Збірники робіт з мистецтва

The search for balance, purity and serenity. An indispensable survey about a lodestar of modern art

The extraordinary significance of the painter and sculptor Henri Matisse in the history of modern art, but also his influence, was no less decisive than that of his main rival, Pablo Picasso. In fact, Matisse's stylistic liberation actually goes one step further in the pursuit of his own personal goal — the perfect synthesis of line and color — by which he sought revolutionary approaches to the great tradition of French painting by drawing upon its classical aspects.

For those who wish to know more about this lodestar of modern art and follow the adventurous path of his creative career, this publication is surely the most comprehensive and informative source available. Lavishly illustrated, its authoritative commentaries trace the artist's search for balance, purity and serenity, from the chromatic brilliance of his Fauve period, through his travels, the Orient, geometric synthesis (it was he who introduced Picasso to African art by giving him his first mask), and the odalisques to the final triumph when, at the age of eighty, he invented his gouache cut-outs that culminated in his illustrations for Jazz and allowed him to achieve his goal of sculpting in paint just as a sculptor works in stone.

Matisse is widely acknowledged as an artist whose canvases are extremely difficult to reproduce in print. With this in mind, each work presented here has been painstakingly compared with the respective original, in close collaboration with the artist's grandson, Claude Duthuit. The bard of color deserves no less.

The author:

Xavier-Gilles Néret is a teacher of Philosophy in the region of Paris. Like his father Gilles Néret he is passionate about philosophy, as well as poetry and art. He has been working on the figures who unite these disciplines, notably Stéphane Mallarmé. He is also interested in less known figures such as the poet Claude Tarnaud or the artists Barnard Saby and Pascal Doury, on which he has published books and articles.

288 illustrations in color

Max Ernst (1891–1976) is one of the most significant and influential artists of the twentieth century. Influenced by two world wars, he repeatedly questioned and adjusted his repertoire of expression throughout his entire career and reflected on the potentials of art with vast inventiveness. His complex pictorial worlds now seem more relevant than ever before: a younger audience will be able to discover links between Ernst’s fantasy worlds and their own travels to the cyber worlds of modern computer games.
This publication considers Max Ernst’s revolutionary life’s work from a new perspective. It examines in detail his Dada years in Cologne, his residence in France from 1921 to 1941 and his importance amid the Parisian Surrealists, the decade in American exile, and the period after his return to Europe until his death. In-depth contributions by authorities on Ernst focus on central aspects of his oeuvre, for example his experimental techniques, his mysterious collage novels, as well as his fantastical sculptural works.

This retrospective monograph unites Mel Ramos’s drawings, paintings, and sculptures.

Mel Ramos (*1935 in Sacramento, California), one of the most significant figures of Pop Art, borrows motifs from the mass media and commercial advertisements for his work, just as his contemporaries Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein did. To create his paintings, he combines a wide variety of consumer goods with immaculate, self-confident, and frequently naked women. Drawing upon the imagery in pinup magazines of the fifties and sixties and the lifestyle magazines of today, he portrays his female figures wrapped lasciviously around the products with which he pairs them.

This publication offers a survey of Ramos’s production over the last fifty years, ranging from the first self-portrait he executed in 1959 to his most recent three-dimensional works. On the occasion of the artist’s first large-scale museum retrospective in Europe as well as his seventy-fifth birthday, this volume presents several insightful essays and illustrations of around ninety works drawn from the various series Ramos has produced, including his earliest figurative paintings, his depictions of comic-book heroes and heroines, the Fashion and Animal Paintings, his famous pinup girls, his tributes to art history, his landscapes, and his sketches and recent sculptures.

Taschen 25 - Special edition!

Michelangelo between earthly passions and fear of God

During the Renaissance, several great homosexual artists - from Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli to Michelangelo and Raphael - transformed the history of art, striving for ever closer imitation of nature while shaping it to their tastes. In their art ambiguous beings were born, half man, half woman; female breasts were planted on male busts and a young man's gaze peeped out beneath the eyelids of a Madonna.

