Разные книги об искусстве

Illusions in Your Hands. Craft M.C. Escher’s visual riddles in 3D!

Mysterious and mathematical at once, the magical visual world of Dutch artist M.C. Escher (1898–1972) has captivated scientists and scholars and made its mark on popular culture, inspiring book covers, album art, films, posters, and puzzles.

This set puts Escher’s tessellated wonders right at your fingertips with 17 easy-to-assemble paper sculptures. Folding along the score lines, you can transform the artist’s richly geometric designs into three-dimensional polyhedra with forming and reforming patterns, including genius arrangements of flowers, butterflies, lizards, and seashells. The book includes a review of the geometric principles and artistic invention underlying Escher’s optical marvels as well as concise instructions.

The authors:

Wallace G. Walker spent most of his career as an independent artist residing in New York City. He was a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and the inventor of IsoAxis®. He worked for I.M. Pei and Partners and taught at both Parsons School of Design and the New York Institute of Technology. He had numerous shows and exhibits in cities across the USA. He returned to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana in 1989 and continued his artistic activities until his death in 2003.

Doris Schattschneider is Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where she taught for 34 years. Her dual interest in geometry and art led naturally to the study of M.C. Escher’s work. Active as a teacher, lecturer, editor, and writer, she has published widely on Escher’s work. Her book M.C. Escher: Visions of Symmetry gives a complete account of Escher’s symmetry work, and includes color photographs of all 150 of Escher’s symmetry drawings.

This heartfelt tribute to Americas best-known, best-loved illustrator, first published shortly after his death in 1978 is an inspiring examination of Norman Rockwell's vision of America, one that is especially appreciated today.

Rockwell's famous Saturday Evening Post covers, the four Freedoms he painted during the years of World War II, his depictions of American towns, families, and traditions are all represented in this enchanting volume. They offer a picture of America that we hold dear, representing a world of hope and humanity.

Fred Bauer writes about Rockwell's message of optimism and the artist's faith in America and its people in a forthright and sympathetic text complemented by numerous Rockwell favourites in all their warmth and colour. Bauer visits Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and Arlington, Vermont, talking to the people who lived with Rockwell and posed for his anecdotal pictures, the people about whom the artist said, "If you are interested in the characters you draw and understand them and love them, why, the people who see your pictures are bound to feel the same way." This lovely book enables us to partake once again of that unique love and understanding that Norman Rockwell still communicates to America.

A perfect gift for art lovers! Old Masters Memory Game collects the most famous and beloved portrait painters from the 16th and 17th centuries in one fun game. Find the portraits by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and many more.

Old Masters Memory Game collects the most famous and beloved portrait painters from the 16th and 17th centuries in one game that is fun to play, educational, and a feast for the eyes.

The task, as always, is to collect two cards that make one set: in this case, two portrait paintings by the same painter. The sets are clearly recognizable by the posture of the figure, facial expression, the style of painting, and attributes like clothes and hairstyle. To help, there is always the brochure with all the paintings in pairs and a little explanation on the painters.

This is a wonderful gift item for gift shops and all museums that collect the old masters. The game consists of 50 cards of 25 sets featuring world-famous portraits by the likes of Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticello, Titian, Frans Hals, Albrecht Durer, Goya, and many
others.

About the author:

Mieke Gerritzen is a designer, producer and director of the Dutch Museum of the Image (MOTI). The design is done by her, so be assured that it carries her signature style of highly energetic visual typography.

Dinosaurs Are Forever. A pictorial history of paleoart

Despite vanishing from Earth 66 million years ago, dinosaurs are one of our favourite cultural fascinations. In this history of paleoart, writer Zoë Lescaze and artist Walton Ford scour the globe for dinosaur paintings, drawings, prints, mosaics, and murals. Dating from early 19th century to the digital era, this collection is a celebration of one of man’s most imaginative pictorial traditions.

It was 1830 when an English scientist named Henry De la Beche painted the first piece of paleoart, a dazzling, deliciously macabre vision of prehistoric reptiles battling underwater. Since then, artists the world over have conjured up visions of dinosaurs, woolly mammoths, cavemen, and other creatures, shaping our understanding of the primeval past through their exhilarating images.

In this unprecedented new book, writer Zoë Lescaze and artist Walton Ford present the astonishing history of paleoart from 1830 to 1990. These are not cave paintings produced thousands of years ago, but modern visions of prehistory: stunning paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, mosaics, and murals that mingle scientific fact with unbridled fantasy. The collection provides an in-depth look at this neglected niche of art history and shows how the artists charged with imagining extinct creatures often projected their own aesthetic whims onto prehistory, rendering the primordial past with dashes of Romanticism, Impressionism, Japonisme, Fauvism, and Art Nouveau, among other influences.

