World of Art – serie

The story of graphic design is one of the most exciting and important in the history of twentieth century visual culture. From its roots in the development of printing, graphic design has evolved as a means of identification, information and promotion to become a profession and discipline in its own right. This authoritative documentary history begins with the poster and goes on to chart the development of graphics in brochures, magazines, advertising, corporate identity, television and electronic media. It also discusses technical innovations such as the use of photography, and the revolutionary impact of digital technologies. Preserving the author’s own original layout, now a typographic and print design classic, and with over 800 illustrations fully integrated with the text, this indispensable account is clear, comprehensive and absorbing.With over 800 illustrations

A thorough international survey of the body's role in contemporary art, fully revised and updated. The Body in Contemporary Art presents an international survey of art made since 2000 that takes the body as its focus. Examining such areas as nature and technology, identity politics and the grotesque, writer and critic Sally O'Reilly traces the body's movement from a subject to a live medium of art, and highlights how socio-political and cultural developments, from contemporary scientific breakthroughs to the Russian-Ukranian war, have all had a profound influence on representations of the human form. From painting and sculpture to installation, video art and performance, O'Reilly reveals the myriad ways in which the body has inspired a generation of artists. Featuring the work of both renowned and up-and-coming figures, including Marina Abramovic, Hew Locke, Jenkin van Zyl, Shirin Neshat, Sarah Lucas and Shawanda Corbett, The Body in Contemporary Art shows how the human form continues to be pivotal to our understanding and expression of our place in the universe. International in scope with colour illustrations throughout, this edition has been comprehensively revised, with an updated selection of artists and five new chapters covering topics such as: clothing, work and economics, the nude and illness.

This book distils a lifetime’s study of Viking art. Written by a leading authority, it introduces all the intricate and beautiful art styles of the Viking age. It ranges in time from the first major Viking expeditions overseas around AD 800 to the general establishment of Christianity in Scandinavia some 300 years later. The opening chapter introduces the geographical and historical background to Viking culture; thematic chapters then describe and illustrate the six main Viking art styles, showing how they emerged from and interacted with one another. Delicate metalwork, elaborate wood-carvings and the famous Gotland picture-stones are all discussed. Viking art ranges in scale from ship burials to decorated weapons and finely crafted jewelry; all feature here, alongside Viking architecture and archaeological traces left by Vikings across continental Europe and beyond. The final chapter examines Viking art in relation to pagan mythology, the conversion to Christianity, and the Viking legacy for later artistic movements. First published in 2013 and now revised and updated throughout, this volume is a modern classic that serves as a definitive guide for all those interested in the vibrant artistic culture of this fascinating period in European history.With 224 illustrations

From the 19th-century Arts and Crafts movement to the present day, and from Art Nouveau and Bauhaus to hi-tech and green design, every style of interior design since 1900 is charted in this wide-ranging survey. Design in the 20th century saw an extraordinary evolution, with the emergence of professional interior designers and the growing appetite to redesign homes at frequent intervals. In recent decades the focus has been on sustainable design in public spaces such as offices, factories and ships. Anne Massey explores these developments in social, political, economic and cultural contexts. More than 200 illustrations of interiors from around the world, from William Morris’s drawing room to a 21st-century aircraft, reveal the fundamental changes in taste and style from Art Deco to Pop and from the Streamline Moderne to Post-Modernism.

From the momentus invention of the needle some 40,000 years ago to the development of blue denim, from Neolithic weavers to the biggest names in the fashion industry today – this classic guide covers the landmarks of costume history, the forms and materials used through the ages, the underlying motives of fashion and the ways in which clothes have been used to protect, to express identity, and to attract or to influence others. This sixth edition features a new foreword and concluding chapter by Amy de la Haye. The book is brought right up to date with a discussion about the major political shifts within the fashion industry, highlighting how it has responded to issues surrounding racism and sexism; LGBTQI rights; mental health awareness; body and age diversity and global sustainability.

A richly illustrated survey of Matisse's impact on modern art that also examines his career, techniques, aesthetics and stages of artistic development. The work of Henri Matisse has been both a profound inspiration to his successors and a source of infinite enjoyment to all who love art. Yet the apparent spontaneity of his colour and ease of imagery were the fruit of a lifetime’s arduous labour; the simplicity of his compositions the result of a formidable intelligence. In this richly illustrated study, Lawrence Gowing takes us through Matisse’s career, assessing his influence on the art that has followed him and looking closely at Matisse’s own achievements. The detailed discussion of individual works reveal the subtlety and complexity of one of the greatest masters of all time.

