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A journey through Matisse’s epoch-making practice, from his early Fauvist works to his brilliant cutouts The volume is anchored by and named after Charles Baudelaire’s 1857 poem “Invitation to the Voyage,” to which Matisse repeatedly referred in his lifetime. Following Baudelaire’s poem, the book is thus conceived as a journey through the work and life of Matisse, in which travel played an important role. Published alongside the Matisse retrospective at the Fondation Beyeler, this monograph sails across the many waves of the artist’s practice. Beginning with his early paintings from around 1900, Invitation to the Voyage then carries the reader from his revolutionary Fauvist works of the 1910s to the sensual paintings of his Nice period in the 1930s and his legendary silhouettes of the late 1940s and 1950s. The wealth of important paintings, sculptures and silhouettes gathered here reveals the development and richness of Matisse’s masterful oeuvre. Henri Matisse (1869–1954) is one of Modernism’s leading exponents. By liberating color from its conventional associations and simplifying forms, he redefined painting and brought a hitherto unknown lightness to art. Matisse was also an innovator in sculpture, and in his late silhouettes he developed an unmistakable interplay between painting, drawing and sculpture.

Malíř, grafik a ilustrátor Miloslav Havlíček možná není čtenářské příliš známý, přesto jeho práce znají celé generace čtenářů mnoha časopisů i dalších tiskovin. Po celou dobu jeho existence ilustroval časopis Zápisník (1957-93), kde zároveň výrazně formoval jeho podobu. Dále to byly například AZ magazín, Ohníček, Pionýr, Pionýrské stezka, Letectví + kosmonautika a mnoho dalších. Jeho ilustrace doprovází desítky, možná stovky knižních titulů, je autorem několika kreslených seriálů, rád vytvářel koláže, zajímavá je jeho volná tvorba… Připomeňme si jeho skutečně pestrou tvorbu.

The paint-loaded palettes of fifty world-renowned artists are displayed alongside the paintings the artists created using those hues, and the colours and brushstrokes employed are analysed to uncover surprising new stories about each artist and their work. Presented broadly chronologically, the artists featured in this revelatory book range from those working in the 17th century to the present day, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Vincent Van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keeffe and Bridget Riley. Each artist’s palette – whether photographed or visible in self-portraits – is paired with one or more works by the artist that reflect the colours of the paint remaining on the palette. Colour expert and art historian Alexandra Loske skilfully analyses each artist’s colour palette and brushstrokes to reveal not only exactly how they used colour in their work but also to tell the story of their journey with colour and the influence of their approach on the wider culture to which they belonged. For example, Georges Seurat meticulously arranged the paints on his palette in prismatic order, isolating the colours and pairing each with a blot of white paint. His pointillist technique was equally apparent on his palette and his canvas. Kerry James Marshall uses blots of zinc white and smears of pale pink on the surfaces of symbolically oversized white palettes held by black artists in his portraits, raising provocative questions about the role of colour in the story of black history and white western art. The Artist’s Palette will appeal to an art history audience, a wider audience eager to learn more about the use of colour by the great artists and amateur painters looking for inspiration in the creation of their own work.

Emil Filla, čínské umění a totalitní přízraky/Emil Filla, Chinese Art and Totalitarian Phantoms Kniha se věnuje poválečné tvorbě českého malíře, sochaře a teoretika Emila Filly (1882–1953) a jeho vztahu k čínskému umění a komunistické ideologii. Popisuje Fillovu jedinečnou sbírku čínského umění a přibližuje její vznik. Přináší také zamyšlení nad Fillovým chápáním dálněvýchodní malby, které se odrazilo v jeho textech o čínské krajinomalbě i jeho pozdních obrazech. Právě jim je věnována zvýšená pozornost, a to zejména z hlediska postoje, který k nim zaujímali představitelé komunistického režimu, jejichž často vulgarizující názory hluboce a neblaze zasahovaly do umělcova života i díla. Filla čelil různým formám perzekucí, přesto se mu podařilo zůstat až do konce života ve funkci profesora Vysoké školy uměleckoprůmyslové v Praze. Kniha vychází při příležitosti otevření nové expozice v Pamětní síni Emila Filly na zámku Peruc, který umělci poskytl letní útočiště a sehrál v jeho pozdních aktivitách podstatnou roli.

