Книги по истории искусства

Best of Bauhaus. The definitive reference work in a revised and updated edition

Between two world wars, the Bauhaus School of Art and Design changed the face of modernity. Realized with the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, this updated edition celebrates the school’s centennial, gathering 550 illustrations across 400 pages, including architectural plans and biographies of key figures like Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, and Marianne Brandt — the ultimate guide.

In a fleeting 14-year period between two world wars, Germany’s Bauhaus school of art and design changed the face of modernity. With utopian ideas for the future, the school developed a pioneering fusion of fine art, craftsmanship, and technology, which they applied across media and practices from film to theatre, and sculpture to ceramics.

This best-selling reference work is made in collaboration with the Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin, the world’s largest collection on the history of the Bauhaus. Some 575 illustrations including architectural plans, studies, photographs, sketches, and models record not only the realized works but also the leading principles and personalities of this idealistic creative community through its three successive locations in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin. From informal shots of group gymnastics to drawings guided by Paul Klee, from extensive architectural plans to an infinitely sleek ashtray by Marianne Brandt, the collection brims with the colours, materials, and geometries that made up the Bauhaus vision of a “total” work of art.

As we approach the Bauhaus centennial, this is a defining account of its energy and rigour, not only as a trailblazing movement in Modernism but also as a paradigm of art education, where creative expression and cutting-edge ideas led to simultaneously functional and beautiful creations. The handy edition features artists Josef Albers, Marianne Brandt, Walter Gropius, Gertrud Grunow, Paul Klee, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Lilly Reich, and many more.

About the author:

Magdalena Droste studied art history and literature in Aachen and Marburg. From 1980 she worked at the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, after which she worked as a professor of art history at the BTU Cottbus. She has been responsible for numerous exhibitions and publications across all Bauhaus themes and artists.

Best of Bauhaus. The definitive reference work, now in a compact format

This handy, updated edition explores the Bauhaus School of Art and Design through some 575 illustrations and biographies of its key personalities. Realized in collaboration with the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, the reference work is now available in Bibliotheca Universalis format, the perfect companion for your next trip to Berlin, Weimar, or Dessau.

In a fleeting 14-year period between two world wars, Germany’s Bauhaus school of art and design changed the face of modernity. With utopian ideas for the future, the school developed a pioneering fusion of fine art, craftsmanship, and technology, which they applied across media and practices from film to theater, and sculpture to ceramics.

This best-selling reference work is made in collaboration with the Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin, the world’s largest collection on the history of the Bauhaus. Some 575 illustrations including architectural plans, studies, photographs, sketches, and models record not only the realized works but also the leading principles and personalities of this idealistic creative community through its three successive locations in Weimar, Dessau, and Berlin. From informal shots of group gymnastics to drawings guided by Paul Klee, from extensive architectural plans to an infinitely sleek ashtray by Marianne Brandt, the collection brims with the colors, materials, and geometries that made up the Bauhaus vision of a “total” work of art.

As we approach the Bauhaus centennial, this is a defining account of its energy and rigor, not only as a trailblazing movement in Modernism but also as a paradigm of art education, where creative expression and cutting-edge ideas led to simultaneously functional and beautiful creations. The handy edition features artists Josef Albers, Marianne Brandt, Walter Gropius, Gertrud Grunow, Paul Klee, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Lilly Reich, and many more.

About the Author:

Magdalena Droste studied art history and literature in Aachen and Marburg. From 1980 she worked at the Bauhaus-Archiv in Berlin, after which she worked as a professor of art history at the BTU Cottbus. She has been responsible for numerous exhibitions and publications across all Bauhaus themes and artists.

About the Series:

Bibliotheca Universalis — Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!

Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together more than 100 of our all-time favourite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.

Bookworm’s delight — never bore, always excite!

