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Only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently assigned to Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) but in their fantastical visions they have secured his place as one of the most cult artists in history. 500 years on from his death, his works continue to inspire scholars, artists, designers, and musicians, death metal band names and designer dresses. This edition offers the complete and haunting Bosch world in one compact format. Through full spreads and carefully curated details, we explore the full reach and compelling inventions of the artist's genius as well as disturbing imagination. We encounter his hybrid creatures, his nightmarish scenarios, his religious and moral framework, and his pictorial versions of contemporary proverbs and idioms. Along the way, art historian and Bosch expert Stefan Fischer reveals the most important themes and influences in these cryptic, mesmerizing masterpieces.

Santiago Calatrava is a world-renowned architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and artist. From the Athens 2004 Olympic Sports Complex to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Manhattan, he exhibits a remarkable aesthetic and engineering prowess with a simultaneous sensitivity for both the appearance and the anatomy of a structure. With influences ranging from NASA space design to da Vinci's nature studies, Calatrava's creations are at once aerodynamic and organic in their associations. Natural forms and human movements inform a number of his projects, with a particular interest in the meeting point of equilibrium and dynamism. This monograph gathers detailed entries, photography, and the original watercolor sketches that set Calatrava aside as a unique creative master. It includes all of Calatrava's original collaborative input, and projects including the Mediopadana Station in Reggio Emilia, Italy, the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, as well as recent works like the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai, St. Nicholas Greek Church at Ground Zero in New York and Constellation, a large scultpure at River Point Park in Chicago. Also available as an Art Edition with a set of two screen prints by Santiago Calatrava and a custom-built case, limited to 200 copies and signed by the artist.

A floor plan is imbued with the same attributes that elevate building to an art form: proportion, balance, coherence, structure, matter, and dynamism--it becomes a work of art in and of itself. This book is an inquiry into the artistic qualities intrinsic to plan drawings. With all plans shown simmered down to their basic form, devoid of any superfluous lines or colors, the essence of a floor plan is left to speak by itself. Each building's core is exposed in white against a blue background to convey its spatial essence--its reason of being--in barest minimum. With more than 3,500 plans ranging from humankind's first dwellings to today's rich crop of buildings, this compendium acts as a universal narrative of architecture's handwriting. Displayed chronologically, its contents can be digested by the reader in multiple dimensions--be it architectural, artistic, or technological. Plan drafting, a continuous part of all architects' daily practice, is both a communication tool and a necessary skill. Plan reading, likewise, is the first step to making the acquaintance of a building and the decoding of its spirit and its creator's intent. With floor plans at the core of building identity, architecture students and teachers will find an invaluable source and tool for research and theory. Architects will revisit and dissect plans of familiar buildings, a sure well of inspirations and ideas--but they'll also discover projects they've never seen before.

Meet the artist whose majestic breaking wave sent ripples across the world. Hokusai (1760-1849) is not only one of the giants of Japanese art and a legend of the Edo period, but also significantly influenced Western modernism, whose prolific gamut of prints, illustrations, paintings, and beyond forms one of the most comprehensive oeuvres of ukiyo-e art and a benchmark of japonisme. His influence spread through Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and beyond, enrapturing the likes of Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, and Vincent van Gogh. Hokusai was always a man on the move. He changed domicile more than 90 and used over 30 pseudonyms. In his art, he adopted the same restlessness, covering the complete spectrum of Japanese ukiyo-e,"pictures of the floating world", from single-sheet prints of landscapes and actors to erotic books. In addition, he created album prints, illustrations for verse anthologies and historical novels, and surimono, which were privately issued prints for special occasions. Hokusai's print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, published between c. 1830 and 1834 is the artist's most renowned work and, with its soaring peak through different seasons and from different vantage points, marked the towering summit of the Japanese landscape print. The series' Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known simply as The Great Wave, is one of the most recognized images of Japanese art in the world. This TASCHEN introduction spans the length and breadth of Hokusai's career with key pieces from his far-reaching portfolio. Through these meticulous, majestic works and series, we trace the variety of Hokusai's subjects, from erotic books to historical novels, and the evolution of his vivid formalism and decisive delineation of space through color and line that would go on to liberate Western art from the constraints of its one-point perspective and unleash the modernist momentum.

