Книги по истории искусства

Signs and Wonders. A fantastic journey through the history of esoteric lore

Fables, folklore, and fantasy — this compendium of all things alchemical and mystical gathers centuries of esoteric mythology in the form of writings, drawings, paintings, and prints. From early Christian mystics to the illustrations of William Blake and the Romantics, this collection spans science, philosophy, and otherworldly mystery over the ages.

The Hermetic Museum takes readers on a magical mystery tour spanning an arc from the medieval cosmogram and images of Christian mysticism, through the fascinating world of alchemy to the art of the Romantic era. The enigmatic hieroglyphs of cabalists, Rosicrucians, and freemasons are shown to be closely linked with the early scientific illustrations in the fields of medicine, chemistry, optics, and colour theory. Even for those with no knowledge of the fascinating history of alchemy, this book is a delight to explore. Each richly illustrated chapter begins with an introduction and quotes from alchemists by specialist Alexander Roob. The roots of surrealism and many other more recent artistic movements can be found in this treasure trove.

The author:

Alexander Roob studied painting at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. From 2000 to 2002, he was a professor at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. He has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart since 2002.

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!

A fantastic journey through the history of esoteric lore

The Hermetic Museum takes its readers on a magical mystery tour spanning an arc from the mediaeval cosmogram and images of Christian mysticism, through the fascinating world of alchemy to the art of the Romantic era. The enigmatic hieroglyphs of cabbalists, Rosicrucians and freemasons are shown to be closely linked with the early scientific illustrations in the fields of medicine, chemistry, optics and colour theory.

The author:

Alexander Roob studied painting at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. From 2000 to 2002, he was a professor at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. He has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart since 2002.

Many initiatives to support women were begun in the late 1800s, but the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is one of the few that remain. This initiative was born from the desire of three women – Princess Helena, Lady Victoria Welby and Lady Marian Alford – to popularise the lost art of ornamental needlework and place it on a par with other decorative arts, such as painting and sculpture. Their other, yet no less important goal was to provide employment for women compelled to earn their own livelihood. Though women are no longer so limited in occupational options, the RSN has been keeping traditional embroidery techniques alive for a century and a half. 

Published to coincide with the RSN’s 150th anniversary, this book will tell the story of the RSN from its founding in 1872 to the current day. It will highlight key people, royal and other special commissions, the changing fortunes of the school as fashions changed and the approach to teaching hand embroidery, as well as bringing attention to the role and position of the RSN historically and today, associating with everyone from society ladies and theatre impresarios in the late 19th century to working with fashion designers Patrick Grant, Nicholas Oakwell and Alexander McQueen, and architects in the 21st century.

About the Author:

Dr Susan Kay-Williams has been chief executive of the Royal School of Needlework since 2007. She is also a curator and archivist. She has spent a lot of her spare time researching the RSN’s history because she believes more of its remarkable history needs to be known. In her own right her research interest is in the history of dyes and textile dyeing. She published The Story of Colour in Textiles in 2013 (Bloomsbury).

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Пролистать книгу An Unbroken Thread: Celebrating 150 Years of the Royal School of Needlework

The Visual Encyclopaedia series provide up to 300 beautiful photographic and artwork images, illustrating subjects of perennial cultural interest. Images are accompanied by narrative providing background, brief criticism, and details on relevant museums, brief biographies and time lines

This beautifully-illustrated book provides a fascinating overview of the great variety of styles, materials and techniques employed in the arts and crafts of the many different cultures of the Americas before Columbus and the Conquistadors..

Included are elaborate examples of Aegean costume, Doric and Ionic styles of dress for women, Greek and Roman armor, graceful and intricately arranged Roman togas, more. Ornate vestments of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Byzantine costumes are carefully described and portrayed as are styles of hairdressing, jewelry, and other decorative elements. 315 black-and-white illustrations.

Пролистать книгу Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Costume

This is a comprehensive study of needlework tools from the seventeenth century to the Edwardian era.

The book starts with the heavy silver needlework tools of the seventeenth century which are related to the raised and padded embroidery of that era now known as stumpwork. The more delicate embroidery tools of the Georgian era are grouped together with fine embroideries. Illustrations of Georgian sewing boxes and sewing sets show the wonderful varieties available to collectors.

Palais Royal sewing boxes and their superb mother-of-pearl contents, considered by collectors to be the ultimate sewing box, are illustrated as are the glorious carved ivory needlework tools that originated from the Dieppe region of France. The Victorian lady chose her sewing box, work table or sewing set from the extensive range available of which illustrated examples include tortoiseshell, papier mâché, Tunbridge ware and Mauchline ware. This was also the era of the sewing circle and hand-made needlework tools were created in abundant numbers, many surviving for today's collectors' market.

