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A revised edition of a classic title, now with digitally restored photographs, showcasing the finest surviving examples of ancient Buddhist art.

'Benoy K. Behl's remarkable photographs, painstakingly gathered and digitally restored over thirty years of hard labour, are probably the best and truest record of these fabulous treasures that will ever be created.' William Dalrymple

A revised edition of a classic title, now with digitally restored photographs, showcasing the finest surviving examples of ancient Buddhist art.

Since their chance re-discovery in 1819, the breathtaking paintings and sculptures of the Ajanta caves have inspired and delighted experts and amateurs alike. Ranging in date from the second century BCE to the sixth century CE, these ancient Buddhist artworks rank among the world's most important cultural treasures. Benoy K. Behl captured the beauty and luminosity of these works using long exposures and only natural light and now presents them here digitally restored to show the paintings closer to their original glory than ever before.

The exquisite murals, depicting the tales of previous incarnations of Buddha, scenes of princely processions and fantastical birds and beasts, provide virtually the only evidence of painting styles that first developed in India and remain crucially important to the understanding of Buddhist art throughout Asia. On UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites, the Ajanta caves survive as a potent symbol of the great beauty of India's rich artistic past.

This new edition provides for the first time a view of some of the masterpieces of Ajanta painstakingly digitally restored by Behl. Sensitively carried out, the restoration makes the paintings clearer without interfering with their original grace and nuance, leading to a deeper appreciation of their artistry. Accompanied by expert commentaries to fully immerse the reader in the cultural context of the murals, this book will help preserve the legacy of the glorious art of Ajanta for years to come.

About the Author:

Benoy K. Behl is an art historian, film-maker and photographer who is known for his tireless and prolific output of work over the past forty-six years. He has taken over 53,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage and made 145 documentaries on subjects of art and culture.

Riders on the Storm. The charge of 20th-century expressionism

Join the heady ride of Der Blaue Reiter, the group of artists who galloped just three years of the early 20th century together, but in their rejection of establishment standards and charge into a new artistic realm marked a major step in the evolution of European Expressionist and abstract art.

Although it only lasted three turbulent years, the afterburn of the Blaue Reiter (1911–1914) movement exerted a tremendous influence on the development of modern European art. Named after a Kandinsky painting, The Blue Rider, this loose band of artists, grouped around Russian émigré Wassily Kandinsky and German painter Franz Marc, sought to reject establishment standards and charge into a new artistic unknown.

Articulating spiritual values and concerns in an era of rapid industrialization, the artists of the Blaue Reiter were connected by a shared interest in painting, woodcuts, and prints, as well as the symbolic values of color and spontaneous approaches to artwork. Key pieces such as Franz Marc’s Blue Horse I (1911), Kandinsky’s Picture with a Black Arch (1912), and August Macke’s Woman in a Green Jacket (1913) reveal varying subjects, but all channel distorted perspectives, crude lines, and an emphatic, expressionist use of color.

The Blaue Reiter was abruptly truncated by the onset of the First World War, which killed two of its leading artists, along with growing dissent between the group’s protagonists. This book reveals the movement’s remarkable influence despite its brevity, presenting key works, artists, and their reverberating effects.

The author:

Hajo Düchting studied art history, philosophy, and archaeology in Munich, where he gained his doctorate in 1981 with a thesis on Robert Delaunay’s Windows series. After working in museum and adult education, he moved on to teaching posts and guest professorships at the universities of Munich, Kassel, Leipzig, Saarbrücken, and Mainz. Düchting has published numerous articles on the art of the modern era, color theory, and the teaching of art, and has authored a number of TASCHEN titles, including Paul Cézanne, Wassily Kandinsky, Robert and Sonia Delaunay, and Georges Seurat.

About the series:

Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. 

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

A compelling and authoritative overview of the drawings of Vincent van Gogh, one of the most celebrated and intriguing figures in the history of art.

Vincent van Gogh's (1853-1890) drawings are some of the most familiar and expressive in the history of art. Van Gogh believed that drawing was the 'root of everything', and this was reflected in his remarkable output of over 1,000 works during his short and tragic life; many of them personal, often lonely explorations of the emerging modern world.