For six years Sebastião Salgado traveled the Brazilian Amazon and photographed the unparalleled beauty of this extraordinary region: the rainforest, the rivers, the mountains, the people who live there--this irreplaceable treasure of humanity in which the immense power of nature is felt like nowhere else on earth.

Scandinavia is world famous for its inimitable, democratic designs which bridge the gap between crafts and industrial production, organic forms and everyday functionality. This all-you-need guide includes a detailed look at Scandinavian furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, metalware, and industrial design from 1900 to the present day, with in-depth entries on 125 designers and design-led companies. Featured designers and designer-led companies include Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto, Timo Sarpaneva, Hans Wegner, Tapio Wirkkala, Stig Lindberg, Finn Juhl, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Arnold Madsen, Barbro Nilsson, Fritz Hansen, Artek, Le Klint, Gustavsberg, Iittala, Fiskars, Orrefors, Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard, Arabia, Marimekko, and Georg Jensen.

Scandinavia is world famous for its inimitable, democratic designs which bridge the gap between crafts and industrial production, organic forms and everyday functionality. This all-you-need guide includes a detailed look at Scandinavian furniture, glass, ceramics, textiles, jewelry, metalware, and industrial design from 1900 to the present day, with in-depth entries on 125 designers and design-led companies. Featured designers and designer-led companies include Verner Panton, Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto, Timo Sarpaneva, Hans Wegner, Tapio Wirkkala, Stig Lindberg, Finn Juhl, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Arnold Madsen, Barbro Nilsson, Fritz Hansen, Artek, Le Klint, Gustavsberg, Iittala, Fiskars, Orrefors, Royal Copenhagen, Holmegaard, Arabia, Marimekko, and Georg Jensen.

The beauty of nature and man's loneliness are dominant themes in the work of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840). The artist often places a small human figure in a broad landscape, as in his famous paintings Monk by the Sea and The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. For a long time the importance and influence of this great Romantic painter were underestimated. When he died, Friedrich had already been forgotten by his contemporaries and was only rediscovered in the early 20th century. Today he is considered to be the most important German painter of his generation and a precursor of Expressionism. Once Friedrich gave the following advice to an artist-colleague of his who was constricted by academic rules: "Shut your physical eye so that you first see your painting with your spiritual eye. Then bring to light what you saw in the dark so that it has an effect on others, shining inwards from outside." In other words, concentration and not imitation, essence and not frivolous brushwork.

In endless odes to the female form, Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) traced elongated bodies, almond eyes, and his own name into art history. His languid female subjects are as instantly recognizable as they are startling, sensual, and swan-necked. Modigliani's unique figuration corresponded to his own personal idea of beauty, but drew upon a rich variety of visual influences, including contemporary Cubism, African carvings, Cambodian sculptures, and 13th-century painting from his native Italy. Although most renowned for his nude females, he applied similar stylistic techniques to portraits of male artistic contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, and Chaïm Soutine. With key works from his highly individualistic repertoire, this book introduces Modigliani's brief but revered career at the heart of Paris's early modernist hotbed.

Drawing on art, literature, and scientific research, scholar and therapist Kikan Massara delves into the Twelve Steps - the widely used and respected program of recovery. Developed in the early 20th century to address alcoholism, the Twelve Step program was later found to be an effective tool in aiding recovery for all types of addictions and compulsive behaviors.Now for the very first time, Twelve Step recovery is linked to a visual narrative. This inspiring edition features over 150 timeless and compelling works of art -- from antiquity to the present day -- to metaphorically describe a soulful path toward healing and transformation using these principles of recovery that continue to help millions.Featuring in-depth studies by leading experts in several converging fields, the book examines the history behind the Twelve Steps, from the program's origins in Depression-era America to building a foundation for recovery that incorporates concepts identified by psychologist C. G. Jung. The volume also offers relevant insight into the meaning of addiction in today's society. With striking imagery, literary quotations, and psychological references, the Twelve Step program is reintroduced to a wider audience as timely, accessible, and constructive. At a time of radical change and opportunity, this visual edition honors the transformative power of these universal principles and thoughtfully explores ways of aligning with them.

Born in 19th-century France, Impressionism remains at the forefront of the world's cultural institutions. This go-to book not only touches on the movement's sites of production and technical innovations, but also its revolutionary artists, from Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès.