Approximately 400 exquisite paintings, drawings, furniture, decorative objects, and clothing, with commentaries by leading scholars in the field. Biedermeier describes a kind of factual art that very closely corresponds to sensory perception. Its basic characteristics became apparent even before 1800, and up until around 1830 it continued to develop through simplification, the natural beauty of materials, and clarity of form. Biedermeier: The Invention of Simplicity is an elegant publication concentrating upon a core group of artistic works from this period of time, which were predominated by these formal elements and also gave shape to the new, central European aesthetic vision. More than three hundred examples from all genres of art from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Denmark are featured: paintings, prints, furniture, glass and porcelain objects, silver, interior decoration, and fashion from the trendsetting, stylish metropolises. This is an attractive presentation of this period’s innovative character, which permitted it to play a pioneering role in the modern era.

This groundbreaking book explores the visual representations of black culture throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.

From blues to rap, from the paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner to the video pieces of Keith Piper and Steve McQueen, it draws on the work of hundreds of artists, including Wifredo Lam, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Martin Puryear, Spike Lee, Adrian Piper, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Chris Ofili and Yinka Shonibare.

This new edition provides expanded coverage of film and video, and an additional chapter on the work of artists who have risen to prominence in recent years. Over 180 biographical notes provide a unique reference source.

An expansive collection that introduces the short-lived and ruthlessly creative phenomenon that was Blacklips.

From June 1992 to March 1995, in the midst of the AIDS crisis in NYC, an extraordinary theatrical collective emerged from the queer underground. Blacklips Performance Cult, initiated by ANOHNI and joined by a cabal of fellow artists, drag queens, punks, nightlife veterans and students, performed a new play every Monday night at 1:00 a.m. at the Pyramid Club on 101 Avenue A. Blacklips never courted mainstream attention. However, the group left a sustaining impression within New York's late night subculture by melding hysterical drag, surreal horror, and disconcerting tenderness.

In Blacklips: Her Life and Her Many, Many Deaths, ANOHNI and coeditor Marti Wilkerson lay bare the collective's archives in photographs, scripts, and the assembled ephemera from more than one hundred and twenty original "plays." Featuring images from newly digitized film and video recordings, texts from participants and audience members, and an introduction by Lia Gangitano, this expansive collection introduces to the twenty-first century the short-lived and ruthlessly creative phenomenon that was Blacklips.

About the Author:

ANOHNI is a visual artist, musician, and playwright who spent her twenties performing music and staging plays in late-night clubs and experimental theatres in New York City. She formed her music group Antony and the Johnsons - named in memory of trans activist Marsha P. Johnson - in 1998. After releasing the group’s self-titled first record in 2000 and touring around the world with Lou Reed as a backup singer, her second album, I Am a Bird Now (2005), was awarded the Mercury Prize in the UK. ANOHNI has since released The Crying Light (2008), Swanlights (2009), the live album Cut the World (2012), and HOPELESSNESS (2016), a collaboration with Hudson Mohawke and Daniel Lopatin. She curated the 2012 Meltdown Festival at the Southbank in London, and has performed her music with symphonies in venues including the Royal Opera House in London, Teatro Royale in Madrid, Sydney Opera House, the Olympia in Paris and Radio City Music Hall. ANOHNI’s visual installations, performances, and plays have been presented by institutions including Kunsthal Nikolaj in Copenhagen, Bielefeld Kunsthalle in Germany, MoMA, the Whitney Museum, The Kitchen NYC, Aarhus 2017 Capital of Culture, and the Barbican. She scored Valentino’s Spring collection presentation “Anatomy of Couture” in Milan in February

Florence s golden child. The Early Renaissance master

During Sandro Botticelli's lifetime (1444/45-1510), the influence of his art scarcely reached beyond his native Florence, and following his death, he was soon forgotten, to be rediscovered only in the 19th century by the Pre-Raphaelites. Since then, Botticelli has ranked among the greatest Renaissance artists. In the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, paintings such as Primavera and The Birth of Venus are among the foremost attractions for tourists and art lovers. Botticelli s captivating figures of women, his intimate portrayals of the Madonna and Child, and the angelic beauty of his adolescents are famous the world over today. The artist s life and work are explored in this thoughtful and beautifully illustrated study.

