bequests of drawings and watercolours by Dürer, Claude Lorraine, Brueghel, J. M. W Turner, Henry Moore and many others. This is a story not only of Old Masters but of benefactors - Francis Douce, Chambers Hall, John Ruskin and their successors - whose different tastes account for the variety of the drawings in the modern Print Room. It is a story also of the curators who bought them. In particular, it is the story of Sir Karl Parker who arrived at the museum in 1934 and left a collection when he retired in 1962 that comprehensively covered the history of the art of drawing in Europe from its origins to the present day. The exhibition, Master Drawings: Michelangelo to Moore, celebrates this history. It includes many of the finest drawings in Oxford, representing the work of many different artists: Raphael and Michelangelo; Dürer and the artists of the Northern Renaissance; Guercino and Rubens; Boucher and Tiepolo; German Romantics; J. M. W. Turner; Degas and Pissarro; the artists of the Ballets Russes; British twentieth-century artists from Gwen John to Hockney; and much else.

Manju netsuke have never been the subject of a book on netsuke. Many books ignore them completely and it is hoped that this catalogue will throw light on the differences between the manju and other better-known types of netsuke.Dr. Barnett was one of a handful of collectors of one particular type of netsuke, the manju. These were not widely appreciated until about ten years ago when interest began to increase and the exquisite workmanship and design of this group of carvers was noticed as an art in its own right and one which presents the artist with a challenge completely different from the more popular katabori netsuke, carved in the round. Dr. Barnett continued to collect until just before her death in 2000, by which time she had acquired some of the finest pieces to be sold over 30 years which will be presented in this book. Manju netsuke have played a small part in the many publications on netsuke, but there has never been a catalogue entirely devoted to the subject. The book aims to provide a description of each object and to explain the tales they illustrate and the sources of these tales, from literature and printed picture books. The range of subjects is wide and includes religious images, scenes from festivals, the theatre, historical incidents, folktales, classical literature and themes from nature. An introduction will include an essay on the history, uses and the collecting of manju in which the techniques of carving will be described and materials will be discussed. Artists biographies, a glossary and bibliography will be included. The catalogue will accompany an exhibition of many of the pieces in this collection alongside woodblock prints from the Ashmolean Museum's collection which illustrate the same legends and subjects. This will take place in the Eastern Art Paintings Gallery.

Throughout its history, the Ashmolean has evolved to meet changing needs and reflect new ideas. In the process, it has transformed from a cabinet of curiosities, representing the world in microcosm, to a museum of art and archaeology, illustrating connections between cultures over time. This book tells the story of that remarkable transformation. It shows what the Ashmolean was like at various points in the past and introduces the people who helped to make it the museum it is today. It looks at the buildings that have housed the Ashmolean and how they have been continually altered and adapted, as well as at the collections and how they have been interpreted and reinterpreted over the centuries.

Custodians brings together for the first time, in this beautifully compiled collection, images of many of Oxford's most prestigious buildings along with some rarely seen, but wonderful venues and their 'Custodians'. Photographer Joanna Vestey set out to explore the extraordinary colleges and buildings of Oxford, behind the closed doors, often beyond the reach of the 9.5 million visitors a year who come here, and to meet the 'Custodians' playing a pivotal role in perpetuating these world-renowned institutions. Rarely do we get to catch a glimpse behind the closed facades of these iconic structures and to see the spaces that lie within. All the images have been captured in the University City of Oxford, known as the "City of Dreaming Spires" and show its extraordinary breadth of architecture since the arrival of the Saxons. It includes venues such as the 17th Century Divinity School, the mid-18th century Radcliffe Camera continuing through to the most recent award winning RIBA-nominated chapel at Ripon College completed last year. Venues such as the Sheldonian Theatre and Christchurch College sit alongside perhaps lesser known venues such as The Real Tennis Courts or the John Martyr Pawsons cricket pavilion portraying the breadth and diversity constituting the city. The 'Custodians' and their surroundings enjoy equal status in Joanna's formal compositions; they seem to belong together, yet do not fuse into one, thereby asking us to question how we are all largely shaped and influenced by the structures around us - how defined we are by them and how much they form us. Full of unexpected venues beautifully photographed, this book will appeal to the historian, city visitor, people interested in architecture and interiors as well as to the extensive alumni network of the colleges themselves. It will also appeal to an audience interested in contemporary photography.