With an incisive essay from Lescaze, a preface by Ford, four fold-outs, and dozens of details, the book showcases a stunning collection of artworks culled from major natural history museums, obscure archives, and private collections, and includes new photography of key works, including Charles R. Knight’s seminal paintings in Chicago and little-known masterpieces such as A. M. Belashov’s monumental mosaic in Moscow. From the fearsome to the fantastical, Paleoart is a celebration of prehistoric animals in art, and a novel chance to understand our favourite extinct beasts through an art historical lens.

The editor and author:

Zoë Lescaze is a freelance writer based in New York City, where she was born and raised. She studied art history, studio art, and anthropology at Bowdoin College, and has worked as an archaeological illustrator in Cameroon. Currently an art critic and journalist, her writing has appeared in ARTnews, Artforum, and Even, among other print and online publications.

The contributing author:

Walton Ford, born 1960, studied filmmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, but soon realized he was a painter. For the last 20 years he has been creating large-scale narrative watercolours. His work has been widely exhibited, including solo shows at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

After The Erotic Museum of Berlin and The Temple of Venus in Amsterdam, a work on Paris was imperative. Rich of six centuries of gallantry and the world capital of fashion and love, Paris is the symbol of eroticism and joyful pleasures. As a matter of fact, Offenbach has written a hymn to the joy of the senses of the Parisian life. But this city still does not possess an erotic museum comparable to Berlin's or Amsterdam's. The author, with great liberty, uses a method comparable to André Malraux's by constructing an imaginary museum in this Paris where time and space is infinite, but desires are still present. The exceptional iconography comes from private collections and covers over five centuries of naughty Parisian history. This is accompanied by an academic text, which allows the reader to penetrate in a world that is never vulgar, always subtle and never-ending: eroticism.

Artists are increasingly using doll-like human effigies to explore politics and gender in contemporary culture, ranging from radical statement to sophisticated critique. Play with Me showcases this appeal of animating the inanimate as well as the multifarious and fascinating ideas that dolls bring to life – from the way female forms have been objectified to the way dolls generate ethical and political debate to the way they represent the self. Unlike sculptures, dolls offer a living and open construct of the human figure. And artists are reacting to this human form in a manner thatʼs never been seen before, constituting an exciting new direction in contemporary art.

About the Author:

Grace Banks is a writer and editor on the many facets of popular culture. She is particularly interested in issues affecting women and the intersection between politics, women and culture. Among the magazines and newspapers to which she contributes are Time Out, Interview Magazine, New York Times, The Guardian, Vice News and InStyle.

The first dedicated to Japan's explosive graffiti scene, this book illustrates the work of the major graffiti artistsor "writers" working in Japan today. The word for graffiti in Japan is rakugaki, but its street pronunciation is rackgaki, punning on the English graffiti term for "racking" spraycans. RackGaki showcases the creativity that lies within this new and relatively unexplored form of contemporary Japanese art. Interviews with the "writers" and the authors own experiences in documenting the different aspects of this subculture, fill out a picture of an art form at the cutting edge and often at odds with police and civic authorities.

An accompanying DVD brings to life the still imagery of the book, focusing on the different environments which serve as the Japanese graffiti writers canvas. There is also footage of graffiti being created, both legal and illegal. Set to a soundtrack by some of Japans leading Trip-Hop artists, the viewer is fully immersed in the subculture that is Japanese graffiti.

Floral Masterpieces. The finest treasures of Pierre-Joseph Redouté

French flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolor paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s wife Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration.

This elegant catalogue brings together all engravings from Redouté’s illustrations of Roses and Choix des plus belles fleurs (Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers) and the most astounding images from The Lilies. Offering a vibrant overview of Redouté’s admixture of accuracy and beauty, it is also a privileged glimpse into the magnificent gardens and greenhouses of a bygone Paris.

The author:

H. Walter Lack is a Professor at the Free University of Berlin and former Director of the Botanical Gardens and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem. A leading expert in the history of botany, his research focuses on the global transfer of useful and ornamental plants from a cultural-historical perspective. He is the author of TASCHEN’s Garden of Eden and The Book of Palms.

Floral Masterpieces. The finest botanical treasures of Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Meet “the Raphael of flowers,” Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Adapted from our best-selling XL edition, this book gathers some of the finest engravings from his masterful volumes Roses, Lilies, and Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits. The dazzling images transport us back to the magnificent greenhouses and gardens of a bygone Paris.

Flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolour paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s wife Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration.

This collection brings our best-selling XL-sized edition to a smaller, more convenient format, still gathering some of the finest colour engravings from Redouté’s illustrations of Roses, Lilies, and Choix des plus belles fleurs et quelques branches des plus beaux fruits (Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits). Offering a vibrant overview of Redouté’s admixture of accuracy and beauty, it is also a privileged glimpse into the magnificent gardens and greenhouses of a bygone Paris.

