Книги по живописи

A Frenchman in Tahiti. Gauguin’s search for pristine originality and unadulterated nature

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was not cut out for finance. Nor did he last particularly long in the French Navy, or as a tarpaulin salesman in Copenhagen who did not speak Danish. He began painting in his spare time in 1873 and in 1876 took part in the Paris Salon. Three years later, he was exhibiting alongside Pissarro, Degas, and Monet.

A querulous, hard-drinking individual, Gauguin often called himself a savage. His close but fraught friendship with the similarly temperamental Vincent van Gogh climaxed in a violent incident in 1888, when van Gogh purportedly confronted Gauguin with a razor blade, and later cut off his own ear. Shortly afterwards, following the completion of a midcareer masterpiece Vision After the Sermon (1888), Gauguin took himself to Tahiti, with the intention of escaping “everything that is artificial and conventional…”On Tahiti, Gauguin’s unfettered joy in the island’s nature, native people, and figurative images soared, spurring a prolific output of paintings and prints. In works such as Woman with a Flower (Vahine no te Tiare, 1891) and Sacred Spring: Sweet Dreams (Nave Nave Moe, 1894), he developed a distinct, Primitivist style that positively oozed with sunshine and colour. In the tradition of exotic sensuality, his thick, buttery lashings of paint lingered in particular over the curves of Tahitian women.

Gauguin died alone, on Tahiti’s neighboring Marquesas Islands, with many of his personal papers and belongings dispersed in a local auction. It was not until a smart art dealer began curating and showing Gauguin’s work in Paris that the artist’s profound influence began making itself felt, especially to the new breed of French avant-garde artists, such as Picasso and Matisse.

This book offers the essential introduction the artist’s truly colourful life, from the Impressionist salons of 1870s Paris to his final days in the Pacific, productive and passionate to the end.

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

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Gauguin: Metamorphoses at The Museum of Modern Art, this volume explores the remarkable relationship between Paul Gauguin's rare and extraordinary prints and transfer drawings, and his better-known paintings and sculptures in wood and ceramic.

Created in several discreet bursts of activity from 1889 until his death in 1903, these remarkable works on paper reflect Gauguin's experiments with a range of mediums, from radically primitive woodcuts that extend from the sculptural gouging of his carved wood reliefs, to jewel-like watercolour monotypes and large, mysterious transfer drawings. Richly illustrated with approximately 190 works in a range of mediums, Gauguin: Metamorphoses explores the artist's radically experimental approach to techniques and his pivotal place in the history of art. An introductory essay by Starr Figura considers the significance of Gauguin's innovative printmaking and the relationship between his prints and works in painting and sculpture.

About the Authors:

Elizabeth Childs writes on Gauguin's radical wood sculptures, using them as a touchstone from which to further investigate his peripatetic practice.
An essay by Hal Foster addresses Gauguin's primitivism and its aesthetic and cultural implications.
An essay by Erika Mosier offers a conservator's insights into Gauguin's unusual printmaking techniques.

The Saint Louis Art Museum has assembled one of North America’s largest and most comprehensive collections of German Expressionist paintings. Rediscover a defining movement of modern art through this original study of works by 25 artists who span its famously wide arc.

This is the first publication on the Saint Louis Art Museum’s internationally renowned collection of German Expressionist art, which includes major works by the movement’s leading artists and lesser-known figures rarely seen outside of Germany. Engaging entries delve into the paintings’ histories, from their production to their arrival in St. Louis. An introduction traces the collection’s origins to the flood of Expressionist art that entered the United States during World War II. What emerges is a new account of a pivotal era in modern art.

About the Author:

Melissa Venator is assistant curator of modern art at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

This is the most comprehensive volume probing the life and work of the modern art icon Giorgio de Chirico.

Giorgio de Chirico was one of the most controversial and consequential artists of the twentieth century — a key member of the Paris avant-garde, he was a major influence on other artists, especially the nascent surrealists. His repertoire of motifs — empty arcades, elongated shadows, mannequins, trains — created images of forlorn emptiness that became iconic.

