Искусство

La fameuse tête de Minerve n’est pas le seul poinçon qui concerne les métaux précieux. Grâce à plus de deux mille dessins reproduisant les détails de chaque poinçon, ce livre permet d’identifier les marques apposées depuis le Moyen-Age jusqu’à nos jours sur les ouvrages d’orfèvrerie et de bijouterie. Emblèmes, symboles, initiales, dates et noms se retrouvent sur ces poinçons et sont soigneusement décryptés par l’auteur.

Pour l’Ancien régime, les poinçons de jurande, de charge et de décharge sont étudiés en détail tant pour Paris que pour la province. Pour le Nouveau régime - après la Révolution -, le dessin, le chiffre, le différent, le contour et la lettre des poinçons de garantie sont passés en revue ainsi que les poinçons de responsabilité, les poinçons doublés ou plaqués, et les poinçons obus, sans oublier la tête de Minerve, le plus célèbre des poinçons de garantie réservés à l’argent.

Les règles à la marque sont ensuite décrites, qui permettent de déterminer l’emplacement du poinçon sur l’objet. De nombreux textes légaux – anciens et récents – sont cités in extenso. Les unités de mesure et la manière de faire des essais qui déterminent le pourcentage de métaux dans un alliage sont ensuite décrits. Un glossaire et une bibliographie terminent le livre.

Au travers de mises en scène entre trompe-l'oeil et comic strip, Levalet s'amuse à surprendre les passants en réinventant l'histoire des lieux. Dans un langage plus inspiré du théâtre que du graffiti, le street-artiste donne vie à des personnages se livrant à des actions décalées, voire incongrues. Ses oeuvres, empreintes d'humour, d'espièglerie et de poésie, incitent le spectateur à mieux observer les espaces urbains délaissés et à prendre du recul sur les travers de son quotidien. À Paris, Barcelone ou Bologne, la rue devient la scène de compositions dessinées dont le réalisme feint alterne entre mise en abîme de la vie de l'homme moderne et fable jubilatoire.

Comic genius

One of the most important exponents of Pop Art

In the late 50s and 60s, American painter Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) became one of the most important exponents of Pop Art - that movement which transformed products of mass consumption and the entertainment industry into subjects for art. This apotheosis of banal, everyday objects simultaneously constituted a criticism of the traditional elitist understanding of art.

Almost alone among artists, Lichtenstein pursued the question of how an image becomes a work of art. Wholly in keeping with the spirit of the Classical Modern, he held that it was not the "rank" of the picture’s subject that lends the picture its artistic character, but rather the artist’s formal treatment of it. To Lichtenstein, however, this position seemed far too broad to be seriously pursued.

Developed in the early 60s, Lichtenstein’s grid technique, with its allusion to the mass-production of graphic art, allowed the painter to give vent to his own artistic scepticism. In the 60s and 70s, Lichtenstein expanded his formal repertoire of techniques for creating distance and irony by means of an idiosyncratic process of abstraction and especially by his use of his numerous art quotations.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

* a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
* approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
* a concise biography

From the funny pages to the canvas, comics recontextualized

In the late 50s and 60s, American painter Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) became one of the most important exponents of Pop Art - that movement which transformed products of mass consumption and the entertainment industry into subjects for art. This apotheosis of banal, everyday objects simultaneously constituted a criticism of the traditional elitist understanding of art.

Almost alone among artists, Lichtenstein pursued the question of how an image becomes a work of art. Wholly in keeping with the spirit of the Classical Modern, he held that it was not the "rank" of the picture’s subject that lends the picture its artistic character, but rather the artist’s formal treatment of it. To Lichtenstein, however, this position seemed far too broad to be seriously pursued.

Developed in the early 60s, Lichtenstein’s grid technique, with its allusion to the mass-production of graphic art, allowed the painter to give vent to his own artistic scepticism. In the 60s and 70s, Lichtenstein expanded his formal repertoire of techniques for creating distance and irony by means of an idiosyncratic process of abstraction and especially by his use of his numerous art quotations.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series  features:

- a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance
- a concise biography
- approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions

The author:
Janis Hendrickson studied art history at Smith College and gained her doctorate in Hamburg under Martin Warncke. She is presently a writer and curator.

The Rolling Stones formed precisely a half century ago (well, maybe not precisely-even Keith Richards, in his recent Number One bestselling autobiography, wasn't sure if the audition was April or May). And they are still at 'work - or, rather, at play, celebrating 50 years of phenomenal music and a journey as raucous as 'Jumpin' Jack Flash. "Life's" cameras were there early and have been there since, capturing all the ragged glory. The same editors who produced a bestselling book on the Beatles as well as individual illustrated biographies of John Lennon and, recently, George Harrison now look at the long history of the Stones: the mysterious death of Brian Jones, the essential push-pull relationship of Jagger and Richards, the '60s signpost that was Altamont, the later glam, and then the welcomed return to roots. There are funny moments (the early Stones with TV host Dean Martin, who just doesn't get it when the band first fails-and fails miserably-to "conquer America") and many thrilling moments.

