Thames & Hudson strana 59 z 126

Like every era, the Renaissance brims with stories. In this book, Robert Davis and Beth Lindsmith highlight dozens of notable lives from between 1400 and 1600. They bring to life wily politicians, eccentric scientists, fiery rebels and stolid reactionaries, as well as a pornographer, an acrobat, an actress, a poetic prostitute, a star comedian and a least one very fretful mother. Some names - Leonardo, Luther, Medici and Machiavelli - are famous, but many others will be new to general readers. Their stories, ninety-four in all, remind us that history is more than dates and abstract concepts: it also arises from the lives of countless individual men and women.

Open this book and discover the dazzling magic of the moon! Find out where it came from, why it seems to change shape, how its power affects the earth, and what causes an eclipse. Shoot into space with the Saturn V rocket and travel back in time to join the first men on the moon...

Anja Niemi: In Character is the first career retrospective/monograph by one of the most exciting talents working in contemporary photography, whose work has emerged as a distinctive force within the venerable tradition of conceptual self-portraiture. A photo-artist who works alone - photographing, staging and acting out the characters in all of her images - Niemi is a constant presence, in character, in her work, developing complex, nuanced narratives through evocative costume and styling, her characters framed and formed within meticulously staged mise-en-scene. In her bewitching `Darlene & Me' series, for example, she reconfigures the concept of the Hitchcock blonde within a pristine Lynchian landscape for her own visual pleasure - and ours - while in `She Could Have Been A Cowboy' she turns the lens to a life lived under the constraints of conformity. Anja Niemi is now at the `breakout moment' in her career, having had exhibitions in Amsterdam, London, New York, Oslo and Paris, and with her first museum retrospective show opening at Fotografiska Museum in Stockholm in February 2019. With over 100 photographs organized into the six series that have marked Niemi's career to date, supported by an essay and interview by Max Houghton, Anja Niemi: In Character is the perfect introduction for those encountering Niemi's work for the first time, and a comprehensive retrospective of her career to date for her long-time followers.

Chocolate - `the food of the Gods' - has had a long and eventful history. Its story is expertly told here by the doyen of Maya studies, Michael Coe, and his late wife, Sophie. The book begins 3,000 years ago in the Mexican jungles and goes on to draw on aspects of archaeology, botany and socio-economics. Used as currency and traded by the Aztecs, chocolate arrived in Europe via the conquistadors, and was soon a favourite drink with aristocrats. By the 19th century and industrialization, chocolate became a food for the masses - until its revival in our own time as a luxury item. Chocolate has also been giving up some of its secrets to modern neuroscientists, who have been investigating how flavour perception is mediated by the human brain. And, finally, the book closes with two contemporary accounts of how chocolate manufacturers have (or have not) been dealing with the ethical side of the industry.

A comprehensive practice-based guide to the art of drawing, Drawing: A Complete Guide provides a chapter-by-chapter overview of key elements of drawing (such as line, shape, tone and value) before addressing the different genres (such as still life and portraiture). Written in an accessible and encouraging manner, Drawing: A Complete Guide seeks to build the learner's confidence in artistic exploration as well as developing his or her practical abilities. An introductory chapter makes the case that anyone can draw, while the concluding chapter, `Looking at Drawings: Critical Thinking and Critiques', equips learners with the necessary critical tools to develop their craft independently. Richly illustrated with examples of artists' drawings and the author's own works, Drawing: A Complete Guide also includes student work to make the practice of drawing more accessible and achievable.

This Empty World, Nick Brandt's new monograph, features a series of dramatically staged photographs that bring together and reveal the animals and people of East Africa as the victims of environmental degradation in an emotionally powerful, cinematic way. Moving into colour photography for the first time, the work is both a technical tour-de-force and a massively ambitious project in which several sets are constructed on a scale typically only seen in film production. Each panoramic image is a combination of two moments in time, almost all of them captured weeks apart from the exact same camera position. Brandt first builds and lights a partial set, then waits for the animals that inhabit the region to enter the frame. Once captured on camera, the full set is built with the camera remaining fixed in place. The sets include bridge and highway construction sites, a petrol station, a bus station and even a dead forest. Completing the scene with a huge cast drawn from local communities, Brandt then photographs the second sequence. The final large scale prints are a composite of the two intricately plotted elements. Viewed as a whole, the images vividly illustrate a world in which, overwhelmed by runaway human development, there is no longer space for animals to survive, and beg the question: what kind of world will we live in when stripped of its natural wonders. Photographed on unprotected, inhabited Maasai community land, after the sets were removed and their elements recycled, no evidence of the images now remains in the landscape.