Ancient Mesopotamia and Iran are usually treated separately or as part of a much broader 'Ancient Near East'. However, the developments that lie at the root of our own world - farming, cities, writing, organised religion, warfare - were forged in the tensions and relations between the inhabitants of lowland Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) and the highlands of Iran. Mountains and Lowlands explores this relationship providing a detailed but accessible account covering the period 6000 BC-AD 650, from the development of the first agricultural communities to the coming of Islam. The story is told through the superlative Ancient Near Eastern collections in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, supplemented by images of photographs of archaeological sites and of iconic pieces in other collections including the Louvre, Paris. The discussion is further supported by six maps commissioned especially for this publication.Contents:1. Introduction2. From Village to City: 6000-3000 BC3. From City to Kingdom: 3000-1500 BC4. From Kingdom to Empire: 1500-500 BC5. From India to Egypt: 500 BC-AD 650

The Ashmolean Museum and the Albertina are collaborating on a two-part exhibition project that will examine anew the role and the significance of drawing in Raphael's career.  The Ashmolean holds the greatest collection of Raphael drawings in the world, and the Albertina is the custodian of a major collection including some of the most beautiful and important of the artist's sketches. Taken together, the two collections provide extraordinary resources that, amplified by carefully-selected international loans, will allow us to transform our understanding of the art of Raphael.  The Oxford exhibition is based on new research by Dr Catherine Whistler of the Ashmolean Museum and Dr Ben Thomas from the University of Kent, in collaboration with Dr Achim Gnann of the Albertina.  It will take Raphael's art of drawing as its focus, with the concept of eloquence as its underlying structure. Oratory runs as a linking thread in Raphael's drawings, which stand out for the importance given to the study of gestures, facial expressions, and drapery.  Moreover, Raphael treated the expressive figure of the orator - poet, philosopher, muse, apostle, saint or sibyl - in fascinating and significant ways throughout his life. This selection of drawings demonstrates how Raphael created a specific mode of visual invention and persuasive communication through drawing.  He used drawing both as conceptual art (including brainstorming sheets) and as a practice based on attentive observation (such as drawing from the posed model).  Yet Raphael's drawings also reveal how the process of drawing in itself, with its gestural rhythms and spontaneity, can be a form of thought, generating new ideas. The Oxford exhibition will present drawings that span Raphael's entire career, encompassing many of his major projects and exploring his visual language from inventive ideas to full compositions. The extraordinary range of drawings by Raphael in the Ashmolean and the Albertina, enhanced by appropriate loans, will enable this exhibition to cast new light on this familiar artist, transforming our understanding of Raphael's art.   This book preluded a major exhibition, which ran  from 1 June to 3 October 2017, with a range of events happening throughout this time.

Interviewing nearly 30 of the Aldermaston potters, many of whom have written some fascinating submissions about this incredible workshop. The book features a wonderful, previously unpublished, account from Geoffrey Eastop's memoirs, about how he came to Aldermaston and helped to establish the pottery with Alan Caiger-Smith in the mid 1950s. The book tells the story of the 51 years of the Aldermaston Pottery, through the words and experiences of as many of the potters as possible, whilst also chronicling Alan's own achievements over the decades. The images also play an important part in telling the story. The book also follows the subsequent careers of the potters, and tell how they went on to make a difference, and to sustain the maiolica tradition, all over the world. As there has never been a book published that has traced the career of this important figure or the life of the pottery, or the 60 people who worked and trained there, and there are very few photographic records of this lost way of working, this book will fill that gap in the history of 20th century studio pottery.