From his earliest youth Michelangelo transformed personal torment into exquisite creativity - attempting to reconcile the apparently conflicting forces that inhabited him: his earthly passions and his fear of God. Hence the peerless monuments to beauty, celestial and infernal alike, that Michelangelo raised to the glory of God. His predecessors aspired to Heaven through faith alone; Michelangelo sought absolution through the contemplative exaltation of beauty - even on the ceiling of a papal chapel: the Sistine. This exposed him to a chorus of derision from prudish critics, who accused him of exhibiting paganism in a place of religion, and who clothed his immodest Titans in painted "breeches".

It was Michelangelo's curse to remain a colossus outside and apart from his time. It is the birthright of the comet to inspire fear and awe in the spectator; but the spectacle of such glory can sear the tender eye.

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

A glorious exploration of Michelangelo's works

"The photography is sharp, the colour true and full of lustre...This will prove to be one of the art books of the year." - The Good Book Guide, London

Before reaching the tender age of thirty, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) had already sculpted David and Pièta, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. Like fellow Florentine Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo was a shining star of the Renaissance and a genius of consummate virtuosity. His achievements as a sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and architect are unique - no artist before or after him has ever produced such a vast, multi-faceted, and wide-ranging oeuvre. Only a handful of other painters and sculptors have attained a comparable social status and enjoyed a similar artistic freedom. This is demonstrated not only by the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel but also by Michelangelo’s monumental sculptures and his unconventional architectural designs, whose forms went far beyond the accepted vocabulary of his day. Such was his talent that Michelangelo was considered a demigod by his contemporaries and was the subject of two biographies during his lifetime.

The edition explores Michelangelo's life and work in depth and detail. The different parts of the book concentrate on the life of Michelangelo via an extensive and copiously illustrated biographical essay and include gorgeous, full page reproductions and enlarged details that bring readers up close to the works.

This sumptuous tome also takes account, to a previously unseen extent, of Michelangelo's more personal traits and circumstances, such as his solitary nature, his thirst for money and commissions, his miserliness, his immense wealth, and his skill as a property investor. This survey of Michelangelo's life and oeuvre is a basic reference for every art lover.

Authors:
Christof Thoenes studied art history in Berlin and Pavia, before completing his doctorate in Berlin. Thoenes lives in Rome, where for many years he has worked for the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max-Planck-Institute), and is honorary professor in Hamburg. He has contributed to numerous publications on Italian art, particularly on architecture and architectural theory of the 15th to 18th centuries.

Frank Zöllner wrote his doctoral theses on artistic and architectural theory (1987) and Leonardo Da Vinci (1996). He has written numerous publications on the art and artistic theory of the Renaissance and on Paul Klee. Since 1996 he has been Professor of Renaissance and Modern Art at Leipzig University. He is also the author of TASCHEN's XL monograph on Leonardo da Vinci.

Il divino. A glorious exploration of Michelangelo’s works

Before reaching the tender age of 30, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) had already sculpted David and Pietà, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. As a sculptor, painter, draftsman, and architect, the achievements of this Italian master are unique — no artist before or after him has ever produced such a vast, multifaceted, and wide-ranging œuvre.

This comprehensive book explores Michelangelo’s life and work with a richly illustrated biographical essay, and a complete four-part inventory of his paintings, sculptures, buildings, and drawings. Full-page reproductions and enlarged details allow readers to appreciate fine details in the artist’s vast repertoire, while the book’s biographical insights consider a previously unseen extent to Michelangelo’s more personal traits and circumstances, such as his solitary nature, his thirst for money and commissions, his immense wealth, and his skill as a property investor. In addition, the book tackles the controversial issue of the attribution of Michelangelo drawings, an area in which decisions continue to be steered by the interests of the art market and the major collections.

This is the definitive work about Michelangelo for generations to come, to be delved into and put on display, with its slipcase neatly converting into a book stand.

The editor and author:

Frank Zöllner wrote his doctoral thesis on motifs originating from Antiquity in the history of art and architecture of the Medieval and Renaissance periods (1987). He is also the author of a postdoctoral treatise on motion and expression in the art of Leonardo da Vinci, published in 2010. He has published numerous works on Renaissance art and art theory, and on 20th-century art. Since 1996 he has been Professor of Medieval and Modern Art at the University of Leipzig. For TASCHEN he has authored the XL monographs on Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.

The contributing authors:

Christof Thoenes studied art history in Berlin and Pavia, before completing his doctorate in Berlin. Thoenes was Honorary Professor in Hamburg and now lives in Rome, where for many years he has worked for the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max-Planck-Institute). He has contributed to numerous publications on Italian art, particularly on architecture and architectural theory of the 15th to 18th centuries.