The author

H. Walter Lack is a Professor at the Free University of Berlin and former Director of the Botanical Gardens and Botanical Museum in Berlin-Dahlem. A leading expert in the history of botany, his research focuses on the global transfer of useful and ornamental plants from a cultural-historical perspective. He is the author of TASCHEN’s Garden of Eden and The Book of Palms.

About the series:

TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program — now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.

250 illustrations

The restaurant boom of the past two decades has been a breeding-ground for arresting graphic design. At the top end of the market a restaurant’s menu, matchbooks, business cards, signage and napkins are as important to the brand and image as its interiors. Lower down the scale, where design budgets tend to be tighter, they become absolutely vital. When you don’t have the money for endless revamps of your interior how else do you differentiate yourself in a crowded market? It’s here that graphic design takes the strain, regularly setting the entire tone of a restaurant. This book celebrates the unsung heroes of restaurant graphics and illustrates the best examples of their craft from around the world, from agencies such as Pentagram, Bruce Mau, Lippa Pearce, Frost, North and Cake Design.

Spectacular Specimens. Albertus Seba’s unrivaled catalog of animals, insects and plants

Exotic plants, corals and crocodiles, birds and butterflies. Albertus Seba’s extraordinary catalog of natural specimens is not only one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements, but also one of the most prized natural history books of all time. It is a beautiful tribute to the breadth and the detail of creatures great and small, as well as to some now-extinct animals.

The Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time. Though scientists of his era often collected natural specimens for research purposes, Amsterdam-based pharmacist Albertus Seba (1665–1736) was unrivaled in his passion. His amazing collection of animals, plants and insects from all around the world gained international fame during his lifetime.

In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned careful and often scenic illustrations of every specimen. With these meticulous drawings, he arranged for the publication of a four-volume catalog, covering the entire collection from strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, birds, and butterflies, as well as now extinct creatures.

This reproduction is taken from a rare, hand-colored original. The introduction supplies background information about the fascinating tradition of natural collections to which Seba’s curiosities belonged.

The authors:

Irmgard Müsch, born in 1967, studied art history, history, and classical archaeology in Mainz and Berlin. Her PhD thesis from 1999 examines Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Kupfer-Bibel, a richly illustrated scientific commentary on the Bible from the early 18th century. She has published on art of the 18th and 20th centuries, scientific illustrations, and Kunstkammer pieces.

Jes Rust, born 1963, completed his studies in geology, paleontology, and zoology at Göttingen and Kiel. His thesis dealt with the evolution of fossil snails living in the fresh and brackish waters of prehistoric Greece. His assistantship at the Institute of Zoology in Göttingen between 1993 and 1999 was followed by his appointment in 2001 as professor of invertebrate paleontology and insect phylogeny at the University of Bonn.

Rainer Willmann holds a chair in zoology at Göttingen University, is director of its Zoological Museum, and is cofounder of its Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research. A specialist in phylogenetics and evolution, he conducts research into biodiversity and its history.

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!

Curious Creatures. Albertus Seba’s unrivaled catalog of animals, insects, and “freaks of nature”

The Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is one of the 18th century’s greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time. Though scientists of his era often collected natural specimens for research purposes, Amsterdam-based pharmacist Albertus Seba (1665–1736) was unrivaled in his passion. His amazing collection of animals, plants, and insects from all around the world earned him international fame.

In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned careful and often scenic illustrations of every specimen. With these meticulous drawings, he arranged for the publication of a four-volume catalog, covering the entire collection from strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, birds, and butterflies, as well as creatures that are now extinct.

Taken from a rare hand-colored original, the best-selling collection features an introduction that contextualizes the fascinating tradition of natural collections to which Seba’s curiosities belonged.

The authors:

Irmgard Müsch, born in 1967, studied art history, history, and classical archaeology in Mainz and Berlin. Her PhD thesis from 1999 examines Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Kupfer-Bibel, a richly illustrated scientific commentary on the Bible from the early 18th century. She has published on art of the 18th and 20th centuries, scientific illustrations, and Kunstkammer pieces.

Jes Rust, born 1963, completed his studies in geology, paleontology, and zoology at Göttingen and Kiel. His thesis dealt with the evolution of fossil snails living in the fresh and brackish waters of prehistoric Greece. His assistantship at the Institute of Zoology in Göttingen between 1993 and 1999 was followed by his appointment in 2001 as professor of invertebrate paleontology and insect phylogeny at the University of Bonn.

Rainer Willmann holds a chair in zoology at Göttingen University, is director of its Zoological Museum, and is cofounder of its Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research. A specialist in phylogenetics and evolution, he conducts research into biodiversity and its history.