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 illustrations with explanatory captions

Treasures of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Eight centuries of European applied arts

When Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (1852–1863) was published, what purchasers in fact bought was a small printed museum of unusual treasures. With 216 hand-coloured copperplate engravings, the publication gives a comprehensive overview of applied arts in Europe from the 9th to the 16th centuries. The objects presented comprise furniture, metalwork, jewellery, tapestries, and works of bookbinding. Carefully selected masterpieces such as the gilt Corvinus goblet, an enamelled saltcellar, and medieval ivory combs are depicted, along with a decorative sword, now lost.

The editor Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck (1811-1903) was head of the Royal Cabinet of Prints and Drawings in Munich and later director of the Bavarian National Museum. His work helped influence the creation of new museums of art and design – the South Kensington Museum in London (today the Victoria and Albert Museum), founded in 1852, being the very first – in which artists could study the hand-crafted masterpieces of earlier epochs.
Although the co-editor Carl Becker (1794-1859) commissioned various artists to make drawings of the historical originals for Kunstwerke und Geräthschaften, the signatures on the plates show that most of the illustrations stem from the hand of artist Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and he can, therefore, be considered as the work’s main draughtsman; considering that Becker died before the completion of the work, the most influential figure behind it was undoubtedly Hefner-Alteneck. Before his collaboration with Becker, Hefner-Alteneck had previously published Trachten des christlichen Mittelalters (Costumes of the Christian Middle Ages).

With their publication, Jakob Heinrich von Hefner-Alteneck and Carl Becker gave expression to the 19th century’s revived interest in the art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. By selecting masterpieces from public and private collections, and reproducing them faithfully in pictures, they created a document of artistic quality in itself, which also provides evidence of works which have since been lost.

With this new edition, which includes a commentary, TASCHEN is making an important publication accessible once more, giving a glimpse of the treasure chambers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This complete reprint was created on the basis of an original copy in the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart.

The author:

Carsten-Peter Warncke studied art history, classical archaeology, and literature in Vienna, Heidelberg, and Hamburg, and received his doctorate from the latter in 1975. He is a professor of art history at the University of Göttingen.

The Russian Avant-Garde, which brought about an artistic revolution between 1905 and 1934, represents one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of 20th-century art. 

Artists like Malevich, Kandinsky and Chagall are highly esteemed the world over. But this movement was much more diverse than is generally realised. For the first time this artistic wealth is being presented in a major sequence of pictures. 

140 masterpieces of painting demonstrate the parallel development of widely different styles, design principles and aesthetic ideas. 

The avant-garde artists influenced each other or were sometimes in conflict with each other. At the same time you could find advocates of representational Expressionism and supporters of pure abstraction; styles like Primitivism, Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism followed each other in succession. 

Surprising contrasts of works by different artists demonstrate the differences, so that the successive conflicting –isms are clearly demonstrated. 

Through this visual confrontation the picture of all the many different forms of Russian avant-garde come alive.

Chagall’s creative breakthrough came at a time when his life was torn between contrasting experiences.

Chagall lived in Paris from 1911 until 1914, creating paintings that combined his recollections of Russian provincial life with iconic fragments of the metropolis around him. Reminiscences of Russian folk art make an appearance in his works from the period, as do the most recent stylistic experiments he was exposed to through his life in the center of the artistic avant-garde and his acquaintance with many of the most progressive artists, including Picasso, Robert and Sonja Delaunay, and Jacques Lipchitz. Overtaken by the outbreak of World War I during a visit back home, Chagall was forced to spend the next eight years in Russia.

The unexpected change of circumstances initially prompted a phase of searching self-scrutiny that speaks from many paintings and works on paper created in and after 1914. The artist produced numerous self-portraits, depictions of Jewish life, and designs for the stage setting for the celebration of the first anniversary of the October Revolution 1918.

The catalogue contains a representative selection of works from what was for Chagall a period of rapid artistic evolution and personal as well as political upheaval.

The Visual Encyclopaedia series provide up to 300 beautiful photographic and artwork images, illustrating subjects of perennial cultural interest. Images are accompanied by narrative providing background, brief criticism, and details on relevant museums, brief biographies and time lines

One of the most important sculptors of the Art Deco era, Demétre Chiparus (1886-1947) was a Romanian sculptor who lived and worked in Paris, France. This book is a stunning monograph covering his work as both a sculptor and a painter.