Frank Frazetta finally gets the beautiful book he deserves Frank Frazetta has reigned as the undisputed king of fantasy art for 50 years, his fame only growing in the years since his death. With his paintings now breaking auction records (Egyptian Queen sold for $ 5.4 million in 2019) he’s long overdue for this ultimate monograph. Born to a Sicilian immigrant family in Brooklyn, 1928, Frazetta was a minor league athlete, petty criminal and serial seducer with movie star looks and phenomenal talent. He claimed to only make art when there was nothing better to do – he preferred playing baseball - yet began his professional career in comics at age 16. Strip work led him to the infamous EC Comics, then to oils for Tarzan and Conan pulp covers. Both characters were interpreted by many before him, but as he explained in the 1970s, “I’m very physical minded. In Brooklyn, I knew Conan, I knew guys just like him,” and he used this first-hand knowledge of muscle and macho to redefine fantasy heroes as more massive, more menacing, more testosterone-fueled than anything seen before. As counterbalance he created a new breed of women, nude as censorship allowed, with pixie faces and multiparous bodies: thick thighed, heavy buttocked, breasts cantilevered out to there, yet still, with their soft bellies and hints of cellulite, believably real. Add in the action, the creatures, the twilit worlds of haunting shadow and Frazetta’s art is addictive as potato chips.

O máloktorom stredoeurópskom sochárovi 18. storočia sa nám zachovalo toľko správ ako o F. X. Messerschmidtovi (1736 – 1783). Napriek tomu jeho postava, opradená tajuplnými historkami a často protirečivými súdmi, zostáva stále záhadná. Jeho život je úzko spätý so zvláštnymi hlavami, známymi ako „charakterové hlavy“. Práci na týchto hlavách, ktoré si nikto neobjednal, venoval v posledných rokoch života väčšinu svojho času. Je to jedinečná, v dejinách sochárstva neopakovateľná séria, ktorá založila Messerschmidtovu slávu a zatlačila do úzadia celú jeho ostatnú tvorbu. Provokovala k tým najrozličnejším výkladom. Čo vlastne majú tieto hlavy s grimasami vyjadriť? Sú ozvenou na snahy osvietencov pochopiť ľudskú individualitu? Alebo sú prejavom kritického postoja umelca k spoločnosti, ktorej sa vysmieva? Odzrkadľujú ich skrivené črty hysterické stavy pacientov módneho doktora a hypnotizéra F. A. Mesmera? Alebo boli tieto hlavy nástrojom v rukách psychózou postihnutého umelca pri jeho boji o zachovanie životnej rovnováhy? Ponúkajú sa mnohé vysvetlenia, odborníci sa dodnes snažia o jednoznačnú, všeobecne prijateľnú odpoveď. Posledná kapitola Messerschmidtovho života sa odohrala v Bratislave a tu leží aj pochovaný. Po tom, čo počiatočné úspechy vo Viedni vystriedalo neporozumenie a neúspech, našiel nové útočisko vo vtedy kvitnúcom hlavnom meste Uhorska. Bol opäť uznávaným umelcom a vytvoril tu aj väčšinu svojich „charakterových hláv“. Ešte počas života sa stal legendárnou postavou. Ako čudesný prelud žije v povedomí bratislavčanov dodnes.