Artists inspired by de Chirico’s early work include Yves Tanguy, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, and René Magritte. His influence also extended beyond painting and included writers and poets Guillaume Apollinaire, André Breton, John Ashbery, and Sylvia Plath, filmmakers Jacques Prévert and Michelangelo Antonioni, and even David Bowie, who admired de Chirico’s genderless tailors’ dummies that inspired his music videos.

After the Great War, he turned toward neoclassicism and bitterly fell out with the surrealists and the mainstream modernist movement — in the process, becoming an outspoken outsider of the art world.

This in-depth examination of the artist’s life and work by the world’s foremost de Chirico authority is based on new archival research and offers a fresh view of de Chirico’s relationship with surrealism, fascism, forgery, and the European avant-gardes.

About the Author:

Fabio Benzi is considered the world’s foremost expert on Giorgio de Chirico. He is a professor at the University of Chieti-Pescara and a board member of Fondazione de Chirico, and he has curated exhibitions in Rome, Venice, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Vienna, New York, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, and London.

Sarah Symmons' fascinating account locates Goya in the context of his Spanish heritage, traces the immense influence of his work throughout Europe and considers the continued relevance of his art in the twentieth century. Drawings, oil paintings, frescos, tapestry designs and prints all convey the full range of Goya's work. Symmons draws on the most recent scholarship and on rediscovered works to create a comprehensive portrait of this complex artist that is perfectly up-to-date and highly absorbing.

About the Author:

Sarah Symmons is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex.

From works by Botticelli and Raphael to Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo, discover the paintings that have shaken the art world through the centuries and across continents.

Great Paintings takes you on your own personal gallery tour of over 60 of the world's best-loved paintings. Unlock the hidden meanings and symbols behind each painting, with over 700 photographs to bring the pictures to life and help you understand the key features, composition and techniques that have made these paintings stand out. Plus, biographies of the artists provide the background to each art work, inspiring you to paint your own picture of the historical and social context behind each masterpiece.

Updated for 2018, Great Paintings is a beautiful guide to the paintings, both familiar and new, that have changed the world- it really is like having a gallery of all the great paintings at your fingertips.

Five centuries of fascinating female creativity presented in more than 400 compelling artworks and one comprehensive volume

The most extensive fully illustrated book of women artists ever published, Great Women Artists reflects an era where art made by women is more prominent than ever. In museums, galleries, and the art market, previously overlooked female artists, past and present, are now gaining recognition and value. Featuring more than 400 artists from more than 50 countries and spanning 500 years of creativity, each artist is represented here by a key artwork and short text. This essential volume reveals a parallel yet equally engaging history of art for an age that champions a greater diversity of voices.

About the Authors:

Introductory essay by Rebecca Morrill

Artist texts by James Cahill, Louisa Elderton, Elizabeth Fullerton, Orit Gat, Ferren Gipson, PL Henderson, Katy Hessel, Catalina Imizcoz, Louisa Lee, Henry Little, Helen Luckett, Kathleen Madden, Henry Martin, Tom Melick, Rebecca Morrill, Yates Norton, Cleo Roberts, Matthew Price, Gabrielle Schwartz, Robert Shane, Mitch Speed, David Trigg, Ellen Mara De Wachter

Gustav Klimt is renowned as a quintessential artist of the art nouveau movement, but he was one of a number of Viennese artists who strove to break free of the constraints of the late 19th Century academic art establishment. The Secessionists were united, not in the style of their work, but their desire for freedom, so although there are echoes of similarity in the work of Klimt, Schiele, Kolomon Moser and the many other fine artists, their distinction lies in their magnificent difference. This new illustrated book focuses on the rich diversity of the movement and offers a sumptuous gift of colour and glamour for every art lover.

Now available again, this visually stunning collection of Gustav Klimt's landscape paintings brings to light a lesser-known aspect of the Viennese painter's oeuvre.

While Gustav Klimt is largely revered for his opulent, symbol-laden portraits of the Viennese bourgeoisie, these works were just one aspect of his artistic expression. His landscapes represent an important facet of his career and are a valuable contribution to the school of European nature painting. For many years the artist travelled to the Austrian and Italian countryside during the summer, where he took advantage of the extraordinary light and spectacular hues to paint and sketch landscapes.