Over 23 years ago the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo's rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life.

This book dwells on the sources and inspiration of the Art Deco movement, with particular emphasis on sculptures created by Demétre Chiparus. However, Chiparus considered himself a painter above a sculptor. In this latest version of the book, many unpublished pictures come to light as well as newly discovered oils and 'sanguines', confirming his aptitude in both fields.

About the Author:

As one of the top consultants in the Art Deco field, Alberto Shayo has dedicated his life to travel, discovering new figures and determining the worthiness of private and public collections. Mr Shayo is the author of Camille Fauré: Limoges Art Deco Enamels - The Geometry of Joy, published by Antique Collectors' Club.

One of the most important sculptors of the Art Deco era, Demétre Chiparus (1886-1947) was a Romanian sculptor who lived and worked in Paris

This new and updated edition adds new figures as well as historic documents. Of particular interest is the discovery of the long-lost marble figure Polar Bear last seen over 75 years ago in Paris, where it was exhibited for the first and last time at the 1943 Salon des Artistes Français. Accompanying images of this important discovery are presented in this edition for the very first time. Over 26 years ago the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo’s rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life.

The book dwells on the sources and inspiration of the Art Deco movement, with particular emphasis on sculptures created by Demétre Chiparus.

_This book is a stunning monograph covering the most iconic of the Art Deco sculptors
_Delves into his work both as a sculptor and a painter

About the Author:

As one of the top consultants in the Art Deco field, Alberto Shayo has dedicated his life to travel, discovering new figures and determining the worthiness of private and public collections. Mr Shayo is the author of Camille Fauré: Limoges Art Deco Enamels - The Geometry of Joy, published by Antique Collectors' Club.

February 2005 marked the ephemeral installation of a monumental work of art by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York City’s Central Park. First conceived in 1979 and rejected by New York City government in 1981, the project was approved by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration in 2003. The work of art consisted of 7503 16-foot-high vinyl gates with saffron-colored fabric panels on twenty-three miles of the Park’s walkways. Seen from the buildings surrounding the Park, The Gates looked like a saffron flowing river, while those walking through them experienced the ambience of a fluid golden ceiling. Financed entirely by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through their C.V.J. Corporation, The Gates were assembled and installed by thousands of paid workers. Completed on February 12, 2005, The Gates remained in place for sixteen days, after which they were removed and the materials recycled. The work of art was free for all visitors, who continued to use Central Park during the whole process. This historic event provided a memorable and joyous experience for New Yorkers and visitors. This book, which documents the entire project from its beginnings in 1979 to its completion in 2005, is the perfect souvenir for who want to remember this ephemeral work of art. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, both born on June 13, 1935, have been working in collaboration since 1961. Previous large-scale projects include Wrapped Coast, Australia, 1968–69, Valley Curtain, Grand Hogback, Rifle, Colorado, 1970–72, Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972–76, Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975–85, The Umbrellas, Japan–USA, 1984–91, Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95, Wrapped Trees, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997–98.

"The images presented here bear witness to the great diversity of cultures, yet they also reflect the existence of similar needs, practices and activities in all societies. The custom of wearing masks, found at every latitude, for example but also and above all the everyday character of many objects that bear traces of the people who once made use of them: furnishings, items of clothing, work tools. Objects which offer insights into people`s lives that, above and beyond all the historical, linguistic, religious and cultural differences, allow us to empathize with them to some degree, leading us to recognize a common humanity, notwithstanding the distance that is imposed by our modern way of life. A distance that, when we look closely, is no longer confined to the West but shared the whole world." Ivan Bargnia

This richly illustrated book presents textiles and architecture of the Nile valley from the beginning of the Roman era until the early Islamic times. It contains over 13 essays from international experts about the architectonical context in which textiles were used, its technical specifications, decoration and the social status of those who wore textiles.
About the Author
Cacilia Fluck specialises in late antique art from Egypt. She works for the 'Skulpturensammlung und Museum fur Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen' in Berlin.