A celebration of more than 300 groundbreaking women sculptors that surveys 500 years of creative ingenuity from around the world Presenting a more expansive and inclusive history of sculpture, Great Women Sculptors surveys the work of more than 300 trailblazing artists from over 60 countries, spanning 500 years from the Renaissance to the present day. Organized alphabetically, each artist is represented by an image and newly commissioned text. This wide-ranging survey champions the best-known women sculptors from art history alongside today’s rising stars. From more recognizable names such as Camille Claudel, Gego, Barbara Hepworth, and Yayoi Kusama to some of today’s most significant contemporary artists including Huma Bhaba, Mona Hatoum, and Simone Leigh, this book showcases 500 years of sculptural creativity in one accessible, visually stunning volume. Artists featured, in A–Z order by surname: Magdalena Abakanowicz; Alice Adams; Kelly Akashi; Jane Alexander; Shaikha Al Mazrou; Olga de Amaral; Janine Antoni; Ruth Asawa; Tauba Auerbach; Ghazaleh Avarzamani; Alice Aycock; Margarita Azurdia; Leilah Babirye; Nairy Baghramian; Natalie Ball; Rina Banerjee; Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press; Rosa Barba; Phyllida Barlow; Yto Barrada; Mária Bartuszová; Rana Begum; Nina Beier; Patricia Belli; Lynda Benglis; Lauren Berkowitz; Sarah Bernhardt; Huma Bhabha; Alexandra Bircken; Cosima von Bonin; Monica Bonvicini; Chakaia Booker; Louise Bourgeois; Carol Bove; Beverly Buchanan; Heidi Bucher; Dora Budor; Angela Bulloch; Teresa Burga; Seyni Awa Camara; Elaine Cameron-Weir ; Nina Canell; Jodie Carey; Claudia Casarino; Rosemarie Castoro; Elizabeth Catlett; Helen Chadwick; Judy Chicago; Saloua Raouda Choucair; Chryssa; Lygia Clark; Camille Claudel; Marie-Anne Collot; Gisela Colon; Marta Colvin; Fiona Connor; Nicola Costantino; Petah Coyne; Anne Seymour Damer; Vanessa da Silva; Paula Dawson; Berlinde De Bruyckere; Agnes Denes; Abigail DeVille; Karla Dickens; Tara Donovan; Sokari Douglas Camp; Mikala Dwyer; Abastenia St. Leger Eberle; Nicole Eisenman; Vaska Emanuilova; Tracey Emin; Ayse Erkmen; Helen Escobedo; Tamar Ettun; Claire Falkenstein; Alia Farid; Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian; Simone Fattal; Félicie de Fauveau; Lara Favaretto; Maria Faydherbe; Rachel Feinstein; Sonja Ferlov Mancoba; Teresita Fernández; Sylvie Fleury; Ceal Floyer; Laura Ford; María Freire; Nancy Fried; Elisabeth Frink; Katharina Fritsch; Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller; Sue Fuller; Anya Gallaccio; Lily Garafulic; Adebunmi Gbadebo; Gego; Isa Genzken; vanessa german; Sonia Gomes; Dora Gordine; Sheela Gowda; Laura Grisi; Nancy Grossman; Gu Erniang; Guan Xiao; Shilpa Gupta; Fiona Hall; Lauren Halsey; Anthea Hamilton; Han Sai Por; Siobhán Hapaska; Rachel Harrison; Emma Hart; Auriea Harvey; Maren Hassinger; Mona Hatoum; Holly Hendry; Camille Henrot; Barbara