Книги по живописи

Strokes of genius: the magic of Monet!

Claude Monet (1840–1926) was both the most typical and the most individual painter associated with the Impressionist movement. His long life and extraordinary work were dedicated to a pictorial exploration of the sensations which reality, and in particular landscape, offer the human eye. Monet’s poplars, grain stacks, Rouen Cathedral, and waterlily paintings — among the most beloved works of the Impressionist period — were created long before the currents of the contemporary avant-garde and had an inestimable influence on the development of modern art. This book traces the life’s work of one of art history’s most beloved painters.

Master of the Sublime. The essential Impressionist

Along with Turner, no artist has sought more than Claude Monet (1840-1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cézanne called "only an eye, but my God what an eye!" who stayed completely true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object.

It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of colour, and whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time in the dazzling light of Algeria as a conscript or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 1800s, what Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations were the late series of waterlilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, that, in their moves towards almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art.

This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential of artists and offers numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.

The author:

Daniel Wildenstein (1917-2001) was an art historian and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Paris). From 1939 onwards, he was Director of the Wildenstein Galleries of New York, London and Tokyo. He edited several international journals, e.g. the magazine Arts from 1956-1962 and the Gazette des Beaux-Arts after 1963. He co-founded the Fondation Wildenstein in 1970 (it was renamed the WildensteinInstitute in 1984), and was a prime mover in many exhibitions of international repute. Daniel Wildenstein also edited the catalogues raisonnés of various 18th, 19th and 20th-century artists. He was a world authority on Impressionism, and published catalogues of the works of Gauguin, Manet and Monet.

Master of the sublime. The essential Impressionist

No other artist, apart from J.M.W. Turner, tried as hard as Claude Monet (1840–1926) to capture light itself on canvas. Of all the Impressionists, it was the man Cézanne called “only an eye, but my God what an eye!” who stayed true to the principle of absolute fidelity to the visual sensation, painting directly from the object.

It could be said that Monet reinvented the possibilities of colour. Whether it was through his early interest in Japanese prints, his time as a conscript in the dazzling light of Algeria, or his personal acquaintance with the major painters of the late 19th century, the work Monet produced throughout his long life would change forever the way we perceive both the natural world and its attendant phenomena. The high point of his explorations was the late series of waterlilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny, which, in their approach toward almost total formlessness, are really the origin of abstract art.

This biography does full justice to this most remarkable and profoundly influential artist and offers numerous reproductions and archive photos alongside a detailed and insightful commentary.

The author:

Daniel Wildenstein (1917-2001) was an art historian and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Paris). From 1939 onwards, he was Director of the Wildenstein Galleries of New York, London and Tokyo. He edited several international journals, e.g. the magazine Arts from 1956-1962 and the Gazette des Beaux-Arts after 1963. He co-founded the Foundation Wildenstein in 1970 (it was renamed the Wildenstein Institute in 1984), and was a prime mover in many exhibitions of international repute. Daniel Wildenstein also edited the catalogues raisonnés of various 18th, 19th and 20th-century artists. He was a world authority on Impressionism and published catalogues of the works of Gauguin, Manet and Monet.

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!

Minimalist bodies, sensual forms

The sensual, voluptuous shapes in the work of British sculptor Henry Moore (1889-1986) are the sign of his unmistakable signature style. Often depicting human or human-like forms—especially female—Moore`s sculptures, with their abstract style, brought a distinctive brand of Modernism to fine art. His cast bronze and carved marble sculptures grace the gardens and galleries of the world`s finest museums and have earned him a devoted following. Particularly beloved are his many mother-and-child compositions.

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:
Jeremy Lewison is an expert on modern British and contemporary art. After being Director of Kettle's Yard, Cambridge he worked at the Tate Gallery for 18 years where he was Director of Collections until 2002. Among his many publications are books on Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Ben Nicholson and Anish Kapoor. He has curated many exhibitons of modern and contemporary art and is preparing a retrospective exhibition of the work of Alice Neel. He is now a freelance curator and art consultant.