- Groups needlework tools into historic periods
- Relates them to the social scene and the styles of embroidery fashionable at that time
- Answers many questions posed by collectors of antique needlework tools
- Indispensable reference on the subject

Published for the celebrations of the fifth centenary of the printing of the first book in Armenian in Venice (1512), this volume offers a rich, fascinating chronological survey, presenting over 200 works from the leading museums and libraries of Armenia and Europe, and including some extremely rare manuscripts and miniatures (loaned exceptionally for the exhibition in Venice). Together, they document the great achievements of the Armenian civilisation in the spiritual, artistic, architectural, economic and intellectual sectors.

The ancient stelae with engraved cross, the miniatures with bright colours, the sacred architecture and precious reliquaries preserved for centuries at the Holy See of the Apostolic Armenian Church at Echmiadzin will lead the visitor in his discovery of the civilisation of this great people from the early days of Christianity to the end of the 19th century.

The book places a great emphasis on the long and fruitful contacts between the Armenians and other cultures in Europe and the Far East. In particular, it illustrates the special and centuries-old relationship with Venice through a series of historic documents, manuscripts and works of art, describing how the presence of the Armenians in the lagoon began and developed, and their political, economic and cultural contacts with the city. In the last section, thanks to a series of rare manuscripts, the book takes a look at Armenian science, theology, philosophy, historiography and literature. A special section is dedicated to Armenian printing, which dates back to 1512.

The finest editions from the presses dotted throughout the Armenian colonies around the world are presented here. In this special chapter, particular emphasis is accorded to the glorious Armenian printing tradition in Venice, which reached its greatest heights thanks to the hard work and enlightened dedication of the Mechitarist Fathers.

The clear chronological narrative is combined with a lively account of art and material culture, emphasizing the diversity and cosmopolitan character of the entire Greek world over two thousand years.

Comprehensive, up-to-date and balanced, the book integrates the archaeological evidence into its broader historical, cultural and social context, while the author suggests new ways of thinking about fundamental subjects, such as the relationship between art and politics and the evolution of style.

Well-known works are presented alongside less-familiar pieces, together with architecture, fortifications and settlement patterns, while recent discoveries are revealed, such as an astonishing Minoan-style bull-leaping fresco from Egypt; a spectacular marble sarcophagus from northwest Anatolia; a bronze statue of an athlete found in the sea off Croatia; and tomb paintings from ancient Macedonia.

A variety of themed boxes address illuminating topics and controversial issues, including looting; the connections between Homer’s poems and the archaeological record; and manufacturing techniques. Plentiful quotations from ancient texts provide first-hand testimonials from the Greek world, and numerous photographs, maps, plans and chronological charts support the text.

Art & Today surveys contemporary art from 1980 to today, discussing over 450 of the most important artists of the last 25 years

Art & Today is an innovative and extensive survey of international contemporary art from the 1980s to the present. Over four hundred of the most significant contemporary artists from around the world are represented in this comprehensive overview - some emerging, some mid-career, and others long-established. Each of the book's sixteen chapters address recurring and relevant themes as diverse as "Art & Popular Culture," "Art & Its Institutions," and "Art & Globalism," rather than follow a strict chronological, geographical, or stylistic structure. Lively and up-to-date, Art & Today explores an era in which art defies simple categorization. The result is a surprising and original yet clear and reasoned perspective on contemporary art that breaks from prescribed classifications to offer a survey as expansive as the art it describes.

For instance, in the chapter "Art & the Body," one might find performance discussed alongside figurative painting, sculpture and photography alongside video, and North American artists alongside Asian artists. The chapter "Art and Globalism" discusses artists whose nationality, generation, and medium are as diverse as those of Alan Sekula, Michal Rovner, Cildo Meireles, Manuel Ocampo, Chen Zhen, and Andreas Gursky. Internationally renowned art critic and scholar, Eleanor Heartney is respected for her clear language and pragmatic approach to contemporary art. Her straightforward, engaging descriptions and explanations will appeal to both experts and newcomers alike, and will serve as an invaluable resource for years to come.

About the Author:

Eleanor Heartney has been a contributing editor to Art in America and Artpress for over 10 years, reviewing the most significant international art shows, biennials and documentas around the world. Her recent publications include Postmodernism and Critical Condition: American Culture at the Crossroads -- Collected Essays of Eleanor Heartney.