The bold, distinctive style of Paula Rego's paintings has acquired for her not only an ever-increasing critical reputation but also an unusually large and enthusiastic following. Her be-ribboned little-girl heroines and fairy-tale characters seem firmly rooted in childhood, yet the innocence of this art is darkened by the underlying themes of power, domination and rebellion, sexuality and gender, that run through her work. Here Rego has turned to the nursery rhyme as a source for her imagery. It is a genre that perfectly complements her art; full of double meanings, rhymes are written from a child's perspective but are open to adult interpretation. Twenty-six well-known nursery rhymes are accompanied by a series of etchings which she has executed spontaneously as a child might, drawing directly on the plate without preparatory planning. Following the traditions of earlier artists such as Beatrix Potter, she treats the fantastic realistically, dressing animals in human costume and using dream-like dislocations of scale. These are wonderfully comic and rich illustrations with a hint of the sinister, that turn classic nursery rhymes into colourful stories about folly and delusion, cruelty, convention and sex.

Lively and informative, The World Atlas of Tattoo is a superbly illustrated and compelling reference book that, through examining the meeting point between tattoo artists and their personal understanding of their environment, presents a well-informed and nuanced account of what has become a widespread art practice. Organized geographically, each section is introduced by a short historical overview of the types of tattooing traditionally practised in that area of the world, enabling the reader to trace historical threads in the careers of some of the profiled tattooers, as well as marvel at how other artists have managed to create novel forms of tattooing that transcend any previous context. The book also tracks the movement of styles from their indigenous settings to diasporic communities, where they have often been transformed into creative, multicultural, hybrid designs. Written by an international team of scholars, historians and journalists, this comprehensive atlas will enlighten and excite anyone who is passionate about tattoo art in its many forms worldwide.

In this clear and evocative account, John Gaskin unfolds the thinking about nature, life, death and other worlds that informed the culture and society of the Classical world, drawing out its interest for modern readers. Witty sketches and diagrams enliven the story, which runs from Homeric Greece to the banning of pagan religions in ad 391. The book concludes with a gazetteer describing notable sites and the people and ideas connected with them, making it an ideal companion for visitors to Classical ruins and for all armchair travellers curious to explore life's big questions.

On the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525/30-1569) the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is mounting the first-ever large monograph exhibition of the leading Netherlandish painter of the 16th century. Only around forty paintings by Bruegel have survived, which is why museums and private collectors are right to count Bruegel's paintings among their most precious and fragile holdings. Bruegel's popularity continues to be informed by his often socio-critical but always varied, entertaining and powerful compositions. They invite the spectator both to begin an artistic discourse with the work and to reflect on the complexity of its content. This spectacular catalogue invites readers to immerse themselves in the world of the Netherlandish master. The results of recent research on materials and techniques allow us to focus on Bruegel's creative process: his perfect handling and execution, his virtuoso use of colour and his draughtsmanship - these are some of the many mysteries of this great artist. Bruegel's inventions and stories create artworks with a timeless power.

From Where I Stand introduces the very best of Mary McCartney's work from the mid-1990s onward. Mary McCartney's work is characterized by an intimacy that reveals her subjects' true character and humanity. Here, portraits of the likes of Paul and Linda McCartney, Madonna, Bono, Debbie Harry, Dennis Hopper and Kate Moss sit alongside photographs that capture the raw energy of catwalks and concerts, the feverish communion of backstage preparations at the Royal Opera House and the private spaces of home and family. Elegant and always at ease, this is the work of an intelligent, soulful photographer with an authentically intuitive eye.

Where are the tombs of Alexander the Great or Cleopatra? Both rulers were buried in Egypt, but their tombs have never been found despite years of intensive research and excavation. Yet we have tantalizing clues. Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt describes the quest for these and other great `missing' tombs - those we know existed, but which have not yet been identified. It also discusses key moments of discovery that have yielded astonishing finds and created the archetypal image of the archaeologist poised at the threshold of a tomb left untouched for millennia. In this gripping account, Chris Naunton explains the mysteries of the missing tombs and presents all the evidence, skilfully unravelling the tangled threads surrounding the burials of the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten and his son Tutankhamun, and the burial place of Imhotep, architect of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, among others. Could other such tombs lie undiscovered in the Valley of the Kings? In fact, the Valley almost certainly does guard hidden treasures. Amazing finds of unsuspected tombs continue to occur there and elsewhere in Egypt, making headlines worldwide - all are covered in this book. As well as immersing the reader, step by step, in the action of the search and the thrill of discovery, the book also explores the reasons why tombs remain such a central part of both the popular perception of Egyptology and the continuing allure of ancient Egypt.