Hepworth; Gertrude Hermes; Eva Hesse; Sheila Hicks; Nancy Holt; Jenny Holzer; Rebecca Horn; Roni Horn; Harriet Hosmer; Klára Hosnedlová; Marguerite Humeau; Anna Hyatt Huntington; Cristina Iglesias; Iman Issa; Ann Veronica Janssens; Madeleine Jouvray; Katarzyna Józefowicz; Caterina de Julianis; Nadia Kaabi-Linke; Reena Saini Kallat; Edith Karlson; Bronwyn Katz; Clementine Keith-Roach; Zsófia Keresztes; Rachel Khedoori; Bharti Kher; Kimsooja; Katarzyna Kobro; Käthe Kollwitz; Elza Kövesházi-Kalmár; Brigitte Kowanz; Kitty Kraus; Shigeko Kubota; Shio Kusaka; Yayoi Kusama; Alicja Kwade; Nicola L.; Marcelle Renée Lancelot-Croce; Artis Lane; Greer Lankton; Liz Larner; Lee Bul; Marie-Louise Lefevre-Deumier; Simone Leigh; Jac Leirner; Sherrie Levine; Hannah Levy; Edmonia Lewis; Tau Lewis; Liao Wen; Liliane Lijn; Kim Lim; Won Ju Lim; Laura Lima; Maya Lin; Lin Tianmiao; Tayeba Begum Lipi; Rita Longa; Liza Lou; Sarah Lucas; Savia Mahajan; Anna Maria Maiolino; Anina Major; Tosia Malamud; Rebecca Manson; Teresa Margolles; Marisol; Maria Martins; Rebeca Matte; Rita McBride; Andrea de Mena; Lindsey Mendick; Marisa Merz; Annette Messager; Marta Minujín; Mary Miss; Kazuko Miyamoto; Nandipha Mntambo; Anna Morandi Manzolini; Delcy Morelos; Mariko Mori; Blanche-Adele Moria; Annie Morris; Meera Mukherjee; Mrinalini Mukherjee; Vera Mukhina; Portia Munson; Wangechi Mutu; Ethel Myers; Rei Naito; Ana Navas; Senga Nengudi; Rivane Neuenschwander; Louise Nevelson; Otobong Nkanga; Tomie Ohtake; Precious Okoyomon; Füsun Onur; Meret Oppenheim; Chana Orloff; Virginia Overton; Katrina Palmer; Lygia Pape; Cornelia Parker; Helen Pashgian; Jennifer Pastor; Katie Paterson; Beverly Pepper; Judy Pfaff; Julia Phillips; Patricia Piccinini; Cathie Pilkington; Paola Pivi; Liliana Porter; Marjetica Potrc; Jane Poupelet; Germaine Richier; Clara Rilke-Westhoff; Luisa Roldán; Annabeth Rosen; Properzia de' Rossi; Eva Rothschild; Michal Rovner; Nancy Rubins; Kathleen Ryan; Veronica Ryan; Alison Saar; Betye Saar; Niki de Saint Phalle; Takako Saito; Doris Salcedo; Augusta Savage; Mira Schendel; Lara Schnitger; Claudette Schreuders; Dana Schutz; Irena Sedlecká; Usha Seejarim; Tschabalala Self: Beverly Semmes: Arlene Shechet: Shen Yuan; Alyson Shotz; Mary Sibande; Ayesha Singh; Lucy Skaer; Kiki Smith; Renee So; Valeska Soares; Monika Sosnowska; Diamond Stingily; Jessica Stockholder; Michelle Stuart; Alina Szapocznikow; Sarah Sze; Sophie Taeuber-Arp; Dorothea Tanning; Lenore Tawney; Alina Tenser; Tatiana Trouvé; Anne Truitt; Shirley Tse; Sara VanDerBeek; Paloma Varga Weisz; Joana Vasconcelos; Cecilia Vicuna; Claude Vignon; Ursula von Rydingsvard; Kara Walker; Meg Webster; Nicole Wermers; Pae White; Rachel Whiteread; Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney; Alison Wilding; Hannah Wilke; Jackie Winsor; Betty Woodman; Yamazaki Tsuruko; Haegue Yang; Kennedy Yanko; Lena Yarinkura; Anicka Yi; Yin Xiuzhen; Daisy Youngblood; Andrea Zittel.