Known as the "century of anatomy," the 16th century in Italy saw an explosion of studies and treatises on the discipline. Medical science advanced at an unprecedented rate, and physicians published on anatomy as never before. Simultaneously, many of the period's most prominent artists—including Leonardo and Michelangelo in Florence, Raphael in Rome, and Rubens working in Italy—turned to the study of anatomy to inform their own drawings and sculptures, some by working directly with anatomists and helping to illustrate their discoveries. The result was a rich corpus of art objects detailing the workings of the human body with an accuracy never before attained.

Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy examines this crossroads between art and science, showing how the attempt to depict bone structure, musculature, and our inner workings—both in drawings and in three dimensions—constituted an important step forward in how the body was represented in art. While already remarkable at the time of their original publication, the anatomical drawings by 16th-century masters have even foreshadowed developments in anatomic studies in modern times.

The global upheavals that took place over the course of the 20th century provoked an incredible metamorphosis of western art. The abundance of creative productivity during this century revolutionised the art world, breaking down barriers and resulting in an extraordinary proliferation of artistic currents. In this brilliant work, the author presents the essential disciplines and different artistic movements that accompanied the political, cultural, ideological, and social upheavals of the 20th century.

Sexy, modern, and unabashedly consumer-oriented, Art Deco was a new kind of style, flourishing at a time of rapid technological change and social upheaval

Lacking the philosophical basis of other European design movements, Deco borrowed motifs from numerous sources - Japan, Africa, ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures, avant-garde European art--simply to create novel visual effects.

Art Deco 1910-1939 surveys the sources and development of the popular style with more than 400 colour illustrations and 40 chapters by numerous design specialists. The authors track Deco around the globe, from Paris to the United States - where it got its biggest boost from mass production - to Northern and Central Europe, Latin America, Japan, India, and New Zealand.

The book's broad focus encompasses industrial artefacts (the Hindenburg blimp, the Burlington Zephyr locomotive), as well as architecture, furniture, accessories, fashion, jewellery, typography and poster design. Despite the existence of other prominent artistic movements during the 1920s and '30s, the authors tend to hang the Deco label on virtually any object that portrays the effects of technology or employs colour, luxury materials or artificial light in striking ways. It does seem a stretch to include Man Ray's photographs, Sonia Delaunay's textiles and the movie King Kong in the Deco pantheon. But the great strength of Art Deco 1910-1939 is that it reveals the social context of Deco, not just its pretty face.
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‘The best book on Art Deco to have appeared so far, and likely to remain so.’ Bevis Hillier, Literary Review

Art Deco – the style redolent of the flapper girl, the luxury ocean liner, Hollywood film and the skyscraper – came to epitomize the glamour, luxury and hedonism of the Jazz Age. It burst on to the world stage at the 1925 Exposition internationale des art decoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris, and quickly swept across the globe. Its influence was felt everywhere, from the skylines of New York and Shanghai to the design of fashionable eveningwear and plastic radios. Above all, it became the signature style of the pleasure palaces of the age – hotels, cocktail bars, nightclubs and cinemas.

This authoritative publication brings together leading experts to explore the sources, varied forms of expression, distinct visual language and global reach of Art Deco. With its breathtaking illustrations, this lavish volume is the definitive book on what is, arguably, the most popular style of the twentieth century.

About the Authors

Charlotte Benton is an independent architecture and design historian. Her publications include A Different World? E´migre´ Architects in Britain, 1928–1958 (1995).

Tim Benton is Professor of Art History at the Open University. He has also co-curated a number of exhibitions, including Thirties: British Art and Design before the War (1979) and Art and Power (1996).

Ghislaine Wood is a Senior Curator in the V&A’s Research Department. She was curator of touring exhibition Art Deco 1910– 1939 (2003) and deputy curator of the major exhibition Art Nouveau 1890–1914 (V&A 2000).

Part of a new series of beautiful gift art books, Art Deco Fashion: Masterpieces of Art highlights artworks from fashion illustrators of the era that was characterized by the allure of modernity, progression, women’s liberation, and luxury – leading to the short hemlines and androgyny of the Flapper, the outdoorsy Sporty girl and Silver Screen goddesses. 

Beginning with a fresh and thoughtful introduction to the Art Deco movements and its influence upon fashion, the book features all the best known Art Deco fashion masterpieces, including works by renowned artists such as Georges Barbier, Paul Iribe and Erté. 

Focusing on Art Deco graphic art and illustration, this gorgeous new book features fascinating text on the movement in general, fashion and advertising, accompanied by beautiful reproductions of work by talents such as Barbier, Erté, Cassandre and Colin. 

Sympathetic examples of other forms of Art Deco are also included.