Among the most exquisite of Klimt's landscapes are those in which he experimented with composition and style. Accompanied by scholarly essays, the images reproduced in this book comprise all extant landscapes from this brilliant artist, proving that his mastery extends beyond portraiture and revealing themes that appeared throughout his life's work.

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Пролистать книгу Gustav Klimt: Landscapes

Art is for Everybody. The artist as activist

One of the key figures in the New York art world of the 1980s, Keith Haring (1958-1990) created a signature style that blended street art, graffiti, Pop, and cartoon elements to unique, memorable effect. With thick black outlines, bright colours, and kinetic figures, his public (and occasionally illegal) interventions, sculptures, and works on canvas and paper have become instantly recognizable icons of 20th-century visual culture.

From his first chalk drawings in the New York City subway stations, to his renowned Radiant Baby symbol, and his commissions for Swatch Watch and Absolut Vodka, Haring s work was both emblematic of the manic work ethic of 1980s New York, yet distinctive for its social-awareness. Belying their bright, playful aesthetics, his pieces often tackled intensely controversial socio-political issues, including racism, capitalism, religious fundamentalism, and the increasing impact of AIDS on New York's gay community, the latter foreshadowing his own death from the disease in 1990.

In this vivid introduction to Haring's work, we explore the dynamic life and innovative spirit of this singular artist, who spent little more than a decade in the spotlight, but through the accessibility of his visual vocabulary and the strength of his political commitment became one of the most significant artists to emerge from New York's vibrant, downtown community.

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

Hiroshige: Nature and the City is the most extensive overview of the career of the famed Japanese print artist, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) in the English language to date. It is based on the largest collection of Hiroshige in private hands outside Japan, the Alan Medaugh collection.

The catalogue consists of 500 entries, with an emphasis on urban and rural landscapes, fan prints and prints of birds and flowers. Grouped chronologically by subject it presents Hiroshige’s interpretation of the urban scenes from his hometown Edo (present-day Tokyo), the great series documenting travel along the famous highways of Japan, and the idylls of nature as represented in his bird-andflower prints.

Hiroshige often incorporated poetry in his works and for the first time all textual content is transcribed and translated. Additionally, the catalogue pays due attention to the differences between variant editions of his prints. Thus, it provides essential comparative material for every scholar, dealer, and collector.

Five essays precede the catalogue section, each written by specialists in the field. Rhiannon Paget (Curator of Asian Art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art) provides a general introduction to Hiroshige’s life and career. Andreas Marks (Curator Minneapolis Museum of Art) contributes two essays: on the publishers of Hiroshige’s prints and on Hiroshige’s collaborative works designed with his colleagues. Shiho Sasaki (conservation specialist at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco) discusses the pigment use in Hiroshige’s prints while John Carpenter (Curator of Japanese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) investigates the source of the poetry of Hiroshige bird-and-flower prints.

About the Author:

John Carpenter is Curator of Japanese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he has worked since the summer of 2011. From 1999 to 2009 he taught the history of Japanese art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and served as Head of the London Office of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. He has also taught courses at the University of Heidelberg. From 2009 to 2011 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo. He has published widely on Japanese art, especially in the areas of calligraphy, painting, and woodblock prints. Among his recent publications is a catalogue of an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art (2012).

'A compelling narrative of the workings of a curious, intelligent, visually inventive mind at work … a book designed to instil pleasure and to lift the spirits' Art Quarterly

The story of David Hockney, one of the most widely acclaimed of all living artists, is one of passion: passion for seeing, passion for telling, passion for images. But to these should be added passion for life. Hockney's art is a celebration of what it is to be alive. All his pictures - sometimes tender, as when he draws close friends and family; sometimes playful, as in his paintings of lazy, carefree days at the pool; sometimes awe-inspirin, as with his monumental images of the Grand Canyon - convey what it means to be in the world, to see it, to move in it, to love it. This constant exploration of how to communicate such feelings through art emerges with particular clarity in this stunning, lively volume, which charts almost fifty years of extraordinary creativity.

Hockney's Pictures is the first definitive 'retrospective' to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney's prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography. The works, including many that are new and never published, have been selected and organized by David Hockney himself, and track his lifelong experiments in ways of looking and depicting.