T.J. Clark offers profound insights on Bruegel’s art, where we encounter a reality formed from wholly worldly materials, yet suspended between belief and disbelief.

Featuring works from the 1950s onwards, this book explores Francis Bacon’s deep connection to portraiture and how he challenged traditional definitions of the genre. From his responses to portraiture by earlier artists, to large-scale paintings memorialising lost lovers, works from private and public collections will showcase Bacon’s life story. As well as the artist’s self-portraits, sitters include Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne and lovers Peter Lacy and George Dyer. The first publication in over 20 years dedicated to the portraits of Francis Bacon, this book accompanies the exhibition of the same name opening at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in October 2024. From his renowned triptychs and paintings of ghostly figures, to tender and psychologically revealing individual portraits, the figurative works displayed in this publication chart the development of a groundbreaking artist, highlighting the influence of his peers and other artists. Edited and with introductory texts by National Portrait Gallery curator, Rosie Broadley, Francis Bacon: Portraits also features biographies and photographs of Bacon and his circle, bringing lesser-told stories to the fore. A series of short essays from a range of contemporary thinkers and experts on Bacon explore the individuality of the artist through different lenses, providing fresh perspectives on the artist, his portraits and his world.

Je symbolem dobrodružství, romantiky a exotiky. Mistr Zdeněk Burian byl, je a vždy bude nezaměnitelnou ikonou; malířem našeho dětství… Vstupte do světa jeho příběhů a fascinujících ilustrací – vůbec poprvé máte nyní možnost prohlédnout si je v jedinečné nejvyšší technické kvalitě. Poznejte ranou tvorbu geniálního malíře, který dokázal dát příběhům duši.

Explore the dynamic world of 1960s Pop Art through Lucy Lippard's insightful analysis in this new addition to the Pocket Perspectives series. Pop Art epitomized the free spirit of the 1960s, blending carnival-like qualities with bold colours and monumental scale, but based on a tough, no-nonsense, no-refinement standard appropriate to its time. Renowned art critic and curator Lucy Lippard's classic, contemporaneous study enriches our understanding of this groundbreaking art movement. Across three chapters, the author first outlines the phenomenon of Pop Art, its antecedents and related styles ranging from folk art, Surrealism and Dada as well as the work of key artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. She then focuses on Pop Art in New York, discussing key iconic figures including Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann, who appropriated advertising, comics, and the conventions of commercial art and its specific techniques. Finally, Lippard provides an extensive overview of Pop Art's impact and evolution across Europe, particularly in France, Germany and Italy; and Canada, and so touches upon the work of Christo, Mimmo Rotella and many others, including Niki de Saint Phalle and Joyce Weiland, whose work are now experiencing a resurgence of interest.

A concise compendium of the lives and work of the 101 most significant Surrealists by one of the last surviving members of the movement, bestselling author and artist Desmond Morris, who knew several of the key participants personally. 2024 marks the centenary of Surrealism, one of the most influential artistic movements of the modern era. In 1924, André Breton wrote the Surrealist Manifesto, a call to arms which established Surrealism as a literary and artistic movement. Rather than attempting to analyse the work of the Surrealists, bestselling author and Surrealist artist Desmond Morris focuses on them as remarkable individuals. What were their personalities, their predilections, their character strengths and flaws? Did they enjoy a social life or were they loners? Were they bold eccentrics or timid recluses? Featuring 101 artists, from the famous – Duchamp, Dali, Magritte, Miro, Carrington, Kahlo, Picabia, Ernst and others – to the neglected – Mesens, Rimmington, Sage, Fini, Bellmer, Colquhoun and Gonzalez – this book draws on the author’s personal knowledge of the Surrealists, capturing in concise form their life histories, idiosyncrasies and often-complex love lives. Surrealism was both spectacular and international, shaped by the darkest, most irrational workings of the unconscious. Shocking, witty and always entertaining, Morris's potted summaries and punchy anecdotes illuminate striking variations in artistic approach to the Surrealist philosophy, both in the artists’ works and lives. A complement to Morris's earlier biographical volumes, 101 Surrealists encapsulates each artist in new and abridged texts that convey with immediacy the impact and significance of each of the 101 artists featured.

The first in an exciting and inspirational new V&A sketchbook series that explores the sketching processes and techniques of artists from the 16th century to the present day. Artists have been using sketchbooks for many hundreds of years, particularly as part of the preparatory process that leads to the creation of great works. Selected by curators from the extensive sketchbook collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and organized chronologically by artist, The Artist’s Sketchbook introduces around eighty profiles from different eras and movements, including John Constable, Beatrix Potter, Paul Nash, and Julie Verhoeven. Each profile includes a short text on the artist and their use of the sketchbook. The book brims with exquisite examples of drawings from life and the imagination, material experimentation and the planning of greater works. With rich, detailed photography, the sketchbooks are shown to be very much works of art in themselves, with open-book shots and selected covers reproduced as well as single pages. The book also highlights less well-known names as well as unrecognized artists, mostly women, for whom sketchbooks provided a creative outlet. While working within the limits of the V&A collection, the selection includes sketchbooks from beyond Britain and Europe by drawing on expertise from across the museum. Just as artists do, some inevitably blur the line between art, design, and fashion. With an introduction by Jenny Gaschke, Senior Curator of Paintings and Drawings at the V&A, the book highlights the importance of sketching and the sketchbook throughout the history of art. Although not a practical guide to sketching techniques, it will nevertheless inspire the reader and appeal to anyone interested in the process of making art, and to those for whom sketching is a critical part of their own artistic practice.