Born in 19th-century France, Impressionism remains at the forefront of the world's cultural institutions. This go-to book not only touches on the movement's sites of production and technical innovations, but also its revolutionary artists, from Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès.

In the imaginations of young and old alike, the word "pirate" resonates with spine-tingling fear and swashbuckling adventure. Over centuries, our cultural landscape has been populated by a host of famous real and fictional figures immortalized in literature and art: Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, with his fearsome reputation for cruelty; Henry 'Bloody' Morgan, whose treasure is still sought today; and of course Long John Silver, the archetypal anti-hero of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1885). Pirate Tales gathers a treasure trove of excerpts from literary works inspired by the historical pirates of the 16th and 17th centuries. The edition begins with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), a book containing all the trappings of pirate lore - shipwrecks, mutineers, undiscovered islands, and talking parrots - and one which influenced hundreds of works of adventure fiction, not least Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island (1871). The third nerve-jangling novel is Treasure Island, without which no book on pirates would be complete, thanks to its unforgettable additions to the pirate canon: Blind Pew, Billy Bones, the black spot, wooden legs and Long John Silver. Extracts from Howard Pyle's posthumously published Book of Pirates (1921) round off the edition. The tales are enlivened by arresting illustrations at every turn, including those by artists from the Brandywine School such as Pyle, the undisputed father of pirate illustration, and his students N. C. Wyeth and Frank Schoonover. This edition features a number of original artworks by these illustrators, drawn from private collections, as well as contributions by other artists from illustration's so-called "Golden Age" of the late 19th and early 20th century. Scene-setting vignettes for each story were executed by the illustrator Michael Custode. A comprehensive introduction on historical pirates and their influence on these literary texts is provided by Robert E. and Jill P. May, in addition to authoritative commentaries on each text and biographies of the featured authors and illustrators. Evoking high seas, flashing blades, and maritime crime, The Book of Pirates offers a tantalizing blend of fiction, history, and illustration.

From Snow White to Cinderella, Rapunzel to Rumpelstiltskin, the Brothers Grimm bequeathed a canon of stories which have become literary and childhood classics. The most widely read story collection after the Bible, their magical tales are stalwarts of early learning and imagination, listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register as a vital part of our history and culture. This new edition of The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm brings to life 14 of the most beloved Grimm stories, including classics such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel. In a unique design format, each featured tale is paired with a different illustrator, bringing special pictorial splendor to each story. Featured artists include such masters of pictorial invention as Kay Nielsen, Walter Crane, and Viktor Paul Mohn, as well as many new discoveries. Historic and contemporary silhouettes--many commissioned especially for this anthology--further animate the tales, dancing across the page like delicate black lace. The book also contains a foreword on the Grimms' legacy and brief introductions to each fairy tale. For adults and children alike, this beautiful compilation brings the eternal magic of the Grimms' stories to the heart of every home. The following fairy tales are featured in the book: The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Brave Little Tailor, Cinderella, Mother Holle, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, The Star Coins, Puss 'n Boots, The Golden Goose, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

From Snow White to Cinderella, Rapunzel to Rumpelstiltskin, the Brothers Grimm bequeathed a canon of stories which have become literary and childhood classics. The most widely read story collection after the Bible, their magical tales are stalwarts of early learning and imagination, listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register as a vital part of our history and culture. This new edition of The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm brings to life 14 of the most beloved Grimm stories, including classics such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Hansel and Gretel. In a unique design format, each featured tale is paired with a different illustrator, bringing special pictorial splendor to each story. Featured artists include such masters of pictorial invention as Kay Nielsen, Walter Crane, and Viktor Paul Mohn, as well as many new discoveries. Historic and contemporary silhouettes--many commissioned especially for this anthology--further animate the tales, dancing across the page like delicate black lace. The book also contains a foreword on the Grimms' legacy and brief introductions to each fairy tale. For adults and children alike, this beautiful compilation brings the eternal magic of the Grimms' stories to the heart of every home. The following fairy tales are featured in the book: The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Brave Little Tailor, Cinderella, Mother Holle, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, The Star Coins, Puss 'n Boots, The Golden Goose, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

