Monacelli Press – serie

‘Erudite and sumptuous’ – The New York TimesA groundbreaking, global survey of queer art, featuring more than 300 artworks made following the introduction of the term ‘homosexual’ in 1869An unprecedented and historic new book, The First Homosexuals traces the evolution of the homosexual identity through an archive of more than 300 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and film stills from around the world – many presented in a queer, global, and colonial context for the first time. Accompanying the works are twenty-two original, insightful essays by leading experts in art and queer history, each focusing on one geographical region – from Japan to Australia to the Indigenous populations of South America. Ranging from well-known masterpieces to works by unknown artists and pieces rarely considered in the context of sexuality, The First Homosexuals offers a stunning and illuminating look at the first self-consciously queer art. The book accompanies a groundbreaking exhibition of the same name presented at Wrightwood 659 in Chicago.Featured artists include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, Félix Vallotton, Harriet Hosmer, Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Frederic Leighton, Simeon Solomon, Giovanni Boldini, Jacques-Émile Blanche, Berenice Abbott, Clare Atwood, Duncan Grant, Laura Rodig, Carl van Vechten, Beauford Delaney, Anna Klumpke, Sarah Bernhardt, Walter Sickert, Florence Carlyle, Florence Wyle, Frances Loring, Ottilie Roederstein, Florine Stettheimer, Nasta Rojc, Glyn Philpot, Romaine Brooks, Ismael Nery, Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, Roberto Montenegro, María Izquierdo, Emilio Baz Viaud, Konstantin Somov, Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, Alice Austen, Emilie Mundt, Bertha Wegmann, Thomas Anshutz, Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth, Marie Laurencin, Gerda Wegener, Lili Elbe, Gregorio Prieto, Jorge Larco, Pavel Tchelitchew, Andrey Avinoff, Gustave Courtois, Carlos Baca-Flor, Gustave Moreau, Henry Scott Tuke, Sascha Schneider, Ludwig von Hofmann, Max Oppenheimer, Eugène Jansson, Osmar Schindler, George Platt Lynes, Agnes Goodsir, Tamara de Lempicka, Pedro Lira, Wilhelm von Gloeden, Ladislav Mednyánszky, F. Holland Day, Kristian Zahrtmann, Violet Oakley, Rupert Bunny, Saturnino Herrán, David Paynter, Lionel Wendt, Richmond Barthé, Richard Bruce Nugent, Lady Una Troubridge, Jean Cocteau, Léon Bakst, Lumière Brothers, Marie Höeg & Bolette Berg, José Guadalupe Posada, Claude Cahun, Toyen, Toni Ebel, and Elisàr von Kupffer (Elisarion).

Revered interior designer David Kleinberg invites readers inside a selection of projects representing the height of sophistication, luxury, and refinementFor over 35 years, David Kleinberg, whom Architectural Digest calls a designer of ‘singular rooms [that] adhere to the traditional values of elegance, beauty, practicality, [and] comfort,’ has created a body of work that is wide-ranging in style yet always modern in sensibility. Kleinberg is revered for creating spaces that not only epitomize sophistication and luxury, but that also function effortlessly for his clients.In his newest monograph, Kleinberg shares eleven recent residential projects, some of which have never been photographed until now, in glamorous locales across the United States – in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Aspen, and Palm Beach – as well as on London’s Eaton Square. The book opens with Thom Brown and Andrew Bolton’s townhouse, which was immaculately restored and filled with exquisite furnishings and art from varying periods and closes with an intimate tour of Kleinberg’s own private garden in East Hampton.Featuring a foreword by Thom Brown and Andrew Bolton, and written with Architectural Digest’s West Coast editor, Mayer Rus, the text offers readers insights into the process of the celebrated interior designer. Wrapped in grey linen and featuring a tipped-in detail shot that shows Kleinberg’s signature mix of contemporary art with period details, the book’s luxe package reflects the elegant, upscale interiors within.

The definitive publication on internationally acclaimed artist Shahzia Sikander, one of the most influential feminist artists working todayBorn in Pakistan and active in New York since the 1990s, Shahzia Sikander navigates the interplay of multiple identities, encompassing a range of artistic disciplines in her work and critically reinterpreting South Asian material history. Sikander’s distinctly feminist iconography focuses on the narratives of immigrant women to challenge Eurocentric art histories and counter Orientalist scholarship. This volume, published to coincide with a major mid-career retrospective that premiered during the Biennale Art in Venice and will be held concurrently at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art, is the first comprehensive exploration of Sikander’s ideas and art. With hundreds of images, many presented as a full page or an entire spread, the richly illustrated book immerses readers in Sikander’s vibrant and subversive art.