The Scream of self-liberation. Paintings by one of Expressionism's pioneers

For Edvard Munch (1863-1944), painting was an act of self-liberation. His treatments of fear, desperation, and death still exert a powerful visual and psychological effect on modern viewers. Of all Munch’s paintings, "The Scream" (1893), representing a figure tortured by horror, is the most well-known-and certainly one of the most expressive.

The artist reflected his innermost feelings in his work: "In reality, my art is a free confession, an attempt to clarify to myself my own relation to life..." Although Edvard Munch cannot be clearly identified with any single movement, he is deemed a pioneer of Expressionism.

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

Fear, desperation, and death. Painting as an act of self-liberation

For Edvard Munch (1863-1944), painting was an act of self-liberation. His treatments of fear, desperation, and death still exert a powerful visual and psychological effect on modern viewers. Of all Munch’s paintings, "The Scream" (1893), representing a figure tortured by horror, is the most well-known-and certainly one of the most expressive.

The artist reflected his innermost feelings in his work: "In reality, my art is a free confession, an attempt to clarify to myself my own relation to life..." Although Edvard Munch cannot be clearly identified with any single movement, he is deemed a pioneer of Expressionism.

Посмотреть русскоязычное издание книги Munch -  Мунк
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

Psychodrama. The reverberating power of an Expressionist icon

Take in the dark, compelling visions of Edvard Munch, artist of lurid colors, strange distortions, and a haunting Mona Lisa for modernity: The Scream. This essential introduction surveys Munch’s staggering capacity for psychodrama and the echo of his artistic wail through the work of Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Tracey Emin, Marlene Dumas, and beyond.

A hairless, ghostly figure on a bridge. The sky orange-red above him. His hands raised to his ears, his mouth wide in a haunting wail. In painting The Scream, Edvard Munch (1863–1944) created Mona Lisa for our times. The shriek of his iconic figure reverberates around the world, its echo resounding in the work of Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Martin Kippenberger, Marlene Dumas, and Tracey Emin.

This introductory book surveys Munch’s staggering capacity for psychodrama in The Scream and beyond. With rich illustration, it looks at the lurid, dark, and deeply modern visions that made up the artist’s response to relationships and emotions. These compelling images, regarded by the artist himself as a means of “free confession,” remain as magnetic today as they were on the brink of modernism.

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

Known primarily as a great painter, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) was also one of the best draftsmen of the 17th century. Although his devotional paintings seem to have been created effortlessly, they are the result of careful thought and study, a process that comes alive in the preparatory drawings. Murillo used a variety of techniques, favoring pen and ink and brown wash and red-and-black chalk. Like painters schooled in Italian Renaissance practice, the Spaniard developed his paintings in stages, starting with sketches of the full composition and then focusing on details that posed specific problems. Occasionally, Murillo used drawings as a medium for original compositions; these are highly finished pieces, usually enhanced by the use of wash and unmistakably stamped with the artist's personality.

This sumptuous book is a thoroughly revised edition of the 1976 publication Murillo & His Drawings. Twenty sheets have been added to the catalogue of authentic works, the bibliography has been brought up to date, and the entries have been revised.

A Legendary Artist Revisited

Unknown to many, Niko Pirosmani is revered as a legend in his native Georgia. Conveying a sense of poignant empathy, his portraits, animal paintings, landscapes and scenes from everyday life painted around 1900 in a flourishing Tbilisi draw on medieval iconography and testify to a deeply felt sense of belonging. At the same time, the avant-garde recognised a novel and radically new form of painting in his work. Like Henri Rousseau or Marc Chagall, Pirosmani is one of the exceptional yet difficult to categorize proponents of early modern art.