Thomas Pöpper wrote his doctoral thesis on 15th-century Italian Renaissance sculpture (2003). After a fellowship at the Bibliotheca Hertziana, he worked as a volunteer for the Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen. Following further appointments at universities in Hamburg und Leipzig, since 2008 he has been Professor of Art and Design History at the West Saxon University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau, where he is currently Head of the Faculty of Applied Art. Pöpper has published on a variety of aspects of Italian art from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, German painting of the Early Modern era and German sculpture of the 19th and 20th century. 

Before reaching the tender age of 30, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) had already sculpted Pietà and David, two of the most famous sculptures in the entire history of art. As a sculptor, painter, draftsman, and architect, the achievements of this Italian master are unique — no artist before or after him has ever produced such a vast, multifaceted, and wide-ranging œuvre.

This fresh TASCHEN edition traces Michelangelo’s ascent to the cultural elite of the Renaissance. Ten richly illustrated chapters cover the artist’s paintings, sculptures, and architecture, including a close analysis of the artist’s tour de force frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.

Full-page reproductions and enlarged details allow readers to appreciate the finest details in the artist’s repertoire, while the book’s biographical essay considers Michelangelo’s more personal traits and circumstances, such as his solitary nature, his thirst for money and commissions, his immense wealth, and his skill as a property investor.

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!

The majestic bearing of his nudes, his accomplished treatment of the human anatomy, and his virtuosity characterize the drawings of Michelangelo (1475–1564). Masterpieces from the most distinguished museums in the world will be shown alongside treasures from the Albertina’s collection of prints, affording a unique look at the graphic oeuvre of the great Florentine artist.

This publication spans a wide range of works - from the works he created in his youth, his studies for the Battle of Cascina, the frescoes for the Sistine Chapel, to the drawings he made as gifts for Tommaso de’ Cavalieri and the later crucifixion scenes. Paintings by other artists, done after the master’s sketches, illuminate the dimension and force of his art, and show him within the context of his own time. The book also examines some critics’ doubt about the attributions of numerous drawings to Michelangelo.

Graphic beauty: Breathtaking drawings

Few artists can claim such tenacious fame across continents and centuries as Michelangelo Buonarroti(1475 - 1564). His achievements as a sculptor, painter, draftsman, and architect remain unrivalled and unique. This fresh edition celebrates the artist s graphic work, with a selection of his most masterful and mesmerizing drawings.

Gathered from some of the world s most prestigious collections, these works show the full ambition and reach of Michelangelo s practice, spanning architectural elements, facial expressions, and countless, meticulous anatomical drawings. Whether finely-tuned or left unfinished, each and every drawing testifies to the artist s dedicated scrutiny of the world around him and his compelling mastery of line, form, and detail.

There is an intimacy in these works, too. As different sketches occupy the same pages, and notes intersperse the drawings, we may not only marvel at the meticulously rendered textures or anatomically-perfected figures, but also feel a spine-tingling proximity to the very process, as much as the product, of genius.

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!

Реставрація чудових фресок Мікеланджело у Сикстинській капелі Ватикану є чи не найбільш суперечливою подією у світі мистецтва за останні три десятиліття. Тепер, після майже п’ятнадцяти років зусиль, реставрація нарешті завершена. Цей унікальний том — перший, у якому задокументовано проект — є результатом неперевершеної міжнародної фотокампанії. Вперше відреставрована каплиця показана цілком, від створення до Страшного суду. Чудові повнокольорові фотографії-250 у всіх зображують фрески як до, так і після їх реставрації, забезпечуючи незабутнє уявлення про ретельну роботу, яка, на думку багатьох, відновила фрески до їхнього первісного блиску Високого Відродження.

Створені наприкінці 1400-х років фрески Сикстинської капели є найвідомішими з усіх шедеврів Ватикану. Однак ще в 1502 році туристи почали помічати пошкодження, спричинені димом і розвалом стін. У 1980 році потреба в консервації виявилася гострою. Групі реставраторів довелося боротися з століттями гнилої структури стін і стелі, накопиченням кіптяви та пилу та просочуванням дощової води, що залишало білі плями на кожній поверхні. Ремісники в попередні століття робили спроби зберегти, але часто завдавали більше шкоди, ніж користі; виявлено, що фрески були вкриті багатьма шарами «захисного» клею, який з віком пожовтів і потемнів.