The life and times of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1526/30-1569) were marked by stark cultural conflict. He witnessed religious wars, the Duke of Alba's brutal rule as governor of the Netherlands, and the palpable effects of the Inquisition. To this day, the Flemish artist remains shrouded in mystery. We know neither where nor exactly when he was born. But while early scholarship emphasized the vernacular character of his painting and graphic work, modern research has attached greater importance to its humanistic content. Starting out as a print designer for publisher Hieronymus Cock, Bruegel produced numerous print series that were distributed throughout Europe. These depicted vices and virtues alongside jolly peasant festivals and sweeping landscape panoramas. He would eventually increasingly turn to painting, working for the cultural elite of Antwerp and Brussels. This monograph is a testament to Bruegel's evolution as an artist, one who bravely confronted the issues of his day all the while proposing new inventions and solutions. Rather than idealizing reality, he addressed the horrors of religious warfare and took a critical stand against the institution of the Church. To this end, he developed his own pictorial language of dissidence, lacing innocuous everyday scenes with subliminal statements in order to escape repercussions. This collection captures all the breadth and splendid detail of Bruegel's oeuvre like never before, and gathers all 40 paintings, 65 drawings, and 89 engravings in pristine reproductions--each piece a unique witness to both the religious mores and the close-knit folk culture of Bruegel's time.

In the imaginations of young and old alike, the word "pirate" resonates with spine-tingling fear and swashbuckling adventure. Over centuries, our cultural landscape has been populated by a host of famous real and fictional figures immortalized in literature and art: Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, with his fearsome reputation for cruelty; Henry 'Bloody' Morgan, whose treasure is still sought today; and of course Long John Silver, the archetypal anti-hero of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1885). Pirate Tales gathers a treasure trove of excerpts from literary works inspired by the historical pirates of the 16th and 17th centuries. The edition begins with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), a book containing all the trappings of pirate lore - shipwrecks, mutineers, undiscovered islands, and talking parrots - and one which influenced hundreds of works of adventure fiction, not least Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island (1871). The third nerve-jangling novel is Treasure Island, without which no book on pirates would be complete, thanks to its unforgettable additions to the pirate canon: Blind Pew, Billy Bones, the black spot, wooden legs and Long John Silver. Extracts from Howard Pyle's posthumously published Book of Pirates (1921) round off the edition. The tales are enlivened by arresting illustrations at every turn, including those by artists from the Brandywine School such as Pyle, the undisputed father of pirate illustration, and his students N. C. Wyeth and Frank Schoonover. This edition features a number of original artworks by these illustrators, drawn from private collections, as well as contributions by other artists from illustration's so-called "Golden Age" of the late 19th and early 20th century. Scene-setting vignettes for each story were executed by the illustrator Michael Custode. A comprehensive introduction on historical pirates and their influence on these literary texts is provided by Robert E. and Jill P. May, in addition to authoritative commentaries on each text and biographies of the featured authors and illustrators. Evoking high seas, flashing blades, and maritime crime, The Book of Pirates offers a tantalizing blend of fiction, history, and illustration.

George Eastman's career developed in a particularly American way. The founder of Kodak progressed from a delivery boy to one of the most important industrialists in American history, and a crucial innovator in photographic history. Eastman died in 1932, and left his house to the University of Rochester. Since 1949 the site has operated as an international museum of photography and film, and today holds the largest collection of its kind in the world, containing over 400,000 images and negatives--among them the work of such masters as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Ansel Adams. Home also to 23,000 cinema films, five million film stills, one of the most important silent film collections, technical equipment and a library with 40,000 books on photography and film, the George Eastman House is a pilgrimage site for researchers, photographers, and collectors from all over the world. This volume curates the most impressive images from the collection in chronological order to offer an incomparable overview of photographic history.

A unique edition of bright texts, brilliant images, and historic reprints, this kit provides everything that both beginners and advanced Tarot users might need and want to read cards for themselves and to study and experience this cultural gem in all its beauty and significance. The valuable collector's box includes a complete deck of the Waite Smith Tarot cards and Waite's famous companion book The Key to the Tarot. In this illustrated book, with texts and images compiled by Johannes Fiebig, the Tarot cards become psychological mirrors and signposts leading toward new answers and personal solutions. The fact that this works well can be attributed to certain advantages inherent to the Waite-Smith cards, and these points are illuminated in an essay by Rachel Pollack. All 78 cards are presented individually and in detail. The explanatory texts provide several dimensions and levels of interpretation, including concrete practical tips. Further, the book offers a new feature: the quick check. This presents a concise hint regarding the meaning of each card in each possible position of all the spread patterns featured in the book. When Arthur E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith developed their Tarot deck in London in 1909, nobody could have predicted that it would have an overwhelming renaissance starting around 60 years later. What were the lives, works, and passions of these creators like? Pamela Colman Smith and Arthur E. Waite are brought vividly back to life in essays by Mary K. Greer and Robert A. Gilbert.