Prophet, poet, painter, engraver – William Blake (1757–1827) was an artist of uniquely powerful imagination and far-reaching creative gifts. His work expresses the spiritual drama of the English national being, integrating poetry and visual art in a sustained work of visionary creativity unparalleled in English art history. Revealing Blake to be far more than a revolutionary social radical, this classic study reshapes our understanding of the artist’s achievement. Kathleen Raine details the enriching effect of mystical, alchemical and gnostic philosophy on Blake’s art. She unravels the complex, deeply felt symbolism expressed in his paintings and prints, and describes the powerful impact of his reading of Dante, Milton and the Bible. Raine’s compelling text guides the reader through the life and thought of this extraordinary artist. Fully alive to the uniqueness of Blake’s art – which has ‘a reality, a coherence, a climate’ all its own – she introduces famous work such as Jerusalem, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Four Zoas and The Book of Job, relating them to Blake’s world view and explaining their prophetic qualities, their fierce energy, and their central place in British Romantic art.With 185 illustrations in colour

An updated and substantially revised edition of this comprehensive introduction to outsider art, distinguished by its wider international scope and inclusion of global developments since 2000. Outsider Art is the work produced outside the mainstream of modern art by self-taught, untrained visionaries, spiritualists, recluses, folk artists, psychiatric patients, prisoners and others beyond the imposed margins of society and the art market. Coined by Roger Cardinal in 1972, the term in English derived from Jean Dubuffet’s ‘Art Brut’ – literally ‘raw art’, ‘uncooked’ by culture, unaffected by fashion, unmoved by artistic standards. In this comprehensive and indispensable guide, Colin Rhodes surveys the history and reception of Outsider Art – first championed by Dubuffet and the Surrealists, now appreciated by a wider public – while providing fresh insights into the achievements of both major figures and newly discovered artists as well as the emergence of specialized studios, as the relationship between outsider art and the contemporary mainstream art world has developed and become more intertwined. From spirit-guided Madge Gill to schizophrenic Adolf Wolfli, Rosemarie Koczÿ’s expressions of trauma to Nek Chand’s outdoor creations, these individuals passionately and obsessively pursue the pictorial expression of their vision. Now illustrated in full colour, with the exception of some archival photographs, this new edition has been substantially revised with a greater focus on global Outsider art as well as including more recent talents to the field.

The story of the life and work of the visionary poet and artist, William Blake.

A biography of Rembrandt examines his most important drawings and paintings, describes his personal life, and assesses his contribution to art.

When the original edition of this book was published, John Russell hailed it as a ‘massive contribution to our knowledge of one of the most fascinating and mysterious episodes in the history of modern art.’ It still remains the most compact, accurate and reasonably priced survey of sixty years of creative dynamic activity that profoundly influenced the progress of Western art and architecture.

Les Fauves (the wild beasts) was the nickname given in 1905 to a group of painters led by Henri Matisse. Today, their paintings are among the most popular of all twentieth-century art. Yet when Matisse and his friends - Derain, Vlaminck, Marquet, Dufy and Braque among them - first exhibited their work, the reaction of public and critics was astonishment and often hostility. Using strong, even strident, colours, applied in a manner deriving from Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, the Fauves took painting back to its basic principles, inspired by primitive art, popular prints and children's paintings, and paved the way to Cubism. The artists, their work, their relationship, their achievements and the critical and commercial response to their work are all discussed in this absorbing book.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's finest work dates from about a dozen intensely creative years around 1900. His buildings in Glasgow, and especially his craggy masterpiece the Glasgow School of Art, are more complex and playful than any other work in Britain at that time. His interiors, many of them designed in collaboration with his wife, Margaret Macdonald, are both spare and sensuous; a world of heightened aesthetic sensibility inside the Willow Tea Rooms or The Hill House. And his inventive imagination, which played constantly with the shape of curves and squares, produced designs for furniture which transformed ordinary chairs into pieces of abstract sculpture. Finally, in the 1920s he painted a series of watercolours which are as original as anything he had done before. Since his death, Mackintosh has been both lauded as a pioneer of the Modern Movement and as a master of Art Nouveau.

From the simple shell beads worn by Palaeolithic hunters to the splendour of Renaissance gold work and the sumptuousness of Art Nouveau enamels, here is a fascinating and informative guide to the development of Western jewelry – concluding with the radical and experimental developments in the last three decades.Offering a concise survey of the entire field, this book analyses jewelry's changing fashions, explores its social context, and examines how it has been worn by both men and women. It shows how jewellers have responded to new sources of gems, whether emeralds from the New World or diamonds from South Africa, and to the discovery of metals such as platinum and aluminium.Masterworks by unknown craftsmen and pieces designed by individual artists as diverse as Holbein, Pugin and Calder are illustrated alongside the glittering products of the major jewelry houses.

Since the Modern Movement began to be challenge in the late 1960s, architecture has followed a number of widely divergent paths. In this thoughtful and eloquent book, Diane Ghirardo examines the architectural world of the late twentieth century and its theories in the crucial context of social and political issues. Within a survey of a broad range of buildings, she focuses on specific 'megaprojects' as paradigms for discussion. In the realm of public space, she argues, the key questions are raised by the Disney empire and its amusement parks; in domestic space, by the IBA in Berlin, with projects ranging from new structures to rehabilitation and residents' self-build. Her text ranges world-wide, and she considers the work of lesser-known designers and women architects as well as famous international stars.