Bestselling artist and author explains how to use light and shade in watercolour painting to add lifelike detail and create engaging artworks.

Mastering light and shadow is the key to successful watercolour paintings and in this book, you can learn how to paint like an expert. The book is packed with Hazel Soan’s colourful and varied paintings, as well as step-by-step exercises and handy hints.

Beginning with how to see the values of light and shade through the eyes of an artist, the book then shows how watercolour is the perfect medium to represent light and shade. Learn how to balance light and shade through compositional design and how to establish the shadow of individual components within the composition. Hazel demonstrates clever techniques such as conserving white paper to show highlights, how to mix the right tonal values and how to balance detail in your painting. Finally, the book looks at using light and shade to create atmospheric effects, tonal patterns to look out for and how to bring it all together to create fantastic artworks.

About the Author:

Hazel Soan is a popular and successful artist who divides her time between London and Cape Town, exhibiting her work widely. She has her own gallery in Fulham, London. She is author of several bestselling books and a range of successful DVDs. She was one of the art experts in the popular Channel 4 TV series Watercolour Challenge. The very successful Learn Watercolour Quickly, Essence of Watercolour and Watercolour Rainbow are also by Hazel Soan.

Mutabor’s practical guide to creating logos for our digital age

Mutabor has developed into one of the most important and creative design agencies in Germany. The company has also made a name for itself internationally with its succinct logos and icons for renowned clients such as the German soccer league, the Bundesliga. Over the years Mutabor has successfully expanded its core expertise into the comprehensive design of interdisciplinary brand presentations. Its award-winning projects for clients such as Audi, Adidas, Deutsche Telekom, and BMW range from printed editorial design to the creation of brand showrooms and large-scale presentations for automobile trade shows. A key aspect of Mutabor's work is optimally showcasing brands in digital media.

In Lingua Digitalis Mutabor demonstrates how to develop effective logos and icons for our digital age including applications for the iPad, apps, and interface design. The book presents over one thousand pieces of work, some of which are published here for the first time. Through these examples, Mutabor explains how designers can unlock even the most complex or abstract logo design assignments across various platforms.

Lingua Digitalis is a practical reference tool that is specifically intended to assist designers in their daily work. On the basis of the broad scope of featured examples this internationally recognized design company reveals its proven approaches and methods for creating digital logos.

The first book to tell the stories of the most revered living Japanese ceramists of the century in their own words, tracing the evolution of modern and contemporary craft and art in Japan, and the artists' considerable influence, which far transcends national borders.

Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists is the first book to present conversations with some of the most important living Japanese ceramic artists. Tracing the evolution of modern and contemporary craft and art in Japan, this groundbreaking volume highlights sixteen individuals whose unparalleled skill and creative brilliance have lent them an influence that far transcends national borders.

Despite forging illustrious careers and earning international recognition for their work, these sixteen artists have been little known in terms of their personal stories. Ranging in age from sixty-three to ninety-three, they embody the diverse experiences of several generations who have been active and successful from the late 1940s to the present day, a period of massive change. Now, sharing their stories for the first time in Listening to Clay, they not only describe their distinctive processes, inspirations, and relationships with clay, but together trace a seismic cultural shift through a field in which centuries-old but exclusionary potting traditions opened to new practitioners and kinds of practices.

Listening to Clay includes conversations with artists born into pottery-making families, as well as with some of the first women admitted to the ceramics department of Tokyo University of the Arts, telling a larger story about ingenuity and trailblazing that has shaped contemporary art in Japan and around the world. Each artist is represented by an entry including a brief introduction, a portrait, selected examples of their work, and an intimate interview conducted by the authors over several in-person visits from 2004 to 2019. At the core of each story is the artist’s personal relationship to clay, often described as a collaboration with the material rather than an imposing of intention.

The oldest artist interviewed, Hayashi Yasuo, enlisted in the army during WWII at age fifteen and trained as a kamikaze pilot. He was born into a family that had fired ceramics in cooperative kilns for generations, but he rejected traditional modes and went on to be the first artist in Japan to make truly abstract ceramic sculpture. In the late 1960s, another artist, Mishima Kimiyo, developed a technique of silkscreening on clay and began making ceramic newspapers to comment on the proliferation of the media. She became fascinated with trash, recreating it out of clay, and worked in relative obscurity for decades until she had a major exhibition in Tokyo in 2015.