Хоча багато істориків мистецтва виступали проти реставрації, вважаючи, що Мікеланджело був похмурим художником, який працював у темних і приглушених кольорах, ця спроба представляє фрески, які надзвичайно яскраві, запалюючи каплицю своїм блиском. Крім того, вони дають нове уявлення про техніку мазка Мікеланджело та додають більше інформації до багатовікової дискусії про те, як він працював із вологою гіпсовою поверхнею фресок.

Написаний спільно з Джанлуїджі Колалуччі, технічним керівником реставрації, текст забезпечує глибоке розуміння цього шедевра мистецтва Відродження. Він пояснює різноманітні судово-медичні дослідження, проведені в ході проекту, прагматичні проблеми реставрації та численні проблеми історичного підходу, з якими зіткнулися. Цей том, включаючи чудові нові зображення фресок Каплиці, належить до бібліотек кожного історика мистецтва та дослідника італійського Відродження.

Fellow painter Walter Erben spent countless hours conversing with his colleague Joan Miró (1893-1983) at his house in Mallorca in preparation for this book. Over the course of these talks, Miró gave Erben many interesting and invaluable insights into his art, as well as his own interpretations of his most significant works.

Thus was born this Miró retrospective which explores, through texts and images, the life`s work of one of the 20th century's most influential painters.

The author: Walter Erben (1908-1981) studied German at Berlin University as well as painting at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, where he studied under Oskar Moll and Paul Klee. Erben taught fine art in Rome and Hagen, authored many successful books on the subject, and lectured extensively during his lifetime.

The editor: Hajo Düchting (b. 1949 in Düsseldorf) 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, colour theory and the teaching of art and has authored a number of TASCHEN titles, including Paul Cézanne (1988), Wassily Kandinsky (1990); Robert and Sonia Delaunay (1993) and Georges Seurat (1999).

Assassinator of painting. The artist who upset the establishment

Joan Miró (1893-1983) is one of the most significant Spanish painters of the twentieth century. The themes and treatments of his early work were shaped by the Catalan landscape and clearly show the influence of Fauvism and Cubism. During his travels, Miró encountered the intellectual avant-garde of his time; his friends included Francis Picabia, Tristan Tzara, André Masson, Jean Arp and Pablo Picasso.

From the mid-1920s onward, Miró strove to leave direct objective references behind and developed the pictograms that typify his style. The pictures of this period, which include perhaps the most beautiful and significant of his whole oeuvre, dispense with spatiality and an unambiguous reference to objects. From then on, the surfaces were defined by numerals, writing, abstract emblems, and playful figures and creatures. In the postwar years be begin producing graphic works, ceramics, monumental murals, and sculptures. In these works, too, the Catalan artist sought the solid foundation of a figurative, symbolic art, featuring faces, stars, moons, rudimentary animal forms, and letters. Joan Miró developed in several stages his characteristic flowing calligraphic style and his world of forms resembling shorthand symbols in several stages. From Fauvism to Surrealism by way of his original childlike style, Miró sought to shake up the establishment and in doing so made a name for himself.

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

Modigliani - Sensitive paintings and sculptures that speak in tongues

To contemporaries, Amedeo Modigliani was the very definition of Parisian Bohemia, the controversial darling and target of the popular press and the model on which many a novel, play and film was based.

As an artist, the scandalous Modigliani made his name chiefly with his celebrated pictures of women, with almond eyes and long necks and bodies. His style had ancient roots that lay deep in classical antiquity or Africa. But his portraits of intellectual giants of the age, friends such as Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau or Diego Rivera, were inimitable also. In Doris Krystof's study, the scene Modigliani was the hero of comes alive, and his sensitive paintings and sculptures speak in tongues.

About the Author:

After studying the history of art, history and literary studies in Freiburg im Breisgau and Cologne, Doris Krystof worked as an academic associate at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf and as curator at the Kunsthalle Wien. Since 2001 she has been curator for the collection and changing exhibitions at the K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. She has authored numerous publications on modern and contemporary art.

About the Series:

Every 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

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!