This book is the first comprehensive account to celebrate the singularity of the artist's achievements in this field. Arranged broadly thematically, from drawings of potato harvesters to depictions of knotted poplars, pensive studies from life to a sketch of the famous Yellow House in Arles, eminent art historian and curator Christopher Lloyd encourages readers to consider the artist's drawings from a fresh viewpoint: documenting successes and failures, experiments, trials and disappointments. Primarily self-taught, Van Gogh's approach to drawing was instinctual, but he soon recognized the importance of mastering the grammar of art - anatomy, foreshortening, perspective - as well as materials and techniques, in order to express his emotional responses to a subject as vividly as possible. With examples from the artist's voluminous and emotionally charged family correspondence, sketchbooks, and comparative artworks by the Old Masters and contemporaries, this engaging study outlines why drawing is central to Van Gogh's oeuvre, and equal to the intensity and reputation of his paintings.

Featuring works from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and many other important collections in Europe and the US, this beautifully illustrated volume offers an extensive interpretation of the artist's drawings, beyond what has been published to date.

About the Author:

Christopher Lloyd is an art historian and curator. He was Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures in the British Royal Collection from 1988 to 2005, and is the author of Edgar Degas: Drawings and Pastels (2014), Paul Cézanne: Drawings and Watercolours (2015), Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawings (2019) and Masterpieces: An Art Lover’s Guide to Great Britain and Ireland (2022), all published by Thames & Hudson. His many other publications include art monographs, official catalogues of museum collections and general surveys of the British Royal Collection.

Contents List

Preface
Brief Chronology of the Life of Vincent van Gogh
1. Setting Out
2. Figures
3. Compositional Drawings: Figures and Landscapes
4. Place
5. Landscape
6. Portraits
7. Repetitions
Epilogue

A Revolution of Light and Color

Occasionally, when something seems very familiar you lose sight of what makes it so special: Flemish Masters. From van Eyck to Bruegel sets out to counteract this effect and opens our eyes once again to the revolution that took place in the Low Countries in the 15th and 16th centuries that shaped the course of European art. In 48 lavishly illustrated analyses, Matthias Depoorter explores how painters such as Van Eyck, Van der Weiden, Massys, Bosch, and Bruegel reached unprecedented heights, and are rightfully considered innovators to this day. The defining factor was their perfecting and mastery of the oil painting technique as well as their groundbreaking attention to optical lighting effects. The new technical possibilities offered a different way of looking at the world and ultimately a new way of painting. No less innovative was the level of detail. These painters were thoroughly acquainted with each other’s work — this volume shows the fundamental artistic cross-fertilization. A must-read for anyone who wants to fall in love with the old masterpieces anew.

About the Author:

Matthias Depoorter (*1980) is a writer and an art historian. He was one of the curators of the seminal exhibition Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent and coordinated the accompanying scholarly publication.

A new edition of this classic collection of letters, critical reviews and reminiscences by Impressionist artists and their contemporaries.

The Impressionists - Monet, Manet, Degas, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley and others - are probably the most popular of all artistic schools. Their struggle to impose a new vision is one of the most absorbing in the whole history of art. With imagination and insight, art historian Bernard Denvir brings Impressionism into focus by showing it through the eyes of the artists themselves and their contemporaries, against the background of the time.

Through letters, critical reviews, statements and reminiscences - whether explosive or appreciative, blinkered or perceptive - of the people who were there, the story of this ground-breaking art movement comes alive. This was the age of innovation, political liberalization, emergent photography and modern ideas about perception. The Impressionists had new ways of painting, but they also had a new world to paint.

This revised edition now features full colour reproductions of art throughout and an updated bibliography.

About the Author:

Bernard Denvir was a distinguished art critic, art historian and writer. He was head of the Department of Art History at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, a member of the Council for Academic Awards, and for several years President of the British section of the International Association of Art Critics. He wrote widely on art, including books on Chardin, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism.