Featuring a preface by curator, writer, and historian Glenn Adamson, and a foreword by Monika Bincsik, the Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Listening to Clay has been a project more than fifteen years in the making for authors Alice and Halsey North, respected and knowledgeable collectors and patrons of contemporary Japanese ceramics, and Louise Allison Cort, Curator Emerita of Ceramics, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution. The book also includes conversations with five important dealers of contemporary Japanese ceramics who have played and are playing a critical role in introducing the work of these artists to the world, several detailed appendices, and a glossary of terms, relevant people, and relationships.

Listening to Clay is a long-overdue and insightful book that, for the first time, spotlights some of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary ceramic artists through personal, idiosyncratic accounts of their day-to-day lives, giving special access to their creative process and artistic development.

About the Authors:

Alice and Halsey North are pioneering collectors and advocates of contemporary Japanese ceramics. They produced and organized ceramic tours of Japan for the New York Japan Society. Their collection was featured in the exhibition Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2005-6 and New York’s Japan Society 2006-7. A primary focus of their collecting and advocacy has been to introduce new audiences to this art form. They have donated the major portion of their collection to American museums, notably The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. The Met also houses the database, archives, and library for their collection

Great walls in China

Splendid and traditional homes in the People’s Republic

Dating back more than six thousand years, China is the world’s oldest civilization and most populous nation. With its remarkable history, rich culture, and diversity of ethnic groups, China is an endlessly fascinating country. Sneaking a peek at an array of different homes, from ancient to modern, Living in China brings you to places that most will never have a chance to visit. Whether it’s the Bamboo Wall by Kengo Kuma, a 600-year-old round earth house in Fujian, the artsy Shanghai apartment of a celebrated but banned Chinese writer, the Hong Kong residence of the owner of the China Clubs and Shanghai Tan, or an artist studio and home in the largest art community in the world, all of the interiors featured here capture intriguing facets of life in China today.

In recent years a new generation of artists and designers has discovered that garden plants - from moss and grass to fullgrown trees - can become astonishing works of living sculpture. Iconoclast garden designer Paul Cooper has gathered together the best examples of this exciting new art form while overturning many preconceptions about what is possible in the context of both gardening and art, showing that every garden has the potential to include dramatic and lasting sculpture.

A unique collection of photographs of one of the greatest and most beautiful Hollywood legends
A private album of photographs, taken during Elizabeth Taylor’s classic years by a trusted friend
Candid shots of Elizabeth Taylor’s personal life and images of the star on the sets of such films as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Raintree County
Bob Willoughby is one of the foremost iconographers of Hollywood’s greatest stars
Many of the photographs have never been published
Will appeal to fans everywhere of one of the most enduring idols of the silver screen

The exhibition constitutes an important milestone as the first show on kinetic art, means art with moving parts, to be held in Spain that features works created since the late 19th Century up to those produced in 2006. The museum received loans never before seen in Spain from the most important museums in the world, such as the MoMA/NY, the Centre Georges Pompidou/Paris, the Whitney Museum of American Art/NY, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the Tate Modern/London and the Galería Nazionale D'Arte Moderna di Roma. Important galleries also loaned pieces, such as the Denise René Gallery, which in 1955 organized the first exhibition dedicated to kinetic artists. The show brings together over 80 works by 45 Spanish and foreign artists. In this exhibition, visitors will be able to view paintings, objects, chronophotographs, calotypes, serigraphs, digital prints and films that all have one thing in common - the implicit concept of movement. Kinetic art is art that contains moving parts or depends on motion for its effect.The moving parts are generally powered by wind, a motor or the observer. The term kinetic sculpture refers to a class of art made primarily from the late 1950s through 1960s. Kinetic art was first recorded by the sculptors Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner in their Realist Manifesto issued as part of a manifesto of constructivism in 1920 in Moscow. Bicycle Wheel, of 1913, by Marcel Duchamp, is said to be the first kinetic

These electrifying portraits by acclaimed photographer Alex MacNaughton prove in the most eloquent way that tattoos are more than skin deep.

The centuries-old art of tattooing has become one of the modern world’s most exciting modes of self-expression. Fascinated by the ways body art reflects an individual’s personality, MacNaughton set out to find people whose ornate tattoos tell a story. The result is a wonderfully dynamic collection of portraits that uniquely celebrates the art of tattooing. Each individual is introduced through a full-body, full-page photograph, showcasing the fashion and style which complement the body art. MacNaughton presents gorgeously detailed images of the tattoos themselves, accompanied by personal reflections on the subjects’ choice of tattoos, the stories behind them, and the tattoo artists they admire most. The result is a beautiful, sensitive, and exciting exploration of the world of body art, from one of the most successful photographers of urban life.