The Ashmolean Museum holds a world-class collection of over 200 prints made by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669). Widely hailed as the greatest painter of the Dutch Golden Age, Rembrandt was also one of the most innovative and experimental printmakers of the seventeenth century. Rembrandt was extraordinary in creating prints not merely as multiples to be distributed but also as artistic expressions by using the etching printmaking technique for the sketchy compositions so typical of him. Almost drawing-like in appearance, these images were created by combining spontaneous lines with his remarkable sense for detail. Rembrandt was a keen observer and this clearly shows in his choice of subjects for his etchings: intense self-portraits with their penetrating gaze; atmospheric views of the Dutch countryside; lifelike beggars seen in the streets of his native Leiden; intimate family portraits as well as portrayals of his wealthy friends in Amsterdam; and biblical stories illustrated with numerous figures. This book presents Rembrandt as an unrivalled storyteller through a selection of over 70 prints from the Ashmolean collection through a variety of subjects ranging from 1630 until the late 1650s.

This beautifully designed book is a celebration of one of the world's most creative, dynamic and fascinating cities: Tokyo. It spans 400 years, with highlights including Kano school paintings; the iconic woodblock prints of Hiroshige; Tokyo Pop Art posters; the photography of Moriyama Daido and Ninagawa Mika; manga; film; and contemporary art by Murakami Takashi and Aida Makoto. Visually bold and richly detailed, this publication looks at a city which has undergone constant destruction and renewal and it tells the stories of the people who have made Tokyo so famous with their insatiable appetite for the new and innovative - from the samurai to avantgarde artists today. Co-edited by Japanese art specialists and curators Lena Fritsch and Clare Pollard from Oxford University, this accessible volume features 28 texts by international experts of Japanese culture, as well as original statements by influential artists.

Oxford has a special place in the history of Pre-Raphaelitism. Thomas Combe (superintendent of the Clarendon Press) encouraged John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt at a crucial early stage of their careers, and his collection became the nucleus of the Ashmolean collection of works by the Brotherhood and their associates. Two young undergraduates, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones, saw the Combe collection and became enthusiastic converts to the movement. With Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in 1857 they undertook the decoration of the debating chamber (now the Old Library) of the Oxford Union. The group’s champion John Ruskin also studied in Oxford, where he oversaw the design of the University Museum of Natural History and established the Ruskin School of Drawing. Jane Burden, future wife of Morris and muse (probably also lover) of Rossetti, was a local girl, first spotted at the theatre in Oxford.    Oxford’s key role in the movement has made it a magnet for important bequests and acquisitions, most recently of Burne-Jones’s illustrated letters and paintbrushes. The collection of watercolours and drawings includes a wide variety of appealing works, from Hunt’s first drawing on the back of a tiny envelope for The Light of the World (Keble College), to large, elaborate chalk drawings of Jane Morris by Rossetti. It is especially rich in portraits, which throw an intimate light on the friendships and love affairs of the artists, and in landscapes which reflect Ruskin’s advice to ‘go to nature’. More than just an exhibition catalogue, this book is a showcase of the Ashmolean's incredible collection, and demonstrates the enormous range of Pre-Raphaelite drawing techniques and media, including pencil, pen and ink, chalk, watercolour, bodycolour and metallic paints. It will include designs for stained glass and furniture, as well as preparatory drawings for some of the well-known paintings in the collection.

This creative collaboration between artist Naoko Matsubara and poet Penny Boxall celebrates in words and colours the beauty and variety of the human hand. The series of dynamic woodcuts at the heart of this book was initially inspired by the artist’s wonder at the busy hand movements of her baby son and grew into a wider celebration of hands in all their extraordinary variety – hands engaged in music, sport, prayer, or creative acts. The woodcuts convey a sense of joy and energy, whether exploring the symbolism of gestures, playing with form and colour, or expressing a mood or emotion. Penny Boxall’s new poems were specially written to accompany the woodcuts. In their clarity and playfulness, their range of mood and their deceptive simplicity, they form a remarkable creative synergy with the art works. During the coronavirus pandemic the subject of hands – and the idea of touch or its absence – has taken on a new significance. Many of the images in the series have taken on powerful new meanings: healing hands, hands finding ways to occupy hours of furlough, or hands clapping in support of those working to keep us safe. We are particularly delighted that this elegant book has been designed by Yoshiki Waterhouse, Naoko Matsubara’s son, whose baby hands were the original inspiration for the series.