"Les diners de Gala is uniquely devoted to the pleasures of taste ... If you are a disciple of one of those calorie-counters who turn the joys of eating into a form of punishment, close this book at once; it is too lively, too aggressive, and far too impertinent for you."--Salvador Dalí Food and surrealism make perfect bedfellows: sex and lobsters, collage and cannibalism, the meeting of a swan and a toothbrush on a pastry case. The opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and his wife and muse, Gala (1894-1982) were the stuff of legend. Luckily for us, Dalí published a cookbook in 1973, Les diners de Gala, which reveals some of the sensual, imaginative, and exotic elements that made up their notorious gatherings. This abridged reissue features 78 of his recipes over 12 chapters, specially illustrated by Dalí, and organized by meal courses, including aphrodisiacs. The illustrations and recipes are accompanied by Dalí's extravagant musings on subjects such as dinner conversation: "The jaw is our best tool to grasp philosophical knowledge." All these rich recipes can be cooked at home, although some will require practiced skill and a well-stocked pantry. This is cuisine of the old school, with meals by leading French chefs. Good taste, however voluptuous, never goes out of fashion. In making this exceptionally rare book available to a wide audience, TASCHEN brings an artwork, a practical cookbook, and a multisensory adventure to today's kitchens. The first English edition of Les Diners de Gala was published in 1973 by FELICIE, INC., New York

"Les diners de Gala is uniquely devoted to the pleasures of taste ... If you are a disciple of one of those calorie-counters who turn the joys of eating into a form of punishment, close this book at once; it is too lively, too aggressive, and far too impertinent for you."--Salvador DalíFood and surrealism make perfect bedfellows: sex and lobsters, collage and cannibalism, the meeting of a swan and a toothbrush on a pastry case. The opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and his wife and muse, Gala (1894-1982) were the stuff of legend. Luckily for us, Dalí published a cookbook in 1973, Les diners de Gala, which reveals some of the sensual, imaginative, and exotic elements that made up their notorious gatherings.This abridged reissue features 78 of his recipes over 12 chapters, specially illustrated by Dalí, and organized by meal courses, including aphrodisiacs. The illustrations and recipes are accompanied by Dalí's extravagant musings on subjects such as dinner conversation: "The jaw is our best tool to grasp philosophical knowledge."All these rich recipes can be cooked at home, although some will require practiced skill and a well-stocked pantry. This is cuisine of the old school, with meals by leading French chefs. Good taste, however voluptuous, never goes out of fashion. In making this exceptionally rare book available to a wide audience, TASCHEN brings an artwork, a practical cookbook, and a multisensory adventure to today's kitchens.The first English edition of Les Diners de Gala was published in 1973 by FELICIE, INC., New York

The Greek myths are timeless classics, whose scenes and figures have captivated us since ancient times. The gods and heroes of these legends hold up a mirror to the human condition, embodying universal characteristics and emotions, like love, hatred, fortune, jealousy, revenge, hubris, greed, or bravery. These traits are the basis for immortal dramas and rich narratives, as profound as they are entertaining, which form the bedrock of our culture and literature today and remain relevant and fascinating for all readers, young and old alike.This edition contains 21 of the most famed episodes from the Trojan War, the subsequent wanderings of Odysseus, and his long-awaited return to Ithaca. The texts are carefully compiled from the seminal work Sagen des klassischen Altertums (Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece) by Gustav Schwab (1792-1850), and strikingly illustrated by 15 artists, among them outstanding representatives of the Golden Age of Book Illustration and the Arts and Crafts Movement, including Walter Crane (1845-1915), William Russell Flint (1880-1969), Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945), and Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900-1931).These illustrations are complemented by scene-setting vignettes for each story and a genealogical tree of Greek gods and goddesses by Clifford Harper. Placing the tales in a historical context, the book contains an introduction by Dr. Michael Siebler and is rounded off with an extensive glossary of the most important protagonists in the Greek myths. The heroism, tragedy, and theater of Greek mythology glimmer through each tale in this lavishly illustrated edition, awakening the gods and heroes to new life.