The long-awaited first career survey from photographer Amos Badertscher, who comprehensively documented a uniquely American queer underworldAcross several decades, self-taught photographer Amos Badertscher (1936–2023) made thousands of photographs of a liminal queer world: young male sex workers, drag performers, trans pioneers, and Baltimore, Maryland’s inclusive, ribald nightlife. The encounters with these marginalized figures helped Badertscher understand his own queer identity and reveal a confident body of work that stakes out an important corner of queer art and aesthetics.Made between the 1960s and early 2000s, the photographs featured here constitute an unparalleled chronicle of a culture of the era particular not only to Badertscher’s hometown, but universally identifiable, one which began to fade with the movement of LGBTQ+ rights and liberation. The hundreds of images are accompanied by Badertscher’s writings about the history and experiences of his subjects, further illuminating the intimate inner lives of people who were frequently dismissed, feared, and objectified by mainstream culture. Amos Badertscher Images and Stories is a landmark introduction to a figure who is now finally receiving his due as a major twentieth-century portraitist and chronicler of queer subculture.

The astonishing debut monograph from contemporary abstract expressionist painter Genesis TramaineGimme Some Sugar is the much-anticipated first monograph from Genesis Tramaine, the renowned American artist whose star continues to rise in the international art world. Rooted in her 1980s New York City upbringing and strong spirituality, Tramaine imbues her abstract portraits of men and women with a transcendent emotion, devotion, and soundless musicality, borne from rhythmic brushstrokes and a visceral use of chromatic color. In her gestural style, she seeks, at once, to represent and universalize the humanness of the American Black face by obscuring the specificity of individual features, choosing instead to portray the inner turmoil and inner joy of one’s mind and being.The book presents over 125 vibrant, full-color images of the artist’s dynamic and enthralling portrait paintings, which are an inextricable homage to her deep faith, sense of self, and her Sunday mornings at church. Bound in a rich and tactile faux-leather indigo case intended to evoke a modern Bible, Gimme Some Sugar also features a mini-sketchbook insert whose pages reveal the raw, instinctive line drawing studies for Tramaine’s large-scale masterwork paintings.

‘[Emily Thompson] changed floristry in New York.’ – Martha StewartAn extraordinary first book celebrating contemporary floral designer Emily Thompson, known for her unique and dramatic artistryFor the first time, innovative floral designer Emily Thompson showcases her 15-year body of work, which reveres the raw and wondrous beauty of flowers, plants, and trees. With an inspirational and transportive journey, this new book demonstrates Thompson’s signature style of infusing a sense of the exotic and mysterious into her stunning compositions by using wild, unruly materials from the forest, field, and beyond.Featuring nearly 200 vivid images of her spectacular floral design work, the book includes projects ranging from indoor studio and outdoor in situ photography, to high-profile public and private commissions for restaurants including The Grill and The Modern in New York, fashion designers Jason Wu and Ulla Johnson, cultural institutions like the MAD Museum, New York, and Sotheby’s, and editorial work for T Magazine and AD China.Organized by theme, the book features chapters evocatively named and inspired by the life forces and organisms that influence and make up her work. In her own words, she walks the reader through her creative process, explaining the visceral and intellectual approach for generating and germinating the seeds of her ideas for her lush and kaleidoscopic floral arrangements. In addition to her own text, the book includes a foreword by esteemed floral designer and florist to the British Royal Family, Shane Connolly, and an introduction by lauded design writer Nancy Hass.

Explore singular destinations with The Leading Hotels of the World in this celebration of exceptional hospitality, extraordinary cultural heritage, and unforgettable travel localesEmbark on a stunning visual journey through The Leading Hotels of the World, a collection of the world’s most exclusive independent luxury hotels, which consistently dominates prestigious awards, securing top positions in Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards and Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards.Richly illustrated and expertly edited, this exquisite volume – the second in The Leading Hotels of the World multi-volume series – celebrates legendary hospitality through lasting traditions and impeccable artistry. Culture features a curated selection of more than 80 hotels from LHW’s 400-plus-member collection across 80 countries. From subtle architectural interventions at a 200-plus-year-old estate in Portugal’s Alentejo countryside to an intricately layered Venetian palazzo that embodies Italian craftsmanship, discover how local touches, age-old rituals, and international art serve exceptional hospitality. Also included are six in-depth feature stories capturing the essence of Capella Ubud, Bali; De L’Europe Amsterdam; Le Sirenuse in Positano, Italy; Royal Mansour Marrakech; São Lourenço do Barrocal in Monsaraz, Portugal; and Violino d’Oro in Venice, Italy.Edited and produced by Spencer Bailey and the New York–based editorial studio of The Slowdown, the book features a foreword by acclaimed travel writer and author Pico Iyer and contributions from leading art, culture, and travel writers and journalists such as Maura Egan, Laura Itzkowitz, Lee Marshall, Christina Ohly Evans, Sarah Miller, Cynthia Rosenfeld, Jad Salfiti, and John Wogan. Interviews with and expert travel tips from dozens of notable cultural figures – Sarah Arison, Andy Baraghani, Solange Azagury-Partridge, Tom Dixon, Casey Fremont, Stephen Fry, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Deborah Needleman, and Marlies Verhoeven among them – are also found in its pages, as well as original images by acclaimed photographers including Mark Borthwick and Stefan Giftthaler.A beautiful addition to this quintessential travel series, Culture is presented in a deep Moroccan-blue silken case with an eye-catching pattern inspired by Moorish-style screens. Silver foil details, painted edges, and complementary ribbons add to the book’s extraordinary package, which truly embodies the elevated, highly refined level of luxury of LHW.