Разные книги об искусстве

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.

Daring sexual humor from the irreverent magazine Sex to Sexty

Some call it the most vulgar magazine ever made; others see it as the last honest compendium of American sexual humor, starting just as the sexual revolution was expanding minds and stomping taboos, and ending when political correctness made all such humor socially unacceptable. Whatever your stance, the magazine Sex to Sexty was and is an outrageous collection of dirty jokes and cartoons published from 1965 to 1983 by Texas entrepreneur John Newbern, whose life was lifted straight from the pages of his publication. His partner in crime against good taste was hillbilly artist Pierre Davis, who created elaborate oil painted covers for each issue that celebrate every permutation of manly humor. No topic was safe from the lowbrow wit of these two men and the cartoonists they recruited to preserve what they called the "True Jokelore of America".

Sex to Sexty reproduces all 198 covers of the magazine and many of the original paintings that adorned them. Then, in the first in-depth analysis of American sexual humor, author and editor Dian Hanson categorizes the great themes revealed by the thousands of cartoons and jokes into spreads with titles like "Stinkfinger," "Incest on the Best," "Cannibal Cuisine," and "I Love Ewe!" Raw, irreverent, uncensored and all-American, Sex to Sexty spares no gender, sexual preference, ethnic orientation, or hygienic dysfunction in bringing you what the magazine's original publisher called the "World's Largest Accumulation of He-Man Robust Humor in the World." Special fold-out dust jacket shows every cover image and unfolds to reveal a poster of a never before seen, unreleased Sex to Sexty cover originally deemed "too tasteless" by the magazine's publisher, but definitely "suitable for framing in your bar, rumpus room or bathroom".

Michael Wesely caught attention with his Open Shutter project documenting the New York MoMA renovation with exposure times of up to two years. For his flower Still Lifes 7-day exposures sufficed to invoke the transitoriness of all flesh in pictures that seem to live a life of their own.

Graffiti art is constantly changing. Fresh coats of paint and newly pasted posters appear overnight in cities across the world. New artists, new ideas and new tactics displace faded images in a perpetual process of renewal and metamorphosis. From Stockholm to Tokyo, Barcelona to Los Angeles, Melbourne to Milan, wall spaces are a breeding ground for graphic and typographic forms as artists unleash their daily creations.

Using new materials and techniques, its innovators are creating an original language of forms and images infused with contemporary graphic design and illustration. Fluent in branding and graphic imagery, they have been replacing tags with more personal logos and shifting from typographic to iconographic forms of communication. Subverted signs, spontaneous drawings, powerful symbols and curious characters represent an unstoppable worldwide outdoor gallery of free art.

Street Logos is an international celebration of these developments in 21st-century graffiti, an essential sourcebook for all art and design professionals and a delight to everyone excited by the vitality of the street.

The experimental art of Olafur Eliasson

Studio Olafur Eliasson is an experimental laboratory located in Berlin. Led by renowned Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, it functions as an interdisciplinary space, generating fresh dialogues between art and its surroundings.

This rich sourcebook enables the reader to delve into the corners and crevices of the Studio’s diverse projects. The key concepts behind the works are presented alphabetically, and unfold in the course of short conversations with the artist.

The majority of Eliasson’s thought-provoking installations, photographs, sculptures, and architectural projects to date is included, with additional material focusing on the research processes at Studio Olafur Eliasson. The introduction is provided by the noted art historian Philip Ursprung, who also participates in the conversations.

Covering the 1920s to the 1960s, this book brings together vintage ads, postcards, brochures, and photographs as well as period "Top 10" lists covering surf superstars, songs, and surfing spots. If you`ve ever found yourself waxing nostalgic for bygone beach culture, this is the book for you.

For 'Tales of the Brothers Grimm' thirty-six celebrated and lesserknown of the unsanitized fairy tales collected by the illustrious brothers were carefully chosen by artist Natalie Frank, re-interpret- ed in seventy-five gouache and chalk pastel drawings, and cast in a Surrealist dreamscape. This will be the largest collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales ever illustrated by a fine artist. Frank’s irreverent palette, sophisticated use of color, and inventive depiction of these dark, far from storybook narratives, capture the original stories with a contemporary and unflinching eye. Each of the tales opens with a handdrawn title page, is framed by a unique border, and small drawings punctuate each story, all in the tradition of classic fairy tale editions.

The foremost Grimm scholar, Jack Zipes, introduces the book and contextualizes these stories and drawings within a history of the Brothers Grimm, its illustrations, and the tradition of the fairy tale. A complex and unique world of the imagination emerges from the pairing of these tales with Frank’s drawings, assembled by the celebrated designer, Marian Bantjes. Additional texts include a conversation between the artist and director Julie Taymor, as well as essays by Feminist art historian Linda Nochlin and curator Claire Gilman. This book marks Frank’s exhibitions of drawings based on the Brothers Grimm at The Drawing Center, New York, and Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin, in 2015.