The Greek myths are timeless classics, whose scenes and figures have captivated us since ancient times. The gods and heroes of these legends hold up a mirror to the human condition, embodying universal characteristics and emotions, like love, hatred, fortune, jealousy, revenge, hubris, greed, or bravery. These traits are the basis for immortal dramas and rich narratives, as profound as they are entertaining, which form the bedrock of our culture and literature today and remain relevant and fascinating for all readers, young and old alike.This edition contains 21 of the most famed episodes from the Trojan War, the subsequent wanderings of Odysseus, and his long-awaited return to Ithaca. The texts are carefully compiled from the seminal work Sagen des klassischen Altertums (Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece) by Gustav Schwab (1792-1850), and strikingly illustrated by 15 artists, among them outstanding representatives of the Golden Age of Book Illustration and the Arts and Crafts Movement, including Walter Crane (1845-1915), William Russell Flint (1880-1969), Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945), and Virginia Frances Sterrett (1900-1931).These illustrations are complemented by scene-setting vignettes for each story and a genealogical tree of Greek gods and goddesses by Clifford Harper. Placing the tales in a historical context, the book contains an introduction by Dr. Michael Siebler and is rounded off with an extensive glossary of the most important protagonists in the Greek myths. The heroism, tragedy, and theater of Greek mythology glimmer through each tale in this lavishly illustrated edition, awakening the gods and heroes to new life.

From Edouard Manet's portrait of naturalist writer Émile Zola sitting among his Japanese art finds to Van Gogh's meticulous copies of the Hiroshige prints he devotedly collected, 19th-century pioneers of European modernism made no secret of their love of Japanese art. In all its sensuality, freedom, and effervescence, the woodblock print is single-handedly credited with the wave of japonaiserie that first enthralled France and, later, all of Europe--but often remains misunderstood as an "exotic" artifact that helped inspire Western creativity. The fact is that the Japanese woodblock print is a phenomenon of which there exists no Western equivalent. Some of the most disruptive ideas in modern art--including, as Karl Marx put it, that "all that is solid melts into air"--were invented in Japan in the 1700s and expressed like never before in the designs of such masters as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige in the early 19th century. This volume lifts the veil on a much-loved but little-understood art form by presenting the most exceptional Japanese woodblock prints in their historical context. Ranging from the 17th-century development of decadent ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world," to the decline and later resurgence of prints in the early 20th century, the images collected in this edition make up an unmatched record not only of a unique genre in art history, but also of the shifting mores and cultural development of Japan. From mystical mountains to snowy passes, samurai swordsmen to sex workers in shop windows, each piece is explored as a work of art in its own right, revealing the stories and people behind the motifs. We discover the four pillars of the woodblock print--beauties, actors, landscapes, and bird-and-flower compositions--alongside depictions of sumo wrestlers, kabuki actors, or enticing courtesans--rock stars who populated the "floating world" and whose fan bases fueled the frenzied production of woodblock prints. We delve into the horrifying and the obscure in prints where demons, ghosts, and otherworldly creatures torment the living--stunning images that continue to influence Japanese manga, film, and video games to this day. We witness how, in their incredible breadth, from everyday scenes to erotica, the martial to the mythological, these works are united by the technical mastery and infallible eye of their creators and how, with tremendous ingenuity and tongue-in-cheek wit, publishers and artists alike fought to circumvent government censorship. Derived from the original XXL monograph, this edition compiles the finest extant impressions from museums and private collections across the globe in a lightweight, accessible format, offering extensive descriptions to guide us through this frantic period in Japanese art history.

Painter, sculptor, writer, filmmaker, and all-round showman Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was one of the 20th century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics. One of the first artists to apply the insights of Freudian psychoanalysis to art, he is celebrated in particular for his surrealist practice, with such conceits as the soft watches or the lobster telephone, now hallmarks of the surrealist enterprise, and of modernism in general. Dalí frequently described his paintings as "hand-painted dream photographs." Their tantalizing tension and interest resides in the precise rendering of bizarre elements and incongruous arrangements. As Dalí himself explained, he painted with "the most imperialist fury of precision," but only "to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality."Revolutionizing the role of the artist, the mustache-twirling Dalí also had the intuition to parade a controversial persona in the public arena and, through printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing, and film, to create work that could be consumed and not just contemplated on a gallery wall. This book explores both the painting and the personality of Dalí, introducing his technical skill as well as his provocative compositions and challenging themes of death, decay, and eroticism.