Contents List:

Introduction
Documents 1855–1871
Impressionist colour Documents
1. 1871–1873
2. 1874–1876
3. 1877–1881
4. 1882–1885
5. 1886–1894
6. 1895–1920
Biographies
Chronology
Bibliographical note
List of illustrations

There are no rules, and even less justice. Death takes everyone without discrimination. Sometimes it is accidental – like Signorelli, who fell from scaffolding. Sometimes it is expected, as with the diabetic Cezanne, who wrote “I am old, sick, and I swore to die while painting”. But often, researching a painter’s death is an easier task than determining which of their works is truly their ‘last’. Paintings tend to be dated by year and not month, inciting much debate among art historians. This book embraces this ambiguity, studying 100 examples of works that lay completed for several years, or were left unfinished on the easel, or were finished post-mortem by a friend’s grieving hand.

The Last Painting collects 100 terminal paintings from 100 artists, including Dalí, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Goya, Pollock, Rembrandt, Dix, Bonnard, Titien, and many more. Each picture gives us a glimpse into the painter’s mind. Did they know death was coming? Did they paint with denial, or acceptance? Did they return to a favourite subject, or decide to embark on a new, original project while they still had time? A poetic and thought-provoking book, The Last Painting is a sensitive exploration of the relationship between art and death.

- A collection of 100 final paintings from 100 deceased artists, with accompanying biographies and thought-provoking text
- Features a diverse range of artists, from Bosch, Rubens, and Fragonard, to Hopper, Mondrian, and Kahlo
- Generates a fascinating discussion about the relationship between art and death

About the Author:

Born in 1949, Bernard Chambaz is a historian, poet, novelist and essayist. He is the winner of Goncourt's First Novel Award (1993), Apollinaire Awards (2005), Louis- Guilloux (2008) and Roland-de-Jouvenel of the French Academy (2014). He has written about fifty books, including Ghetto, Dernières Nouvelles du martin-pêcheur, À tombeau ouvert and 17.

A historic publishing event! For the first time ever, all 3,022 paintings from the world's most popular museum are collected into a striking, slipcased book

From the Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Vermeer's The Lacemaker, the Louvre houses many of the most celebrated and important paintings of all time. The Louvre: All the Paintings allows you to view every painting currently on display in the permanent collection of the museum from your home.

Organized and divided into the four main painting collections of the museum-the Italian School, the Northern School, the Spanish School, and the French School-the paintings are then presented chronologically by the artist's date of birth. Four hundred of the most iconic and significant paintings are illuminated with 300-word discussions by art historians Anja Grebe and Vincent Pomarè on the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing the painting, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, the artist's impact on the history of art, and more.

About the Authors:

Anja Grebe teaches art history at the University of Erlangen- Nuremberg/Germany. She is taking part in numerous international research projects and exhibitions and has published extensively on medieval and modern art history. Grebe is the author of The Vatican: All the Paintings and Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes. She lives in Erlangen, Germany.

Erich Lessing has been documenting the culture and fine arts of Europe and the Near East for more than fifty years. He is arguably today's leading independent photographer of the arts in the Western World. He created the Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive which is an extensive image library featuring over 40,000 high resolution images from over 500 museums and private collections throughout the world, including a thorough coverage of such institutions as: The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Prado in Madrid, and many more. Having worked as a photographer all over the world for more than six decades, he has published more than 40 books with his art photography. He lives in Vienna and travels regularly to Paris and other art capitals of the world.

A historic publishing event! For the first time ever, all 3,022 paintings from the world's most popular museum are collected into a striking, slipcased book

From the Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Vermeer's The Lacemaker, the Louvre houses many of the most celebrated and important paintings of all time. The Louvre: All the Paintings allows you to view every painting currently on display in the permanent collection of the museum from your home.

Organized and divided into the four main painting collections of the museum-the Italian School, the Northern School, the Spanish School, and the French School-the paintings are then presented chronologically by the artist's date of birth. Four hundred of the most iconic and significant paintings are illuminated with 300-word discussions by art historians Anja Grebe and Vincent Pomarè on the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing the painting, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, the artist's impact on the history of art, and more.

About the Authors:

Anja Grebe teaches art history at the University of Erlangen- Nuremberg/Germany. She is taking part in numerous international research projects and exhibitions and has published extensively on medieval and modern art history. Grebe is the author of Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes and The Vatican: All the Paintings. She lives in Erlangen, Germany.