This catalogue demonstrates Pirosmani's qualities in numerous illustrations, showing how his rapid brushstrokes on black oilcloth give the sparsely applied colors a glow as if coming from a dark depth. Pirosmani was a master of concentration-and a storyteller. As expertly explained in the catalogue by a selection of Georgian art historians, he was a unique artist, a contradictory figure and an important part of the art scene in Tbilisi, then considered the "Paris of the East."

About the Author:

Born into a peasant family, Niko Pirosmani (1862 – 1918) arrived in Tbilisi in 1870. Painting portraits and tavern signs for room and board, he came to the attention of the Georgian and Russian avant-garde in 1912, who presented him a year later as the “Rousseau of the East” in the Moscow exhibition Mischen alongside works of Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich and Marc Chagall. An exhibition in Paris was planned, yet never to happen due to the First World War. Pirosmani died impoverished in 1918. Today he is Georgia’s most celebrated artist.

A wider public discovery of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918) is long overdue. Today, the autodidact is known not only as one of the most significant representatives of naïve art, but the story of his special reception is remarkable, as he painted his pictures for inns and pubs. Hardly known outside of Georgia these days, his work was nevertheless displayed alongside works by Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich, and Marc Chagall in the legendary 1913 exhibition Mischén (Target) in Moscow, where he was known as the “Rousseau of the East.” Pirosmani’s unique visual vocabulary is based on consistently reduced formal elements: against an always black background, the elementary colors of red, blue, yellow, green, and white developed refined effects, immediately appealing to the viewer.

Now, the Albertina in Vienna is devoting a first large retrospective to Pirosmani in the heart of Europe since a long time ago, examining his paintings in the context of art history.

Exhibition: 26.10.2018–27.1.2019, Albertina, ViennaMarch–October 2019, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles

A wider public discovery of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918) is long overdue. Today, the autodidact is known not only as one of the most significant representatives of naïve art, but the story of his special reception is remarkable, as he painted his pictures for inns and pubs. Hardly known outside of Georgia these days, his work was nevertheless displayed alongside works by Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich, and Marc Chagall in the legendary 1913 exhibition Mischén (Target) in Moscow, where he was known as the “Rousseau of the East.” Pirosmani’s unique visual vocabulary is based on consistently reduced formal elements: against an always black background, the elementary colors of red, blue, yellow, green, and white developed refined effects, immediately appealing to the viewer.

Now, the Albertina in Vienna is devoting a first large retrospective to Pirosmani in the heart of Europe since a long time ago, examining his paintings in the context of art history.

Exhibition: 26.10.2018–27.1.2019, Albertina, ViennaMarch–October 2019, Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles

The art of American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is splendid with colour and laden with hidden sensuality. O'Keeffe's name rests mainly on the large-format flower pictures that have assured her an unusual place in the annals of art, between realist and abstract.

Our Basic Art Series study traces the idiosyncratic of O'Keeffe's career, and numerous illustrations document the most important periods in her lengthy life in art.

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

Flowers in the desert. Sensuality and color fuse with nature

The art of American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is splendid with color and laden with hidden sensuality. O’Keeffe’s fame was largely earned by her large-format flower pictures that have assured her an unusual place in the annals of art, between realist and abstract.

Our Basic Art Series study traces the idiosyncratic of O’Keeffe’s career, and numerous illustrations document the most important periods in her lengthy life in art.

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

The oeuvre of Odilon Redon (1840-1916) marks the threshold between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and thus represents the interplay between tradition and innovation.

Fractures and contrasts characterize his artistic development from the black and white of his early, dark lithographs and works in charcoal to the downright explosions of color in his bright pastels and oils. Bizarre monsters appear alongside heavenly creatures in a blend of dream and nightmare, nature and vision. Inclined to internalization, the mythic, sacred, and biological motifs in Redon s works take on a sense of the mystical, owing to both the subject and the aesthetic aspects of color and form. Greatly admired by contemporaries such as Paul Cézanne and Paul gauguin, Redon influenced artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp as well as the Surrealists.

The catalogue presents the artist s brilliant ideas and his body of work in all of its artistic heterogeneity.