Painter, sculptor, writer, filmmaker, and all-round showman Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was one of the 20th century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics. One of the first artists to apply the insights of Freudian psychoanalysis to art, he is celebrated in particular for his surrealist practice, with such conceits as the soft watches or the lobster telephone, now hallmarks of the surrealist enterprise, and of modernism in general. Dalí frequently described his paintings as "hand-painted dream photographs." Their tantalizing tension and interest resides in the precise rendering of bizarre elements and incongruous arrangements. As Dalí himself explained, he painted with "the most imperialist fury of precision," but only "to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality."Revolutionizing the role of the artist, the mustache-twirling Dalí also had the intuition to parade a controversial persona in the public arena and, through printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing, and film, to create work that could be consumed and not just contemplated on a gallery wall. This book explores both the painting and the personality of Dalí, introducing his technical skill as well as his provocative compositions and challenging themes of death, decay, and eroticism.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of the Italian Baroque, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial, violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run. Though famed for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all Caravaggio's boundary-breaking naturalism which scorched his name into the annals of art history. From the dirtied soles of feet to the sexualized languor of bare flesh, the artist allowed even sacred and biblical scenes to unfold with a startling, often visceral humanity. This vivid pictorial world was accompanied by an equally intense personal biography, scored by gambling, debts, drunken brawls, and even a murder charge. This book brings together more than 50 of Caravaggio's most famous and revolutionary works to explore how and why this artist is now considered the most important painter of the early Baroque period and one of the defining influences of art history, without whom Ribera, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet could never have painted the way they did.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was always a name to be reckoned with. Notorious bad boy of the Italian Baroque, the artist was at once celebrated and controversial, violent in temper, precise in technique, a creative master, and a man on the run. Though famed for his dramatic use of color, light, and shadow, it was above all Caravaggio's boundary-breaking naturalism which scorched his name into the annals of art history. From the dirtied soles of feet to the sexualized languor of bare flesh, the artist allowed even sacred and biblical scenes to unfold with a startling, often visceral humanity. This vivid pictorial world was accompanied by an equally intense personal biography, scored by gambling, debts, drunken brawls, and even a murder charge. This book brings together more than 50 of Caravaggio's most famous and revolutionary works to explore how and why this artist is now considered the most important painter of the early Baroque period and one of the defining influences of art history, without whom Ribera, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Delacroix, Courbet, and Manet could never have painted the way they did.

If you've ever wondered what goes through architects' minds when they design buildings, you'll be happy to know that there's no shortage of brilliant reading material to satisfy your curiosity. Wading through the archives at your local library may prove fruitful to your endeavor, but it won't give you the instant gratification that Architectural Theory will. This book brings together all of the most important and influential essays about architecture written since the Renaissance, copiously illustrated and neatly organized chronologically by country. From Alberti and Palladio to Le Corbusier and Koolhaas, the best treatises by architecture's greatest masters are gathered here, each accompanied by an essay discussing its historical context and significance. This is the all-in-one, must-have book for anyone interested in what architects have to say about their craft. The comprehensive overview that will help transform even the most uninformed novices into well-informed connoisseurs!

If you've ever wondered what goes through architects' minds when they design buildings, you'll be happy to know that there's no shortage of brilliant reading material to satisfy your curiosity. Wading through the archives at your local library may prove fruitful to your endeavor, but it won't give you the instant gratification that Architectural Theory will. This book brings together all of the most important and influential essays about architecture written since the Renaissance, copiously illustrated and neatly organized chronologically by country. From Alberti and Palladio to Le Corbusier and Koolhaas, the best treatises by architecture's greatest masters are gathered here, each accompanied by an essay discussing its historical context and significance. This is the all-in-one, must-have book for anyone interested in what architects have to say about their craft. The comprehensive overview that will help transform even the most uninformed novices into well-informed connoisseurs!