Erich Lessing has been documenting the culture and fine arts of Europe and the Near East for more than fifty years. He is arguably today's leading independent photographer of the arts in the Western World. He created the Erich Lessing Culture and Fine Arts Archive which is an extensive image library featuring over 40,000 high resolution images from over 500 museums and private collections throughout the world, including a thorough coverage of such institutions as: The Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Uffizi in Florence, the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, the Prado in Madrid, and many more. Having worked as a photographer all over the world for more than six decades, he has published more than 40 books with his art photography. He lives in Vienna and travels regularly to Paris and other art capitals of the world.

Without a doubt, Picasso is one of the most important and versatile artistic personalities of the twentieth century. But how does a body of work become so successful, and how does it wind up in major collections, museums, and exhibitions? Not infrequently, it is the courage of individuals who recognize genius in the works and advocate for them in the face of conservatism and criticism. In Picasso’s case, this role in Germany fell to the Bremen art dealer Michael Hertz. It was his commitment in the post-war period that resulted not only in the museumization of the artist after the Second World War, but that also greatly benefited Kunsthalle Bremen, which has one of the most extensive collections of the artist’s prints. This volume brings together the outstanding printworks, including lithographs, linocuts, and book illustrations. Picasso’s oeuvre of prints can be regarded as a fascinating collection, in which can be read the triumph of the affordable medium in post-war Germany, as well as the dealer’s strong commitment.

About the Authors:

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) is regarded as the epitome of the twentieth-century artist. In addition to his paintings and sculptures, his graphic works also enjoy special fame.

Michael Hertz (1912–1987) made a name for himself in the post-war period as an art dealer. Through his contacts to the French art scene, he encountered the work of Picasso and became the exclusive representative for his printworks in Germany.

This tour-de-force of Britain’s Royal Collection provides a very rare opportunity to see an art trove not readily accessible to the world at large-most of the paintings are not normally available for public viewing, including several that have never been publicly exhibited since entering the collection.

While it is known that the Crown has one of the world’s great collections of Leonardo’s, visitors to the Royal Academy’s recent Charles I exhibition were amazed by the richness of the Royal Collection and its many unseen works. This extraordinary volume reveals more of the unparalleled collection that is housed in thirteen historic royal residences, from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, where the Royal Family regularly reside, to spaces specifically devoted to the public display of art, the Queen’s Gallery and Hampton Court Palace.

It comprises more than a million objects, including 7,000 painting and 180,000 watercolors, drawings, and prints. This stunning volume, prepared in collaboration with curators at the Royal Collection, showcases 240 masterpieces in exacting detail, including paintings by Titian, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Rubens, Rembrandt, van Dyck, Vermeer, Gainsborough, and many others. Also included are treasures from its vast collection of drawings, watercolors, and miniatures.

About the Author:

Anna Poznanskaya is curator and deputy head of the Department of 19th and 20th Century European and American Arts at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Tim Knox is the Director of The Royal Collection. 

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Пролистать книгу The Queen's Pictures: Masterpieces from the Royal Collection

Showcases the masterpieces of Renaissance art that can be found in Italian Museums. 

Masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance are in churches and museums throughout Italy. This book follows Leonado da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and others from place to place - Milan, Florence, the Vatican, Urbino and elsewhere - noting the great works as well as those found in less celebrated locations.

Contents: Introduction; The Spring of the Renaissance; Leonardo in Florence: The Workshop of Verrocchio; Raphael: From the Onset in Urbino to the Early Masterpieces; Leonardo in Milan: the Sforza's Court; The Wonders of the Codex Atlanticus; The Cenacle, One of the Most Beautiful Paintings in the World; The Triumph of Raphael: the Room of the Segnatura and the First Roman Masterpieces; Raphael Towards the Room of Heliodorus; Michelangelo Painter; Raphael: from the Cartoons for the Sistine Chapel to the Room of the Fire in the Borgo; Raphael: Superintendent of Fine Arts; The Vatican Lodges; The Mystery of the First Caravaggio; Index of the Works and Places of Conservation.

Text in English and Italian.