Dante (the seventh centenary of whose death is being marked in 2021), the author of one of the greatest works of European literature, has also inspired a wealth of images which, themselves, continue to shape our perceptions of the poet as visionary; of romantic love and political corruption; and of hell and salvation, whether understood in the context of this world or another. At the core of the Comedy and of its related visual images is the emblematic significance of the lives of individual persons.Dante may be considered the inventor of our modern ideas of fame and celebrity. He was the first person who, though of no particular distinction in the world – a mere poet – became a celebrity in his own lifetime. And in the Comedy, Dante made famous individuals about whom we should otherwise know nothing. For the first time, poetry turned obscurities into household names – the doomed adulterous lovers, Paolo and Francesca; Ciacco the glutton; the gentle personality of La Pia. The radical democracy of Dante’s perspective had no precedent. Dante also questioned the significance and value of worldly fame. His reflection on the human desire for notoriety is paradigmatic for our own society of spectacle, in which (as Andy Warhol predicted) ‘everyone will be world-famous for five minutes’. Dante himself was keenly aware of religious warnings about the futility of worldly vanity; yet he arrived at a personal conviction that the earthly fame of the poet could none the less be a force for good.

The Ashmolean is fortunate in having the finest collection of Indian art in Britain outside London, one which includes many works of great beauty and expressive power. For this we are indebted above all to the generosity, knowledge and taste of our benefactors and donors from the 17th century to the present. This book offers a short account of how the collection developed and a selection of some of its more outstanding or interesting works of art. While it is written mainly for the general reader and museum visitor, it includes many fine objects or pictures, some of them unpublished, that should interest specialist scholars and students.Since 1987, the Ashmolean has made many significant new acquisitions of Indian art and these are highlighted in this collection. As the book’s title implies, it also ventures beyond the bounds of the Indian subcontinent by including works from Afghanistan and Central Asian Silk Road sites as well as many from Nepal, Tibet and Southeast Asia. From the early centuries AD, Indian trading links with these diverse regions of Asia led to a widespread cultural diffusion and regional adoptions of Buddhism and Hinduism along with their related arts. Local reinterpretations of such Indic subjects, themes and styles then grew into flourishing and enduring artistic traditions which are also part of the story of this book.The selection of works ends around 1900. By the 16th century and the early modern period in India, growing European interventions and Western artistic influences under Mughal rule saw a significant shift in sensibility and the practice of more secular and naturalistic forms of court art such as portraiture. By the late 19th century, fundamental cultural changes under British rule and the advent of new technologies brought about a gradual decline in many of India’s traditional arts.

This book accompanies a major exhibition in the Ashmolean Museum on the early work of internationally acclaimed German artist Anselm Kiefer. It focuses on his paintings, drawings, photographs and artist books created between 1969 and 1982, in the private collections of the Hall Art Foundation. Anselm Kiefer: Early Works is the first institutional show and publication in the UK dedicated to Kiefer’s early practice. The book introduces themes, subjects and styles that have become signature to Kiefer’s work, while providing a more intimate and complementary context for his large-scale installations that he is best known for today. The early works are accompanied by three recent paintings from the artist’s own collections and White Cube, chosen by the artist himself.Art historians, artists, curators and experts of Kiefer’s art from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Britain and the US have contributed 46 original texts on individual works, organised in a chronological structure. An illustrated chronology at the end of the book compiled by Stephanie Biron from the Hall Art Foundation provides an overview of the artist’s early practice and life, to contextualise the works.The book begins with Kiefer’s iconic Occupations and Heroische Sinnbilder series, created in 1969 and 1970, which Kiefer views as his first serious works. Kiefer was among the first generation of German post-war artists to directly confront the country’s troubled past and identity. Full of complex references to German socio-political history but also to culture, literature and his personal life, Kiefer’s early works carry a unique iconography, linking classic ideas of great art with a distinctive understanding of concrete artistic materiality. The landscapes in his watercolours are historically charged; hand-written words on paintings are closely linked with poetry well known to most German viewers; motifs and symbols point at Nazi ideologies and a collective feeling of guilt.