Contents List:

Introduction: Loving the world with new eyes • Problems of Depiction: Looking at Pictures • A Marriage of Styles • Stages • Water • Movement • Moving Viewpoint • Life Stilled: Life and Love • Lives • Still Life • Home • Portraits: Friends • Family • Self • Space and Light: South • West • East • North London • Yorkshire

About the Author:

David Hockney is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. He has produced work in almost every medium - painting, drawing, stage design, photography and printmaking - and has stretched the boundaries of all of them. Born in Bradford, England, in 1937, Hockney attended art school in London before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960s. There, he painted his famous swimming pool paintings. In a 2011 poll of more than 1,000 British artists, Hockney was voted the most influential British artist of all time. He continues to create and exhibit art.

Celebrating sixty years of extraordinary creativity

The story of Hockney is one of passion: passion for seeing, passion for telling, passion for images. But to these should be added passion for life. Hockney's art is a celebration of what it is to be alive. All his pictures – sometimes tender, as when he draws close friends and family; sometimes playful, as in his paintings of lazy, carefree days by the pool; sometimes awe-inspiring, as with his monumental images of the Grand Canyon – convey what it means to be in the world, to see it, to move in it, to love it.

This constant exploration of how to communicate such experiences and perceptions through art emerges with particular clarity in this visually dense volume, now updated with a new final chapter that focuses on his prolific recent work in series across various media, including the iPad. Charting almost sixty years of extraordinary creativity, the book is arranged thematically to show the evolution and diversity of Hockney’s prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography. It also features quotes from the artist that illuminate the passion and deep thought behind his work.

Hockney's Pictures celebrates the artist's lifelong experiments in ways of looking, seeing and depicting.

About the Author:

David Hockney is one of the most influential British artists of the last sixty years. He has produced work in almost every medium – painting, drawing, stage design, photography, printmaking and stained glass – and has stretched the boundaries of all of them. His groundbreaking Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters is published by Thames & Hudson, as are his books in partnership with Martin Gayford: A Bigger Message (2011), A History of Pictures (2016) and Spring Cannot be Cancelled (2021). He continues to create and exhibit art, and to inspire enormous affection and admiration worldwide.

Holbein at the Tudor Court focuses on the internationally significant collection of portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger in the Royal Collection.

This richly illustrated publication has essays on the artist, his sitters and on the history of his work in the Royal Collection.

Holbein at the Tudor Court focuses on the internationally significant collection of portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger in the Royal Collection. These portraits, in drawing, miniature and painting, date almost exclusively from Holbein's period as the pre-eminent artist at the court of Henry VIII.

This richly illustrated publication has essays on the artist, his sitters and on the history of his work in the Royal Collection, and a series of entries on individual works - looking at both on the work of art and on the identity of the sitter featured, and uses, where possible voices from the period (as found in letters, poems, administrative records and diplomatic accounts) to bring alive the world of the sixteenth-century English court.

About the Author:

Kate Heard is Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, Royal Collection Trust. Her previous publications include George IV: Art and Spectacle (2019), The First Georgians: Art & Monarchy (2014) and High Spirits: The Comic Art of Thomas Rowlandson (2013).

This introduction to the work of the 16th-century master portraitist Hans Holbein the Younger reveals the impressive and surprising scope of his career

16th-century Europe was a time of unprecedented economic expansion, cross-cultural trade, religious upheaval, warring empires, and scientific advancement. With unfettered access to the court of Henry VIII, Hans Holbein had a front-row seat to the royal drama and intrigue, and his detailed, highly narrative portaits tell us much about aristocracy. This volume features dozens of full-page reproductions of Holbein's key works accompanied by extensive commentary that explores his masterful portraits of prominent European figures such as Thomas More, Erasmus, and Thomas Cromwell. It also reveals the artist's talent in other media, such as woodcuts, frescoes, jewelry, and metalwork. Reproductions of these items, as well as Holbein's exquisite, palm-sized miniatures and his highly detailed studies in pencil, chalk, and ink illuminate an artist of unparalleled versatility and impressive commercial acumen.

About the Author:

Florian Heine is an arts editor, photographer, and author whose many books include 50 Contemporary Photographers You Should Know, Buildings that Revolutionized Architecture, Photography: The Groundbreaking Moments, and The Art of Illusion (all by Prestel).