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Пролистать книгу The Renaissance in Italian Museums​ 

An unprecedented celebration of every Old Master painting in the Vatican, as well as hundreds of additional masterpieces in the papal collection, is included in this deluxe slipcased book.

The Vatican is one of the most visited sites in the world and houses masterpieces like Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Raphael frescoes, the works of Giotto, Fra Angelico, Titian, and Caravaggio, and some of the world's finest statues, manuscripts, architecture, and gardens, as well as the world's most precious Christian relics.

The Vatican: All the Paintings is a complete treasure trove of one of the most exquisite and important art collections in the world. Each one of the 976 works of art represented in the book -- including 661 classical paintings on display in the permanent painting collection and 315 other masterpieces -- is annotated with the name of the painting and artist, the date of the work, the birth and death dates of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the work, and the catalog number (if applicable). In addition, 180 of the most iconic and significant paintings and other pieces of art are highlighted with 300-word essays by art historian Anja Grebe on such topics as the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing the work, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, and the artist's impact on art history.

About the Author:

Anja Grebe teaches art history at the University of Erlangen- Nuremberg/Germany. She is taking part in numerous international research projects and exhibitions and has published extensively on medieval and modern art history. Grebe is the author of The Louvre: All the Paintings and Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes. She lives in Erlangen, Germany.

The Vatican is one of the most visited sites in the world. It encompasses numerous museums and palaces, and houses one of the finest art collections known to man. Amassed by popes throughout the centuries, including several of the most renowned Roman sculptures and important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world, the Vatican is a perennial source of awe and fascination.

From Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and his Pieta, to the Raphael frescoes, to the works of Giotto, Fra Angelica, Titian, and Caravaggio, The Vatican: All the Paintings is an unprecedented celebration of this great collection. The book is organized into 22 sections representing the museums and areas of the Vatican, including the Pinacotea, the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms, the Borgia Apartments, the Vatican Palaces, and St. Peter's Basilica.

Each one of the 976 works of art represented in this book -- including the 661 classical paintings on display in the permanent painting collection and 315 other masterpieces -- is annotated with the name of the painting and artists, the date of the work, the birth and death of the artist, the medium that was used, the size of the work, and the catalog number (if applicable). In addition, 180 of the most iconic paintings, sculptures, and other pieces of art are highlights with 300-word essays by art historian Anja Grebe and bestselling author Ross King. Here you will find information such as the key attributes of the work, what to look for when viewing it, the artist's inspirations and techniques, biographical information on the artist, and the artist's impact on history.

About the Author:

Anja Grebe teaches art history at the University of Erlangen- Nuremberg/Germany. She is taking part in numerous international research projects and exhibitions and has published extensively on medieval and modern art history. Grebe is the author of The Louvre: All the Paintings and Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes. She lives in Erlangen, Germany.

Monet's famous painting "Impression: Sunrise, Le Havre" represented the most innovative - and later most popular - art movement the world had ever seen, and its appeal endures today. Monet's experiments with light and colour are described in depth in this latest addition to our best-selling series, "The World's Greatest Art".

Organized into five sections on life, society, places, influences and techniques, the book enables the reader to consider Monet from different angles and contexts, providing a broader understanding of this great artist.

Bringing the life and work of a truly unique artist to life, Van Gogh is a comprehensive guide to one of the most unconventional and highly original artists of the nineteenth century. 

Perhaps the most famous artist in the world, Vincent Van Gogh is perceived by many as the ‘mad’ artist, the man who painted in a frenzy or simply the tormented soul who cut off his ear. His artistic genius is often overshadowed by those who see his paintings as mere visual manifestations of his troubled mind. Whilst in part this may be true, in reality, his innovative and unique artistic style was of enormous importance to a host of artists who followed in his wake. Even when openly influenced by his predecessors or contemporaries his art remained identifiably his own, developing a distinctive style that failed to be accepted by the art-buying public in his own lifetime. 

From his earliest watercolours depicting the plight of rural Dutch peasants, through his attempts to be accepted by the Parisian avant-garde, right up to his final paintings of the Auvers countryside, every aspect of his life is celebrated in this beautiful reference book.