"This carefully conceived book is an important addition to the existing literature on May Morris..."— DASMay Morris (1862–1938) is recognised today as a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, a leading exponent of decorative needlework and a campaigner for women artists. Despite being one of the foremost practitioners of her generation, it was design that May described as ‘the very soul and essence of beautiful embroidery’. One of the largest collections of May’s designs, from roughly sketched ideas to finished patterns, is held by the Ashmolean Museum. This book showcases a selection of 25 of these designs, which are published here for the first time, positioning May’s output within the artistic developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as equipping embroiderers with the tools to create their own projects based on the work of this remarkable needlewoman.

In the 19th century, photography and colonial ethnography were tools of British governance on the subcontinent. Colonial officers were asked to submit photographs on various subjects across India. Images of people, place and space was seen as useful surveillance documentation to observe, understand and control native communities. Eugene Clutterbuck Impey (1830-1904) arrived in India in 1851 and lived there until his retirement in 1878. He served as political agent at different posts across the country. The Eastern Art archives include over 250 negatives and photographs of Impey’s images of people, architectural sites, and landscapes.

The Ashmolean Museum catalogue Italian Maiolica and Europe (2017) included a range of works from Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Mexico, as well as Italy, to illustrate the rich history of European tin-glazed pottery. Since then, the Ashmolean has expanded its holdings of tin-glazed and related earthenwares to consolidate its position as one of the world’s most important and wide-ranging collections. Among the acquisitions described here is the only known piece of Italian maiolica made for a Tudor Englishman, a plate made for Humphrey Dethick, who caused a nationwide stir in 1602 by an apparent attempt to assassinate King James VI of Scotland. The bequest from Sidney Knafel of New York has transformed the Museum’s holdings of French faience; while important 16th-century maiolica comes from the collection of the late Airlie Holden-Hindley. Among the lustrewares included are fin-de-siècle pieces by Clément Massier and work by some of the world’s supreme contemporary masters of the technique.

Step into the world of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and desire – later worshipped by the Romans as Venus. Today she is thought of as a symbol of passion and beauty, but her story is far older and more complex. This catalogue explores Aphrodite’s beginnings on the island of Cyprus, where she was worshipped as an all-powerful goddess over 3,000 years ago, and traces her journey through the Greek and into the Roman world, where she became Venus.This book reveals how, over the centuries, Aphrodite evolved into an iconic figure symbolising love and beauty as her myths and images flourished – inspiring art, literature, and imagination from the Renaissance to the present day. Illustrated with more than 200 extraordinary objects – from sculpture and bronzes to gems and terracottas from Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, dating back from around 1400 BCE to the 21st century – this catalogue uncovers the making of a goddess whose legacy still shapes our ideas of love and beauty today.

Worcester Porcelain illustrates in colour a selection of items from the Henry Rissik Marshall Collection of 'First Period' Worcester Porcelain (1751-83), given to the Ashmolean Museum in 1957. The pieces show all the major changes in shape and decoration during the period and include examples that are both rare and important.

This book is an introduction to Italian Renaissance ceramics. These colourful and highly decorative wares form a distinctive and significant part of the artistic achievement of the period. The Fortnum collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is outstanding in its quality and range. In this selection the author illustrates fine and characteristic pieces by leading artists in the major centres of production, including Florence, Siena and Urbino. The techniques and processes of Renaissance Maiolica are briefly discussed and the subject matter of each painted piece is related to the wider artistic culture of the time. Maiolica serves as a scholarly presentation of the finest pieces from a major collection, while at the same time providing a valuable general introduction to this most vivid and culturally illuminating of the 'minor arts' of Renaissance Italy. It is an expanded and updated edition of the book first published in 1989, incorporating most recent additions to the Museum's collections.