Chairs are the design pieces that most of us use most of the time: from offices to dining tables, from lounging to working, the importance of good chair design to our well-being cannot be underestimated. Accordingly, designers and architects, who seek solutions to space, comfort and function, have grappled with making the perfect - or most unusual - chairs for centuries. But we only really see the end product, and have little idea of how our chair was made, or even perhaps, why it is special. Chair Anatomy reveals in photos and illustrations the form and the construction details - the anatomy - of a selection of fifty chairs chosen from the last 150 years of modern chair design. It also introduces the designers behind these chairs, their backgrounds and their routes to creating the chairs. In reducing chairs to their constituent parts, the book gets to the heart of each design: how pieces are designed and produced to fit together; why a certain material imparts a certain quality, functional advance or comfort level; and how the chair's structure can withstand stress while being elegant and economical to produce. In short, a chair is architecture in miniature. `Exploding' these chairs gives insight into the careful and detailed thinking that has gone into a piece of furniture that we take for granted, and offers designers and students, in a single reference source, a truly nuts-and-bolts perspective on masterpieces of design.

As part of the '60s and '70s fashion movement, Peter Golding's famous ACE boutique in London's Chelsea brought him into regular contact with the biggest names in rock 'n' roll, and he went on to create one of the most comprehensive collections of rock 'n' roll graphics in existence. Showcasing the cream of this collection, Rock Graphic Originals is packed with vibrant poster art, logos, stage set designs and promotional ephemera created for artists such as the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Kiss, The Who and Alice Cooper. Organized chronologically into three sections, the book presents the evolution of highly wrought psychedelic poster art from its beginnings in the Beat era to its culmination in the vast stage sets of 1980s stadium rock. Original drawings, studies, paintings, finished artwork and separated plates are shown side by side, revealing the complete process involved in creating each printed poster and logo, and giving extraordinary insight into the creative minds of design giants such as Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. Barry Miles's concise introduction places the key protagonists and their work within their cultural and political context, while reflections from the artists themselves lend unique perspectives on their influences and methods.

Andrew Bromberg, of global architecture and design practice Aedas, was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of the United States and now lives and works in Asia. He is a leading light in the design of cutting-edge skyscrapers and large-scale development projects that consider cities not just as collections of buildings but as human-made landscapes shaped by social and economic forces as gradual or as abrupt as the erosions, accretions, uplifts and explosions that shape the natural world. Now inhabiting the craggy mixture of natural and human-made structures that define Hong Kong, Bromberg has long modelled his work on his knowledge of nature and his understanding of tectonic forces, both natural and human. Drawing on a series of conversations and exploratory walks in major Asian cities - including Singapore and Ghuangzou - architecture critic Aaron Betsky reveals how Bromberg visualizes his settings and locates his designs within the complex and dynamic contexts in which they appear. Interspersed amid these urban reflections is a largely visual presentation of over twenty of Bromberg's most exciting recent projects across Asia and the Middle East. Together these comprise a monograph/manifesto that offers a singular vision for the cities that will shape our future world.

From a carved mammoth tusk (c. 40,000 bce) to Duchamp's Fountain (1917), and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights (1505-10) to Louise Bourgeois's Maman (1999), a remarkable lexicon of astonishing imagery has imprinted itself onto cultural consciousness over the past 40,000 years - a resilient visual vocabulary whose meaning has proved elastic and endlessly renewable from era to era. It is to these works that Kelly Grovier devotes himself in this radical new art history. Stepping away from biography, style and the chronology of `isms' that preoccupies most art history to focus on the artworks themselves, Grovier tells a new story in which we learn from the artworks, not just about them. Looking closely at each work, he identifies an `eye-hook' - the part of the artwork that `bridges the divide between art and life, giving it palpable purpose and elevating its value beyond the visual to the vital' - and encourages us to squint through this narrow aperture to perceive the work's truest meanings. This book is unique in emphasizing the durability of what is made over the ephemerality of its making and serves as a rejoinder to a growing sensibility that conceives of artists as brands and the works they create as nothing more than material commodities to hoard, hide, and flip for profit. Lavishly illustrated with many of the most breathtaking and enduring artworks ever created, as well as many that inspired or took inspiration from them, this refreshing book will spark a debate about how it is that artworks articulate who we are and what it means to be alive in the world.