The first serious study on the paintings of the female icon and one of the most celebrated British artists, Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Emin DBE is known for her frank, confessional style and for transforming her inner world into intimate works of art. She has become one of the most celebrated artists in the world, a household name, and part of the Art establishment. Her practice includes painting, drawing, film, photography, sewn appliqué, sculpture, and neon, but in recent years she has focused on painting. Inspired by artists Egon Schiele and Edvard Munch, her paintings are provocative, confrontational, and vulnerable. They are at once deeply personal and universal, and it’s for this reason her work is revered around the world, and she has become an international icon. The book features more than 300 images of Emin’s gestural and expressive figurative paintings, from the 1990s to today, as well as a conversation with close friend David Dawson and an essay by Australian writer Jennifer Higgie. Made in close collaboration with the artist, this special book is the first publication dedicated to Emin’s emotive paintings and showcases her soulful work like never before.

A wide-ranging monograph of over 100 prints by David Hockney. David Hockney (b. 1937) is renowned for his distinctive paintings, mostly portraiture and landscape, but also for his approach to works on paper and printmaking, mirroring the vibrancy and diligent indexing seen in his broader body of work. Hockney’s prints often showcase a dynamic interplay of colour, form, and perspective, reflecting his keen eye for visual storytelling of intimate elements of his own life. David Hockney: Paper Trails, accompanying an exhibition at the Shanghai Modern Art Museum in Autumn 2024, examines these works on paper and prints through 129 artworks, mapping out the emotive terrain of his dynamic and vivid compositions. The exhibition, co-curated by Russell Tovey, creator of the popular podcast Talk Art, and the museum’s artistic director Shai Baitel, is intentionally accessible and non-academic. Tovey’s introduction to the catalogue invites the reader to ‘Look and look again’, examining Hockney’s decision to return to the same subjects and sitters repeatedly and the deeper meaning that emerges from the variations on a theme. This catalogue captures the most comprehensive collection to date of Hockney’s works on paper, encompassing a wide array of image making techniques – from lithography and etching to photo-collage and iPad drawings. His visual experiments, always surprising in their outcomes, suggest a rich interior and exterior life, captured in telling bits and fragments, suggesting a montage of quotidian scenes. The works are curated through affective-atmospheric groupings, with chapters including ‘Playful’, ‘Sombre’, ‘Intimacy’ and ‘Peaceful’, articulating the range of emotional resonance and world-building in Hockney’s practice. Whether depicting landscapes, portraits of friends, or objects in the home, Hockney’s prints exhibit a harmonious blend of traditional craftsmanship and his own distinct playfulness and insight to daily life. The works showcased in this catalogue highlight his continuous dedication to capturing and indexing his life through intimate portraiture and snapshots from his daily routine.

Mark Ryden's Yakalina Secrets is the wondrous second installment in the artist's incredible gallery of creatures. Foreword by Takashi Murakami In his Pacific Northwest studio during the isolation of COVID-19, Mark Ryden began a series of his iconic half-animal, half-plush creatures that further explored his reverence for these beings, who are guides through a landscape of the unknown. The figures in these paintings are neither human nor animal, they are spiritual entities that create a bridge between the human and animal worlds in which so much disharmony exists. This book features all of the original portraits of Ryden's mysterious and mythical creatures. The resulting gallery of enchanted characters embodies the artist's meticulously realized signature blend of archetype, kitsch, and narrative mysticism. Mark Ryden'sYakalina Secrets features works from two of the artist's exhibitions, organized in collaboration with Emmanuel Perrotin and Kasmin Gallery: Animal Secrets in Paris and Yakalina 9 in Tokyo.

• This is the first book about Hokuei - one of the most intriguing artists ever in kabuki-actor prints • Lavishly illustrated with over 300 images, it brings the world of kabuki alive in fascinating detail • The book includes a fully illustrated and annotated catalogue raisonné of 270 prints - the artist's entire known print oeuvre Hokuei: Masterpieces of Japanese Actor Prints profiles one of the most intriguing artists ever in kabuki-actor design: Shunbaisai Hokuei (active 1828–1836). A culminating figure in Osaka printmaking, Hokuei produced more masterworks than any other artist of his day. The book presents the artist’s life and work, situating his oeuvre within the demimonde of pleasure and entertainment known as the Floating World (Ukiyo). The world of kabuki comes alive in fascinating detail, while assessments of design and technical attributes bring into focus the achievements of Hokuei and printmaking artisans of his age. The book includes a fully illustrated and annotated catalogue raisonné of 270 prints ? the artist’s entire known print oeuvre - including designs not to be found anywhere else. The range of comprehensive information featured in this publication make it a singular reference not only for admirers of Hokuei, but also for those interested in the world of actors on stage.

Drawing on decades of conversations with practising artists, Martin Gayford offers intimate insight into the practice, meaning and potential of painting. Painting is an almost inconceivably ancient activity that remains vigorously alive in the twenty-first century. Every successful painting creates a new world, which we inhabit for as long as we care to look at it. Paintings can incorporate profound ideas and paradoxes that can be grasped without words. For those who dedicate themselves to it, the art of painting can become an all-consuming, lifelong obsession. It is a subject on which painters themselves are often the most incisive commentators. Martin Gayford’s riveting and richly illustrated book deftly brings together numerous artists’ voices, past and present. It draws on a trove of conversations conducted over more than three decades with artists including Frank Auerbach, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling, Cecily Brown, Peter Doig, Lucian Freud, Katharina Fritsch, David Hockney, Claudette Johnson, Lee Ufan, Paula Rego, Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley, Jenny Saville, Frank Stella, Luc Tuymans, Zeng Fanzhi and many more. Here too is Vincent van Gogh on Rembrandt, John Constable on Titian, Francis Bacon on Velazquez, R. B. Kitaj on Cézanne and Jean-Michel Basquiat on Picasso. We hear the personal reflections of these artists on their chosen medium; how and why they paint; how they came to the practice; the influence of fellow painters; and how they find creative sustenance and inspiration in their art. How Painting Happens crosses the centuries to give us a wealth of insights into the endlessly compelling phenomenon of painters and painting.

Grovier’s book reframes [Banksy’s] works in a new light. Inextricably linked to Da Vinci, Monet and Van Gogh, Banksy not only makes art but reinvigorates it - Daily Mail A new take on the history of art – from da Vinci to Warhol – as reinterpreted and ultimately reinforced by the international phenomenon that is Banksy Few would dispute that Banksy is the most famous urban artist in the world today. That he is also one of the most perceptive art historians of our age might come as a surprise to many. But the myriad memorable works he has created over the past thirty years constitute an audacious commentary on the history of image-making – a captivating critique waiting to be pieced together. Armed with little more than stencils, spray paint and an anonymizing cloak of after-hours darkness, Banksy has forged an alluring identity for himself as an incorrigible prankster who doesn’t embrace tradition but shreds it. What actually illuminates Banksy’s audacious murals, impromptu urban sculptures and vandalized paintings, however, is a profound understanding of the story of art. Banksy recasts masterpieces as powerful comments on contemporary issues: climate change, consumerism and the struggle for peace, and reveals these works to be surprisingly elastic, resilient and relevant. In this fully illustrated and entertaining exploration, bestselling author Kelly Grovier traces art history through Banksy’s lens, presenting many of his most recognizable works: from his droll lampooning of the Lascaux cave paintings to his reinvention of Monet’s enchanting water-lily pond, a reboot of Géricault’s tragic gut-wrenching vision to Vermeer’s girl now instilled with street cred, everyone’s genius is grist for his unmerciful mill. Far from being diminished in their significance, however, the works that Banksy ruthlessly parodies are ultimately refurbished by the ordeal. Banksy’s iconoclastic works force us to rethink our affection for, and appreciation of, great works of art that define cultural history.